Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Harley, Heidi

Area of Concentration

Psychology and Computer Science

Abstract

Women are often portrayed as objects and catalysts in video games for the historically male protagonist. We explored the appeal of video games with nonsexualized female game characters versus the stereotypical white, male protagonist. Participants of different genders saw a video game trailer with a male protagonist or a female protagonist and then rated how likely they would be to interact with the video game in various ways (purchasing for themselves or others, playing the game, etc.). Preference for games that had male and female protagonists did not vary by participant gender. Surprisingly, male participants reported that their gender was represented in the video game industry less than female participants (although the difference was not statistically significant).

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