Women, what Games do you want to play?

[Lilani]

Very interesting position. So it isn't so much a lack of certain games, the existing ones would be fine if they wouldn't have these sexist aspects to them that prevent you from enjoying a otherwise good game. Ok, I can totally see where you are coming from with this, something like that would annoy me too.

I don't really get that Ico thing, I would never take anything a male character does as an personaly insult, and there are many useless and/or vile males in video games. I wouldn't take anything a female character does as a representation on all women everywhere either. The way I see it a characters flaws are there own, she may be cowardly and useless, but I don't think she is cowardly and useless because she is a woman. There is no logical correlation to draw between her flaws and her gender unless specifically stated.

I guess "personal insult" wasn't quite the most accurate description. It just gave me that feeling like when I'm watching a comedian I usually like, and suddenly they go off on a track I really don't like. Like they get a lot more political or offensive than they usually are, and things go from all fun and games to just uncomfortable and weird. Being apparently magical and being the only female in the entire game at that point, her presence felt significant in some way. But then her purpose in the game became a very needy sack of potatoes. I kept waiting for her to gain some kind of backbone...and she never did. I just wasn't really expecting such a blatantly...problematic element to exist in what I knew to be one of the most revered titles on the PS2.

Oh, and to answer your original question, as I said before I'm working on Undertale, but I suppose the games I've put the most time in are Final Fantasy XI and XIV (the MMO Final Fantasy titles) and Team Fortress 2. Apart from that, I really like Mass Effect, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasies IX, X, and even X-2 sometimes, Bioshock series, Half-Life series, Portal and Portal 2, Pokemon, Psychonauts, Walking Dead, Professor Layton series, Phoenix Wright, Bravely Default, the new King's Quest game. As another poster above said, I'm not opposed to a male player character if they are well-characterized and likable. I wouldn't have put over 800 hours in TF2 if I were offended by a lack of female options alone. But in too many cases, the lack of options and diversity is simply inexcusable, and feels more like a lack of perspective and care on the side of the creators than a truely stylistic or thematic choice.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I think you're confusing Haruka (The evil potion throwing shinobi infatuated with dolls, and wears a long coat at times) with Hibari, the one that flails, isn't as confident, etc.
Haruka's pretty devastating in special map missions.

Yeah, Link's continual reincarnation in to new bodies, and Link's sister Aryll, and Linkle makes it less than case closed that the hero of the next game ha to be a guy, but yeah, we both know how those people tend to get when the possibility of an option arises.
Honestly, I don't know what I'd expect Zelda herself to do. It's not every incarnation that she's Shiek, or Tetra, and she's not known as a fighter outside of Smash, and Hyrule Warriors.

Oh right of course, I meant Hibari. -_-

Honestly, I never get why people are upset over options. Like the ones who modded out the gay romance out of Mass effect 3. Wankers.

I get the names mixed up, too sometimes. I'm terrible with names, period. X(

I don't care what people mod, personally, so long as they can't force the mods on anyone.
Sadly, some people get hardwired to hate anyone that isn't straight. Or a guy. Or like them, and what they want. This often goes to the point of being closed minded to an extreme.
Unfortunately this results in people who rail against anything that doesn't pander directly to them. Honestly they seem more vocal than any other group.
This can lead to them seeking a sterile gaming world which sucks for anyone not into straight white dudes, and I don't want to see that. It was basically that for a long time, IMO.
Considering the modding they'll probably go as far as to want to change existing games, and censor games more than what they fear their opponents will want in extreme cases.

 

[ManutheBloodedge]

I think you're confusing Haruka (The evil potion throwing shinobi infatuated with dolls, and wears a long coat at times) with Hibari, the one that flails, isn't as confident, etc.
Haruka's pretty devastating in special map missions.

Yeah, Link's continual reincarnation in to new bodies, and Link's sister Aryll, and Linkle makes it less than case closed that the hero of the next game ha to be a guy, but yeah, we both know how those people tend to get when the possibility of an option arises.
Honestly, I don't know what I'd expect Zelda herself to do. It's not every incarnation that she's Shiek, or Tetra, and she's not known as a fighter outside of Smash, and Hyrule Warriors.

