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Females in video game narratives
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Ouch! Name misspelled, badly. :PThe good, easy. Commander Shepard in Mass Effect (when you choose the woman, I've played both and I liked the female Shepard more than the male). Or from Resident Evil, there are so many good ones there. Like Jill Valentine, but I think she's everyone's favorite.
The worst, I'll go for Chrono Cross' Kid. I haven't played but have heard been privileged to listen to all the ranting and cursing from my girlfriend about her so I'm siding with a pro on this one.
Sorry! I got excited with the 'i' there.Shepard was a really good one. I had gotten so attached to my male version by the second game, I never went back but I've heard a lot of people say that the female is far more interesting. Personally, I wasn't keen on Dragon Age 2, but playing as a female mage changes the story a lot into becoming about a mother and her two daughters split by civil war.
My favorite female computer game character is April from Longest Journey. She is a college art student, a very real feeling character, and very engaging as a human being. Her arc is awesome.
My least favorite.... Princess Peach. She is a product. A golden pot at the end of two brother's rainbow. She represents everything EVERYTHING wrong to me in games.
William wrote: "Sorry! I got excited with the 'i' there.Shepard was a really good one. I had gotten so attached to my male version by the second game, I never went back but I've heard a lot of people say that ..."
I like the SWTOR smuggler storyline that I play as a woman, but I don't think the storyline differs from the male character. I love her voice through, makes me wish I sounded like that.
Never played Longest Journey. It sounds interesting... but I prefer to blow things up (or decapitate them), in general as far as video games go.
You are right about Peach, but she is also a product of a different time. A basic save the princess storyline, kind of like every single Disney movie made at that point as well. She was excusable, but these days there is no excuse to make cliché female characters.
Aurora in Child of Light. Okay, so I didn't play this through yet but she's amazing. You get a sword-fighting magic-y heroine who helps people and, well, pretty much does everything you usually have guy characters doing in RPG games. ... quite a lot of Fire Emblem characters, really. It's hard to choose one because the characters are usually really interesting. In the newest game you can also choose the gender of your main character. The only difference? If your character is female, she can marry Chrom, one of the main protagonists. Chrom's daughter Lucina is also a main character and pretty badass.
Seriously any female character you play in Guild Wars 2. Yes, this is a MMORPG, but your character has a personal story and there's no story difference for male and female characters. You always end up being the hero of your story. Also got some nice supporting characters. Oh and 3 of the 5 characters from the hero group 'Destiny's Edge' are female.
Speaking of "the story doesn't change": the newer Pokemon games where you can choose the character you want to play.
The only difference are the colours. You get either blue for guys or obnoxious pink for girls, which is still a bit annoying. But still.
Probably the last two don't really count since it's a sort of costumizable thing.
Eh, characters I didn't like?
I really have to think about that. I might come back alter.
So Guild Wars II is like SWTOR, there is really no difference between the male and female characters.Oh, and SWTOR recently added two distinct areas, a club for non-heterosexual male characters and non-heterosexual female characters, if one chooses to assign a sexuality to a character (although, the flirting within storyline is so far only between opposite sex characters, I was quite disappointed I couldn't flirt with both of the siblings :P). But when you choose relationships between your various characters, a female character can have a wife and a male character can have a husband. Its cool that SWTOR lets you choose so much when customizing your characters. Its one of my favorite MMORPGs.
1). I have to agree with Alicja. Female Shepard can only be described as awesome. I also have to tie with Lara Croft, she's not afraid of anything. And I also want to nominate Joanna Dark from the Perfect Dark series.
Those are the best female characters I have encountered on a video game.
2) Princess Peach. I mean, come on, she keeps getting kidnapped by the same guy and keeps expecting Mario to come rescue her.
I was actually just about to ask about the Lara Croft reboot. While I enjoyed the new game and found her sexy without being an abstract of sexy, I wasn't sure how I felt about the super human abuse she took near the beginning. Honestly, I was scared!I also think Ellie from Last of Us is an AMAZING character. That game made me CRY. I can think of three female characters in that game that were amazing. Wait, four!
William wrote: "I also think Ellie from Last of Us is an AMAZING character. That game made me CRY. I can think of three female characters in that game that were amazing. Wait, four!"Pleeeeeease no spoilers, I'm not done with this one yet :)
I agree that Ellie is amazing.
Yoly wrote: "Relevant video!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_ybs..."
Interesting video. Interesting list. But it was the comments that drew me in. There is a huge discussion going on and both gamers and non gamers, men and women have a ton of different opinions and ideas.
