Top 5 Video Games Portrayal of Women

Xomba: Over the past 15 years we have seen some good examples of how to portray women in video games which are often completely overlooked. These women give us hope that executives will realize that women don't need to be portrayed as sex objects just to get a young boy's attention and give young girls characters that they can relate to as well.

[Imalwaysright]

The Boss is definitely one of the most charismatic characters on videogames and i would love a MGS with her as the main character just to know what she did to be called the Boss and to know more about The End and The Sorrow.

[jeseth]

Yeah, just this gen you can find better examples (though Aerith and the Boss are great female characters). . . .

Lightning from FF13, Nariko from Heavenly Sword, female Shepherd in Mass Effect 2, Elena in Uncharted, etc. etc.

[Eamon]

Well if its about portrayal of women, then maybe but none of what you mentioned jeseth from Lightning to Elena are exactly charismatic like The Boss is.

[Nate-Dog]

I thought Lightning wasn't that great or deep a character in FFXIII, she just moaned about everything and was indifferent to everyone and then later on she wasn't, there wasn't really much more to it than that (I know that sounds like I'm just dumbing down her character to but that's literally all the character development I found with her in the game).

[RedDragan]

No Madison Paige?

[49erguy]

Definitely play Peace Walker if you want to know more about the Boss. It'll tell you EXACTLY why she's the Boss. The audio files alone make it worth it for any MGS fan.

[Iroquois_Pliskin]

I heard all of them... Poor Boss :L

[tiffac008]

Yeah her story was just heart breaking but d@mn did she still do her job and lived up to her name.

The Boss!

[AfricanWoolf]

So what? Women have to be deadly for them to be a good portrayal?

I'm so sick of this debate. The idea that a woman has to be some hard arse, masculine thing to be deemed "real" irritates me.

How many women do you know that are like that?

Why can't gaming just show women for what they are, people who like different things (mostly) to men.

[Pozzle]

Huh? The article didn't say female characters have to be "some hard arse, masculine thing" at all. o_O
Most of the girls on the list (Rinoa, Selphie, Quistis, and Aerith) are just regular girls. They aren't unusually strong, tough, brave, over-the-top sexy, or deadly. They're just...well...women.

I think that's what the article is getting at...female characters DON'T need to be super feminine/sexy to attract male gamers' attention, or super masculine/strong to attract female gamers' attention. They just need to be people.

I think that's what makes these characters such good portrayals. The makers didn't sit down and think "what will make these women good FEMALE characters?" or "what will make these women sexy to male gamers?" Instead they focused on making them interesting characters with varied personalities...who just so happen to be women.

[AfricanWoolf]

Yeah I have to agree with you. I wrote my comment after reading the headline and seeing the pic of big boss.

Damn do I have egg on my face.

You're 100% right and I appreciate that you didn't just spam me with hate (I probably would have if I'd seen a comment as ignorant as mine)

:)

[morganfell]

That is The Boss, not Big Boss. There may be a reason why some do not understand that the Boss still retained her womanly side and wiles.

People that have not played MGS3 and then Peacewalker fail to grasp the scope of who and what she was to so many but particularly to a handful. She was mother, inspiration, commander, leader on a journey, fellow soldier, and friend to them all while still being something more, something that really defies a normal label to Big Boss

[raisa]

Thank you pozzle, that was the point. I'm sick of hearing how sexist video games are towards women. Yes there are points where those steroetypes are used to attract the predominately male audience who play the games, but there are plenty of characters who don't. One of my biggest pet peeves is watching people who don't understand that advertising targeted at a certain audience doesn't make the advertisers, or in this case game developers, sexist.

[InNomeDiDio]

I don't like women as main characters in movies or games.

[Pozzle]

You're missing out on some good games and movies, then.

Just sayin'

[AKS]

Alyx Vance.

[Legion]

Samus Aran??? Really...? You played with the character for the whole game assuming that the character was male. How does that promote a positive female character? How does that portray her as a woman when she is portrayed as a stereotypical male throughout the game?

A female character doesn't have to be portrayed as a man to be considered a strong woman character. And the Final Fantasy characters...? No way. Even the male characters in Final Fantasy games have more of a woman's portrayal.

Bad listing in my view. Boss wasn't such a bad choice but many others that had a womanly feel and didn't go into the cheesy. Faith from Mirror's Edge just as one example.

Of course one of my favorites is Kat-320 from Halo:Reach. Bad Ass Ripley (Aliens) type character that let you know she wasn't taken crap from anyone but also had guys checking her out... without having to wear a mini skirt.

[Nerdmaster]

About Samus, it happened only in her first game, wasn't it?

[Legion]

Correct... but as I mentioned. Samus had no feminine quality what so ever. So though the character might have been a strong character it was not a strong female character as it didn't reflect ANY feminine qualities at all.

I am not asking for the character to skip through the game... but hey, I don't consider stripping the character of any gender characteristics at all to be promoting women characters. Do we have to strip them of their gender identification to allow them to be strong characters? How about you portray the character as strong while still accepting their gender specific attributes? To loose the attributes all together is a step back in promotion of a strong female character.

[Pozzle]

"Samus Aran??? Really...? You played with the character for the whole game assuming that the character was male. How does that promote a positive female character? How does that portray her as a woman when she is portrayed as a stereotypical male throughout the game?"

But WAS she portrayed as a stereotypical male in the original game? I think that's the point the devs were trying to make...Gamers automatically assumed she was a male just because she was a kick ass space marine, even though there wasn't really anything in the game that hinted towards her gender. She has no face, no personality, no past, etc. She was just an empty avatar that people assumed MUST be a male just because she was a space marine.