Oh right of course, I meant Hibari. -_-

Honestly, I never get why people are upset over options. Like the ones who modded out the gay romance out of Mass effect 3. Wankers.

I get the names mixed up, too sometimes. I'm terrible with names, period. X(

I don't care what people mod, personally, so long as they can't force the mods on anyone.
Sadly, some people get hardwired to hate anyone that isn't straight. Or a guy. Or like them, and what they want. This often goes to the point of being closed minded to an extreme.
Unfortunately this results in people who rail against anything that doesn't pander directly to them. Honestly they seem more vocal than any other group.
This can lead to them seeking a sterile gaming world which sucks for anyone not into straight white dudes, and I don't want to see that. It was basically that for a long time, IMO.
Considering the modding they'll probably go as far as to want to change existing games, and censor games more than what they fear their opponents will want in extreme cases.

Totally agree, I am not really interested in the standard grisly white protagonist you see in most triple-AAA games unless they are done REALLY well. Simply a matter of overexposure, apart from them being more often than not the most boring thing in the plot.

One reason I started this thread is that a lot of criticism against Video games seemed to focus on stuff we shouldn't do anymore instead of things we should, and I am afraid that this line of thinking will also lead to a more sterile gaming world. If every female charcter has to be flawless, strong and independent to prevent someone to get angry, they will get boring really fast too.

 

[Padwolf]

What do I want to play?

ALL THE HARVEST MOONS! Like seriously, I have an addiction to those games.

But uh, seriously? I don't know, the same as everyone else? I guess? Just give me games with some romance options in them and I'm one happy camper.

 

[Amaror]

With the discussion on sexism in gaming still ongoing, I sadly hear a lot of negative voices against Video Games, and not a lot of positive suggestions. But I am sure there are a lot of women and even feminists that like Video Games, that like playing Games.
So, I would like to hear what kind of games are and would be considered less sexist from a feminist perspective.
What Games do you like to play? And more importantly, what Games would you like to play? What kind of ideas you miss in the more male-centric Game industry?

Asking women geeky enough to not only come to the escapist but also post on the forums what games they want to play as a barometer of the general population is... a very poor metric.

Well we allready have metrics about the general population. The general population of women enjoys casual, mobile games and Hidden-object games, since those are the type of games were the female audience is generally larger than the one for men. And before someone freaks out, the word casual is a description of a game genre, not an insult.
I don't think his question was a poor metric, but rather poorly explained. I think he was asking for what girls here, so girls that are into gaming as a whole, would like in their videogames. With the added background that the question was asked with the context in mind that there have been a lot of controversies in the past years about sexism in gaming and the claim that the current gaming industry in hostile for women and potential female gamers.
It's a valid question to ask in my mind.

 

[sanamia]

Games I want to play are exactly the games I already play.
I'm overall enjoying a broad spectrum from RTS, shooters, RPGs, actions games whatnot.
It's easier to say what i dislike: artsy stuff, a whole slew of Indie games oh and JRPGs (anything that looks like anime actually)

I have one thing I explicitly don't like and will avoid as much as possible. Voiced female protagonists. Just nope can't stand it. I threw Mass effect in the corner after 2 hours because I couldn't stand fem sheps voice. Took me until me3 came out to give it another shot, went with male shep and loved it.
Tried DA2 and DA:I female characters and stopped after not even an hour. Again male char no problem.

I used to play a lot of female characters when I was younger and before the voiced protagonist came up big time. As I grew older it shifted.
Now I prefer male characters even unvoiced, now gimme a nice rough good looking guy to stare at his butt. (preferable muscular, a bit older (30 something), maybe a nice beard and a couple of scars)

I'm getting tired of the overly "clean" gaming worlds. You know there is not a single prostitute in fallout4? Now that makes no sense, as if a post apocalyptic world doesn't have brothels anymore.

