Tech’s appeal: Is there a relationship between addiction to video games and slot machines?

Back in 1987, I began my PhD on slot machine addiction, and one thing that I began to notice as I spent the first few hours of (100s of hours) doing observational research in amusement arcades that there were many similarities between arcade slot machines and arcade video game machines. It wasn’t until 1991 that I finally did a comparative analysis of slot machine gambling and video game playing and published my observations in the Journal of Adolescence. In the intervening years I have published many papers examining the commonalities and similarities between these two behaviours and it wouldn’t surprise me if I am still writing about these issue in many years to come.

My initial insights into the existence of video game addiction arose out of the research I had been doing on slot machine addiction. Both slot machines and video game machines may be considered under the generic label of “amusement machines”. The main difference between the playing of video games and the playing of slot machines are that arcade video games are typically played to accumulate as many points as possible whereas slot machines are played (i.e., gambled upon) to accumulate money. In my 1991 paper, I (somewhat paradoxically) claimed that playing an arcade video game could be considered as a non-financial form of gambling.

Both types of machine require insertion of a coin to play, although the playing time on a slot machine is usually much less than on a video game machine if starting with the same amount of money. This is because on video games the outcome is almost solely due to skill, whereas on slot machines the outcome is much more likely to be a product of chance. However, the general playing philosophy of both slot machine players and video game players is to stay on the machine for as long as possible using the least amount of money. I have also argued that regular slot machine players play with money rather than for it, and that winning money is a means to an end (i.e., to stay on the machine as long as possible). This is exactly what arcade video game players do too.

Besides the generic labeling, their geographical juxtaposition, and the philosophy for playing, it could be argued that on both a psychological and behavioural level, slot machine gambling and video game playing share many similarities (e.g., similar demographic differences such as age and gender breakdown, similar reinforcement schedules, similar potential for “near miss” opportunities, similar structural characteristics involving the use of light and sound effects, similarities in skill perception, similarities in the effects of excessive play, etc.). The most probable reason the two forms have rarely been seen as conceptually similar is because video game playing does not involve the winning of money (or something of financial value) and therefore cannot be classed as a form of gambling.

However, the next generation of slot machines is starting to use video game graphics and technology. While many of these relate to traditional gambling games (e.g., roulette, poker, blackjack, etc.) there are plans for developing video gambling games in which people would win money based on their game scores. This obviously gives an idea of the direction that slot machines and the gaming industry are heading.

Furthermore, there are a growing number of researchers who suggest that video games share some common ground with slot machines including the potential for dependency. On 1995, Dr Sue Fisher and myself edited a special issue of the Journal of Gambling Studies and wrote a paper examining trends in slot machine gambling. We pointed out that arcade video games and slot machines shared some important structural characteristics, these being:

• The requirement of response to stimuli that are predictable and governed by the software loop.
• The requirement of total concentration and hand–eye coordination.
• Rapid span of play negotiable to some extent by the skill of the player (more marked in video games).
• The provision of aural and visual rewards for a winning move (e.g., flashing lights, electronic jingles).
• The provision of an incremental reward for a winning move (points or money) that reinforces “correct” behaviour.
• Digitally displayed scores of “correct behaviour” (in the form of points or money accumulated).
• The opportunity for peer group attention and approval through com- petition.

As with excessive slot machine playing, excessive video game playing partly comes about by the partial reinforcement effect. This is a critical psychological ingredient of video game addiction whereby the reinforcement is intermittent – that is, people keep responding in the absence of reinforcement hoping that another reward is just around the corner. Knowledge about the partial reinforcement effect gives the video game designer an edge in designing appealing games. Magnitude of reinforcement is also important. Large rewards lead to fast responding and greater resistance to extinction – in short to more “addiction.” Instant reinforcement is also satisfying.

Video games rely on multiple reinforcements (i.e., what I call the “kitchen sink” approach) in that different features might be differently rewarding to different people. Success on video games comes from a variety of sources and the reinforcement might be intrinsic (e.g., improving a personal high score, beating a friend’s high score, putting a name on the “hall of fame,” mastering the machine) or extrinsic (e.g., peer admiration). As early as the 1980s, Dr. Thomas Malone reported that video game engagement is positively correlated to (i) a presence or absence of goals, (ii) the availability of automatic computer scores, (iii) the presence of audio effects, (iv) the random quality of the games, and (v) the degree to which rapid reaction times enhance game scores.

