Topic: "Tropes vs Women in Video Games" Launches

[TheouAegis]

"Chick" is a suitable term for girls. They start off so little and cute and fuzzy and have such cute voices. Then they get older, poop out dinner during the prime of their life, start to stink, peck your eyes out, and make you want to hack off their heads so you can watch their bodies flail about for fun.

Ha ha ha! Just kidding. I watched video of a decapitated chicken and it made me queasy. I don't like anything being decapitated.

[Lelygax]

Johnny Cage Triple Decapitation - Mortal Kombat 2

[TheouAegis]

HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!?!

I liked Mortal Kombat. It was too pixelated for me to have qualms with the violence.

[Lelygax]

Its possible because..... lizards recover faster? YEAH sure, that is the cause lol

[Inccubus]

+1 for the lolz.

[Kale]

Johnny Cage Triple Decapitation - Mortal Kombat 2

>.>

Wrong thread! This isn't the one about logic. =/

[Lelygax]

I know, but he mentioned decapitation. Thanks Inccubus.
Also the real reason to this fatality be this way is because of a glitch in MK 1 in that if you could do the move fast enough, you could remove another head. They found it to be hilarious and turned it in a real fatality, only that this time you could decapitate 3 times instead of 1 + 1 glitch head. The history behind Ermac and Blaze are almost the same thing, fanbase elevated them to a higher level because of speculation and great interest.

[Gunlord]

Has Anita-sama released ep. 2 yet?

[Laina]

Gunlord, I just wanna say I think it's wonderful that you've taken an interest in human affairs like this, especially seeing as how you're a magic talking cat. Are you like Myau, the Musk Cat from Phantasy Star? That's how I imagine you anyway. If so, kudos on your thumbless typing skills.

[Abnormal Freak]

He could be one of those mutant freak cats with an extra peripheral toe on each paw that looks like a thumb.

[Laina]

He could be one of those mutant freak cats with an extra peripheral toe on each paw that looks like a thumb.

You mean polydactyl? Those're rad. I hope he's like a Cabbit too though-google that shit.

[Shiroi Koumori]

cabbits are cute but, Gunlord reminds me of this.

[Abnormal Freak]

prunmeowz

[Kale]

Just watched the vid you posted, Ratty.

That was good. Can't find anything to disagree with.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I don't agree with most of what the guy in Ratty's posted video says, because he seems to be missing the point.
Comically, most people who have a beef with this woman's video are also missing the point.

While I do not agree with some of the points she makes, there is an overly large amount of objectifying in the videogame culture.
We can argue about why, though we already know the answer to most of that question (videogaming started out as a guy's thing, developers are guys, most of the audience has a teenager's mindset, etc. etc.).

Thing is, things don't have to be this way.
I have always thought of the videogame people as... 'better' than the rest of the populace.  The geeks, if you will, should have a higher level of intellect than the jocks (if we're going by my 80's high school metaphor).

However, the responses to the videos make me think that geeks, at least geeks these day and age, as just as threatened by the things a woman has to say, and would like their media presented in nice familiar situations with no real change.

There are many games which have very empowering female roles, where the female characters don't fall into the tropes (note that I say trope and not cliche... though in JPN games, it's often cliche's).

But there should be more, because ever so slowly, everyone should be able to enjoy games, not just 15-40yr old men, without feeling left out.

Here is a list off the top of my head of characters who are quite empowering:

-Chell (Portal):


There is no backstory for her until you either play more of Portal 2 or read the comic.
She is, essentially, subverting the damsel in distress trope, although in a controlled environment (since the game is essentially 'testing' how far she can go before the Portal rooms kill her anyway).

-Sharla (Xenoblade Chronicles)


Sharla's fiance is taken during a raid on her colony and we do not get any news of what happened to him until way later in the game.
Her role in the story essentially flips the damsel role on its head, as she's looking for him and we don't know what happened to him.  But she's not a protagonist since it's an RPG.  She is part of the protagonist's crew though.
Also, throughout her story, her little brother is the one kidnapped, and she goes with the crew to rescue him.  That's a little different so it's nice.

