Female Game Characters: The Good, The Bad, and The Sexist.

[dib_dib_9@hotmail.co.uk]

Nothing wrong with some bouncing boobs!

 

[OverlordSteve]

Sarah Kerrigan

Goes from being a pathetic support character and love intrest for Jim Raynor into a villain you want to choke to death and throw off a cliff.

 

[lord kamina]

best female character goes to house of the dead 2 woman in need for "don't come! don't come aghhhhhh"

 

[Sasha Janre]

You forgot one.

The Spunky Tomboy: Generally found in RPG's, the Spunky Tomboy is usually the main supporting character. She tends to wear shorts and a very small top, always exposing the stomach area. Her motives include: avenging the death of her parents, wanting to support her best friend, the main character, who she grew up with. The Tomboy is quick to take charge of any situation, and is almost always competent.

Examples: Kid (Chrono Cross), Shiki (The World Ends With You), Aika (Skies of Arcadia)

That description makes me think of Rikku from FFX.

And Tifa, from FF7!

 

[GoldCrow]

Valerie from Far Cry...You spend most of the game rescuing her, and on the one mission where she DOES actually help you, she drives in a ****ing straight line in a humvee (with you in it, obviously) while mercs in jeeps in helicopters chase, and shoot at you, thus forcing you to return fire..but she just ****ing has to swerve whenever you're trying to shoot. Also, after the rail shooter, she follows you around like a puppy: annoying like hell, but you can't bring yourself to shoot it (mostly 'cause she's invincible FOR SOME REASON). Her only basic use is cannon fodder (oh, and she just HAD to be given the second weakest gun in the game).

 

[D2wontdie]

im just gunnas say the people making the games are very preoccupied and may not be able to get out often

and the fact that most men have testosterone

 

[GothmogII]

Now characters who could fall into stereotypes, the amazon from Diablo 2. I don't know why blizzard felt they needed to give the amazon and the female playable characters in general in the game a pair that could double as a trampoline. (players of conker's bad fur day will understand the trampoline reference.)

Sorry to nit-pick. But male chars in Diablo 2 aren't exactly beaten by the ugly stick. I thought the entire line up was entirely composed of a 'perfect' person for everyone. Even the Necromancer has got quite a gothic charm to him.

Anyway...most good and upstanding female chars have been mentioned so let's see...
Anyone mentioned Sylvanas Windrunner from the Warcraft series yet? Not only did she survive being horrifically murdered and subsequent resurrection as a banshee. But, she successfully broke away from the Scourge, coerced a High ranking demon into becoming her major domo and helped created the Forsaken nation. Pretty good stuff there. Although, her back-story does read a little much like Kerrigan's...

 

[darknight910]

I would like to note the female cast from Mass Effect aswell.

I've always loved Tali. She's a very regular and neutral sort of person who just gets shit done without any drama, posturing or attention whoring. Her personality isn't exaggerated in any way. There's no archetype going on (like those outlined in the first post), no overwhelming personality trait. She's nice, but doesn't grovel at your feet like Liara. She has clear opinions about things, but doesn't shove them down your throat like Ashley. She has her own problems, but talking to her doesn't feel like reading a teenager's Livejournal entry. In fact, it's endearing how mundane one of her problems is: she has trouble sleeping because the Normandy is too quiet (shit, I thought she was going to talk to me about how her parents were murdered by Space Orcs).

We don't yet know what Tali looks like under her mask, but her features (eyes and nose) are definitely very human looking. I hope she's unveiled in ME 2 and turns out to be very pretty. The Asari were blatant, juvenile fan service, but they're nowhere near as interesting and alluring as Tali. Lots of people are fascinated by her.

I also like her voice acting.

I know technically it would be impossible and even illegal in the game's background but I would have liked it if Tali was made a possible love interest. During my play through the game I found her to be the most interesting female character of the game and would have liked to see if she had the same feelings. Don't get me wrong, Liara was nice but she seemed too much like a star-struck follower while Ashley continuously pissed me off with her Xenophobic nature and army-brat tendencies, far too tomboy-ish for my likes. I hated Ashley enough that I chose to leave her behind instead of Kayden on that planet that was about to blow. (It didn't help that I was also a Soldier and really never used her anyway.)

