Wet
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
What's the gender mix of video game developers as a profession? According to this from 2005 - http://www.gamedev.net/columns/events/coverage/feature.asp?feature_id=41 - its less than 10%. If there are sod all female developers then it might explain some of the skewed depictions.
Hey guys, what do boobs actually look like?
Hey guys, what do boobs actually look like?
I quite liked her. She seemed to have a decent character and was strong and capable while still being someone you could relate to.Chipperz said:
It was nice to have a villian with decent motives for once; what with Lars being dead and Eddie rejecting her it seems reasonable that she turned to the Sea of Black Tears.
"You want to make a strong female character, you do the same thing you do to make a strong anything character. Give them a life, a backstory, hopes, dreams, desires. Give them the capacity to feel the whole gamut of emotions. Yes, let them be tough, but let them laugh, and cry, and find things to enjoy in life."
I can't think of any other female character that fits this description like Elena Fisher (Uncharted) - other than Alyx Vance.
I can't think of any other female character that fits this description like Elena Fisher (Uncharted) - other than Alyx Vance.
I think pigeon-holing the "strong female" character into a 110% cold heartless ***** is a knee-jerk reaction brought upon by the hordes of feminists that scream whenever a female character is portrayed in the "helpless princess" stereotype.
Developers are so afraid of the feminist tounge-lashing that comes from making a female character show actual female traits, they leave them out altogether. The end result being a Terminator that looks like Ellen Ripley. (Aliens, for all you that weren't around in 1986)
Developers are so afraid of the feminist tounge-lashing that comes from making a female character show actual female traits, they leave them out altogether. The end result being a Terminator that looks like Ellen Ripley. (Aliens, for all you that weren't around in 1986)
Yahtzee, didn't you like Saints Row 2? The 'protagonist' is one of the most ruthless and evil main characters I've seen in a game. Everything s/he does is either for revenge or money, or a combination of both, and aside from that one scene with Carlos, s/he doesn't get any characterization as anything other than a total *****/bastard. Of course, on the other hand, s/he's not trying to pretend otherwise.
I think the spirit of the article here is that ***** and bimbo are opposite ends of the same spectrum and they are equally stupid. The article makes a sound demand: forget gender and sex and develop CHARACTERS. It does seem like only two decisions are made when creating these people: which genitals and which 1D personality will we slap on. Tits, *****-->Ruby.Beltaine said:
And think carefully before you design your woman in the top 1% of hotness. She'll make 99% of women feel threatened, 100% of men feel like downloading naked pics.
Yahtzee has just said something I've talked about for a while, and amazingly without getting flamed (well not much, and not so far).
Yes, I am getting tired of all the ultra-feminist amazons myself.
Yes, I am getting tired of all the ultra-feminist amazons myself.
I killed Ashleyhigh_castle said:
I still regret it, too. Even though at the time it seemed the right thing to do for the mission objectives. I think that's an indicator of a good game; over a year later and I still regret a choice I made.
I take your GLADoS and raise you a SHODAN. Again, not strictly a woman, but in System Shock 2 especially (in which SHODAN was a classic vengeful mother-figure) SHODAN was an immensely well-characterised strong feminine character. Also easily the best antagonist of any game I've ever played.RabbitDynamite said:
It seems like the only way to get decent female characters is to write them as if they're a male character and then leave the gender decision up to the player, a la Saints Row 2. (But, even then, I'd say it's a gamble, because half the time the male protagonists seem just as empty and wet as their female counterparts, even if they fall into a different set of stereotypes.) Either that or put them into the wonderful nameless, faceless, voiceless category of protagonists, like Chell.
Sometimes I have to wonder if the people who are writing the scripts have ever actually met...you know, people. oO I think it's the eternal problem of trying so desperately hard to make a character likeable that they throw all the cliches of characters from movies or TV sitcoms at them in order to make them marketable. Never mind the fact that nobody actually likes those people. Either that or they're all just author-inserts.
Sometimes I have to wonder if the people who are writing the scripts have ever actually met...you know, people. oO I think it's the eternal problem of trying so desperately hard to make a character likeable that they throw all the cliches of characters from movies or TV sitcoms at them in order to make them marketable. Never mind the fact that nobody actually likes those people. Either that or they're all just author-inserts.
