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

[IkeGreil29]

True, but then again, how many of the main male characters look like the geeks/nerds/dorks that play the games...?

Also, I think that JRPGs are only sometimes stereotypical/sexual... Tales of Symphonia had all kinds of women. Not to mention that FF characters are not all like that...

Kerrigan is also never portrayed stereotypically or sexually, imho.

And even then, most women are tired of the view that women that fight and are action heroines HAVE to be assholes to men and just not feminine.

 

[Flying-Emu]

What the hell is Other M?

The full name of the game is:

Metroid: the other M

Nope, never heard of it.

Are you sure you're not making up games now?

 

[krimson_dropz]

alex from breakdown, the scientist from breakdown, jack, at leask in my opinion not very sexy, yes scantily clad but ewww from ME2, jordan, carme, and conzuela from the suffering, bloody mary, and doll face from TM:black, samus (pre other m cmon that just cantt be cannon)
so yeah those are the only games that come to mind that havn't been mentioned...

 

[TermOfEndearment]

The Final Fantasy series tends to do a good job not over-stereotyping female characters(freya/eiko/terra). Then again they also tend to do a horrible job (Tifa)

 

[ensouls]

I've noticed this a lot with authors: they tend to be pretty crap at writing characters of the opposite sex, so when I actually find a male author who writes engaging female characters (or vice versa) it gets a lot of respect from me. With a game you have the added problem of visually designing them to not be abso-fucking-ridiculous.
I really do like the character of The Boss, and of course Alyx is a good example.

Also, say it doesn't count if you like, but I dare you to malign Carmen Sandiego.

 

[MikailCaboose]

Samus, Alex Roivas (Huh, both voiced by Jennifer Hale...)

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Alyx Vance is the prime example of a non-sexualized/stereotypical female character. She has a purpose and a key aspect to the story.

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

How are they token? Is it completely unrealistic/illogical that there would be a girl survivor if a zombie apocalypse happened? Louis and Rochelle were way more token black characters then Zoey was a token girl...

 

[RelexCryo]

i havent seen any... most female characters i see are highly stereotypical (ex: See all JRPGs) or highly sexualized (ex: See all JRPGs and Lara Croft)

or they're just there to be there (ex: Dana Mercer in Prototype)

i designed some myself and tried to make them as NON-SEXUALIZED and NON-STEREOTYPICAL as possible, but it's really difficult when you suck at drawing...

i guess the best example of a "normal" female character would have to be female Commander Shepherd (she's a good character all around). but i dunno if she counts since "default Shepherd" is male.

Uh...heroes, and heroines, are supposed to be sexualized. Heroes/Heroines are supposed to be smart, powerful, independent, and sexy. The traditional problem with female main characters is that they were sexy, but not smart, powerful, or independent. The problem was not an abundance of sexiness, but a lack of any other positive trait.

Look at Reed Richards and Sue Richards for an example. Reed Richards is a workaholic scientist who logically should have no time for exercise, yet he has six pack abs. He is also extremely handsome. He is sexy, but also smart, independent, and powerful.

Sue Richards on the other hand started out sexy, but she wasn't brave, smart, or powerful, (she wouldn't get force fields till much later on,) and she certainly wasn't independent.

The problem is not sexualization, because heroes and heroines are supposed to be sexy in addition to all their other attributes. Superman, Spiderman, Batman- all extremely handsome, in addition to everything else they have going for them. The traditional problem with heroines is a lack of other positive attributes.

If you percieve sexualization of a female protagonist as mysogynistic, then you are actually perceiving male heterosexuality as mysogynistic. In addition to being bigoted against men, that isn't really practical.

 

[astrav1]

Alyx Vance is the prime example of a non-sexualized/stereotypical female character. She has a purpose and a key aspect to the story.

Alyx Fuck yeah! Also I never found most of the ladies of FFVIII to be too bad. None of them were overly sexualized and as for not steriotypical Quistis, is a great example.

 

[ANImaniac89]

In Super Princess Peach she uses the magical powers of PMS emotions to solve puzzles and kill enemies.

 

[Demonicfox]

Tron Bonne from The Misadventures Of Tron Bonne and Megaman Legends

 

[Sacman]

Aya Brea from Parasite Eve... but they might screw that up in the new game...

 

[soren7550]

The only ones I can think of are Joanna Dark (only in her 64 & XBLA outings), Alyx Vance, and Commander Shepard.

 

[krugerrand123]

That girl off of jak 2 and Alyx vance.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Alyx Vance is the prime example of a non-sexualized/stereotypical female character. She has a purpose and a key aspect to the story.

Yep, that.

Another I can think of is Chell from Portal, because she doesn't say anything.

 

[Valkaris]

Tali Zorah, Jaina Proudmoor, Amanra (from Age of Mythology, yay for obscure games!) Every female character in Metal Gear Solid (A joke)

 

[Tetranitrophenol]

Samus Aran, before they turned her into a co-dependent dumbass.

[http://img844.imageshack.us/i/supermetroidsamus.gif/]

 

[Quazimofo]

-Ariebeth, from Neverwinter Nights 1
-Almalexia from Morrowind
-The female Leaders from the CiV-Games
-Tyrande and Sylvanas from Wc3 (you could argue that they ended up being sexualized in Wow, but is a skimpy outfit really sexualizing? I mean, most males in Wow have chests you could safely built your house upon, so that's kind of wows thing for both genders)
-Moira Brown, Sarah Lyons & Doctor Lee from Fallout 3
-The Pyro
-Lot's of women from the kotor and Mass Effect games. (Yes you can nail them, no, the abilty to have sex diesn't make you sexualized, it makes you being alive)

i'll agree with you on these ones, though im not sure the female leaders from the civ games count. main reason being is that they have no character, it varies from game to game depending on what you set the ai personalities to act as and and whether or not you play as them.

and i heard someone say kat and Halsey from halo, this list of non sexualized non-stereotypical halo chars would have to be expanded to include all female spartans (somewhere in the hundreds though only a few were named in the books that ive seen), cortana (debateable), and miranda Keys. you could also say Special agent Tanja from Red alert 1 and 2, for the little plot those games did have she was just a badass commando who happened to be a woman, not the slutty looking Tanja from red alert 3

 

[ScRaT_the_destroyer]

Judith Mossman wasn't sexed up, well besides her voice. Michelle Forbes voice does strange things to me *embarrass*