Humble Weekly Bundle Celebrates Leading Ladies in Games

[rembrandtqeinstein]

In my evil playthrough of fallout 2 I was female. I maxed my intelligence, perception and charisma and did everything through conversation. If there was unavoidable combat I hid behind cover and let my numerous companions take the risks.

My favorite thing was seducing the farmers son, getting married, then selling him to slavers. And THEN going back to tell the father I did it and seeing him have a heart attack. Then looting his corpse....

 

[Dragonlayer]

In my evil playthrough of fallout 2 I was female. I maxed my intelligence, perception and charisma and did everything through conversation. If there was unavoidable combat I hid behind cover and let my numerous companions take the risks.

My favorite thing was seducing the farmers son, getting married, then selling him to slavers. And THEN going back to tell the father I did it and seeing him have a heart attack. Then looting his corpse....

This is exactly what modern Feminism is about, right down to the cover based combat.

OT

I've heard of Long Live the Queen (and whenever I hear a variant of "Long live the X" I always hear it in Sean Pertwee's malevolent Helghast booming from Killzone 2) before: isn't it about creating a princess and trying to keep her alive long enough to become queen in a ridiculously hostile world?

Also: wasn't the Shadow Broker a Yawhg?

 

[hentropy]

In my evil playthrough of fallout 2 I was female. I maxed my intelligence, perception and charisma and did everything through conversation. If there was unavoidable combat I hid behind cover and let my numerous companions take the risks.

My favorite thing was seducing the farmers son, getting married, then selling him to slavers. And THEN going back to tell the father I did it and seeing him have a heart attack. Then looting his corpse....

This is exactly what modern Feminism is about, right down to the cover based combat.

OT

I've heard of Long Live the Queen (and whenever I hear a variant of "Long live the X" I always hear it in Sean Pertwee's malevolent Helghast booming from Killzone 2) before: isn't it about creating a princess and trying to keep her alive long enough to become queen in a ridiculously hostile world?

Also: wasn't the Shadow Broker a Yawhg?

In a matter of speaking. It's like a hardcore RPG with no dice rolls or combat aspects, the game mechanics is based around a rather complex stat/mood/activity system, with hundreds of stat checks along the way for various things, some of them more or less meaningless while some are matters of life and death. If you die one way, you can try again and train a skill you neglected last time, only to be killed by something else. There's quite a few different ways to "win" with many different endings, but getting them all can be maddening due to how different choices affect the game later on.

Only a masochist would dare to even try and write an all-encompassing guide for it, even wikis seem confused on some points.

 

[The_Great_Galendo]

I've never heard of most of these games, and most of them are in genres that don't interest me much, but I'm glad to hear that Save the Queen and The Cat Lady seem to be quality games, even if not the sort I'm likely to play. I can also say that Valdis Story, for anyone who likes Metroidvania games, is pretty good, and probably worth ten bucks on its own. The creators are even (supposedly, and quite slowly) adding more content to the game, including more playable characters, so it's only likely to increase in value over time. But even if they never added another thing, it would still be worth a sawbuck. (Though I wouldn't call it a prime example of leading ladies in gaming, since the guy is clearly the more "main" of the two current playable characters.)

Now, what about the other games? Lilly Looking Through, Ms. Splosion Man, Defender's Quest, and The Yawhg. Anyone played any of them? Are they good or bad examples of their respective genres?

 

[Ukomba]

Impossible. We keep hearing there are no female protagonists, to the point where Jim had to grab a dinosaur from Primal Rage as the only example of a good female protagonist. There for this bundle, and the hundreds of games on steam, don't exist.

It's almost like that episode had more conditions to it than simply being female.

OT: While I liked Long Live the Queen, I did wish it was a bit longer. If you get rid of all the times you die because you didn't master poison or acrobatics, it's really short. Still fun taking a fourteen(?) year old princess and absolutely crushing the foreign invaders so much that they're country falls apart.

It's almost like his conditions were contrived to make video games appear more sexist than they really were, and ended up be more insulting to better female protagonists than supportive of female characters in gaming. And, even within his ridiculous constrictions, there were better choices.

 

[Ukomba]

Jim had to grab a dinosaur from Primal Rage as the only example of a good female protagonist.

Either you didn't understand the purpose of the video or you are willfully misrepresenting it. Vertigo isn't the only good female protagonist. The purpose of the video was pointing out that Vertigo was one of the few female protagonists who didn't fall under a certain category like all of the rest. Like comparing Nathan Drake (an attractive Male lead) to Wario (a unique and strange character). It's just that Females have a lot more Nathan Drakes and a lot less Warios.

