Okay, so I had to get this off my chest, and I signed up on this forum specifically to do so...
Gaming and the Great Antagonist.
Let me first start with a disclaimer: None of what I say I will be absolute truth. This piece about my opinion, and though I will refer to real or imagined histories and cultural phenomena, it is very much possible that I am factually wrong. This is, however, the way I understand the subject matter, and it is my opinion on it that I want to get across.
Hello, Internet.
As most of us are aware, there is a huge controversy in the world of gaming. And that controversy is: Women. It's women who play games, women who are (or are not) portrayed in games, women who get to play the lead, or women who do not.
This is a complicated issue, and I'll try to be fair to most parties involved, but let's get one thing out of the way first: Women are not the only under- or misrepresented party in computer gaming. Women do not own the controversy, and women do not own the victim role, here. Aside from gender issues in gaming (which are merely an expression of gender issues in real life), there are race issues. Sex issues. Nationality issues. Hell; even faith issues. And even gender issues are not just female issues. The comedian Thunderf00t's response to Anita Sarkeesian's videos (his video entitled 'what if men acted like feminists' can be found on youtube) goes on and on about male disposability, and his point is obviously to ridicule the subject of gender stereotyping, but the concerns he lists in order to ridicule are actually valid concerns that many men feel and, thanks in part to people like Thunderf00t, do not feel they can, or are allowed to, express.
However, this piece is not about men in the gaming world. What it is about is the idea of the Antagonist, and why we must stop antagonizing. The gender issue I am focussing on here is merely one of the many issues, but certainly the most visible one.
First of all, we need to recognize that many gamers find games because they are looking for a way out. Escapism. And that can be from anything, but we all know what the stereotypical gamer looks like: Fat (or impossibly skinny), male and ugly. Unsuccessful, socially awkward. In the past, they would have been the book nerds, the Dungeons and Dragons nerds, and so on. And let's not deny it, for those people who do fit this stereotype, gaming is an excellent escape mechanism. Especially for these people, an anonymous dream environment where they can interact safely and their own physical ability or looks do not matter is incredibly important to them, up to the point where it becomes their home. And because of the fact that these people are perceived as simply undesirable by the standards of most societies, they feel ostracised by those societies, and often insulted by the targets of their affection. Which brings us to women. Like it or not, in the past, gaming has been a mostly male thing. And those males see 'women' as desirable, and themselves as distinctly the opposite of that. In fact, they are often so convinced of their indesirability that it has become a central part of their identity. The males who think like this cannot perceive women as anything other than 'desirable,' because desirability (or a lack thereof) has become central to their core identity. They escape in games because it lets them escape the wrath of society, because it lets them live the illusion of being desirable.
And then they become so engrossed in the subject that they want to be an integral part of it. Gaming has become their outlet of identity, their wish-fulfilment and their activity of choice. And they want to keep that, as they grow older and become responsible people. And so they seek to create the next generation of games I'm not saying that game developers all fit in this group, but that this group has a disproportionate amount of members who want to be game developers).
And herein, our roads split off from the silent majority. To put it simply, you have to care a lot about games in order to make those games your life. And some people who care a lot about games do so because their (perceived) undesirability is a core part of their identity.
Now let us examine the good old fashioned standards of boys and girls. Boy and girl toys have been different for a long time; a few centuries at least. But especially since the industrial revolution, and the demands that production had on family life (meaning more babies, to produce more workers, so a less active role for the woman in the outside world because of babymaking), boys and girls got different toys in order to prepare them for the demands on society. Boys got creative (production-oriented) toys. Small steam engines, mechanos, legos. Girls got caring (babymaking-oriented) toys: Dolls, toy kitchens, toy housework items. And that resulted in the simpler split: Dolls are for girls, machines are for boys.
And from this, we can see a pattern emerge that finally leads to a culture where computer games are a boys thing, and not a girls thing. Where the boys who are into computer games are often less desirable because they are not into sports or social things; they instead escape from those through a product that offers a fiction that actually rewards you, the player, for attending.
