Wet
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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Excellently written, and I'm not just sucking up here. I've been thinking the same thing for a long time. I hate the hot-blooded ***** character that there's at least one of in every piece of fiction created in the last decade.
Whether it's the action-y, "just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't kick your ass" ***** found in every Xbox 360 game that actually has female characters, the shrieky, "EEK PERVERT" ***** found in most Japanese works who hits anyone who ever dares look at her breasts, or just the overly-independent, "I don't need anyone around to help me, least of all a man" ***** that you see in most American films and television shows, you can be sure that had I been a character in that fiction, said ***** would have been punched in the face the first time I'd seen her do that, whether or not she would kick my ass afterwards.
A lot of people I know say I'm sexist, even if only unconsciously, but I'm really not. I'm fine with women. A lot of good friends of mine are chicks. I grew up in a mostly female upbringing due to my old school's female-leaning policies and the after-school programs my sister and I went to that were chosen more to suit her than me. Most of my communication is with my sister and one of my two closest confidantes online is a chick. And I respect them, because they act like people. Just people. They don't remind me of their gender every few seconds. I can be friends with anyone as long as they act like a freaking human being.
But back on track, I think the best example of an independent female character would be Samus Aran. She's definitely independent and can hold her own, but is she a *****? No. Is she overly macho? No. Does she try to kill everything she comes across? Not if she can avoid it. Does she have a reasonable motivation for her actions? Yes, and a good backstory as well. Does she have compassion? Very yes. She was a well-done character. As is Zelda from the Legend of Zelda series (she tends to be a lot more than just your standard damsel-in-distress) and that new Mario princess, Rosalina (if you haven't played Super Mario Galaxy, one, you wouldn't really understand the character and and two, you can't call yourself a real gamer anyway if you haven't at least tried that game.)
Anyone who's creating any work of fiction with a "tough" female character should read this article. There's some excellent advice in it. Let's begin an era of female characters and me not wanting to punch their lights out (chick or not, I would.)
Whether it's the action-y, "just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't kick your ass" ***** found in every Xbox 360 game that actually has female characters, the shrieky, "EEK PERVERT" ***** found in most Japanese works who hits anyone who ever dares look at her breasts, or just the overly-independent, "I don't need anyone around to help me, least of all a man" ***** that you see in most American films and television shows, you can be sure that had I been a character in that fiction, said ***** would have been punched in the face the first time I'd seen her do that, whether or not she would kick my ass afterwards.
A lot of people I know say I'm sexist, even if only unconsciously, but I'm really not. I'm fine with women. A lot of good friends of mine are chicks. I grew up in a mostly female upbringing due to my old school's female-leaning policies and the after-school programs my sister and I went to that were chosen more to suit her than me. Most of my communication is with my sister and one of my two closest confidantes online is a chick. And I respect them, because they act like people. Just people. They don't remind me of their gender every few seconds. I can be friends with anyone as long as they act like a freaking human being.
But back on track, I think the best example of an independent female character would be Samus Aran. She's definitely independent and can hold her own, but is she a *****? No. Is she overly macho? No. Does she try to kill everything she comes across? Not if she can avoid it. Does she have a reasonable motivation for her actions? Yes, and a good backstory as well. Does she have compassion? Very yes. She was a well-done character. As is Zelda from the Legend of Zelda series (she tends to be a lot more than just your standard damsel-in-distress) and that new Mario princess, Rosalina (if you haven't played Super Mario Galaxy, one, you wouldn't really understand the character and and two, you can't call yourself a real gamer anyway if you haven't at least tried that game.)
Anyone who's creating any work of fiction with a "tough" female character should read this article. There's some excellent advice in it. Let's begin an era of female characters and me not wanting to punch their lights out (chick or not, I would.)
