Collaborative Thought Experiment: what would a game targeted at Anita Sarkeesian look like?

[EternallyBored]

How about a sci-fi action/adventure mixed with a mystery focus and an investigative puzzle component, sort of like L.A. Noire with the aesthetic of Dead Space. Set the game on a remote space station orbiting a mining planet, there's no FTL travel so the station is mostly massive and isolated, developing a sort of wild culture all its own with millions of people idling their time away with escapist distractions (with personal simulations and games being popular). The protagonist is an older woman (40s maybe) who works as a private investigator for people on the station, catching cheating spouses and uncovering insurance fraud scams. Have her stumble on a murder when one of her jobs unwittingly forces her into the notice of the organized crime syndicate aboard the station. These are the guys that smuggle drugs and weapons under the officials noses, and are ultimately murdering people to keep their activities quiet. The game revolves around the protagonist trying to solve the murders and ultimately uncover the activities and scope of the syndicate organization aboard the station (she doesn't start out the game aware of their existence).

That sounds eerily like the plot of Outland, only with Sean Connery where the woman would be.

Wow, I never even knew that movie existed until just now, the base is kind of similar, the reviews don't look stellar, but I kind of want to see it now.

I was thinking more about the game being an investigation with emphasis on isolation in the real world, with people using simulations to escape the drudgery and tedium of reality. The movie sounds like it ends with a big Hollywood shootout, but I haven't seen it so I wouldn't know. Kind of wanted to avoid the whole "and the administrator was in on it all along" cliche as well, with the syndicate being powerful, but still not really in control of the station.

Still, yeah, there are some similarities. How is the movie anyway?

 

[EternallyBored]

Wow, I never even knew that movie existed until just now, the base is kind of similar, the reviews don't look stellar, but I kind of want to see it now.

I was thinking more about the game being an investigation with emphasis on isolation in the real world, with people using simulations to escape the drudgery and tedium of reality. The movie sounds like it ends with a big Hollywood shootout, but I haven't seen it so I wouldn't know. Kind of wanted to avoid the whole "and the administrator was in on it all along" cliche as well, with the syndicate being powerful, but still not really in control of the station.

Still, yeah, there are some similarities. How is the movie anyway?

It's sort of a remake of High Noon, but in space. Having read more of your synopsis really the setup is the only thing that your idea shares with it - isolated mining satellite, lone investigator stumbling on some organized crime problems, etc.

I haven't seen the movie for at least a decade, if not more. I remember it being interesting at the time, but largely forgettable.

Anyway, your idea has actually a lot of interesting aspects to it. You allow for a lot of variety of gameplay and setting with the simulations - though that might also carry the danger of making a game that feels fragmented. You'd have to be very careful with how it was implemented so you don't lose a sense of coherency, you know?

One thing I really like is the development of a romance from an older female perspective. We don't often get older people involved in romances in games, and you can really do a lot of character building there. Maybe they're both divorcees, and he has a couple kids from his first wife that we see him interact with, that sort of thing. The 'couple meets while working together' thing feels a bit like a cliche - but at the same time, a large portion of couples met at work, so it's not really a huge distraction, and probably wouldn't be noticed if the couple's dynamic was done well.

Yeah, I thought about that after I posted. There's a couple ways you could probably keep everything tight and consistent depending on the themes the game was trying to explore. I see it going one of two ways depending on if the game is more on the psychological aspects of the simulations, or the escapist aspects.

If it's on the psychological aspects, then the sims can stay focused by making the sims revolve around characters you meet and talk to in reality, the sims act as an alternate space that gives the player a peek into the kind of person that you are interacting with in reality. The sim can also be a sort of false blind because it is a reality consciously controlled by the creator, so a sim may reflect the base desires of a person, yet hide their inner insecurities or the truths they deny from themselves. In this way the sims are like an investigation space, the gameplay can change it up compared to reality, but I agree with you that trying to do too much or go completely off the wall would just make things fragmented and hard to play, this could probably work with a slower paced puzzle type game, where you put abstract clues together to try and build a coherent narrative.

The other alternative, I see is focusing on the escapist aspects, in this case, it's more about the gameplay, don't try to switch it up completely with every sim (i.e. don't switch from space combat, to gunplay, to swords and sorcery, etc.), but use them as a chance to stretch any hypothetical combat model the game has. Could be an RPG system or shooter style system, with the protagonist gaining abilities as various hacks that can effect the simulation, or using the sim to create combat situations as a stark contrast to the levity that violence within the actual station gets (if there was more talented writer than me doing it you could maybe even use it to talk about violence in media and how it contrasts with reality). In this case, the sims might be able to focus more on the protagonist, with seeing a bit of a cynic trying to adapt to other people's fantasies or desires.

I do like your idea about the male possibly having kids from a previous relationship or being in a past relationship. I mainly wanted to work with the idea that these aren't teenagers taking their first steps into true love at first sight, they are both experienced people who've lived a good portion of their lives, and have the experience to back it up.

But yeah, let me know if you have any ideas, like I said it was just something I came up with while thinking about L.A. Noire, Cowboy Bebop, and Psychonauts.

As for your idea, I like it, motherhood themes in videogames tend to either revolve around babies or the desire to have babies (like Metroid: Other M so hamfistedly tried to do). Having the kids play a role in the game would be tricky, but rewarding if you could do it right. I do wonder how you would keep the kids from feeling like too much of an annoyance, I know a lot of gamers tend to be really touchy about escort missions, too much of a hindrance and the characters become annoying, not enough challenge and the gamer will forget they are there till the next conversation or cutscene

 

[VanQ]

snip

Here's a concept, off the top of my head.

