Gender

The word GENDER underlines the social or cultural quality of distinction based on sex
- Barbie to Mortal Kombat and Computer Games: Justin Cassell, Henry Jenkins

Individually look at 3 games and 2 movies where stereotypes are negatively re-enforced
Individually write 200 word short design document where all stereo types are positively enforced (the idea of a strong woman, men being represented normally instead of muscle bound idiots, how genders are shown to be people). Research aspects of the generic. Include drawings in this doc. [MAKE UP, JUST A SHORT PIECE, NOT BASED ON AN EXISTING GAME]
Examine the game you are working on and objectively explore gender aspects they’re in.

Things to look at:
Evolution of Evony video games ads.
Woman writing Tomb Raider (2012)

3 games where stereotypes are negatively re-enforced:

Duke Nukem
Duke comes across in the computer games a dumb, musclebound idiot in his title. To characterise, Ian Dransford in isue 206 of Play magazine said "Duke is an 18-rated game made for 13 year olds". While Duke Nukem started his career as a tongue-in-cheek character with a penchant for innuendos, in more recent titles, specifically Duke Nukem Forever, this was turned into just an embarrassing string of juvenile toilet humour and sexist comments. As time progressed, Duke Nukem went from a comic character with some charm to a humiliating jock.

Dead or Alive
Dead or Alive's biggest problem is that it over sexualises women to the point of just being embarrassing to play. Every female character in the game has her breasts on display constantly, with story and character being put to one side for the sake of simple titilation for the player.

Ico
Princess Yorda suffers from the classic damsel in distress, Princess Peach syndrome. She's weak, can't climb tall barriers or jump far distance, and constantly needs saving and protecting from danger. As well as Princess Peach, a good example of her behaviour could be seen in Resident Evil 4's Ashley Graham, kidnap victim and permanently terrified stereotypical blonde girl.

2 films where stereotypes are negatively re-enforced:

Sucker Punch
While the film does go a long way to show the female characters as strong and empowered, Zack Snyder also can't help but put them in revealing clothing in almost every scene for no discernible reason.

World War Z
This film goes some way to support equal rights between gender, by giving a female soldier a main role in the plot. However that role is to get her arm cut off to avoid turning into a zombie and generally just screaming or supporting Brad Pitt. Likewise Mireille Enos plays a similar role, by supporting Brad Pitt and looking after their kids, while being given little else to do at the same time.

Short design document:

JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE

Just Another Day at the Office is a tale of two rival media specialists, Jacob Gallows and Ramona Dirne, at a busy advertising agency in downtown Los Angeles. One day, as our two protagonists are vying for a new client, car mogul Michael Phillips, Los Angeles is struck by an unknown and life-threatening natural disaster, causing half of the building they’re working in to become destroyed, trapping them inside. Together, our two protagonists must use their instincts, imaginations and skills to try and escape from their forced imprisonment, and find out what is happening to the world around them.

In this game, a split-screen multiplayer adventure puzzle game, players must work together to traverse their decimated former place of work, putting their respective skills together and learning to work together, bringing these once former rivals to forge a friendship in the face of adversity.

Ramona Dirne is a strong, career oriented woman with the ferocious tenacity to chase any goal she has in her sights, specialising in music and televisual advertising, while Jacob Gallows is a more solitary, lone wolf character that works in the print media and has goals of one day opening his own advertising agency. While these characters start by clashing about everything from which media is more important in their field, they gradually learn to put their differences aside to save their lives.