Problem with Samus: she doesn't F***ing talk! Admitadly Team Ninja is fixing this, but I can't credibly commend characterization of mutes. How did she get her advanced armor suit from the Chozo if she wasn't able to ask for it? Why does the Federation send her on missions when she can't respond to their calls? Just the fact that everyone can walk all over her without waiting for her to say yes or no makes her a *****.
Anyway, regarding the review schedule, why did we not see a Dead Space: Extraction review yet? It released earlier in Australia than anywhere else for once. AND it features a well characterized female no less (though that's arguable, she does adopt "damsel in distress" frequently)!
Anyway, regarding the review schedule, why did we not see a Dead Space: Extraction review yet? It released earlier in Australia than anywhere else for once. AND it features a well characterized female no less (though that's arguable, she does adopt "damsel in distress" frequently)!
People always say this...epsilon246 said:
But it's about time someone explained it to me...
WHAT BACKSTORY?
I can't think of any real back-story for Samus, and quite honestly, most of what we know about Samus (including her NAME) could just as easily be a dude with a pony tail.
In fact the only reason most people seem to know Samus is a GIRL is because other people keep TELLING us..
Half the time I wonder if the ORIGINAL Samus was a girl or just a dude with long hair and when people exclaimed "it's a girl!" waay back then, the creator just ran with it because he discovered it generated 'buzz' about his game. I dont think he ever intended it to be some sort of huge secret and I suspect he just quickly took advantage of a situation.
So tell me, what is Samus's backstory other than "bounty hunter and kills aliens" which essentially is the "back-story" about approximately 90% of the characters I've ever played.
That's why I love Samus Aran, she's pretty much badass space marine #1, employed as literally the best bounty hunter in the galaxy, yet spends most of her time rescuing cute things from space monsters and saving planets full of impoverished space refugees, and she does all of this without talking...well, she talked in fusion but she was decidedly not bitchy so hooray for being a great female lead! I hope they don't mess her up in Other M.
Was that a reference to BlazBlue? Because (arguably I guess) the best character in that game is a tea drinking, long skirt wearing, pinky extended, vampiress.
I was just curious because it was basically a perfect description of her and the entire game centers around combat (which contradicts to a small degree the first part of that sentence but not that it matters).
Otherwise I loved your article. As always you remind me that (myself likely not excluded) even though there are a ton of idiots in the world that there is at least some places I can turn to read thoughtful pieces on topics near and dear to me.
There was a guide on writing a good story that said if you want to portray a female character well, you shouldn't come at the character like it is a woman you should come at it just like you do a male (the idea being you just treat it as a character since most people don't think about male problems when making a male character but DO exacerbate female problems when making females). So basically the good news is you have the same insight into writing that would normally cost 30k dollars of training in the US (IE 4 year degree). No wonder we are so far behind on crap.
Samus's backstory: Her parents were researchers aboard a space station that was attacked by space pirates. Her parents were killed and her escape pod had to land on a nearby unexplored planet. The native race of this planet were wise bird people who are neutral to conflict for the most part. They took her in and trained her in defensive combat and then for some reason made a the Varia suit, a space suit meant to interface with ancient artifacts they left on other planets for some reason, and sent her on her way as she couldn't live with pacifists while seeking revenge.HyenaThePirate said:
This story is mostly explained in Metroid Zero Mission, Fusion and Super Metroid though a lot about the Chozo is explained in Metroid Prime 1 and 2.
The reason Samus is a girl (all of this is hearsay, but it works for an explanation so I run with it): Halfway through development, after finishing his/her death animation one of the designers realized the player never ever sees the character under the suit and made the comment "hey wouldn't it be funny if it just turned out to be a girl." Since, at this time, the difference was only, as you said, adding a few pixles of blonde pony tail the other designers said "that's not a bad idea" and ran with it for an ending cut scene. It was recieved well, but with some questions, so in Super Metroid they have the suit come off in the death animation and wrote a back story for her. Now that she had a back story they went back and added some monologues to Metroid 1 and called it Metroid Zero mission.
