With the growing demographic comes a new viewpoint on how video games present themselves and their characters, especially female characters.
Since the video game industry has been a male dominated medium for the most part, characters have been strictly written from a man’s viewpoint which has to led to many colorful and varied male characters.
Conversely, they have been supported by one-dimensional and sometimes sexist female characters because they have been written only by men for men.
The brave and valiant hero with his ornate suit of armor and beside him his lady companion wearing battle stilettos and a chain mail bikini covering all the bits but none of the organs.
However, attempts at thoughtful discussion about sexism and video games always leads to heated debates which quickly devolves to poo flinging in caps lock.
Many argue that the portrayal of women isn’t problematic or sexist with a myriad of similar rebuttals which I plan to poke holes through with my woman’s perspective and that of longtime gamer.
My main example will be of the current most popular PC game, League of Legends. The roster is filled with warriors, monsters, and mages. Amongst those characters is a fat, drunk ruffian, a blind monk, a small boy riding a yeti, a lame general who limps with a cane, an old man, a chemist covered in bandages due to chemical burns, and various monsters.
The male cast is varied and include plenty that are dashing and conventionally attractive. However, all the adult women are attractive and appear to be in their twenties.
The only female monster, Cassiopeia is a gorgon who retains an attractive feminine appearance while having a lower half of a snake.
They also can’t see to fall in battle without having a rather orgasmic sounding death cry. The male character’s death sounds range from gallant agony to constipation, but none are particularly sexy.
I’m not saying it’s bad to have attractive women in games, but compare the variety of body types of men to the women. The old man and the at drunkard aren’t attractive but are very beloved amongst the fan base. I’m not here to turn the pretty ladies into hags, I just believe there needs to be a variety of designs to match the men.
But April, cry the dissenters, there are tons of impossibly buff and perfect men in video games. That must mean that men are just as sexualized as women and there is no issue. Although most of these men, especially the main characters, are usually not made with the female gaze in mind. Kratos from God of War is amazingly built and perpetually shirtless, but the intention wasn’t “the ladies will dig him” but instead more along “the player will feel awesome playing this total badass.”
Not saying that no woman finds him attractive, but it’s very different from the blatant pandering. There are characters with the female gaze in mind like Snake from Metal Gear and his legendary glutes which are focused upon quite often. However, Snake has a lot more character that extends well beyond his flawless posterior.
The good news is, the gaming industry is beginning it outgrow its Rob Liefeld-esque view of women. The original video game sex symbol, Lara Croft, got a controversial makeover to make her character more human without completely getting rid of her femininity. Fire Emblem has long been a series with a variety of capable women.
From Borderlands 2 comes the fat and very proud Ellie who even takes a jab at the chain mail bikini trend. “That ain’t armor!…it ain’t like the bad guys are gonna be aimin’ for my saucy bits.”