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One of the issues that *WiG’s bring up entirely too often for my taste is whether the playable characters in a game are male or female. There are multiple reasons why this issue irritates me, but my basic summary of the problem is this: it has no solution. Far too often, people don’t ask about female characters in games because they want to see more female characters--they ask because they’re trolling for a fight and they’ve decided in advance that you’re the Evil Sexist Enemy. Answering the question and dealing with the issue then becomes a no-win situation for developers AND publishers, your basic Kobayashi Maru.
Most developers male and female choose to dodge this question for a reason. If you have the resources to develop only one character for a game--no matter how human, well-written, and appealing--you’ve already lost if you wanted that character to be female. The male option is heavily weighted, far beyond its merit. Developers and publishers are constantly hammered with the “Gamers Are Men” stereotype, so the pressure to make the one character you have to work with male is overpowering. Top brass and marketing departments will crush you with the need to maximize revenue for the resources invested, even in situations where you can convince your co-workers that a female character is the right for the game or that women are a desirable audience.
On the other hand, if you make a game which allows the player to choose one of two characters, and you deliberately choose to be egalitarian for some reason and make one male and one female--how do you choose to depict the female character? Do you go to the effort of creating genuine differences in gameplay and game balance based on the gender of the player? Do you make the male and female gameplay experience identical, the only difference being the cosmetic appearance of the player’s avatar?
Either way you go, you’ll be stepping into a minefield wearing clown shoes. If you make the game significantly different based on gender, you’ll offend some people who believe that men and women are equal and that any depiction of difference is sexist. If you make the difference between male and female essentially cosmetic, your playable female character will be dismissed by many angry WiG’s as “not a real woman at all”, and “nothing but a man with breasts”.
And once you do manage to get a woman into a game, the conflict has only begun. The female body has become a battle ground in the arts, and all the battles are not fought between the artists and audience, or between the artist/audience and the publisher/marketers. Conflict also arises within the ranks, behind the scenes, when men and women are trying to cooperate to create a female character. Men and women who are willing to work with female characters, and even to depict them in challenging ways, can still end up disagreeing about how best to express feminine ideals of strength, beauty, sexuality, and competence.
Humorous example: years ago I co-wrote a bit of background fiction for a game called Ground Control, which had two factions. One faction was led by a male battlefield commander, the other by a female. Fortunately the depiction of the human body was not a huge issue in the game itself, so there was never any trouble with the appearance of Major Sarah J. Parker in the game. On the box cover they chose to depict tanks, or a faceless figure wearing a battlesuit (not a battlesuit with breasts).
However, there were also promotional materials associated with the game which I was tapped to write: a comic book script which was to appear in a European gaming magazine. When Sarah J. Parker was drawn by a comic book artist for the promo materials, most of the notes I had jotted into the script on her physical appearance were completely ignored. I found it pretty funny, actually, how she was re-packaged by the male artist and the marketing folk who eventually released those comic pages. The scene as I had written it was deliberately erotic and provocative in the first place, and Sarah Parker was intended to come across as both sexy and intimidating in the scene. However, I described her in her two introductory panels for the comic this way:
“Full-body panel of Major Sarah J. Parker. She has stepped out from behind her APC and stands with an oily rag in one hand and a wrench in the other. She is dressed in a thin military t-shirt and underwear, nothing else. Her blonde hair is gathered up into a pony tail, although some of it has escaped while she’s been working. Although she’s a nice-looking woman, she shouldn’t stand there in some stupid cheesecake ‘supermodel’ pose—she’s covered with grease and dirt, she looks strong and capable, and the viewer shouldn’t have any doubt that she’d brain you with that wrench if she didn’t like the look of you.”
and
“Parker sitting on the ground, pulling the rubber band out of her blonde hair with one hand. She looks tired and strained. Hair only comes down to her shoulders. Her face is dirty, and she looks her age—over thirty.”
And this is what the artist chose to draw.
The fact that Parker has gone from blonde to brunette is relatively trivial. And while I don’t recall having specified the size of her breasts, I think if anyone had asked, I probably would have said “not zeppelins--if only because people will wonder where she puts them in that battlesuit”. And remember that supermodel/Playboy pose that I specifically mentioned he SHOULDN’T use?
