Greetings and welcome to this another segment of “WTF GAMERS!?!” I would like to address a long time issue that has yet to be solved and it is 2010. I speak of more female characters in video games. In a couple of GameInformer issues ago they brought this situation to light as to why we don’t see enough female characters in many games; especially titles that should have co-ed game-play. So I ask this question, “Why are female character’s being left out or rather left behind in many games which seems to be all male based heroes, or how about when you add a female they are wearing a lot less than the guys which makes no sense?” All right if you are still here please keep reading and add your own insight on this topic!
If you have continued on than that only means you are intrigued by this topic and I welcome you. I have been researching this area on diversity in video games for a few months; speaking with many gamers, mainly females and a few males, I was hit with some pretty surprising answers. The basic question is, “Why are female character customization limited to MMO’s and Offline RPG’s?” Before some of you start arguing hear me out here. Some game companies have brought in this idea for example Saints Row 2, Borderlands, Halo 3, and in the future Gears of War 3. However there are some games still not capitalizing on the idea that many gamers are females and we need co-ed characters.
I bring the example of Crackdown 2 which was a open world game, where you pick four different agents to take on crime throughout the city, but why no female Agents in the game as a choice? In games like Modern Warfare 2 with an original storyline, you would think they would add some female characters in the military to make the story interesting as in older versions of Call of Duty as your partner I believe. I like what my comrade “Ruben Webz” stated,
I guess it’s cuz we view more male character’s to be brutally violent which is how most people like their games. Not many people can view a female ripping out a demons heart and eating it lol.
I like that point, but he also corrected himself by mentioning “BloodRayne”, however even that had more of a sexual theme when she bit into enemies. I think of a game that came real close to Kratos was “Heavenly Sword” which was a big step forward of a female lead being brutality violent. Being a male gamer I did think she was sexy but not for the way she looked.
The sexuality beyond looks has grown so much, or rather some male gamers are maturing where they don’t need to see a female in a bikini to kick ass. Prime examples are Mirrors Edge, Resident Evil series, Heavenly Sword, Wet, Borderlands, or even Metroid. If they can produce characters like that rocking gear that make sense for their combat needs and still considered hot, than I don’t see a problem with them making partners in co-op worrying about what they will be rocking.
Earlier I said that I have been talking with my fellow gamers and the most intriguing answer was out of fear of being discovered as a female. In many ways I can understand this since the majority of gamers act like assholes, especially when they discover a female is in a game. I interviewed former Halo player “Blueraven” who stated,
When I played, I liked having a masculine or neutral alias name (e.g. blueraven) better than having a feminine name (e.g. calistarose :P). I also preferred playing a male spartan than a female spartan. Why? You may ask, because having a female name attracts way too much unwanted attention. Otherwise, I usually prefer the male character in HALO.
I have seen it for myself and even though she had back up from us it still was not enough. Lindsey N. from 1up.com gave another great point by saying,
I will generally choose the female character in the game unless I feel that she is obviously inferior to the male choice. If I get to create my own character, I usually choose to be female. I’m really happy that more and more games are incorporating the choice as to what you look like, because I would rather run around as a guy than a giant, butch chick with arms bigger than my torso.
When it comes down to it; that is all we ever wanted is choice to be the character we want. I believe Lindsey has a point in terms of just dealing with having to play as a male, until someone gave them choices in the matter with MMO’s.
The lastly from “taeya28” who stated,
Realistically in war, army, or fighting worlds there are very little females to begin with so I don’t think it’s an insult. Now if your talking more about a fantasy world or scenario then it would be nicer to have more female playable characters since you create the world.
Games are supposed to be fantasy is general, so the fact that the industry is trying to be as real as possible means they have no imagination. I believe people forget why we play video games in the first place; which is to get away from reality and step into a world where you are a superstar, superhero, athlete, etc.
I like to take this moment to thank all that contributed to my research and cool enough to give off their honest opinion on the matter. Thank you to:
- Ruben Webz
- ImShady
- Blueraven
- Lindsey N.
- Alexandria
- Taeya28
- AmbitiousLove
- Erika P.
- Alger
- GrimSantos
- Stryker
- Daone Remmidy
- Drakaz
- NcryptedStar
- DontH8Dre
All right gamers the time for change and hopefully more companies in the industry get the hint, because to make games more diverse out there, you do get brownie points for doing it you know?