 

[LewsTherin]

1: Chell is just a walking portal gun.
2: Presea from ToS anyone? Little Girl lumberjack with the most upper body strength of any character*including the guys* in the game and wields an axe BIGGER THAN SHE IS? (Remembering her intro scene).Not believable at all, but the concept was fairly amusing.


But my vote goes to Samus, for blowing the crap out of billions of space pirates and war wasps, and still having a cool enough head not to go on a murderous rampage when none of her clients pay her after the mission.

 

[frontier psychiatrist]

Hey you forgot the oblivious Best Friend archetype. Pretty much exclusive to JRPG, but it happens enough to merit mention methinks. They're all up in that main characters pants, but won't admit it until one of the two of them is dead or about to die, or something to that stupid degree. Usually a good fighter, but not as good as the male lead, if you fully upgrade their skills/equipment, they'll be in your final squad but, again, never better than the male lead.

Notables: Aika from Skies of Arcadia, Tifa (of course), Marle from Chrono Trigger, REbecca Chambers and (arguably) Alex from Half Life, much love for Alex though, she's a bad ass.

Lucca is the best friend in Chrono Trigger, Marle is the love interest. The character in Half-Life 2 is Alyx, not Alex. I very much doubt there's going to be any romance between Gordon and her considering the limitations of Valve's storytelling method. It's also doubtful they're even interested in taking that route.

Great females characters though are indistinguishable from great male ones, their strong physical and mental attributes make them rise above ANY gender stereotypes. They have a strong sense of what their doing within the context of the game and are both willing to stand up for themselves in the face of adversity and offer a helping hand when needed.

Not necessarily. A female character can be clearly female and feminine without being a poorly written character. A female character also does not have to be a sword-wielding hero to be a good and strong character.

Couple that come to mind; Ursula from Gladius, Jade in Beyond Good and Evil, Aerith in VII, Alex in Eternal Darkness: Sanitys Requiem, Samus, Olga in Metal Gear Solid Series, Velvet from Odin Sphere (and Gwendolyn to a lesser degree, Mercedes though? If she didn't have a Rambo style crossbow, she'd be pixie flavored toast in 5 minutes) probably some others I'm not thinking of, but woot-ever, ya'll get the point.

Aerith is not indistinguishable from a male character.

I know technically it would be impossible and even illegal in the game's background but I would have liked it if Tali was made a possible love interest.

Not technically impossible (I know the reasons people always give, but BioWare can easily write their way around them if they want to), and not illegal. I don't know where you got the idea that it would be illegal.

 

[Krystallkitty]

It's been mentioned a few times but, i still would have to go with Zelda being not one of the stereotypes... yeah she does get into trouble a lot and in the 8-bit and 16-bit games she is ever so similar to peach... But she's pretty badass when it comes to Sheik... just as an example if you ever happen to watch the "storyline" videos from brawl you'll see peach "ohnoes!" and Zelda "aw crap not again *NINJA!*"

>.> my brother and i provide dialog for the "no-talkie games/movies/anything"

 

[The Wooster]

Where does Elena fisher fit into this?

And whats so bad about the Innocent Youth? They actually manage to be believable and whole. Here I'm talking mainly about Nariko, though.

Nariko. The one who dresses like an aisan themed stripper?

 

[jake09050]

ashley williams from mass effect

 

[NeW SpEcTrUM]

Not technically impossible (I know the reasons people always give, but BioWare can easily write their way around them if they want to), and not illegal. I don't know where you got the idea that it would be illegal.

Actually, it would kinda be illegal considering, by quarian standards, she is just a child.

Some of my favorite female characters are: Ada, Bastila, Tali, Cmdr. Shepard (obviously, the female one), Alex (from Breakdown), Sheena (ToS), Elena Fischer, Silk Fox, Sharwyn (NWN), and Nagase (probably one of the greatest examples of a believable woman in the military).

