Damsel in Distress - Tropes vs Women in Video Games

Andrew76 wrote: »

I disagree with her main point that female characters needing to be rescued is "regressive crap" and that it has a negative impact outside games or for women in society. That's complete rubbish.

How many Mario or Zelda games have you played in your life? Have you grown up to be a male chauvinist pig because you were trying to save a female? Do you treat women as second class citizens because of it? I hope not. What about Bayonetta, she has a nice set of tits and a great ass, hardly representative of the 'average' female figure - did you protest this and not buy the game? I bet you didn't. How many humans/animals/zombies/civilisations have you killed in games? How many have you kiiled in real life (zombies excluded)?

The point where I disagree with the analysis is the suggestion that there's a direct 'cause and effect' between the actions in video games and reality. The point where I completely agree with the videos is that there is a profoundly limited range of representation of female characters in gaming. That these common tropes and stereotypes indicate a significant lack of imagination on the part of developers, and one that means gaming comes across as rather adolescent at times. I can easily see how many women would be turned off games by the portrayal of females in games. And really, I couldn't count the amount of times I've cringed at some moment of childish misogyny or ignorance even in otherwise absolutely excellent games.

The disclaimer at the start of the videos says it all - that's it's perfectly possible to enjoy these games even while critiquing certain aspects of them. I could easily point out issues I have with the portrayal of female characters in Bayonetta, Virtues Last Reward or Far Cry 3 to take but three examples off the top of my head, but that doesn't mean in various other aspects they're absolutely fantastically designed games. That they do everything else really well but are a bit embarrassing in that one respect is IMO a failing of too many games to be mere coincidence.

Although I do feel that the horrific sexist reactions of many respondents when the announcement of this video series was indicative that there are fundamental issues with the way games are discussed, and how unwelcoming many gamers (at least those discussing games online) are of alternative opinions. Similarly the way many female game creators have been treated, or the rampant sexism / homophobia on Xbox Live and the like. A minority making the majority look bad. Generally, I do think there are societal inadequacies with gender balance in the media (I'd say the same thing about female directors, incidentally), but that's tangential to this topic, and one that has been discussed at length on this forum before!

On the wider point you make of not enough people critiquing games (and hence praising her for trying) - what benefit do you think will come of games being critiqued more? Will it improve the 'quality' of games according to your own standards? Do you feel games aren't represented correctly in society? Why does that bother you (if it does)?

I've mentioned before that for me personally games are a form of entertainment, no different to a film - a few minutes/hours break from reality. They've become much less important to me as I've got older as I've less time for them. But I am interested in hearing other people's opinions on the gaming industry and what games mean to them and to see how it's evolved since the '80s when I first encountered it.

Well we're going to have to fundamentally disagree on the 'just entertainment' approach, because I'm hardwired to approach pretty much any media I consume with a critical eye. Just the way I am. I love trying to tease out how things work or don't work for me personally, and love hearing a variety of opinions about any given game, film, book, whatever. Obviously I take cinema more seriously than gaming as I'm much more invested in it on personal and professional level, but I'm always fascinated in looking at games in-depth too.

I also think a healthy critical landscape can be hugely beneficial for any given field. If we look at film, the French New Wave of the 1950s and 60s emerged directly as a result of criticism - the critics analysing and breaking down the films they were being fed (especially from America), and then taking the extra step and making efforts to practically counter what they felt was wrong / right with the medium they loved - whether that's Chris Marker declaring his love for Vertigo in Sans Soleil, Jacques Demy breaking down re-appropriating the values of the Hollywood musical in Umbrellas of Cherbourg, or Godard critiquing the various generic tropes of commercial cinema. Their subsequent experiments in form and storytelling directly shifted the scope of what was possible in film, and irrevocably changed cinema for the better in innumerable ways (for the worse too in some cases, although I doubt anyone would be interested in a meandering rant about my love/hate relationship with Jean Luc Godard's films).

Mostly, I think criticism can far from killing our enjoyment significantly enhance it as we can begin to appreciate it on a deeper level - that in sitting down and exploring something after the fact we can discover so much more about it (Bioshock Infinite was a great example of that recently that IMO really benefited from a thematic and formal analysis). And when the creators begin operating on this more analytical level, then the results are better for all of us - we all benefit from the fact that there are developers (particularly indie at the moment, although some mainstream ones too) attempting to address what they feel are systemic problems with the way games operate in terms of representation, narrative, gameplay etc... I particularly love when developers are willing to jot down their thought process somewhere - it's why I look forward to Hocking and Smith's columns every month.

Even for those with no interest in games other than playing 'em and moving on, the actual entertainment will be so much stronger when there's more variety, accessibility and innovation. It would be ridiculous to assume everyone is interested in criticism, of course, but I don't think it should be discouraged whether you're of a militant 'gaming as art' viewpoint or 'gaming as entertainment' one because it will affect us all one way or t'other even if you're not directly engaging with it.