Women in video games: which ones do it right?

[Krantos]

Jennifer Mui, from a the first Mercs game (they ruined her in #2). She's everything you would expect from a former SAS commando turned mercenary. Her primary twist that makes her different from the guys is that she's extremely analytic and knowledgeable about the various hardware you encounter (one of the few things she carries over into the second game is that she'll occasionally offer a high-level critique on the weapons you pick up. Ex. "High rate of fire, but low accuracy. Not bad.").

She's a female in a male dominated game, but she doesn't draw attention to it (No shopping references. Damn you Mercs 2!). Instead she gives off an aura of competence without coming across like she's trying to prove anything.

 

[supermariner]

Ashley Graham from Resi Evil 4
... nah i'm fucking with you

my real answer would be someone like Regina from the Dino Crisis games
a hardfaced ***** in the face of dinosaurs and a compassionate sex magnet to general human life

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Why are people mentioning the Broodmother from Dragon Age?!
Its a dwarven lady who has been raped, forced to swallow darkspawn bile, eaten her kin, and turned into a freak of nature!

Also, I have to say Harley Quinn from Arkham Asylum. I didn't like what they did to Poison Ivy, but Harley was a pitch perfect transition from her role in The Animated Series.

 

[Mikeyfell]

You know, I've never noticed that before... and it seems oddly funny, looking back and noticing that she appears schizophrenic. I'll look out more for that when I finally finish obsessing over Reach and go back to Mass Effect 2.

speaking of Reach
I love how no one ever mentioned Kat's arm

surprising enough that was my favorite part about Reach
and some of the strongest passive characterization I can remember in a game
I mean, she has one arm and everyone who knows her respects her too much to talk about it

either that or the artists never told the script writers.
[sub]keeping in mind that this is a Halo game I can't help but think that might be the case[/sub]
but I like to think it's the former.

 

[gl1koz3]

Female Shepard for the win. The voice is really well done. Aaaaand... sexy.

I beg to differ...

MYYY EEEEYES... X.X GIVE ME A FORK TO END THIS MISERY NOW.

Emm. I'll just stick to making sexy Shepards.

 

[Rawle Lucas]

I would ask people to define "right" in this context. And if they mean presenting women in a way to appeal to feminazis then I would say I strongly disagree.

Unless your intentions are clearly ignoble, then I would say there's no right or wrong way to portray a female character, or any character for that matter. Team Ninja may make bouncy breasted harem girls whenever they make a game, but that doesn't necessarily make it wrong. Although it certainly would register as lame, to most of us. If you strip a designer of their ability to craft a character the way they see fit. Well you might as well tell Picasso to paint pictures cheez-whiz and white out to make great art. Or give Stephen King a piece of chalk and a post-it and tell him to make a masterpiece.

Creativity is about making dreams tangible and it's not something that you should apply dictatorial rules and demands to. Else you murder the process of creativity. Of course, you are not required to like something, but you are not in the position to say it is right or wrong.

Edit: I have to say that what really bothers me about this thread is that 90% of the characters being lauded as "right" are female characters who are generally as unfeminine as they can possibly be. So people think that females characters done "right" are women who conduct themselves in a masculine fashion...

Forgive me if that registers in my brain as...disturbing.

When I asked the question, I wasn't trying to be "feminazi" or anything like that; I just wanted to see what the Escapist's readership thought, since I've seen a number of threads complaining about the portrayal of women and wanted something more positive-minded.

If it makes you feel any better, the games I myself mentioned early in the thread feature plenty of likable feminine women. At no point was I trying to bash men; when I said stuff like "keep up the good work," I was just happy that people were sharing their thoughts and not being rude about it.

 

[TurtleBay]

I would mention Diablo II for gender equality. Two of the playable classes are female (although they do dress them a little too scantily). Also many of the strong NPCs are female including Flavie, the female Amazon town guards in act one, Akara, Charsi, Fara, Malah, etc. In fact, the closest to a damsel in distress was Deckard Cane.

 

[PissOffRoth]

I cast my vote in for Dragon's Age: Origins. I thought all the female characters were developed well without coming off as porn actresses or being completely asexual. They fell nicely into the in between and felt human instead of a tired script.

 

[gamer_parent]

anything that feature's Roberta Williams' Laura Bow. i.e. Dagger of Amon Ra.

Seriously, for those of you who used to play Sierra point and click adventures, it's a real gem.

 

[feycreature]

Hey guys, no love for Farah? (Sands of Time Farah, not her pod person replacement in the third game). She was multifaceted, reasonably dressed for the time and place, and balanced levelheadedness with a romantic streak. My favourite thing about her however has nothing to do with her gender and it was this: she's a civilian, a princess with some slight training in arms and decent physical conditioning (amplified somewhat for the sake of gameplay). She doesn't pull mad combat skills out of her butt when the fighting breaks out and she doesn't act like a cold, battle-hardened action chick, because she isn't. Plus she has her sexy moments and is clearly an adult with all the associated urges, but for most of the game she, the prince, and the audience are more concerned with getting out alive and saving the world.

 

[Aethren]

Pyro from Team Fortress 2.

What? She's clearly a grandma in rubberized fire-retardant padding. Yes, I'm calling it now.

And grandmas kick ass.

 

[SoulChaserJ]

How about Alice from "American McGee's Alice" and it's upcoming sequel. This chick is cracked, and yet they manage to build the "twisted" story around her and her character development directly influences the games aesthetic.