Now if only she could talk.
Thank you so much for this piece, Yahtzee. You've clearly illustrated the problem with female characters in video games: 1) They're written and created by men with their ideas of what makes a woman strong or attractive to them (in some bizarre wish-fulfillment fashion). 2) They're always characterized first as a female and second as a person.
Like you said, making a strong female character should be done similarly to making a strong male character, which quite simply amounts to making a strong character period. Samus Aran remains the best example of a strong female character; her sex and gender are merely a footnote to capable person she is.
(And yes, even thinking the title "Wet" makes me feel a little dirty. . .and naughty.)
Like you said, making a strong female character should be done similarly to making a strong male character, which quite simply amounts to making a strong character period. Samus Aran remains the best example of a strong female character; her sex and gender are merely a footnote to capable person she is.
(And yes, even thinking the title "Wet" makes me feel a little dirty. . .and naughty.)
To answer your question Samus' backstory is explained in full in the official manga. From the attack on her homeworld right up to zero mission.HyenaThePirate said:
Reading through this thread, I'm very alarmed at the amount of unprovoked "feminist" bashing.
I use the air-quotes because it seems this article has sent forth a summons to burn ANY self-confident, empowered woman, as opposed to the outliers who give all of humanity, not just their gender, a bad name.
I use the air-quotes because it seems this article has sent forth a summons to burn ANY self-confident, empowered woman, as opposed to the outliers who give all of humanity, not just their gender, a bad name.
I must agree with the notion of the shallow female protagonist. However, I must disagree with everyone on the thread that believes that the feminist movement is outdated. Sadly, even many feminists feel this way. Sorry, but it's still a problem. Women are not treated as equals in many ways. yes, it SHOULD be outdated and an old concept that is decades in the past, but it isn't. Feminism is still a necessity because, like racism, it's still out there. Yes, things have gotten a lot better for women, but they still aren't treated with equality even in the United States thirty years after the feminist movement here really took off. Am I saying that the US is the leader in feminism and male/female relations? No, I'm saying that we should be farther along than we are considering there was a huge stink was made about it. There are still girls out there that aren't allowed into certain sports because of their sex. There are still women making less than men for doing the same work. These problems still exist, it's just that people aren't as open about them anymore because our culture demanded that they changed. They have changed and they have improved, but not enough. The mentality of female inferiority is still there. It's still a man's world (at least here in the US for sure).
Now I get to my point: Yahtzee is right. There is still a major need for feminist-friendly female characters, but this new WET game is a step in the wrong direction. Being a ***** doesn't make a woman independent. It just makes her a *****. Sadly, this isn't just with the male-dominated field of videogames. Take a second look at female characters in today's movies: they too are equating independence and strength with bitchiness. I don't know about the rest of you men, but it doesn't matter how large a woman's breasts are if she's a *****. That's why I despised that series "Dark Angel." Alba's character wasn't strong, she was just arrogant! It may be because the media believes that mannish qualities are strong because supposedly men are strong. Well, for whatever the reason, the media is screwing things up yet again. I'm all for female rights and finally putting them equal with men, but it has to be done in the right way. It's a lot like that Tool Academy show. Regardless if it's scripted or not, the premise is to put these men through therapy to treat their girlfriends better and stop cheating on them. one of the top competitors for the $100,000 prize is a man named Charm. The only reason he's there is because he figured out what the therapist wants to hear and not because he's actually evolving from being a cheating asshole. The problem has not improved, it has merely changed form.
