By on 12 Apr, 2012 at 11:00 AM
211 Views | 19 Comments

Quest Updated: Girl Games?

Quest Updated: Girl Games?

My girlfriend is slowly becoming a gamer. She can use a PlayStation control now. She has more than one favourite game. Her current favourite allows her to run around, picking flowers and catching butterflies. She can cook food. She has a horse and a pet dog. She can make friends with lots of people by helping them out. There are caves and mountains and pretty vistas to explore and take in. There are pretty stones to find.

And this:

Dragons to slay, bandits to slaughter, assassinations to carry out. You know, the usual.

The sad truth is that there are many who would like to have the catch-all genre of “girl games”, condescendingly applied to anything with lots of soft pink and ponies. Ponies are a dead give-away. It’s not far from the slightly snobbish distinction between games and “casual games”. And there is another issue tied up to this. Sexism is the elephant in the room at the LAN. The fact is I am expecting one of the first comments on this column to contain the words “kitchen” and “sandwich”.

After reading what Caveshen had to say on EA and LGBT content in games, I’ve been thinking about the possibility games have to break through barriers. I really think that gaming has a lot of potential for pushing through boundaries and creating new ways to explore subjective experiences, if we are willing to allow it.

Vicariousness is something games do best. Better than any other sort of media experience, games can put you into the shoes of whoever you control. This is why we don’t say Gordon Freeman shot that alien awesomely, but “I shot that alien awesomely”. And while most games have male protagonists, we are at least seeing a move towards having the choice between Shepherd and FemShep. What’s sadly telling is that we make up a name for FemShep, as if she’s a knock-off of the ‘real’ Commander Shepherd.

It is upsetting, because if gaming wants to gain legitimacy as a form of art, or at least midbrow entertainment, it needs to be willing to tackle issues such as gender, racism and LGBT rights. What makes me very happy is that companies like EA are sticking to their guns on these sorts of issues. I also love Valve for doing something similar with the Portal series. If there are any games that seem to sit in their own space of gender, Valve’s two classic games are the ones. They take one of the most masculinised genres — the FPS — and play around with it. Instead of firing bullets, the player’s “weapon” (for wont of a better word) is only able to move things around. We only realize that we are actually a woman when we lay eyes on ourselves through our own portals. And then, it isn’t the typical scantily-clad sex goddess fit for ogling. Chell wears a nondescript orange jumpsuit, and in the sequel a not-skintight vest underneath. It also is from Chell’s perspective.

This ability to stick the player in Chell’s body is brilliant. It means that GLADoS’s gibes about Chell’s weight are gibes about our weight. Whenever the homicidal mother-figure of the giant robot verbally assaults the player, he or she gets to react for Chell. A similar approach is achieved in games like Skyrim, where there is no real difference between the reactions of NPC’s for male or female players. This gives us a place to begin imagining a world where you are identified not purely through what genitalia you have and how you match up to expectations of how that should affect your behaviour.

I’d like to say that there is hope in non-gendered stories in Skyrim, or the absolute non-existence of sexuality binaries in Dragon Age 2, where any character, regardless of sex, is available for… well, sex. But these sorts of experiments in challenging the established monotony of chauvinist games are too few and far between. If the lingering negative stereotype of ‘gaming culture’ is to be broken, people who claim sexism is excused in it should not be allowed to speak for us as gamers.

Let me put one thing straight. I’m not saying “Censor ALL the comments” and I certainly have no illusions about the fact we all are at least a bit prejudiced. What I am saying, however, is that we shouldn’t keep quiet on these sorts of issues. Cavie is right, we need to talk seriously about things like LGBT representations in gaming, as well as how games and gamers view issues around gender. And, as Cavie pointed out, we know some of you will troll, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask the questions.

I’m not saying we need to charge into androgynous gaming. The interplay between male and female characters is fantastic in many games. Also, realistically sex sells and even a load of pixels can achieve this, and while this is also far from ideal it is something that can’t be magicked away overnight. I wish that I could draft a quick fix solution to move towards a gaming culture that embraces diversity and breaking through boundaries of genre and social norms.

If You Liked This, You Should Try These!