I'd also argue against your point on the Final Fantasy characters. The Final Fantasy males are pretty typical of the sorts of heroes you find in Japanese films or TV, so it's interesting that you consider that portrayal "girly" or "female", when a Japanese gamer probably wouldn't. Didn't you just say that "a female character doesn't have to be portrayed as a man to be considered a strong woman character"? So shouldn't the same apply to men? They don't need to be portrayed as big, tough burly men to be considered a strong male character. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. And the FF characters are (generally) pretty good characters. They at least have personalities, faults, weaknesses and strengths...which is more than what can be said for many game characters, tbh.

[Legion]

"They don't need to be portrayed as big, tough burly men to be considered a strong male character." True... but to portray them as Emo feminine does not make them a strong male character. As I was trying to get at with the woman was that she should still have some feminine qualities to her but to have the characters be perceived as a man because of any lack of feminine quality would not present a strong woman, strong character maybe but not a strong woman character.

I was mainly ribbing on the male FF characters in general. None of the females are really great characters and the males really have no masculine quality to them at all. And no it doesn't go both ways. As an example, being a turn on for most to see 2 women kissing... but seeing 2 men kissing is a turn off for majority of people. Male FF characters in general just are hard to determine if they are male characters.

[Pozzle]

Like I said, different cultures have different ideas of masculinity. Most of the FF men really aren't that unusual in terms of Japanese heroes. Westerners might think they're feminine, but I'd wager it's mostly because the West just isn't used to Asia's idea of male attractiveness/beauty...or to seeing a typical Asian man in a heroic/masculine role.

(seriously, when was the last time an Asian actor was cast as a manly hero in a Hollywood movie? Or as a hunky romantic lead? Unless an Asian guy is built like Bruce Lee, he'll be forever cast in wimpy or nerdy comedic roles. Hollywood has done its best to emasculate the hell out of Asian men, so it's no wonder Westerners look at the average Japanese male character and think "wimp!" or "girl!")

What appeals to Japanese gamers won't always appeal to Western gamers, and vice-versa. But just because one might be a bit feminine or the other might be built like a brick shit-house, that doesn't make one character any 'better' than the other. There's this weird belief society and the media has that "men MUST be this way, and women MUST be that way"...and anyone who isn't ends up being insulted or called the opposite gender. It's silly.

Take Uesugi Kenshin for example: He was one of the most feared samurai warlords in Japanese history...he was also often mistaken for a woman, and historians STILL debate on whether he actually was a woman or not. Does him being a pretty-boy make him any less of a badass man? Hellz no. He probably kicked the ass of thousands of soldiers and got home in time for dinner each night.

...

p.s. try looking up the thousands upon thousands of websites dedicated to "slash fanfiction" or "yaoi" and you'll be surprised with just how many women are VERY much into male/male kissing. They just seem to be better at hiding their interest in porn than man. Seriously, just take a look at the fandom for the show Supernatural...the popularity of "slash" in that fandom has become so massive, that even the show makes references to it.

[Legion]

Hmmm... seeing that I have lived in Asia for the majority of my life and 10 years of it living in Japan, I might have an idea what the cultures reflect as masculine and not. And though the Emo style is popular in japan and Korea it is not considered masculine per say. You hit on a small niche of people that get off on Yaoi and such... doesn't mean that it is the prevalent thought.

As for Uesugi Kenshin, the thought of his being a woman was not prevalent through history and only assumed in recent times due to the fact that he was not married. Not due to any gender characteristics of his. (p.s. you watch too many movies)

And the fact of a mans warrior skills does not necessarily portray a masculine persona. Though Hitler and Napolean both were feared leaders neither was considered masculine.

[raisa]

Ok, I am the one that wrote this article....although I was a little shocked to see this end up outside of xomba lol.

Samus was not completely stripped of any gender characteristics...nor was she presented as a stereotypical male. Before Metroid, we had no video game heroines. It wasn't that she was presented as male because she was presented as just a faceless character that the player play the role as since there was no characteristcs about the character at all, and as an easter egg for beating the game in under an hour, at least I think that was the time it's been so long I can't remember exactly, it shows it was really a woman underneath. It's the reason why the instruction manual always called her a he. It became a big deal though, we finally broke through with one woman being the hero.

And yes, she isn't overflowing with the feminine characteristics, or really any personality traits at all, but she has a couple that shine through. Her maternal instincts which most players see with her saving the infant metroid on SR388 and her compassion and empathy which can be seen in Super Metroid with the infant hatchling and in Metroid Fusion when it comes to her willing to sacrifice herself to rid the galaxy of the X and her relationship with the ship's computer. I don't know how many would notice, but for a woman it was awfully familiar how she didn't just name the computer Adam outside of some kind of old pal's memory. She quit thinking of it as her computer and as Adam. She wasn't compartmentalizing the two which is a feminine trait for the most part. IT's subtle, but Samus is nothing if not subtle. Of course, much of that can be explained away by her backstory of being orphaned by the space pirates and brought up as a Chozo warrior.

And I just wanted to quickly point out, Final Fantasy has plenty of male characters who are utterly male. 7 had Barret and Cid, 8 had Seifer and Irvine, 9 had Steiner, 10 had Auron and Jecht, even the original had Garland who even in Dissidia was overly masculine. Granted many of the men are sort of in the middle and some are more feminine by western standards....but the reality of it is that is how men are in real life as well. So, how is that even an issue?

[Nerdmaster]

Selphie, Rinoa and Aeris? Really?

[k3x]

Get back in the kitchen.

[thief]

No Elena?