In 2007, Dr Jonathan Parke (Salford University, UK) and I developed a new taxonomy of structural characteristics related to gambling, listing all the known structural characteristics that have been shown to influence gambling behaviour in some way. All the 60+ structural characteristics were grouped into one of six types of characteristic:

• Speed and frequency characteristics: Factors relating to the frequency, duration and expediency of the game or reward.
• Playability characteristics: Factors that make gambling fun, interaction and/or engaging.
• Payment characteristics: Factors that relate to how one pays to gamble
• Reward characteristics: Factors relating to how one receives financial rewards or winnings.
• Educational characteristics: Factors that educate, protect, or provide information to players.
• Ambient characteristics: Factors that may influence the immediate situation of the game or may contribute to other factors already mentioned (e.g., the use of colour and sound).

Using this typology, Dr Parke and I argued that future research and policy initiatives may be to focus on regulating structural factors relating to payment (spending) and player awareness/education and focus less on structural factors relating to playability (which may also include reward, ambient, and speed characteristics). In this way, slot machines can continue to be fun, exciting, and play inducing, but with the eventual aim of minimizing harm.

It wasn’t until 2010 that I – along with Dr Daniel King and Dr Paul Delfabbro (both at the University of Adelaide, Australia) – developed a separate taxonomy of structural characteristics related to video game playing (published in the International Journal of Mental health and Addiction). We used some earlier empirical work that I had done with Dr Richard Wood (GamRes Ltd, Canada) back in 2004 and published in the journal CyberPsychology and Behavior. We devised a list of structural features by (a) playing a variety of video games, (b) examining and comparing known gambling structural characteristics, (c) discussing these features with players of video games, and (d) examining relevant research in the area of video game design. Our framework included the following characteristics:

• Sound, including sound effects, speaking characters and background music.
• Graphics, including high-quality realistic or cartoon-style graphics and full motion video (FMV).
• Background and setting, including whether the game is based on a story, film, or television program, and the use of realistic or fantasy settings.
• Duration of game, referring to how long the game usually takes to complete.
• Rate of play, referring to how quickly the player “absorbs” or “gets into” the game. & Advancement rate, referring to how quickly the game play advances.
• Use of humour in the game.
• Control options, referring to what the player can control in the game (including sound, graphics, and skill settings, choice of control methods, and physical feedback). &
• Game dynamics, including exploring new areas, elements of surprise, fulfilling a quest, skill development, AI interactions, collecting things, avoiding things, surviving against the odds, shooting, different ending options, different modes of transport, solving puzzles, beating times, cheats/Easter eggs, solving time limited problems, building environments, mapping, and linear/non-linear game format.
• Winning and losing features, referring to the potential to gain or lose points, finding bonuses, having to start level again, and ability to save regularly.
• Character development, referring to character development over time and character customization options.
• Brand assurance, referring to brand loyalty and/or celebrity endorsement.
• Multiplayer features, referring to various multi-player options, communication methods, building alliances, and beating other players.

Using this paper, and the gambling structural characteristics taxonomy, we developed our new video game structural characteristics taxonomy comprising five types of feature. These were: (a)

• Social features (i.e., social aspects of video game playing)
• Manipulation and control features (i.e., the role of user input in influencing in-game outcomes)
• Narrative and identity features (e.g., the role of character creation and interactive storytelling)
• Reward and punishment features (i.e., the ways in which players win and lose in video games)
• Presentation features (e.g., the visual and auditory presentation of video games).