Most people are heterosexual. There is simply no denying this; the vast, vast majority of people are. and we are talking about a group of people who feel thwarted in their sexuality. They feel ostracised, rejected. And they feel ostracised and rejected by the opposite sex more so than by anyone else. Their perspective is limited to only themselves, and in their biased view, they cannot fathom that a girl might feel just as lonely, rejected, ostracised and undesirable as they themselves do... Because girls are the objects of their affection. Even if they know it to be true, they have trouble comprehending it on an emotional level. Because their undesirability has become a part of their identity, and their experience with dealing with the opposite sex is, indeed, rejection. These are very real emotions, very real feelings. It is no wonder that women are hypersexualized in a medium where males escape to in order to feel sexually empowered. In this medium, at least, they will not face the same kind of rejection. So it is no wonder that female characters are often bland, shallow, and just plot devices. It is no wonder that the trope of women as victims to be rescued exists so strongly in the games world. It's not about women. It's about wish fulfilment of males who otherwise get rejected and humiliated. It is an empowerment fantasy for the sexually powerless males.
And then some things happen that bring us to where we are now: First and foremost is gender equality. As the genders become more equal, girls get access to machinery toys. And let's face is: It's no wonder that girls find so much enjoyment in these toys. After all; would you boys be able to find a similar enjoyment from the caretaker toys? Not likely. And if you wonder why that is, the answer is simple: Those toys lack creativity, are ultimately unrewarding, and do not challenge your mind or skill level. Ultimately, those toys lack game elements. Girls liked them because they had no alternative. And now, with gender equality, they do have an alternative. An alternative that is, in all respects, simply a better one when compared to the fancy rock on a string they previously had.
This, however, leads to a problem with the previously nearly male-exclusive audience. The main problem is that now, they can be rejected in the world they chose to escape to because of rejection. Remember that many boys who play computer games see rejection and humiliation as the base state of their being, and it's worst because girls do it, too. When other boys do it, it's not as bad (but still pretty bad to potentially life-ending) because those boys are not a part of their sexuality. But girls are. Of course different sexualities will always exist, but again, the vast, vast majority of people is heterosexual, and we're dealing with the vast, vast majority of a minority group (which is the ostracised gamer, excluding gamers who do not have such problems). These boys will naturally feel attacked. What used to be their safe zone now is no longer their safe zone. Where once they would not face rejection, now they will. And it's important for female gamers to understand that this is the case. Understand it, and have sympathy for it. Because when those boys say that girls don't know what it's like, they really, really mean it. They are wrong, of course, but that doesn't mean their feelings are invalid. However, these feelings are only one part that contribute to the creation of the problem.
Another part is that of the existence of feminism in the cultural awareness. Feminism, strictly speaking, is (or was, depending on your (valid) point of view), a good thing in the western world (and if you think it never has been, your point of view is invalid to me). And as technology progresses, we can certainly afford equality in every field. But a side effect of the women's rights movement is, undeniably, that everything that exists that features women in a way (some, any, many or few) women have issues with, be it personal or not, is immediately viewed as an attack on women. And with that, I do mean everything. It has come to the point where certain people cannot think or feel something without having attacked women, and sometimes, those messages can be confusing. A story where a woman needs to be rescued by the male lead is an attack on women. A story where a woman dies fighting, and is a huge inspiration to the male lead because of this, is an attack on women. But it's also true that a protagonist needs conflict and emotional triggers in order to even be a protagonist, and because of things like this, we cannot have a heterosexual male protagonist without the game being an attack on women anymore.
And of course we must admit that there are blatantly misogynistic games out there, and those games should be criticised for it, but we should also realize that gaming, especially storytelling gaming like roleplaying games, is still a genre where males are a majority, and it will therefore mostly reflect the male perspective of desires, sexuality and self-affirmation.
What we are all too eager to forget is that we are targetting a group of people who were used to be attacked, by everyone, at every single turn of their lives, apart from in their safe zone: Gaming. That safe world where they, for once, could be the hero to the story. And like it or not, by attacking them, we are taking that away from them. We are making them feel guilty, ugly, fat, stupid and repulsive.
And when they protest, when they counterattack, when they stand up for what they see as the only part of their lives really worth defending, we ridicule them. We pound ourselves on the chest, nod to one another, clap eacheter's shoulders, and tell ourselves we are better. That we are just. We congratulate ourselves while taking away the last refuge of those who have no reality worth living for. We attempt to destroy someone's fantasies and feel zealous pride while doing so.
