Damsel in Distress

Is the damsel in distress trope hurting the gaming industry or is it just a lot of hot air by feminists?

[Donnieboi]

Oh my god not this crap again

[Mounce]

I want a sensitive femmeboy screaming for me to save him.

Cause I mean, no ones allowed to show a Non-powerful woman. Every woman on the world must be equal, and by equal that means untouchably the strongest and in no way weak, cause dat'd be stereotypin'.

[catch]

The very fact that you used the term "femmeboy" shows exactly how much of a problem this is. Femme obviously to you meaning inherently weak. Should every female character be strong and self reliant? No definitely not, but clearly there is a problem with many peoples perspective of women and it certainly isn't exclusive to games.

I think society in general is slowly getting better at writing female characters but there is a long way to go.

[Mounce]

@Catch - I guess you don't even understand what Femme means since you had honestly taken it derogatively...

Femme, or Femme Boy, usually just means the person acts 'Girly' or FEMININE. Which you know, is a Word, it is a trait, it isn't Slang and it isn't an insult. If I had to think of anything I'd think people like you are also what's wrong with misinterpretations and misinformation being spread with irrational anger.

Femmeboy would as a result just usually be a gay or bi male who acts feminine instead of machismo or 'regular'. Though since your first response is to take me saying that as an Insult, I'd think you need a rain-check since I don't have a problem with anyones traits or choices of life. I only have a problem with people who twist my words or are stupid :/

[catch]

I know exactly what it means. It was your use of it to imply that feminine meant weak was my point entirely. I didn't twist your words you twisted the use of feminine through the very stereotype that is being discussed.

[Mounce]

The only one who's twisting words is you, Catch. I know what I meant and I know in my mind that I have no problem with 'femme' anything. However, you seem to wish to argue for the sake of arguing, what else is new with you? I guess.

It's funny that you'd say I'm twisting words though when all I did was use sarcasm and dry humor. Apparently I can't even openly say that I'd go save a 'sensitive' femmeboy. Because 'sensitive' means 'WEAK' ? When you think femininity, does the definition of physically strong come to your mind? Honestly.

I really don't think speaking to you is going to go anywhere, you sound like the kind of person who'd find anything to argue about just to get attention. I stand by what I said because I made an acceptable joke while you're parading around here arguing, and childishly disagreeing with all my comments, rofl.

Go find yourself a Strong, manly-voiced feminine boy, Good luck on that and remember what you said, Feminines can't be weak in your mind, or else that's slander! Oh woe is me.

[catch]

You still clearly don't get the point of what I'm saying so you're right it isn't going to get anywhere because you have been making the same assumptions and stereotypes in each comment. I was participating in a discussion using what you said as an example (and the context of the example from you is clear), you made assumptions on my character and motivations and completely missed the point.

[Mounce]

If all you can really say, groundlessly, is tell someone they 'Missed the point' as a means of avoiding the subject on how You were wrong. Then I'm sure there's no use speaking to you further since of how far you have your head up your own ass. More people disagreeing with your first response tells it as it is from the start. Whilst you on your own primarily are the one 'Disagreeing' and causing a fuss childishly.

My comment remains valid and in good taste, your posts do nothing but ensue pointless drama like a pig rolling in the mud, you can go find someone else to roll in your own filth with you.

[catch]

Asserting your comments are right and valid and saying I'm wrong (groundlessly) doesn't make you right. And the notion that someone disagreeing with you is childish is, in itself, childish. There is nothing tasteful about stereotyping women as weak. The number of disagrees I received in my original comment actually serves my argument well as I said it is a society issue and as long as there are people like you perpetuating the stereotypes it remains a problem. You have projected some kind of personality on me as being whiny and looking for attention simply because I have a different opinion on the topic than you. I am just trying to have a conversation about a topic I care about and trying to point out that being female doesn't mean being weak any more than being white doesn't make you timid or being a man makes you a sexual predator. Stereotypes are harmful and a disservice to good writing. Like I said not all female characters need to be strong but when the default is the stereotype it is lazy.

[iamtehpwn]

Beyond Damsel in Distress just being a feminist issue, it really is simply over used to an annoying point in video games really.

[dedicatedtogamers]

In books (for 1000s of years), music (for 100s of years), and movies (for dozens of years) we have the recurring theme of someone saving someone else. Believe it or not, men aren't the only ones with the damsel in distress fantasy. There are a significant number of women who also enjoy the damsel in distress trope (go grab a dozen random chick flicks off the rental shelf and you'll find this theme in 75% or more of them). Statistically, several of the top bedroom fantasies for a woman are being saved (like a fireman), being dominated, being treated roughly, and being coerced/forced. Them's just the stats.

There are people who want to improve people's lives and bring positive change to the world. There are other people who have self-esteem issues and who want to shape other people's viewpoints to fit their own.

People who attack fictional videogame women fall into the latter camp.

[Xof]

Is it hurting the industry? Yes, to a degree, by alienating a huge segment of the demographic. Gamers aren't just prepubsecent white males any more. It's absurd that most game protagonists are still men, let alone white men, and even worse that so much of what laughably passes for character development for these white men is amateurishly created through the use of archaic chauvinistic narrative tropes.

It's not quite as "huge" a deal as some people make it out to be--I think the lack of female player-characters is a far more important issue--but it is a much, much bigger deal that the morons who insist it's all "feminist whining" believe with all the might of their pea-sized brains.

[CrossingEden]

characters like nathan drake are considered to be the best of the best in terms of character and character development while characters like connor from AC3 are considered to be bad even though he breaks the norm

[rextraordinaire]

But there are plenty of strong female leads in gaming.

Referring to this article image, Lightning is one. Kat from gravity rush is a nice lead too, and so are every characters from the Persona series. (They even tackle the damsel in distress trope in Persona 4, with Chie and Yukiko, and objectification with the character of Rise.) Also, Aveline from AC3:Liberation is very good lead character, and let's not forget about Shion from Xenosaga. And Katrin in Shadow Hearts : Covenant. The three sisters from Valkyrie Profile, the Valkyrie in Odin Sphere (Yes, a VanillaWare game that has plenty of enormous breast, SCANDAL). Elsa Eliane in Front Mission 4. Alicia Melchiot in Valkyria Chronicles.

Gaming isn't all about Zelda, Mario and Gears of Wars.

By the way, that article is a satire.

[Anthotis]

It's only an issue for femnazis and self loathing beta males.

[cleft5]

It's a story telling mechanic. Maybe not a good one, but an easy one that gets the player invested in the character. Also, regardless of the gender of the character being rescued the storytelling mechanic works the same way. That's why it gets used so much. It's a little dishonest to call it a male power fantasy, when nothing changes about this storytelling mechanic if you switch the gender roles of the people being saved. For example, when Jade from Beyond Good and Evil was saving the Peter's character.

In general more women are being saved by male characters, but that's anecdotal because there are more straight, white male characters in games overall.

A perfect example of this mechanic working the same way, regardless of the gender of the person being saved is in the Mass Effect Series. If you play as female Shepard (who most people think of as the best Shepard) you are doing the same things as male Shepard. This includes recusing your crew be it a female or male member of the crew.