 

[Something Amyss]

But jest aside, this thread was meant for people who complain about too many video games being sexist, because I would be interested in what kind of games they would consider not sexist, and more importantly, what kind of games this alledgedly sexist industry does not create often enough or at all. I just wanted to hear some positive examples or suggestions in this debate for once, and different perspective can lead to new ideas. Who knows, maybe there are game ideas missing from the industry because they are to feminine, and they would be fun and unique to play too. It was a shot in the dark, I admit.

Ah, I think I see the problem. Well, problems:

1. It's generally not that too many games are sexist, but sexism overall. This isn't to say individual games can't be sexist, but that it's the larger trends which are at issue. Rebel Raven kind of touches on this.

2. Really, I'm not sure this is an "allegedly" sexist industry. It's an industry that actively dissuades female protagonists and sometimes even just characters.

3. The idea that women want some specific brand of games, ones that might be feminine. Often the discourse comes down to why there aren't more female leads in AAA games, or why female characters are either fan service or props. The reason this comes up is we want to play the same games. And odds are, if you're on a site largely focused on gaming, that's the group you're going to find. Women who play games already, possibly who grew up playing games, and would like to be...what's that word? Included. That doesn't mean there aren't women who want other types of games, but if that's what you're looking for, you probably won't find many examples relative to the base. The message, essentially, is "we play these games, too."

4. "Positive examples" are fairly easy to come by. Even Anita Sar...She Who Must Not Be Named has offered up examples that meet her criteria. But you don't need to go that far. I'm happy I can play as a female Boss in Saints Rows 2-4 and Kinzie in Gat Out of Hell. I'm happy I can play as Evie in Assassin's Creed Syndicate. Are these, like, great examples of women in games? The Boss is pretty cardboard, Evie's not much better, and Kinzie's...Well, Kinzie is freaking awesome, but probably still not the greatest in terms of character. It'd also be nice to have more games where the outfits weren't clearly designed to give erections and nothing else. I don't even care if they're in the game, it's just frustrating when you look at your friends in a certain armour in an online game, go to equip it, and find it's a thong and two postage stamps. Because often "sexy" is the only choice, it becomes a problem.

I'll go a step further, in that there would probably be less complaining overall if the pandering wasn't everywhere. I imagine the number of people who actually care if guys play titty games is pretty small. The issue is that a good chunk of the games do that as well.

This is not to say representation of women couldn't be better, or that there couldn't be more diverse game types.

5. You swapped between "women" and "feminist" and the two aren't necessarily the same.

But yeah, you already are aware of a lot of the issues. People had a fit over the thought Zelda might be a girl. People had a fit that there might be a Linkle-style character. People have a fit when you simply ask why there can't be more women in games, why you can't have a female lead in series X.

 

[Erttheking]

I want to play Bloodborne but I don't have a PS4 :'(

I really love the Souls series in general, though would be nice if they had a few more female characters in each game. I also felt that the "soft-spoken waifu" thing was slightly overdone in Dark Souls (Firelink Fire Keeper, Rhea, Dusk, Quelaag's sister). There were also some really cool female characters, but it was a bit disappointing to see that same archetype used over and over. If there were more female characters overall to balance it out, I don't think I would have minded as much.

It's a shame because I feel like Bloodborne very much does this. I mean it's got the first badass old lady I've seen in a video game for a long time. There's also a cranky old civilian lady, the obsessive nun, the powerful and proud Queen of the Vilebloods, the friendly doctor that offers sanctuary

Spoiler

Who gets murdered early on and replaced with an agent of the corrupt church who experiments on the people you send to her

And my favorite, the badass as all hell Lady Maria

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/bloodborne/images/8/88/Bloodborne%E2%84%A2_20151126093114.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/290?cb=20151126073203

There's also the fact that Bloodborne has a very heavy theme on motherhood. Oh don't worry, it's not like Metroid Other M. In fact I'd call this the most disturbing and fucked up take on motherhood I've ever seen. Hell, most of the Great Ones, Lovecraft style gods, are female in this story.