-Katia (Lost Kingdoms)

Lost Kingdoms is a FromSoftware title for the Gamecube.  The first (there was a sequel, both starring women) has as the main character, Katia.  Katia uses cards to battle and transform into things in order to clear the game.  It's a real-time battle/action game, so she has to figure out proper placement in order to unleash her cards.



Katia is the only one with the power to save her kingdom.  Once she picks up enough cards, she's quite capable.  She's a protagonist.

-The Chrono Trigger Gals (Chrono Trigger)


Marle: Although Marle is 'erased from existence' (is that the same as Damsel in Distress?) throughout the early chapters of Chrono Trigger, once Chrono is DEAAAAAAD, the rest of the crew have to go and find a way to revive him... so essentially the scenario is reversed.  Marle appears to have the most to gain from this as it is implied that she's a love interest.

Lucca:  Lucca actually goes to rescue Crono when HE is jailed in Guardia Castle prison.  Although you don't see her do the 'rescuing' because you're attempting to escape on your own, if Crono dawdles for too long in the castle prison, eventually Lucca is the one that breaks him out.
Most people when they play won't see a lot of this happen, though.  Most will have Crono escape and Lucca will mention, when she meets him just before the Dragon Tank battle, that she came to the castle to bust him out, but it looks like he did just fine on his own.  Then they join forces and take down the Dragon Tank.

Ayla: Ayla is the leader of her village, because she 'is the strongest' (with a 9999 attack at higher levels, it's definitely true).  And the trope is flipped over when Kino, the more passive in that relationship, is the one being kidnapped.  And she (and the crew) go and rescue him and the villagers.

That's all I can think of, right now.
And yeah, I purposely chose not to add Samus Aran or the other usual suspects.

---------------

The problem isn't that the trope is happening in videogames... the problem is that the trope is WIDELY used in videogames and is seldom averted or subverted or deconstructed.
Seems to me, that the whole thing is just "Lazy storywriters who need to give the protagonist a reason to go out and do their thing".
Until videogame storytelling evolves beyond the usual tree-dialogue, we will see lazy storytelling falling back on the tropes because it's the easy comfortable thing that will move the most units.

The things below need to change:
"The key demographic for videogames are males 13-40" -like I said, make games for outside that demographic.  Everyone should be able to enjoy videogames.  Yes, the 'bread and butter' audience is male but that shouldn't stop the niche markets, indie developers, and small studios from making something that will evolve the medium.

"Women want just fashion design games and cooking games and games with kitties and puppies" -no, women want all games, because women want the same thing men want.  Pigeon-holing what a woman wants from a game can be seen as a form of prejudice; there are many women who want to fill you with bulletholes in Call of Duty games.  This is tied to a social 'gender roles' backwards mentality that's still being shoveled down people's throats even these days.

"Plotlines that empower women don't sell as many units" -make the games anyway.  This is where indie game development can evolve the medium.  Big companies care mostly about the bottom line so it is unlikely that they will pioneer this, but I have hopes that smaller studios will invest in things that will further the medium.

"What's the problem with some tits and ass?  They're all polygons anyway!" -not necessarily.  Just like a painting is 'just pigmented oils on canvas', etc. it's not what these things are... but what they represent.  I'm a straight male and I love a good-looking woman, as well as a good-looking representation of a woman (a piece of art, a well-drawn character, or a great 3D model of a character), but these things aren't necessarily what represent the female populace right now, not the way videogames portray them (damsel in distress, big-titty-bouncing fighter, magical pixie helper girl, etc.).  You need strong positive characters that rival those of, say, Gordon Freeman (a role which I guess Chell from Portal can fulfill) and the like.

I had more to say but it's all escaping me.