Genderplay: Successes and Failures in Character Designs for Videogames

(This essay is based on a talk I gave on April 15th to Katherine Isbister's CS class at Stanford. Thanks to Justin for help with constructing the argument, refining my thought, and for sharing his experiences of gaming in drag.)

As a woman who plays video games, I've had to think about gender in videogames, because it's so obvious that I'm playing in a boys' world.

The late Dr. Anita Borg taught that technology isn't neutral; tools are shaped by the values and desires of the creators. Often the creators tend to be clueless to the values encoded in their tools, because to them, the tools are transparent - they reflect pure utilitarianism. But to those who are excluded, the tools are highly charged.

This is especially true I think of videogames, where everything from the environment (the marketing, the merchandising, the image of the industry) to the peripherals (the laughably phallic joystick, the original Xbox controllers which are too big for my hands, the color scheme of the Xbox) are male-friendly. The attitude seems to be, "Maybe some women play our games, but we don't really know, and frankly, we don't care."

So what are the tools of character design in videogames? Let me take you through some of the values I've noticed encoded in character designs, and how that relates to gameplay in my experience.

Alienation vs. Identification: Necessary Tension

When designing characters, it's important to keep in mind the tension between identification and alienation, because the player is both actor and spectator. This is a good tension, it drives a lot of gameplay and innovation. Without identification, you create a game which has little emotional impact, little drama. That's okay in a characterless game like Tetris, but in games with characters, the characters should probably function as vehicles for something greater. Similarily, you need to allow some players some room for a certain amount of alienation. You want to preserve player identity. How many boys would have played Tomb Raider if they really felt that they were somehow taking on a feminine role? Or what if a kid identified too strongly with the protagonist in GTA3? Maintaining distance is a way of being able to play characters who are not you, and being able to inhabit that genderspace comfortably, without the risk of a split personality.

The issue of alienation/identification intensifies, I would argue, in an online multiplayer setting, because while in a single-player game you are free to experiment with multiple characters in private, in a multiplayer environment, the way others react to you is through your avatar. Therefore some people either take great pains to distance themselves from the avatar, or conversely, create avatars with which they identify very closely. I think these behaviors lead to some very interesting gender play in online environments.

Four aspects which define "genderspace"

I'm using the somewhat clumsy term "genderspace" because "gender" connotes an either-or, black and white proposition, and I think that we often see in games a more fluid range of gender construction, within prescribed limits. The way gender is prgrammed, incorporated, and manipulated describes a "gender space" - it defines a range for gendered experiences in four ways:

1. The environment around the character outside of the game: the marketing, the merchandising, the advertising. The image of the character, and how that character is described. The iconic legacy of that character, apart from the actual character as a function of gameplay.

2. The aesthetics of the character in the game. The character's appearance, movements, actions, voice, characteristics.

3. The programmatic aspects of the character in the game. The character's choices, other character's reactions, the encoded abilities and biases.

4. Character as avatar in a multiplayer environment - a special category: how other characters played by other people react to your character, and how you choose to interact with others.

Tomb Raider: Critical Failure of Character Environment

A great example of failure in the marketing environment around a character occured for me during the promotion and release of the early Tomb Raider series - games which should have been breakthrough girl games.

I never played this game. It looked fun, and I was excited about having a female protagonist. Outside of fighting games there hadn't been a whole lot of games starring strong women. But frankly, the way this game was marketed and talked about totally turned me off. It was immediately clear to me that I wasn't supposed to identify with her. In fact it seemed to go out of its way to assure young teenage boys that they shouldn't identify with her, they should just ogle her. It's not the fault of the packaging. Okay, so her breasts are lethal weapons, sure. But I like the cover art. It shows that she's strong, she's tough, she's an adventurer, she's solo - she doesn't need a man! She *owns* those guns, and she knows how to use them. What's not to like? But the hype surrounding Lara Croft was gross. The hype undercut her image as strong smart archeologist. The hype made her into a sex kitten. Where are her guns now? This image was the cover art of a NextGen issue on how games are growing up. I rather think it demonstrates how immature gaming culture still was then, and is now. (Link may be unsafe for work.) The reviews and previews obsessively focused on the male gaze traversing her body more than the gameplay. That turned me off immediately. She's just a toy, to be played with, manipulated in an environement, not an avatar to identify with, a personality to inhabit. The message wasn't, "Hey, girls, an empowered woman to play in a game!" but rather, "Hey, boys, check out this chick's boobs while you lead her around a dungeon!"

