A fairer protagonist?

[tobyornottoby]

Oh oh, I just remembered P.N.03!
That one is pretty sexualized (she shoots lasers by performing sexy dance moves), kinda like the predecessor for Bayonetta. Loved it!

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Wow. This thread made me realize two things. First, there are quite a few more female protagonists than I realized. Second, if you say something totally wrong in a post, then admit to it when called out and edit the original post, you are still going to have people quoting someone who quoted your original post just to give you crap about it.

 

[Thundero13]

Umm... P0RTAL! Other less obvious examples are Beyond Good & Evil and LSD Dream Emulator, anyway maybe developers think games where you play as men sell better? (which they probably do, lets face it), maybe it's a subconcious decision because more developers are male (I think so anyway), who knows, it would be nice to have more games like this though

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Ammy! I choose you!

Not many games can allow you to play as a female and a wolf.

 

[TheLastSamurai14]

Final Fantasy VI had Terra as the main character. That's another you could add to the list.

 

[skywolfblue]

It is an even bigger lack of female protagonists in believable, practical clothing.

And i wish there was more male protagonists with an average body-build (without looking like a kid). They need more Gordon Freemen!

/agree

So many games with male protagonists that have spent their entire lives in body building classes...

 

[Sephren468]

Final Fantasy 6 and Persona 3 Portable both have female protagonists =). I am kind of surprised they have not been mentioned yet.

 

[Mallefunction]

Perfect Dark has a female protagonist

Honestly, the whole: "Men only want to play as male characters" is BS. How many WOW female characters have been created by male players over the decade it's been up? Seriously, developers are being lazy and grizzled brunet space marine is pretty much all we're going to get until players actually DEMAND more variety from them.

 

[go-10]

I don't think its been mentioned but Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep and Venetica both have female leads
also doesn't Wonder Woman have a game or 2. Cuz if so there's that too

 

[chadachada123]

My only issue with female antagonists is the need to give them ridiculous proportions and breasts that would render her unable to walk.

It's bad enough in fighting games like Soul Caliber, which started off at least normal but then went insane, but meh.

*Edit* Someone pointed out male sexualization that is just as rampant as a reason to stop complaining so much about female sexualization. I think that we should complain about BOTH because both are completely uncalled for in many games. Putting it in a couple of series would be fine (Gears of War, any other ones that play up the "herp masculinity" thing that appeal to 14 year old boys), but having it in series like Resident Evil (5, I'm looking at you) just reeks of shitty fan service.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I don't think its been mentioned but Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep and Venetica both have female leads
also doesn't Wonder Woman have a game or 2. Cuz if so there's that too

Don't know about Venetica, but in Birth by Sleep, only one out of the three main characters are female.

 

[chadachada123]

Clegane]Looks like the OP is tilting at windmills again.

Aside from going with the easy answer of virtually every customizable RPG character there is also:

Tomb Raider, Metroid, Dead or Alive, Perfect Dark, Beyond good and evil, Mirrors Edge, several final fantasies, Portal, Blood Rayne, Parasite Eve, Bayonetta, The Longest Journey, American MGees Alice, A Vampyre story, Eternal Sonata and Golden Axe II

There all some off the top of my head, I'm sure I could go on.

I've never heard of "tilting at windmills" before, I like that expression and had to look it up to see what it meant xD

 

[lord.jeff]

You reason you may not see a lot of women protagonists in games is because of the lack of female developers, I've been in game courses before and in both classes we didn't have a single female.

 

[Furioso]

Make that 8. I just remember Ruby from "Wet". Remember? That Taratino based game from last year? No?

And on a related note, Hibana is a good example of how to design a female character to be feminine without being sexual. Here's a picture of her.

....You're kidiing right?

See my explanation up above. And I suppose I shouldn't have said "Without being sexual". I just meant to point out that she is designed without the designer feeling the need to expose part of her breasts, or give her gigantic knockers/

True, and the skin-tight suit that seems to show every detail of her body (can't tell if it really does, since her front is not shown. The back appears to be complete though) is obviously not intended to be make her look genercally sexy. (/sarcasm)

There's a difference between sensual, sexy, and slutty, though. Again, I made a bad choice of words by saying it wasn't sexual. That was in error. However, she is at least mostly accurately dressed for what she is. She's a ninja, she wears little protection and tight clothing.

Because a true ninja wears white to blend in with the darkness of night...

OT: Amaterasu in Okami was female, it's even debatable that she is bisexual, which is something that I haven't seen done in a game before, well I mean yea its been done a lot but normally with far less taste then the very quick one or two scenes that hint at it in okami

 

[Legion IV]

FFXIII? Lightning? She's a really good character actually and despite the skirt shes not even that sexualized really.

One of the few female protagonists I've seen with a turtle neck. Until her i just thought it was a law every female requires a crazy neckline.

 

[go-10]

hmm... then how about Castlevania Order of Ecclesia, Golden Axe: Beast Rider, and Bullet Witch those 3 have female leads

 

[Something Amyss]

Well. Obvious answer is obvious. Most people like to play something they can relate to or want to be. Traditionally gaming has been a man/boy-dominated pasttime, hence most main characters are male.

Well, that's partially true. Women, however, are expected to be better able to identify with male characters than men with female characters. This is why women are still sort of "niche" even in other media. Media, of course, where they are a far larger percent of the core audience.

I never got the whole identification with the main character anyway, but I'm probably the minority. I rarely view the protagonist as "me," in any sense of the word. It might even be "my character," but it's not me. As such, I have trouble being bothered, but I don't even need to identify with a character.

Cole McDouche from InFamous and Uncharted's asshat of a main character are both examples. I played both games, but couldn't relate and even hated the characters.

Heck, I liked John Marston, and I STILL didn't relate with him. I don't get why it's necessary to relate to the main character of a game, but it apparently is, and men have trouble "relating" with anyone who's not also a dude.

 

[Michael Hirst]

The problem isn't just main characters but female characters in general, so much over sexualization or just poor writing. Someone mentioned Lightning as an example of a non-sexualized female and yeah they're right but it's because her character had very few feminine qualities at all, I haven't finished the game but what I've seen of her so far indicates she could just have easily been written as a man, just doing the opposite extreme of the attractive sexual female doesn't constitute good character writing/building.

Alyx Vance, Samus (before Other M) Katherine (from Catherine) are female characters who are all good looking but have more to their design and writing than being sexy but don't fall into the trap of their sexuality having no effect on them at all. Lightning seems to be in full denial of being a woman and sometimes of being a human at all.

A big part of being either gender is sexuality, it shapes so much of our lives and interactions but what games fail to get over is that it isn't the sole reason for a womans existence, sure most women want to look good but do they think this all the time, is their goal in life just to be a pretty doll on display, no only the most hideously shallow woman thinks that way. Normal women have similar aspirations/needs to men and sometimes even moreso, gaining professional careers, having reliable friends, being able to pay the bills etc and even while most women want to look good they wouldn't put themselves so shamefully on display as videogame characters do without the proper reason or context (small bikini at the beach)

 

[Something Amyss]

bi-sexual

Bisexual.

At the risk of being considered a "Grammar Nazi," it's one word. Not to mention, the use of the hyphen makes me think of Boston Legal:

Judge Hingham: You want children to sit in the lap of a ho-mo-sexual?
Alan: Technically Judge I think Homosexual is just one word.

(Later in the episode when Alan is closing Judge Hingham says ho-mo-sexual again)

Alan: Those three little words again...