Kickstarter "Tropes vs Women in Videogames"

[AppleQueso]

There are some pretty sweet browser addons that disable comments on ALL youtube videos. I recommend them.

[JayJaySut]

I think a lot of the problem I see is that when people criticize things like this or violence in games they aren't really understanding because what they are experiencing is seeing the game not playing it which is the real mindset. You see someone run over people in GTA and you see people getting run over but the actual experience of playing it really feels more like blowing up army men It's just a big toy that looks gruesome to the onlooker because of it's realistic graphics. The people who criticize these things are usually people who have only watched over shoulders. You wouldn't criticize movies for being violent if all you did was hear them. You can't criticize games if you've only seen them. You might imagine something like saving a princess as not empowering to women but when you consider it from the player's perspective it is. If a girl played Mario they wouldn't relate to Peach they'd relate to who they were playing as even if it's a fat Italian male plumber. The feeling of finally beating that really hard level that you've been working on for so long that's empowering to anyone who does it not just men who rescue a princess. Nobody ever played a game to rescue a princess they played it to beat a level. Nobody ever played a game to kill they played it to score points.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Part 3 is up.

[ZeoDefender]

Very nice episode. She makes some excellent points regarding the sexist parodies of recent retro titles and other comedy games like Earthworm Jim. I do find those parodies very funny, but they're still as bad as the "Go make me a sandwich" joke when it comes to sexism.

I loved her idea for a game where it starts with the traditional cutscene of the princess being kidnapped, but subverts it by having the princess get bored of waiting and save herself become a surprise protagonist. It would fit in perfectly with the recent influx of retro style games.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Very nice episode. She makes some excellent points regarding the sexist parodies of recent retro titles and other comedy games like Earthworm Jim.

She made a video about "ironic sexism" some years back that is quite good.

[Hobie-wan]

There are too many spoilers for games on my pile for me to watch part 3.

[jinx]

There are too many spoilers for games on my pile for me to watch part 3.

Thanks for the heads up. Were there any "Spoiler Alerts" given? I may give it a watch when I get home, but if I find that any of my backlog is in there, I'll just end up just waiting a while.

[Hobie-wan]

There are too many spoilers for games on my pile for me to watch part 3.

Thanks for the heads up. Were there any "Spoiler Alerts" given? I may give it a watch when I get home, but if I find that any of my backlog is in there, I'll just end up just waiting a while.

If you go to the actual Youtube page for it, there's a list of games mentioned and which have spoilers.

[BoneSnapDeez]

New vid.

[Ack]

New vid.

I watched it. Some of what she discusses I agree with, particularly Smurfette syndrome and the use of women as being something simply by being a minority present. Ethnic minority representation has the same issue. But I take issue with some of her argument because it feels that she is calling out ANY instance in which a female character sports a bow, makeup, jewelry, or particular colors in their design.

Let's take Dixie Kong for an example: first, she is not the lone female of the series, as there are several NPC Kongs, animal friends, and villains that are female(and the villains and animal friends are generally not identifiably female. We just understand them to be due to name conventions or the fact that they lay eggs). Dixie's color is pink, yes, but then criticism points to her hair because it is the only other signifier of her gender: nevermind that all of the female Kongs have differing hair styles(the males are largely similar in hairstyles with the exception of Cranky's balding, and rely on other stereotypical masculine signifiers: neckties, baseball caps, swimtrunks, etc.), or that her hair is the basis for her special ability and fits the theme of the game with its similarities to a banana in both shape and color. Dixie plays electric guitar, flies, and happens to wear the color pink. She's also capable of rescuing two different male co-stars in the series and driving a boat while also keeping track of an obscenely strong baby Kong. If anything, DKC could be seen as offensive towards men: males are identified by stereotypical identifiers, the males are the ones who get captured or kidnapped and must rely on a female for rescue, and masculine traits of enemies are emphasized(particularly the male physique), thus pushing the stereotypical perception that violence against males is ok. Even their wounding animations are interesting: Dixie cries but sports no visible injury. Diddy gets a black eye.

Now I understand that her argument is that these things (bows, pink, jewelry, makeup) have built up to the point they are tropes, but as her argument on tropes also focuses on the negative, I have interpreted her argument to say that these things are therefore automatically negative, and I disagree. Yes, more female characters themed in other ways are always welcome(and I will happily play as Shepard over male Shepard every time), but I don't think that these objects in and of themselves are necessarily bad because yes, some females do actually like and wear the color pink, bows, jewelry, and makeup, including the host. Calling out a character who is equal to a male counterpart with the exception of a different color palette seems counterproductive (Ice Climbers) because that female is being shown to be every bit as capable as a male and in some cases is preferrable (again, Dixie Kong).

So far, here is what I have gathered from this series. Women in games cannot or should not: wear makeup, wear bows, wear jewelry, wear pink, be endowed, have eyelashes, be the only female, be rescued, be helped, or bare even a remote resemblence to a male character. Otherwise it violates a trope, and that character is therefore offensive.