A series of questions: What is the Endgame or goal of feminism when it comes to video games?

[Aaron Sylvester]

What are female fantasies like?

I feel like you're wanting an answer based on deviation here, so how about you tell me what male fantasies are like, and I'll tell you how they differ.

This is a particularly interesting one to me. You shouldn't need to be told what male fantasies are like, they are displayed over 99% of the internet and 90% of video games, and also many movies.
So please do tell, how do female fantasies differ?
I've seen one particular female *cough* Moonlight *cough* claim that women just aren't into oversexualized males or "idiotic things" like that, implying all women (or at least, women who play videogames) are very sophisticated and mature and only boys like the "idiotic" stuff. Lol, yeah, I know.

So anyway, please do tell?

 

[JimB]

You shouldn't need to be told what male fantasies are like; they are displayed over 99% of the internet and 90% of video games, and also many movies.

They're also in my head. Just saying.

But my response is based on a sense of distrust toward the intent of this thread. Several of his questions feel leading to me, like traps that I can see the shape of but not the trigger for. He seems to want generalizations, and I want him to make the first move here by describing male fantasies so I know the degree to which we're acting like all men fantasize about this and all women fantasize about that. I'm also not totally clear on "what they're like" even means. Is he talking about subject matter, or tone, or recurring motifs, or what?

So yeah, I'm going to let him set the pace before I try running this race.

 

[Darken12]

Not answering for all feminists, just for myself as an ally.

1. Is it to achieve more favorable portrayal of women in video games. What does this mean specifically? What does it NOT mean?

My personal view of feminism in videogames include absolute homogeneity, equality and balance in the industry as a whole. I want a roughly balanced gender ratio in all types of characters (protagonists, antagonists, secondary characters and so on), a deconstruction of gender roles (that is, equal depictions of men adopting traditionally female roles and traits, women adopting traditionally male roles and traits, men adopting traditionally male roles and traits, women adopting traditionally female roles and traits, men and women adopting a bit of both, genderqueer, agendered and intersex people adopting traits of both or neither, and so on). Of course, I don't expect this to happen in every single game, but in the industry as a whole. I'd like that for every game where a manly man does manly things and for every game where a womanly woman does womanly things, there's a game where a womanly man does womanly things, one where a manly woman does manly things, another where men and women do a bit of both, one with genderqueer, agendered and/or intersexed protagonists and so on.

I want, above all, variety. I want a balance in sexualisation. I want everyone to be sexualised equally and for there to be instance of non-sexualisation and for non-sexualisation to be doled out equally as well.

2. Is it to invalidate and/ or deny/reject the fantasies of less attractive/ suitable men/ lonely men? Yes or no?

I don't really care about that. What I want is for the videogame developers to stop assuming their audience is exclusively straight, cis, white and male. If we want to cater to the fantasies of the less attractive or lonely, that's fine by me, I just hate the idea that the only unattractive or lonely people are the straight cis white men.

3. What is an ideal, none sexist/ no tropes involved female character? Does she have any romantic relations with men? What kind of men does she have these relationships with?

I think that 80% of the sexist tropes are sexist because they are applied in very one-sided ways, or within contexts of inequality. The bad thing about the damsel in distress trope is that when it happens to male characters, no male player thinks they are disempowered because they have a plethora of empowered male protagonists to make up for kidnapped, tortured or murdered male characters, while the same cannot be said for women.

In general, I want tropes to be applied equally and for there to be a balance of gender ratios. That should get rid of most of the sexism in tropes.

As for the "ideal" female character, I'm not a woman, so I don't really know what would make a good female role model. I would personally like to see non-sexualised, older (especially elderly), iron-willed, strong, hypercompetent women (who have meaningful relationships with women, primarily, instead of with men) as protagonists, but that's just personal preference.

4. What are female fantasies like? How are men in these portrayed?

This isn't a very good question. A lot of female fantasies are warped by the patriarchy (see: Twilight and 50 Shades of Gray, or fan fiction in general), so it's better not to emulate things just because they are female fantasies, or you run the risk of ending up with pretty misogynistic stuff. In general, it's best to stick to "hot men" and "meaningful, egalitarian relationships" instead of looking at what currently passes for "female fantasies."

