27 Nov 2012

Women and video games

I love video games. I have loved video games since I was old enough to boot up my grandparent's Amiga and learn DOS commands. I would have been about eight (circa 1993). Before then, my earliest memories are playing Alex Kidd in Miracle World on the Mastersystem II. I used to play Zork, and various other interactive fictions, the original Civilization and Eye of The Beholder. It sparked an interest in fantasy RPGs that hasn't gone away. We didn't own a family PC until I was 14, but my older brother went through consoles like other people go through socks. We had (at various points) a NES, a SNES, a Playstation and  an N64 (my favourite console of all time). Once we got hold of a PC, I started playing games like Baldur's Gate, Theme Hospital and SimCity. I spent HOURS of my life on there. My very first blog was a gaming blog, written in HTML from scratch and published on the burgeoning school intranet. Nobody read it, obviously. Now, I have been through various gaming PCs and consoles and have an XBox 360, and an Inspiron One, which is shite for gaming  - I only use it to play The Sims 3. I intend to upgrade in the next year.

However, as a female gamer, I've always been aware of heavy bias towards male gamers. As a child, I wasn't allowed to play on my brother's consoles unless he needed someone to make up the numbers on four player Goldeneye. I was a girl, the games were for him and my younger brother. It would certainly never have occurred to my parents to buy me a console in my own right. My family thought I was a bit strange for spending so much time on the old computer at my Gran's house, and then later doing the same at home. I was supposed to be into makeup, and clothes (PAH!), not hacking and slashing away in forbidden realms.If I joined in playing Quake on the school computers, there would be one or two girls and fifteen boys. I rarely chose to play as a female character, as they were inevitably crappier than the male characters. Look at bloody Princess Peach in the Mario series - she was never where she said she was going to be and seemingly incapable of just NOT getting abducted by Bowser. In Street Fighter, it took them years to have more than one female character, and then it was the semi-naked Cammy. Even in Baldur's Gate, the women were either irritating (Imoen), mental on religion (Jaheira/Branwen) or vile tempered (Viconia).


I always felt like I was on the fringe, only allowed into the male dominated sector of gaming because they hadn't noticed I was there.

Now, of course, I don't give a rat's ass what anyone thinks of my leisure activities, and games are certainly more inclusive than they used to be. On my shelf at the moment, I have the following games (not many, coz I trade in as soon as I'm done): Oblivion, Skyrim, Soul Calibre IV, Lego Harry Potter 1-4, Sims 3, Sims Medieval. The latter three games are genuinely genderless. Harry Potter is aimed at kids, and the Sims games are (almost by definition) inclusive. Oblivion and Skyrim are slightly orientated to male gamers. Soul Calibre is a sexist piece of junk, full of heaving bosoms, short skirts and camel toes. I play it because I'm amazing at it, and it amuses me to kick ass.

Sexism, however, continues. There are games that are basically developed on the premise of sexism, like Leisure Suit Larry (which I loved, rather hypocritically). Consider GTA, one of the more popular video game franchises. Screw a hooker, run her over and get your money back! Almost every interactive NPC is male. I grant you, part of GTA's charm is it's wholehearted lack of political correctness. It makes crime fun, and allows you to be someone you would never want to be in reality. However, its misogyny goes beyond what it necessary to stay in the character of the game.
Tomb Raider is another subtly (or not so subtly) sexist game. At first glance, it seems fine. A female protagonist, doing all manner of traditionally male activities, shooting guns and fighting tigers (and whatever other bollocks she got up to). But the game's biggest selling point is Lara Croft: fantasy woman. Make her do a backflip and watch her boobs bounce. See also: Dead or Alive.
Even in Sims 3, a game I usually consider to be admirably inclusive, has sliders on the female characters to make their breasts bigger or smaller.
It is rare that a video game has a female protagonist that is not incredibly sexually attractive. The only reason I can think for this is to tailor it to the men who want to game. You don't generally get cut scenes lingering over the male character's arse or crotch.

Sexism is alive and well in videogames. But why? Are female gamers so incredibly rare that they should be discounted altogether? I'd have to say no to that. When I was growing up, I certainly felt like the only girl who knew how to use WASD (or even QWOP), but now I know it's just not true. Women do not just play Brain Training on DS, or have a go on a WiiFit every now and then. Some of us have racked up 100+ hours on Skyrim, and completed Mass Effect on insanity (not me though, I hate Mass Effect). Some of us get really angry when Fable sequels just keep getting crappier, and Hitman tries too hard. Thousands, if not millions of us play Xbox Live. We are no longer the minority group.

Despite the institutionalised sexism, and the downright misogyny of many games, women still play and enjoy them. There is little alternative, when female developers are treated like crap. If women are massively underrepresented at a development level, the end product is going to be male orientated at best, vilely sexist at worst. And until there is a major backlash, nothing will change. I sincerely hope that #1reasonwhy starts the ball rolling.

No comments:

Post a Comment