Quotes from four different reviews on Gamers.com: 1. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation puts you back into the Daisy Dukes of Lara Croft, archaeologist and adventurer ... Lara fans may rejoice as Last Revelation also offers ... the chance to play a Lolita version of Lara, budding breasts and all. 2. Nevertheless, the opportunity to guide the buxom, if not slightly deformed, Lara is reason enough for many to traipse through Egyptian catacombs and battle supernatural entities. 3. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation puts you back into the hip-hugging cargo shorts of Lara Croft, archaeologist and adventurer, as she takes on evil in Egypt. TLR also offers ... the chance to play a lolita version of Lara, budding breasts and all. 4. This landmark title set the realm of gaming ablaze with its stunning protagonist, the buxom Lara Croft. A marketing person's dream, Lara combines the no-nonsense spelunking fun of Indiana Jones with the brazen sensuality of a pinup queen. Gameplay consists of you leading the heroine through various tombs and catacombs in search of artifacts and treasure. Note the language of alienation - you are always leading her, guiding her, while studying her form - you are not taking on her role. Related essays: Does Lara Croft Ware Fake Polygons? by Anne-Marie Schleiner Lara Croft: Feminist Icon or Cyberbimbo? by Helen W. Kennedy

I consider this the great wasted potential of Lara Croft: she could have transformed the videogame cultural landscape. Eidos, you really blew it - you alienated all the girls who would have *loved* this game.

Aesthetics of Sexy Girls: DOA: Extreme Beach Volleyball vs. Baldur's Gate : Dark Alliance

Highly sexualized characters are not immediately a turnoff for females, though. It depends entirely on the context. For example, the notorious DOA: Extreme Beach Volleyball rather shocked me when I heard the sounds of it at the Tokyo Game Show last year. I thought, "What the hell is this game?" I admit, it was jaw-droppingly mind-numbing to be confronted by a ten-foot image of girls feeding each other strawberries in extreme close-up. It was Maxim, magnified. (If you like, download the hypnotic movie clip of volleyball action extreme.)

But you know, it's an absolutely gorgeous game. It does a marvelous job of articulating characters. Their movements are fluid and beautiful, their voices well-acted. Each of them has a (albeit none-too-deep) personality, which comes out in their gestures - they stamp or cross their arms when they get frustrated, they jump up and down when they get excited, or laugh triumphantly in gleeful victory.

And it's totally transparent! It's a pin-up game - you can't argue with that. And as a pin-up game, it's an outstanding success. I haven't played it much yet, and I don't think it's very interesting to women, but it's an honest game and I don't feel offended by it. It's silly, it's like a beach-bunny movie, a "men's magazine". The domain is explicitly for men, and that's okay. Nothing's wrong with it, even if there's nothing compelling to a female audience, either.

By contrast, take Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. This game has an example of a hyper-sexualized non-player character which is so over the top it jarred me out of an immersive experience. It happens at the beginning of the game, which is always a critical moment for setting the mood, tone, and boundaries of the gamespace (Will Wright has said that a player can "sniff out the gamespace" of a game in the first five minutes).

The previous cutscene has been dark and forboding - you've been knocked on the head and all your posessions stolen. It's dark in the great city of Baldur's Gate. You walk into a nearby tavern, seeking shelter and help, only to be confronted by a soft-core porn extra in a nearly transparent top jiggling her boobs at you. You can see her nipples! WTF? She sidles around, swinging her hips, while she tells you anxiously about the rats in her basement - the scene is beyond ridiculous. Justin and I burst out laughing out loud, we just couldn't believe it.

"I've got rats in my basement - can you help me?"

It would be different if BG: DA had been packaged as a sexy silly game, because then I would have expected it, and enjoyed it (the artists did a great job with her jiggling boobs). But in this case the totally out-of-context, out-of-character sex-kitten image of the tavern keeper mars the beginning of the game - it's so pandering, it's so obvious, it's so immature, and above all, it's so completely unneccessary. Justin and I have often considered writing to the artists to ask them, "What were you thinking?"

Arcanum: Programmed Feminine Wiles

One of my favorite PC Role-playing games is Arcanum. What I like about it is that the gender you choose for your character affects the paths open to you as you play. When you first choose your character, choosing male adds one point to your strength and takes one point away from your constitution (the baseline is 6 points in each category). If you choose female, you get one point deducted from your strength but a one point bonus to your constitution. The biological basis of this might be questionable, but the scheme adds to the variety of character-creation.