Since developing the taxonomy, we have started to test it out empirically. Dr. King, Dr. Delfabbro and myself recently published a study investigating our structural characteristic taxonomy among 421 video game players (aged between 14 and 57 years). Our results showed that the reward and punishment features, such as earning points, finding rare game items, and fast loading times, were rated among the most enjoyable and important aspects of video game playing. There was some evidence that certain structural characteristics were stronger predictors of problematic involvement in video games than factors such as gender, age, and time spent playing. This included the use of adult content in the game, earning points, getting 100% in the game, and mastering the game. Our latest research supports the notion that some structural characteristics in video games may play a significant role in influencing problem video game playing behaviour.

Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, International Gaming Research Unit, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

Further reading

Fisher, S.E., & Griffiths, M.D. (1995). Current trends in slot machine gambling: Research and policy issues. Journal of Gambling Studies, 11, 239-247.

Griffiths, M.D. (1991). The observational analysis of adolescent gambling in UK amusement arcades. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 1, 309-320.

Griffiths, M.D. (1991). Amusement machine playing in childhood and adolescence: A comparative analysis of video games and fruit machines. Journal of Adolescence, 14, 53-73.

Griffiths, M.D. (1995). Adolescent gambling. London: Routledge.

Griffiths, M.D. (2002). Gambling and Gaming Addictions in Adolescence. Leicester: British Psychological Society/Blackwells.

Griffiths, M.D. (2005). The relationship between gambling and videogame playing: A response to Johansson and Gotestam. Psychological Reports, 96, 644-646.

Parke, J. & Griffiths, M.D. (2007). The role of structural characteristics in gambling.  In G. Smith, D. Hodgins & R. Williams (Eds.), Research and Measurement Issues in Gambling Studies. pp.211-243. New York: Elsevier.

Griffiths, M.D. (2011).  A typology of UK slot machine gamblers: A longitudinal observational and interview study. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 9, 606-626.

King, D.L., Delfabbro, P.H., Derevensky, J. & Griffiths, M.D. (2012). The classification of video games with gambling themes and content: An Australian perspective. International Gambling Studies, in press.

King, D.L., Delfabbro, P.H. & Griffiths, M.D. (2010). Video game structural characteristics: A new psychological taxonomy. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 8, 90-106.

King, D.L., Delfabbro, P.H. & Griffiths, M.D. (2010). The convergence of gambling and digital media: Implications for gambling in young people. Journal of Gambling Studies, 26, 175-187.

King, D.L., Delfabbro, P.H. & Griffiths, M.D. (2011). The role of structural characteristics in problematic video game play: An empirical study. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 9, 320-333.

Malone, T.W. (1981). Toward a theory of intrinsically motivating instruction. Cognitive Science, 4, 333–369.

It’s all in the game: The psychology of Game Transfer Phenomena

Back in September, one of our research studies on video gaming – more specifically a paper on game transfer phenomena (GTP) that I co-authored with Angelica Ortiz de Gortari (Nottingham Trent University) and Karin Aronsson (Stockholm University) – received a lot of national and international press coverage. Some of the press coverage – particularly that published in the Daily Mail and the Metro – was both sensationalist (“Gamers can’t tell real world from fantasy, say researchers”) and misleading (“How video games blur real life boundaries and prompt thoughts of violent solutions to players’ problems”) and angered some of the gaming community. This is not the first time that I have been on the receiving end of misleading media coverage but I knew from the initial interviews I did with the journalists at the Mail and the Metro that they had already decided what their story was going to be even before talking to me. So what was the real story and what did we say in our research?

The heart of the GTP story lay in our findings that some video game players appear to be so immersed in their gaming that when they stop playing, they sometimes transfer some of their virtual experiences to the real world.  Our published study was a qualitative study and comprised 42 in-depth interviews with Swedish gamers aged between 15 and 21 years old. We categorized player experiences into two main categories – GTP that occurred involuntarily, without premeditation, and those that were intentional.

Almost all the participants had, at some point, experienced some type of involuntary thoughts in relation to videogames. They thought in the same way as when they were gaming, with half of participants often looking to use something from a video game to resolve a real-life issue. In some cases these thoughts were accompanied by reflexes – such as reaching to click a button on the controller when it wasn’t in their hands – while on other occasions gamers visualised their thoughts in the form of game menus. Some gamers reached for the search button when looking for someone in a crowd or saw energy boxes appear above people’s heads. One gamer reported seeing a menu of topics that were available for him to think about, while another, after a lengthy gaming session, created a list of possible responses in their head after being insulted. Another gamer reported witnessing a maths equation appearing in a bubble above a teacher’s head while another reported health bars hovering over players from a rival football team. Players also reported using videogames for interacting with others as a form of amusement, modelling or mimicking video game content, and daydreaming about videogames.

