Kickstarter "Tropes vs Women in Videogames"

[BoneSnapDeez]

In other news, it seems as if the "rebuttal" to Sarkeesian, Tropes vs Men in Videogames, was a complete scam. Shocking.

[jfrost]

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."

Forgot to say this. Super Meat Boy does subvert and parody the trope near the end of the game. Then Bandage Girl must save Meat Boy and goes through the hardest stages in the game.

Unsurprisingly, it wasn't supposed to be an answer to womens concerns in the medium, nor was it seen as such by the audience.

[Hazerd]

I just thought of DKC 3, where you play as Dixie, and shes was pretty badass way back in the olden days of the 90's....

[Gamerforlife]

All this talk of damsels in distress, I really loved how Lollipop Chainsaw subverted this. Nick was the damsel, Juliette was the hero. She has to save him in the first stage of the game. Then you get a dramatic scene where he looks like he's going to die (he doesn't) and Juliette, in the traditionally male role, has her "nooooooooo!!!" moment. Destructoid did some articles about how LC plays around with gender roles and stereotypes. Nick is sort of a pansy throughout the game, freaking out all the time. In boss fights, he is basically Juliette's cheerleader. Throughout the game he is used in brief gameplay segments that feel like token gestures for the useless sidekick before the game switches control back to the game's real hero, Juliette. He is objectified constantly in the game, as Juliette shows off her decapitated head boyfriend to her sisters, who all think it's so cool to have a decapitated head boyfriend and are a little jealous. It's a silly way of toying with the way women in other games are usually just sex objects used to reinforce how awesome the main, male character is.

I also love how Braid turned the damsel in distress idea on its head in the last stage. You know what I'm talking about if you have played it.

[Key-Glyph]

I'm glad to see her first video is up. Not only did I enjoy it, but I found the post-kickstarter "she's got her funding for the project so why is she touring and doing interviews instead of staying at home and working on it?" complaints to be really irritating.

I think it was a solid, safe installment. I especially liked that she highlighted the instances in which female characters spent a good deal of time either kicking butt or being invaluable allies to the hero (e.g. Zelda as Sheik), just to get inexplicably captured later on. Those moments really make it apparent how lazy and character-breaking this device can be, if useful and/or gratifying to a plot at times.

And I loved the trope too, as a kid. It's really bizarre remembering how these things shook out while playing pretend on the playground, though. When emulating a television show, movie, or video game, some girls would fight over who got to be the one damsel character in the fictional roster because they felt it was either "weird" or "not allowed" to be one of the male characters, and other girls would be vocal about their disdain for the female character's uselessness by absolutely refusing to play their role under any circumstances. If you were in the latter camp, a girl wanting to be a hero, you didn't realize until you were much older how this set you up to direct a lot of disdain at women characters as a group and semi-consciously set yourself apart from their example. There would be a desire to prove that you "weren't like them," even while categorically being "one of them." There was an awareness of this dynamic by all parties, even at a young age.

It will be nice if Sarkeesian's and others' efforts result in a greater pool of narrative situations for audiences to relate to. If nothing else it might shake up the strictness of what sort of narrative role a kid is "allowed" to fill while playing pretend at recess with their peers. That can't be a bad thing.

[J T]

A related story:

Dad mods Donkey Kong so his daughter can play as Pauline

[AppleQueso]

A related story:

Dad mods Donkey Kong so his daughter can play as Pauline

Reminds me of those gameshark codes in Super Mario 64 to change Mario's clothes green so you could play as "Luigi"

This is probably the most relevant that Pauline has been as a character since uh... probably since DK Arcade came out.

[irixith]

It will be nice if Sarkeesian's and others' efforts result in a greater pool of narrative situations for audiences to relate to. If nothing else it might shake up the strictness of what sort of narrative role a kid is "allowed" to fill while playing pretend at recess with their peers. That can't be a bad thing.

It WOULD be nice. Sadly, both you and I know that the gaming industry will simply keep on truckin' with the tried and true.

You know, even more so than role reversal (woman is able to be the hero), what about true representation in the already existing roles? I never see an overweight bearded man rescuing an aging overweight princess. Why do all male heroes have to be ripped (or effeminate, lol) and all female rescuees have to be dazzlingly gorgeous? I suppose it's all wish fulfilment fantasy...which means that really, we want men to be men and women to be helpless.

Oh dear.

[Ack]

You know, even more so than role reversal (woman is able to be the hero), what about true representation in the already existing roles? I never see an overweight bearded man rescuing an aging overweight princess. Why do all male heroes have to be ripped (or effeminate, lol) and all female rescuees have to be dazzlingly gorgeous? I suppose it's all wish fulfilment fantasy...which means that really, we want men to be men and women to be helpless.

Admittedly though, more often males are represented truthfully. He may not be bearded, but Mario is a mustachioed overweight guy. Frank West isn't exactly thin, nor is Chuck Rock, Lester the Unlikely is pathetically weak, and many of the protagonists for games like in the GTA series aren't anything to write home about unless you take the time to build up their abilities. But women tend to be more idealized in gaming.

[MrPopo]

But women tend to be more idealized in gaming media.

Fixed.