Where are the women?

I agree about the lack of major female roles. And the forums I used to be on (Sonic Stadium Message Boards) had ALOT of people wanting to chuck out and burn ALL the characters except the triple threat(Sonic, Tails and Knuckles) and that's one of the reasons why I left SSMB. The other reason being no one is posting anywhere besides the Super Smash Bros. Brawl topic which has reached nearly 500 pages with 20 posts in each! I mean what will be a series with just three characters? All boys. I care alot for female characters and if that happened then the Sonic series will be one of the dullest. And for female LEAD characters. I'll love to have more. :)

I think the main reason is because most game developers are men and men tend to portray women as eitherbig breasted, bikini clad warriors or slender, delicate girls that need to be saved.

That or they dont portray them at all

I totally agree with you deflight, it would be so much more interesting if there were more female leads. I just find it frustrating that people will believe that hordes of aliens or zombies are invading a city but not that a female can defend herself against them. At the end of the day, games are based around scenarios so why couldnt a female wield a sword and save the day?

Also, I do think that if women where portrayed differently it would make a difference, for example with dead or alive its hard to empathise with a character that looks like a cheap hooker.

i think nowdays there are more female characters but not that much. also, yes to that girl on girl action up-mentionned.

Maybe its also because developpers were gamers first; mom's basement, breast seen only on a screen and mu-must-gather-cou-courage to t-t-talk to the g-g-girls lol ;) (Im kidding btw)

i think maybe developers would like to be given the opportunity to produce more female led games but they're constrained by the publishers who wont take the risk. The lack of experimentation produces stereotypical games where women are flouncing around with big breast and small bikinis (DOA volleyball).

But then again, the target consumer is predominantly a male aged 14-23 and of course this is going to largely dictate the content, make way for the boobs....

Im writing an article on female representation in gaming and Im interested to know your views on why theres a lack of female lead characters in games. Do they make games less appealing? Is it hard to relate a female lead? Are you indifferent? etc....cizzy23

It's mostly because of the people involved in gaming industry.

The audience happens to be male. Same goes to creator of the games.

When playing a game, because you have certain amount of control over the main character, players often merge their indentity with the main character, and it seems many male (mostly American males) have problem associating themselves with female lead character.

The same idea goes to creators of the game. When anyone creates a story, it is easier to put themselves as main character and it is men that happens to write these story.

Personally I love female lead and male lead usually is major turn off for me. God of War never appealed to me because it had half naked men. Heavenly Sword on the other hand had half naked female. It's not hard to see which is easier for the eyes.

Hey I'm all down for female protagonists. Instead of the guy getting the girl at the end, the girl gets the girl at the end :DF1_2004

I like the way you think 8)

i agree, there should be more women in gaming other than samus and sophita (of soulcalibur) that aren't made into prety shapes with barely covered and inhumanly large breasts. ivy and lara croft are big violators of that

i am a guy, hey i'm all for a nice figure when its realistic :) but srsly.

Video games are just a small part of our culture, and to think that games are the only medium where a female action hero is the exception is missing the point. How many movies can you think of where there is a female protagonist that shoots a whole bunch of people and wears the proper clothing, like body armor AND pants? How come there are so many less women in the military compared the men?

In games where killing isn't the main objective, like old adventure games or something, you get a few more women as the lead. The truth of it is, video games tend to focus on mass murder, and both throughout history and modern times, it is the men who do the killing almost all the time. Not saying games can't or shouldn't have female leads, that's just why I think they don't.

I think the main reason is because most game developers are men [...]

alexeduardo

True and also most players are male, so it's easier for them to identify themselves with a male character than a female one.

Plus, both scantly-clad power women and fragile damsels in distress respond to particular male fantasies and play a perfect secondary character role, not just in games but in every media.

There really isn't that much female leads. I'm a girl and I don't find it hard to relate to the male characters in games and don't think it's a problem. Are men not mature enough to relate to female leads or is it just a matter of machoism?Natalie445

i know we need alot more female leads... i mean with games like tomb raider being such huge hits. you would think there would be more. another good one is perfect dark zero for the 360. joanna dark is a strong young female.

i agree, there should be more women in gaming other than samus and sophita (of soulcalibur) that aren't made into prety shapes with barely covered and inhumanly large breasts. ivy and lara croft are big violators of that

darkspineslayer

haha. true

I think the mix of male/female protagonists is just about where it should be honestly. We see one everyone once in a while but for the most part they are male leads.

It is just like in movies. Action flix are for the most part a mans world. This isn't because women couldn't do it, there just isn't a lot of interest fromfemale audiences for the most part. I mean come on, you pick up your date and grab a newspaper, ask what she wants to see. How many guys are going to be watching PS: I Love You and how many are going to bewatching AVP:R?