As a side note, I was playing an MMORPG yesterday that required team missions so I played with unknown teams and, even in a female avatar skin, I can't even count the number of times I was called dude, man, or sir in the chat screen. There is an assumed maleness and as a woman you either have a choice or letting it go or correcting them (and running the risk of making your gender a big deal).
And there is a stereotype that girls aren't as good at video games as boys. I think that not being able to tell the gender of the player is proof that there is no such thing.
I have to watch that when I get home (no sense in watching it without sound).Well, I noticed that too, Alicja. Of course this doesn't happen when I play with people I know (my GW2 guild consists mainly of people I actually met, I've known some of them for several years now). But otherwise? Well, yeah, it happens. Even when you try to correct them, some gamers come up with old crap like 'there are no women on the internet'.
What.
No. There are so many female players that it's ridiculous to think that there are only men playing these games.
(My only additional trouble is that I sound like a teenage boy so even talking on Teamspeak is no help with people I never met.)
Alicja wrote: "And there is a stereotype that girls aren't as good at video games as boys. I think that not being able to tell the gender of the player is proof that there is no such thing.
"
I also agree with this. Most of my guild people are women and they're really great at this game. I'm also getting a lot better.
Actually, whenever we have difficulties with a boss I'm usually one of the last ones to die. I'm really good at kiting. :'D
Edit:
Btw, this was a boss we did yesterday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkZuWI...
Only that our setup was warrior, ranger, mesmer (does illusion magic, like illusionary clones and stuff), necromancer and guardian (I played that one, it's a more defensive kind of warrior class).
We wiped twice, usually with our mesmer and me dying last. Haha. We ended that one with our mesmer being the last one alive and her killing the guy.
Usually our warrior died first because he got too much aggro from the lava elementals.
This is the kind of scenario where you can't stand around (or you burn) and the floor is literaly lava (some spots at least).
Yeah, I didn't mean guildies. But it is also hard to find a good guild when you are a girl unless you know the people or there are mostly women there. I've had way too many guilds that I've joined to test out because I don't know anyone in RL (or only 1 person) who plays that game and it turns into a macho flirt contest and impedes gameplay. Its like you are an equal until they start imagining you with a pair of boobs. I wish my voice was gender nonspecific or manly, I'm stuck with a squeaky thing that I can't even disguise as male on TeamSpeak.
Regardless of gender, someone who doesn't play much isn't going to be that good. Someone that does will get better and become good. Those boys that play started off sucking and got better through practice. Its not a magical skill that birth all human males with in inborn ability for video games.
Report: Adult women gamers now double the number of under-18 boys"According to the ESA's measure of 2013 sales, women ages 18 and over now constitute 36 percent of all measured gamers, compared to boys under the age of 18, who represent 17 percent of the total population. This measure shows a further increase from last year's count of 31 percent to 19 percent (and that 2013 measure only counted boys 17 and younger, meaning the total boost may be even bigger this year)."
Full article: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/08...
I think in general the gaming demographics show most gamers are over 18, regardless of gender. My generation is the one that grew up on NES and Atari when we were still in elementary school. I think that even back then they got it wrong, I had plenty of girl friends that played video games. It wasn't until high school that video games became known as a boys' thing.
I recently experienced something very weird playing online.I've been playing online for years .When I started playing World of Warcraft back in the day I created all my characters female and of course gave them female names and this wasn't a problem because for some reason most guys make female characters so of course I was usually called "dude" or "man" because of course I was just another guy with a female toon.
For first person shooters I usually use gender non-specific names and the game flows normally (which mans I suck and it's ok :P). A few weeks ago I tried a first person shooter I found on Steam, I honestly don't remember the name, it is one of those free-to-play games and I gave my character a female name. Big mistake. My name made me such an easy target. I saw guys going out of their way just to get the girl, the easy target. Of course I was new at this game and was just figuring out the mechanics and I probably wasn't a very good player, but it hasn't happened before in other games I try for the first time with names that don't say I am female.
I think it's funny that for a long time female gamers have been practically half of the gaming population but gaming is still "for boys".
In my case, I had a very different experience than Alicja growing up. I was always the only girl who played videogames in school. And any girl who said she played video games meant the could barely complete World 1-1 on Super Mario on her brother's NES. I never knew a girl I could talk to about videogames. For me videogames was a boys thing until around 10 years ago.