5. Can fantasies just be fantasies and be left alone or must they be eliminated?

I don't think anybody is advocating for the elimination of fantasies. I think that when (straight) male fantasies are being discussed, there are two things that come up: A) There isn't an egalitarian representation of female eyecandy, and B) A lot of male fantasies are demeaning towards women, and it would be nice if this wasn't so popular and so common and passed off to women as some ideal to achieve (that is, nobody wants to take away your fantasies of treating women like subservient sexual objects, but it would be nice if that wasn't something women were told to aspire to).

6. What is the legitimacy of the phrase/slogan "WHAT ABOUT THE MENZ????" does it add or take away legitimacy from the feminist argument?

I think it can be a great tool to remind men that feminism isn't about them. Feminism is not equalism or egalitarianism, it focuses primarily on how gender inequality affects women, and how to solve the problems that affect women. Taking away the focus of a discussion onto men is undermining feminist discourse. Nobody wants to prevent men from talking about their issues, but it's become an almost constant and invariable problem that whenever feminism tries to address problems that affect women, someone will jump in and start complaining about how things aren't roses for men either, which adds nothing to the discussion (because it doesn't address the original point, which was how X affects women), and it instead serves as a diversion tactic to shut down feminist discourse.

7. Do male stereotypes also serve as male fantasies? Is this good or bad or neither?

They damn sure do. A lot of male stereotypes play up to male fantasies, particularly those that have to do with strength, fortitude, competitiveness, aggression, conquest, dominance, violence, control, agency and action.

The only thing inherently bad in these tropes is when people defend the idea (whether appealing to biological determinism or other claptrap) that these tropes must always be male-centric, or that the stereotypical female tropes can never be applied to men. Tropes are not inherently bad, they are tools. And like tools, they can often be used to perpetuate oppression.

NEW: #9 What are some real-world examples of how video game sexism has concretely harmed people?

Take any woman who obsesses with finding herself a boyfriend or a husband because the media (of which videogames are a part) has taught her that men are the only ones who have agency, power and control. Children's toys (of which videogames are a part of) teach boys how to fight, build, compete, destroy, control and overcome challenges, and teach girls how to be homemakers, child caretakers and take care of their appearance. As they grow up, their societal gender roles are reinforced by the media, which portrays an overwhelmingly majority of men in the roles of agents who make decisions, perform actions and achieve goals, and women as girlfriends, mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, lovers, grandmothers and otherwise secondary characters whose worth depends on their relation to a male character. This affects the way men and women view the world, with men being empowered to go out and get stuff done while women are encouraged to find a man, take care of a man, pop out babies, take care of the babies, grow old, take care of everyone in a grandmotherly way, and finally die once they have outlived their usefulness.

And this, of course, creates instances where women have come to actual harm for straying outside their established gender roles. A straight woman who is mistaken for a lesbian for straying outside the rigid boundaries of her gender role might be the victim of a hate crime as if she was LGBT+ (though in that case, it's not a consequence of pure sexism). Women who act like men in terms of sexuality might be raped or otherwise victimised because they are "sluts" who were "asking for it", women are the victims of domestic violence or are in abusive relationships might greatly resist the idea of leaving the man they are with because they have been raised to believe that only men are capable of agency and power, and that they are not capable of making it on their own (a message that is reinforced every single time the media portrays a woman needs a man to save her).

NEW: #10 Are men or people that play games with 'damsel in distress' such as Zelda evil?

I don't think anyone ever suggested that. In fact, I think that several people (myself included) have suggested the exact opposite, that sexism doesn't automatically make something (or the people who make use of it) evil.

NEW: #11 Violence is a perpetual theme in video games, Are females an unacceptable recipient of violence in any/all cases?

I think violence against women is a VERY touchy subject, but that you can sidestep that issue as a videogame developer in two simple ways. A) Make no distinction whatsoever between the violence against men and the violence against women. B) Make the recipients of the violence a group with an even gender ratio, where the men are portrayed exactly like the women, and there's absolutely no difference between them.

NEW: #12 What is an acceptable/ politically correct female antagonist?

Any female antagonist that is crafted with the notion that the audience will contain women is more often than not already on its track to being acceptable. That means no sexualisation (unless it's the norm among all villains and applies equally to both genders), and avoiding the "women are unsuited to melee combat" trope that makes women archers, minionmancers and magic-users. If it would make sense for this villain's personality to go toe to toe with the protagonist, there shouldn't be a contrived reason why she should stay away from melee. Making the protagonist also female would be a great way to sidestep any "violence against women" issues.

