I don't know how Dishonored 2 is being presented? Is Emily the lead with Corvo as an alternative, or are they equal?
It affects the kind of story you can tell, and the degree to which you can explore aspects of the protagonist's experience for sure.
Just look to Final Fantasy XV for a potential example, where they've specifically said that they wanted to do the male exclusive party thing in order to explore the male social dynamic in a way they couldn't with women present. Which may or may not turn out to be more credit than it deserves, but that sort of thing should exist for both genders.
Da fuq? I would have thought the whole point of having a female character was that it didn't make a big song and dance about female that's how women end up being well represented, just a character in the main protag seat that happens to be female.
And what does "feminine qualities or approach" even mean? Assassin's Creed Liberation explored that to a degree with the main character dressing up as a lady to get to certain areas or do specific things in the game and it sucked, then you have the other extreme of Super Princess Peach with emotional mood swings for attacks, I'm curious as to how Anita would do that without coming off as being sexist in creating a female video game character.
I don't know how Dishonored 2 is being presented? Is Emily the lead with Corvo as an alternative, or are they equal?
similarly, i don't think Life is Strange would have been as impactful and / or succesful if the player character hadn't been exclusively female. It's the story of a teenage girl - not a teenage "person."
60% of world population are Asian, none of the game at E3 has an Asian protagonist. Where is the equality?
#FE and Persona 5?
I understand your point and I think we're in agreement. My argument is that not every story would be fitting for both sexes as protagonists. There are stories where the actual player is the true lead and your character is merely a vessel and can sex will not matter and there are games that to tell a certain story favor one sex over the other. Also it's dependent on the writer, being a man, I find it easier to write from the perspective of a man. I feel if I were to write from the eyes of a woman, I'd have to research or fabricate things I don't truly understand or necessarily feel. So maybe that's a shortcoming other writers may have when creating a game's plot.
#FE and Persona 5?
More female protagonists in games, more "women's stories" -> more need for people who can write a woman's story -> more need for female writers -> more balanced gender representation within the industry as a whole.
Honestly for me, it's just boring to play the same dude over and over. Some variety is always nice. If you look at the male character design a lot of them are just blending in and becoming almost the same mid age grizzly character.
Where is the list?
If devs are gonna go with middle age grizzly characters, I wanna see them go all out and make a lumberjack with super powers who is trying to save his daughter... who is something ridiculous, like she's the fucking moon, and he chops into pieces the alien mothership that's stolen her. With his axe. His unstoppably awesome cosmic axe.
Yeah, this is main gripe, selfish as it may be,
It affects the kind of story you can tell, and the degree to which you can explore aspects of the protagonist's experience for sure.
Just look to Final Fantasy XV for a potential example, where they've specifically said that they wanted to do the male exclusive party thing in order to explore the male social dynamic in a way they couldn't with women present. Which may or may not turn out to be more credit than it deserves, but that sort of thing should exist for both genders.
Why does it have to be exclusively female characters? Mass Effect is using the female version as default. Detroit has Kara (which wasn't shown because we already met her in the first trailer).
This is nitpicking.
I'm of the opinion that female and minority protagonists shouldn't be shoehorned into a game. I prefer something natural as opposed to some contrivance meant to appeal to a vocal community. Just my opinion. If your game was made in mind with having a minority/female/transexual lead great, if it wasn't, don't alter your vision for the sake winning press or the respect of gamers.
FF15 is a terrible example for what this thread is about as there've been tons of jrpg's with exclusively female casts made before and no one ever brought up the equality issue there (although it's not like they should have).
it always baffles me how worked up some people get about other people just doing some counting.
It's not the counting, it's the deliberate miscounting and wilful misrepresenting on the back of it.
Presumably if we had more female characters we'd have complaints about them being too sexy.
I'm all for female protagonists--I play them, and I often choose them when given the option.
But this 3% only counts games where you can only play as a female protagonist. The very same article says that the majority of games gives a choice.
So options don't count?
The U.S. is leading the world in childhood poverty, unemployment, corruption within the political and criminal justice systems, mass shootings, debt, and academic failure.
And this is what feminists are talking about? The fact that there aren't as many female characters in video games, as there are males?
I don't think Anita should be given a say on what goes into video games. She's probably only interested in "I'm Fat and I have Daddy Issues Simulator version 3.66"
yeah, i do agree with many points of yours.
and to add to the bolded. now let's follow that chain back, from the protagonist to the writer.
More female protagonists in games, more "women's stories" -> more need for people who can write a woman's story -> more need for female writers -> more balanced gender representation within the industry as a whole.
I'm all for female protagonists--I play them, and I often choose them when given the option.
But this 3% only counts games where you can only play as a female protagonist. The very same article says that the majority of games gives a choice.
So options don't count?
Why does it have to be exclusively female characters? Mass Effect is using the female version as default. Detroit has Kara (which wasn't shown because we already met her in the first trailer).
This is nitpicking.
It's not the counting, it's the deliberate miscounting and wilful misrepresenting on the back of it.
Presumably if we had more female characters we'd have complaints about them being too sexy.
Ah, fair point. I was more thinking as to whether they'd have even given Ripley a pet cat if Ripley was male, dogs usually seem to be the go-to companion! I don't know why I assume that- maybe dogs appear more because they are easier to work with when making action films or somethingJonesy. I think Ripley is a great character and an awesome lead along with Sarah Connor. They were the original trailblazers in terms of no-nonsense female leads in sci-fi cinema. The aliens first victim, the engineering guy whose name I forget, seemed very partial to Jonesy, so I'm not sure if Ripley and Jonesy's relationship would really change if Ripley were male. I think anyone who cares for animals and didn't want to leave the animal to die, whether by the xenomorph or ship exploding, would've attempted to get it.