One of the quests in the game involves gaining entrance into a gentleman's club. In this steam-punk Industrial Revolution world, attitudes are still very sexist. The doorman at the gentleman's club won't let my female elf in. But I have a special letter from the owner. At that point the unhappy doorman allows the lowly female into the club, although he cautions me to make my business quick.

I got that letter, incidentally, by sleeping with the slimy and lascivious owner of the club. I had the choice to beat him up for it, but my character was too weak to take him on, so I chose the sexual way out. Brilliant!

I like it when the game "knows" that I'm female, in deeper ways than the programmed "barks" (that is, when the soldiers at the gate shout "Get her!" or "Get him!"). The range of difference in gameplay would of course depend on the context of the game. In the Star Trek universe, for example, we are supposed to believe that the future of humankind has eliminated sexism (and racism, and all other -isms) so it would make sense for non-player characters to be fairly indifferent to your sex. But this could be contrasted with times when your character has to deal with the ultra-chauvanist Ferengi.

One word of caution: don't design characters whose attributes are tied too closely to gender. There's a danger of stereotyping, for one - why are females always archers, elves, and thieves? Part of the fun of a game, as I'll talk about in the next section, is being able to play with gender stereotypes. Give the player as much choice as you can while keeping the play balanced. When I used to play tabletop RPGs, I loved playing the huge, dumb, but beautiful, female barbarian. I wanted to be female, because I feel attached to that gender emotionally; but I love playing fighters, 'cause they get to do a lot of the most fun stuff in the early game, and it's easier if you're not very experienced. Keep in mind that the majority of women are not hardcore gamers - yet - so they might appreciate a few more heavy-hitting Sophitia of Soul Calibur types to play. Starting out as a magic-user, as the only female character in Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance has you do, is very tough for beginners.

I am very curious about Deus Ex 2: Invisible War, in which you will be able to choose to play either a male or female protagonist. Team captain Harvey Smith has long been a proponent of emergent gaming, and he's a feminist besides - the game should be rather interesting from the perspective of gender programming. He's also said that the game is designed in such a way that you can, if you choose, finish it without killing a single person. In theory, violent girls and pacifist boys can both enjoy this game!

Drag in Dark Age of Camelot: Gender in Interaction

Justin and I often play this game together, and although I almost always play female characters, so does Justin. The practical matter is that people in this particular game, especially on the role-playing servers we tend to visit, are nicer to girls. They are, in general, more courteous, more helpful, more generous, and more attentive to the problems of a newbie. Everyone who plays the game knows, at a basic intellectual level, that the person controlling the avatar may be male or female; but for convenience sake, it seems, we ignore the disconnect and choose to treat other characters as they present themselves. Thus Justin has run into his share of "You are so beautiful, Milady," flirting, which he usually just roleplays through. After all, that's the fun of this sort of game.

But on top of that, Justin says he likes to explore not just the game world, but another level - the gender world. Ever the rebel, he likes to subvert norms, play against type, radicalize expectations. On Midgard, a harsh, snowy landscape where I played a Viking warrioress, Justin adventured with me as a massive troll shamaness. "You don't see female dwarves or trolls in Tolkien," he says. "All the trolls are genderless, which is to say, they are male." His character may have a hulking frame, but she has a gentle healer's disposition.

In another server on the sunny plains of Albion, Justin has an enchanting enchantress who caught the eye of a young paladin. I asked him whether he responded to the paladin's tentative flirting. "Well, sure," he said. "I would say, 'Thank you for the necklace, milord' and 'Thank you for the necklace - again, milord" because that's part of the game." And who knows? The paladin could well be the avatar of a young woman halfway across the world.

I did find one thing, though. When I led parties as a female character, I found it more uncomfortable to maintain authority. I found myself incorporating more group consensus, as well as sometimes taking a firmer hand when certain party members grew insubordinate. But my one lone male character - although he was but a slender elf - had a much easier time maintaining authority. Leadership came more naturally, people expected it, even.

I would like to see more experimentation with genderless or gender-ambivalent characters in this area. In MUDs and MOOs, one can often create a third sex and invent a pronoun and refer to oneself always with that pronoun (and insist others do that same). In these science-fiction and fantasy-themed online worlds, it's perfectly plausible that ungendered, ambiguously gendered, or bi-gendered races could exist. That would add a new dimension to gender play, one which I'd really like to explore. Some women have said that they feel uncomfortable playing as female in certain virtual worlds - I haven't personally been insulted or offended as a female avatar, but I have certainly had some unwanted attention directed my way. And yet I feel not quite right playing as a male character, either. A third gender - or a third choice, whether gendered or not - might be an alternative, a way to explore sexual anonymity. I wonder if players would feel too uncomfortable? But the domain of games is unbounded by physical realities, including biology; why not take advantage of this?