Name: Brendan Ward
Location: Grahamstown
Position: Columnist

Brendan has published 30 posts. Read all of Brendan's posts.
  • kluch

    Bedroom!

    • Coxsenai

      I’m a bedroom and i find this offensive.

  • Adam Meikle

    BECAUSE FEMINISM!

  • Nexorsist

    Great article! You have some very valid points and it would be nice to get a more balanced representation for the industry in general, though I do feel that we are slowly moving that way!

    • BrendanWard

      I do agree. I’m quite glad game designers are willing to take the risks for it. It shows maturity for gaming as a whole.

  • http://twitter.com/Weeman360 Pienaar Anker

    fine ill do it… 
    Kitchen

    • BrendanWard

      Sandwich?

    • AG_Sonday

      Hungry

  • AG_Sonday

    I think our perceptions of the typical girl gamer should change but with regard to female characters in games, I don’t like the way BioWare did it where you got the feeling that FemShep was kinda just stuck in there so they could go, “Look, diversity. We’re so cool.” They did the same with making Shepard gay.

    The way Nintendo did it with Samus Aran was good where it was a shock at first but they don’t go out of their way to remind you that the protagonist is a girl nor do they shove it in your face, it’s just there and adds a different depth to the character. It’s not like there’s a level where she has to hunt down tampons before she has her period or something.

    • BrendanWard

      Definitely agree. I think that diversity on the whole is getting better in games, but there is always the danger of window dressing. It’s great to see more games where you can choose to have the character you want, make or female, human or something else. But I hope we see more of the Samus approach and less of the FemShep.

    • Mercurygirl1991

      I think the future of gaming, as far as sex/gender is concerned, will definitely head towards a more neutral approach, where whether you’re male or female has no affect on the story line at all. I’d like to see a RPG with randomly generated characters, just for fun! It would probably go down like a lead balloon, but it would be quite a novelty!

  • Jeffrey

    This seems to be making an issue where there is none. I’ve played FPS’, MMOs, OnlineRTS’, actionRTS’, even flight simulators with groups of all ages and all genders and sexual orientations. Never have I encountered problems among gamers relating to the players’ genders. Games have given the option to play as female characters for decades – think of Diablo II which gave you the option to be the female sorcerer, amazon or assassin… and that was TWELVE years ago. And this article probably should’ve been written at that time too.

    I followed the whole Mass Effect gay/lesbian/inter-species issue a bit and from what I gathered most of the outrage was from watchdog groups (Evangelicals and conservatives) and not from the gamers – of course there are some who were offended by it, probably a minority. I’m also pretty sure there is a massive amount of male players playing FemShep engaging in lesbian relationships ingame. Point being it seems to be the non-gamers that have issues with these things…

    “It is upsetting, because if gaming wants to gain legitimacy as a form of art, or at least midbrow entertainment, it needs to be willing to tackle issues such as gender, racism and LGBT rights.” Games and the gaming industry has been a legitimate form of art/entertainment/escapism/economy for over a decade now – proven by the $74bn revenue in 2011 alone. The money alone makes it legitimate. I don’t see abstract painters engaging with “gender, racism and LGBT rights” in every single painting in the artform, I’m pretty sure abstract art is legitimate. Everything doesn’t HAVE to relate to issues society dictates as vogue or politically lucrative in the current environment. (not saying it gives game developers the right to be sexist, homophobic, racist, but I’m saying that if you want a dragon to slay, I suggest women’s magazines)

    I haven’t heard the use of the phrase “girl games” since the Sims 1, neither is “casual games” used derisively by anyone over the age of 12 (“Yeah, yeah, COD12 is br00tal and you suxx if you don’t like it” mentality). A major problem with the image of gaming is that the loudest gamers are usually the idiot teenagers, while the silent majority is of a more mature nature – so it’s an easy assumption to make.

    A bit of nitpicking here…Your use of Portal as an example of a progressive game in relation to gender is a bit flawed. Portal draws more from first person adventure games than FPS games. At least use Mirror’s Edge if you need something to compare with (regardless of Mirror’s Edge quality, or lack thereof)

    So… your article: relevant how?