It still counters the idea that only men can be heroeswell, the issue is: Nathan Drake is a well established character. Uncharted tells the Story of Nathan Drake. Same goes for Kratos, Joel, etc.
"female avatar from Dark Souls" is not a character.
An exclusively female character means that the narrative of the game is a woman's story. and not just one of a genderless player character.
Yea that's true, but ultimately why are gamers/industry held accountable for the lack of female representation? I don't believe the industry is uninviting towards women or exclusive. I think the internet has proven to be both good and bad though in it's treatment of women in gaming; it's allowed people to be sexist and misogynistic but also empowers people to seek "justice" for those that have been wronged in the industry as well. People use their anonymity for cruel deeds but the internet demands retribution when there's a face or name associated with an attack. I don't know how many stories pop-up on neogaf about someone being victimized by idiots on the internet or irl and there's a demand for blood so to speak.
Still, we have no say of what career path a woman chooses to follow. I think now, our society is becoming more progressive and people see that games really aren't some niche segment and I think as that idea proliferates we'll see more women and more stories told from their eyes and this market won't be largely see as for just boys.
Sorry about the tangent.
Honestly, this.
Having a choice is a hell of a lot better for society than being forced to play as one or the other. There were quite a few games shown that enabled you to choose which sex to play as and they completely miss them out.
It's stupid. Feminism is supposed to be about equality not superiority.
You know I never understood this.
I'm a western brown person, culturally I'm British through and through.
Why can't there just be a character that is of a different skin colour or sexuality but they just live their life like any other person person of what ever country they're in?
In media I'm always happy to see a different person that doesn't fall into a stereotype. Why does the question have to be "They're just a normal person, why should they be a minority?"
Honestly, this.
Having a choice is a hell of a lot better for society than being forced to play as one or the other. There were quite a few games shown that enabled you to choose which sex to play as and they completely miss them out.
It's stupid. Feminism is supposed to be about equality not superiority.
I'm of the opinion that inclusion is very rarely actually 'shoehorning', it just may sometimes feel that way because of the pervasive norm. Which is exactly the problem.I'm of the opinion that female and minority protagonists shouldn't be shoehorned into a game.
It's not the counting, it's the deliberate miscounting and wilful misrepresenting on the back of it.
Presumably if we had more female characters we'd have complaints about them being too sexy.
It affects the kind of story you can tell, and the degree to which you can explore aspects of the protagonist's experience for sure.
Just look to Final Fantasy XV for a potential example, where they've specifically said that they wanted to do the male exclusive party thing in order to explore the male social dynamic in a way they couldn't with women present. Which may or may not turn out to be more credit than it deserves, but that sort of thing should exist for both genders.
Absolutely agree. A male/female protag shared spotlight would have drastically transformed it and probably resulted in a poorer game.
what if we had more female characters and didn't pointlessly sexualize them. That would be something, wouldn't it?
Choice is good but a gender focused experience can sometimes provide a better narrative. For example, you can't tell me that Skyrim's narrative had the same emotional impact Life is Strange had. They're two completely different games, sure, but Life is Strange had an exclusively female lead and the story felt more organic than Skyrim's reactionary "Oh, you're a female" approach.
These games where you choose your own gender are fun but don't leave a lot of room for nuance. At times, gender differences can come across as hokey as the binary good vs. evil paradigm.
I think your vision of the industry and the doling out of internet justice to harassers is just a wee bit optimistic.
Granted, but I'm a little bummed they discounted dishonored 2. Corvo is playable too, but the games marketing seems to center around Emily to the extreme, so to disclude it from the list of games that 'don't feature a female protagonist' seems unfair to dishonored. Not to the stats, though. 2 vs 3 is not a big step up.
Edit: Corvo, not Corgi. Fuck you, autocorrect.
what if we had more female characters and didn't pointlessly sexualize them. That would be something, wouldn't it?
I'm all for preserving artistic integrity of the creator. I just don't think that the glut of white male protagonists has anything to do with art.I'm of the opinion that female and minority protagonists shouldn't be shoehorned into a game. I prefer something natural as opposed to some contrivance meant to appeal to a vocal community. Just my opinion. If your game was made in mind with having a minority/female/transexual lead great, if it wasn't, don't alter your vision for the sake winning press or the respect of gamers.
A woman has to actively seek out stories written for women.
.
Maybe, but just from skimming some of that article, if the harassers name was disclosed that stated "some garbager" do you not think there wouldn't be a call to get this person terminated and make sure they'd never work in whatever industry they are again? I definitely think it'd haappen
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
That makes so sense. A woman can enjoy any bloody game she wants. I personally enjoyed the GoW games because they were mindless fun.
I'm of the opinion that female and minority protagonists shouldn't be shoehorned into a game. I prefer something natural as opposed to some contrivance meant to appeal to a vocal community. Just my opinion. If your game was made in mind with having a minority/female/transexual lead great, if it wasn't, don't alter your vision for the sake winning press or the respect of gamers.
Now I want to play a stealth action game where you play as a Corgi. Maybe protecting the British Monarchy?
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
That makes so sense. A woman can enjoy any bloody game she wants. I personally enjoyed the GoW games because they were mindless fun.
Now I want to play a stealth action game where you play as a Corgi. Maybe protecting the British Monarchy?
It could be a sequel to Flunky.]
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
That makes so sense. A woman can enjoy any bloody game she wants. I personally enjoyed the GoW games because they were mindless fun.