--- title: Video Games: Kate Upton Game of War Ads Show Misconceptions on Boys description: What the boys going to Comic-Con really think of Kate Upton, Game of War, and women in video games canonical: https://time.com/3948744/video-games-kate-upton-game-of-war-comic-con/ author: Rosalind Wiseman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-08T13:35:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:02:15.140Z og:title: Everything You Know About Boys and Video Games Is Wrong og:description: Here's what they really think about how women are portrayed on screen og:url: https://time.com/3948744/video-games-kate-upton-game-of-war-comic-con/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3112395d660ffdb2/698859f20a4a2245e39c50d6/kate-upton-game-of-war1.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: kate-upton-game-of-war og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Everything You Know About Boys and Video Games Is Wrong twitter:description: Here's what they really think about how women are portrayed on screen twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3112395d660ffdb2/698859f20a4a2245e39c50d6/kate-upton-game-of-war1.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Everything You Know About Boys and Video Games Is Wrong ## Video: What Your Boys Aren't Telling You [Watch (HLS stream): What Your Boys Aren't Telling You](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7mqwsqXO.m3u8) (3:37)  _Published 2013-11-19. Rosiland Wiseman talks with three book contributors about the issues teen boys face every day._ by [Rosalind Wiseman](https://time.com/author/rosalind-wiseman/) ## Rosalind Wiseman Jul 8, 2015 1:35 PM UTC  by [Rosalind Wiseman](https://time.com/author/rosalind-wiseman/) ## Rosalind Wiseman Jul 8, 2015 1:35 PM UTC Kids are fed up with Kate Upton. When [the ads for _Game of War_](https://youtu.be/XkaWyrm8EQg) started showing up on my students’ phones last year—they haven’t stopped—many were annoyed. They hated that it was impossible to close the ad, forcing them instead to watch the video until the end. But what really irritated them was Ms. Upton, in a full-cleavage-baring white flowing dress. [The ads are clearly effective for some](http://%28The ads are clearly effective for some.%29), but the message is obvious: _Game of War_ is a boys’ game, and Upton is the game’s mascot, walking through battles totally unscathed and doing nothing except looking pretty. Action games with big battles like _Game of War_ are incredibly exciting to kids. And kids I’ve worked with, both male and female, will put up with a lot to play exciting games. But it doesn’t mean they like the way women are portrayed. Yet the video game industry seems to base much of its game and character design on a few assumptions, among them that girls don’t play big action games, boys won’t play games with strong female characters, and male players like the sexual objectification of female characters. You can guess what the results are: a gaming landscape that thrusts a hyper-sexualized depiction of women onto the phone, computer and TV screens of millions of boys and girls. **MORE** [What Boys Really Want](http://time.com/696/what-boys-want/) The issue of sexism in video games, long simmering, is sure to bubble up again during the Comic-Con convention this weekend in San Diego. (47% of attendees are expected to be women.) In collaboration with my colleagues, Charlie Kuhn and gaming expert Ashly Burch, we surveyed more than 1,400 middle and high school students from throughout the country last year. We asked them to tell us what they thought about gender representation in games, what games girls play, and more. Our survey was exploratory—we didn’t have the resources to conduct a thorough evaluation—but we believed it was an important issue to study and hope others will follow. Here are three things we found that may surprise. **Boys believe female characters are treated too often as sex objects** 47% of middle school boys agreed or strongly agreed, and 61% of high school boys agreed or strongly agreed. “If women are objectified like this it defeats the entire purpose of fighting,” Theo, an eighth-grader who loves playing _Mortal Kombat_, told us. “I would respect the \[female\] character more for having some dignity.” **Both boys and girls aren’t more likely to play a game based on the gender of the protagonist** 70% of girls said it doesn’t matter and 78% of boys said it doesn’t matter. Interestingly, boys care _less_ about playing as a male character as they age and girls care _more_ about playing as a female one. **Girls play a variety of game genres** 26% played first-person shooter games like _Call of Duty_ and _HALO_, 36% played role-playing games like _Skyrim_ and _Grand Theft Auto_, and 17% played sports games like _FIFA_ and _Madden_. (19% did not play games, compared to 3% of boys.) We also asked kids if they identified as “gamers.” Especially in light of the [“Gamergate”](http://time.com/3510381/gamergate-faq/) [controversy](http://time.com/3507153/comic-con-women-gaming/) that erupted last year and revealed intense sexism among some self-identified gamers, would the young people who identified as gamers share any of these sentiments? But very few of our respondents knew what Gamergate was and they had very different responses from what one may expect: 55% of boys who identify as gamers think there should be more female heroes in games, and 57% believe that female characters are too often treated as sex objects. This all matters because gaming has become an important part of our culture, and it’s sending the wrong message onto our boys’ and girls’ sceens. Our kids deserve better. And it’s what they want. _Rosalind Wiseman is the author of_ Masterminds and Wingmen _(Harmony Books, 2013) as well as_ Queen Bees and Wannabes _(Harmony Books, 2002)_ ### Meet America's First Video Game Varsity Athletes  Jonathan "McSleuthBurgur" Lindahl, 19, a freshman in computer networking, practices League of Legends and other video games in the video game practice space of Robert Morris University's athletic department in Chicago, March 18, 2015\. The university recognizes video games as a varsity sport under its athletic department and has been offering sports scholarships to video gamers to play League of Legends. The team practices four to five nights a week in a $100,000 classroom outfitted for video gaming. Kitra Cahana—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Chris "STARS FourEyes" Broadnax, 21, a graphic design major, plays video games in Robert Morris University's video game practice space in Chicago, March 18, 2015. Kitra Cahana—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Rachel "Razur" Zurawski, 20, plays League of Legends and other video games in Robert Morris University's video game practice space in Chicago, March 18, 2015. Kitra Cahana—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Student video game athletes play League of Legends and other games in Robert Morris University's video game practice space in Chicago, March 18, 2015. Kitra Cahana—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Derek "Zig" Shao (left), 20, and Blake "Oberan" Soberanis, 22, play League of Legends in Robert Morris University's video game practice space in Chicago, March 18, 2015\. Shao and Soberanis are two of the best members on the school's video game team. Kitra Cahana—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Chris "STARS FourEyes" Broadnax (right), 21 and Mario "ThirstDrinker" Huang, 26, practice League of Legends and other video games in Robert Morris University's video game practice space in Chicago, March 18, 2015. Kitra Cahana—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Rachel "Razur" Zurawski, 20, practices League of Legends and other video games in Robert Morris University's video game practice space in Chicago, March 18, 2015. Kitra Cahana—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Robert Morris University associate athletic director, Kurt Melcher (second left), Jonathan "McSleuthBurgur" Lindahl (right), 19, and Dean "keyboychespin" Mitchell (second right), 18, watch others play the game Heroes of the Storm in Robert Morris University's video game practice space in Chicago, March 18, 2015. Kitra Cahana—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Derek "Zig" Shao (left), 20, and Zixing Jie (right), 20 play League of Legends in Robert Morris University's video game practice space in Chicago, March 18, 2015. Kitra Cahana—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Mario "ThirstDrinker" Huang, 26, a sophomore studying Drafting Technology, practices League of Legends and other video games in Robert Morris University's video game practice space in Chicago, March 18, 2015. 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