IGN bring us the worst "Top" article ever

[blaydcor]

Khuutra said:
In the first place, if you're going to be the protagonist of a video game you are going to kick ass. Let's throw that shit right out the window, because that is not a part of the "cookie cutter" that isn't in the mold for every single cookie cutter in the business. If you are in a game, and you are the lead character, nine times out of ten you will have to kick someone's ass.

A large amount of strong female leads is not bad. The fact that it is not longer novel is one of the most positive signs for gender equality in the industry.

There is no standard of beauty applied to video game women that isn't applied to video game men. The best games have equal treatment of the genders within the context of the worlds in which they take place.

You want a female character who isn't "drop dead gorgeous" but still kicks ass? Fine. We'll look at two of the characters that they cited as being part of the problem.

Alyx Vance is the heroine of the Half-Life 2 game(s), whose general consciousness and real femininity does not impede the fact that she is able to shoot aliens in the face. She's built like a boy, has short-cropped hair, and in general is in no way portrayed sexually. She's as real as it gets.

The Boss is the most realistic character ever devised for the Metal Gear Solid series, jarring simply because she abandons all pretexts of cartoonishness to look almost gritty in the realism of her facial and bodily proportions. She's a symbol of motherhood, but she is by no means sexualized.

These two women, generally treated as two of the best characters in the medium from either gender, are two of those in particular that are cited as being problematic by the above article. I don't know if you've played Half-Life 2 or Metal Gear Solid 3 or Mirror's Edge or Prince of Persia, but that section of the article is appalling.

 

 

I believe I predicated my original statement by saying that while I DISAGREED with his examples, his point was valid. So citing Alyx Vance and The Boss doesn't really do anything for your argument. I also, several times, noted that it was a PREDOMINANT trend, not unanimous.

As for you excusing this trend by characterizing it as something that HAS to happen because main characters HAVE to KICK ASS...that's erroneous too. Not every genre of game revolves around ass-kicking main characters, but regardless of their roles, the central female characters always show up with rockin' bods. Yes, this particular trend is apparent in male leads, too (though not to such a crushing extent). The difference being, of course, that having hyper-masculine leads allows for a vicariously delicioius experience for under-muscled or over-blubbered nerds, while the girls are just there to ogle. It also makes (sometimes) more sense for guys: Sure, an incredible figher like Ryu might need to be super muscled. Yeah. Makes sense. But does Chung Li need tits the size of small asteroids to augment her fighting abilities?