Final thoughts

I don't want to see a shelf of pink boxes of "girl games". I just want to see better games in general - games which are more thoughtful, more provocative, more interesting, with better character design.

Something you hear over and over again in the research around what girls want out of games are themes like "open-ended" and "less-goal oriented" and "co-operative play". These are also the themes which most adult gamers seem to want, too. Talking with my friends who are game developers and designers, they don't want to see bouncy boobs, necessarily (although there's a place for that, sure); they want evolved gameplay, emergent gameplay - with great characters. Set up some rules and let the players play with both the gamespace and the genderspace, however they wish. Don't push girls away from games like Tomb Raider just because you're afraid boys won't like to identify with Lara. Don't insert gratuitous sex - or for that matter, violence. Make it *mean* something. Don't bind gender with too many built-in characteristics, but let girls be girls in your game. Allow a lot of different types of female characters, not just thin, pretty, busty ones.

The end result isn't just going to appeal to women, it'll appeal to a lot of people across the board who want smart, fun, engaging games.

Comments

[adam]

i think many games are for women. for instance, extreme beach volleyball has naked guys in it. so there.

[Jessi B*]

A very-well written article! As a girl gamer, I agree with you a lot.

However, I wished you had mentioned dating sims. As an experiment, I tried two different ones (the names will go unmentioned).

How were they?

Pure sexism. On BOTH sides.

You could only play as a male character. The final goal was to HAVE SEX WITH THE GIRL WITHIN 100 DAYS.

Ridiculous! Not all guys are itching to jump into bed with a girl, and not all girls will call you "creep" when you approach them! We're ALL victims here!

...not to mention that the stereotypical looks were applied as well. Tall, tanned, leggy blonde girls with wide-chested, well-endowed males.

Something needs to be done, and fast... ...because if this keeps up, what a sad society it will be.

[god]

YOU WILL ALL BURN IN HELL FOR PLAYING VIDEO GAMES. ALL OF YOU. DO SOMETHING WITH YOUR PATHETIC LITTLE LIVES!!

[jane]

good point, xocet... i meant the "laughably phallic" to be more of a joke than a serious criticism. i think though that other people have written about certain alienating aspects of the interfaces in videogames (Poole mentions it briefly in Trigger Happy).

[Jessi B*]

i think many games are for women. for instance, extreme beach volleyball has naked guys in it. so there.

Posted by: adam on April 17, 2003 02:25 PM

*I, as a woman, am straight, but I'm not interested in polygonal maked men. "Equal opportunity nudity" does NOT justify your statement.

So, whoopee, there's a naked guy in my video game. Is there any degrading talk about seeing penises bouncing as you "guide" the character to victory?

I don't think so.

Next time, think about what you're saying. I don't mind hearing other opinions, as long as they can back it up.

Score one point for equality. Adieu.

[Draigon]

Let's say you have two choices...

Female choice: Average breasts, decent face, not skinny, not fat, completely normal. Very little make-up.

Male choice: Neck that can bend steel, huge biceps, thick brow, huge bulging crotch that bounces slightly while walking.

I'm assuming that's what alienation feels like.

[Sleet01]

I'm curious to know what your reaction to the Elder Scrolls game series is. Morrowind is a beautiful game, totally open-ended, and you have the choice of both the race and sex of your character. I've only played it as a male character, but have run into female wizards, fighters, thieves, priestesses, leaders, and gods. They run the gamut of personalities, and I was curious (if you've played) what you think.

[Robyn]

This is a very interesting article. As a psychology and communication double major, and a girl gamer, i found it very accurate. I have been playing videogames for a long time, and there is a lot of alienation, genderbias and sexism. I dont understand y so many males are writing in and disagreeing... are you female? Well then...

