Video Games as Essay Topics

[Moon of the Strawberries]

In my English class I have to write an essay that talks about the gender issues (how games treat both sexes and what they offer to both of them) in either video games or websites. I deiceded to choose video games and wrote about Pokemon for mine. I'm sure that Pokemon isn't the best choice, but it's one i'm familiar with.

After working on the rough draft for mine, I became curious if anyone else has written an essay for class that centered around something game specific. It'd be interesting to see what other people have written about in the past. So if anyone has written an essay, or even heard about someone else's essay you can talk about it here.

For another example, back in High School for SAT prep I wrote an essay about the differences and similarities between Melee and Brawl. Surprisingly enough, I actually got a good score on it.

 

[Teran]

Videogames could spawn a lot of cool essays.

I never wrote one based on anything of the sort though, mainly because people would scoff, and people scoffing meant lower grades. D:

 

[Big-Cat]

How about the perceived sexism in Metroid Other M (I think it's a load of bologna)? I have to do an essay soon on gender roles in my English class and that gave me the idea to do something like that but I have to keep it strictly in the United States.

 

[UberMario]

If done right it could be a good topic, but I think you should be a bit broader and encompass other aspects of gaming than just Pokemon, such as the stereotypical "strong male hero rescuing a damsel-in-distress who is totally defenseless" scenario which is still common in gaming today.

 

[Moon of the Strawberries]

I would have done Other M if I've actually played it.

Well, it says in my syllabus it has to be only one game. I decided Pokemon not just because i'm familiar with it, but at how at first it serves to both sexes and how over time it slowly devides into a very slight sexist line.

 

[pitskeyblade]

I'm doing almost the exact same topic, but I ranted about the whole "Male protagontist saves damsel in distress from male antagonist." You could also go on about how when female characters are used in games, they're mostly minor characters at best, designed to put that little bit of eye candy in the game. Just my two cents.

 

[Fried Ice Cream]

I would have done Other M if I've actually played it.

Well, it says in my syllabus it has to be only one game. I decided Pokemon not just because i'm familiar with it, but at how at first it serves to both sexes and how over time it slowly devides into a very slight sexist line.

Could you explain this to us, or do you not want to? I'm interested in what you mean with this and why you say it.

 

[Ryu Shimazu]

I would have done Other M if I've actually played it.

Well, it says in my syllabus it has to be only one game. I decided Pokemon not just because i'm familiar with it, but at how at first it serves to both sexes and how over time it slowly devides into a very slight sexist line.

Good piece of info: Loads of Pokemon are 75% Male / 25% Female. or 85% / 15%, in the males favor. Always in the males favor. XD

 

[Lore]

How about DoA? The "jiggle physics" alone would make for a good essay about sexism, and it could also be about about the developers' mindset and why they make things like that. Perhaps it is a way for them to get over the crushing loneliness by creating the perfect breasts?

Nah, they just want money from the idiotic masses.

 

[Teran]

Good piece of info: Loads of Pokemon are 75% Male / 25% Female. or 85% / 15%, in the males favor. Always in the males favor. XD

I think that's to add a hindrance to breeding.

The child will be the same species as the mother, so for many rare pokémon like Eevee and starters, they add a male bias to screw inexperienced players out of easy breeding.

Course this is all rectified when Ditto comes in, but yeah you'll still need a female of a species at some point for breeding chains and Nintendo likes making it very time consuming. :3

Also, Other M isn't sexist, it's just that Samus is portrayed as a human ****en being for once instead of an emotionless cyborg that doesn't even talk.

DoA is blatantly sexist though LOL, and a lot of videogames like Tomb Raider and any game with elves pretty much sexualises women to a massive degree. It's pretty funny.

 

[joshthelegodude]

i made website on the history of video games. got a perfect score

 

[Ryu Shimazu]

I think that's to add a hindrance to breeding.

The child will be the same species as the mother, so for many rare pokémon like Eevee and starters, they add a male bias to screw inexperienced players out of easy breeding.

Course this is all rectified when Ditto comes in, but yeah you'll still need a female of a species at some point for breeding chains and Nintendo likes making it very time consuming. :3

Also, Other M isn't sexist, it's just that Samus is portrayed as a human ****en being for once instead of an emotionless cyborg that doesn't even talk.

DoA is blatantly sexist though LOL, and a lot of videogames like Tomb Raider and any game with elves pretty much sexualises women to a massive degree. It's pretty funny.

It really isn't that big of a deal, unless your trying to get like, persay, a Nidoqueen. It can make IV building a tad slower, but it's never bothered me. (And I'm a hardcore breeder)

Do an essay on DBZ's portrayal of African Americans. Not Video Games, but close enough.

 

[Fuelbi]

Did a pamphlet comparing a cell to Pokemon once

Yeah... nobody gave a crap unlike what the rest of you on Skype were telling me

 

[finalark]

One time I did a paper on the console wars and the similarities it had to sporting rivalries.

I think I got a B on it.

 

[MCSR]

I wrote a paper on how to do a tool assisted speed run in seventh grade.
No-one understood any of it because it was all in emulator/geek speak so everyone just kinda assumed it was good cause everything was grammatically correct and it was like 3 pages long.

A+

 

[Lore]

DoA is blatantly sexist though LOL, and a lot of videogames like Tomb Raider and any game with elves pretty much sexualises women to a massive degree. It's pretty funny.

Most of the crappy Visual Novels that are out now are, unfortunately, like this.

Why must I be one of the only guys who doesn't play VN's for the sex scenes? I usually just skip them.

I wrote a paper on how to do a tool assisted speed run in seventh grade.
No-one understood any of it because it was all in emulator/geek speak so everyone just kinda assumed it was good cause everything was grammatically correct and it was like 3 pages long.

A+

I did the same thing back in 7th grade with E=MC2, and I made an A. Most of it was copy-pasted from Wikipedia, too. :3

 

[Life]

I wrote 500+ words on why video games are a legit hobby and not the end of the world as we know it (basically defending the industry from Thompson-ites).

The essay (no prompt, write about anything) was supposed to be 150 LOL

I should do one about video games as a competitive sport...