What we should, instead, realize is that the whole 'women in gaming' thing isn't really about women. It's about confirmation and sexual empowerment of an oppressed minority. That's right: Those neckbeards and fedora-wearers are, indeed, an oppressed minority. And it's not true that that same minority will treat actual women in computer games negatively by default (though it happens, and let's not deny that, but when it does, they feel threatened, as I explained earlier). We can look at a game like Mirror's Edge; a hugely popular game with great mechanics and a female protagonist. And we can look at the outrage that Metroid: The Other M received as a result of them taking away personal power from Samus Aran, one of the most beloved protagonists in the gaming world (who was, up until that point, also a so-called 'silent protagonist,' a protagonist with an identity the gamer themselves could fill in); a protagonist to whom players, male players, could relate, and who fulfilled the wish of empowerment for males, and did so in a very feminine way (let's face it: The entire game is soaked deep in feminine symbolism of fertility and birth). So when a game is really about women, the male-centric audience often doesn't even notice that it is. And they do not notice because they relate to the protagonist without any effort.
I believe much of the accusations of misogyny is a kneejerk response of feminists to a medium that largely just offers empowerment to an audience that otherwise does not get it. But not all accusations are knee-jerk responses. Let's take Duke Nukem: Any man can see that it's a joke; that the behaviour exhibited by the Duke is unwanted, rude. People who love the Duke generally love Johnny Bravo as well, and for the same reason: Male gamers see these characters as a funny attack on socially successful males. They see these characters and think 'oh, yeah; he's slick and muscular, but he's a bastard hee hee watch him fail,' and they feel empowered by that. For women, Johnny Bravo is equally funny, but Duke Nukem is a different thing because Duke Nukem, in the games, IS successful. They see him get the scantily clad booty, they see him humiliate women, and they have a different point of view than the male audience because the male audience doesn't emotionally comprehend the position of these women. What is intended to be a joke about sexists pigs quickly becomes unfunny and incredibly offensive.
And that's where we get to the actual problem: Both groups are so engrossed in their own point of view, their own biases, that they do not, can not, want not to explore the other person's point of view. The persecuted male audience just wants to play their games as before, and not worry about any sexism in those games. They just want to feel the empowerment again. They don't care about women's issues. They're not malignant or oppressive; it's just... Not their problem. The persecuted female audience sees everything as malicious intent against women, to keep women down. The persecuted male audience responds by feeling attacked and then assaulting in retaliation. And so on and so on, ad infinitum.
How do we break this circle? Well; first off, I'm going to say something that will offend the persecuted female side of things: Stop attacking games and their gamers. Criticism is fair, absolutely, and the famous Dragon Crown criticism about boobies was certainly fair (and received poorly). But we must understand that what we are doing is attacking an oppressed minority and their only safe place in order to feel justified about ourselves. We must understand that what we are doing is nothing other than bullying. We must understand that female characters in male-centric games have absolutely nothing to do with women.
Instead, what we need to do is make more games about women. Make more games with female protagonists, more games that affirm women. More games where the hero gets the guy (rather than the girl). Men can be the same plot devices to women as women are currently to men, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. A story, any story, requires conflict and obstacles to overcome, as well as inspiration for those obstacles... And any of the tropes about women can (and should) be used on male characters as well.
And if those games are made and published, people will play them. And as people play them and experience them, their horizon will be broadened to include women on a more equal basis. Where playing a female lead is no longer strange, because half of the games should have female leads. Where saving the Pretty Prince from the Evil Queen becomes as commonplace as the other way around.
The second part that we must do is: Allow honest criticism. Don't feel attacked as quickly. Do not see every point of criticism as an attack on that which you love. If you see valid criticism on a game you really, really love, then the proper response is 'ah, so my game is not for everyone, and some people should steer clear of what I love. Well; not everybody likes chocolate.' We should all attempt to understand one another on these issues.
