Female characters in video games

[daftalchemist]

My only problem with female game characters is when it's just boobs all over the place, especially in games that have armor, and especially when the armor completely covers a guy but it cut down to the nipples on a girl. For instance, in WoW my friend's male undead had this cool robe. When I was high enough level, I got one too, but on my female troll the middle part of the robe was cut out to show off her stomach for NO DAMN REASON. That's dumb.

Can such things prevent you from continuing to play?

I stopped playing Soul Calibur because of it. The latest one that rolled out decided that sheer clothing was better armor than boobs were, and that the sheer clothing should be able to break off too. Sure, I took a try with Hilde because she was completely awesome looking, but even she's wearing next to nothing once you break the armor off.

And it wouldn't even bother me that all of those girls have their jiggling boobs hanging out as their armor if they hadn't taken away the shirtless Sigfried costume back when they made Soul Calibur 3. Those bastards!

 

[GonzoGamer]

Of course there are unfair stereotypes but not any more than any other medium, certainly not more than tv or movies.
And what about all the negative Male stereotypes? Nobody cares about those?

My favorite female characters don?t fit in to stereotypes. Catlina from San Andreas should?ve been the protagonist for how crazy she was. Or was she PMSing? That would poke a hole in that argument.

 

[P.Tsunami]

That also lead me to thinking which games have female protagonists who aren't oversexualized... And beside Valve's and Funcom's, couldn't think of much.

Beat me to the punch, my first thought was The Longest Journey. With that said, there are other examples; it's not all bad. While pulling up Bioware seems like a dead end to me (they have more than their share of sexualized female characters, to say the least), I'd like to nominate the Silent Hill series as another example on the pile. I think I can say with confidence that any time any female character has been sexualized in that series, it's happened for a very good reason.

Spoiler

...most of it relating to James Sunderland's sexual repressions.

Other than that, their female characters are believable, mostly likeable, and not particularly sexual in nature.

 

[Shock and Awe]

While I agree with her in general, I believe she is wrong on a number of things, mostly about her opinion on the character of Anya in Gears of War. She seems to me that she didn't look much into, or didn't pay attention to detail in the game. Anya is not a soldier, she spends most of her time in an HQ where there is no fighting. Though if you look at her in Gears 3 pictures, you can see that she has been affected by the fighting and looks like someone to take very seriously.

 

[Shock and Awe]

Once again, I gotta go with Ashley from Mass Effect.

True, most of the girls of Mass Effect are very well characterised but I just found Ashley as the perfect example of a 'humanised' female character. She wasn't oversexualised, she looked like a regular human being and she had very real human flaws as well as likeable aspects to her personality. Also, over the course of the story if you pick the right options she actually changes her worldview, hence there is actual character development in there as well. True, she gets a lot of (unjustified in my opinion) hate but I still use her as a good example of female characterisation in games. Well, her and all the other girls of Mass Effect.

Mostly because everyone has come under the impression that the character is racist, which is a vast over simplification.

 

[Spoonius]

Once again, I gotta go with Ashley from Mass Effect.

True, most of the girls of Mass Effect are very well characterised but I just found Ashley as the perfect example of a 'humanised' female character. She wasn't oversexualised, she looked like a regular human being and she had very real human flaws as well as likeable aspects to her personality. Also, over the course of the story if you pick the right options she actually changes her worldview, hence there is actual character development in there as well. True, she gets a lot of (unjustified in my opinion) hate but I still use her as a good example of female characterisation in games. Well, her and all the other girls of Mass Effect.

I repeated the last half of ME2 just so that I could keep Ashley as my love interest, after I hooked up with Miranda on impulse.

The fact that I actually did that is testament to the amazing level of characterisation that went into creating Ashley.

 

[G-Force]

Ask your self this.

How many male heroes you see in video games that you play as that you consider ugly?

Now how many ugly females can you name?

