A fairer protagonist?

[TheLastSamurai14]

Final Fantasy VI had Terra as the main character. That's another you could add to the list.

 

[skywolfblue]

It is an even bigger lack of female protagonists in believable, practical clothing.

And i wish there was more male protagonists with an average body-build (without looking like a kid). They need more Gordon Freemen!

/agree

So many games with male protagonists that have spent their entire lives in body building classes...

 

[Sephren468]

Final Fantasy 6 and Persona 3 Portable both have female protagonists =). I am kind of surprised they have not been mentioned yet.

 

[Mallefunction]

Perfect Dark has a female protagonist

Honestly, the whole: "Men only want to play as male characters" is BS. How many WOW female characters have been created by male players over the decade it's been up? Seriously, developers are being lazy and grizzled brunet space marine is pretty much all we're going to get until players actually DEMAND more variety from them.

 

[go-10]

I don't think its been mentioned but Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep and Venetica both have female leads
also doesn't Wonder Woman have a game or 2. Cuz if so there's that too

 

[chadachada123]

My only issue with female antagonists is the need to give them ridiculous proportions and breasts that would render her unable to walk.

It's bad enough in fighting games like Soul Caliber, which started off at least normal but then went insane, but meh.

*Edit* Someone pointed out male sexualization that is just as rampant as a reason to stop complaining so much about female sexualization. I think that we should complain about BOTH because both are completely uncalled for in many games. Putting it in a couple of series would be fine (Gears of War, any other ones that play up the "herp masculinity" thing that appeal to 14 year old boys), but having it in series like Resident Evil (5, I'm looking at you) just reeks of shitty fan service.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I don't think its been mentioned but Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep and Venetica both have female leads
also doesn't Wonder Woman have a game or 2. Cuz if so there's that too

Don't know about Venetica, but in Birth by Sleep, only one out of the three main characters are female.

 

[chadachada123]

Clegane]Looks like the OP is tilting at windmills again.

Aside from going with the easy answer of virtually every customizable RPG character there is also:

Tomb Raider, Metroid, Dead or Alive, Perfect Dark, Beyond good and evil, Mirrors Edge, several final fantasies, Portal, Blood Rayne, Parasite Eve, Bayonetta, The Longest Journey, American MGees Alice, A Vampyre story, Eternal Sonata and Golden Axe II

There all some off the top of my head, I'm sure I could go on.

I've never heard of "tilting at windmills" before, I like that expression and had to look it up to see what it meant xD

 

[lord.jeff]

You reason you may not see a lot of women protagonists in games is because of the lack of female developers, I've been in game courses before and in both classes we didn't have a single female.

 

[Furioso]

Make that 8. I just remember Ruby from "Wet". Remember? That Taratino based game from last year? No?

And on a related note, Hibana is a good example of how to design a female character to be feminine without being sexual. Here's a picture of her.

....You're kidiing right?

See my explanation up above. And I suppose I shouldn't have said "Without being sexual". I just meant to point out that she is designed without the designer feeling the need to expose part of her breasts, or give her gigantic knockers/

True, and the skin-tight suit that seems to show every detail of her body (can't tell if it really does, since her front is not shown. The back appears to be complete though) is obviously not intended to be make her look genercally sexy. (/sarcasm)

There's a difference between sensual, sexy, and slutty, though. Again, I made a bad choice of words by saying it wasn't sexual. That was in error. However, she is at least mostly accurately dressed for what she is. She's a ninja, she wears little protection and tight clothing.

Because a true ninja wears white to blend in with the darkness of night...

OT: Amaterasu in Okami was female, it's even debatable that she is bisexual, which is something that I haven't seen done in a game before, well I mean yea its been done a lot but normally with far less taste then the very quick one or two scenes that hint at it in okami

 

[Legion IV]

FFXIII? Lightning? She's a really good character actually and despite the skirt shes not even that sexualized really.

One of the few female protagonists I've seen with a turtle neck. Until her i just thought it was a law every female requires a crazy neckline.

 

[go-10]

hmm... then how about Castlevania Order of Ecclesia, Golden Axe: Beast Rider, and Bullet Witch those 3 have female leads

 

[Something Amyss]

Well. Obvious answer is obvious. Most people like to play something they can relate to or want to be. Traditionally gaming has been a man/boy-dominated pasttime, hence most main characters are male.

Well, that's partially true. Women, however, are expected to be better able to identify with male characters than men with female characters. This is why women are still sort of "niche" even in other media. Media, of course, where they are a far larger percent of the core audience.

I never got the whole identification with the main character anyway, but I'm probably the minority. I rarely view the protagonist as "me," in any sense of the word. It might even be "my character," but it's not me. As such, I have trouble being bothered, but I don't even need to identify with a character.

Cole McDouche from InFamous and Uncharted's asshat of a main character are both examples. I played both games, but couldn't relate and even hated the characters.

Heck, I liked John Marston, and I STILL didn't relate with him. I don't get why it's necessary to relate to the main character of a game, but it apparently is, and men have trouble "relating" with anyone who's not also a dude.

 

[Michael Hirst]

The problem isn't just main characters but female characters in general, so much over sexualization or just poor writing. Someone mentioned Lightning as an example of a non-sexualized female and yeah they're right but it's because her character had very few feminine qualities at all, I haven't finished the game but what I've seen of her so far indicates she could just have easily been written as a man, just doing the opposite extreme of the attractive sexual female doesn't constitute good character writing/building.

Alyx Vance, Samus (before Other M) Katherine (from Catherine) are female characters who are all good looking but have more to their design and writing than being sexy but don't fall into the trap of their sexuality having no effect on them at all. Lightning seems to be in full denial of being a woman and sometimes of being a human at all.

