1. A Discussion of Toxic Masculinity in Gaming
“The concept of being masculine was so key to this story.” – Dan Houser, co-founder of Rockstar Games
A Discussion of Toxic Masculinity in Gaming

2. The preceding quote, an explanation of the lack of a playable female character in Grand Theft Auto V, serves as a marker for how much of the gaming industry views itself. The best-selling games, in recent years, are about men – specifically, men who fight.

3. Note that even in those games that fall into the “Other” section, those that do not have exclusively male player characters, there is often an option to play as a man, or you play as a man for much of the game’s story, with brief interludes of playing as a character of another gender.

4. It becomes clear that, even in games where the option to play as a woman is available, the writers of the game’s story often intend for you to choose the option of playing as a man – a prime example of this is the third best-selling game of 2015, Fallout 4

5. Fallout 4 opens with a man’s speech, serving as the exposition of the game world and the introduction of this character. You are then prompted to choose between playing as this man or his wife, but we have already been introduced to the man as our primary protagonist – in this video game, playing as a man is the default
[Video]

6. Once we are immersed in the dangerous wasteland that is Fallout 4’s open world, it becomes clear that this story is intended for someone with combat expertise – a military man, someone we have already been told knows how to fight, rather than a woman who, we find out, is a lawyer – not exactly a helpful profession in a firefight
[Video]
[Video]

7. In this male-dominated gaming world, there is little variety in the type of character you play: hypermasculinity runs rampant, with most games focusing on outward violence. Stories are told behind the barrel of a gun or the blade of a sword, with that weapon often taking precedence over other methods of conflict resolution.

8. In a video uploaded to YouTube, Jonathan McIntosh (Pop Culture Detective) provided an analysis and statistical breakdown of the games displayed at E3, a gaming convention that serves as the public face of the gaming industry and community.

9. What we find is an industry dominated by violent men, and fans idolizing these characters. There is no proven link between committing violence in a game and committing violence in real life, but these games do provide an image of what it means to be a man.

10. A man is tough – broad-shouldered and barrel-chested, with a gravelly voice to threaten his enemies. A man approaches any situation with his gun drawn, and nine times out of ten, he’ll use it. Anger is the only emotion he’s ever known, and if his fit of rage doesn’t end in a fiery explosion, did you even play a video game?

11. Among those games that are combat-focused, there are some that offer other options. In certain situations, you can talk your way out: convincing your potential victim to run away, or deciding to forgive and walking away yourself. These often require a different set of in-game “skills,” and are marked by speech checks. This mechanic is present in Fallout 4.

12. “I can’t tell you that you can play the whole game without violence – that’s not necessarily a goal of ours,” said Todd Howard, Fallout 4’s director. But, the possibility to do so was there, and Kyle Hinckley proved it in a series of videos
on YouTube. His goal was to ensure the player character and their followers would not directly kill anyone, but that doesn’t mean there was no violence – the game simply would not allow it.

13. This atmosphere of violence, inevitable in the most popular games, is reflected in the gaming community. Young men see these hypermasculine characters and, in some ways, seek to embody them, often creating a hostile environment for other players. This preference for “tough talk” and aggression often manifests in online games, where it has become customary to use slurs to shame players for their actions in the game or because of assumptions about their real-life identity.

14. There are countless examples of violent language used in online gaming’s chat features, and Polygon reporter Mike Sholars can attest to this. In an article about how he generally avoids online gaming, he recounted the first time he encountered another player finding away around a game’s profanity filter to make clear the slur he was attempting to use against Sholars, a black man, then just 12 years old. Sholars also described his many ventures into online gaming since, and always being met with the same result.

15. (From an article by Brendan Maher)
“It took less than a minute of playing League of Legends for a homophobic slur to pop up on my screen… I was slow to pick a character… The messages started to pour in… ‘Choose FA GO TT.’”
(From an article by Brendan Maher)

16. The gaming industry has astounding potential – every year, hundreds of unique worlds and characters are beautifully rendered, and diverse styles of gameplay are introduced. But it needs more creativity, more people making games that tell meaningful stories without a need for headshots and killstreaks. Games that rely less heavily on hostility may create a less hostile gaming community.