Experiences seem to vary by age and demographic. I'm used to being called "dude" and "man" all the time too. I also have gender non-specific names for when I play first-person shooters. I think that may be the difference between RPGs and shooters, in RPGs you are meant to become someone else so having a gendered name is just a name for the character and isn't necessarily reflective of you. Plenty of guys play as girls and girls play as guys. I also think first person shooters tend to attract more of the macho guys or even make regular guys start acting all macho due to the culture even if they wouldn't have done otherwise. I'm sorry you didn't have gamer girl friends to hang with growing up. But you stood up for what you liked and did what you wanted, that deserves upmost respect.
Alicja wrote: "I'm sorry you didn't have gamer girl friends to hang with growing up. But you stood up for what you liked and did what you wanted, that deserves upmost respect. "Ha! Standing up to my mother and explaining why I needed another "Nintendo" when I bought my PSOne back in the day to play Final Fantasy VII was no easy feat!
Yoly wrote: "Ha! Standing up to my mother and explaining why I needed another "Nintendo" when I bought my PSOne back in the day to play Final Fantasy VII was no easy feat!"I have a brother so we had the excuse of I need a playstation and he needs a Nintendo for Christmas. We always shared our systems and our games though, it was just a rouse to get more.
haha sounds clever.my siblings gave up on videogames with the Atari 2600 so I never had any help on that department :/
And speaking of women and videogames:Trolls drive Anita Sarkeesian out of her house to prove misogyny doesn't exist
http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/27/607...
Here's a link of a picture she posted with the threats
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BwEefh5Ic...
This is sad.
I think there are valid criticisms of her work. But that is disgusting, and yes, it does prove her point. The gaming community can be sexist, but not all of it is. Not only are these assholes horrible, they are also painting the whole gaming community in a horrible light. But at the same time I know of online bloggers that are men who get rape threats as well. I think misogyny does play a part (I don't have the stats but I think women may be threatened more often) but at the same time I think there are more confounding issues, such as death, violence, and rape threats being common on the internet against anyone you disagree with. Threats like these are always wrong and should always be condemned.
I happened across an article yesterday that was about the demographics of game designers. The premise was that, apparently, it's dominated by white males 20-35. Hence, games have a certain emphasis. This isn't that article I saw (sorry, folks, I was just surfing) but it is on the same theme:http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/03...
More girls need to be encouraged from an early age to study math, science, computers, and engineering. I will have to look for the study but I remember reading one where they observed math classes in school. I can't remember the exact age but the kids were either elementary or middle school age, not older. What they found is that teachers regardless of the teachers' gender subconsciously discriminated against the girls. They would allow more time for boys to answer questions before moving on to another student than girls on average. Also, they would give boys more chances when they got the answers wrong to figure it out than girls at a statistically significant level. It may not seem like much but it sends the message that boys could do it if they applied themselves but if girls don't know it, they won't know it. And it is a powerful message to girls at a young age.
Yoly wrote: "And speaking of women and videogames:Trolls drive Anita Sarkeesian out of her house to prove misogyny doesn't exist
http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/27/607...-..."
Here's a follow up article on this one:
http://www.themarysue.com/video-game-...
I'm not so sure I agree with the conclusion, "Unless we are all committed to rooting out that kind of behavior when we see it, not just on an individual level but a systematic one, then it’s going to continue to fester under the surface and irrevocably ruin the entire community." That reads as more than a little alarmist in a "you must all do this or we're all doomed!" way, but the article itself has some interesting info.
Again, all I can say is this is sad :(I remember reading The Circle where there was no harassment or people being jerks online anymore, because anonymity online had disappeared, everyone had to use their real names, which in reality I know it would create a new set of problems but I thought it was pretty cool in the book. I'm sure none of these jerks would be going on with their threats if everyone knew who they were.
In a way I think they are right with that conclusion. I mean, how is this going to stop? I don't think this type of behavior is going away by just ignoring it.
On a lighter note, I was trying to save the world (again) and a female NPC said this on Diablo III last night :)
*facepalm* for that screencap from the game... This is why I tend to stick as much as possible to BioWare games these days. They've been very good at trying to root all that shit out.Yeah, the hate is getting out of control.
And not being anonymous on the internet could be dangerous as well. People have been fired over stuff on facebook with their names attached. And for every jackass who has said something terrible, there is someone who is getting support from a community online that they don't have at home and where the secret could lead to getting fire, becoming homeless (especially in teens). Anonymity means that someone who is LGBT, or atheist, or any other part of a minority can find a home and support online and still hide from their disapproving communities (and stay out of danger). Its like a double edged sword, jackasses stay anonymous but at the same time it can protect people simply seeking solace.
