Women in Video Games

Your point is actually very accurate. Although this have never really crossed my mind. Now that i think about it, it is the plot often used in games. But in a way Nintendo has always done that. In LoZ link saves Zelda. In mario. Mario saves peach. you get the point. I don't see it as sexist tho. Although its a constant plot that boy saves girl. I'm not sure if its just because that's the plot that has always worked, rather than trying to weaken the women as a general.

I'm not sure if anything i said makes sense to anyone else. But its my opinion

 

There is another game other than Metroid that portrays the woman's not weak. What about the Tomb Raider series or Final Fantasy X-2?

 

In my opinion, Final Fantasy X-2 is more sexist than any 'damsel in distress' game.

Why is this the goal? Because it's the goal/fantasy of little boys everywhere. They want to be the hero, they want to rescue a princess, all that sort of junk. And unfortunately, girls are the 'minority gamers.' If you look at the population of this forum, girls are a minority. If you look at any gaming forum (that isn't specifically aimed at girls, which would be a skewed sample), you'll more than likely find there are less girls than guys.

Why? Because girls 'tradionally' (cough. Stereotype) don't like video games as much as guys...and since this is the case, and video game companies are out to make money, they make what appeals to the majority of potential customers (ie. the 'target-demographic'). It's got nothing to do with women being second class, or names like "Yoko" "Aiko" etc...I actually haven't played too many games where girls had names like that...but regardless, I would think 'child' implies innocence, not inferiority.

I know I'm no exception to this. I played Zelda since I was a toddler and always imagined saving the girl and being a hero...however, the one consolation to girls in this matter, is that I didn't 'think less of the girl' and instead merely wished to be more like the male role-model. There are just certain types of guys...and the type that wish to be the 'knight in shining armour' are generally the type who play adventure video games. It's a formula that makes sales, that's the bottom line.

There are plenty of games with either a heroine, or where females play important roles. Take FFTactics...you HAVE to have a female or two (or more) in your party because of their insane magic growth.

Earthbound for the SNES...Ness was the main character, Paula was the second character you find. For some reason, whenever I play, Paula winds up doing more physical damage than Ness and is an asset...not to mention, she's SUPPOSED to be a magic based character, so she all around kicks ass (Until Ness gets a massive upgrade and becomes unstoppable). She also 'prays' in the party's dire time to call on the earth's people to band together and defeat the game's main nemesis...she saves everyone's butt.

There's a lot more...I suppose no matter what's said someone will be unhappy with it though (I don't mean on this forum, I just mean you can never please everyone). I'm sure some girls like being a princess and so these games fit with them quite nicely. Some girls like being magic users, and some girls are appalled that male characters always have more physical attack/resist.

I dislike the trend, since it means girls are always the smarter ones...but no one would listen to me, I can't claim it's sexism because I'm a guy right? Well no, because trends show, girls are generally the more mature, smarter ones. Like I said, can never please everyone.

 

heavenly sword was pretty sweet. the main character in okami was a girl. you get to play as a female army person (?) in onimusha 3. jeanne d'arc is pretty sweet also.

 

I think that they could stick with that sort of plot, but change it around a bit. Let people decide if they want to play as a guy or a girl. There are some games I have played where they did that, but clearly not enough.

 

like Pokemon Diamond/Pearl

 

But if all that's really changed is graphics (ie. the demographic is the same) then there formula still generates good revenue (as I explained in my previous post). Ultimately, this is what any industry cares about...the gaming industry is no exception.

 

another good ex of a good female lead role is Kos-Mos from Xenosaga

 

I think they keep the older style "save the damsel" themes in games because it works. Thats the way games have been since the beginning of rpg's and adventures.

I mean i have been playing games since i was little, the first game i completely beat 100% was the first Zelda, and im a girl.

When i play a video game i gelerally dont care weather the main character(s) is a girl or not, and i dont care if you have to save someone or whatever, i just care about beating the game.

Generally when i was younger i would have perfered to be a girl character, like on Mario Kart i would be Peach, and when playing Mario Party i would be Daisy, and Playing Donkey Kong 64 i liked to be Tiny. But if i wanted to beat a game the sex of the character dosnt matter, in fact i could care less if the characters were big grey talking blobs.

I believe that in present day video games, women are potrayed more as equals. I have to admit, the first time i saw FFX-2 i really wanted it because Yuna was the main character, but i had never played FFX, so i bought both games and played FFX first, regardless of the fact that in FFX-2 the main characters were girls.

There are also many strong girl characters in games now. Even if they are not the main character.
Yuna (FFX & FFX-2)
Rikku (FFX & FFX-2)
Paine(FFX & FFX-2)
Lulu (FFX)
Ashe(FFXII)
Pelelo(FFXII)
Fran(FFXII)
Also the main character for the upcoming FFXIII is a girl.
Kos-Mos (Xenosaga seires)
That one chick in Heavenly Sword (cant remember her name)
Samus(In all of her games and on Brawl)
Zelda/Sheik (OOT & Brawl)
Peach (Brawl, Paper Mario)
Laura Croft

and i know theres more but those are just a few of the strong girl characters in today's video games.
i dont think that video game programmers are being sexist, and even if they are, who cares, its just a game.

 

Another example no one's mentioned (if someone's mentioned it, then B'OH ):! ) is Joanna Dark, from Perfect Dark. She was the female answer to James Bond.

 

Its all about demographics, and profit as Mike has already mentioned. Im sure if girls represented the majority of gamers they would certainly put out more games that would interest them, unfortunately its still a male dominated sector.

I personally don't think its sexist as such, its just one of those things, society might have changed in certain parts of the world but for many parts its the same. i.e. Men are tough and burly creatures and women are gentle , fragile creatures. (Of course this isn't always true but its a stereo type).

Also there are certain types of games that just wouldn't seem realistic imagine playing Call Of Duty 4 or some other military FPS where all the soldiers were Women. Im sure women would love to play a game like that but guys I don't think so. Again as a concept theres nothing wrong with it, games can be different as they don't have to mimic real life but the target audience just wouldn't accept a game like that.

 

Jade from Beyond Good and Evil and Super Princess Peach is another.

 

i dont know if anyone said this, but mortal kombat

 

And in Ghost Recon, some of the people you use are women.

 

Mercenaries one and the not yet released two. Their is a main character the is a female the is asian the grew up in England and was in the armed forces. She by no means needs to be saved.