Video games aren’t just for socially awkward guys who live in their parents’ basements and have Funyun and Mountain Dew breath, anymore.
Females are playing games in steadily increasing numbers. Indeed, 40 percent of all gamers today are female, according to the ESA Essential Facts 2008 study conducted by the Entertainment Software Association.
Yet, the trend is not represented in the games themselves. Male lead characters in games rated “T (Teen)” or higher outnumber their female counterparts 16 to 1.
When Tomb Raider came out for the PlayStation in 1996, it was a revelation. Lara Croft was a female character with the strength and charisma to hold down a franchise – and she sported a seriously impressive set of guns.
Thrilling as it was to have Ms. Croft plundering her way through ancient tombs and laying waste to mystical beasts, it also brought into focus the veritable wasteland of female video game characters.
Thirteen years later, sadly, very little has changed.
Of the 737 console games released in 2008, 20 had women in the title role, and another 42 provided players with a choice in their avatar’s gender, according to Metacritic.com.
The Sony PS3 scored the most poorly in gender diversity, offering up only three games with female leads, Microsoft Xbox 360 did slightly better with four and the Nintendo Wii fared the best with 17, although the games are geared primarily toward the under 12 set.
That’s not to say the fairer sex doesn’t make frequent virtual appearances.
In recent years there have been a number of strong female characters, notably the Heavenly Sword-wielding Nariko, parkour delivery specialist Faith, and slayer of all things undead Jill Valentine.
However, for every Jill Valentine, there is a legion of other virtual ladies relegated to supporting roles.
A typical female in a video game is a sidekick, a damsel in distress, a femme fatale, a sex worker or – in one particularly antifeminist case – a fat princess the player keeps safe by steadily force-feeding her large quantities of cake.
Another area of feminist contention: attire.
Were I to fight crime, masses of the undead or opponents in the ring, a one-piece spandex thong and thigh-high stilettos wouldn’t be my go-to garments, particularly if I’ve had breast augmentation of circus freak proportions.
Despite any arguments that could be made for the flexibility of said uniform, the high potential for nipple slippage alone would outweigh any rationalization about its comfort and breathe-ability. Not to mention, where precisely does one holster her firearm?
One encouraging trend is that, as character customization technology increases, so does the frequency of having the option to play as a female character.
This becomes something of particular interest in the recent title Fable 2, in which moral and dietary choices have a physical effect on a character’s appearance, meaning that a character can be anything from waifish to body builder-esque, a remarkable twist of the ascetics of female characters in games.
Video games have made great evolutionary leaps technologically, from the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System to the supercomputer power of the Xbox 360.
The depth and complexity of storytelling and the sheer number of things a character can do within today’s games would have been unthinkable when I started playing them 20 years ago.
However, when it comes to portraying womankind, video games are still swimming in the primordial ooze.
EDIT: I actually just changed my mind about everything I wrote. I don't agree with any of this anymore.
Pixel Art can be fun.