Granted it DOES have a "Soft-spoken waifu" in the form of The Doll (Yes there's a character just called that, it makes sense in context) but her being a soft spoken nurturer does make sense...in a horribly twisted way. Basically she was created as a replacement goldfish for a man's lost love. A love who was blissfully ignorant of his obsession towards her. She miiiiiiight have been used as a blow up doll. I try not to think about that too hard.

 

[Gengisgame]

I think there is a great deal of entitlement in conflating not getting a particular type of game that you want with some sort of moral wrong.

Say what game you want of course, you don't ask you don't get but never confuse not getting with sexism because the markets for males in the genre you like is bigger.

 

[Fox12]

I want to play Bloodborne but I don't have a PS4 :'(

I really love the Souls series in general, though would be nice if they had a few more female characters in each game. I also felt that the "soft-spoken waifu" thing was slightly overdone in Dark Souls (Firelink Fire Keeper, Rhea, Dusk, Quelaag's sister). There were also some really cool female characters, but it was a bit disappointing to see that same archetype used over and over. If there were more female characters overall to balance it out, I don't think I would have minded as much.

Well, Bloodborne certainly fixed that. Eileen was my favorite character by far. That game was overflowing with strong women, both good and evil. I wish that game had gone multi platform, so more people could enjoy it : /

Snip

Very interesting position. So it isn't so much a lack of certain games, the existing ones would be fine if they wouldn't have these sexist aspects to them that prevent you from enjoying a otherwise good game. Ok, I can totally see where you are coming from with this, something like that would annoy me too.

Well, I'm a dude, so the question wasn't aimed at me, but I think this is a common misconception.

For instance, I criticized CD Project Red when they said that a sex scene was the best way to introduce a love interest in Witcher 3, and for the sex cards in Witcher 1. I still stand by those criticisms, and I got a lot of hate for them. But I bought Witcher 3 at full price in order to support the developer, because I like their business practices, and because I understand that the Witcher 3 is a well made game. I can criticize an aspect of a game, while still appreciating the whole. I'm not a fan of damsels in distress, or dating simulators, but I still love Mario and Persona. Even if I use those games as an example, I'm criticizing the ideas more then the games themselves. I think a lot of people missed that.

Also, fucking stoked for Persona 5.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I think you're confusing Haruka (The evil potion throwing shinobi infatuated with dolls, and wears a long coat at times) with Hibari, the one that flails, isn't as confident, etc.
Haruka's pretty devastating in special map missions.

Yeah, Link's continual reincarnation in to new bodies, and Link's sister Aryll, and Linkle makes it less than case closed that the hero of the next game ha to be a guy, but yeah, we both know how those people tend to get when the possibility of an option arises.
Honestly, I don't know what I'd expect Zelda herself to do. It's not every incarnation that she's Shiek, or Tetra, and she's not known as a fighter outside of Smash, and Hyrule Warriors.

Oh right of course, I meant Hibari. -_-

Honestly, I never get why people are upset over options. Like the ones who modded out the gay romance out of Mass effect 3. Wankers.

I get the names mixed up, too sometimes. I'm terrible with names, period. X(

I don't care what people mod, personally, so long as they can't force the mods on anyone.
Sadly, some people get hardwired to hate anyone that isn't straight. Or a guy. Or like them, and what they want. This often goes to the point of being closed minded to an extreme.
Unfortunately this results in people who rail against anything that doesn't pander directly to them. Honestly they seem more vocal than any other group.
This can lead to them seeking a sterile gaming world which sucks for anyone not into straight white dudes, and I don't want to see that. It was basically that for a long time, IMO.
Considering the modding they'll probably go as far as to want to change existing games, and censor games more than what they fear their opponents will want in extreme cases.

Totally agree, I am not really interested in the standard grisly white protagonist you see in most triple-AAA games unless they are done REALLY well. Simply a matter of overexposure, apart from them being more often than not the most boring thing in the plot.