That isn't to say that the female gaming population doesn't want to see more female leads, it is that they are grossly outnumbered by their male counterparts.

And lets face it, given todays stereotypes about the gaming industry having a female lead might just be seen as a sleazy "sex sells" gimick in which case the game isn't taken seriously and on the whole only hinders the idea.

In so far as women always being portrayed as "big breasted blond bombshells" the same can be said about the male form. They are both enhanced. No one wants to see Steve Urkel running around demolishing alien scum, though I admit now that I think about it that would make for an awesome game. Look at comic books, everything on both sides of the gender fence are "enhanced" from what the average is. Why? Because average is boring.

For me it is always more fun to save the virtual day and get the virtual chick.

Im writing an article on female representation in gaming and Im interested to know your views on why theres a lack of female lead characters in games. Do they make games less appealing? Is it hard to relate a female lead? Are you indifferent? etc....cizzy23

Because Joe Everyman's (not gross generalization) idea of a protagonist is a white male. Although in open ended games such as assassin's creed (semi-open ended) and saints row (especially), they are quite often seen. But, only as citizens.

In so far as women always being portrayed as "big breasted blond bombshells" the same can be said about the male form. They are both enhanced. .....Look at comic books, everything on both sides of the gender fence are "enhanced" from what the average is. Why? Because average is boring.

donny666

I agree that the character form is enhanced in games because average is boring. But what i find extremely frustrating is that females are always subjected to stereotypical enhancement, if your gonna fight evil then you need stronger muscles not bigger boobs, theyd just get in the way. And as for walking around scantily clad, wheres the practicality in that?

However i know that the response to a sensibly dressed woman would be negative as she wouldnt be sexy enough. But it annnoys me that even when you have the buxom woman as a lead protagonist men say they cant relate. Part of gaming is the pleasure of indulging in a fantasy, men will quite easily believe that they could be a male stuck in a village with a semi automatic killing zombies so why couldnt they relate to be a female in the same situation? Its all fantasy. Also if your going to spend 10hours staring at the back of a character why wouldnt you want someone with a nice @55?

I have no problems with female protagonists.Heck,Samus Aran is my favorite character in gaming.I don't mind female leads in gaming,as long as they don't follow the stereotypes for female characters already mentioned in this thread.

I have no problems with female protagonists.Heck,Samus Aran is my favorite character in gaming.I don't mind female leads in gaming,as long as they don't follow the stereotypes for female characters already mentioned in this thread.

VGobbsesser

i totally agree, i think too often the stereotypical aesthetic of the female protagonst influences the game in a negative way. More samus aran's and less DOA beach volleyball please.

There have been plenty of good games/franchises with female lead characters. Here are some examples off the top of my head...

It's not like developers haven't given female leads a chance. Considering that most games these days are action oriented, it only makes sense that most of the leads are male. It is a lot harder to pull off a believable female action hero.

*looks at you seriously* You don't want to know!!! :lol:

Games that normally actually have good female leads. Beyond Good and Evil, Longest Journey...are normally passed up for your generic bubbly anime girl

Metroid games have you taking out armies of space pirates, but that is the only game with a female character that isn't sexualized that i know of, and you don't even see samus out of her suit anyways until the end.2good2betrue

Yeah, but Samus is a huge slut without her armor. The games use to have multiple endings and the better you did the more skin you got to see.

Im writing an article on female representation in gaming and Im interested to know your views on why theres a lack of female lead characters in games. Do they make games less appealing? Is it hard to relate a female lead? Are you indifferent? etc....cizzy23

It has to do with three things: the global perception of men and women roles. Who makes videogames. Who plays videogames.

That said, I think that white women have decent representation compared with males or females of other racial groups.

[QUOTE="donny666"]

In so far as women always being portrayed as "big breasted blond bombshells" the same can be said about the male form. They are both enhanced. .....Look at comic books, everything on both sides of the gender fence are "enhanced" from what the average is. Why? Because average is boring.

cizzy23

I agree that the character form is enhanced in games because average is boring. But what i find extremely frustrating is that females are always subjected to stereotypical enhancement, if your gonna fight evil then you need stronger muscles not bigger boobs, theyd just get in the way. And as for walking around scantily clad, wheres the practicality in that?

However i know that the response to a sensibly dressed woman would be negative as she wouldnt be sexy enough. But it annnoys me that even when you have the buxom woman as a lead protagonist men say they cant relate. Part of gaming is the pleasure of indulging in a fantasy, men will quite easily believe that they could be a male stuck in a village with a semi automatic killing zombies so why couldnt they relate to be a female in the same situation? Its all fantasy. Also if your going to spend 10hours staring at the back of a character why wouldnt you want someone with a nice @55?