[th3k0w]

stereotyping in games is harsh now a days. i just finished unlocking EVERYTHING in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Aliance, and much to my chargin i found that one of my favorite video game women had been digraded by a scantely clad swimsuit poster unlocked in the crypt. Sonya always seemed like the strong type to me but now i find that she is a lifegaurd when she is not on duty for the government. how convinient is that?

my favorite characters always tend to be the women. this is odd since i am a guy. it's not because of the pixilated breasts or unbelievably tiny outfits. it's the fact that in some story lines, the women have the best triumphic plot twists.

i remember playing Phantasy Star Online a few years ago. my first and most beloved character was a female warrior. i decided in creating her that i would test out a theory. i made her look as attractive as possible and decided that i would play her as a helpless damsel in distress type. sure, i got hit on alot. more often than not i would walk away from a night of gaming with about twenty phone numbers from all across the country. but the real gem is this. i would go into a game and say something like, "Some mean man just PK'd me and took my only weapon! i don't have any money! can someone help me out?" this would be followed by just about every male avatar rush to me with gifts of Lavis Cannons and God Arms. needless to say i soon had a 52 level hunter who hit with the power and ferocity of a 100 level. i kid you not, my bank was full of ultra rare weapons to the point that i was dealing the ones i couldn't use out for money which i would never EVER need. it was just the fact that i had become a sort of black market, in game, on the sole fact that i could pull off acting like a damsel in distress.

and you really shouldn't blame the people who make the games. it's mostly the fault of two groups. 1: the marketing geniouses who try and sell the games to as many people as possible, and 2: the sex deprived hardcore gamers that only know how to look at a strong female character as the best piece of ass they will ever get. and since they rule the majority of consumers in this market, supply and demand says, "Give them what they want."

hence DOA: Extreme Beach Volleyball. Hence BMX XXX. Hence the pinup girls of Def Jam Vendetta. need i go on?

personally my choice goes like this... Men? Women? give me a collosal death robot any day! Go Robotech Battlecry! WOOHOO!

-th3k0w-

gods gift to gaming.

[dudeee]

too long article, make it shorter then ill think about reading it...

[Negative Polarity]

Yes, it was a well written and thoughtful article. I appreciate the balanced views toward this subject and none of the "Raging Feminist" nonsense that usually seems to accompany articles of this type. All of the points were well thought through... except one.

"The attitude seems to be, 'Maybe some women play our games, but we don't really know, and frankly, we don't care.'"

That's exactly what their attitude is. The simple fact of the matter is that, for the most part, men ARE the only people who play video games. Obviously there are exceptions to this, as this article was written by a member of our fairer sex. But we of the male persuasion are game companies' key demographic. And as their key demographic, it is their obligation to pander to us. Let's face it people, sex sells. And no article, Internet or no, blaming these companies for their male-oriented sexist attitude is going to change that... ever.

[IonDancer]

I have to agree with some ofthe comments here, especially thie first comment, it really is all up to demographics. But again, that will change over time, and again it is right now. I haven't asked many female players, since it is hard to find very many..., but i find that some of the new games coming out have kind of a bi-gender feel to them, allowing both to play the game. One of these is Morrowind, although it doesnt really affect the game that much, or at least I have seen, it also doesnt have the bouncing breasts in it either. I find that there has been a great improvement over the earlier games, which were completely made for males. And I am waiting for more women to get into games as it would be great for thm to finally understand why we like playing them so much.

And with the opposite sex thing going on in the MMORPGs, I'm with Justin. It's fun playing as the ladies in the game (I know my name sounds like a 'chick' name, but get over it). Actually for one reason why is because I seem to get really madat everyone and impatient when i am male, but my female characters always remain calm. I kno, i take roleplaying maybe a lil too far. But, yes, I hold the same hopes as many of you dohere.

[Hammer]

Two things that caught my attention:

1) The whole Lara Croft business. Yes, Eidos' marketing scheme was less than brilliant on that one. More to the point though, they didn't really HAVE a scheme. If one takes a look at the whole range of the appearances of Croft, one sees a preponderance of "Look, boobs!", but there are also many other instances of grimaces and firing .45's. Perhaps they are more exapected, and thus overlooked in comparison to the sexual nature. It is important to note though, that this was an important step in the concept of characters your could recognize (subconsciously) as a being capable of sexuality. It is no surprise they had no problem going with that. I think however that if you had played the game a bit (I never finished it, but played a good chunk of the way through) you would say that there was very little of a sexual content in the game (other than the rather large *ahem* polygons.)