Our findings suggest that some video game players experience intrusion in their cognitive processing and learn from videogames to react and perceive things in real-life, at least for a few seconds, in ways informed by virtual life. In some cases these automatic actions are triggered by a similarity between real-life and the video game, and on other occasions they occur when the players react to real-life stimuli similar to that seen in the game. One of the things we pointed out is that GTP have been reported in the gaming literature before, the most well know example being the ‘Tetris effect’ where players see Tetris pieces falling at the edges of their visual fields or when they close their eye. Other examples include players hearing auditory hallucinations related to the game when not playing.

Despite instances of GTP elsewhere in the psychological and medical literature, we argue that there are important reasons for not using the “Tetris effect” concept when studying game transfer effects. Among the most important are that: (i) the ‘Tetris effect’ definition is very broad and does not emphasize the importance of the association between real life stimulus and video game elements as a trigger of some of the transfer experiences, (ii) it does not make a clear distinction between sensorial modalities in the game transfer experiences or talk about players’ experiences across sensorial modalities (e.g., hear a sound and visualize a video game element), and (iii) the name itself is inspired by a one specific stereotypical puzzle game (i.e., Tetris). This simple name indicates that it is repetition that triggers the transfer effects but there are other factors involved in game transfer experiences. Furthermore, modern video games use more than abstract shapes and offer more flexible scenarios compared to Tetris and similar games.

We believe our study is the first to attempt to systematically explore these type of experience and to conceptualize the experiences within a wider framework (i.e., game transfer phenomena). Our initial findings have proved extremely interesting and almost all the players in our first study reported some type of GTP. However, they were experienced in different ways and with varying degrees of intensity. As we outline in this week’s New Scientist (December 24 issue), we are now following this up with further studies on a much larger number of gamers across many different countries. You can also check out Angelica’s dedicated game transfer phenomena website (http://www.gametransferphenomena.com/).

Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, International Gaming Research Unit, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

Further reading

Gackenbach, J.I (2008). Video game play and consciouness development: A transpersonal perspective. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 40(1), 60-87.

Ortiz de Gotari, A., Aronnson, K. & Griffiths, M.D. (2011). Game Transfer Phenomena in video game playing: A qualitative interview study. International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning, 1(3), 15-33.

Parfitt, B. (2011). Metro “can’t tell real world from fantasy”. MCV. September 21. Located at: http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/metro-can-t-tell-real-world-from-fantasy/085065

Purchase, R. (2011). Prof clarifies Game Transfer Phenomena. Eurogamer.net. September 21. Located at: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-09-21-game-transfer-phenomena-authors-defence

Spence, S.A. (1993). Nintendo hallucinations: A new phenomenological entity. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 10, 98-99.

The Tetris Effect. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect

Return to gender: Gender swapping and the convergence of gambling and video gaming

I’ve always found the gender differences in game playing of great psychological interest. For a number of years, my research unit has been examining various online gaming environments including both gambling (e.g., online poker sites) and video gaming (e.g., ‘meta-verses’ such as Everquest and World of Warcraft). One study we published specifically examined online video gaming found that the majority of gamers (57%) had gender-swapped their game character, and that females (68%) were more likely to gender swap than males (54%). We argued that gender swapping enabled gamers to play around and experiment with various aspects of their character or avatar that are not easy to do in real life. For others it was just fun to see if they felt any different playing a different gendered character.