In any case...I am certainly not at all ashamed of my limited participation in making Ground Control the game it turned out to be, and I didn’t have noteworthy issues with this comic. I wasn’t embarrassed or livid that Sarah Parker ended up wearing more clothes, having darker hair, or packing larger caliber guns than I had intended. I bring this up just to illustrate that words like “strong”, “beautiful”, “sexy”, “powerful”, “intimidating”, “commanding”, “dangerous” etc. can be very, very subjective.
And sometimes people have a tendency to take offense at the depiction of a woman without realizing that very often, no one person--male or female--is solely responsible for the image you’re seeing. And who knows? Maybe if the woman behind the scenes had gotten her way, you'd be even more offended than you already are.
*W.i.G.= Women in Gaming
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I don't see how that's relevant personally. If you find something overly offensive, or just see something that strikes you as blatantly misogynistic, why should it matter if 1 or 100 people had a hand in creating it? Or for that matter, why should it matter if they were women or men? You'd be surprised how sexist women can be (or maybe you wouldn't be). The point is that just because a woman is involved in the creation of something doesn't exonerate it from the possibility that it's sexist.
I'm also not very sure of the point you're trying to make. You described how much of an uphill battle it would be to create a female character (which in itself illustrates how sexist the industry is) and then you kind of anecdote you way out of that topic and end with a "offensiveness is okay, because people have different definitions of adjectives" and "maybe it's good we stopped women from having their way because who knows, they could have offended someone too!"
And to be fair, the sexism you described and I alluded to isn't a video game problem, it's an entire entertainment media problem. But just because it's a big, broad thing that can't simply be corrected doesn't make it any less a problem.
If what you want is accountability, the buck has to stop somewhere, and eventually there has to be a person who is held responsible for the way men and women are rendered in the arts. In many cases, as a designer and a writer, the person who is held accountable for the resulting gestalt "woman-archetype" would be me. But I am here illustrating that when I work with an artist as a collaborator, it is more than possible for him to "get the point" and "miss the point" simultaneously.
The reason I posted this little anecdote is to illustrate that the issue of "sexist depictions of women" is more complex than many would like to believe. I am a female gamer, a female developer, and a life-long feminist. The woman in this piece of artwork has a different hair color and body type than I specified, but she is actually wearing MORE clothes than I had written into the scene, and there are many people who would have been even more EXTRA SPECIAL offended if she had been drawn as a rather thin blonde, which is how she was written.
As for "having my way"--I think I got my way sufficiently in this case. The dialog was kept almost entirely intact, the major content of the scenes was not changed, and by the closing panel of the comic the nature of Sarah Parker's conflicts, both personal and professional, were clear to the audience. Compared to these things, the color of her hair and the size of her breasts were complete and total trivialities.
Also, quite frankly, as a writer and designer I am actually quite accustomed to the process of filtering my vision through the creative processes of other people, including visual artists, other designers and programmers. This was just a silly and humorous example of that process in action.
I believe as long as physically she is beautiful and personality-wise she is tough, it's ok.
In the fact that you state that "as long as physically she is beautiful" shows an ingrained sexism in our culture. When was the last time a male character had to be "physically handsome" for it to be okay? That kind of demand wouldn't even be tolerated in gaming for male characters. Some of gaming's most prolific stars would be erased: Master Chief, Kraos, Marcus Fenix, etc. Male characters can be any number of things physically: handsome, disfigured, basically, a pretty boy, grisled, in the case of Master Chief essentially a robot. But female characters HAVE to be pretty. How is that equality?
But it's the fact a game basically can't star a female character, for the reasons Arinn mentioned and then some, that really indicate a clear amount of sexism in the industry. Male characters are considered a far "superior choice" for protagonist. But why? If men and women were considered equal, shouldn't there be an equal amount and viability for games starring female protagonists? There's not, obviously, and that is, by definition, and inequality. Whether you consider that a problem is another thing entirety, but it's there, pretty plainly. Just look at the number of games that actually star a female character compared to how many star a male character. It's pretty lopsided.
I'd also like to bring up another point. Arinn talked about this being true because of the stereotype that "gaming is for men". I know that this stereotype is fully alive and well (but also untrue). Now, usually a main character is made to be relatable to the audience, at least in some way. The audience is supposed to be able to understand and sympathize with the character. But what I want to know is this, why couldn't a man be able to relate to a female protagonist? It can't be because "the sexes just don't get each other" bullshit. Well it could, but then how is it that so many female gamers are able to relate to male protagonists?
ALSO. I feel it's worth pointing out that there have been a number of informal polls in recent years asking essentially this question and results from a lot of those polls have shown that in fact, many male gamers would be perfectly willing and able, and to some extent wanting, to play games with female protagonists. So it's possible that this problem is mostly on the publisher's end, and not on the audience's.