Because that is at the core of this problem: We don't attempt to understand one another. We attack. We antagonize. We are all overly defensive because the parties involved are BOTH oppressed groups that are used to being attacked by the rest of the world, and convinced that the other party is out to attack and bully them. We should stop bullying one another and just make more games. If you have a theme that you feel is underrepresented, such as female heroes, then rather than attack games for not having them, you should start making them. If hypersexualization is so offensive to you, then... Stay away from games that do that. I do, but I understand that some men (and women, too!) enjoy the hypersexualization of female (and some male!) characters because it grants them an outlet for their own sexual desires; something that other societies simply do not offer them. It bothers me, so I stay away from it. But for some people, the existence of something like that is pretty much necessary for their mental health and happiness. So why would we attempt to take that away from them? Just because we're offended by something that doesn't relate to us?
So that is my bottom line: When the gaming culture behaves in a way that excludes us, but we want to be included, we can do two things: Attack the establishment and those who feel safe within it, or contribute to it with our own biased producs; games that express our own desires, our own issues. Games that WE relate to. And share them with the rest of the community. We're not going to change anything by playing victim olympics; in the end, all that does is provoke anger because we're ignoring the other party's problems in favour of our own. No; we should share. Male gamers should all understand that women face similar issues in life, and, more importantly, have the same hobbies. Female gamers should understand that not everything is an attack on women; that attacking women is simply not something male developers even think about. And everyone should band together to make many different games, so that everyone can be represented, and play those games that represent others than ourselves. Walk a mile in someone else's desires.
We should all stop being one another's antagonist.
There is, however, one giant obstacle: Publishers. Publishers that get cold feet about releasing AAA games from a female perspective. Publishers that do not want to take any chances with their audience. Who do not know how the audience will receive something different. Because publishers know how their audience receives male-centric games. They sell. It's not the reason why they sell and female centric games do not; it's the reason they are made, financed, and female-centric games... A lot less so. And that doesn't have to be. We can look at the 2013 second reboot of Tomb Raider, and see a game with a female lead, tackling female problems (one of which is actually rape-related, a huge female topic at the moment, and shows Lara Croft defeating the encounter), and it was a huge success (unless you are the publisher, and think millions of sales don't justify the investment). So we know that at least one such games managed to sell millions of copies. And yet, it's a fairly unexplored theme. We have examples where it was done, and successfully so, but the problem lies in that we do not have enough of those examples. And publishers are still toe-tipping the water temperature, giving us stupid excuses such as the Assassin's Creed no-female-model. It's not that such a thing would cost too much in terms of resources; not if you look at the rest of the game. It's purely that it's extra effort that Ubisoft was not sure of that it would pay off. It's not malice; it's laziness and cowardice. In a very real way, the gender problem in games is, in part, caused by the fact that large publishers aren't concerned with computer games themselves, but with the numbers they churn out. And large companies don't like taking risks. Why would the game publishing world be any different?
I don't have an answer to that. I don't have a solution. I only have this one thing to say: Gamers: Love and appreciate one another for one another's different perspectives. Don't be too quick to feel attacked or insulted. Respect different outlooks on life, and understand that you, me, and everyone else.. We are inherently biased towards our own cause, our own little world, with our own problems and dangers. We should stop harrassing others about them, and instead focus on how we perceive these things, and create things from our point of view. And 'from our point of view' shouldn't be about 'attacking other people's points of view.' Yes, women are under- and misrepresented in gaming. But it's also true that there are perfectly acceptable reasons for a game to do this. It's equally true that it's not okay for all games to do this, and it is perfectly fine for a game to under- or misrepresent men in order to create an outlet for women's fantasies and desires. That, at least, is what we can do. And what we can demand from publishers.
And that is where we, as individuals, have a bit of a say. If we want certain kinds of games, then we must make them. Or express our desires to people who can make them. And attempt to get those games out there. Sooner or later, the publishing world will follow suit, because we are taking the risk out of it by normalizing our desires. That is what we can do. And what we should do. Because it's our safe environment we're talking about; our safe spot. And it's tearing itself apart in pointless flamewars.
The only question I have left about this is: Have we gone too far? Has the trend of antagonizing and attack gone to a point where minorities are now unable to represent themselves in games? Have we crossed that point of no return where anger and aggression of the stereotypical angry male gamer has become an impenetrable wall where others can no longer cross? Or can we still save this thing, take a step back, inhale, and open our arms to one another?