One reason I started this thread is that a lot of criticism against Video games seemed to focus on stuff we shouldn't do anymore instead of things we should, and I am afraid that this line of thinking will also lead to a more sterile gaming world. If every female charcter has to be flawless, strong and independent to prevent someone to get angry, they will get boring really fast too.

I see what you're saying.

Honestly, variation is what will likely be best, imo. So long as there's no particular reliance on a single sort of female character in general, meaning making the odds higher of finding someone more relate-able in both gender and personality, the easier things will go.

It seems like the wrong sort of question to ask in what sort of games women want to play. That won't really get to the heart of what sort of protagonist we want, but I could be wrong. That and odds are we'd want variety just as much as anyone.

The positive aspects of a topic, for me, are also kinda harder to talk about in regards of what should be done. Partly because it's going to be vague on my part. I'm not looking for a particular kind of game, or a particular personality set of female protagonist, I just want a variety, and a decent frequency.
I can't start listing traits I'd like to see because I don't want to know what the personality will be like before I start playing, even though there might be annoying traits. At least, unless there's source material behind the character. Catwoman, for instance, has something of a set personality, so, aside from he Hallie Berry one, there's a rough idea of how she should act.

I don't blame you at all for trying, though. The topic was made with a good thought process behind it. Frankly I'm just as curious as you are, as to what sort of character might get described in detail.

 

[mecegirl]

I'm playing an ps2 game called Shadow Hearts Covenant. I never got into the Shadow Hearts series back then but its always nice to pick up an older game or two. Any who, I'm hoping this doesn't continue into the rest of the game but this one cut scene was really annoying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx1LtQADQMc&feature=youtu.be&t=35m50s

The main female character is/was a lieutenant in the army. She's sorta on the run now so it makes since that she needs a change of clothes. As far as female costumes go it isn't that risque but it is a major departure from what she wears at the beginning of the game. But that's not my problem.
http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/540/540030/shadow-hearts-covenant-20040818034608327.jpg

A simple, "You look nice/beautiful!" would have sufficed. Don't know why we need a moment to watch the male protagonists being sleazy. After that there are several conversations. You know the type where you have to press x to read a bunch of speech bubbles. The two men laugh about being smacked and then the three of them make travel plans. They try to discourage the female character from coming with them because she might get hurt. And the younger guy talks about how he isn't sure that he'd be able to protect her. There is another cut scene and a mini boss battle. After that they two men talk about how they didn't realize that she was so strong...And I'm like dudes, she was in the military. Y'all knew that when you met her. Of course she knows how to fight, that sword at her side wasn't just for show.

Now there are two ways this can continue, they may have just done this to establish the female characters strength despite what she looks like. Or it's the start of a trend where we get multiple moments focusing on the female character's beauty. Both are annoying because I'm not at all interested in female eye candy. Despite the younger male character's low cut top we have yet to get a similar moment focusing on his looks. Maybe we will? But I kinda feel like that would have happened already if we were.

But basically I would like more games to remember that the audience isn't always a heterosexual male. Because I find eyeroll worthy moments like this in newer games too. It doesn't add to the story and it isn't framed well at all.

 

[mecegirl]

how in the world did i double post. ignore this

 

[KittenBasket]

I appreciate the intent of the question, though I'm not sure how well it can be answered. I'll try to add my own humble data points:

My sister used to play a lot of games as a kid, especially if they involved pets in some way. As a teen, I think she mentioned playing clothing store simulators or something. Then she became an adult, worked at actual clothing stores, and got a whole bunch of real pets. I don't think she plays video games anymore, but it doesn't seem to be the games' faults.

