On the Depiction of Women in Games

Oprainfall writes:

"The depiction of women in games is under no uncertain terms a difficult topic to discuss in a public forum. It’s a sensitive topic; one that tends to touch a lot of nerves any time that it’s brought up, and justifiably so. It’s also an important topic to those such as myself that want to see stronger female character representation in games. Below are my own thoughts on the subject, which I will note are my own opinion and are not necessarily shared by the rest of the staff. Whether or not you agree, I hope that any discussion that branches from this remains civil."

[Quadraxis]

I can't be the only one tired this subject. There's really little to add.

[DragonKnight]

You aren't the only one tired of it. And the worst thing about it is that every time it's discussed, it completely ignores the already strong female presence, and speaks for those women who aren't sensitive ninny's and don't actually give a damn about the subject because they recognize that games are, you know, games.

[aLucidMind]

My only complaint is that some games don't give the option to choose male or female, but only someone who is overly sensitive or intentionally trying get their self disappointed would complain about every game lacking a female player character.

Example: It is understandable to want to play a female lead in a GTA game or even some FPS games (like FarCry), but it is NOT understandable in a game such as Duke Nukem.

[madjedi]

If your talking about the main character then short of rpgs ala fallout, that typically isn't worth the hassle of trying to build two seperate storylines one for a male and a different one for a female.

When you start getting into a story like uncharted or heavenly sword, you kinda have to pick a characters gender and craft the story from there.(but i am not a writer/author)

Then you have fallouts, mass effects ect, were you can be either gender but the only significant difference is some dialogue choices and a female voice/skin, ie purely cosmetic.

Take a look at any regular game, fps especially, almost all the enemies are exactly the same, the only difference the texture of the clothes/skin ect.

The dynasty/samurai warriors series have many playable females, but it's not a regular character/story driven game per say.

I would rather see more unique story characters either male or female, than the typical either/or choice with exactly the same, story/play experience regardless of a male or female character skin.

Including both a male and female user controlled main character could work in certain games, it just depends on the game and the developers vision for said game.