It seems like this article is suggesting that pervasive cultural and/or institutional sexism should be tolerated because, well, what can you do.
*PWDKNHTPPAIOUAITWPs = People Who Don't Know How To Properly Pluralize And Insist On Using Apostrophes In The Wrong Places
If you have any creative control you could work with an artist to make a character sheet that fits what you have in mind. Even then different artists have different styles and ability to adapt to other styles. You can't just put down a bunch of adjectives and expect a character to look the way you want.
Later on it might be 3d modeled and look completely different again.
Figure drawing is hard to learn. Artist tend to find a style they like and stick too it also. So you have to find someone adaptable or that just has a style you like.
Finding a model to base the character on might be another good idea.
I'm a amateur so some of this is just depressing. Its just like a bunch of random people doing random disconnected creative things.
Sigh.
If you want to do tough and sexy (but not with porn star proportions), you need look no farther than Ripley in the Alien movies. Sigourney Weaver did an underwear scene without it being excessive. (If you disagree, blame Ridley Scott, not the writers -- they didn't specify.)
But if I look at your notes, I must say, if your intention was, that the character should be "both sexy and intimidating" you completely failed. Why on earth should a major of a space cruiser, who is repairing a machine be dressed with "a thin military t-shirt and underwear, nothing else"? This literary makes no sense at all and reads like it should be a lame excuse to show the character half naked. Can you imagine a male major, repairing a machine wearing "a thin military t-shirt and underwear, nothing else"?
I don't think you would have written the scene in this way, if you wanted to describe a male character, so, if your character is so modern, a major, leading a military faction, why is the only way you can portray her is in her underwear?
I don't have anything against displaying female characters (or male ones by the way) in their underwear, but why on earth do you complain about the artists take on your draft? In the end, she is exactly, what you wanted her to be.
Just as a practical point, however: Why take off your uniform to crawl into the guts of an APC? Because it's a hell of a lot easier to wash grease and dirt off of a human body than a uniform, C.K.. For that matter, it's also a hell of a lot cheaper to throw out a cheap t-shirt and a pair of undies once they've been ruined than a full pair of fatigues.
I'm also not going to even touch the issue of what "a male Major" would wear while repairing his own APC. One of the things I hate most about would-be PC Policemen in these discussions is the absolutely horrendous sloppiness of their thinking and rhetoric, especially their projections onto others. For example, in this case you assume in advance that you know what my attitudes toward the male body and male sexuality are when you haven't got clue one. Congrats: you've demonstrated that ignorance and prejudice are just as off-putting when embraced in the name of "feminism" as they are in every other situation.
If my intention had been to show "a male Major" with the same personality type as Sarah J. Parker, however, I can assure you--I would have described him wearing that same t-shirt, roughly the same age, and covered with the same grease. And if he had needed to be sexy and alluring to a male character I wouldn't have been the least bit shy about packaging his meat accordingly; I have no anxiety about homoeroticism. And whether I put pants on him or not during the repairs, they would certainly have come off in the shower, which is where these two characters headed in the following pages. ;)
The subtle point to this scene that you are missing: it is extremely rare for a person of command rank to be doing this "menial" job himself/herself in the first place, and it is one of many clues you have that Sarah J. Parker is a person who has come up through the ranks through personal competence and a D.I.Y. attitude.
With Faith from Mirror's Edge like, the lone exception.
PWDKNHTPPAIOUAITWPs - I HAVE to find a way to work this into every conversation I have now.
Mind you, I am not saying that one is better than the other, but they are still not equals.
And I think Faith is more sexy than the comic giant boobs. (actually, I prefer Faith than many other female characters... ALL females can be sexy, someone has a taste for them... Equally, I have several female friends that think that Fenix and Kratos are really sexy and they say they get turned on seeing them (even while Kratos is killing everything in the screen)
But what I did for now, worked to avoid the flak... My games either had no characters (like, pong... ship shooter, etc...) or the characters were historical (like a WWII game set on Italy, thus the characters are mostly white males...)
Very good post, Arinn. I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts.
http://www.br-online.de/jugend/izi/english/publication/televizion/21_2008_E/goet
z_herche_body.pdf
- a publication about body measurements of female cartoon characters in children's TV.
Barbie says hello.
