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Study finds female players may not be into guns, but are still into killing

The Quantic Lab, a survey data-based social science research project investigating the psychology of gaming, recently published interesting findings on players and their motivations. A portion of their research explores difference across gender, diving deeper into stereotypical assumptions about female players. For example, some might point to Quantic Lab’s finding that, out of all the genres, women are least likely to play tactical shooters as proof that female player don’t like violent games. But another recent survey found that, upon further investigation, it’s safer to assume that women just find guns kinda boring and prefer to murder virtual people through other methods. According to the Lab’s blog, by…

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How scientists are using MMOs to study sexism in videogames

For the past few years, one of the more common debates to be found on social media has been over whether women are discriminated against within videogames. This can relate to a number of factors, including skill, female presence in the community, and how women are represented within games, but conversations in these topics are often noticeably hostile and difficult to conduct. However, recent scientific studies on the topic have provided new insight into if and how discrimination presents a problem for women in and around videogames, as well as what difficulties sexism in games poses for women in tech in…

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It’s time to take girl games seriously

If you think girl games matter, help us champion them in our magazine by backing our Kickstarter. /// For generations of women, Judy Blume’s novels are a potent symbol. To the women that read her books in the ‘70s and ‘80s they were symbols of rebellion, offering knowledge that was forbidden by adults. “I knew reading it would be an act of revolt, but I wasn’t sure who I was revolting against,” said my friend Dayna Von Thaer, a young adult novelist, remembering the time that a sympathetic librarian sneaked her a copy of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret…

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Slam City Oracles is a royal riot grrrl rumble

Sign up to receive each week’s Playlist e-mail here! Also check out our full, interactive Playlist section. Slam City Oracles (PC, Mac, Linux)  BY Jane Friedhoff You know that feeling you get when you’re around your bestie? It’s like you’re invincible and could destroy or save the world together (depending on your mood). That’s exactly the sensation captured by Slam City Oracles, a multiplayer physics game that gives you points for simply having fun and taking control with a friend. You fly around a Katamari Damacy-like world filled with nonsensical inhabitants and buildings that seem to exist for the sole purpose of goofy…

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An eating disorder support group gives women in games more "realistic" body shapes

It’s no secret that media’s treatment of female bodies is all around terrible. But for videogames and other animated media, the idealizing of women’s bodies presents some uniquely awkward issues (have you seen the breast physics?) For example: according to the 2013 Game Developer Magazine survey, only 16% of gaming’s artists are female. That means 84% of the people creating the female bodies you see in videogames have absolutely no concept of what it means to live inside a female body. It’s no surprise, then, that many of their depictions result in tone deaf designs that not only perpetuate unattainable beauty…