(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: |
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.
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.
First off - I'm a guy. Just so people don't get mistaken ;) .
Vihena, I'm in two minds about your comment on Shion (Xenosaga). Yes, she occasionally behaves in a stereotypically female way, but she's just as often a loose cannon with precious little self-preservation instinct (and I say this with the utmost respect ;). In that sense, I'd say Shion is a much better model for female characters than Lara Croft (who's basically a guy trapped in a woman's body). However, I do have to observe that EVERY female character in the game either gets a panty shot (in the case of the underage ones) or sports highly-visible cleavage - so it's not quite THAT liberating. Episode 2 is looking significantly less exploitative, though.
I've never been particularly impressed with Tomb Raider. Played the demo of the first game when it came out; wasn't interested in playing any more. As for RPGs like Arcanum, I'm a little disturbed that female characters are encouraged to use their sexuality as a "tool" to get ahead in the game. I don't see that as being particularly liberating - it does help a little, however, when you have the option afterwards to fill the slimy bastich, and his 20 bodyguards, with buckshot (Fallout 2).
And for what it's worth, I did enjoy DOAXBV. I found the visuals, well, pleasant (being a guy) - but the gameplay is quite engaging; it's hard not to grin wickedly when you get the hang of spiking straight between your opponents and make both of them face-plant in the sand. I wouldn't call it REALISTIC volleyball, but it's simple, solid reflex-based gameplay that harks back to the days of the classic arcade games, and is great relief for when you're tired of "playing a spreadsheet".
Posted by: Sparrow | 04/15/2004 at 10:03 PM
Lots of speech to read through..
A great article, and one which it so obvious when yuo look for it even now a year on. Ive personally played has female characters for the last 2 and a half years [im a guy behind the screen], originally because the clan i was in named The Black Rose
restricted access to female 'characters' because that was where its individuality appeared within the game. But now ive left the clan i still use the female avatar' of Rill / Aril / Arya, be it from habit i dont know, but ive acquired some semblance of the characters themselves.
Certainly after spending so much time among fellow gamers, in an environment predominantly of female gamers i now speak and act differently, discernable by msot people who know me.
On the point about female characters having an easier time within the gaming communities, it is true, yet even on the rare occasions i use a male character i recieve much the same treatment due to my textual mannerism's.
Anyhow, a great article and one shall make me go and read the rest of this website [originally found as a link]
^^
Posted by: Aril | 04/23/2004 at 06:07 AM
I'll start this off with 2 statements (and all statements are based off the timeframe of games being released in America.) that will probably be fairly evident once you actually start reading this, the first is that I'm male, and the second, is that I have been around games for a little bit, ever since the early Nintendo days. Yeah, initially there were no games that even had females, and then when females were created in the games, they were all shallow. The first game IMO that really broke that bond in any way, shape or form was Dragon Warrior III, and even then it was simply through allowing you to choose the gender of your character, and then slightly diversifying the text based upon that, for instance people would call you the "son of such and such" but then would quickly realize their mistake, and while that was still nowhere near close enough to what it needs to become, it got better with Dragon Warrior IV, wherein the gender of your main character made no difference as far as actual gameplay, although a chapter of gaming did include playing as a female manager and a female dancer, and they were initially portrayed as weak characters, but were in fact surprisingly deep and strong characters.
After that, though, it was a long while IMO before anything came again, and in fact, I'd have to say that (as far as RPG terms) it took until Final Fantasy VI to have any sort of gender equality, and even then it wasn't always there, as your strong female characters had to be rescued by the male characters, but then again it's supposed to be taking place in a time just following the reinvention of steam tech, and as in all Steampunk based games sexism is to be expected. (The 2 main female characters at least had depth, though.)
Now this whole gender equality note hits close to home for me, because I like playing really good games from both a male characters point of view, and a female characters, to see what, if any, differences exist, and not because I'm particularly a feminist. My reasons are selfish, I want to have 2 different gaming experiences from 1 game. I don't want it to be the exact same game, because let's be real honest, real gender equality even in this day isn't here yet, and possibly never will, and certain things, no matter how small or large should be portrayed in games, particularly those trying to portray a medieval setting, and in those games, a certain level of sexism SHOULD exist, but not to the level where it excludes the entire female gaming community.
