So we get to blog on any topic related to research! What shall we talk about? Me thinks of speaking on the relevance of Monty Python humor on the United States and the infidels who do not get it, but me thinks that is also a little off topic. Oh well.
The topic then shall be on some other research I am doing that I have found very interesting. For my research project in the Visual Rhetoric class, I am examining idealized female images on video game covers. Surprisingly, little research has been done into the marketing of video games concerning the images used. A lot of research has been conducted on the images within the games, but not on the marketing. So far, virtually all of the game covers using a female image, use an idealized image. What does it mean? Does it even matter? I contend that yes, it does matter.
First of all there is the ethical issues related to using any idealized form - male or female. On the other hand, game manufacturers may be inadvertently offending a potential part of their market by using such images. Female gamers have been slowly taking up a larger part of the market. In addition, the average age is on the increase. Whereas a few years ago, the typical gamer was a teenager, now the average age is creeping into the upper twenties and even thirties. It seems to me that an older, smarter, savvier game buyer, will need to be marketed to in a different way.
On the other hand, maybe I am full of bologna, and no one really cares. Perhaps the average game buyer doesn't really worry about the images used on box covers, advertisements, and in the games themselves. My research involves looking at the past literature and conducting a semiotic analysis of the images. I would propose conducting additional research into whether or not these images do influence the potential market. My guess is they do.
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