HA! Hilariously-sad and vice-versa... I agree with this vid, it's absolutely redonkulous, but I believe there may be a simple explanation behind it all (and by the way, moral crusaders, notice how I say explanation and not excuse, mmmm'kay?):
Gaming has been around now for yonks - true. However, mainstream gaming hasn't. Gaming, as you remember, used to be a sub-culture in and of its own, and gamers (male or female) were never actually considered to even exist in (and by) the mainstream ethos, other then when they were called upon to take the role of a murderous maniac of some sort, who used to play contra and then killed a whole school of kids, or whatever. So, in a way, 10 years ago (if we are to be generous) somewhat marked the 'official birth' of gaming into mainstream culture, and people actually started paying attention to it, but we'll get back to that later, as my *genius* theory unfolds.
Now, I may be wrong about this, but if I am in fact right in assuming that gaming, before it became mainstream, used to be mostly dominated by men (or at least, openly; men [or rather, boys] at the time were less reluctant to showcase their interest in games), then, following the steps of logic and mathematical statistics, that would indicate that alpha-males among our majority of bullied and secluded-from-society, hermit-like gamers are in fact the developers and designers of the games of today. So, logically, the games that do come out today, with their 'complex' stories and what-not, are expected to have self-aggrandizing, author-surrogate, ultra-masculine characters; while, in contrast to that very, very few good female characters. It makes sense, when you put it into context: games created by shunned, awkward, isolated hacker-like teens of the 80s and 90s, in whose paradigm girls rarely existed, are meant to have what? Bullshit male protagonists, of course - it makes sense; and, subsequently lacking, over-sexualized, two-dimensional cardboard-cutout female protagonists.
I'd like to make it clear that I'm not defending the industry here with its bullshit practices, nor am I aiming to offend any gamers from that time period (I myself am a 90s kid). I'm not trying to excuse anything, I'm just trying to explain it, and frankly, this explanation is the only one that makes sense to me; this is the only explanation that can account for the ridiculous behaviour - both direct and indirect - we see from our beloved developers, time and again: when they release games that frankly insult the very concept of the female sex, or when they come out with absurd claims that if they happen to make their protagonists female, that would damage their sales and piss-off their 'main demographic', it speaks of a certain mentality which, unless put into some (albeit grossly over-generalized and over-simplified) context, makes no bloody, f*cking sense, what-so-ever, and seems as though can belong only to a bad James Bond villain.
The developers, designers, and overall heads of gaming projects today, are in fact kids - because that's the way they brought themselves up - here I shall invoke the bullshit phrase: 'The stereotype exists for a reason', and judging by their actions and by their products, it most certainly does exist, if anything.
There is another reason why I brought up mainstream gaming to begin with, and that is because I often hear people compare gaming to film, i.e.: 'Oh, look at film! Look how much better they treat their protagonists/ and/or have better story arcs/ and/or are far more sophisticated regarding sexual, religious, whatever ideologies./ and/or is far more respected' - and yes, those are all valid points, however to tie this to the topic: Film is more respected and developed as an art form, because film was always mainstream. Film was always handled by people far more astute than our "elite" in gaming. Film, unlike gaming, was never obscure or just a geeky sub-culture. And, while it's true that there was a time when Hollywood portrayed women as empty vessels and mere male-inspired love interests; and, taking into account that Hollywood was, in fact, *slightly* late in catching onto relevant female's rights movements, etc., film always had to seem respectable, because film dealt with many issues, such as the MPAA (the Hayes Act, etc.) and film's development couldn't possibly be compared to gaming, because film had to progress far quicker than gaming, and always aimed to do so, while gaming didn't. So, what is my point in all this? It goes thus: What we are doing right now, the fact that there are people out there, like Jim Sterling, who point out our mistakes and follies as a culture, is good, and hopefully, all we need as a culture that aims to be seen as not-backward, is time. The developers/designers/heads and CEO's of today's industry will in fact step down at one point, and we can all at least hope that the next generation of game development will be a far better, more-inclusive and respected era, than the one we are living in right now.
However, that being said, my other, slightly darker point is: What we see today, the games that come out, and all the silliness - it is to be fully expected. Not excused, but expected. We are the by-products of our volition, and ultimately, ourselves - there is little we can do to teach an old dog new, more politically-correct tricks...
Side note: In this little exposé/mini-thesis of mine, I only address Western gaming culture, and I don't really address my remarks to our Eastern friends, since I am even more poorly versed in their development, as of now.
