Jimquisition: The Creepy Cull of Female Protagonists

knight steel

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Daystar Clarion said:
It's 2013 and we still can't have woman in video games because of homophobic neckbearded manchildren.

I love playing women in video games, I pick female characters at every opportunity, always create women in Bethesda titles like Fallout and the Elder Scrolls, I just can't understand, in this day and age, that this attitude still exists.
OI stop using neck beard as an insult,for fucks sake it a legitimate look stop bashing it also some people can't grow facial hair any where else no matter how hard we try,your being just as bigoted as the people your criticising T_T
 

thiosk

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I'll certainly have none of that gay ladies kissin' men business in my games. Der bible has things to say regarding such gayness!

Thanks for the video daddy!
I mean, Jim! Jim thats what I mean.
 

an annoyed writer

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Jun 21, 2012
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Good vid, Jim. As I was growing up I was always baffled by the lack of leading ladies. It seems that the publishers damn anyone who has a female player character preference to obscurity and decided to pander to the "White, 20-something heterosexual cisgendered male" demographic, shutting out entire demographics of people. I mean, look at Call of Duty: sure, in BLOPS II there's a prominent female character, but she's relegated to a side character. Before that, women were either A) Damsels in distress(see COD4) or B) screaming civilians getting shot and killed(MW2,3). I can't say there were any main women in those games, much less playable ones. You can't even choose your gender in the multiplayer options, another rather big sin there. And then there's the shit devs have to go though to even have a woman on the motherfucking box art... fuck this noise. I'm getting too mad thinking about this shit.
 

Phasmal

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Jun 10, 2011
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It's really really disappointing that this kind of thing is still around.
And even more so disappointing that the reaction to it is `Oh no, sexism thread!` as if not talking about it is going to fix anything (hint: It won't).

I for one am glad that the wider gaming community is more aware of this and female players don't have to sit around being invisible (`a dude like the player` indeed).
I would really like it if more of my fellow gamers who happen to be men could take their fingers out of their ears for a little bit and listen to the problems we have, and realize you have the luxury of ignoring them, but the ability of choosing not to. I am always grateful to the guys who are for more female protagonists/better representation.

Great episode Jim.
 

cynicalsaint1

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I think a big part of the problem is men are trained to be extremely insecure about our sexuality from a very young age. See the school yard where being called "gay" is considered pretty much the worst insult ever. I'd like to think most of us eventually get over it, but with the massive amounts of homophobia your average dude shows, I think I'd be wrong about that.
 

Worgen

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DVS BSTrD said:
Okay, fuck it!
I always play as a male in character creation RPGs because I like projecting myself into a character.
Next time though, I'm gunna try playing as a woman. MY SENSE OF SELF CAN TAKE IT!

Jim, call me! <3
I tend to almost always choose a female character if given the choice. I don't project myself into the character, I project aspects of my personality if its the kinda game that gives choices but I am not the character I play. I tend to choose female characters because I find it much more interesting to see a female overcome adversity than a male.

This is a very strange problem and Jim is right, its very difficult to figure out where the fault lies. Female headed games are quite rare and don't receive the market support so it might just be a marketing failure but then we have a game like mass effect where apparently only 18% of players played femShep and beat the game.

I think it all comes down to people sucking.
 

yunabomb

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I haven't really read anything by Gladwell so the reference to him went over my head.
 

Tombsite

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As is often the case I more or less agree with all Jim had to say. Two points though:
1. All sex/intemecy sceens in games are crepy. It is more or less a set of virtual Barbie and Ken dolls getting mashed together. Not sexy and not interesting really.

2. Could we try to not have "love" and sex being the only relationships men and women can have in games (I know there are exceptions but they are few)
 

Worgen

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cynicalsaint1 said:
I think a big part of the problem is men are trained to be extremely insecure about our sexuality from a very young age. See the school yard where being called "gay" is considered pretty much the worst insult ever. I'd like to think most of us eventually get over it, but with the massive amounts of homophobia your average dude shows, I think I'd be wrong about that.
Your right about that but don't forget that allot of the insults that guys use are feminine terms. Pussy, sissy, little girl. It comes off as pretty much anything associated with women is weakness.
 

cyvaris

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The Samus fanservice pisses me off to no end. Really, if we have to take her out of her power-armour can we leave her in "normal" clothing? No. Why? Because bullshit reasons about "sexy".
 