Secondly, the bit about
"You don't see female dwarves or trolls in Tolkien," he says. "All the trolls are genderless, which is to say, they are male."
is just appalling in an article of otherwise intelligent and objective discourse. The context of Tolkein's works do not contain female dwarves, mostly due to the fact that all the dwarves encountered ever were warriors/kings(unless Tolkein was a giant misogynist and no one happened to mention it.) It is important to remember that when Tolkein came up with the idea for the LotR Trilogy, he was in the frame of mind of creating a mythology for anchient (pre Roman conquest if I recall) Celtic cultures. Feminism and fantasy RPGs aside (considering they all took everything from Tolkein in the first place)women were not warriors or monarchs. It just wasn't done then, with very rare exception. Sure, some people can name 2 or 3 cultures that had women leaders, or women soldiers, but the Amazons were mythic, and I can name perhaps a hundred cultures that were paternaly led.
As to the orcs etc., Tolkein hardly bothered to describe them at all, much less go into details about gender. Further, what would it matter if that 4th orc from the left Legolas cut down was a female? Saying Genderless = Male is just a terrible contradiction, and no rational person should make that statement.

In conclusion, if you are looking for games that are more gender pleasant, I would suggest "Tenchu," "Oni" (rent it though, it has no replay value), and the Dynasty Warriors Series. All feature strong women in charge, and many dead mean are the result.

[jane]

actually, Negative, i disagree; one of the reasons gender in games is a hot topic now is that there are a lot more women who are interested in games than there were twenty years ago. and i've had a fair number of inquiries from game designers very interested in making games for women, girls, and other traditionally non-gaming demographics. it's pretty clear that if the industry is to continue to grow, it will have to appeal to a broader audience, and half of them are female.

i think a lot of game designers, male *and* female, are very excited to attract a greater market. the bulk of them realize that pandering is a pretty limited and short-term solution. all the bouncing breasts in the world - while very pretty - will become boring if the gameplay sucks.

[VrDarkOne]

Ok, very good article. One thing it didn't touch on however was that video games are entertainment. They are an escape from reality. They are supposed to be fun, exotic, engaging, and mesmerizing. If the makers of a game need to put big hooters on their game to sell it, that's their prerogative. BG is a RPG, which is to say a certain type of game; DOAABVX (or whatever their calling it) is a hooters game. This kind of game is not new or terribly engaging, but it could be fun to the right group of people. Do you remember Lesuire suit Larry? Dear God. When that game came out it had some of the worst graphics, a worse plot, and a hooters game, but it was interesting. Back to the point > if you don't like the game, don't buy it, and please don't bitch, because someone else probably likes it.

For example: I personally don't care to much for Sports genre games, but that doesn't mean I'm going to start whining about how many dam NBA2XXX's there are. I just don't purchase or play them.

And to touch on the gender thing, our generation (I'm 23) is going to see some very hard but interesting times. As our society progress's gender differences will deteriorate and die off with all the old men in positions of power from 2 generations ago. You can see it in today's courts. Women battling over maternity leave and such. As our generation grows up and starts holding offices of power, in which the stereotypes are lessened, things will get better for everyone. But, I think we have a long way to go.

[Robyn]

(jane posted while i was typing this and pretty much took the words out of my mouth) If we keep talking about the market, the issue is that the female market hasnt had a chance to grow yet - the research hasnt been conducted to get the numbers regarding girl gamers - has it?
It's unfair to talk about demographics when they're assumed, i think. It's an untapped, unexamined market. To assume it's not there is a big mistake. You are now dealing with the generation who got their nintendo at age 8 and are now 23, who want good games, many have been turned off beacause of the violence, time consumed by games and price. (i did a little of my on fast survey of my friends). An interesting point from a girl i know was that more females probably enjoy the creative and less restrictive aspects of tycoon/sim games. "If there is a problem you can solve it, and it doesnt involve a structured storyline in which you either have to fight to the death or shoot a pron film (vice city).

I do like fighting to the death in certain cases, the Night Elves in Warcraft 3 were what sold me on the game. I loved Starcraft, and was really into the asthetic presented by Blizzard.

As well, perhaps the naked men in the volleyball game werent put there for women... ;)

[Jinxter]

You hit the nail on the head with your comments on Tomb Raider. I played the game, (main reason one, it reminded me of Indiana Jones), and played thru it as rapidly as I could as I whole-heartedly enjoyed it. I do however, wish that they would have marketed this game in a gender neutral way. I believe you were correct in saying that this game could have revolutionized the marketplace in terms of girl-gaming.

