Have games become too “politically correct”?

Have games become too “politically correct”? The answer is no.

Video gaming has still maintained the usual worldwide status quo, that does not always reflect a better picture of ‘diversity.’ For example, the ‘damsel in distress’ has been common in games since even 1991 until today. Games that have interesting young women protagonists (even games like Ib) still rely at a few points on a male savior type guidance. Other games that I’ve really loved playing (like Witcher 2) have very overt use of damsel in distress (e.g. Geralt had to save Triss or let Triss be saved etc).

This may look like just ”minute” details but even since before 1991, these ideas (stereotypes via ‘damsel in distress’) unfortunately start to influence at a young age.

”Other examples of this victim or damsel in distress depiction include the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle s (1990) in which the Ninjas’ friend April is standing in a room screaming and crying when the Ninja Turtle finally saves her. Moreover, this type of scene is prevalent in those games that appear to be especially appealing to the youngest players.”

By: Dietz, T. L. (1998). An examination of violence and gender role portrayals in video games: Implications for gender socialization and aggressive behavior.Sex roles, 38(5-6), 425-442.

I’d argue that its influence (‘damsel in distress’) is also related to how the ”white man’s burden” is one of the largest forces in popular culture — ranging from books, TV series to video games. May 2015 be the year when the ”white man’s burden” theme stop being the largest force in popular culture and in everyday interactions worldwide. Popular culture has a lot more potential for creativity (e.g. the inversion of damsel in distress I talked about) besides the usual boring, oppressive cliche of ”white folks saving everyone else” story.