In the end, a female villain should be crafted just like a male villain. Not because maleness is something women should aspire to (though I think that destroying gender roles is a positive thing), but because we shouldn't have traits that are considered "male-only" or "female-only".

 

[Something Amyss]

NEW: #10 Are men or people that play games with 'damsel in distress' such as Zelda evil?

Why is this even a question, seriously? I want to take this as a serious thread, but it's hard to imagine the mindset here where anyone thinks this is a real question.

 

[Reeve]

Why can't we just let game devs make what ever games they want to make? And then let gamers buy and play whatever games they want to play?

Why must Thought Police-types insist on controlling other people's behaviour, in these regards?

>.>

It's this kind of rubbish that makes me seriously consider doing a "Let's Play" series of Battle Raper. Just to smite the bastards!!

 

[Thaluikhain]

Feminism is not a monolithic whole. It has no specific goals other than equality between the sexes, and even that is a bit iffy sometimes (various groups wanting equality between men and women like them, rather than all women, for example).

 

[Prosis]

I'm not a feminist. I'm male. But I'll bite.

I think ultimately its to have a mix of male and female protagonists and side characters ranging the gamut of personalities and roles, rather than the current vast majority of male protagonist and female love interest. There will always be games which will feature women poorly, just as there are games that feature men poorly. But right now, the vast majority of strong characters are male.

1. A well portrayed woman is not based around the fact that she is a woman. That is, if you look at all of the greatest of video game characters, they are not great because they are male. They are great because of their characteristics and traits. The fact that they are male is only a side note. For many of these characters, gender is only a ticker on the box, not the definition of their character. Females, however, are homogenized to just a few stereotypes. Look at the 30something gruff marine guy with short brown hair, the main character of most fps's nowadays. Everybody hates him, because he's the same bundle of cliches and personality traits in (almost) every game he is in. Likewise, that is the case for most female characters. Either A) Hot villain whose pants you wish you could get into B) Damsel in Distress C) Love Interest or D)a woman who is strong, but still defined more by being a woman than being her own character.

2. No. However, by definition, if there are more games with well thought out female characters, there will be less games with vapid female characters. Still, there's no reason to get rid of all of them, just as there is no need to get rid of the stupid amount of cookie-cutter fps's in the market. While these fps's are annoying, there are alternatives. Likewise, there needs to be alternative characters.

3. Samus Aran (Metroid, pretend Other M doesn't exist for now) and Chell (Portal) are good examples. They are both competent at what they do, proving capable and calm in the worst of situations. Samus is an independent bounty hunter who has saved the universe a couple times, and Chell is an ordinary human who has overcome extreme challenges. Sure, they're silent protagonists, but they dictate their own fate. For both of these characters, the fact that being a woman is not central to their personality means that they are good female characters. GLaDOS (Portal) is another strong female character, with rich background and interesting lines. I really can't think of any games that pull off romantic relationships well, from either gender.

4. No idea. I'd imagine similar to males, in that there is a desire to have power and control over ones circumstance, to be important to the game's world, and to be hero(or villain, whatever).

5. Fantasies can be just fantasies. None of them have to be eliminated. There just needs to be some diversity. Also, don't expect people to take you seriously if you try to defend the depth and complexities of the characters in Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball.

6. Never heard that phrase.

7. Yes. It's fine. Although personally, I don't like the "tough guy" that runs as protagonist in most games these days.

9. That case with the girl in the Street Fighter Tournament (or whatever) whose coach kept insulting her until she quit. Since most games are designed for men, he viewed the jokes as alright, since gaming is a men's club. Also, the filth that gets sold as "girl games" have probably harmed some wallets.

10. No. Its a video game. It's just an objective. And women would be ok with it, if there were some more games where they had to rescue a man in distress.

11. Not particularly. I think excessive violence/gore to either gender is dumb, but it shouldn't be outlawed (I'm talking about graphic violence, not just ripping limbs off and blood exploding everywhere). The one exception is for the player the ability to commit rape against a man or a woman, as its too sensitive of an issue to really be in games that aren't AO.

12. GLaDOS (Portal). I've never played it, but apparently Eve from Parasite Eve is a good villain. And even something like "Generic Evil Witch" is fine. What's not cool is the "Sexy Temptation Villain," 3/4ths naked who spends half of her time flirting with the main protagonist.

