Scholars now express broad concern about the possible impact of racial-portrayal and gender-role content in video games on players, especially adolescent ones. Despite its alarming potential influence on gamers, very limited research has examined the stereotypical content in video games and its possible impact.

In “Gender and Racial Stereotypes in Popular Video Games”, an article from the recent release of the Handbook of Research on Effective Electronic Gaming in Education , (edited by Dr. Richard E. Ferdig, University of Florida, USA) professors Dr. Yi Mou, Cambridge, MA (USA) and Dr. Wei Peng, Michigan State University (USA) take a comprehensive review of previous studies conducted upon gender-role and racial portrayals in video games, as well as examine the implications of stereotyping in video games and the possible social and psychological impact on players, specifically young gamers.

“Compared to the research on gender stereotyping, even fewer studies have examined racial stereotyping in video games,” write Mou and Peng. “One reason might be the conscious avoidance of specific race representations by the gaming producers.”

“Oftentimes characters are created with vague or ambiguous ethnic characteristics, making it hard to tell the race characteristics. Nevertheless, the limited research sheds some light on the under representation and stereotypical portrayal of minority groups.”

Mou and Peng find that stereotypical gender roles are prevalent in games and this typecast will very likely influence how adolescents form their own identity toward the opposite gender. When popular commercial video games are to be used in the classroom, the authors insist that researchers and educators need to consider the potential impact that could generate among the young scholars.

(Portions of this article are excerpted from the Handbook of Research on Effective Electronic Gaming in Education edited by Dr. Richard E. Ferdig.)