I'm simplifying this a lot so I encourage people to check out the video themselves.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/8177-Vertigo

Anyway with that being said...

I'm not sure what to think about this campaign. It's nice to open up the doors and make more people feel included. I'm sure that at least part of the reason why there are less women in gaming and game development is because of it becoming something of a male space. But I'm just not sure how many girls who didn't have a previous interest in game design would suddenly hop on the ball and be convinced otherwise. I would think that most women who wanted to become game designers did it despite some of the adversity. I'm interested in what kind of impact this could have on the industry in even 10 years time.

I am aware of the limitations he placed on the protagonist. Still, he said the Best, and MOST notable female character that fits his criteria. He couldn't even think of any modern ones.
So does he find Angelus from Drakengard to be attractive?
Is Gaige from Border Lands 2 not scarred enough?
Are Goombella, Flurrie, Vivian, or Ms. Mowz from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door not oddly shaped enough?
How about Bombette, Lady Bow, Watt, and Sushie from Paper Mario?
Is Jack from Mass Effect 2 too boring?
Is Kreia from Knights of the Old Republic 2 not anti-hero enough?
Okami from Okami?
Macha, NeoFio, Poshul, Sprigg from Chrono Cross?
Shale from Dragon Age?

Sorry, but I call bs.

 

[Ukomba]

Impossible. We keep hearing there are no female protagonists, to the point where Jim had to grab a dinosaur from Primal Rage as the only example of a good female protagonist.

You got it wrong. He said a good female anti-hero protagonist.

You got it wrong. He does mention anti-hero, but that isn't a requirement, just uniqueness.

 

[Ukomba]

Impossible. We keep hearing there are no female protagonists, to the point where Jim had to grab a dinosaur from Primal Rage as the only example of a good female protagonist.

I think you may have streamlined what Jim said.

Let's look for a playable woman protagonist in a videogame that doesn't rely on the same pool of restrictive stereotypes as every other playable woman protagonist.

To do this, let's look at a fighting game from 1994. That one about the dinosaurs. Yes, that one. Because I damn well sure can't find many better example. Folks, be prepared ... to RAGE.

When they complain about the lack of female protagonists, they mean the lack of high-profile female protagonists...

Or, you know, he meant what he actually said.

You could always just wait a week or two for them to put up another Humble deal.

It won't be the same charities, though.

I covered that a few posts up. Even based on his unusually restrictive criteria, Ms Splosion Man, a game in this bundle, meets all his requirements (and it came out before his video). Since he says no modern game exists that meets his criteria, Ms Splosion Man must not exist and so this bundle is impossible.

 

[Ukomba]

It's almost like his conditions were contrived to make video games appear more sexist than they really were, and ended up be more insulting to better female protagonists than supportive of female characters in gaming. And, even within his ridiculous constrictions, there were better choices.

So you completely misrepresent what Jim said and when you're called out on it you just decide that what Jim said was contrived. Because, apparently, asking for a playable female character that's not attractive is contrived. If there were better choices, talk about that... in the thread... one year in the past, don't just make shit up.

Also, in your responses to others, make sure you don't continue to misrepresent Jim's argument by ignoring the fact that the characters need to actually be playable. Also also, make sure you don't miss the forest for the tress in your nitpickery.

Excuse me oh master of the nitpick for not quoting word for word what jim said in a quick post on a different subject. I am well aware of his contrived criteria that would knock out the vast majority of male characters if applied to them. Next time I'll provide a full transcript of what he said and several interpretations from renounced sxholars, like yourself, I'm sure.

So I don't get the missenturpretation police on me again I will provide the requirements:
1. Not player created
2. Not conventionaly attractive
3. Unique motivation (not for a man)
Bonus - same power fantasy as a male character.


Ms Sploshion man, in this very bundle meets all those (the whole reason for my comment in the first place)
Kreia from kotor 2 meets all those.
So do all the Mario RPH characters.
Ext, ext. Want to tell me how they don't fit? It's easy to just say I missenturpretated and 'make shit up', harder to point out where I'm wrong.

 

[Ukomba]

So I don't get the missenturpretation police on me again I will provide the requirements:
1. Not player created
2. Not conventionaly attractive
3. Unique motivation (not for a man)
Bonus - same power fantasy as a male character.

