Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Female Characters in Games
I found this Game Trailers video on Youtube that talk about their top ten women in gaming. In order to make the list “these ladies of the pixel had to be hot and empowering”. I guess you can’t break all stereotypes. As this clip shows, women characters in games has definitely changed from being the damsel in distress (though we still see this) to the independent strong woman who is just as powerful as any man. Yet while this clip portrays strong, independent female characters, most of these characters, with the exception of one or two, are scantily dresses and have voluptuous bodies. What kind of message do you think this gives to younger girls playing these games? They use to be exposed to the stereotype of the weak females but now that that stereotype is somewhat resolved, they are faced with this image of what it means to be an attractive woman. In my opinion, based on the characters I saw in the clip, there should be more characters like #3 on the list: AlyxVance (Half Life Two). “Alex’s charm lies not just in her looks but in her personality and intelligence. Alex is the whole package. She may not end up on the pages of Maxim but she ‘s one of the more empowering representation of women in video games.”
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2 comments:
Very nice points about the ways that stereotypes are repeated but change-- It's a great example of how women are not so much escaping from a stereotype as having greater expectations piled on top of the same old stereotypes-- A great phrase that was popular in 1970's ad's was "I can bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan"-- which of course is a good way of saying-- not only do we have to be successful career people, we also have to maintain domestic choirs, etc. I completely agree that more role models which are about "personality & intelligence" are needed for young girls. Good observations, Brenda.
I agree to a point with your post. The thing is that today's gamer is still overwhelmingly male. Making the female character sexy is just plain good marketing. I know it may sound a bit piggish of me but for me Tomb Raider wasn't a good game at all, but I played it. Granted I only played it for about a day, I only went even that long for 1 reason, boobs. Laura Croft was one of the first female characters to have huge boobs and as a result I played Tomb Raider first over whatever else was out at the time. I'm sure that if the female gaming population increases to a significant point, you make see more characters like Alyx in some games and maybe even some more romantic subplots. My main comment is that game developers put what they think gamers want into their games. Whether its over the top violence, to sexy vixens, to drug use, if it makes money and they can stay within certain content guidlines, developers will put it in. Right now normality and understanding don't make money but someday they might.
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