 

[5mj7R7yf4Dwr3gdZyyu9PeGNwYjlNrjzuh3iTXQG]

The most useful observation I've seen when it comes to stereotypification (whether related to gender, race, age or occupations or whatever) is that we very often have too few representations of that group to draw from in our stories, and the best response to it is to have more. In this case that means we should feature more women in a wider variety of roles.

Commonly in the current industry, the men are always the key players (protagonists and villains) and the women are there to get captured and rescued, sometimes to be a half-time boss, sometimes to be a sidekick or a helper. What feminists would like to see is more of a mixture of roles, not that every title needs for everyone to take a turn, but that across a series of fifteen games sometimes you get to play the princess, and sometimes the plumber needs rescuing. Or that in a game that has bunches of characters, there are a lot of different females with varying personalities and roles, as you would expect there to be with a lot of males. When this sort of balance feels typical and doesn't feel weird or arty then the feminists have done their job.

Also, in many stories (not just in games, also in literature and cinema) writers choose to employ caricatures without thinking the world through. Part of the reason the Bechdel Test is so telling is that writers will default any given role to male unless she has specific cause (plot, history, whatever) to be a woman, or that role is stereotypically female (e.g. nurse, waitress, secretary). When we get to the point where female sea captains and male airline attendants don't give us pause, where we don't blink when the Chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is a grizzled woman (think: Judi Dench's M) or that the undersea extraction team is coed[footnote]Of course there's the flip side, when the domestic abuse survivor can easily be male (they are IRL) or the rape victim is male (also common)[/footnote], then the feminist movement will have achieved its ambition.

As a note, different feminists have different motivations. Some just want an equal buck in the workforce. Some want men to take a turn in the barrel for a century or two. Most who think about it rationally are looking for some kind of gender-equality. Idealists hope for a future with total degenderization, where no role in society from infantry to president is governed by your physical sex, or your sexual identity or if those things differ.

238U

 

[Defenestra]

I'm going to guess (and in doing so agree with some of the other posters) that what bothers some people about the ways women are portrated in games is the relative lack of agency.

Are most of the movers and shakers in a given game series male? Mario and Bowser, Link and Ganon, Kirby and King Deedee, Alex Mercer and whoever the hell took up the popped collar of doom after he did, Splinter's boys and Shredder, et cetera.

Are the women primarily there for decorative or goal-related purposes? Mostly there for getting kidnapped or showing cleavage? When they get in to bad situations, is it invariably a guy who fixes it for them?

Are women not even present at all?

Are they present, but depicted inappropriately? I don't mean, like, in outfits that show off their figures, although it's easily possible to take that too far, I mean like characters who are supposed to be skilled in the art of face-punching or asssault-rifle-based communications who look like their workout is more about a beach body and less about the stuff they actually do in the game. Male characters who are professional face-punchers tend to be insanely overmuscled. I don't necessarily want the women in the same line of digitally simulated work to be walls of muscle, but at least give them the muscle definition and build you'd expect on a female marine, or boxer or something like that.


That kind of stuff adds up.

I imagine the 'endgame' is as U-238 put it. When it's not considered odd to have any particular role in a story taken by a woman. When it's not remarkable or a surprise. When Samus taking off her helmet to reveal that the plasma cannon toting commando you've just battled through an alien maze with is a girl doesn't come as a shock to anyone.

 

[Abbystraction]

1. It means having characters of the female gender who have agency and roles beyond plot device/sex object. It is NOT to take away sexy female characters or banish traditionally feminine characters. (As a fan of the T&A myself I'd probably be one of the first to weep salty tears over the loss of many a "dat perfect ass" moments I have enjoyed over the years.)

2. Unless those fantasies involve doing something without consent or with someone underage, then no. Whatever floats your boat, bro. We'd just like to see the inclusion of characters that are treated as characters with importance/merit outside/besides their bodies.
-and realistic armor would be pretty boss too.

3. Simply put: a character who has importance to the plot/the ability to make choices and influence things. She can have romantic relations with men, she can have romantic relations with women, she can have romantic relations with purple bobble-headed spider people from Pluto and they can be any kind of relationship (even a problematic or abusive one because, hey, those exist and people who are female go through them.) so long as that abusive relationship isn't glorified and the woman is written as a person it's really endless.

