are there any non-sexualized/stereotypical female characters in games?

[Apocalypse Tank]

In films and novels women are sexualized as well.
The thing is, making them overtly sexual is the easiest way to make them interesting.
If your designed characters are plain looking with no personality or development, I'd rather have a girl with breasts worth looking at.

 

[Ih8pkmn]

Samus, before she fell off the "cool female lead" bandwagon so hard she fell back on and off again.

snip.

I wish I could say the same for Zoey and Rochelle, sadly. They are truly token girls.

LIEZ! Zoey is not a token girl... well, maybe a little...

Aw crap. and she was my favorite Left4Dead character, too!

 

[kannibus]

I think I'll say, The Witch and SHODAN.

They were awesomely non-stereo.

And HAWT!

 

[Blindswordmaster]

There's Chell, from Portal: strong, capable, and not sexualized to any real degree.

But she's still attractive.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Pretty much all the girls in Tales of Symphonia aren't sexualized (with the exception of Sheena), although some of them are slightly stereotypical.

That's why I object to the use of "stereotypical" in cases like these, especially when you can claim someone is "mildly" stereotypical.

I'm assuming you're referring to Colette, who acts rather girly a lot of the time...which since she's a very friendly, young, and somewhat sheltered girl, makes all the sense in the world. I know you're not probably not doing this, but I think she rather demonstrates the case against mistaking femininity (rather than insulting caricature) for stereotype. To say nothing of how genuinely deep she is.

...then again, I'd also object to saying Sheena is sexualized. Maybe in the eyes of Zelos or overzealous fanartists, but being poked fun at for having a large chest doesn't strike me as being the writers aiming for sexy. I might concede the outfit, I suppose, though it's still far more modest than most negative examples I can think of.

 

[pilkman]

There's whatsherface from red faction, shes like not sexualised she just makes stuff, and moans, so maybe she is a stereotype, who knows?

 

[ElectroJosh]

I would normally respond with Samus when such discussions take place, but that seems to have changed now.

perhaps SHODAN - one of the greatest game villians of all time.

 

[meepop]

The chick from Shadow of the Colossus. And before you think "Isn't that like Mario?" I'm here to show why that can't be. The reasoning is simple: the girl isn't trapped in a castle, she's just lying there dead. She doesn't need saving because she's already dead. No character in any game I've played has been dead for at least 19/20ths of a game. She's not there JUST
to be there either. The guy you play wants to rescue his girlfriend from death. Amen to that =D!

 

[Paularius]

Hmm Gwen from guildwars?

April and Zoe are good calls. So is Jade from beyond good and evil.

 

[Feste the Jester]

*snip*

Just wanted to say, awesome avatar.

OT: Alyx Vance is the best answer I can think of off hand (I know I've been ninja'd a lot already). That or Ms. Pacman.

 

[Delock]

To the people saying Alyx Vance, just because she isn't overly sexualised doesn't mean that she isn't a walking example of a stereotype.

Read up on: Girl Next Door [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GirlNextDoor].

Note: there's a difference between a stereotype and a trope. There is no such thing as any media without a trope, as the second one exists, it has created a trope. A stereotype is a common cliche of a group, in this case video game women in general rather than different stereotypes of different groups of women.

Looking only at videogame women in particular, identify the stereotypes most associated with them (you may notice that this strongly overlaps with them being sexualized). Now compare THIS stereotype to Alyx.

 

[GiantRedButton]

Samus. Proving that men and women kick just as much ass as each other.

Samus? the character who removed an armor piece for every hour you shaved of your playthrogh in metroid 2?
The character that thus revealed herself in underwear for fast metroid 2 players?
The Samus that after dying still had the time to pose in her bikini every time in her most famous title Super metroid?
The Samus that could fight in a skintight suit in Super smash brothers brawl instead of her powerarmour, and then whip her enemies?
Yeah of course she isn't sexualized.
is this the fucking twilight zone?

 

[acosn]

Jade, Samus (sans Other-M) uh....

Um....

Oh! Kerrigan and Nova.


Uh.......

Actually Blizzard's fairly good about keeping their female characters in the neutral zone in terms of sexualization there in. Think of all the female characters in the Diablo series. Now cut out the rather obvious sorceress. Women occupy every job imaginable in the worlds Diablo creates. Jaina annoys me because they had a great basis of character with her, and now they've basically shut her up in the kitch- I mean tower and bring her out for the novel "OH GEE WILIKERS MISTER VARIAN!" bleating she does now.

Nintendo is all over the place. On the one hand they have literally the oldest example of an independent female in gaming- Samus.

On the other hand they have the uber-stereotype of the other side characterized by Peach.

Bioware is kind of all over the place as well. They do a good job spreading the characters out but I can't honestly think of the last time they threw in a female role that didn't leave me cringing. There's always at least one in every game.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

Wow. The character in my franchise wears more clothes then the character in your franchise. This is like the liberal guilt version of compraing our adolescent fantasy crushes.

 

[Raziel_Likes_Souls]

The Boss, Metal Gear Solid 3

/thread

Perfect example

Seconded. To celebrate:

Also, Faith from Mirror's Edge. Non-sexualized and non-stereotypical. And she's a free runner.

 

[chromewarriorXIII]

Pretty much all the girls in Tales of Symphonia aren't sexualized (with the exception of Sheena), although some of them are slightly stereotypical.

That's why I object to the use of "stereotypical" in cases like these, especially when you can claim someone is "mildly" stereotypical.

I'm assuming you're referring to Colette, who acts rather girly a lot of the time...which since she's a very friendly, young, and somewhat sheltered girl, makes all the sense in the world. I know you're not probably not doing this, but I think she rather demonstrates the case against mistaking femininity (rather than insulting caricature) for stereotype. To say nothing of how genuinely deep she is.

...then again, I'd also object to saying Sheena is sexualized. Maybe in the eyes of Zelos or overzealous fanartists, but being poked fun at for having a large chest doesn't strike me as being the writers aiming for sexy. I might concede the outfit, I suppose, though it's still far more modest than most negative examples I can think of.

I was actually thinking of both Colette and Presea who are on different ends of the spectrum but neither are sexualized and neither are stereotypical. As for the stereotype, I was thinking of Raine, the big sister who knows everything and takes care of everybody.

I only think that Sheena is sexualized, not because she has a large chest but because she is the only girl in the party that has breasts at all. Not even Raine (who is older) has anything. Sheena, while being a vital character, also seemed to have the role of fan-service tacked onto her.

 

[spartan1077]

Mia from Alpha Protocol was quite unbiased and sexist. She actually seemed normal.