Now I get to my point: Yahtzee is right. There is still a major need for feminist-friendly female characters, but this new WET game is a step in the wrong direction. Being a ***** doesn't make a woman independent. It just makes her a *****. Sadly, this isn't just with the male-dominated field of videogames. Take a second look at female characters in today's movies: they too are equating independence and strength with bitchiness. I don't know about the rest of you men, but it doesn't matter how large a woman's breasts are if she's a *****. That's why I despised that series "Dark Angel." Alba's character wasn't strong, she was just arrogant! It may be because the media believes that mannish qualities are strong because supposedly men are strong. Well, for whatever the reason, the media is screwing things up yet again. I'm all for female rights and finally putting them equal with men, but it has to be done in the right way. It's a lot like that Tool Academy show. Regardless if it's scripted or not, the premise is to put these men through therapy to treat their girlfriends better and stop cheating on them. one of the top competitors for the $100,000 prize is a man named Charm. The only reason he's there is because he figured out what the therapist wants to hear and not because he's actually evolving from being a cheating asshole. The problem has not improved, it has merely changed form.
I got a strong female lead for you! Oh wait...I'm drawing a blank, its been so long since I've seen one.
I liked Rubi but only because she reminded me of my psychotic girlfriend from 1994-1995 during my waning college years, or as I like to refer to them, "The time I nearly got stabbed. Twice. But still let her move back in because she was so damned good in bed." And near as I can tell she never had any particular motivation for her mania, either.
I played Wet for the car chases. The rest of it was more painful over-the-top run and gun platforming, but damn, the car hopping was fun!
I played Wet for the car chases. The rest of it was more painful over-the-top run and gun platforming, but damn, the car hopping was fun!
Thank you for this, the distinct difference between an independant and likeable female protaganist and a nit-picky,neurotic, needlessly agressive ***** needed to be adressed
I completely agree
the only female character I can think of that was any good was Alyx from Half-life 2
the only female character I can think of that was any good was Alyx from Half-life 2
Yahtzee, you've proven to be influential to the games industry. I honestly hope that there are some developers who pay attention to EP as well as ZP, because your point is actually quite a large problem in the industry, and has been since games became popularized.
Now I know I'm going to get big rocks thrown at me for saying this, but this is one of the reasons why I love the Resident Evil series. Yes, every woman to have ever appeared in any of the games is extremely attractive with breasts like soft, bouncy cantaloupes, but besides that, they're quite well-characterized (except Sheva). Even Jill Valentine, Capcom's ex-Poster girl, has an interesting history, intelligence, and a personality, though I consider her characterization to be one of the most shallow despite. Even the ditzy ones like Ashley Graham and, to some degree, Rebecca Chambers are believable and sympathetic characters; Ashley is a pampered Bourgeois college chick from an aristocratic family and Rebecca is a painfully neurotic girl genius with insecurities coming out of her ears. And then there's Claire Redfield, a tomboyish college student bursting with personality and wit, and Ada Wong, a dry, manipulative loner torn between her growing sense of loneliness and desire for power and money, a classic case of "love vs. the job." Although she, too, is a massive *****, the difference between her and Rubi is that Ada has depth and complexity to her, while Rubi has the depth and complexity of a cheap litterbox filled with cat leavings.
Now I know I'm going to get big rocks thrown at me for saying this, but this is one of the reasons why I love the Resident Evil series. Yes, every woman to have ever appeared in any of the games is extremely attractive with breasts like soft, bouncy cantaloupes, but besides that, they're quite well-characterized (except Sheva). Even Jill Valentine, Capcom's ex-Poster girl, has an interesting history, intelligence, and a personality, though I consider her characterization to be one of the most shallow despite. Even the ditzy ones like Ashley Graham and, to some degree, Rebecca Chambers are believable and sympathetic characters; Ashley is a pampered Bourgeois college chick from an aristocratic family and Rebecca is a painfully neurotic girl genius with insecurities coming out of her ears. And then there's Claire Redfield, a tomboyish college student bursting with personality and wit, and Ada Wong, a dry, manipulative loner torn between her growing sense of loneliness and desire for power and money, a classic case of "love vs. the job." Although she, too, is a massive *****, the difference between her and Rubi is that Ada has depth and complexity to her, while Rubi has the depth and complexity of a cheap litterbox filled with cat leavings.