4. Your answer assumes two things: all women function in exactly the same way sexually and all of them are attracted to people who are male. :U

Instead of writing a character to "appeal to a woman", write a character who has an interesting relationship with the female character ( be they male or female and be that relationship sexual or platonic) and chances are people of both genders will like it.

5. See two. Unless you're treating the woman as a object or property, it's really all good.

6. It's not legitimate at all. This is a male-dominated culture that caters to male interests and everything that is brought up in "what about the menz!!" debates is usually something that can be solved by taking away the stigma and shame associated with liking/enjoying/engaging in the traditionally feminine.

"How does our culture put pressure on/hurt men and what can we do to stop this?", however, is a legitimate question and one that could definitely still needs to be talked about, as does it's female counterpart.

Example: My cousin was not laughed at for stating he wanted to be a preschool teacher not because they viewed him as being incapable of the job, but because he was a man who was making a choice to do something that is seen as a "female job".

I was harassed (physically and verbally) at work and told to quit my construction job because my co-workers saw my gender and assumed I was incapable of doing what they did.

7. Some, yes. Mainly power fantasies. It's okay to have them around, but it's also important to give more positive portrayal to characters that don't fit the male ideal as this is harmful to young men who believe that becoming these impossible power fantasies are the only way to obtain happiness.

9. I can't leave the house and play my 3DS/PSP on transit because some gobber thinks that because I am a female ("object") it is okay for them to come up and touch me and/or come up and tell me I'm not a "Real Gamer?" and proceed to try and get me to validate the fact that I have a game console on me because "WOMENZ DONT PLAY DA VIDEO GAEMS WOMEN HAET TEH GAMES!!!11 U ARE RUING MY SAFE MALE SPACE WITH YOUR PINK DS!!!"

AS I have been obsessed with the new Fire Emblem, this has been a very annoying issue as of late. /:

10. Nope.

11. Rape without a really careful handling of it. I'm being really serious, rape as drama or rape (or death) of the female character to spur male character growth is skeevy as shit and has a lot of unfortunate implications that even some of the more trope-savvy men I know don't realize until after the fact. Don't do it! Don't do it.
Otherwise, treat 'em like you would a dude.

12. One that is written as a character and not a woman???

Basically, the TL;DR version:
WRITE WOMEN MAKING CHOICES.
WRITE WOMEN DOING THINGS.
WRITE WOMEN AS PEOPLE AND NOT OBJECTS.
Also, realistic armor would be boss.

 

[Friendly Lich]

A long series of questions: What is the Endgame or goal of feminism when it comes to video games?

Why on earth would feminism have an end-game goal when it comes to video games? That just sounds odd, like asking what the Northeastern Haberdasher's Guild's end game goal for BLT sandwiches is.

I imagine since only people with an axe to grind against feminism try to demand that all feminists think the exact same thing, that feminists have a lot of different opinions about video games.

But I remember listening to an online feed of a girl gamers forum with Kathleen De Vere at some gamer convention (PAX?). I don't know if she counts as a feminist, but she's a woman who seems smart, reasonably confident and assertive, and well-informed about video games. And IIRC her opinion, along with the opinions of most of the women on the panel, was that video games should have female characters that are interesting to women. No bans on sexy outfits, no castrated patriarchs, just interesting female characters. Basically, the consensus seemed to be that they wanted game developers to simply recognize that women do play games, and not design every game specifically to appeal to cis-gendered heterosexual male pocket-mining.

It didn't seem that threatening to me, but what do I know? My membership in the outraged testacled-Americans club was revoked decades ago when I decided Paula Poundstone was genuinely funny.

I am not outraged I just seek a better understanding through questions.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

NEW: #9 What are some real-world examples of how video game sexism has concretely harmed people?

I got no idea.

NEW: #10 Are men or people that play games with 'damsel in distress' such as Zelda evil?

Nope. The Zelda games,and basically the "damsel in distress" plot is traditional to classic Gothic literature.
Do you thing Goths,(that being ancient Germans,not modern people with vampire fashion) were evil ?
Well personally I like Zelda games,but you know what ? I'm one of those people who want to see Zelda specifically to not have to be saved for once more,in a new game. Mostly because I got bored of the same scenario every game.

NEW: #11 Violence is a perpetual theme in video games, Are females an unacceptable recipient of violence in any/all cases?

That's an interesting question. In every game,realistic or cartoony,there is some violence.
Even Mario stomping Goombas,is a kind of violence. Should female characters in games receive special treatment and not receive it ? Well that would be no equality.

