Online gaming helps create a sense of community and a space of active belonging for players, especially teenagers who are looking for social relevance. However, there are many social and psychological factors at play in online gaming that can breed stereotypes and prejudice. My last few blogs we explored the unique nature of online gaming environments and the effect that has on players. It also studied the negative representations in online gaming such as racism, sexism, ageism and ableism.
There are still many questions that are unanswered. Such as, what can gamers and consumers do? To start off, gamers and consumers can be more polite and refrain from games that will fuel their aggression. Before speaking, they need to truly think about what they are saying and how it helps them. Sandbox video games tend to be very relaxing and the key to balancing creativity and fun while playing video games. There are several things that game makers and streaming platform companies can do to reduce prejudices and stereotypes in online games. For starters, game makers could include a more diverse character range. For example, Valorant does a great example of this, in the 2022 game, 53% of playable characters are female, 15% are neither female or male, and 32% are male. Further research is needed with survey data to validate some of the initial thinking in this paper. Based on the findings, suggestions to combat the stereotypes and prejudices not only need to be developed, but also communicated more broadly to the gamers.
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