Posted by: Daerc | 04/25/2004 at 12:41 AM
I'll start this off with 2 statements (and all statements are based off the timeframe of games being released in America.) that will probably be fairly evident once you actually start reading this, the first is that I'm male, and the second, is that I have been around games for a little bit, ever since the early Nintendo days. Yeah, initially there were no games that even had females, and then when females were created in the games, they were all shallow. The first game IMO that really broke that bond in any way, shape or form was Dragon Warrior III, and even then it was simply through allowing you to choose the gender of your character, and then slightly diversifying the text based upon that, for instance people would call you the "son of such and such" but then would quickly realize their mistake, and while that was still nowhere near close enough to what it needs to become, it got better with Dragon Warrior IV, wherein the gender of your main character made no difference as far as actual gameplay, although a chapter of gaming did include playing as a female manager and a female dancer, and they were initially portrayed as weak characters, but were in fact surprisingly deep and strong characters.
After that, though, it was a long while IMO before anything came again, and in fact, I'd have to say that (as far as RPG terms) it took until Final Fantasy VI to have any sort of gender equality, and even then it wasn't always there, as your strong female characters had to be rescued by the male characters, but then again it's supposed to be taking place in a time just following the reinvention of steam tech, and as in all Steampunk based games sexism is to be expected. (The 2 main female characters at least had depth, though.)
Now this whole gender equality note hits close to home for me, because I like playing really good games from both a male characters point of view, and a female characters, to see what, if any, differences exist, and not because I'm particularly a feminist. My reasons are selfish, I want to have 2 different gaming experiences from 1 game. I don't want it to be the exact same game, because let's be real honest, real gender equality even in this day isn't here yet, and possibly never will, and certain things, no matter how small or large should be portrayed in games, particularly those trying to portray a medieval setting, and in those games, a certain level of sexism SHOULD exist, but not to the level where it excludes the entire female gaming community.
Posted by: Daerc | 04/25/2004 at 12:41 AM
Star wars: Kotor is an awesome game for the equality that I really want in games. I mean, whether you're a guy or a girl, you can still be the Sith Lord, and kill millions of people if you want. That's a lot of equality eh?
Posted by: Beer | 05/06/2004 at 08:12 PM
Hmmm, I just wanted to say that I am the only boy out of a 7 kids, and 2 of my younger sisters more enjoy the more sexual gameplay whereas the other 3 Just want it to be nuetral and then my older sister can't stand sexual acts or any type of female beuty at all, then you have my mom which her o9nly complaint is that the males are not as hot and sexual as the females, and then there is me, I just want it to be as real as possible, and in that matter if it is jiggaling boobs or ugly barbarian females in a game I like it, I guess the point is by saying that games are more based on mens likes that tells me that the only viewpoint you have on what a man or what a women wants is between you and your friends, I have met all types of ppl with all types of wants in games, and believe it or not most of the girls I have met just want more hot males
I don't know, if you understand me great if you don't just ignore me :)
Posted by: Jeremiah | 05/14/2004 at 02:13 AM
Hmmm, I just wanted to say that I am the only boy out of a 7 kids, and 2 of my younger sisters more enjoy the more sexual gameplay whereas the other 3 Just want it to be nuetral and then my older sister can't stand sexual acts or any type of female beuty at all, then you have my mom which her o9nly complaint is that the males are not as hot and sexual as the females, and then there is me, I just want it to be as real as possible, and in that matter if it is jiggaling boobs or ugly barbarian females in a game I like it, I guess the point is by saying that games are more based on mens likes that tells me that the only viewpoint you have on what a man or what a women wants is between you and your friends, I have met all types of ppl with all types of wants in games, and believe it or not most of the girls I have met just want more hot males
I don't know, if you understand me great if you don't just ignore me :)
Posted by: Jeremiah | 05/14/2004 at 02:13 AM
I am a young gamer and i think you people are right that games are sexest and such but there is a line of games i recomend you might think they are gay but Harvest Moon games. They are comming out with Harvest moon for girls games were the main character is a girl not a boy. a good game is harvest moon GB for the gameboy colour. You can choose to be a girl or a guy in the beginning.
All i can say is If you want your artical in a highlt visted place i will recomend this to www.gamespot.com
just send me an e-mail back subject post ok? bye for now. (Sorry if the laink does not work)
Posted by: Sean | 05/16/2004 at 05:15 PM
I read your article, and I find it amusing and sometimes has a point as to character design.
I happen to enjoy BG:DA and while I wish there were more female characters (or at least the one provided be able to carry a bit more weight, it sucks having to Recall to the store every five seconds or so), but I play all characters, I really don't care what gender they are, I really don't care what they happen to look like. I'm interested more in the game play, can I get into the game? I have never seen myself in terms of the character. Yeah, the bartender had me laughing, but I figured that the character designers were playing off the fact that most real bars try to get the bustiest women they can behind the bar to draw customers, not that busty women really matter that much to guys three sheets to the wind.