Gaming and the Great Antagonist.
Let me first start with a disclaimer: None of what I say I will be absolute truth. This piece about my opinion, and though I will refer to real or imagined histories and cultural phenomena, it is very much possible that I am factually wrong. This is, however, the way I understand the subject matter, and it is my opinion on it that I want to get across.
Hello, Internet.
As most of us are aware, there is a huge controversy in the world of gaming. And that controversy is: Women. It's women who play games, women who are (or are not) portrayed in games, women who get to play the lead, or women who do not.
This is a complicated issue, and I'll try to be fair to most parties involved, but let's get one thing out of the way first: Women are not the only under- or misrepresented party in computer gaming. Women do not own the controversy, and women do not own the victim role, here. Aside from gender issues in gaming (which are merely an expression of gender issues in real life), there are race issues. Sex issues. Nationality issues. Hell; even faith issues. And even gender issues are not just female issues. The comedian Thunderf00t's response to Anita Sarkeesian's videos (his video entitled 'what if men acted like feminists' can be found on youtube) goes on and on about male disposability, and his point is obviously to ridicule the subject of gender stereotyping, but the concerns he lists in order to ridicule are actually valid concerns that many men feel and, thanks in part to people like Thunderf00t, do not feel they can, or are allowed to, express.
However, this piece is not about men in the gaming world. What it is about is the idea of the Antagonist, and why we must stop antagonizing. The gender issue I am focussing on here is merely one of the many issues, but certainly the most visible one.
First of all, we need to recognize that many gamers find games because they are looking for a way out. Escapism. And that can be from anything, but we all know what the stereotypical gamer looks like: Fat (or impossibly skinny), male and ugly. Unsuccessful, socially awkward. In the past, they would have been the book nerds, the Dungeons and Dragons nerds, and so on. And let's not deny it, for those people who do fit this stereotype, gaming is an excellent escape mechanism. Especially for these people, an anonymous dream environment where they can interact safely and their own physical ability or looks do not matter is incredibly important to them, up to the point where it becomes their home. And because of the fact that these people are perceived as simply undesirable by the standards of most societies, they feel ostracised by those societies, and often insulted by the targets of their affection. Which brings us to women. Like it or not, in the past, gaming has been a mostly male thing. And those males see 'women' as desirable, and themselves as distinctly the opposite of that. In fact, they are often so convinced of their indesirability that it has become a central part of their identity. The males who think like this cannot perceive women as anything other than 'desirable,' because desirability (or a lack thereof) has become central to their core identity. They escape in games because it lets them escape the wrath of society, because it lets them live the illusion of being desirable.
And then they become so engrossed in the subject that they want to be an integral part of it. Gaming has become their outlet of identity, their wish-fulfilment and their activity of choice. And they want to keep that, as they grow older and become responsible people. And so they seek to create the next generation of games I'm not saying that game developers all fit in this group, but that this group has a disproportionate amount of members who want to be game developers).
And herein, our roads split off from the silent majority. To put it simply, you have to care a lot about games in order to make those games your life. And some people who care a lot about games do so because their (perceived) undesirability is a core part of their identity.
Now let us examine the good old fashioned standards of boys and girls. Boy and girl toys have been different for a long time; a few centuries at least. But especially since the industrial revolution, and the demands that production had on family life (meaning more babies, to produce more workers, so a less active role for the woman in the outside world because of babymaking), boys and girls got different toys in order to prepare them for the demands on society. Boys got creative (production-oriented) toys. Small steam engines, mechanos, legos. Girls got caring (babymaking-oriented) toys: Dolls, toy kitchens, toy housework items. And that resulted in the simpler split: Dolls are for girls, machines are for boys.
And from this, we can see a pattern emerge that finally leads to a culture where computer games are a boys thing, and not a girls thing. Where the boys who are into computer games are often less desirable because they are not into sports or social things; they instead escape from those through a product that offers a fiction that actually rewards you, the player, for attending.
