Wendy Zelling

Only recently, video games seem to have started experimenting more frequently with mundane settings, consequently allowing authentic adolescent matters to be tackled. Therefore, they finally join common youth media in their portrayal of young heroes and heroines seeking their identities by adapting their own interactive version of the coming-of-age genre.

However, as the medium is still largely considered a male space in terms of its creators and audience, representation of female adolescents in video games is not only scarce in comparison with other youth media, but also its authenticity can vary greatly depending on developer, target group and genre. Heavily summarised, adolescent girls are either in constant need of protection by a playable father figure and pose as the palpable embodiment of the player’s moral compass in shooters, or, if they are playable characters, fulfil or forcefully deny prejudices in interactive movies or fiction. At the same time, even well-meant representation of gaming girls in youth media is oftentimes limited to female adolescents who appear as the stereotypical unlike other girls-character, ultimately reinforcing the concept of video games as a boyish medium, and thus rendering girls as outsiders or intruders. From the perspective of the gaming community, debates such as #GamerGate, the harassment or humiliation by elevation of young female players and review bombings in case of supposedly unlikable female characters, have proven this sentiment to be still very much prevalent. Even more precarious, this stance might delay positive change and authentic portrayal.

Going forward, how can this tension between female adolescence and boyish medium be resolved from the perspective of youth media, media studies and fan discourse? What should future authentic representation look like and how can it be achieved despite the repercussions? And, most importantly, how could medium and audience benefit from this?