On The Sketchy Woman Character
I think the various "sidekick" trends in gaming are really interesting.
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I think the various "sidekick" trends in gaming are really interesting.
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If you ask me, Ellie pretty much is the protagonist; the whole story revolves around her. This is especially true if you played Left Behind; you never get to play as Joel through the entire side story, and Ellie is the only one to get any character development in the DLC.hentropy said:And that may have been true, I never owned a PS3. I suppose my main objection wasn't even purely from a feminist perspective, it was just "why not just make her the protagonist?"
It's a fair point that a protagonist doesn't necessarily have to be the PC. On the other hand, playing games where a female character is the focus but I'm still forced to play a grizzled dude only gets you so far. Of course, it's not just about that one game, which could have done it all perfectly, but if the overall trend continues I do think it's a troubling "compromise" to keep PCs male for entirely stale, corporate reasons but give a mulligan to feminists or women in general.SlumlordThanatos said:If you ask me, Ellie pretty much is the protagonist; the whole story revolves around her. This is especially true if you played Left Behind; you never get to play as Joel through the entire side story, and Ellie is the only one to get any character development in the DLC...
It's certainly not that odd if you watch anime or play more Japanese games, though it is true that it would be somewhat jarring to western sensibilities at large. But I think it would be interesting without going "full anime" and keeping it more grounded, but still facing the realities that younger people are not left out of wars, societal collapse, and zombie uprisings, and there are ways to approach it without being too melodramatic.I imagine the only reason Ellie wasn't the PC in The Last of Us is because it'd be a bit odd to see a 14-year-old girl slaughter her way through government security forces, bandits, and infected for an entire game, even though she is fully capable of doing so. That, and we'd miss out on the relationship dynamics of Ellie being escorted by some loner who doesn't recognize that she's fully capable of taking care of herself.
You could say it's a bit sexist, but not in the 'relegated to sidekick' kind of way. You look at The Last of Us, Bioshock: Infinite, and The Walking Dead, and the recurring theme beyond the 'father' one is that they all feature young girl companions. I doubt you can name me a similar game where it's a 30-something male protagonist accompanied by a teenaged boy. This is most likely because the developers knew their target demographic is guys, and that guys would find it easier to strike up an emotional bond with a girl companion then with a boy. Ellie herself feels specifically written to be as inoffensive to male audiences as possible. Like one of the guys, but not one of the guys.hentropy said:I think the "Not a female protagonist, but not a sausage fest" theory is probably spot-on, I've been thinking similar things ever since Yahtzee did his own "Why are PCs suddenly Dads" article.
I remember getting a bit of pushback from reasonable people making reasonable arguments when I called The Last of Us a tiny bit sexist for relegating the female character to an adopted daughter/sidekick role. Then, especially when it came out, people were like no, it's like that, even feminists don't mind etc etc.
And that may have been true, I never owned a PS3. I suppose my main objection wasn't even purely from a feminist perspective, it was just "why not just make her the protagonist?" I mean, that's a decent enough game right there. Young female protagonist, having to learn how to survive and make her way to the safe zone or whatever the premise is would have its own interest in it. In some ways I think when it comes to games, people often want to use complicated social arguments advocating for more women in games, when a much simpler argument could be "because putting a guy in EVERYTHING is really, really boring." And no number of sidekicks, no matter how well written, is going to make it less boring.
I'd disagree.SlumlordThanatos said:If you ask me, Ellie pretty much is the protagonist; the whole story revolves around her. This is especially true if you played Left Behind; you never get to play as Joel through the entire side story, and Ellie is the only one to get any character development in the DLC.