College students in study have negative feelings about exaggerated and highly sexualized body types.
In a four-year study, college students who play Japanese fighting games reported discomfort with the characters’ exaggerated, highly sexualized physiques, yet they also said gameplay and mechanics matter far more to their experience than character appearance.
The study was led by Rachael Hutchinson, an associate professor of Japanese studies at the University of Delaware, who surveyed students about their reactions to games like Soul Calibur, Tekken and Virtua Fighter. Her paper, “Gender Stereotypes in Japanese Fighting Games: Effects on Identification and Immersion,” was published in the September issue of the Journal of New Media and Culture.
“These characters—both male and female—often display extreme, unrealistic body types,” Hutchinson explained. “My central question was whether those portrayals reduce a player’s ability to identify with a character or to become immersed in the game.”
Her findings show that players do notice and react negatively to hyperbolic body shapes, and that men and women tend to object for different reasons. Male players were more likely to criticize the exaggerated muscular forms of male characters—sometimes calling those designs unrealistic even compared to real bodybuilding—whereas female players tended to focus on the sexualized portrayal of women and what those portrayals imply about gender dynamics in the games industry.
Despite these objections, both male and female players ranked character appearance lower in importance when asked what affected their sense of identification with an avatar or their immersion in gameplay. mechanics mattered far more.
“When I asked them what detracts from their identification with a character, sexualized elements typically ranked much lower—around sixth place—compared with gameplay factors,” Hutchinson said.
Players consistently emphasized immediate, practical elements of the gaming experience: whether they were winning, how responsive character controls felt, and how well they could execute intended actions. Frustration from losing or feeling unable to control a character often broke identification and immersion, whereas success and control reinforced attachment to a character regardless of appearance.
“If you’re losing or can’t control your character, you stop identifying with them,” Hutchinson noted. “If you’re winning and the controls feel good, you’ll identify with the character no matter how they look. Those effects are driven by genre and mechanics, not by character aesthetics.”
The study also highlights the importance of focusing on specific game types rather than treating the industry as monolithic. Fighting games typically let players choose from dozens of characters and play short matches that last only a few minutes. Players can easily switch characters between matches, which alters how much time they spend identifying with any single avatar.
In contrast, single-character narrative games—where players guide one protagonist through hours of story—may produce different responses to character design. Hutchinson recommends that future research consider how choice and genre shape players’ reactions to gendered representations.
Source: Peter Bothum – University of Delaware
Image Source: The image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Full open access research for “Gender Stereotypes in Japanese Fighting Games: Effects on Identification and Immersion” by Rachael Hutchinson in Journal of New Media and Culture. Published online August 2015. doi: not available
Abstract
Gender Stereotypes in Japanese Fighting Games: Effects on identification and immersion
This essay explores how gender stereotypes in Japanese fighting games affect American undergraduate players’ identification with characters and their immersion in gameplay. Players were asked how they react to gendered representations in titles such as Soul Calibur, Tekken and Virtua Fighter. The study found that stereotypical and hyper-sexualized portrayals do have negative effects: participants reported objections to unrealistic body proportions and sexualized imagery. Male respondents tended to raise concerns about male body image and exaggerated musculature, while female respondents more often framed their objections in terms of broader gender representation and industry bias. Crucially, however, when players ranked factors that enhanced or detracted from identification, gameplay mechanics and the interactive experience—winning, control responsiveness, and match structure—outweighed character appearance. The findings underscore that effects of gendered portrayals can vary by genre and by the degree of player choice within a game.
“Gender Stereotypes in Japanese Fighting Games: Effects on identification and immersion” by Rachael Hutchinson in Journal of New Media and Culture. Published online August 2015. doi: not available