NEW: #12 What is an acceptable/ politically correct female antagonist?

She must be made to look ugly with purpose,so whiners won't whine that she is sexually objectified.
There should also be other women in the same game that are 'good' and heroines,or else some people will whine again,that time that women are depicted as evil.

1. Is it to achieve more favorable portrayal of women in video games. What does this mean specifically? What does it NOT mean?

I think that's what they want,or at least that's what they say they want,but I don't know what exactly. We should ask those who whine for games now.

2. Is it to invalidate and/ or deny/reject the fantasies of less attractive/ suitable men/ lonely men? Yes or no?

I think some women might feel that they are not given enough consideration,as most games try to suit male fantasies,and there is not adequate number of games for female fantasies. But I could be wrong.

3. What is an ideal, none sexist/ no tropes involved female character? Does she have any romantic relations with men? What kind of men does she have these relationships with?

They should be the protagonists,ugly,and not have any kind of relationships with men at all. At least that's what I get from people who usually whine about such stuff.

4. What are female fantasies like? How are men in these portrayed?

Check some women targeted ads:

Men are portrayed as over-masculine but weak slaves.

5. Can fantasies just be fantasies and be left alone or must they be eliminated?

It depends. Either there should be more female fantasies to balance the thing,or they want them vanished.

6. What is the legitimacy of the phrase/slogan "WHAT ABOUT THE MENZ????" does it add or take away legitimacy from the feminist argument?

Never heard of it,can't comment on that.

7. Do male stereotypes also serve as male fantasies? Is this good or bad or neither?

The 'stereotypes', or roles as I prefer to call them,have an even better name: archetypes.
Videogames mostly depend and use archetypes of characters. That is because people in general,both men and women, tend to understand and feel familiar with archetypal characters more easily. It makes it so its easier to understand that this is the hero,this is the bad guy,etc. So that way you have less confused costumers.

 

[bug_of_war]

I think Ashley Burch said it best when making the video about the new Tomb Raider. "If all you got is titties, then it makes titties less sweet", then she further adds on, "Say you got these titties, but then there's a sea of titties. That's just too many titties. You need like some well rounded female characters in the titties, to make titties sweeter".

Basically the problem isn't the 1 dimensional female characters, but the lack of well rounded female characters.

 

[veloper]

Why can't we just let game devs make what ever games they want to make? And then let gamers buy and play whatever games they want to play?

The first one is a little more difficult because in the end there needs to be bread on the developer's table, but the second one is how it's always going to be: we'll play what we like and if it's not being made by the big companies, someone will Kickstart it.

There are plenty games that are gender neutral, or have strong women as the protagonists, but we're more likely to find them in the more cerebral game genres such as puzzle adventure games (Blackwell series for example) or strategy games (civilization leaders barely count as characters and Total Annihilation only has robots).

So there will never be an "end game", as game feminism is a hopeless cause. Sex sells. There will always be different products for different audiences.

There are plenty of games that should be non-offensive to a feminist, but as long as they pick only the dumbest titles among the dumbest game genres, they're bound to become angry/disappointed.
My advice to them: don't want stupid stereotypes? Don't play stupid games! Support only what you think is good.

 

[Phasmal]

Maybe this has something to do with how you comport yourself?

Do you go on movie and book forums starting by saying "I am a woman! Books and movies are shit, look at me I'm a special flower and I think they're all shit, better change them all so they appeal to me, even the ones I don't watch and wouldn't watch anyway, since I think they're shit! Oh and by the way, I speak for all of my gender.".
People might just react to you differently there too. You know you can discuss stuff (and games) without ever bringing up gender on the internet?

Nope. Don't do that.
Actually, here is probably the most I ever speak about my gender (because the Escapist is OBSESSED with gender).
Normally in games it's just me speaking with my actual voice that riles people up, or mentioning something remotely that might mean I'm not a dude, or someone I know referring to me as `she`.
Also, I don't think games are shit or say I speak for my entire gender.
So, no.

 

[Disturbed-Hell]

1. Is it to achieve more favorable portrayal of women in video games. What does this mean specifically? What does it NOT mean?
I believe that femenism in videogames relates to depicting in-game females to be no better/worse than in-game males, with some exceptions related to in-game canon or historical accuracy. I.e. it is not sexist to include women as little more than slaves if the game is set in, say, medieval europe as that is how they were treated in that particular time period (I think).