My female friend still plays games as an adult, but I'm not sure if she's a good representative of average women, since I'm almost sure she's autistic. In any case, she seems to prefer vintage and kid-oriented games, especially RPGs in fantasy settings. Our tastes diverge pretty sharply sometimes: Her idea of "cute" is my idea of "should guest-star in Five Nights At Freddie's", and her idea of "There are a lot of fun things you can do instead of fighting!" is my idea of "Who designed this obnoxious minigame?!" She's mentioned enjoying stories a lot, although she's so innocent that I'm surprised any game plots are soft enough for her. Nonetheless, I think she spends more money on the hobby (er, constantly shifting kaleidoscope of hobbies?) than I do, so maybe her tastes might be a good data point after all.

Then there's me, mostly hopping between MMOs and sandboxes. Simpler strategy-oriented games, such as tower defense, appeal to some of me too. I had an otome visual novel phase, which ran its course after a shift in my feelings about real world romance. I used to enjoy single-player RPGs and platformers quite a bit, at least before online games made them feel lonely by comparison; now they have to have a certain special touch, like Eversion, before I'm interested enough to play offline. I have just two grievances against an otherwise well-made MMO: The sex thing, and the Edward Scissorhands effect.
I guess the way female characters look in MMORPGs is a bit of a stale point by now, and I don't even particularly care that they all have that one specific body shape. (Just from experience, women who look like that in real life have trouble opening jars, let alone winning fistfights, but the incongruity is more comical than upsetting, like that bunny from Monty Python.) It's just when fanservice turns out to be mandatory for every female avatar including mine, that hits me in a very tender place, and I can't bring myself to keep playing. Another avatar dancing suggestively on a mailbox wearing dental floss? Not my problem, until I can't wear anything besides dental floss or prevent myself from dancing suggestively. If I'm already invested, I'll look for workarounds, like long coats to hide my floss or just interesting playable species with more dignified animations. But some games don't bother offering any workarounds, even though it seems like they would be fairly simple to throw in.
I used to play an odd little Japanese MMO which was almost entirely about pretty fembot minions dueling with super soakers. The fact that their costumes came off when they lost HP was unnerving, until I found my fembot minion a classy swimsuit to wear under her clothes. That one little workaround was all it took to restore my sense of safety in that universe. Sure it was probably still a sexist game that card-carrying feminists would hate, but I had successfully set my boundaries and was having fun.
What I call the Edward Scissorhands effect may not be related to my gender at all, as I've heard male gamers make somewhat similar complaints. Basically, the more vast and detailed the environment is, the more uncomfortable it feels if I am literally unable to interact with it in non-violent ways. I can enjoy a combat system a great deal (explosions! whee!) but still eventually develop a kind of existential claustrophobia when it sinks in that my only relationship to the world around me is death. (Actually, for apocalyptic or cosmic horror settings, that feeling might comprise a triumph of atmospheric storytelling.) Games can avoid invoking that discomfort by giving me even one thing to do with the ecosystem besides wailing on it, even something fairly uninteresting: Some have beastmaster classes that give befriending options for creatures that would otherwise be pure XP-fodder; at least one game lets you harvest certain crafting materials from plants and animals without attacking them; still others toss in farming minigames of varying quality. I guess it's asking a bit much for every open world game to have sandbox elements, it's just something I miss subtly more and more until it interferes with my experience and I have to move on. For some reason small, simple games don't seem to have an analogous effect, so it's kind of a psychological mystery.

Is any of that remotely useful? I'm sorry I couldn't get you better data.

 

[BestAdcEUW]

With the discussion on sexism in gaming still ongoing, I sadly hear a lot of negative voices against Video Games, and not a lot of positive suggestions. But I am sure there are a lot of women and even feminists that like Video Games, that like playing Games.
So, I would like to hear what kind of games are and would be considered less sexist from a feminist perspective.
What Games do you like to play? And more importantly, what Games would you like to play? What kind of ideas you miss in the more male-centric Game industry?

It depends, I know a lot of girls who play games like League of Legends and Counter Strike, "man's" games. If you like to play "feminist" games I would suggest you games like Cooking Dash [http://ola.mobi/cooking-dash-2016/], for instance. If you describe better what sort of games do you like to play, it's easier to recommend.