Post-apocalyptic survival shooter, action/adventure oriented, sort of in the vein of Fallout 3/NV, only in a more serious setting. Main protagonist is a mother of two boys, one 13 and one 10. The 10 year old has been blinded by events in the crapsack world they inhabit.

Mother is trying to find her husband, who disappeared pre-game for plot-related reasons we get to at the end of the second act or so. Family had been trying to reach safe haven somewhere before Dad ghosted. Plot follows Mother as she searches the road for clues, trying to keep her boys safe from the myriad dangers of the world. She has a gun but ammunition is scarce, violence can be effective but is extremely risky. 13 year old can get himself in trouble trying to help, 10 year old will panic and freak out in any exceptionally hairy situations. Many groups are simply too large for Mother to handle with her rifle. Best bet is usually for Mother to outsmart opponents or try to convince them to see reason, though there are myriad ways to approach any particular problem.

Part of the game mechanics include the emotional states of Mother and the boys - they draw strength from each other, but their nerves can fray from all the stresses of the world. Fear, anger, depression can each have different effects on the characters, causing them to react to different encounters in different ways. The 13 year old, in particular, has a bit of a chip on his shoulder, trying to be 'the man of the house' so to speak - he will try to influence Mother's decisions, and can be difficult if he isn't managed properly.

Edit: Additional afterthought. Potential mechanics for building bonds between Mother and boys - ability to choose to sing to them, ability to tell them bedtime stories, etc. Boys can bring Mother random gifts - flowers, found jewelry, etc. Maybe collectible storybooks litter the world as sort of a scavenger hunt mechanic, unlocking new tales for Mother to tell.

As utterly exceptional as that game idea sounds, and I truly believe that it's an exceptional idea that deserves a design document, I can't help but think that it's going to end up ripped up by feminists for implying that women can only be a mother figure or that it implies that she is portrayed as weak and useless for not being able to kick ass in combat or something. Or that is so dependent on her man that she must devote all her resources to finding him...

Though that might just be the part of me that's become jaded with the topic talking.

But really, that sounds like an extremely tense and heart-wrenching game and I really think it deserves to see the light of day.

 

[generals3]

A game targeted at Anita? Well how can we answer that... she contradicted herself so much it would be impossible to guess. At one point "women with tits" are wrong and than in her latest video she praised games where women were indeed just that as far as the gamer was aware, a typical male character but with a different sex. Than there is also the idea that she sent clear signals that violence in VG's is bad but than in her "idea for a good game" (which was as original as CoD 547415) the game clearly had "violence" as a primary mechanic. So what is it? Does she want a man with tits character or a clearly woman female character? Does she want it to be like The Sims (without violence) or like Battlefield? Trying to guess what she wants is like trying to guess what a cat is thinking when it is staring at you stupidly.

And I would also like to say that having watched some of her videos I came to the conclusion she's your typical "Politician in the opposition". She cannot be pleased, it seems she took it as her job to always find some way to twist things into being bad. (Which is proven by the inconsistency in her interpretations and the contradictions which are blatantly obvious)

 

[VanQ]

As utterly exceptional as that game idea sounds, and I truly believe that it's an exceptional idea that deserves a design document, I can't help but think that it's going to end up ripped up by feminists for implying that women can only be a mother figure or that it implies that she is portrayed as weak and useless for not being able to kick ass in combat or something. Or that is so dependent on her man that she must devote all her resources to finding him...

Though that might just be the part of me that's become jaded with the topic talking.

But really, that sounds like an extremely tense and heart-wrenching game and I really think it deserves to see the light of day.

Well, a feminist came up with the idea, so . . . .

In any case, thanks for the input. Now I just need to get my foot in the door of some game studio. Ha!

Yes, well. You do get those types that consider a man doing everything in his power to save a loved one as the ultimate form of objectification, so I'm sure you can understand my cynicism on the matter. Anywho~

 

[Schadrach]

She's also mentioned that she likes Spelunky, so slap a female avatar in that and we can be done here. No?

Already done. The starting character options include a woman (not sure about the unlockable ones -- I've only played the demo from PSN). Of course, as I recall she hated on the woman you could rescue in exchange for a health boost as a damsel in distress stereotype, and said that the "damsel" having an option where you could make it a man, woman, or dog actually made things *worse*.

I'm not a fan of Anita, I think her videos are boring, and involve too much rehashing of information that can be easily found on T.V. tropes, she's also a little too quick to lump things into negative tropes sans context.

She also misrepresents information when it's convenient to her, and uses Let's Play videos from YouTube to fill in her shots of game play without crediting them. There's also the whole going from "I don't like video games" to "lifelong gamer" over the course of a year thing, which reeks of dishonesty at one time or the other.

Aw, thanks. Always nice to see one's thoughts so well received. I think it'd make a pretty badass game, too.

Yes, find a few devs (if you aren't capable yourself), start a little team, and go for it! Pull in some ridiculous amount of Kickstarter money to fund it. =)

Seriously though, it's an interesting idea.

Trying to guess what she wants is like trying to guess what a cat is thinking when it is staring at you stupidly.

No, figuring out what the cat is thinking is comparatively easy -- they actually provide a fair amount of information through posture, ears, and tail, and don't typically contradict themselves.