2. Is it to invalidate and/or deny/reject the fantasies of less attractive/ suitable men/ lonely men? Yes or no?
No. A videogame can depict a fantasy and it will be no less valid.

3. What is an ideal, none sexist/ no tropes involved female character? Does she have any romantic relations with men? What kind of men does she have these relationships with?
An ideal, non-sexist female character would be, in my opinion, a male character in a female body, so that there is minimal difference between them. Should they be identical? No, there will always be some slight differences, if only in the way that they are treated.

4. What are female fantasies like? How are men in these portrayed?
I do not know of any female fantasies.

5. Can fantasies just be fantasies and be left alone or must they be eliminated?
Of course there can be fantasies. If fantasies that depict females negatively are eliminated, then that is in itself sexist. That said, there shouldn't be an overabundance of games that do so.

6. What is the legitimacy of the phrase/slogan "WHAT ABOUT THE MENZ????" does it add or take away legitimacy from the feminist argument?
The point of that slogan is to try and ensure that females are depicted as outright better than males. It does not make the argument any less legitimate, just tries to stop it from going too far.

7. Do male stereotypes also serve as male fantasies? Is this good or bad or neither?
Again, so long as fantasies don't oversaturate the market, there is nothing wrong with them. They're not good, but not bad either.

9. What are some real-world examples of how video game sexism has concretely harmed people?
I do not know of any.

10. Are men or people that play games with 'damsel in distress' such as Zelda evil?
They are by no means evil, unless they exclusively play games with that theme, in which case there is probably something wrong with them. If they don't, then the 'damsel in distress' is just annother theme that videogames can use as any other.

11. Violence is a perpetual theme in video games, Are females an unacceptable recipient of violence in any/all cases?
Again, so long as a videogame does not exclusively target women, then there is nothing wrong with violence against women. The raiders in Fallout 3/New Vegas are a good example of this.

12. What is an acceptable/ politically correct female antagonist?
A "politically correct" female antagonist would be just the same as her male counterpart. So long as she had a reason to be the antagonist, then why not?

 

[Auron]

1. Is it to achieve more favorable portrayal of women in video games. What does this mean specifically? What does it NOT mean?
I believe that femenism in videogames relates to depicting in-game females to be no better/worse than in-game males, with some exceptions related to in-game canon or historical accuracy. I.e. it is not sexist to include women as little more than slaves if the game is set in, say, medieval europe as that is how they were treated in that particular time period (I think).

That's an extremely crude analogy of medieval women, the general rule was they were to be protected as the bearer of children and tool of social ascension and alliances by way of marriage, in that position they held more power than one might think many times manipulating their sons and husbands and having the real power, Examples of this are abundant* also many became leaders due to dead husbands or exceptional succession rules, administrators and more sparsely even warriors. Most people wouldn't think so but Assassin's Creed has a nice historical reconstruction of what's considered historically accurate in modern historiography regarding the subject.

Again, so long as a videogame does not exclusively target women, then there is nothing wrong with violence against women. The raiders in Fallout 3/New Vegas are a good example of this.

Which game specifically targets women because they're women? I never played or heard of such a game.

I think the problem is nazi feminists overanalyze everything and the most basic story element with roots in fiction since the ancient ages is reduced to a power relation in their heads and should be eliminated just because they feel offended by it.

We've all recently watched Nintendo be whacked by anita sarkessian for having female characters that need rescue. So what? It's a throwback to medieval stories and fairy tales in completely fantastic worlds no less, there are also men in need of rescuing in the same universes. But that's ignored, for some reason one's fine and the other isn't because apparently it reinforces some mythical dominance stereotype, that's not equality imo but oh well. Not to mention the fact that both Zelda and Peach kick all kinds of ass in lots of established games.

One thing I can see the point is the lack of female characters that are not avatars in most franchises. I myself dislike playing female characters so I can understand if they relate less to the main character because of gender and what-not. While I wouldn't care about new franchises or old ones with female leads myself I'd be all for more PC's with gender choice like Shephard actually, it seems most developers don't see profit to be made in it unfortunately probably because of assholes like me.

*Maria I of Portugal, Elizabeth, Margaret of Anjou wife of Henry VI, Isabella of Spain and Yekaterina the great from Russia to name just a few.