 

[Crazy Elf]

There is one thing that isn't being discussed here. It's all well and good to state that female characters come across as sexist, but Male characters in video games are just as bad. There are few characters out there that don't fit into some archetypal mould, be it hero or anti-hero.

And here's the other thing, there are many people in the world that fit into or attempt to adhere to stereotypical archetypes. One of the posters mention Barbie in this thread, and although it's true that she's an air-headed bimbo that cares only for shoes and her Malibu play-set, there are also women out there who are JUST LIKE HER.

Seriously.

It's not an unrealistic portrayal to have a female character that is nothing but a self obsessed sycophant. There are some women that are simply like that. It would be unfair to state that ALL women behave as such, but I don't think that games ever really do that. They may have been more inclined to do so in the past, but it was never an outright categorisation on ALL females, just the characters in the games.

This isn't to say that game designers aren't being sexist when they put characters of that ilk into a game, because they are drawing from stereotypes that have been built up over hundreds if not thousands of years, and women's liberation hasn't been around all that long in comparison. However, they're left with very little choice. If you're creating a hack and slash game to sell to a mass market, do you give your female lead an intricate personality, make her slightly less attractive and provide her with a much more believable physicality and in doing so lose half of your pubescent teenage male audience, or do you slap big tits on her, throw her in a mid rift to show off a six pack and tight pants to show off a tight arse and make MORE MONEY?

For all the stereotypes that have been listed I've met women just like that. Am I sexist for saying as much? Probably not if it's a statement of fact. If I made a game and had people like that turn up, however, I'm suddenly sexist?

Really?

 

[frontier psychiatrist]

Stereotypical characters are usually boring or irritating, so that's why I don't like them. I don't think about sexism or anything like that.

 

[Syphonz]

And whats so bad about the Innocent Youth?

Even though I like the "Tales of..." series, I have a problem (the same with D.O.A. type characters) where either extremely tiny, young girls or model-looking, wouldn't break a nail type girl characters run around laying the smack down on super soldiers and stuff. If it's a character like the Boss, then I'm cool. Or like Vanessa from Virtua Fighter, women who look like they could stomp someone's ass and perform it out in a believable manner.

Vanessa is still a beautiful looking character, but she has muscles and looks as though she can and does fight, ya know? And when they have half-exposed pink clad Ninja girls pulling Izuna Drops on like, Russian War veteran Sambo masters, I'm just like "What the fuck ever man"... Again, in the scenario of The Boss vs. Volgin (which is pretty much the same match up) she wins and its believable because of her look and her style, and the way she went about it).

Ya dig?

Yeah, I sort of dig...

Ok, how would you define Heavenly Swords Nariko? On the one hand, she actually has a clearly defined reason for fighting, as well as a clear source of power (her cultural training and her GIANT GODLY SWORD), and her clothing is actually relatively restrained showing absolutely no cleavage, and only a functional amount of leg (you ever tried wall-running in a tunic?). Theres also her whole past, of being ostracized for being a girl, and kicking the crap out of her peoples beliefs that woman are not as good as men (its a long story). On the other, as you said, her body type is not the traditional fighter type. Then again, belonging as she does to a culture built around swordfighting, it seems natural that she wouldn't be covered in muscles, and be instead built relatively lightly.

I'm amazed you didn't mention once how undeniably gorgeous she is. I've never gocked at a female video game character before (and I've seen all the most toted ones like Lara croft, Elena from Uncharted, Tifa, MGS3 EVA, etc.) until Nariko...I mean shit...

The weirdest thing I've heard is somebody say they'd tap Kai from HS, like...Twing Twang only gets you so far..

 

[Shabubu]

Mono, from Shadow of the Colossus, probably is the female character that I had the largest emotional attachment to, in 20+ years of gaming.

She starts out as a the main character's sacrificed love interest, and you end up hating her corpse, which is just sitting there the whole game. A constant reminder that you're the bad guy in that world, because of her.

Farah, from Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, and the princess from Braid are also two women that were not normal roles the player would have expected from a video game.

Oh, the girls (Hana and Rain) from Fear Effect 2 - badass lesbians, you don't run into them in games as much as you'd expect.