Most people are heterosexual. There is simply no denying this; the vast, vast majority of people are. and we are talking about a group of people who feel thwarted in their sexuality. They feel ostracised, rejected. And they feel ostracised and rejected by the opposite sex more so than by anyone else. Their perspective is limited to only themselves, and in their biased view, they cannot fathom that a girl might feel just as lonely, rejected, ostracised and undesirable as they themselves do... Because girls are the objects of their affection. Even if they know it to be true, they have trouble comprehending it on an emotional level. Because their undesirability has become a part of their identity, and their experience with dealing with the opposite sex is, indeed, rejection. These are very real emotions, very real feelings. It is no wonder that women are hypersexualized in a medium where males escape to in order to feel sexually empowered. In this medium, at least, they will not face the same kind of rejection. So it is no wonder that female characters are often bland, shallow, and just plot devices. It is no wonder that the trope of women as victims to be rescued exists so strongly in the games world. It's not about women. It's about wish fulfilment of males who otherwise get rejected and humiliated. It is an empowerment fantasy for the sexually powerless males.
And then some things happen that bring us to where we are now: First and foremost is gender equality. As the genders become more equal, girls get access to machinery toys. And let's face is: It's no wonder that girls find so much enjoyment in these toys. After all; would you boys be able to find a similar enjoyment from the caretaker toys? Not likely. And if you wonder why that is, the answer is simple: Those toys lack creativity, are ultimately unrewarding, and do not challenge your mind or skill level. Ultimately, those toys lack game elements. Girls liked them because they had no alternative. And now, with gender equality, they do have an alternative. An alternative that is, in all respects, simply a better one when compared to the fancy rock on a string they previously had.
This, however, leads to a problem with the previously nearly male-exclusive audience. The main problem is that now, they can be rejected in the world they chose to escape to because of rejection. Remember that many boys who play computer games see rejection and humiliation as the base state of their being, and it's worst because girls do it, too. When other boys do it, it's not as bad (but still pretty bad to potentially life-ending) because those boys are not a part of their sexuality. But girls are. Of course different sexualities will always exist, but again, the vast, vast majority of people is heterosexual, and we're dealing with the vast, vast majority of a minority group (which is the ostracised gamer, excluding gamers who do not have such problems). These boys will naturally feel attacked. What used to be their safe zone now is no longer their safe zone. Where once they would not face rejection, now they will. And it's important for female gamers to understand that this is the case. Understand it, and have sympathy for it. Because when those boys say that girls don't know what it's like, they really, really mean it. They are wrong, of course, but that doesn't mean their feelings are invalid. However, these feelings are only one part that contribute to the creation of the problem.
Another part is that of the existence of feminism in the cultural awareness. Feminism, strictly speaking, is (or was, depending on your (valid) point of view), a good thing in the western world (and if you think it never has been, your point of view is invalid to me). And as technology progresses, we can certainly afford equality in every field. But a side effect of the women's rights movement is, undeniably, that everything that exists that features women in a way (some, any, many or few) women have issues with, be it personal or not, is immediately viewed as an attack on women. And with that, I do mean everything. It has come to the point where certain people cannot think or feel something without having attacked women, and sometimes, those messages can be confusing. A story where a woman needs to be rescued by the male lead is an attack on women. A story where a woman dies fighting, and is a huge inspiration to the male lead because of this, is an attack on women. But it's also true that a protagonist needs conflict and emotional triggers in order to even be a protagonist, and because of things like this, we cannot have a heterosexual male protagonist without the game being an attack on women anymore.
And of course we must admit that there are blatantly misogynistic games out there, and those games should be criticised for it, but we should also realize that gaming, especially storytelling gaming like roleplaying games, is still a genre where males are a majority, and it will therefore mostly reflect the male perspective of desires, sexuality and self-affirmation.
What we are all too eager to forget is that we are targetting a group of people who were used to be attacked, by everyone, at every single turn of their lives, apart from in their safe zone: Gaming. That safe world where they, for once, could be the hero to the story. And like it or not, by attacking them, we are taking that away from them. We are making them feel guilty, ugly, fat, stupid and repulsive.
And when they protest, when they counterattack, when they stand up for what they see as the only part of their lives really worth defending, we ridicule them. We pound ourselves on the chest, nod to one another, clap eacheter's shoulders, and tell ourselves we are better. That we are just. We congratulate ourselves while taking away the last refuge of those who have no reality worth living for. We attempt to destroy someone's fantasies and feel zealous pride while doing so.
