Poll: Female enemies in Games (and enemy feedback)

[Jumplion]

I was playing Mass Effect 2. I had started the mission to recruit "Archangel", or Garrus, for my squad (it's pretty early in the game, so there's no real spoilers). As I was going along, I finally caught up with Garrus and it initiated a cutscene. During that cutscene, it showed Garrus training his sights on a mercenary with his sniper rifle, and when he fired the mercenary let out a loud scream and fell to the ground.

The thing that struck me, though, was that the mercenary was female.

Now, I don't claim to be sexist, I love everyone equally and all that, but for some reason when Garrus shot down that particular mercenary, with barely 5 seconds of screen time, I felt a bit squeamish. I'm not the most blood tolerant guy out there, I'm the kind of guy that feels sorry for the 100s of guys I'm gunning down because, you know, somewhere out there they probably have a family, but I can handle a few enemies being offed by the heroes and whatnot.

So it got me thinking, is there a reason why we don't see many female enemies in games? In the same game, I could handle offing the Asari and the odd female mercenary, but it seemed that whenever the enemy let out a pained yelp or scream, regardless of who the enemy was, I got a bit squeamish if only for a second or two.

What about you? What are your thoughts on female enemies in games? What about when they give out a scream? Do other people share my feelings, or am I a lone pussy who can't take (or dish out, whatever) a headshot to a lowly peon?

[sup]EDIT: For clarifications sake, I'm not saying that there should be no female enemies or bosses or whatever. I'm just stating a thought that I had.[/sup]

[sup]EDIT 2: To expand further on this topic, what are your feelings on games having increasingly realistic feedbacks on how enemies react to combat? Like you shooting an enemy on the arm with a shotgun, and they spin around and writh in pain or something?
[/sup]

 

[Kakashi on crack]

There are just as many female mercenaries as male mercenaries. I don't see the problem unless the show them in a degrading way, course I feel the same way about either gender.

 

[The Scythian]

I don't care who they are. They are opposing me, and have chosen death. However, I understand your feelings, and they just make you a slightly better person.

 

[Dizzle26]

I don't see why women shouldn't play the role as antagonists in a game. Heck, even as a minor thing like in the remake of Wolfenstein. You had gymnastic leather-clad blonde bombshells kicking the teeth out of BJ.

We probably don't see many female villains in video games because yeah, some of us are a bit uncomfortable with violence towards women. Others frequent Gurochan. Lulz. I don't mind it, personally. In Mass Effect 1 and 2 you come across a variety of female enemy units, though given how quick some of the gunfights might be the fact might dawn on some gamers after the fact.

 

[LarenzoAOG]

I am incapable of really worrying about killing pixels and 1s and 0s from a moral standpoint.

 

[Wondermint13]

The Butcheress from Bloodrayne (PS2) I think I'm still having dreams about sharing an operating table with her..

 

[Booze Zombie]

I am an equal-opportunity ass-kicker, no matter the gender of an NPC, if they need to be shot they will be.

 

[Hashime]

Female mercs are the best! I took the lady killer perk in fallouts 3/NV and got a 10% damage bonus!

 

[teh_Canape]

well, I used to not give a shit on who was I shooting

until I played god damn Ninja Blade and Parasite Eve (yes, those again)

now I don't really enjoy zombie games as much

and the Iron Maiden from Quake 2 doesn't count, that fucker gets your eyes with her bare ass and then puts a rocket in your face next

 

[sms_117b]

I am incapable of really worrying about killing pixels and 1s and 0s from a moral standpoint.

This is my sentiments.

On a lighter note in school I got a slap to the face, I asked her is she likes gender equality, she did so proceeded to give her a nice slap back, when she said "what, you can't hit me I'm a girl!" I came back with "but you believe in equality between genders" people laughed, I walked off to get some taste back in my mouth.

 

[Sexy Street]

I am incapable of really worrying about killing pixels and 1s and 0s from a moral standpoint.

Well, based on this you shouldn't ever get emotional from reading a sad book or movie, and never feel anything towards the struggles of the imaginary characters of such other media (not trying to be mean :/)
OT: I always turn off my sense of humanity while playing a game, but if the character talks, screams, or does anything that would make them seem more human as a character then I become a tad bit squeamish. And, talking about the female mercenaries, I don't think it really matters if they are female and male, just don't have them scream.