In video games, beauty is always considered a heroic trait and while certain characters are prettier than others, you'll be hard pressed to find a female hero that is SUPPOSED to look ugly

 

[Krantos]

BioWare has done well with female characters in the past, but, tbh, they've been getting a little sloppy lately. Morrigan's outfit was ridiculous and completely non-functional. The whole asari thing. Though, I understand why some Asari become strippers and what not, it's just capitalizing on the way they look, like the way that college grad girls still pose for nude pics. The problem with the Asari is actually in their design. There was no reason for them to look like that, and it seems a little too suspicious that they just happen to evolve so that they all look like attractive human women.

 

[PipBoy2000]

The responses of the girls who replied to this thread are interesting
Some are a little different than what I've expected to hear, but generally I see that most do think like the person who wrote the article.

As for the guys who said they "like tits in their games" - don't you think this might cause girls to avoid those games or even gaming in general?

 

[apelsz]

Two words: Samus Aran.

What I mean by that is, she's not stereotyped at all, unless you count the whole "super robot armor" thing.

... You've seen the Zero Suit, right? I think that as of Smash Bros. Brawl Nintendo flushed the whole idea of Samus not being sexualized down the toilet.

Who hasn't seen it? But no, Metroid: Other M will hopefully keep tradition with the other games in the series. I hope it was just to please the fans of Smash Bros.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

While I agree with her in general, I believe she is wrong on a number of things, mostly about her opinion on the character of Anya in Gears of War. She seems to me that she didn't look much into, or didn't pay attention to detail in the game. Anya is not a soldier, she spends most of her time in an HQ where there is no fighting. Though if you look at her in Gears 3 pictures, you can see that she has been affected by the fighting and looks like someone to take very seriously.

I have a feeling it was written before the "official" announcement of Gears 3. The Anya of then and the Anya of now are quite different.
Apparently she did have to go through standard COG military training to get her position in the first place and her mother was some kind of arse-kicking soldier.

 

[NickCaligo42]

Two words: Samus Aran.

What I mean by that is, she's not stereotyped at all, unless you count the whole "super robot armor" thing.

... You've seen the Zero Suit, right? I think that as of Smash Bros. Brawl Nintendo flushed the whole idea of Samus not being sexualized down the toilet.

Who hasn't seen it? But no, Metroid: Other M will hopefully keep tradition with the other games in the series. I hope it was just to please the fans of Smash Bros.

Seriously doubt that. Team Ninja aint exactly well-known for not over-sexing the crap out of women.

 

[Ungenericteen]

the ideal female character is like a male character: well charactierized traits, ( Women have badasses to). I mean don't make a combat oriented female fragile, but gruff not "sexy" I call it "creepy"

 

[apelsz]

Two words: Samus Aran.

What I mean by that is, she's not stereotyped at all, unless you count the whole "super robot armor" thing.

... You've seen the Zero Suit, right? I think that as of Smash Bros. Brawl Nintendo flushed the whole idea of Samus not being sexualized down the toilet.

Who hasn't seen it? But no, Metroid: Other M will hopefully keep tradition with the other games in the series. I hope it was just to please the fans of Smash Bros.

Seriously doubt that. Team Ninja aint exactly well-known for not over-sexing the crap out of women.

Maybe so, but it would be hard to do that inside the Varia Suit, or whatever awesome robot armor she gets in that game.

 

[Omnific One]

Elika in PoP4. She is extremely under-sexualized, which just makes the ending all the more emotional.
Al... oh, you said no Valve characters... oh well.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

The least stereotypical female character I can think of is Hammer from Fable 2. She's a bigger gal, hardly hourglass-shaped, with "guns", a gut, and no fondness for revealing clothes. She's still very vulnerable and emotional at times, but she handles herself with more strength and self-determination than most male characters.

Anyways, this is all about money. The vast majority of gamers are still very male, and guys are looking to play hot girls or none at all. We'll play fat or awkward guy characters because they're funny or relatable. That's it. Sorry?