Most of the press coverage that our research received on that particular study concentrated on the fact that females (as one of our participants said) were tired of the “annoying and ridiculous habit of creepy guys hitting on their female characters”. Other women reported that if they made their character a woman, men tended to treat them far better. This provided support for our earlier research suggesting that the female persona has a number of positive social attributes in a male-oriented environment. However, lots of other reasons for gender swapping didn’t make it into all the media reports. Other reasons included that female characters had better in-game statistics, specific in-game tools were only available with a female character, and/or the class of character was only available in one gender. What makes our findings interesting is that in most instances, the gamer had the opportunity to choose the gender of his or her character and to develop other aspects of their character before they began to play. Choosing to gender swap may have had an effect on the gamers’ styles of play and interaction with other gamers. This is certainly an area our research unit will be looking into further.

The idea that many men gender-swapped for strategic reasons mirrors our research into gender swapping in online poker. For instance, one of our studies into online poker, we found that one in five female players (20%) and one in eight players (12%) reported they gender-swapped playing online poker. For males, gender swapping was a tactical move to give them a strategic advantage, whereas for females it was much more about acceptance or privacy in what they perceived to be a male-dominated environment.

From my point of view, the most interesting development is the convergence between online gaming and gambling. Game developers are constantly looking for new ways to increase revenue. Conventional wisdom says that two things have the power to drive consumer technology – sex and gambling. Since 2006, a number of servers aimed at the adult gaming market have launched services that pay videogame players every time they kill within the game they are playing. On one level, this activity is akin to some types of online gambling like online poker. If gender swapping is done for strategic advantage then more and more players will engage in it – especially if it brings them financial rewards.

One of the legal implications of being paid to kill within the confines of a computer game is that the activity is defined as a skill-based (as apposed to a chance-based) activity and is therefore – in Great Britain at least – exempt from the regulations set down in the 2005 Gambling Act. However, it is likely that more and more gambling companies will start to utilise videogame technology within their products (and vice-versa) and this will then become an issue that the Gambling Commission will almost certainly have to re-examine in terms of the gambling legislation.

Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Division, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Further reading

Griffiths, M.D. (2008). Digital impact, crossover technologies and gambling practices. Casino and Gaming International, 4(3), 37-42.

Griffiths, M.D. (2011). Gaming convergence: Further legal issues and psychosocial impact. Gaming Law Review and Economics, 14, 461-464.

Griffiths, M.D., Parke, J., Wood, R.T.A. & Rigbye, J. (2010). Online poker gambling in university students: Further findings from an online survey. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 8, 82-89.

Hussain, Z. & Griffiths, M.D. (2008). Gender swapping and socialising in cyberspace: An exploratory study. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 11, 47-53.

King, D.L., Delfabbro, P.H. & Griffiths, M.D. (2010). The convergence of gambling and digital media: Implications for gambling in young people. Journal of Gambling Studies, 26, 175-187.

Wood, R.T.A., Griffiths, M.D. & Parke, J. (2007). The acquisition, development, and maintenance of online poker playing in a student sample. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 10, 354-361.

 

 

Video game playing, addiction, and the role of context

Over the past few years I have spent time researching the excessive playing of online games like Everquest and World of Warcraft (WoW). If you have read one of my earlier blogs, you will see that I view addictive behaviour as any behaviour that features what I believe are the six core components of addiction (i.e., salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, conflict and relapse). Online gaming involves multiple reinforcements in that different features might be differently rewarding to different people. In video games more generally, the rewards might be intrinsic (e.g. improving your highest score, beating your friend’s high score, getting your name on the “hall of fame”, mastering the game) or extrinsic (e.g. peer admiration).

In online gaming, there is no end to the game and there is the potential for gamers to play endlessly. This can be immensely rewarding and psychologically engrossing. For a small minority of people, this may lead to addiction where online gaming compromises everything else in their lives. However, playing excessively doesn’t necessarily make someone an addict. Last year, I published two case study accounts of two males who claimed that they were gaming for up to 80 hours a week. They were behaviourally identical in terms of their game playing, but very different in terms of their psychological motivation to play.

The first case was an unemployed single 21-year old male. His favourite online game was World of Warcraft and that since leaving university he had spent an average of 10 to 14 hours a day playing WoW. He claimed that WoW had a positive influence in his life and that most of his social life was online and that it increased his self-esteem. He also argued that he had no other commitments and that he had the time and the flexibility to play WoW for long stretches. Gaming provided a daily routine when there was little else going on. There were no negative detrimental effects in his life. When he got a job and a girlfriend, his playing all but stopped.