 

[Jumplion]

I don't see why women shouldn't play the role as antagonists in a game. Heck, even as a minor thing like in the remake of Wolfenstein. You had gymnastic leather-clad blonde bombshells kicking the teeth out of BJ.

We probably don't see many female villains in video games because yeah, some of us are a bit uncomfortable with violence towards women. Others frequent Gurochan. Lulz. I don't mind it, personally. In Mass Effect 1 and 2 you come across a variety of female enemy units, though given how quick some of the gunfights might be the fact might dawn on some gamers after the fact.

I didn't say that women shouldn't play antagonists, and honestly I think I'm just being a pussy (there's a joke in that...). I think it's a bit troublesome that more and more games are going for more and more realistic depictions of how enemies react from combat. Like I said, I'm no prude, but I'm not the most desensitized person out there.

I don't often see the thrill in slamming a shotgun slug in an enemy's face unless it's supposed to be ridiculous, like Bulletstorm or Bayonetta.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

Your not alone. Not so much the 'feeling bad about gunning down women' thing (if they're shooting at me, they've chosen certain death as far as I'm concerned, regardless of gender) but I always feel a little bit bad when ANY enemy cries out in pain.

Maybe i'm just a wuss, but it always makes me feel a little twinge of squeemishness. Except in GTA-ish games. Dunno why I subconciously make that distinction...

 

[DustyDrB]

...I'm the kind of guy that feels sorry for the 100s of guys I'm gunning down because, you know, somewhere out there they probably have a family...

Makes me think of that kid you can convince to not fight for the mercs on Omega. He messages you via the terminal that he's thankful he wasn't among the mercs who were killed by Archangel.

On topic: Killing women in games doesn't bother me, I see them as equals. Most of them are depicted as manipulative, so you kind of want revenge (I'm specifically thinking about a certain Obsidian game. I don't want to give her away in case someone hasn't played the game I'm thinking of yet)

 

[Tanis]

I see no issues with it.

1) They're digital, not real.

2) A female can take as many bullets as a male. (Hence why 'The Draft' is sexist)

3) Women want to be equal to males they have to take the good and the bad.
Sorry darlin', but it's children first of the boat now - women can go with the men!.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

I'm probably gonna get TP'ed for this or something, but I actually find the chick enemies in Mass Effect funny.
I mean, c'mon, how can you not laugh at the sound they make when hit by incineration?
Still, theres no real difference between male and female enemies.

To answer the edit I remember in Killzone 1 the AI was really damn good for its time.
They call out your position and use hand signals to communicate, they fall back when being overwhelmed and cover each other when injured or reloading. They also acknowledge killed enemies and lost squadmembers.
Also if you wipe out a squad except for one guy he might often hide somewhere and jump up when your not looking.

 

[LarenzoAOG]

I am incapable of really worrying about killing pixels and 1s and 0s from a moral standpoint.

Well, based on this you shouldn't ever get emotional from reading a sad book or movie, and never feel anything towards the struggles of the imaginary characters of such other media (not trying to be mean :/)
OT: I always turn off my sense of humanity while playing a game, but if the character talks, screams, or does anything that would make them seem more human as a character then I become a tad bit squeamish. And, talking about the female mercenaries, I don't think it really matters if they are female and male, just don't have them scream.

Ok, I might have been a little to hard on fictional people, I do get caught up in good books and movies and games, but thats when the charecters are presented like real people, I don't feel sorry for the nameless mercany I just shot because she was just Merc #7 to me, when I goy Tali killed on the last mission I immediatley loaded so I could prevent that from happening because I could see her as an actual person instead of a stock charecter.

 

[mrmostlymittens]

I know its a well established fact, but I'll still throw it out there. The Witch from the Left 4 Dead series is hot.

Spitter...not so much haha!

 

[WrongSprite]

If someone's trying to kill me, I don't consider gender, I kill back.

 

[Anman407]

2) A female can take as many bullets as a male. (Hence why 'The Draft' is sexist)

Well the logic behind the draft is to make it impossible for both the parents of a child to be called away therefore leaving the child parentless for X amount of months and potentially orphaned.

OT: I've never had a problem killing enemies unless it's shoved in my face in gory detail...