It's A Man's Overworld
Looking at the role of female characters in games and how some have and haven't changed
Space Marines, hit-men, secret agents, wild west cowboys, they all have one thing in common besides a strict nutritional and exercise regime that leaves them looking like they’re about to burst out of their taught armour. They’re men, big burly men that’ll break your arm, bang your mother and then take a whisky shot through the eye. Maybe they’ll even kill some aliens if they have time between workouts.
Women can take a backseat, they’re only useful in games if they’re being abducted, tortured, or being a general inconvenience to the games protagonist. This time Peach, sort yourself out, I’d rather go out with Luigi and eat shrooms. I don’t care if you made me a cake.
Mario was the first example for me when women were seen as a plot device more than anything, a pixel lady on a string leading a plumber to this castle and that. That’s the way it’s always been though, it’s not like games were/are the only sexist environment. Film, literature, jobs, whatever, there’s a long list of mediums that treat women as little more than window dressing. Film and literature has certainly moved on with female protagonists galore, no more sitting in the castles and kitchens for the hero to come along.
When ladies have been more than a visual distraction in games they’ve either been an active and productive member of the games cast or a broom with two beach balls stuck on.
Team Ninja are big culprits in having females as productive members of the games cast though they turn the sexualisation dial to 11. Dead or Alive has yet to introduce a female fighter without a back condition due to the weight they’re carrying up front. In reality it would really throw your balance off and after every somersault you’d probably suffer a black eye. The guys in the game don’t have a pair of socks stuffed down their lycra jumpsuits, I suspect if they did it would impede their ability to roundhouse an opponent. Tekken’s characters on the other hand are relatively in proportion to each other which no doubt saved them a lot of processing power.
One other example of Team Ninja’s female design priorities I noticed was in Ninja Gaiden where a lady demon killer introduced herself covered in monster splooge in a beautifully rendered cut-scene. I’m a guy; I appreciate that kind of thing. The only problem was that I was playing the game when it first came out so I was living at home. My mother enters the room as this FMV is happening and I had to dive to press the start button on the pad to extinguish any evidence I was playing a highly detailed interactive porno.
Share:
Comments
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Oct 12, 2010 12:37:28 (Oct 12, 2010 12:37)
