Poll: Female enemies in Games (and enemy feedback)

[Manicotti]

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.

Well played. My friend asked me once if I'd hit a girl and for some reason was kind of perturbed at how nonchalantly I said, "Of course! It would be sexist of me NOT to hit a girl for the same reason I'd hit a guy!"

 

[stormcrow5]

If its hostile kill it, dosent matter male or female. They signed up for the job as a boss or henchman and they get in the way or attack you no point treatin em any diffrent from the males

 

[Jumplion]

[

...for some reason when Garrus shot down that particular mercenary, with barely 5 seconds of screen time, I felt a bit squeamish.

This is exactly the reason that most countries don't let women fight on the front line. Men are kind of pre-programmed to find women in danger or pain extremely distressing. It makes us great protectors but means discipline goes to shit.

OT: I don't feel bad shooting women in games but I do feel bad in the odd game where I can maim an enemy. I don't find screams of pain off putting so much as screams of terror, AvP actually made me a little queasy in places where you grabbed an enemy and they looked terrified.

To get a bit pretentious here, I think it's the fact that men are dispensable and women are not. With a female, she's basically the life giver. She gives birth to the population, and as such killing a woman would be like killing generations. It's "alright" to kill a guy because he's dispensable, there are a billion other guys like him with better balls to not get killed.

I dunno, just something I was thinking about also.

EDIT: and in reference to your edit, I also find that interesting; both killing animals and killing people trying to run away. Like in GTA4, where sometimes a cop would run for his life, that just felt sort of cruel to me. And some people have a hard time killing animals, dogs specifically. Interesting thing to note.

 

[spartandude]

tbh i couldnt care less if it was a man or woman, i dont even care irl if man annoys me i hit him, if a woman annoys me i hit her, i dont see why it would be any different in a video game

and btw if that made you feel uncomfortable in Mass Effect, go play Bioshock

 

[Dizzle26]

WTB [More Female Lead Characters].

 

[Jumplion]

tbh i couldnt care less if it was a man or woman, i dont even care irl if man annoys me i hit him, if a woman annoys me i hit her, i dont see why it would be any different in a video game

and btw if that made you feel uncomfortable in Mass Effect, go play Bioshock

Well, ya, 'thems bitches 's alread'ay crazi!

I think I'm fine with Bioshock's approach since they're all crazy anyway. In Mass Effect, they were mercenaries, mainly doing it for money for whatever reason they needed. I think there's a key difference in the context there.

 

[[Fallacy]]

I honestly couldn't give half a shit.

Then again, I am female... and I also believe that if somebody punches you, you hit them back equally as hard regardless of gender. Same goes for videogames. I've got more respect for a bloke who defends himself should I so decide to punch him than one who'll have his nose broken for the sake of not 'hurting a girl'.

As an alternative situation... Propose, for a moment, a person is playing multiplayer and one of the opposing team is female. Would you go easy on, or even outright avoid killing her? It's purely hypothetical, but for whatever reason from time to time it happens; and can be a major pain in the ass for those who just want to play the damn game along with everyone else.

 

[Scarecrow]

I never really thought about it. In most shooting games I just shoot and anything that's shooting at me, I don't really have enough time to care about whether they are male of female.

 

[Firetaffer]

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

Yes, and in real life if you ever shoot another person you are killing reflected waves of light and a bunch of cells.

 

[Mistermixmaster]

I'm a sadist in games. Call of Duty: World at War makes a good example, especially the shotguns and the PTRS-41 sniper rifle. I would aim for their legs and arms on purpose, just for their reactions. But then again, they're nazis so it's eady to say that "they deserve it" I guess.

Also, I don't care if they're female. If they're (going to be) shooting at me, they gotta expect a few dozen more bullets back their way.

Maybe there's something fundamentally wrong with me, maybe I just got the whole "reality VS game"-barrier properly in check, I dunno.

 

[Jumplion]

]I honestly couldn't give half a shit.

Then again, I am female... and I also believe that if somebody punches you, you hit them back equally as hard regardless of gender. Same goes for videogames.

As an alternative situation... Propose, for a moment, a person is playing multiplayer and one of the opposing team is female. Would you go easy on, or even outright avoid killing her? It's purely hypothetical, but for whatever reason from time to time it happens; and can be a major pain in the ass for those who just want to play the damn game along with everyone else.

The player is female or the avatar/character in the game is female? In all honesty, in the first situation I wouldn't care and just play as normally, but in the second situation I'd probably feel a bit squeamish given the right circumstances.

 

[Charley]

I actually like this question! It's interesting that some people do (and others don't) detach gender, humanity etc. from "enemies" in a videogame.

I don't think shooting female characters in games makes you dangerous, evil or anything else since, y'know, it's a game and you're playing within the confines of the system that you're given (if you don't shoot her, she'll shoot you).

As they say, all's fair in love and war.

 

[PorkChopXpress]

The Boss? Sniper Wolf? Fortune? The BB Corp? Metal Gear pretty much made it a "thing" to kill/stun women!

 

[Thaluikhain]

This is exactly the reason that most countries don't let women fight on the front line. Men are kind of pre-programmed to find women in danger or pain extremely distressing. It makes us great protectors but means discipline goes to shit.

That's more of a cultural thing, though...similarly, it's not just "benevolent" sexism that has an impact on women's role in the military.

As is stands, female US soldiers in Iraq are more likely to be raped by male US soldiers than killed by enemy action.

 

[Syphous]

To be honest I almost prefer killing females. Not that I'm some kind of woman-hater, I just think it's funnier.

 

[Charley]

i dont even care irl if man annoys me i hit him, if a woman annoys me i hit her, i dont see why it would be any different in a video game

On the other hand, this isn't okay - as an attitude or a joke. When you consider the impacts of violence (domestic or otherwise) on women, that's neither clever nor funny.

 

[MintyNinja]

I can understand having qualms about it, killing men is less guilt-ridden than women, but the games that treat it truly equal for me were Fallout. Female Mercenary springs from a trap? Fuck that, eat lead!