Don't forget they have to be playable.

Ms Sploshion man, in this very bundle meets all those (the whole reason for my comment in the first place)
Kreia from kotor 2 meets all those.
So do all the Mario RPH characters.
Ext, ext. Want to tell me how they don't fit? It's easy to just say I missenturpretated and 'make shit up', harder to point out where I'm wrong.

Well, forgive me for my ignorance, but is Kreia a playable character in Kotor? As for the other two and whoever else, all I have for you is a big, hardy "So?" Do you honestly think the point of that episode was that literally no other female character fit his criteria other than Vertigo?

Kreia is a party member and is as playable as any other character, yes. She's arguably the most important character in the game. Frankly she blows vertigo out of the water in every aspect, and vertigo was my favorite character in primal rage (the snes port sucked).

Actually, F@#$ING YES!!! He literally says so. He ENPHASUSES it. Because I'm dealing with the anal requirement to avoid any hint of possible missenturpretation, I'll quote. He "Wracked his brain for a comparable protagonist from the modern 'progressive' era of games and, by jove I can't find a woman granted this license" He goes on to emphasize he isn't joking.

I do like how you disregard those female characters that meet his requirements though. As should everyone because they aren't any where near as rare as was being made out in that video. I could make a list of more than a dozen off the top of my head out of only games I played. So not finding them is a personal issue, not a game industry issue. That's was my response to pointing out male versions like Wario too, So what?

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

Kreia is a party member and is as playable as any other character, yes. She's arguably the most important character in the game. Frankly she blows vertigo out of the water in every aspect, and vertigo was my favorite character in primal rage (the snes port sucked).

I wouldn't really consider a party member in a Bioware game a playable character...

Bioware did not make kotor 2. I feel saying to sightly debate what say about kriea but arguing on the internet in not my highest priority at this time.

 

[Something Amyss]

I covered that a few posts up. Even based on his unusually restrictive criteria, Ms Splosion Man, a game in this bundle, meets all his requirements (and it came out before his video). Since he says no modern game exists that meets his criteria, Ms Splosion Man must not exist and so this bundle is impossible.

I'm not particularly sure why you feel she doesn't draw from the same pool of stereotypes.

 

[Ukomba]

Kreia is a party member and is as playable as any other character, yes. She's arguably the most important character in the game. Frankly she blows vertigo out of the water in every aspect, and vertigo was my favorite character in primal rage (the snes port sucked).

I wouldn't really consider a party member in a Bioware game a playable character...

No problem then, it isn't a bioware game.

But you might as well say no rpg character is playable then. An odd stance to take but it would be constant. Personally, I consider taking direct control of a characters movements and actions as being playable.

Actually, F@#$ING YES!!! He literally says so. He ENPHASUSES it. Because I'm dealing with the anal requirement to avoid any hint of possible missenturpretation, I'll quote. He "Wracked his brain for a comparable protagonist from the modern 'progressive' era of games and, by jove I can't find a woman granted this license" He goes on to emphasize he isn't joking.

So because he says he couldn't think of any other characters that fit his criteria and said as much, the point of his video was that literally no other playable female characters that fit exist anywhere?

In essence that was what he was saying, but in actuality, no it just means he was working to fit a predetermined naratove and/or didn't bother to do any research.

I do like how you disregard those female characters that meet his requirements though. As should everyone because they aren't any where near as rare as was being made out in that video. I could make a list of more than a dozen off the top of my head out of only games I played. So not finding them is a personal issue, not a game industry issue. That's was my response to pointing out male versions like Wario too, So what?

Oh, a whole dozen! What ever will we do! In all honesty, that doesn't impress me. How many of those characters are what amounts to monsters? How many human(oid) characters are on that list of ugly playable women that you can make?

Irrelevant. That wasn't the question or vertigo wouldn't have been on the list.

And ya a dozen from just what I played. I don't think I could name as many male character with the same restrictions so a dozen is pretty good.

 

[Ukomba]

I covered that a few posts up. Even based on his unusually restrictive criteria, Ms Splosion Man, a game in this bundle, meets all his requirements (and it came out before his video). Since he says no modern game exists that meets his criteria, Ms Splosion Man must not exist and so this bundle is impossible.

I'm not particularly sure why you feel she doesn't draw from the same pool of stereotypes.

You might want to point out stereotypes, that were part of Jims requirements, you think she breaks. Being pink, while a stereotype, is not grounds for disqualification based on Jims requirements, for example.