    • Mercurygirl1991

      I could just say “cool story bro” because I think that’s what this comment is really asking for, but I’ll take the bait.

      Jeffrey, as a girl who games, I promise you that on more than one occasion guys have been talking about games in front of me and have carefully ignored my presence (and I don’t know many 12-year-old boys in 3rd year varsity). When I say ‘oh I’ve played that’ there’s an awkward moment, a round of high fives and then I’m allowed to engage in conversation. The idea of ‘girl games’ and ‘guy games’ is very much alive… even if not maliciously so. Furthermore, yes, there are a lot of games where you can play as a woman, and I generally do when the option is given. But this article is looking at the fact that armour which fits a male character perfectly, suddenly becomes absurdly tight and appears to contain a push-up bra when given to a female character. I mean, if you have some free time, go onto Google and look up mods for Skyrim or Dragonage and see how long it takes to find the mod that makes all female characters look like Angelina Jolie. If you’re feeling brave, take off safe search and see how long it takes for you to find a mod to make your female characters naked… Well done on finding impressive figures to back you up. Of course gaming is a financially legitimate art form… but so is porn. The article was obviously talking about social legitimacy though. The fashion industry came under fire for promoting unrealistic body images for women, and if you watch a fashion show now, you might actually see a girl with hips and boobs walking down the runway. So is it really so terrible to ask that game designers strive for the same sort of realism in their work, giving gamers the opportunity to play as a character they can relate to? I agree with you that not every game has to deal with every issue all the time, but if you’re going to create games where characters can have relationships or get married, at least be so bold as to welcome the 21st century in its entirety. 

      The truth is that what you’ve overlooked is the fact that this article isn’t saying that there aren’t games where you can play as a woman or have a same-sex relationship. There’s an old wives (or should I say, husband’s) tale that women are better at fishing because they give off hormones that attract the fish. Honestly, if the man who made that up had been better at fishing than his wife, no-one would have thought to blame hormones. This article is saying that it’s sad that when there are games that are liberal in terms of sex/gender/orientation etc, they stand out from the crowd, and people notice them because they are the exceptions that prove the rule.

      So… your comment: missing the point?

    • Cloud Strife

      “” you might actually see a girl with hips and boobs walking down the runway”" Oh thank God! Those crackhead models disturb me..

    • kluch

      Boobs? You rang?

    • BrendanWard

      Jeffry, perhaps your experience of gamers and gaming is different to mine, but casual games are still rather derisively viewed by many. The truth is that it is very easy to dismiss something that isn’t always evident as no longer relevantm but as the whole sexism and fighting games (see article above) issue is barely two months old, I figure that it is still pretty damn relevant.

      Yes, gaming is gaining legitimacy,but the fact that most of the gamers I have met, myself included, tend to skirt around most social issues seems to suggest that it need to build a tradition of interfacing with cultural issues, Abstract artists did not necessarily deal with sexism etc, but ARTISTS as a whole tend to .The abstract movement was more concerned with the nature of art as art, and therefore shows it is still dealing with more issues than just how good the painting looks.On the portal issue, as a side note here. It has a gun, hence is intertextually referencing the the FPS genre, and it actually did deal with issues of gender roles pretty directly. Just a thought, as to why I chose it as opposed to Mirror’s Edge.

      And so, to feed the troll, your comment, insightful now? On a serious note, however, I do appreciate your views, even though I disagree.

    • Jeffrey

      How does Portal engage with the issue of gender by merely making the character female? Chell never talks, Chell never indicates anything. It could just as well have been a floating gun with no character except the player at the controls. Actually, wouldn’t the complete lack of a character in Portal have been better? I mean, then the people who made the game are actually saying “we don’t care who plays this game, it’s for everyone!”. But see, this is all assumption, you assume they’re dealing with issues of gender, you assume they give a shit.

      Intertextuality is one of those wonderful words that you can throw at virtually anything to try to make some kind of academic relation between anything. Why try to make some nifty “intertextual” connection when there are games where the main character is a woman, and she does carry guns, and shoots people in the face? NoLF comes to mind, but the female protagonist was made to be attractive/appealing, and that probably makes it sexist too? Or what? (are all attractive characters supposed to be stupid bimbos?)

