Kickstarter "Tropes vs Women in Videogames"

[Hazerd]

Men cant be Men anymore it seems, off the kitchen! (oh wait thats sexist!)

Nobody said that, unless your definition of men is that they are sexists.

No but, i dont think its very manly for a man to be rescued by a woman, as far as fairy tales and video games go, reminds me of "Lester the Unlikely" thats the kind of man that needs to be rescued by a woman.

[Ack]

One of my absolute favorite gaming stories is Shadow of the Colossus, where the damsel in distress is actually dead/slumbering and only can be revived by the male lead's personal battle against giant Colossi and the self-sacrifice that comes from doing something that is actually of questionable morality (as the giants have a certain ancient dignity and grace and aren't particularly bothering anyone until you run off to slay them). In that use of the trope though, it's actually easier for me to get into because I don't know anything about the woman really. She's deathly slumbering and I want to wake her. I don't know if she is a strong woman or weak woman, and I can assume what I want. What I do know, and what I actually care most about is that my character will risk everything for her, so she must be important to me in whatever way I would imagine her to be important. So perhaps the unconscious damsel in distress is a less offensive variant of the trope because we can ascribe whatever personality and character traits to the woman that we want.

Arguably in that case though, you also don't know anything about the protagonist who has arrived to revive her. Perhaps she's some kind of evil sorceress, and you are her thrall, sent to destroy the good golems and guardians which keep her from reviving. Perhaps she is the much beloved queen of your country, and you a peasant with only the things you find. Perhaps you are merely a vagabond or a thrill seeker who develops a greater curiosity. Both characters are unknowable.

[AppleQueso]

Men cant be Men anymore it seems, off the kitchen! (oh wait thats sexist!)

Nobody said that, unless your definition of men is that they are sexists.

No but, i dont think its very manly for a man to be rescued by a woman, as far as fairy tales and video games go, reminds me of "Lester the Unlikely" thats the kind of man that needs to be rescued by a woman.

What gives you the idea that the 'solution' is to just invert the whole "damsel in distress" thing? Unless your goal is to subvert or parody that trope specifically, that sounds like a pretty lazy way of approaching it.

There's a ton of different motivations a male protagonist in a video game can have besides "save the girl."

[J T]

Arguably in that case though, you also don't know anything about the protagonist who has arrived to revive her. Perhaps she's some kind of evil sorceress, and you are her thrall, sent to destroy the good golems and guardians which keep her from reviving. Perhaps she is the much beloved queen of your country, and you a peasant with only the things you find. Perhaps you are merely a vagabond or a thrill seeker who develops a greater curiosity. Both characters are unknowable.

True enough. That weirdo ending with the horned baby certainly didn't clarify anything.

[AppleQueso]

I don't feel any "guilt" or whatever for enjoying games that employ this trope. The problem is that the trope itself is very prevalent, not that the trope simply exists at all. Nothing wrong with loving stuff that has elements that could be considered problematic when taken into a much larger context.

Trope doesn't even seem like a word anymore. Trope trope trope

[Hazerd]

Trope sounds dumb, cant we just call it "The Theme"? "The Stereotypical Hero saves Princess"?

[AppleQueso]

Trope sounds dumb, cant we just call it "The Theme"? "The Stereotypical Hero saves Princess"?

It's not really a "theme" though, it's more of a device.

and that second one is just plain too long

[Retrogamer0001]

Not sure why video games are taking all the flak for this - it exists everywhere in modern culture, and dates back much further than that. Books, film, television - these reflect "sexism" as much or more than video games.

[J T]

Not sure why video games are taking all the flak for this - it exists everywhere in modern culture, and dates back much further than that. Books, film, television - these reflect "sexism" as much or more than video games.

She said that in the video. Videogames aren't taking all the flak, they are just an area of interest for her where this topic shows up again.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Not sure why video games are taking all the flak for this - it exists everywhere in modern culture, and dates back much further than that. Books, film, television - these reflect "sexism" as much or more than video games.

This is absolutely true; however, people are already discussing it in relation to those mediums. It is important that it also be discussed in reference to our favorite medium (i.e., video games), and I, for one, am happy to see this discussion.

Personally, I think that video games tend to have more and better female protagonists than either popular film or television, and I think that video games are generally more likely to pass the "Bechdel test" than either medium. (Literature has us beat, hands down, however.) Nonetheless, video games still have a long way to go, and the misogyny displayed in certain video games tend to be more extreme than that displayed in other mediums (which - unfortunately - contributes to video games' juvenile reputation).