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Male characters in role-playing video games have 50% more dialogue than females, highlighting a “stark gender imbalance” in the gaming genre, scientists have said. In role-playing games (RPGs), the gamer controls one or more characters undertaking quests or missions in an imaginary world. Researchers from the Universities of Glasgow and Cardiff analysed the dialogue of 50 RPGs from 1986 to 2020, including Final Fantasy, Skyrim and Mass Effect. This encompassed 6.2 million spoken words from 13,000 characters. The results, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, suggest 94% of the games studied had more male dialogue than female dialogue, including ones with multiple female protagonists such as Final Fantasy X-2 or King’s Quest VII. They also found that the proportion of female dialogue is slowly increasing in RPGs at a rate of 6.3 percentage points per decade – from a mean of about 18% in the 1980s to about 40% by 2020. While we expected to find a larger proportion of male dialogue overall, we were surprised to discover how few games - just three of 50 - had more than 50% female dialogue Dr Stephanie Rennick, University of Glasgow However, the researchers said that if this rate were to continue, gender balance would not be reached until 2036. Dr Stephanie Rennick, research associate in philosophy, school of humanities at the University of Glasgow, said: “While we expected to find a larger proportion of male dialogue overall, we were surprised to discover how few games – just three of 50 – had more than 50% female dialogue. “I was also surprised that the lack of female characters compared to their male counterparts persisted at every level, from main player characters through to background NPCs (non-player characters).” For the study, the researchers obtained the transcripts of dialogue used in the games and identified which character said what. Dr Sean Roberts, lecturer at the school of English, communication and philosophy at Cardiff University, said: “We categorised the gender of each character, not assuming binary gender. “This allowed us to count how many words were available for each gender in each game. “For example, we can compare the number of words spoken by female characters to the number of words spoken by male characters.” The researchers found only 35% of words were spoken by female characters and they were more likely to apologise, hesitate or be polite, compared with their male counterparts. They said the proportion of female dialogue ranged from 6% (King’s Quest VI) to 80% (King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella). They discovered one game, Monkey Island, did not pass the Bechdel test, which requires two named female characters to talk to each other about something besides a man. Around half of gamers are female, but they experience a lot of abuse and exclusion. More diverse representation is being called for by players and developers Dr Sean Roberts, Cardiff University The team also found examples of stereotyped gendered behaviour. The researchers said that in Stardew Valley, characters respond differently depending on the player character’s gender. For example, they said, female players are offered a salad, wine, repeatedly described as beautiful and assumed to have little experience of video games, while male players are offered pasta, ale, described as “full of energy” and are assumed to be good video game players. Analysis also showed only 30 out of 13,000 characters belong to the non-binary gender categories, which is about half as much as in real life, the researchers said. Dr Roberts said: “Around half of gamers are female, but they experience a lot of abuse and exclusion. “More diverse representation is being called for by players and developers. “So we hope that developers will consider addressing the imbalances we found in order to create more inclusive games.”

OSLO, Norway--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 21, 2023--

Meta is revamping Facebook’s logo to a darker blue with a few small tweaks to create what it claims is a “bolder, electric and everlasting” design. The “subtle” logo change – which at first glance may seem barely noticeable – incorporates a “more confident expression of Facebook’s core blue color,” the social media company said in a blog post. Facebook says the logo change to the lowercase “f” is more visually accessible in the platform’s app with “stronger contrast for the ’f’ to stand apart”. “We wanted to ensure that the refreshed logo felt familiar, yet dynamic, polished and elegant in execution. These subtle, but significant changes allowed us to achieve optical balance with a sense of forward movement.” Dave N, director of design at Facebook said. The social media giant highlighted three “key drivers” behind the evolution of its logo, including a push to “elevate the most iconic elements” of the brand, and to create “an expansive set of colors” anchored in blue. Over the years, the social media platform’s logo has undergone a number of changes, starting from one that had square boundaries to the current circular design. The new logo, the company says, uses its custom typeface – Facebook Sans – and a redesigned wordmark and logo to “create a consistent treatment and improve overall legibility.” The new design has led to some being left puzzled on social media. Some users, however, described the design changes in a little more detail. Facebook says it has also developed a new colour palette with a new set of hues, tones and contrast ratios. “The deep tonal range of secondary blues allows for flexibility while providing balance as a single expression of our brand identity,” the company said. It said more changes to the platform’s “reactions, typography and iconography” are to be rolled out in the future. “All of these refinements will create a more consistent, personal and seamless experience for the billions of people who interact with Facebook daily,” the company said. Meta likely has more changes planned for the brand’s design in the coming days, with the company describing the latest tweaks on Wednesday’s blog as “the first phase of a refreshed identity system” for the app. Read More Meta’s encryption plans will create ‘safe haven’ for paedophiles, Braverman says Elon Musk warns of ‘civilisational risk’ posed by AI at historic gathering of tech giant chiefs Twitter rival Threads’ launch of much-anticipated feature did little to attract more users, data suggests What is ‘Rumble’, where Russell Brand is posting videos? Google sued after man drove off collapsed bridge while following map directions Google’s powerful ‘Bard’ AI can now get into your email

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