TheBestPieEver

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This whole situation makes me want to buy Remember Me -Even though I think it'll be shit- to stand for women in relationships in gaming. We should be able to explore every type of situation and relationship in gaming, and I will fight for it tooth and nail.
 

WildFire15

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Outside of RPGs, there arn't many games I can think of that have female protagonists, but I've never heard people complain about that. Would Portal be substantially better if you were playing Chris instead of Chell? The first time you saw your character through a portal, I remember thinking "Oh, the character's a woman." I can't think of anything else I thought and I doubt there was anyone who threw the game away in disgust.
If anything, it seems to me Publishers are just continuing to aim at the largest demographic as they always do, which is male so they seem to think the main character has to be male in order to connect with them.
 

burningdragoon

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I agree it's pretty ludicrous to think we can't have female leads, or female-driven romance. Even simply because it's boring to only have one way of doing things.

That said, I get a little annoyed with most forms of uncanny valley romance and sex that ends up in games these days, so I can't say I'm looking forward to more of it in any context.

Edit: Though really, if I can "deal" with staring at Solid Snake's skintight buttcrack, I can "deal" with *gasp* a women going to kiss someone.
 

Deacon Cole

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I am actually fucking surprised by the Bioshock Infinite cover. It's a Bioshock game. Anyone who's worth listening to know this is the first real sequel to the original Bioshock from the original developer and not the cash grab knock-off that Bioshock 2 reportedly was. (I haven't played it, which is why I can't do the Bioshock quiz on the site. Too many questions involving Bioshock 2 characters) I could understand them testing the fucking cover if it was a new IP without a familiar name plastered on the box. But this is an established IP that is also the highest rated first person shooter of all time, as their advertising is keen to point out. This game is not some unknown where the wrong cover art could hurt sales. This is a well-established brand that will sell well even if there were no characters at all on the cover. Just the name. The original Bioshock had the Big Daddy and a Little Sister on the cover. Does this mean the market prefers little girls to full grown women?

I agree with Jim. Something is very, very wrong here. I don't know what. But it is incredibly wrong.

You know what I hope? I hope the next Call of Duty or whatever makes use of the US allowing female soldiers into combat by making the main character female. Yeah, the story is liable to be a shitty retread of G.I. Jane. But it would be a step in the right direction.
 

Weaver

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This was an excellent video, Jim. It's the kind of observations I was hoping the tropes vs. women videos would (or will, in the future) examine. The sexism in the video game industry is absolutely there, and I wish we could make it better.

Related, I've been playing more and more female protagonists in games when given the option, simply because I find it refreshing. My MMO characters are almost all female now (unless I feel there is a thematic or lore reason they shouldn't be). I hope transistor gives us a great female lead as well. Hopefully it sells a boatload and some publishers will take notice.

As an aside, I actually do drink freshly ground, dark beans brewed very strongly.
 

Chessrook44

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Mr.Tea said:
Well, just before I saw Jimquisition had been posted, I said this about the fact that a whopping 82% of Mass Effect playthroughs were Male Shep:

Me said:
God people are boring... Of course the vast majority played a Soldier Male Shep! They need to "identify" and shit!

Very seriously, from the bottom of my heart and with all due respect (none): Fuck anyone who somehow won't play female characters. Fuck them up the arse with a rake.
And I stand by it even more after this video.

Also, it's quite funny how the first few replies are all "Oh no! Not more sexism debate! Stop talking about it!"
Dunno where the comment was, but I'll just say yes, I played that... FIRST. On EASY. Because I always play those games in simple easy form so I can experience the story with minimal frustration. Second time I played it was on a harder difficulty with a female biotic/soldier hybrid, because the character I use for that fits.
 

Flameeater

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DVS BSTrD said:
Okay, fuck it!
I always play as a male in character creation RPGs because I like projecting myself into a character.
Next time though, I'm gunna try playing as a woman. MY SENSE OF SELF CAN TAKE IT!

Jim, call me! <3
Honestly, I always play as a female in most games. Not because I am supporting the struggle... but because I am a man, and I contain within all the (apparently vile) things that go with being a man (and enjoy every min. of it). That said, if I am going to spend countless hours looking at someones ass, I would prefer it to be a woman's. Just my 2 cents.