Only recently with 'City of Heroes' have I played a game with a wide range of body types and design for character (I never played Star Wars Galaxies, I hear they have a similar system) and you can choose any power you wish, the powers are not dumbed down for female characters, in fact, you can have female brawlers that can 'arrest' a punk before a male brawler can.
I shudder to think what designers would create if they tried to incorporate what they thought girls/women want from a game. I don't want a more emotionally invested storyline, and I don't want the backstory of a character unless I ask for it or it furthers the plot of the story without wasting my time. Cut scenes are long enough as it is all ready.
And to hell with co-operative play, they have it in CoH, it is forced upon you when you get into the higher levels. Already we can see the flaws with this system as half the people playing tend to aggro huge flocks of punks without proper planning and get you hospitalized very quickly, which leads to massive amounts of experience debt that you have to work off. I would rather play alone and not have some jerk think (s)he's the strongest of the group and charge in without the rest of the team.
As a female gamer, I say leave the games/game designers/writers alone.
Just choose one of the characters provided and enjoy game play.
But that's just my opinion.
Posted by: DedEnimuls | 05/17/2004 at 08:51 AM
i actually feel sorry for guys sometimes in the regard that many advertisers feel the only way they will purchase a game (or quite a few other products) is if it features buxom ladies. video games are escapism though, and i do feel that many games portray women in questionable ways; but that many also show them as strong and capable. many of my male friends have told me they prefer to look at animated women (this being from the more anime graphics based games)because they don't look as disgusting as porn stars. to be honest; i don't care what the characters look like as long as they aren't sleazy lookinng (guys and girls.) i just want a good story, or something with great gameplay techniques (like bemani games, or good fighters like street fighter and soul calibur). most rpg's are not sexist, in my opinion. as for the games that are, well, if any guy is simple enough to believe that women truly act like that; then they are going to need those games so they have lifelong companions ^-^;; they certainly won't find any otherwise.
Posted by: justanothergirlgamer | 05/24/2004 at 07:04 PM
When I read this, it immediately brought to mind the game 'Metroid Prime'. Guys that I know, at least, don't know that Samus, the main character, is a girl. I've heard that at the end of the game she takes her helmet thing off, but that's beside the point. They assume that the figure in that awesome, mechanical, power suit, is a guy. And that's because they believe that a girl couldn't possibly have that much power in a game!
I don't mean to say that all guys are like that, of course. A lot of my friends KNOW that Samus is a girl, and they think that Metroid Prime is the best game ever! Regardless of gender.
Personally, I don't care whether I'm a girl or a guy in a game. In fighting games, for example, I just choose who's the best. My friends, guys and girls, do the same. And that goes for all games. Gender doesn't matter. Just the gameplay.
Posted by: Tsunami | 05/31/2004 at 07:34 AM
Cheeses
Posted by: cheeses | 05/31/2004 at 09:35 PM
It's all about Oni. I'm a male gamer and bought Oni. It immerced me. There's nothing that makes the lead character a sex kitten, no nipples showing in this game. This is all about a woman's revenge and is played out quite well.
Posted by: Dustin Venegas | 06/03/2004 at 11:49 PM
thanks!
Posted by: satelite tv descrambler online | 06/18/2004 at 11:34 AM
thanks!
Posted by: satelite tv descrambler | 06/18/2004 at 04:27 PM
"I don't mean to say that all guys are like that, of course. A lot of my friends KNOW that Samus is a girl, and they think that Metroid Prime is the best game ever! Regardless of gender."
Same goes for perfect dark where the protagonist is female but nobody makes a fuss about it they just get on with playing one of the greatest FPSs of all time
Posted by: gamer | 06/21/2004 at 06:20 AM
"I don't mean to say that all guys are like that, of course. A lot of my friends KNOW that Samus is a girl, and they think that Metroid Prime is the best game ever! Regardless of gender."
Same goes for perfect dark where the protagonist is female but nobody makes a fuss about it they just get on with playing one of the greatest FPSs of all time
Posted by: gamer | 06/21/2004 at 06:21 AM
neat!
Posted by: bianca trump | 06/23/2004 at 09:41 AM
Why?
Posted by: Adult dvds | 06/23/2004 at 01:43 PM
Morgages are fun!
Posted by: DPMG | 06/30/2004 at 12:27 PM
Hmm... first visit to this site. I've heard about it before, but never bothered to check it out until now (slow day).
