Being Geek Chic is a blog about one woman navigating the male-dominated industries of production and tech. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder, CEO and Director of Mighteor - one of the world's first internet video production companies. Learn more about Mighteor here.
There’s this truth that many of us female gamers have come to accept: strong, artistically sound female characters are the exception, not the rule, when it comes to video games. That is true when it comes to story AND design. We know this is a fact, and yet we play. But that shouldn’t stop us from asking for more.
The video game industry and its designers are rightly criticized for not featuring enough female characters, or featuring them as weaker characters. Sure, criticism is good and helpful for shedding light on problem. But perhaps pointing out the positives is a better place to start?
I say we start with small realities of acceptance: Women have been present in games for a long time. And as far back as Samus Aran, they kick ass. But when they aren’t the principle character, I think we have to take acceptance in the fact that it’s at least an available choice in many games. Such as the fact that we can play Mass Effect as FemShep. Every year, there are more and more games that let players customize their gender in the character creator portion of the game. The fact is, for a long time, it was too easy previously for developers not to offer this choice, because they didn’t have a case study to build off of. Would people (not just women) customize their characters to play as women? The answer was: YES, OF COURSE.
The second step towards this peace or treatise with the industry comes at the point of wardrobe. It’s an accepted fact that body shapes are going to promote the same boring, impossible dimensions, but we can at least relish in changes to exterior options. When developers take the time to at least acknowledge this, it gives me hope that we can update even more elements of the physical form of women in games. Look at games like Child of Light, which promote a different age and type of player. No sexuality, just character. Similarly, I look at a movie like Wreck It Ralph and I see more diversity there that could easily be transported into the actual gaming industry.
The third step for improving our relationship with the industry is getting behind their nostalgia improvements. For example, when they take classic games and update them for modern times. This history is so hard to face: but even Mario, a game beloved by all, has promoted bullshit gender roles. But today, Nintendo are making amends for this now as Mario’s Princess Peach now has her own range of games in which she’s the hero. So Super Princess Peach might not be the most exciting game on the planet, but I definitely played the shit out of it. And you know what? I enjoyed kicking ass in a dress. But this step away from traditional roles in gaming is refreshing and more manufacturers should strive to emulate this. Imagine bringing back Ms Pac Man in a new way? Or how about more of Zelda kicking ass?
Beyond console gaming, the online gaming world can be just as fraught with garbage. And while we can all act like gamers should have a narrow definition, we need to embrace the things that are happening elsewhere that are positive for the industry. We need to find the pockets where gaming for women is safe and celebrated and take a lesson.
The online gaming world can be just as fraught so it can be pleasant to find a network that caters to females. 888 Ladies, featured on bingo-apps.co.uk, is a site with a real sense of community between the female players. They also partner with Race for Life to encourage players to make a difference and it’s great for women to have their own space to talk about these issues. The truth is: as more and more women play they want to be represented in a respectful and positive way.
Women in video games are becoming better represented, and not before time, many games now feature strong female leads. Dragon Age: Inquisition is a new title from Bioware, featuring a whole host of powerful female characters, far from being a man’s world this game shows true equality. The game is tailored to the gender that the player picks, so there are different conversation choices and reactions for each.
Traditional gender roles in gaming are changing, as more and more women play they want to be represented in a respectful and positive way. The change in the way developers treat female characters is really down to women speaking out about what they want to see. It’s great to be able to play games and not have typical female character tropes thrust in your face, and the more developers that cater to this the better. It also means that games are becoming more creative as they look for new ways to examine gender stereotypes and create more 3 dimensional characters. It also makes for more interesting stories as players don’t automatically know how characters will act based on their gender. Gaming is becoming far more accessible to women and is in turn showing them in a better light.
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