Gender bias in video game dialogue

Abstract

Gender biases in fictional dialogue are well documented in many media. In film, television and books, female characters tend to talk less than male characters, talk to each other less than male characters talk to each other, and have a more limited range of things to say. Identifying these biases is an important step towards addressing them. However, there is a lack of solid data for video games, now one of the major mass media which has the ability to shape conceptions of gender and gender roles. We present the Video Game Dialogue Corpus , the first large-scale, consistently coded corpus of video game dialogue, which makes it possible for the first time to measure and monitor gender representation in video game dialogue. It demonstrates that there is half as much dialogue from female characters as from male characters. Some of this is due to a lack of female characters, but there are also biases in who female characters speak to, and what they say. We make suggestions for how game developers can avoid these biases to make more inclusive games.

The role of regulatory policies in organizational culture: Insights from the education industry

“…It has been widely used by researchers in social science research. For instance, counting on the positive and negative expressions in certain texts [35][36][37][38][39][40], many scholars apply qualitative content analysis to evaluate article tone or sentiment, online communications and commitment to brand [41], gender bias in video game dialogue [42], the effect of social media influencers on travel decisions [43]. Moreover, quantitative content analysis is exploited to investigate business ethics [44], portrayals of different genders on primetime television [45], foreign news stories and sourcing practices [46], the credibility and reliability of corporate social responsibility reports [47], dialogic relationships on social media [48] etc.…”