Published by Zabimaru on 29 Sep 2008 at 09:49 pm
Examples of Favorite Nerdy Girls – Part 2: Video Games
Video games have always been plagued by the fact that people write what they know.
Writing what you know is usually a good thing, but the custom did somewhat hinder the development of interesting female figures in video games. Not to overly stereotype, but for most of the history of video game development, the developers have been men with a high probability of being single. So the developers haven’t had all that much knowledge about women, so there just haven’t been very many female characters, and the ones that have been have tended to be very boring stereotypes.
History of Video Games – From Bad to Better
For much of video game history women mainly appeared in the role of the helpless damsel in distress, like for instance Princess Peach from the Super Mario-games. The girl was nothing more than a plot device; a MacGuffin to search for, to keep the game moving forward, with little or no personality of their own.
Princess Peach - Professional Damsel in Distress
After that came many appearances of an opposite stereotype; the violent, buxom vixens. While the damsel in distress type of character is cute, innocent and helpless, the violent vixens are always overtly sexy, scantily clad and very effective killing machines. They are usually just as two-dimensional and boring as their helpless counterparts.
Vinyl Goddess from Mars - No, really
Lara Croft from Tomb Raider came along as a bit of a milestone on the way to more interesting female characters, even though she’s suffered a lot of bad press for how she actually did that. The question is if that bad press was unjustified or not.
First of all, Lara is pretty much exactly the kind of girl that we at Girls at Big Books like the best. She is sort of a female Indiana Jones; an adventurous, courageous archeologist who travels the world in search for precious artifacts. She is very intelligent and educated and overall an interesting person.
But despite all that, her boobs are her main selling point.
Lara Croft - Engaged in some boob-gazing?
That is very unfortunate. Sure, it is understandable that someone with marketing in mind wanted her assets in the chest area to stand out, to draw a wider audience. But as a result, her traits as a strong, intelligent, interesting woman became very much neglected and in the eyes of most people she became nothing but a pair of walking breasts with guns.
Modern Times – Things are Looking Better
Some more recent games have done a better job at creating more balanced and interesting female personalities, and a Girls with Big Books-favorite is Alyx Vance.
Alyx Vance - Not just a tough cookie
Alyx is a secondary character in the Half-Life 2 series of video games. She is featured several times in the original HL2 and is given a much more prominent role in sequel episodes. And we love that, because we love Alyx.
Just like the violent vixens mentioned previously, she very proficient with various firearms and she is strong and capable in every way. But in contrast to the stereotypical vixens, that’s not all that there is to her; she has a real and interesting personality beyond that. She is very intelligent and a technical and mechanical prodigy, and she also has a quirky sense of humor and expresses a wide range of emotions and personality traits.
Jade - Fair and balanced reporter?
Another favorite of ours is Jade from the excellent Beyond Good and Evil.
Just like Alyx, she has a unique and interesting personality. She doesn’t seem to have quite the technical and scientific knowledge that Alyx has, but as we’ve mentioned elsewhere on the site, that’s not the only kind of intelligence that is interesting.
Jade is more of the artistic type. She is a freelance reporter, and apparently talented as both a photographer and writer. And interestingly enough she can pull of the lead in a game without being an efficient killing machine.
She does have weapons, but not many, and her most important weapons are her camera and her wits. This is something that really lends to the uniqueness of her character and makes her feel perhaps even more balanced and interesting than Alyx.
Concluding Thoughts
Half-Life 2, Beyond Good and Evil and other games have shown us that it is possible to create genuinely interesting female characters without resorting to tired stereotypes. The popularity of characters like Alyx Vance has also shown that those stereotypes are not necessary even from a marketing standpoint.
So, does this mean that the future is bright for those of us who love nerdy and intelligent girls and are tired of exaggerated vixens?
Maybe, maybe not. I looked through a list of some upcoming video games, and one of the first I found with a female lead was Velvet Assassin… Not that I know much about the game, and I shouldn’t prejudge it, but that title does somehow bring to mind the Vinyl Goddess from Mars seen above.
Tags: Video Games
Whiner on 30 Sep 2008 at 5:10 am #
If you want examples of female characters, it might help to look outside the big mainstream games which are heavily advertised to young men.
“I looked through a list of some upcoming video games, and one of the few I found with a female lead” - this sounds like you’re not aware of the casual game industry at all. Or, for that matter, the niche adventure game industry. Both categories with far more female players as well as far more female characters.
Video game articles have always been plagued by writers who stick to stereotypes and don’t examine beyond the surface. :)
Zabimaru on 30 Sep 2008 at 5:20 pm #
Whiner: That line was supposed to read “one of the first” not “one of the few.” Fixed now :) It wasn’t meant to imply that there are no other games with female characters. I am not the gamer that I once was, but I do know at least a bit about games that wouldn’t be considered mainstream.
But this is not a gaming site, it is a site about interesting, intelligent women, and this post was just meant to be examples and comments on various types of characters in video games. Those examples were chosen mostly from mainstream games so that people could recognize them. That closing bit about Velvet Assassin was mostly just something I found entertaining; an observation that when I tried to find female leads I immediately find a title that sounds like a bad softcore flick…
It was not meant to be any in depth review of all facets of the gaming industry and was not meant to annoy those who write actual gaming articles ;) It was just about general, visible trends, that I’m sure you agree are important, even if there is more under the surface.
makyo on 02 Oct 2008 at 6:53 pm #
i was fortunate to be at PAX this year and i have to say that of all the booth babes and scantily-clad character actors, violette from velvet assassin was by far my favorite. she was fully clothed in fitted but not gratuitous leather pants and matching jacket, hair pulled back into a high bun, real boots on feet (no high heels) and toting a large handgun. her default pose for picture-seekers was to hold her gun up to their head in a mock-theatening pose. i’ve seen bits of the game and i think it looks promising. violette stands a good chance of being the girl i wish lara croft had been - smart, strong, capable, and with more to offer than just t&a.
Goliath on 04 Oct 2008 at 1:58 pm #
This was a truly interesting article, but one of the most interesting things is the evolution of Princess Peach. She turned into something of an actual character in SMRPG and has probably been further developed by now, but I don’t play games much anymore.