What we should, instead, realize is that the whole 'women in gaming' thing isn't really about women. It's about confirmation and sexual empowerment of an oppressed minority. That's right: Those neckbeards and fedora-wearers are, indeed, an oppressed minority. And it's not true that that same minority will treat actual women in computer games negatively by default (though it happens, and let's not deny that, but when it does, they feel threatened, as I explained earlier). We can look at a game like Mirror's Edge; a hugely popular game with great mechanics and a female protagonist. And we can look at the outrage that Metroid: The Other M received as a result of them taking away personal power from Samus Aran, one of the most beloved protagonists in the gaming world (who was, up until that point, also a so-called 'silent protagonist,' a protagonist with an identity the gamer themselves could fill in); a protagonist to whom players, male players, could relate, and who fulfilled the wish of empowerment for males, and did so in a very feminine way (let's face it: The entire game is soaked deep in feminine symbolism of fertility and birth). So when a game is really about women, the male-centric audience often doesn't even notice that it is. And they do not notice because they relate to the protagonist without any effort.
I believe much of the accusations of misogyny is a kneejerk response of feminists to a medium that largely just offers empowerment to an audience that otherwise does not get it. But not all accusations are knee-jerk responses. Let's take Duke Nukem: Any man can see that it's a joke; that the behaviour exhibited by the Duke is unwanted, rude. People who love the Duke generally love Johnny Bravo as well, and for the same reason: Male gamers see these characters as a funny attack on socially successful males. They see these characters and think 'oh, yeah; he's slick and muscular, but he's a bastard hee hee watch him fail,' and they feel empowered by that. For women, Johnny Bravo is equally funny, but Duke Nukem is a different thing because Duke Nukem, in the games, IS successful. They see him get the scantily clad booty, they see him humiliate women, and they have a different point of view than the male audience because the male audience doesn't emotionally comprehend the position of these women. What is intended to be a joke about sexists pigs quickly becomes unfunny and incredibly offensive.
And that's where we get to the actual problem: Both groups are so engrossed in their own point of view, their own biases, that they do not, can not, want not to explore the other person's point of view. The persecuted male audience just wants to play their games as before, and not worry about any sexism in those games. They just want to feel the empowerment again. They don't care about women's issues. They're not malignant or oppressive; it's just... Not their problem. The persecuted female audience sees everything as malicious intent against women, to keep women down. The persecuted male audience responds by feeling attacked and then assaulting in retaliation. And so on and so on, ad infinitum.
How do we break this circle? Well; first off, I'm going to say something that will offend the persecuted female side of things: Stop attacking games and their gamers. Criticism is fair, absolutely, and the famous Dragon Crown criticism about boobies was certainly fair (and received poorly). But we must understand that what we are doing is attacking an oppressed minority and their only safe place in order to feel justified about ourselves. We must understand that what we are doing is nothing other than bullying. We must understand that female characters in male-centric games have absolutely nothing to do with women.
Instead, what we need to do is make more games about women. Make more games with female protagonists, more games that affirm women. More games where the hero gets the guy (rather than the girl). Men can be the same plot devices to women as women are currently to men, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. A story, any story, requires conflict and obstacles to overcome, as well as inspiration for those obstacles... And any of the tropes about women can (and should) be used on male characters as well.
And if those games are made and published, people will play them. And as people play them and experience them, their horizon will be broadened to include women on a more equal basis. Where playing a female lead is no longer strange, because half of the games should have female leads. Where saving the Pretty Prince from the Evil Queen becomes as commonplace as the other way around.
The second part that we must do is: Allow honest criticism. Don't feel attacked as quickly. Do not see every point of criticism as an attack on that which you love. If you see valid criticism on a game you really, really love, then the proper response is 'ah, so my game is not for everyone, and some people should steer clear of what I love. Well; not everybody likes chocolate.' We should all attempt to understand one another on these issues.
