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Observation of Gender Dynamics at a Video Arcade

This is a report on an observation at a video arcade, considering the gender dynamics observed. The arcade was medium-sized, with perhaps 25 video machines and some other interactive games in an upstairs store in a shopping mall.

The average age of those playing these machines was perhaps 15 or 16, with a few older players during the 2 hours of the observation and a number of younger people around 13 or 14. Over the two-hour period, a total of 20 players was observed. Of the 20, only five were female. The owner said this was not a particularly busy time of day and that there were usually a number of young women playing or watching, but there were only 5 during this period.

Interaction between genders took place in two ways. Three of the young women were players and played with young men, and the dynamic centered largely on the game and on challenges back and forth. It was apparent from the way these players interacted that they knew one another and had been interacting in this manner for some time. The female players seemed to go out of their way to appear to be "one of the boys," meaning that they acted in what they perceived as the same male manner as the young male players and made the same comments. This seemed indeed to be part of the dynamic of the game, and the young women did not want to seem to be anything but competent players who were worth playing with and who could be a challenge because they were just as good at the game as were the boys.

This dynamic extended to dress. The girls were all dressed in jeans and T-shirts, apparently the accepted mode of dress for playing video games in this particular arcade, and it shows as well a desire to fit into the mode of dress of the boys playing these games. The girls were young, and an analysis of their entire class group might indicate whether this is an age-related syndrome or whether the girls playing video games are somehow different in their mode of dres...

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Observation of Gender Dynamics at a Video Arcade. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 17:02, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1689928.html