Several problems with this video.
As Anita said, there are references to past adventure games within.
The trigon is a reference to Zelda, and the unknown gender is a reference to Samus.
However, Anita says that this is done subtly in a way to show that women can be the hero just as well as men can. These design choices however, could simply be interpreted as an homage.
Yes, they could be interpreted as such if you wish.
The game is more accurately described as both a tribute and reimagining of old adventure tropes..both the foundation and the deconstruction. A character who powers down instead of powering up, who talks instead of being silent, who dies rather than lives, etc. It's a clever design structure, but it can't really be said whether this was a gender-based decision.
Interesting points.
Regarding intent though, that's not really relevant. What's relevant is that we can observe it and see what we see, i.e. that it's a character that breaks the default assumption.
Anita also appears somewhat contradictory as she praises the game's subtlety, specifically saying "not like a story twist like in the metroid reveal", but then goes on to point out the "twist gender reveal" hidden in the book.
I don't really see how it's any contradictory. The point about Samus is that it's thrown like "surprise surprise, you just played as female character!". In this game, her gender is just the way it is.
One could even go further, as to say the book is actually used to hide the character's identity, rather than expose it. It is only the players who are interested in reading about the characters who will find out the gender. Being as it is, the developers actually had intent to somewhat hide the gender.
That's one way to look at it, and yes, I'd agree that it's actually somewhat the point. She is a character who people assume to be a man, so it makes sense to not be that obvious about it. If it was obvious right from the start, it wouldn't make the player think in the same way, "oh hey yeah, why did I assume it's a male?".
And with that, comes the potential interpretation that they did so in order to maximize sales.
Well, that's quite an interpretation, but sure it's possible if you wanna go there. But then again, why even make it a woman at all in that case? Why even make such an artsy game at all if you're trying to maximize sales?
But then again, the intent behind it doesn't really matter for the outcome.
Assumption of a male character being the "hero" come from thousands of years of males being "the warriors" and "questers" in history. Granted, there are women that have fallen into this role as well, but in general, we have societal evidence that males typically have this role. This is a function of the human brain, to try and solve puzzles by the information we have available. Because history and society holds these answers, we fill in the blank.
Very true...
This is not a problem with gender based stereotypes or conditioning, this is a reflection of the real world. One might as well ask why males aren't seen as child-rearing. While there are certainly men who are, the only prompt the mistake lends is as a mocking retort, not a dissertation on male roles in society.
..but now, this appears to be some weird reasoning (no offense).
Yes, in humanity's history there have been pretty strong gender roles. This is due to multiple, multiple reasons. And yes, those roles still affect our actions and thinking to this day.
This doesn't mean that it's 100% fine to just continue with those ancient gender roles. We're at a point in which we can deeply analyse ourselves and our culture and we can understand that we can do things differently. We can understand that hey, a hero can be a woman too. We can understand that it's even important. We can absolutely break assumptions such as the one that a hero is a man.
Finally, the death ending certainly happens in many games. It is a design choice, and again, more akin to a trope deconstruction than a commentary on societal gender roles.
It certainly happens in a lot of games yes, but in this case it is quite important too for the character I'd say.
All in all, I found this video to be inexact and somewhat forcing an issue that doesn't exist. That is to say, S&S is a great game, but hardly a commentary on gender roles.
How is it forcing an issue that doesn't exist, if you admit that there is the assumption that a hero is male?
And it is absolutely a commentary on gender roles. I don't see how it could not be. It breaks a typical gender assumption in its very core.
So, nothing that shows what gender the character is?
I don't know. When I think of great female character designs, my first thought always circles back to that female DaSo II concept art. It was perfect in that, through the armor design and lack of a helm, you could easily recognize that this character is female and that every piece of armor she wore was functional and necessary without showing (much) skin.
Is the author of this series a (hardcore) gamer? Not to disparage or look down on her choice, but her first pick could and should have been better if she were.
I'm not sure if you actually watched the video. The gender is shown, it's just not an obvious thing.
edit: Ah sorry, I think I misunderstood you here. Yes, there's not really direct signs in the game to show her gender, but that's not Sarkeesian's point. She's not saying a female character shouldn't be seen as a female. This is also only the first video of the series.
I also think you kind of missed the point completely. Yes, your example of a great female character is one instance that could be shown. But it's also important to understand that there is ideed a strong assumption that a hero is a male by default unless shown otherwise, and that's why she picked this. I'm not sure if it was the best place to start with, but the reasoning is perfectly understandable and valid.
Finally, I have to ask if you have actually never heard of Sarkeesian. With all due respect, questioning her gaming background is a very gamergatish thing to do. Not to blame or accuse you of anything, but it just comes off weird.