The second case was 38-year old male, a financial accountant, married and had two children. He told me that over the previous 18 months, his online playing of Everquest had gone from about 3-4 hours of playing every evening to playing up to 14 hours a day. He claimed that his relationship was breaking down, that he was spending little time with his children, and that he constantly rang in sick to work so that he could spend the day playing online games. He had tried to quit playing on a number of occasions but could not go more than a few days before he experienced “an irresistible urge” to play again – even when his wife threatened to leave him. Giving up online gaming was worse than giving up smoking and that he was “extremely moody, anxious, depressed and irritable” if he was unable to play online. Things got even worse. He was fired from his job for being unreliable and unproductive (although his employers were totally unaware of his gaming behaviour). As a result of losing his job, his wife also left him. This led to him “playing all day, every day”. It was a vicious circle in that his excessive online gaming was causing all his problems yet the only way he felt he could alleviate his mood state and forget about all of life’s stresses was to play online games even more.

I argued that only the second man appeared to be genuinely addicted to online gaming but that the first man wasn’t. I based this on the context and consequences of his excessive play. Online gaming addiction should be characterized by the extent to which excessive gaming impacts negatively on other areas of the gamers’ lives rather than the amount of time spent playing. For me, an activity cannot be described as an addiction if there are few (or no) negative consequences in the player’s life even if the gamer is playing 14 hours a day. The difference between a healthy enthusiasm and an addiction is that healthy enthusiasms add to life, addictions take away from it.

Despite the potentially negative side of online gaming, there is lots of evidence suggesting that gaming can have very positive effects in peoples’ lives. The immersive and dissociative experience of gaming can also be very therapeutic and help people deal with every day stresses and strains. Our research shows that many gamers love the fact that playing games leads to time loss. This is more positive than drug use, drinking alcohol or other activities like gambling. Simulated environments online also allow people to explore their personalities (e.g. gender swapping) and test out boundaries, something that would be difficult to do offline.

Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Division, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Further reading

Griffiths, M.D. (2010). The role of context in online gaming excess and addiction: Some case study evidence. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 8, 119-125.

The cultural influence of females in video games

As someone who has been researching in the area of video games for almost a quarter of a century, I have witnessed first hand the significant impact that video games have had in popular culture. Almost everywhere you look, you can see their influence on films, television, and popular music.

From the early 1970s to the mid-1990s, most people would probably agree that video game playing was the domain of a mainly male adolescent subculture. But that is not to say there haven’t been pivotal moments where videogames crept into more general consciousness. After Pong’s introduction in 1972 we saw more and more iconic videogames and characters flirt with the cultural mainstream, including Space Invaders in the late 1970s, Pacman in the early 1980s, and the Mario Brothers in the mid-1980s.  This even spawned a film, Super Mario Bros., in 1993, which although a critical disaster marked the first real foray of videogames into big-budget movies.

For some though, the real point at which videogames became part of the cultural mainstream was the success of Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider series. When it comes to computer games, cyber-icon Lara Croft was one of the most psychologically interesting phenomena of the late 1990s. With her exaggerated bombshell figure and assertively aggressive attitude, Lara was the first sex-symbol of the digital age as well as a symbol of change within the videogame industry and wider culture.

In the UK she coincided with the rise of the ladette, the Spice Girls and Grrrl Power. She represented fearless femininity combined with a traditionally masculine drive to succeed and conquer which made her both a pin-up and a non-traditional female role model. Traditionally, cultural pastimes open up to the involvement of women thanks to torch-bearers, strong role models who inspire others in their path such as Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Sandra Bernhardt, and Vivienne Westwood. We also witnessed this in Hollywood blockbusters with strong leading female roles for Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in the Alien films, and Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor in The Terminator films and television series.

Then came the turn of video games. Female video gamers needed strong female icons to bring them into the fold and Lara was created partly in response to this absence.  However, it was suggested that far from liking Lara, most women felt intimidated by her because she was the ultimate male fantasy. What’s more, others say that Tomb Raider was another example of men manipulating women to become their creation, their plaything – albeit digitally.

