Why Video Game Designers Are Missing The Mark With Women

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Posted by BuckGB at 2:53 pm on 07.28.2010 (1 month ago)

The folks at Geeks Are Sexy have penned a quick editorial that outlines the reasons why they think developers have "missed the mark" when designing in-game women. Dragon Age: Origins is used as the primary example for both the good and the bad:

I will not deny that sexuality plays an important role in video games, especially those in the fantasy genre (heck, the whole fantasy genre is replete with sex and gender stereotypes, so it’s not falling far from the tree to say the least). But, from my point of view, there’s something rather insidious about not having a choice—like how much skin to show on your avatar—no matter what you do. It’s saying, sight unseen, that your character’s body is the center of the story. What if I want my mage to be really conservative? Oh, it doesn’t matter. I can’t. No choice, none at all. She dresses slutty. I mean, in Dragon Age all the women are built like porn stars, and the outfits on the Chantry priestesses even accentuate their boobs. It makes it abundantly clear that straight men were the number one consideration during design.

Guys, think about this. What would it be like if you logged on to your favorite game, and every piece of armor your warrior tried on was nothing more than a metal jock strap and a halter top? Sure, I might not mind looking at it—but you probably wouldn’t find it that thrilling. With no choice other than slutty, the whole armor issue treads into some very dark territory. Objectification and sexualization to the nth degree.

Related Games: Dragon Age: Origins

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(9)

RayPG Join Date: Feb 2010
(@ 5:56 am on 07.29.2010) Location: Netherlands
Posts: 60

As long as 95% of all RPG players are male I don´t see that change, just like the advert to my left of `Russian Girls looking for you!`

Pavlos P Join Date: Feb 2010
(@ 7:57 am on 07.29.2010) Location: Luxembourg
Posts: 55

Hahahha Ray your comment just made my day (the last part)! It's so true though

Ares2382 Join Date: Jun 2001
(@ 12:10 pm on 07.29.2010) Location: USA
Posts: 581

The funny thing is, I think the issue that that article brings up is not as simple to resolve as one may think. I mean all that the author wants is for her female character's armor to look more conservative then the usual "cover the bare minimum" armor sets that are generally present in the game.

The problem is, there is a large majority of gamers (the males) who find the bare minimum attractive. And creating two different sets of each armor to please both the sides makes it inpractical for developers to do. So they keep doing the armor that looks like something a strip dancer wares, because for now, the majority of gamers are guys, and they like that sort of thing.

Lemmus Join Date: May 2007
(@ 1:00 pm on 07.29.2010) Location:
Posts: 120

Keep in mind also that the idea about most gamers being women is outdated. Modern numbers show that around half of gamers are women, and the genre displacement (eg. women playing the Sims, guys playing CoD) is almost non-existent. Women are playing RPGs, the problem is that 95% of game designers are men.

Ruds Join Date: Aug 2003
(@ 2:03 pm on 07.29.2010) Location:
Posts: 137

@Ares2382: This isn't a challenging dilemma like you suggest. In general, men won't "not play a game" because they can't dress like prostitutes. Will they miss it? Sure, maybe they will. Women, however, very well might "not play a game" because they must dress like prostitutes. Currently, we're pleasing one audience to sacrifice another.

Could we please neither but sacrifice neither? HMMMM, so hard to tell, head uhsplode now, consequences soooo unpredictable. /sarcasm

Ruds Join Date: Aug 2003
(@ 2:11 pm on 07.29.2010) Location:
Posts: 137

More to the point, the developers' sex shouldn't matter. It's a better business model to not alienate any potential customers (like I said before, men won't pass on a game because its women are reasonably dressed). I think the shame of it is that profits usually trump all, except when it comes to sex apparently.

What this communicates is that with all male developers, the only thing more important than money is sex - OR - they're too business-blind to see the marketable audience they're losing. Both scenarios are utterly pathetic and inexcusable.

Rob Join Date: Oct 2009
(@ 2:57 pm on 07.29.2010) Location:
Posts: 112

Actually her bigger issue was body type and all the clothes are tight. And that was because DA has basically one body type per race and sex to save on art assets more than anything really purient. Its why Flemeth and Leliana have the same body. And clothes are form fitting because loose clothes look like crap without separate animations and that will kill memory and processor and Bioware had enough issues with armor clipping as it was.

The armor, with a few exceptions, actually tended to be fairly modest in DA.

Brother None Join Date: Jun 2007
(@ 11:39 am on 07.30.2010) Location: Liberty City, the Netherlands
Posts: 1228

BioWare is easily one of the worst examples to take tho. They have issues not just writing women, but with sexuality in general.

Lemmus Join Date: May 2007
(@ 1:58 pm on 07.30.2010) Location:
Posts: 120

BioWare is certainly one of the worst examples, at least in recent years, but given their popularity that might be part of her point. Look at Avatar. If the film had bombed, no one would have cared the Weaver's character was a doctor who smoked, but since the film did so well every possible bad influence in the film was (and will be for years to come) deconstructed as nauseum.

Similarly, if DAO had sold 10,000 copies an female player might be upset at the art choices, but she wouldn't likely use it as an example in an article. You cannot get your point across if you use a game that your audience has never played.

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