I don't see any outburst here, but to stay in your logic, it means not depicting women in games is a win situation? If this is so, have a nice time ignoring half of your potential customers, I am sure somebody else will make games for them.
The main argument of the fraction who says, there is no need for female protagonists in games, is, games are mainly played by male customers and those customers don't want to play female characters. If this is true, then it would be simple logic to say, female customers don't want to play male characters.
If this is the case, then it would be clear, that you can't reach the female audience when you have only male characters, cause in the opposite case, people are arguing, that sales from male gamers are lower, if they are forced to play with female characters.
"Developers and publishers are constantly hammered with the “Gamers Are Men” stereotype, so the pressure to make the one character you have to work with male is overpowering. Top brass and marketing departments will crush you with the need to maximize revenue for the resources invested, even in situations where you can convince your co-workers that a female character is the right for the game or that women are a desirable audience."
So the author clearly admits, that this is the main argument in the discussion.
I am too a little confused about blogger's point in this. It seems like he's trying to explain how he's experiencing it, but at the same time I feel he's confused about where to direct anger. Marketing, or the WiG's making these demands he can't meet.
NO, it doesn't work fine.. unless you enjoy eating apple's and driving in car's.
So even disregarding the whole you-don't-even-need-an-s-to-pluralize-women thing, you should still never use an apostrophe+s for pluralization!
Thus, total grammar fail.
@Hanne Gulbrandsen: The Longest Journey is perhaps my favorite adventure game, if not one of my all time favorite games, they really need to finish the series.
As for this whole sexism issue, there's really only one answer that comes to mind when it comes to such petty disputes as this: STOP CARING SO MUCH! Not all women have enormous breasts and over seductive, damn near slutty attitudes; conversely not all men are ridiculously muscular, smoke cigars, and like "kickin' ass and chewin' bubblegum". Stop getting hung up on the sexual connotations associated with your entertainment and just be entertained for chrissake!
Though when it comes to Activision's little excuse that 'female lead characters don't sell video games' that's kind of taking it too far.
If you wanted a female character with more realistic proportions and looks you'd have to go to much more extreme depths in your descriptions, using words like "flat", "boyish" and "unattractive" over and over while providing visual reference. If you described her as "small-chested and needing to lose about 30 lbs." you MIGHT get a character approaching Pamela Anderson's proportions. Sad, but true.
Then again, getting a comics artist to draw a male super hero character who's not ripped and handsome is almost as difficult. :-)
Sadly, I do encounter that occasionally. There are a lot of people online who STILL think female gamers don't exist, and insist that any evidence pertaining to them is made up, the result of a feminist conspiracy, or "just moms buying games for their sons". Siiiigh.
It's true that using women in games is stepping into a minefield - even as a female developer, I know I'm going to have to face some criticism over whatever decisions I make. But honestly, ANY decision you make as a creator is a minefield. There is always, always, always the potential to offend people, through intent, ignorance, or sheer accident. There are plenty of negative male stereotypes that get endlessly perpetuated by videogames, too!
The best approach I can come up with so far is to try and be aware of the decisions you're making. Then stick to them. You want to make a game about a balding white 30-something male marine with big muscles who loves porn and has romantic commitment problems? Fine, do that, but be conscious of your choices and why you've made them, don't just consider them as an obvious default and look confused when people ask about them, and don't be nasty to people who wish you'd chosen differently, especially if they really are lacking for options.
Speaking from personal experience, they are also far more interested in attacking female developers than in supporting and encouraging female developers, and far more interested in attacking the industry and its product than in joining it and helping to create the games they want to see and play. In short--despite pointing out the problem, constantly and naggingly and unendingly, they still quite stubbornly remain part of the problem. And seem to have very little interest in any possible solution.
It's not exactly a hot button issue for me.
Men and women are different. There are obvious physical differences that we can't deny, and non-physical differences that may be debatable. But in the combats depicted in games, characters have gear and buffs and team dynamics - so in the end, the original physical differences should not be that important. The choices and tactics chosen by the player are more important.
Any non-cosmetic difference attributed to characters based on gender is a trap. If you are a female, you have to have these traits, and if you're a male, you have to have these other traits, period - what if I don't fit the mold? Not to mention that would be opening a can of worms. Also, if you create those differences, you may even get players to choose gender based on those differences for practical purposes, to play in a certain way that originally had nothing to do with gender.
I say gender differences should be cosmetic only, and give players as much freedom to customize their looks as possible... IMHO.
(I wonder if in a MMO you let female characters choose the size of their breasts, what would happen)