Because that is at the core of this problem: We don't attempt to understand one another. We attack. We antagonize. We are all overly defensive because the parties involved are BOTH oppressed groups that are used to being attacked by the rest of the world, and convinced that the other party is out to attack and bully them. We should stop bullying one another and just make more games. If you have a theme that you feel is underrepresented, such as female heroes, then rather than attack games for not having them, you should start making them. If hypersexualization is so offensive to you, then... Stay away from games that do that. I do, but I understand that some men (and women, too!) enjoy the hypersexualization of female (and some male!) characters because it grants them an outlet for their own sexual desires; something that other societies simply do not offer them. It bothers me, so I stay away from it. But for some people, the existence of something like that is pretty much necessary for their mental health and happiness. So why would we attempt to take that away from them? Just because we're offended by something that doesn't relate to us?
So that is my bottom line: When the gaming culture behaves in a way that excludes us, but we want to be included, we can do two things: Attack the establishment and those who feel safe within it, or contribute to it with our own biased producs; games that express our own desires, our own issues. Games that WE relate to. And share them with the rest of the community. We're not going to change anything by playing victim olympics; in the end, all that does is provoke anger because we're ignoring the other party's problems in favour of our own. No; we should share. Male gamers should all understand that women face similar issues in life, and, more importantly, have the same hobbies. Female gamers should understand that not everything is an attack on women; that attacking women is simply not something male developers even think about. And everyone should band together to make many different games, so that everyone can be represented, and play those games that represent others than ourselves. Walk a mile in someone else's desires.
We should all stop being one another's antagonist.
There is, however, one giant obstacle: Publishers. Publishers that get cold feet about releasing AAA games from a female perspective. Publishers that do not want to take any chances with their audience. Who do not know how the audience will receive something different. Because publishers know how their audience receives male-centric games. They sell. It's not the reason why they sell and female centric games do not; it's the reason they are made, financed, and female-centric games... A lot less so. And that doesn't have to be. We can look at the 2013 second reboot of Tomb Raider, and see a game with a female lead, tackling female problems (one of which is actually rape-related, a huge female topic at the moment, and shows Lara Croft defeating the encounter), and it was a huge success (unless you are the publisher, and think millions of sales don't justify the investment). So we know that at least one such games managed to sell millions of copies. And yet, it's a fairly unexplored theme. We have examples where it was done, and successfully so, but the problem lies in that we do not have enough of those examples. And publishers are still toe-tipping the water temperature, giving us stupid excuses such as the Assassin's Creed no-female-model. It's not that such a thing would cost too much in terms of resources; not if you look at the rest of the game. It's purely that it's extra effort that Ubisoft was not sure of that it would pay off. It's not malice; it's laziness and cowardice. In a very real way, the gender problem in games is, in part, caused by the fact that large publishers aren't concerned with computer games themselves, but with the numbers they churn out. And large companies don't like taking risks. Why would the game publishing world be any different?
I don't have an answer to that. I don't have a solution. I only have this one thing to say: Gamers: Love and appreciate one another for one another's different perspectives. Don't be too quick to feel attacked or insulted. Respect different outlooks on life, and understand that you, me, and everyone else.. We are inherently biased towards our own cause, our own little world, with our own problems and dangers. We should stop harrassing others about them, and instead focus on how we perceive these things, and create things from our point of view. And 'from our point of view' shouldn't be about 'attacking other people's points of view.' Yes, women are under- and misrepresented in gaming. But it's also true that there are perfectly acceptable reasons for a game to do this. It's equally true that it's not okay for all games to do this, and it is perfectly fine for a game to under- or misrepresent men in order to create an outlet for women's fantasies and desires. That, at least, is what we can do. And what we can demand from publishers.
And that is where we, as individuals, have a bit of a say. If we want certain kinds of games, then we must make them. Or express our desires to people who can make them. And attempt to get those games out there. Sooner or later, the publishing world will follow suit, because we are taking the risk out of it by normalizing our desires. That is what we can do. And what we should do. Because it's our safe environment we're talking about; our safe spot. And it's tearing itself apart in pointless flamewars.
The only question I have left about this is: Have we gone too far? Has the trend of antagonizing and attack gone to a point where minorities are now unable to represent themselves in games? Have we crossed that point of no return where anger and aggression of the stereotypical angry male gamer has become an impenetrable wall where others can no longer cross? Or can we still save this thing, take a step back, inhale, and open our arms to one another?