I wouldn't go so far as to say that if there is a female role in a game she is bimbo bait. I mean certainly there are examples of the scantily clad but generally it is only when appropriate. For instance there are plenty of females characters in games that are fully dressed. The protagonists from Perfect Dark, Heavenly Sword and Metriod Prime to name a few all have strong, smart and clothed ladies.

I dig that there are sexist portrayals of the female from but usually it is within an established theme. DOA Volleyball for instance is a game with a lot of bouncing, but you know that going in.

It isn't like there arn't examples on the other side either. Look at God of War as an example. Dude is clad in a piece of cloth wrapped around his wait, doesn't make much sense though given what he is doing.

Here is something else to consider. Think about games like FF7 and X, how would those moments in the game (I wont talk about em for spoilers sake but you know what they are) have been perceived by you (the male gamer) had the gender of the main characters and love interests been swapped? It would have no doubt still been a great moment but on some level there would have been a detachment that would have lessened the experience, for me at least.

There are several factors that molded the gaming world over the years. Before I start, let me make an obvious statement: men and women are very different (even if we share some similarities) and while there are always exceptions in all races and genders and groups, it can be said that generally speaking we are different and those differences drive what we want and desire and even expect.

Gamers (especially in the past and still much so today) are mostly guys. While there are plenty of women gamers, guys are still by far a dominant share of the market. Most developers are guys too. As long as guys hold the majority of the market, the marketers will continue to aim their appeal at the largest group to maximize profit. While developers might want to include women more, they are often trumped by the publishers desire to sell the maximum number of games and will therefore continue to aim their games at white males most of the time. However, if most guys decide they like playing as women than you would see a change in the games of the future to fit that desire - I would assume the industry would have a lag time to catch up but it would happen if the dominant market decided that's what it wanted in general.

Cizzy23, There are two things involved in regard to your first post. LOGIC (and higher thinking) and core EMOTION. Logically we can sit and talk about what's fair and what it would take to get equal representation for men and women and all races, but that is higher thinking. Games are all about Emotion and touching us at the deepest emotional levels. Hate, Love, Anger, Revenge, Thrills, Scares, Adrenaline are what makes a game fun. An exception might be tetris or any puzzle game where there is no real lead role but just the gamer solving puzzles. That is not the type of game you were referring too so we will ignore logic games for this discussion. This emotion also comes into play when picking the characters for the game. Others already said it, but guys are generally viewed as warriors and women are generally viewed as sex objects all exceptions aside. This is built into our brains at a very deep and ancient level. This generally is the role men and women have played for as long as men and women have been men and women. Of course there are exceptions but marketers don't aim their appeal at exceptions. Picking characters that are "out of the norm" is generally dangerous and difficult to pull off. I applaud developers that have done it and succeeded because it is a fresh change to all the other cookie cutter games... but it has to be done really well or it bombs.

Another point that was already made is that the characters in games are almost always exadurated as far as sexual stereotypes both masculine and feminine to be the uber male or uber female. Who wants to play as a fat balding middle-age guy that sits at his computer all day? We are trying to escape real life and get into some fantasy and play as someone epic and cool and attractive.

...But it annnoys me that even when you have the buxom woman as a lead protagonist men say they cant relate. Part of gaming is the pleasure of indulging in a fantasy, men will quite easily believe that they could be a male stuck in a village with a semi automatic killing zombies so why couldnt they relate to be a female in the same situation? Its all fantasy. Also if your going to spend 10hours staring at the back of a character why wouldnt you want someone with a nice @55?

cizzy23

Personally I love strong women almost to the point of it being a fetish and am often turned off when a girl acts weak and insecure or helpless. Some guys are different. I loved heavenly sword because the main character was a bad ass chic with a huge sword... hmm... anyways, so I found her to be very believable and loved playing the game. BUT... I did not relate to her, I felt more as if I wanted to help her kick ass. I wanted to watch her get revenge and give those ba5tards what was coming to them. I did not relate directly or rather did not feel as if she was my avatar or that I was her. It still worked as a game, but only because it was done so well.

Where as when I play WOW (and all my characters are guys) I totally feel as if it's me on the screen. I often play the game the way I view myself. I am not a good role-player because I feel like it's me and I tend to portray the same personality in the game as in real life.

As long as guys want to play as guys and guys dominate the market it is logical to think that you will continue to see mostly uber badass epic male figures are the main character most of the time. And it's not really a matter a fairness or sexism near as much as a matter of marketing and appeal to that market.

Im writing an article on female representation in gaming and Im interested to know your views on why theres a lack of female lead characters in games. Do they make games less appealing? Is it hard to relate a female lead? Are you indifferent? etc....cizzy23

Most female characters dont get alot of respect since well most of them are eye candy or...I dont want to say worthless but I'll say they are mostly flirty and pop star ish.