Dijital oyunlarda toplumsal cinsiyet algısı: "Detroıt Become Human" örneği üzerinden bir araştırma
Gender perception in digital games: a research over the example of "Detroit Become Human"
Yazar: ASLI BEGÜM MERİÇ
Danışman: DR. ÖĞR. ÜYESİ ÖZLEM KALAN GÜNDÜZ
İstanbul Üniversitesi / Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü / Halkla İlişkiler ve Tanıtım Ana Bilim Dalı / Yeni Medya ve İletişim Yönetimi Bilim Dalı
Derece: Yüksek Lisans, 2022
Konu: Halkla İlişkiler = Public Relations ; İletişim Bilimleri = Communication Sciences
Dizin: Oyunlar = Games ; Sayısal oyunlar = Digital games ; Toplumsal cinsiyet = Gender ; Video oyunları = Video games

Özet:
Toplumsal cinsiyet en temel haliyle, "genellikle atanmış cinsiyet ile uyumlu olduğu varsayılarak, kadınlık ve erkeklikle ilişkilendirilen toplumsal ve kültürel cinsiyet normları" olarak tanımlanmaktadır. Kadınlardan ve erkeklerden, bu normlara uymaları, onlara biçilen rolleri oynamaları beklenmektedir. Bu rollere "cinsiyet rolleri" adı verilmektedir. Cinsiyet rollerinin temelinde kalıpyargılar ve önyargılar bulunmaktadır ve kültürden kültüre farklılık gösterebilmektedir. 
Cinsiyet farklılıkları ve bunların çıkış noktaları günümüzde hala araştırmacılar tarafından kesin olarak tespit edilebilmiş değildir. Yakın tarih sayılabilecek 1980 yılı sonları itibarıyla çalışmalar yapılmaya başlanmış, çok çeşitli kuramlar ortaya atılmıştır. 
Medya ise var olduğu günden bu yana kitle iletişim araçları vasıtasıyla cinsiyet rollerini yeniden üreterek yaymaktadır. Geleneksel medya araçları olan televizyon, radyo, gazete vb. araçlara yeni medya ile birlikte internet de eklenmiştir. Dizilerde, filmlerde, kitaplarda, sosyal medyada çeşitli cinsiyet rollerini ve kalıpyargılarını bulmak, bunlara maruz kalmak mümkündür. 
Yeni medya ortamlarından bir tanesi ise video oyunlardır. Oyun sektöründe yeni popülerlik kazanmış bir tür olan interaktif hikaye oyunları, sunduğu etkileşimli ortam sayesinde cinsiyet rollerinin bireyler arası ve/veya birey tarafından uygulanmasına temel oluşturmaktadır.  
Yapılan literatür taramasının birinci bölümünde; toplumsal cinsiyet, kuramlarıyla birlikte ele alınmış ve medyada var olan toplumsal cinsiyete değinilmiştir. Yeni medyanın ortaya çıkışıyla birlikte başlı başlına bir sektör haline gelen video oyunlarına ise literatür taramasının ikinci bölümünde yer verilmiştir. Araştırmanın amacı, geçmişten günümüze gelmeyi başaran toplumsal cinsiyet öğelerinin bir yeni medya ortamı olan video oyunlarında da varlığını koruyup korumadığının tespitidir. Araştırmada betimsel araştırma yöntemi kullanılmış olup, 25 kadın ve 25 erkek oyun yayıncısının interaktif bir hikaye oyunu olan "Detroit: Become Human" oyunu yayınları incelenmiştir.

Abstract:
Gender usually defines as "Social and cultural gender norms associated with femininity and masculinity, assuming to be compatible with the devoted gender". Women and men are expected to abide by these norms and act based upon the roles assigned to them by society. These roles are named as "gender roles" and may vary substantially among cultures. Roles are based on stereotypes and preconceptions. Etymologically, the term "stereotype" derived from the Greek words "stereos" (means firm, solid) and "typos" (means impression). Hence stereotype term points out to "solid impression on one or more idea/theory". The term was first used in 1922 by Walter Lippmann in his modern psychology book, "Public Opinion". 
Media reproduces these gender stereotypes and they can be found on mass media in different ways. A child, for example, who grows up with cartoons and children's books, with gender roles in them, growing up as a teen and reading magazines with gender stereotypes. Eventually the same person becomes an adult and watches TV shows and movies which promotes gender differences. People who grow up with gender preconceptions start to perform gender roles in the same way. Hence this limits the capacity of people. 
After the internet, media became more effective than ever. As assumed in uses and gratifications theory, audience members are not passive consumers of media anymore. By the virtue of Web 2.0, they have an interactive role. Social media is the biggest example of this interactivity. Beside social media, video games are the newest universe of new media.
Video games may contain gender roles in different ways. Online games, for example, are male-dominated environments and women become targets just because of their genders. Besides PvP (Players versus Players) interactions, game designs usually contain multiple gender stereotyping. Female characters are mostly portrayed as helpers; like healers, shamans and supports. In addition to this, female characters are mostly sexualized with unrealistic proportions. They are presented as sexual objects with their over-exaggerated physiques. On the contrary, male characters are shown as icons of power especially with their muscles and other large portions of their bodies.
In story-based games, players have to face with gender-stereotyped designs. Main characters in these games are usually men. Like in online games, women are the secondary characters whose only aim is to help main characters. These women are mostly become main characters' girlfriend or wife. If not so, they will fall in love later. 
A genre that is not new in the gaming sector but that recently gained popularity is interactive story games. These are games in which players decide how the story develops. The story shapes towards players' reasonable and emotional choices and doesn't follow a linear flowchart. The choices during gameplay determine who will survive at the end of the game, the relationships between the game characters, and whether the final achieved will be a happy end story.
When it comes to gender in interactive story games, it contains both character designs towards gender roles and players' choices. In games with multiple playable characters, characters' roles are important. Developers of these games decide that roles. Because of that, players' can't go off the roles. An interactive game designed with these gender stereotypes makes people reproduce these gender roles. Games with wide perspectives let players' do whatever they want and let them decide which way they will follow. Players either can be aggressive and make their way hostilely or can be calm and make their way peacefully. In addition to this, players can choose a path by characters in games with multiple playable characters. For example; the player can stay calm with a female character but can be aggressive with the male character. In other words, "the player can choose to embody the initial personality of the character and make choices on behalf of them, or the player might put themselves in character, making choices based on their authentic experiences".
In this dissertation, gender, gender identity, gender roles, gender stereotyping, gender presentation on media and games, history of video games and interactive story games have been examined as a literature study. The research objective is to find out if there are still gender roles in new media games, which is a new generation environment. The main purpose is to check if statements about women and men are true like "women are emotional" or "men are more logical than women". 
The method of this study is descriptive research. The game named "Detroit: Become Human" is chosen to see decision motivations by women and men. 25 women and 25 men game streamers' choices are analyzed.