William wrote: "My favorite female computer game character is April from Longest Journey. She is a college art student, a very real feeling character, and very engaging as a human being. Her arc is awesome."So glad someone else feels this way! That was actually one that my wife and I played through together because she also thought the storyline and character were so amazing. They had a sequel but it ended on a cliffhanger and we were displeased!
What happened to Anita scares me and makes me sick to my stomach if I think too much about it. That someone would threaten another person like this over GAMES... I simply cannot comprehend it. DiabloIII: Blizz doesn't know what they're doing anymore. Rejected.
Btw, Bioware: the only sad thing is that their publisher is EA. ): EA still hasn't learned that all their copyprotection crap pretty much makes the gameplay suffer. I mean, I can't access ANY of my savegames from Dragon Age II if I'm not online and signed in? Come on... (As soon as you have ANY downloadable content installed it's like this. Unless they patched it. I didn't play this game in quite a while.)
Also, the more I play Guild Wars 2 the more I love it. Especially the sylvari. I found out that the sylvari hero of the big hero group Destiny's Edge, Caithe, actually had a girlfriend. Before said girlfriend became evil. ): It's so dramatic. Plus, there's a sylvari personal story that features two romantically involved male characters.
(Edit: btw, the sylvari are technically tree people, but they're, let's say, spliced with human dna so they look like tree-humans and have human behaviour. It's also mentioned ingame that the sylvari 'love freely'.)
Oh and I joined a guild (you can join up to 5 per account) of people I didn't know before.
They were totally cool about me being a woman. No sexist crap in the guild chat either. We even got a bi guy who calls everyone 'dear', regardless of gender. The men who don't like this get called 'babe' by him. I don't know if that's good or bad but at least he makes no exceptions. :')
Bioware copyprotection does suck but I'm usually signed on and logged in anyway when I play.Haven't played Guild Wars but its cool you stumbled upon a more open guild.
I heard about the thing with Anita, and I had my usual feelings of chromosomal shame and disgust. Some people...I do think that sexism is far more subversive than that, however. I think sexism will be far harder to identify and root out as long as we have people making threats that are so over-the-top that it distorts all other noise.
How threatened they must be, and how feeble, when all they have is the internet and puerile threats.
Sparrowlicious wrote: "Btw, Bioware: the only sad thing is that their publisher is EA. ): EA still hasn't learned that all their copyprotection crap pretty much makes the gameplay suffer. I mean, I can't access ANY of my savegames from Dragon Age II if I'm not online and signed in? Come on... (As soon as you have ANY downloadable content installed it's like this. Unless they patched it. I didn't play this game in quite a while.)"Being online to play games sadly is the way of the future.
Blizzard went this way as well for Diablo 3 and Hearthstone. I can play Hearthstone against the computer but I have to be online to do so. I cannot play a solo game of Diablo 3 without being connected to the internet.
I don't like this model but I understand it's easier for developers to help with cheating and piracy. It does limit my options of entertainment when I don't have an internet connection.
EA has a horrible history with DRM. I refused to buy Mass Effect when it first came out because you could only install it 3 times before it stopped working. Fortunately they eventually changed this.
I hate that whenever I want to play a game I have to wait for either a system update if it's on a console or an update for a game. Or maybe they're getting a DDOS and I can't play at all. This is getting out of hand :)
Alicja wrote: "And not being anonymous on the internet could be dangerous as well. People have been fired over stuff on facebook with their names attached. And for every jackass who has said something terrible, there is someone who is getting support from a community online that they don't have at home and where the secret could lead to getting fire, becoming homeless (especially in teens). Anonymity means that someone who is LGBT, or atheist, or any other part of a minority can find a home and support online and still hide from their disapproving communities (and stay out of danger). Its like a double edged sword, jackasses stay anonymous but at the same time it can protect people simply seeking solace. "I don't see it being an "all or nothing" issue. I could see that certain places you should be required to be "out" with your real name accessible (twitter, Facebook, etc). But within private smaller communities that set their own rules, there you can be private (but I think admins should at least have an email address with a verified identity attached in case the authorities need to be contacted). Let's face it the big places like Twitter are barely policed and it will be nearly impossible to ban accounts. Small sites have an easier time policing.
1.) Alright, which female video game character, regardless of if the game was good or not, exemplifies everything you want to see in a female character?
2.) Which female video game character is everything a female video game character SHOULDN'T be?
Give us the best, explain, and then give us the WORST!