Unfortunately, the majority of gamers are boy/young men/men and for companies to make the money justifying there cost, they will market the games to the majority demographic. (I am a 35 y/o addicted gamer who has had the bug since Pong, and I also happen to be male.) The other unfortunate happenstance is the absolute insult to gaming that most supposed girl games manufacturers produce in order to entice girls to play. Barbie this, Nancy Drew that. These games are, sexist in and of themselves. They stick to the generic sex roles that society almost always wants to pin on young girls/women. These games (if you can call them such), in a word, suck. They are boring, non-challenging, pieces of programming fluff that these companies can point to and then complain that girl-games don't sell. These games insult the intelligence of their own demographic; thus justifying the need to make games in which they can sell using Sex/Sex Appeal.

Is there a simple fix? No. What can be done? Creating games that are just fun to play regardless of societal norms and/or expectations as it relates to the game avatar.

Thank you for your article, very well written and well thought out.

[sarah]

yay jane!

thanks for writing such a practical article! there are already so many righteous and indignant demands for particular treatments of women in games, and also so many righteous declarations that it is women's own fault that games are no fun for women to play since women don't buy games (uh, see this comment thread).

very nice to see a straight-forward explanation of which features totally waste potential female markets and which features could attract new buyers. hooray!

[Rei]

I think we're failing to remember one of the first and foremost female heroines in video gaming.

Samus Aran.

Samus Aran, first introduced in 1986 in the hit game "Metroid", became an icon to women who could kick butt and take names (in my opinion, and in the minds of all my friends). We could think of not a single male hero (again, at the time) who could compete with Samus.

Granted, at the onset of Metroid, it was thought that Samus was merely a robot, but with the introduction of the "Just in Bailey" code (A Bailey was a swimsuit, IIRC), we learned that Samus was realy a human, and a FEMALE at that!

Outside of that one point, this was an excellent article.

[Nedlum]

I'm just sort of curious on where Kate Archer of No One Lives Forever fits in with all this. To me, at least, she seems like a strong female lead. Any thoughts from you?

[Artemio Urbina]

I am indeed pleased to read this article. I do believe that such a change is needed, and also that the actual tendency of creating a more cinematic ambient will help since the plot is more and more important these days. That might help by creating very interesting ambients that would only be more appropiate with a well thought female lead character.

On the other hand, you mention a point that I would love to see done: less goal oriented games. Both types of game could co-exist to give players the option of a well constructed, engaging and plot oriented game to a "just for fun" game that I can take for just some minutes, and I would love to see a ore varied scope of possibilities in the gender field.. without noticing it.

[Fortinbras]

First I'll put my "Wow, what a great article" on top of the pile with everyone else's, then I'll say this:

I, personaly, think a juvenile attitude was to be expected in video game development simply because of it's relative youth. Compared to books, radio, board games, and even T.V., video games are a brand-new form of entertainment. More importantly, marketable entertainment. As so many have pointed out: Sex sells. And it sells primarily to men.

But here's the catch that some developers are realizing (and that some have known all along): Video games are not just for kids and adolecents.
At first, the marketing for video games was aimed almost exclusively at pre-teen to teenage boys. Maybe that was the only market at the time, I'm not old enough to know, but I know that those boys (theoreticly) grew up and if those designers wanted to keep their revenues flowing, their games had to grow up as well.

And that's where I think we are now. Software companies are coming to realize that there is a very large group of gamers out there who demand a mature product. And a hefty aspect of that mature product must be an elemination of the broad gender generalizations and stereotypes. DAOC is a perfect example in that regard. The only gender sterotypes that exist there are the ones that we bring with us. I'm optimistic that video games are now coming out of their juvenile growing pains and so will their content.

[worldwalker]

Companies put an enormous amount of money and effort into acquiring new customers. If you owned a company, which of the following would you like to hear from the head of your marketing department?

"Yeah, half of the potential customers don't buy our products. But we don't care, we don't need any more customers."

"OMG, half of the potential customers don't buy our products? We have to do something about that so we can make money from them too!"
Doubling your market is rarely a bad business decision.

[Brandon W. Horton]

Very good article. (Found it from Penny Arcade's link.) I'd like to add a good female to the list: American McGee's Alice .. I'll skip all the artistic value and authenticity-or-not to the books (which I do love) and just say the heroine, Alice, is a strong-willed, feminine, British 17-year-old girl with a revolutionary trait: she looks like a Victorian England 17-year-old girl! She's actually quite attractive but because the designers didn't try to force it -- pretty face (with anime eyes), slender figure (withOUT anime breasts), fully clothed (you read that right). The camera is even designed so you have to go to great lengths to close-up "examine her polygons." It's not just aesthetics (looks, voice, etc.), though; the ways she reacts to the NPCs in cutscenes of the game -- her friends, her enemies -- is utterly believable.

