Video Games that Reinforce Dominant Ideologies or Challenge with

Counter Ideologies
Dominant Counter

Multiculturalism Capitalism Sexism

Satanism
Dominant Ideology:
Multiculturalism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avdxtLleADM
The dominant ideology reinforced in Left 4 Dead (2008) is to do
with multiculturalism. A small tight community is a key generic
convention of the zombie horror sub genre so noticing the different
kinds of people is easy when playing this game. There are
characters of different races, sexes and ages all joining together
and contributing to survival in the zombie apocalypse together so
everything is nice in terms of how they all act to and around each
other. First, Bill is a white, old war veteran who helps out because
of his knowledge and intelligence. He provides information about
things in the opening scene because he studies the slime and
makes plans for survival tactics. Secondly, Francis is a white, tough
biker who is covered in tattoos. He simply provides muscles and is
probably the best at killing zombies in the game because of his
strength and the shotgun he often uses. Next, Zoe is a white,
female college student who does not help out in combat directly.
She provides useful distractions and heals the male fighters which
some people may see as either disrespectful for women as she is
positioned as a lesser fighter or as respectful as her abilities are
unique and do help. Lastly, Louis is a black, previously homeless
man who brings a charismatic hope in the things he says and the
way he acts. Every person has their unique traits that aid the
group so the dominant ideology that is multiculturalism is
reinforced because of this. If the characters were fighting each
other, it would challenge and thus be a counter ideology.
Multiculturalism is dominant because western societies allow mass
immigration and things of that nature that accept many kinds of
people.
Dominant Ideology: Capitalism
The dominant ideology that The Sims 4 (2014) reinforces is
capitalism. This dominant political system is clearly visible because
the characters in the game complete instructions to earn money.
This relates to the American dream and the idea that doing hard
worked gets rewarded. Not only do the instructions in The Sims 4
include things such jobs at work or chores at home but they also
make the player create tension by insulting family members for fun.
This all resembles different levels of people in societies. The
capitalist system is opposite to its rival communism in that people
are not just equal in terms of pay, rights and opportunity. The entire
Get to Work expansion that this trailer is promoting reinforces
capitalist views directly. The narrator talks positively about creating
your own business and moving up in the world. The way the game
and all the advertisements for it are designed all make capitalism
seem like a good thing. Western society is very much capitalist and
the game franchise is big in western society countries such as the
United Stated of America and England. This example of an ideology
would not be dominant in any country that is not capitalist obviously.
It would be counter in a communist country like China and, formerly,
Russia. While capitalism does seem like a good system as everybody
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HrNTk670z8
has a chance to change their social class and make success out of
their lives, there are some valid criticisms that challenge it. One of
the major drawbacks of capitalism is that it allows few companies to
develop dominance in particular industries by achieving significant
advantages. Capitalism also creates inequality of wealth as
individual pursuits are encouraged, which then contributes to social
inequality.
Counter Ideology: Sexism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk3w8tEPN-M
A counter ideology that Grand Theft Auto V (2013) reinforces is
sexism. The entire GTA series causes controversy with every release
because of many counter ideological things. Crime, violence and
racism are influenced majorly but sexism was noticed by players and
people a lot in the most recent game. There a different types of
sexism too. Many female strippers and prostitutes and just topless
women on beaches is obviously sexual objectification as it represents
females as nothing but sex symbols by allowing male players to see
their bodies. It is also important to note that there are no male
strippers or prostitutes; every single one is female. Male GTA players
enjoy viewing the girls as they are their usual attraction but the
constant objectification makes some people feel offended by the
games representations of women. There are few lady characters that
are not sexualised. Also, there is supposed sexism in the enemies
that the player fights within the games campaign. Almost every
hostile foe is a man. This could influence the idea that women can not
fight as well as men. All three of the main characters that can be
played as in single player are male which could add to this idea too.
However, in the online mode that was released shortly after the game
allows players to play as a female character. Advertisements on
billboards or on the radios in the game can be sexist too. Common
negative stereotypes of women such as shopaholics and gold
diggers appear often but in ways that try to be comedic to sell
things. There is one specific print advert in GTA V that shows some
perfume and a tag line. The text on the poster reads Smell like a
bitch which is a loud thing to have written in public areas within the
game. As well as that, Michael De Santa, one of the three
protagonists has some annoying female family members and there
are some annoying women in missions. Things like nagging, laziness
and being a modern conception of a triggered feminist make these
Counter Ideology: Satanism
The counter ideology that Doom (2016) has in it is use of
potential Satanism. Doom is a very popular classic video game that
had a remake made and released in 2016. The game includes
human antagonists fighting against demons. There is overt
Satanism that the games players would be exposed to in the
antagonists being baphomet demons, there are scary rituals and
sacrifices shown and there is plotting to bring forth Armageddon.
The playable character is forced to take part in a ritual and use a
mysterious energy to become an enhanced trans-human. This is
controversial in itself because it could represent accepting
evilness. The products age rating is 18 but that does not stop
younger people from playing it. Experiencing the things such as
skulls and fire can frighten players or desensitize them. There are
religious people in this world that believe that demons are real and
that any use of them for entertainment purposes is wrong as they
are evil. Not only is there overt satanic worship in the game but
there are covert subliminal symbols too. In no way am I saying the
game was created by actual Illuminati Satanists, I am stating that
using marks of the devil adds to the theme of horror so the makers
have shoved in many small features. Around Doom, the player
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSZ4tSoumNk
can find symbols such as pentagrams and pyramids which are both
shapes associated with occultists. Also, the trailer Fight Like Hell
for the game uses references too. Fight Like Hell is a clever pun
that directly mentions hell that creates imagery in peoples head. A
thrilling discovery that was made when Reddit user Tomcb put the
soundtrack into an editing software. There are pentagrams and
666s formed because of the audio files spectrum of frequencies.
Being exposed to Satanism can have negative effects on kids as
they could be scared or desensitized.