Nebraska Dave News and Reviews

The section in question.

(someone else can tackle the crap they wrote about GG/Anita/etc. – this is the far more concerning, and potentially damaging issue, as far as I'm concerned)

https://archive.fo/zck3A#selection-4497.0-4569.92

How different groups in society are portrayed in the “virtual” worlds of video games reflects and reinforces pre-existing biases held by members of society in the “real world,” such as racism and sexism. For example, research from the early 1990s onward has extensively documented the gender stereotyping of video game characters’ appearances. Women are usually thin and scantily clad with accentuated breasts (a trend exemplified in Tomb Raider protagonist Lara Croft) and men have large muscles and aggressive attitudes[xliii][xliv]. Psychological research among adolescents and college students shows that viewing these stereotypical portrayals can make real-world cases of sexism seem less shocking[xlv][xlvi] and promote the acceptance of “rape myths”[xlvii], like the belief that women who are victims of sexual assault deserve what happens to them.

Quotes the following papers – I'll link to the KiA thread on them if we have them.

• [xliii] Burgess, Melinda C. R., Steven Paul Stermer, and Stephen R. Burgess. “Sex, lies, and video games: The portrayal of male and female characters on video game covers.” Sex Roles 57:5-6 (2007): 419-433. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9250-0

• [xliv] Dill, Karen E., Brian P. Brown, and Michael A. Collins. “Effects of Exposure to Sex-Stereotyped Video Game Characters on Tolerance of Sexual Harassment.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 44, no. 5 (September 2008): 1402-1408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2008.06.002

• [xlv] Dill, Karen E. and Kathryn P. Thill. “[xlv] Dill, Karen E. and Kathryn P. Thill. “Video Game Characters and the Socialization of Gender Roles: Young People’s Perceptions Mirror Sexist Media Depictions.” Sex Roles 57 (2007):851–864. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9278-1

• [xlvi] Dill, Karen E., Brian P. Brown, and Michael A. Collins. “Effects of Exposure to Sex-Stereotyped Video Game Characters on Tolerance of Sexual Harassment.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 44, no. 5 (September 2008): 1402-1408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2008.06.002 – see above, they quoted this one twice, for some reason

• [xlvii] Beck, Victoria Simpson, Stephanie Boys, Christopher Rose, Erick Beck. “Violence Against Women in Video Games: A Prequel or Sequel to Rape Myth Acceptance?” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 27, no. 15 (October 2012): 3016-3031. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260512441078

…and then it moves onto racism

As with sexist representations in video games, racist ideas seem to bleed through into the real world. Psychological research suggests, for example, that playing violent video games increases ethnocentrism and triggers heightened aggression when a player is presented with someone who is different from themselves[lviii]. Despite this, and despite activism within the industry from individuals like Anita Sarkeesian, hate in video games has become expected, potentially paving the way for the normalization of hate in other virtual worlds.

…quoting this paper

• [lviii] Greitemeyer, Tobias. “Playing Violent Video Games Increases Intergroup Bias.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 40, no. 1 (January 2014): 70-78. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213505872

We haven't looked at this racism paper, as far as I can see, but when it comes to the sexism stuff, we've critiqued most of them.

The issue here is that the report ignores all the papers that dispute the link between video game use and effects on sexist attitudes, rape myth acceptance, etc.

For example:

• http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0886260518770187

• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-018-0905-9

• https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cyber.2014.0492

• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-018-0905-9

• https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-101317-031036

• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-017-0700-x

• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-017-0768-3

• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-018-0031-7 (you need to read down a bit, but this does cover sexism)

Obviously this paints an extremely biased picture of the current state of the science, one I fear that many people making games will unquestionably believe, because the ADL are seen as the good guys and this isn't coming from right-wing cranks.

Doubly concerning is that the ADL has been making inroads into the gaming industry, as documented here.

https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/8uu15d/socjus_brian_crecente_variety_adls_plans_to_take/

Thoughts, KiA? Can we get analyses of those papers we haven't covered yet?