I know I'm a little behind, but I felt like letting you know I wholeheartedly agree with most of what was touched upon in the article. Especially the bit on gender in interaction, as I play quite a bit of Final Fantasy XI, and have yet to use a male character. I just have more fun with that alienation factor you speak of... what fun would the experience be without the fantasy? Yeah, I get a few annoyances here and there with those who think my "ta1l iz h0tz"... but, like you said of Justin, I play through it because it's not so big a deal as to ruin the overall experience for me.
Yeah, and I'm a guy.
P.S. - Sophitia? WTF? Who is she? I thought Taki was the only playable character in Soul Calibur. Might as well be... she kicks ass! :D
Posted by: Kunami | 07/03/2004 at 12:47 PM
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Posted by: Dental Insurance | 07/08/2004 at 03:44 PM
This is a great artical. I just wanted to say that i think lara croft is a great role modle! If we look past her boobs and look at what she is representing. She is tough, highly skilled at what she does and she has MANNERS!! She's not some grungy girl who has a gun but a woman who knows when the time to use her guns and when to be poliet (watch the movies)! people think i'm strange or lezzo becuase i like her but they just can't see past how she is portrayed. :)
Posted by: hannah | 11/04/2004 at 09:58 PM
Hello. I am a young aspiring programmer, and I am working on a fantasy action-adventure game. I found your article intriguing and it brought up a lot of point I had already thought of, and quite a few that I hadn't. I agree with you completely about gender equality in games, but there is one point which I have felt important and you did not mention:
I see everyday how (some) girls ruin their lives and bodies, and particularly their previously intelligent, free thinking minds, by trying to be like celebrities.
As an advocate of gender equality, and a programmer and thus acutely aware of the pschological media impact what I write will have on my audience, I absolutely do NOT want my games (or any games, for that matter) to exacerbate the problems already caused by TV. Now, being a guy, I'm not sure if this is acctually a problem in games, but I do know that the motives and personality of a character have much more influence on a player than their actions do, and I would like to know, do you think that this sort of things makes people feel inferior in the same way TV does? or, due to the accepted fantasy setting, is this a non-issue?
Also, to what extent do you think that real-world gender issues should be dissolved within a fantasy setting? for example, one reason that girls are often conveyed as archers is that girls are simply not as strong as guys (A strong girl may be stronger than a not-so-strong guy, but presumeably video game characters are supposed to be the most athletic around in most casses.) and thus would havve difficulty swinging a huge axe around all day. of cource in some games weapon sizes are so outrageous that they could not be held up by either gender....but that is an exception rather than a rule. In my game I do have a playable woman warrior, delicately avoiding the issue by creating a reptillian species (with reptiles, the females can be 33% larger that the males) however, the other two "normal" (humanoid) female characters take the traditional role as a mage and an archer. Do you think that this would let fly any resentment from girls? Could it be set off by the fact that of the 3 male characters (equal number of male and female playable characters) only 2 fit into the traditional warrior role, and even then one unconventionally.
Also, you have complained a lot about the "sex-appeal" type characters, but do you think there is a proper time and place, or should they be eliminated completely? obviously, the Baldur's Gate example is ridiculous, but it is true that in the world some (a minority) of girls are like that (some guys are as well). If the issue is used in moderation (and adressed as an eccentricity by other characters) do you think the ill effects would be nulified, or do you think this sort f thing should be completely eliminated?
I am sorry to swamp you with so many questions, mostly I just want your advice (as I have few good examples to work with) of how to make a game more equally appeal to both genders. Don't worry about marketing, because I am only 16 and don't expect to make a living off of this or anything (well, not with THIS game). I understand you are m=not a media pschologist and can't answer all my questions, but any help you could give would be very much apreciated.
Posted by: Bernie | 11/05/2004 at 09:22 PM
"I don't want a more emotionally invested storyline, and I don't want the backstory of a character unless I ask for it or it furthers the plot of the story without wasting my time. Cut scenes are long enough as it is all ready." -posted by random observer
As a programmer, I have to argue this point. Emotions, story, and background is NOT (or at least, should not be) a gender issue. I agree that cutscenes are to long, but I think that most games are sorely lacking in plot, background, and character, which are rarely even hinted at outside of the cutscenes. What books do people like? books with depth. When games abandon story and personality to become mindless killing sprees or puzzle solvers, the art of the game is lost, regardless of the gender of the player, programmer, or character. Guys have emotions as well, and not all emotions are "sissy" (Achilles is one of the most emotional characters in greek literature) and the male characters eccepecially could use a lot of work in the emotions and personality department.
Posted by: Bernie | 11/05/2004 at 09:32 PM