A big part of being either gender is sexuality, it shapes so much of our lives and interactions but what games fail to get over is that it isn't the sole reason for a womans existence, sure most women want to look good but do they think this all the time, is their goal in life just to be a pretty doll on display, no only the most hideously shallow woman thinks that way. Normal women have similar aspirations/needs to men and sometimes even moreso, gaining professional careers, having reliable friends, being able to pay the bills etc and even while most women want to look good they wouldn't put themselves so shamefully on display as videogame characters do without the proper reason or context (small bikini at the beach)

 

[Something Amyss]

bi-sexual

Bisexual.

At the risk of being considered a "Grammar Nazi," it's one word. Not to mention, the use of the hyphen makes me think of Boston Legal:

Judge Hingham: You want children to sit in the lap of a ho-mo-sexual?
Alan: Technically Judge I think Homosexual is just one word.

(Later in the episode when Alan is closing Judge Hingham says ho-mo-sexual again)

Alan: Those three little words again...

 

[Ryotknife]

Final Fantasy 13
Phantom brave
suikoden 3 (depending on which of the 3 chars you choose to lead the story)
final fantasy x-2

there are a few RPGs where you play as a male character, but the story revolves around the female lead (FF 10 for example)

Mirrors edge
Sanctum
portal 1 and 2

 

[KingHodor]

A lot of male game characters run around in outfits that accentuate their attractive muscular features, even when their whole bodies are covered (the most egregrious offender being probably Solid Snake in MGS4, where they weren't even his own muscles, but synthetic ones built into the suit). The difference is generally that you rarely get the feeling that they sacrificed usefulness in favor of "sexy" fashion elements and the ability to show off some skin.

Ex.:
* Cleavage in your body armor vest
* High-Heeled combat boots
* Thigh-high boots or stockings (in fashion, the flesh above the garter is the perfect epitomization of desire - in space warfare, it's just a desire to get shot in the femoral artery)
* The armor should have the appearance of sufficient thickness, not just "black latex"
* Armor being built specifically to show off the breasts. The best protection for your mammaries isn't a chainmail bra or a large dome for each individual breast, it's a chest protector that takes into account the fact that real boobs aren't usually rock-hard D-size implants and will thus easily fit into the padded material under the armor.

Mass Effect's female Shepard has so far been able to pull that off pretty well.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

And on a related note, Hibana is a good example of how to design a female character to be feminine without being sexual. Here's a picture of her.

Spoiler

Still looks pretty sexualised;

*Stance
*Tight costume that clearly shows curves.
*Lacy clothing that exposes a good amount of skin.

Personally, I think Ginchiyo Tachibana from Samurai Warriors 3 would be a better example...

Maybe a better wording of the original post would be, 'alluring without being insulting'?

Her stance is still pretty sexy, but the camera is not looking up her skirt or down her cleavage, nor is she looking at the camera with an overly-sexualised expression. She's clearly the sort of person who wouldn't stand for that, and it's also granting the male audience the credit of being able to find someone attractive without the most obvious parts of her being shoved right in our faces.

Her costume is tight granted, but at least she's wearing something more substantial than a thong. From this I can tell that the outfit is built for speed rather than damage protection, but it's refreshing to see that the developers haven't just used that as an excuse to put her in as little clothing as possible, and actually put some thought into what the best design for such an outfit might actually be. Also, she is indeed curvy, but in a way that could actually be considered realistic for a human. Again, the designers have enough respect for their female audience, and enough faith in their male audience, to know that they don't need to give her breasts the size of wrecking balls in order for her to be well-received.

The netting? OK, that's a little unnecessary. But still, baby steps right?

From a male perspective, I actually find this character model more attractive than the majority of the female characters I see in games. It's just my personal preference, but I get even more annoyed than some girls I know when I see a female character that is obviously only there to pander to boys of my age. In a way, it's just as insulting to men as it is to women. They are presuming that we are all Neanderthals who can't possibly stand for having a girl in our game unless she has a wank factor of 10. Now I can't speak for anyone else but insulting my intelligence has never been a big turn-on for me.

Edit: Forgot to add. Your example is also a very good one.

OP: I think the game industry would find male audiences much more comfortable with the idea of female protagonists, and reasonably proportioned ones at that, if they stopped making baseless presumptions about what we like.

 

[Iron Mal]

Games that I can think of with female protaganists/main characters for games that are more centered on a group dynamic:

- Tomb Raider
- Metroid
- Heavenly Swords
- Mirror's Edge
- Blood Rayne
- Silent Hill 3
- Final Fantasy (quite a few of them)
- Resident Evil/2/3/Code Veronica/5/Outbreak
- Alien Trilogy (yes, my favourite game ever has a female protaganist)
- Every fighting game ever made
- Perfect Dark
- Portal
- Diablo II
- Any of the movie licensed Alien games
- Beyond Good and Evil
- Jurassic Park: Trespasser
- Golden Axe
- Project Zero II

And many, many, many more.

There are plenty of games with female protaganists out there (and more than a few of them have rather positive and non-sexualised representations of women, yes, a lot of games do focus on the T&A but I think it'd be a little dishonest to say it's a universal thing) so I find it a bit weird when some people ask the proverbial question of 'why are female protaganists so rare?'.

Female protaganists aren't rare at all and it isn't exactly as if you have to look into the dark, deep pits of the rare and obscure to find examples.

 

[Furioso]

bi-sexual

Bisexual.

At the risk of being considered a "Grammar Nazi," it's one word. Not to mention, the use of the hyphen makes me think of Boston Legal:

ah ok was never really sure on that