I don't just guide Alice, I am Alice.

...and now a response to Josh, who I believe is missing the whole point of these discussions:

"It's a nice article, though I did see a bit of a problem with it... Here, you're treating videogames like books, or film-festival projects. As long as I've been playing videogames, the only times I've tried relating to the characters or identifying with them is when venturing into the world of fanfic. Yes, there are a few exceptions--and yes, I'm not the best judge of quality on this issue--but for the most part, I play videogames for the issue of fun."

The primary reason for playing a videogame is the fun factor. It just so happens that what's "fun" is different for everybody. Some people could care less whether it has a quality plot like a good book or film, just as long as the button-mashing never wears thin. Some people are bored with button-mashing from the get-go, but fall immensely in love with the development of a game's story and characters, even if they the players have to flesh them out themselves. It all seems to depend on how one uses one's imagination. Note: maybe you wouldn't have to rely on fanfics for character development if the games themselves did it better.

"Yes, I can see your target audience point, but the average female isn't interested in videogames anyway, be they aimed at them or not."

Maybe the average female isn't all that interested in them because they're not aimed at them. My ex-girlfriend loves the Mario Kart series, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and a few others. Most (average) games seem to bore her, but if it's mindless fun with a good social element (Kart, Super Smash Bros.) or intriguing in character (BFD, Hangaroo), she loves it -- she also likes Tetris and SimCity3000 if that means anything. As long as it's not too difficult, she's willing to enjoy.

"I may be a tomboy, but I'm still female; but I still think that if there were more games made and marketed for females, they probably would be marketed toward the stereotypical bimbo female, and would be mindless and boring."

That's the whole point. If they're truly marketed for females (or even better, both genders,) they wouldn't be stereotypical unless the game called for it. BFD is full of stereotypes, but it's an M-rated British comedy, so it's inappropriateness is totally appropriate in context.

Alice, however, is a psychological thriller of sorts set in the time of Victorian England but the place of a young girl's own truamatized mind, so if anybody comes out in the game in a bikini, the entire game's value would be greatly deprecated. (I haven't finished the game yet, but I highly doubt any bimbos shall surface before it's finished.)

On that note, there's one obscure part in E-rated Banjo-Kazooie where a blonde in a red two-piece walks by on a beach. Well, it's on a beach, so it's kind of appropriate, but why? It has nothing else to do with the game! Every time I play to that point, I just shake my head and wonder how many middle-aged men with no signficant others work(ed) at Rareware, Ltd.

Think Cruis'n USA. It's a great concept -- take real roads from the US and turn them into a cross-country racetrack. So why the fully clothed men and bikini-clad women? And why so fake, too? (Play or watch it if you haven't already. The woman with plastic ..smiles.. popping out from under your hood and gyrating around when you finish the race is flabbergasting.)

It's a vicious cycle. Girls don't like games 'cause games don't cater to girls. Games don't cater to girls 'cause girls don't like games. If girls made games, girls might like games more; but more girls might make more games if more girls liked games more in the first place. Slowly but surely, these barriers are being broken down, but it'll take more articles like this (and their writers and like-minded gamers) to break down these barriers.

Wow, that was long. Sorry I wrote so much!

ParodyKnaveBob of the new upstart NOVA
New Order of Videogame Addicts/Advocates/longstory

[Boris]

While you present an interesting article, and I agree with most of the points. I have serious problems with the Lara Croft sidebar (and I am not even a big fan of the game)... In that little pink box you went from intelligent argument to winey militant feminest complainer. First you claim they are 4 seperate articles. This is clearly not the case as you cite the same quote "the chance to play a Lolita version of Lara, budding breasts and all." in 2 of them. You also say "you are always leading her, guiding her, while studying her form " You are putting words into thier mouth when you say 'while studying her form.' Second, as far as always alienating the player, and leading her.. 2 of the highlighted text items refer to putting you in her shorts, and having you play as her. And don't tell me that 'in her shorts', 'daisy dukes,' or whatever is sexist. It may be in presentation by the artists, but as far as a review stand point, that *is* what she is wearing. It is no different then a review of Splinter Cell 'putting you in the wet suit of Sam Fisher.' I could take those same quotes, highlite different parts and change the whole spin. I challange you to find ANY word to use in place of 'control' that would be appropriate description. Keep in mind these reviewers have to use a few different words. You can't even keep saying 'drive' in a racing game review. You have to mix it up a bit.
As for the Xbox controler, that isn't sexist design.. no one has hands big enough to hold that monster! ;)