 

[Story]

Gonna be a bit clich? I guess.
I like RPGs ( not nesssarily Japanese), simulator games, Platformers, couch co-op games (or other types of social games), puzzle games, action adventure games, sandbox games and story heavy games. I've only played one or two shooters in my life and only ninendo style sports games so I would say they are my least favorite genres.
I love to play as a women if I can and if a game gives me the option it is usually a selling point for me. That and if I feel like I can have urgency with my own character female or otherwise the better. I also really, really like animals and I play games that involve them not a fan of things like the sims and their ilk because I had a fear of dolls growing up.
If I were to be completely honest I would say my favorite games and franchises are Okami, Pokemon series, Elder Scrolls series, Animal Crossing, Mario bros. And it's many spin offs, Super Smash bros. Series, Shadow of the Colossus, Sly Cooper series, Monster Hunter series, Portal series, Legend of Zelda series, Rune Factory 4 (the first game in the series I heard that lets you be a girl and also never played harvest moon, though I think I'd like that too), Fire Emblem Awakening, Puppeteer, Rayman series, and Viva Pi?ata series. I love experimental Indie games like Journey, Tokyo Jungle, Undertale, Braid, Limbo, ect. I've also put in an embarrassing amount of hours into things like Nintendogs and Neopets (yes, Neopets and other web browser games like it). I'm sure there are many more but those are the ones I can think of at the top of my head. Inspite of those being my favorite and most played genres and games I would still identify myself as a "gamer" and acknowledge that I really should expand my interests.
I think I'm a very safe person in general, I tend to buy things I know I'll like before I spend money on completely new experiences. Fair enough but I guess that's why favorite games catalogue looks like an echo chamber. Many of these games I grew up with espically Pokemon so nostalgia is there and I feel that if certain genres appealed to me more I would be likely to play more games in those genres.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I'm getting tired of the overly "clean" gaming worlds. You know there is not a single prostitute in fallout4? Now that makes no sense, as if a post apocalyptic world doesn't have brothels anymore.

How unclean do you want it? Should the protagonist have to go to the toilet every couple of hours while you are forced to watch?

You know, that makes me think. Those games where you have to eat but don't have to poop - where does the food go? Someone should make a thread.

 

[Cryselle]

I see what you're saying.

Honestly, variation is what will likely be best, imo. So long as there's no particular reliance on a single sort of female character in general, meaning making the odds higher of finding someone more relate-able in both gender and personality, the easier things will go.

It seems like the wrong sort of question to ask in what sort of games women want to play. That won't really get to the heart of what sort of protagonist we want, but I could be wrong. That and odds are we'd want variety just as much as anyone.

The positive aspects of a topic, for me, are also kinda harder to talk about in regards of what should be done. Partly because it's going to be vague on my part. I'm not looking for a particular kind of game, or a particular personality set of female protagonist, I just want a variety, and a decent frequency.
I can't start listing traits I'd like to see because I don't want to know what the personality will be like before I start playing, even though there might be annoying traits. At least, unless there's source material behind the character. Catwoman, for instance, has something of a set personality, so, aside from he Hallie Berry one, there's a rough idea of how she should act.

I don't blame you at all for trying, though. The topic was made with a good thought process behind it. Frankly I'm just as curious as you are, as to what sort of character might get described in detail.

I'd like to second this. It's difficult to discuss the characters we specifically want to see, because a good character is very different depending on the scenario and the game they're in. A gritty noir-detective style story practically requires a protagonist with severe flaws, whereas a straight up power fantasy wants a character to be better than mere human. Good storytelling requires so many different character types that we'd be doing a disservice to ourselves if we settled on a single one and held it up as the character that everyone had to use.

 

[ManutheBloodedge]

Is any of that remotely useful? I'm sorry I couldn't get you better data.

Well, it is not like I am conducting a study here or something. Thank you for contributing, that alone is enough. For example, I wouldn't have thought of the "interacting with the world non-violently" thing, but it is a very interesting train of thought to consider how many games don't do this, and in what different ways the games that do allow it. Could be a thread topic on its own.