However, this is too simple a view of such a powerful cultural icon. To say that she is the ‘Page 3 girl’ of the cyber world is to look merely at the surface.  Most Tomb Raider players weren’t lusting adolescents. Lara was unlike any other female that appeared in videogames before her. Up until Tomb Raider, females tended to be cast as victims of violence (e.g. Night Trap), victims to be rescued, and/or diversions from the action (Sonic the Hedgehog’s girlfriend, the princess in Super Mario). Lara on the other hand was the all-English action heroine and good-time girl. She didn’t rely on super-human powers – she was someone who worked hard and achieved more. Later versions of Lara – such as Tomb Raider: Legend – featured a less sexualised version.

Her femininity enhanced her, it neither hampered nor defined her. Although we could not now imagine Lara without her pneumatic figure, she is not labeled solely by it.  She is the woman who broke away from the female whilst embracing it, a cyber-dichotomy who broke free of the perceived limitations of her sex while still retaining her femininity through her body.  She achieved what women still struggle with, accepting her body in all its freakish proportions (and they are freakish) and still solving the riddle and defeating the bad guy.

Despite Lara’s influence, there are still a few video games where the female characters are ancillary, a sidekick, and/or cast in the victim role (such as the princess in Prince of Persia that has to be rescued, or sidekicks such as Mona Sax in Max Payne or Sheva Alomar in Resident Evil 5). However, there is now an abundance of strong female protagonists.

Historically, the bounty hunter Samus Aran (from the Metroid games) is held up as a positive role model in video games. In fact, most players were unaware that the lead protagonist was female until the end of the game because she wore mechanical armour. In this instance, her female characteristics were not emphasized over her viability as a video game character. Post-Lara, this is further reflected in characters such as Chun Li (Street Fighter), Nariko (Heavenly Sword), Cate Archer (No-one Lives Forever), Jill Valentine (Resident Evil), Faith (Mirror’s Edge) and Chell (Portal). Perhaps the new breed of immensely powerful female protagonists is best exemplified by Bayonetta Her character has been described as a “hardcore badass brimming with sexual energy” and a “Lara Croft without the prudishness”.

Why should women in videogames be ugly and frumpy? Gaming is a form of escapism, not a reality. We construct our fantasies with what we actually desire, not what we think we should. Look at films, look at music. The unattractive women in dowdy clothes and unflattering haircuts are nowhere to be found. Pop is full of nubile nymphets, straight out of Lolita, or vamps with Monroe-esque curves. We want to look at beauty, at sex. We want to look at Bayonetta, at April Ryan, at Cammy.

Lara Croft was the first and the original cyberbabe and brought video games into the cultural mainstream. She was (and arguably still is) highly popular not only because she was the first, but more importantly because Tomb Raider itself is a good game. That is not to say that the portrayal of women in video games has ceased to court controversy. Violence against women (such as particular scenes in the Grand Theft Auto franchise) is still present but appears to be diminishing. Therefore, digital media creators need to realize (if they don’t already) that their character representations have the power to engage or disengage their audience and players. Online games have the potential to take things to a different level. Players can create their own avatars and gender swap. They can experiment with different parts of their personalities. Some real time strategy games include women as a prominent part of the story line (such as Warcraft III, Command and Conquer). Additionally, they include female fighting units that can be created, recruited, and controlled by the player.

Strong females like Lara and Bayonetta, help shape represent modern femininity. Often described as “tough chicks” and “action girls”, they display hybrid attributes that are both masculine and feminine. These new visions of female role models offer female empowerment. However, there are clearly many different gaming audiences, and everything associated with a game and game character is subjective. Gaming has grown up and it is now possible to create unique and/or distinctive characters that have a generally broad appeal across gender, age, and gamer types – not just adolescent boys. Recent research has also shown there is a desire among many gamers to see more varied female characters in games. The significant increase in the number of strong female characters within mainstream games is not only a sign of the times but something to be applauded and built on.

Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Division, Nottingham Trent University, UK.