Sociology help

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Spend time playing Some of the block- buster video games drawing fans to this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego and a familiar trope emerges. Female characters are relegated to supporting roles, accessorizing battle- fields and racetracks in skimpy, impractical, cleavage-baring outfits. This, gamemakers say, is what young gamers want: to play as virtual men and ogle virtual women.

They’re wrong. My colleagues and I re- cently surveyed 1,400 middle- and high school students across the U.S. about their gaming habits. What we found upends the in- dustry’s tired stereotypes about gender.

Three-fourths of the boys we surveyed were not any more likely to play a game based on the gender of its protagonist. Of those who identified as “gamers,” 55% said they wanted more female heroes. Moreover, 47% of middle-

school boys and 61% of high school boys in- dicated that, in general, female characters are treated too often as sex objects. As Theo, an eighth-grader, puts it, objectifying female characters “defeats the entire purpose of ” games like Mortal Kombat, which is to fight.

And in growing numbers, it’s women who are playing video games. Of the girls we sur- veyed, 36% played role-playing titles like Grand Theft Auto and 26% played shooters like Call of Duty. Roughly half of all fandom convention attendees are women.

It’s time for the gaming industry to stop assuming that half its market share is inter- ested only in sex—and that the other half isn’t even playing.

Wiseman is the author of Queen Bees & Wannabes and Masterminds & Wingmen

QUICK TAKE

Why video games need more female heroes By Rosalind Wiseman

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B R E A K T H ROUG H

The L3D cube Brooklyn and Hong Kong– based tech firm Looking Glass raised more than $250,000 on Kickstarter to build its L3D cube, a first-of-its-kind, wi-fi-enabled LED fixture. Here’s how it works. —S.B.

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Standard cubes measure about

8 cu. in. and contain 512 LED bulbs,

working with a built-in processor

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Users download apps (some created by other users) to

enable various light displays, such as a

3-D game of snake or a fireworks display

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Other apps sync with music in real time, allowing users to visualize beats in

3-D; colors too can change in tandem

with volume

WASTE LESS FOOD

HOW T O

According to a recent report, American

households estimate that they toss at least $640 worth of food each year,

thanks in large part to spoiling that could be

prevented.

REFRIGERATE APPLES

They last 10 times as long if they are kept in the coolest part of the fridge; that’s usually the bottom drawer.

WASH BERRIES IN VINEGAR

Specifically, a vinegar- water mix (roughly

1 part to 3 parts). This extends their shelf life

by several days.

EMBRACE MOLDY CHEESE

On hard cheeses like Parmesan and

cheddar, mold grows only on the sur face; cutting it away and eating the rest is

usually safe.

PLACE EGGS FAR BACK IN THE FRIDGE It’s much cooler there (vs. a standard door shelf), which will help

raw eggs keep for up to five weeks.

UNDERSTAND EXPIRATION DATES They’re days by which the food is no longer considered fresh by

the manufacturer, not days by which food is no longer safe to eat. In most cases,

there’s wiggle room for refrigerated goods.

—ALEXANDRA SIFFERLIN

The 8-by-8- by-8-bulb

cube retails for $350 on lookingglass factory.com

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