      Finally – just as I used a tiny subgenre of art to make a point, which you used against me, you use fighting games and sexism. Sure, they are probably one of the worst offenders in games, but as a genre it doesn’t even make up 5% of US games sales (according to the Entertainment Software Association 2010).

  • Jeffrey

    @1b15d65ae994ad06598375ddf7002771:disqus If I were looking for a “cool story bro” reply I would either have acted like a chauvinist moron, or pretended to be female (if I was looking for it from you)

    Games are a reflection of society – changing games won’t change society, changing society will change games. If you’ve noticed, those nudemods for Skyrim also make male character models nude, so I don’t see the point of your comment concerning Skyrim.

    Indeed, social legitimacy was being discussed. I don’t see how games would gain social legitimacy if it featured more gender equality, anti-racism or LGBT issues (actually, using Skyrim as an example – that world is racist as all hell. [don't the Nord hate Argonians, Elves {especially wood elves} and Khajiits? They certainly commented enough about how Argonians are dirty thieves and Khajiits are cutpurses and whatnot] Not to mention the religious intolerance…)

    Even in games where players have the option to make any character they want I’m pretty sure you’ll still see bimbos. Similarly, with a hundred armour sets available in different styles, both closed and revealing (take Guild Wars warrior armour for example) there are still HUNDREDS of female warriors (played by men) running around in Gladiator’s Armour (which is the most revealing). Should the game company now go and remove all revealing armour sets from the game? I think not – once again, change society and games will change. It’s just good business to cater to your market. And clearly the market continues to exist. Taking the option away from players isn’t going to make them change their minds, it’s going to make them create mods, or play different games that fulfill their ‘needs’.

    I have no idea what fashion channels you watch or magazines you read, but they sure as hell are not mainstream. Secondly, let’s take a look at the 21st Century “in its entirety”: xenophobic attacks, religious wars/terrorism, economic wars, inequality, racism, sexism. I’m very glad gaming is as sanitary as it is.

    Saying porn isn’t a socially legitimate form of art is, in short, naive. Pornography, and the concept of it, permeates almost all media. It’s mentioned in everything. Where is porn not part of the social landscape? Ancient Japanese  porn (Shunga) is now seen as art – search for “History of Erotic Depictions” on wikipedia to get a vague idea. Even if it’s not seen as the highest form of art, you cannot in today’s world say it’s is not socially legitimate. (except if you want to cling to archaic ideas about how pure humanity is, but that would place you FAR behind the 21st century)

    So, social legitimacy. Am I, as a gamer, supposed to see games is not legitimate because some far right conservatives say it’s evil or sexist or corrupting the youth? No, I decide for myself whether or not it is legitimate, I don’t need a social sign of approval to feel totally fine about playing games in the way I want to play them (even if that does include making a female character in a game, and styling her to my own aesthetic preferences). This is addressed in my first post up there ^ saying that it is NON-gamers that have problems with things, does this not indicate that I don’t care about what these watchdog groups say? Does it not infer, that neither should you, hoping that you have a sense of morality.
    Once again, who notices these games that stand out, and are exceptions to the rules? Do gamers care, or do those watchdog groups care? And if it turns out to be the watchdogs, should WE, as gamers, care?

    Finally, your example of startling guys with your knowledge of games gave me quite a laugh. Statistically (60/40 in favour or men) women are less likely to play games. Just as women are less likely to play rugby. Of course there are exceptions. And so what? I have received just as much flak for being a male who dislikes sport. I don’t complain about it. I accept that to those guys, I am an anomaly. Here at my university, even among the guys in my residence (56 odd) there are only a handful of gamers, so that should fix your perspective on gaming a bit (that is: kinda a minority in South Africa). Another part of the story gave me a chuckle. In my 5 and something years of being in tertiary education, I have learnt many things, one of them being that university acceptance and age have nothing to do with maturity, and most of the people here could just as well have been 13.

    So no, I don’t want a “cool story bro”. I do, however, want people to think before posting.

    [Also, I like how you just assume my comment was baiting/trolling because it's contrary to your own opinion! Well played!]

    • BrendanWard

      Oh. You’re one of Those People.