This YouTube! video about Jedi Kittens has made the rounds, but it’s always good for a quick laugh. The kitten on the right just kills me.
When you’re a woman in any industry, you have to deal with unspoken expectations of what to wear and, in some cases, how to “act.” Yes, there is bias and yes, it’s part of culture. To say that bad gender treatment doesn’t exist, means that you probably haven’t experienced it or even recognized it for what that means. But, like racism or homophobia or Islamaphobia, it’s there and it’s tough to talk about. Today I’m going to share my thoughts on the image of women and video games.
Some of the “day jobs” I had over the years didn’t understand my love of gaming. Co-workers begged me not to tell anyone that they, too, liked to play Halo or Final Fantasy because they were afraid of how other people would treat them. After all, kids play these games, too. So that automatically means women who play games must be immature, right? My best friend and I made it a point to get to know the clerks at video game stores in town, just so we wouldn’t have to deal with the assumption that we were buying for our boyfriend/husband/nephew/etc. Last time I bought a game at a store, one clerk said: “This is Arkham City. You know that’s not for kids, right?” The guy standing next to him said: “Well, I should hope so! She’s playing it!” If you don’t think this attitude is pervasive, read: WTF is with empowered women? The description of the women who play games is… Oy…
So yes, there’s a stereotype that women who play games are fugly and will only buy games if the women are “empowered.” Here’s a little newsflash for you: I like empowered female characters because as a woman? That’s how I view women are supposed to be portrayed in a game that is marketed/designed/sold for all genders. Do you really think I want to play a game where women are treated like painted cattle? What the hell is a woman supposed to be like if her character can’t stand on her own, anyway? We’re not doormats!
Women gamers have always been around, but many (including myself) have felt we had to hide because we knew it was a man’s industry. Remember Chuck E. Cheese’s and the arcades? Before RPG-style games, much of the 8-bit versions were less gender-specific and more character-driven. Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are not shapely by any stretch of the imagination. I was a big Metroid fan and really liked the old Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong, Jr. Sure, I rolled my eyes at some parts in Super Mario Brothers, but at no point did I say: “Gee, I wish I was playing Maria and Louisa to rescue Prince Mango.” It was part of the game. I smushed mushrooms. I got gold. I punched my fist through a brick. End of story.
Enter the controversial titles and the explosion of the hobby. Doom was the first WTF title I encountered, but there were others. Wikipedia has a List of Controversial Video Games you can check out. Notice how the list gets bigger as time goes on? That’s what popularity does to any business. There’s the good, there’s the bad, and there’s the ugly.
Anonymity and the internet has changed “women in gaming” attitudes because it’s allowed us to buy games from the comfort of our laptops and not deal with the b.s. (Same goes for comics, too.) We aren’t as intimidated because as time went on? It’s become more acceptable for us to play games openly without worrying about how we’ll be treated. In my experience, the hobby games industry — Magic: the Gathering, Munchkin, Vampire: the Masquerade and Vampire: the Requiem, etc. — has been more welcoming toward women than the video games industry traditionally has. This, however, is also changing because MMOs are more popular and creative people are tapping into that community with properties like The Guild.
But — and this is the point I’m trying to make — the “image” exists because it’s a cultural stereotype that women need to look and act a certain way. How women are portrayed ties into cultural attitudes and it’s the game designer’s responsibility to figure out a) who will buy this game and b) how can they create it to appeal to that audience. I feel that gender portrayal is part of world building. When I played Dragon Age my first time through, I picked a female character named Aliessia who had a big, damn sword. “Well, you don’t see many female warriors around.” was part of the dialogue and I appreciated that. Her role in that society affected how she was treated in some cases but it did not break the game.
I’ll be the first one to say that I can’t stand Grand Theft Auto. Does that mean it should never have been created? No, it just means that I won’t buy it. Artistically, I can’t make the claim that ALL women should be portrayed a certain way and ALL games should do “X.” That will never happen because not all designers are the same and not all gamers are the same. Sometimes, controversy makes us think about what makes a “good” game and what isn’t. Other times, it’s not the game that’s the problem, it’s the marketing or it’s specific cut scenes. I love Lara Croft as a property, but I can’t stand the boob physics. I had to physically put down Bloodrayne because the main character feeds by humping her victims and showing off her… Well… Mind you, vampires are my deal creatively so seeing her hop on like a frog made me laugh and then chuck the controller.
I love to have fun! I used to go dancing and clubbing but that type of social life is exhausting and counter-productive for me. Gaming allows me to catch a mental break after an intense day at work or when I’m writing. I play all kinds of games — video, card, board, RPG, whatever — and it’s no secret that gaming is good for you and games prevent Alzheimer’s. I tend not to play Bejeweled anymore because it feels like gambling to me and it’s too repetitive.
What I *don’t* love, is this idea that the fantasy of what a woman (or man) should look like must become a reality. That image is such a problem average-sized women are often considered “Plus Size.” Houston: this is not a video game problem, this is much bigger than that. You can read Plus Size Bodies, What is Wrong With Them Anyway? or, for a laugh, watch this Adobe Photostop Parody.
In my opinion, the growing popularity of video games is a good thing. To affect change, players have to vote with our dollars and get into the industry on a creative level. To put our foot down with how women are generally portrayed? Well, that’s another blog post for another time.
Everything you need to know about my feelings on Google’s latest update is summed up in this article: Google’s Social Search: The Tech Giant’s Disastrous Decision to Muck Up Its Search Results
For more than a decade, Google search wasn’t “social” in any way. When I searched for a new car or a European hotel or the best way to plunge a toilet, Google would give me results that reflected the collected view of all Web users. That worked really well!
Not once during those years did I get to a Google results page and lament that I couldn’t see my friends’ ideas about the car I should buy or the hotel I ought to book. While my friends are thoughtful and knowledgeable people, their views on the tens of thousands of large and small inquiries that I bring to Google every year are almost always irrelevant. When I’ve got a clogged toilet, I want advice from an expert—a plumber, preferably, but I’ll even take the stranger who wrote this eHow post. What I don’t want to know is which link my boss consulted when his toilet was clogged.
Or, to put this in my own words:
Solution? Switch to Bing. Or, turn off Google’s social search. I’ve been very unhappy with many of Google’s latest changes because they don’t seem to do anything other than change the “look and feel.” In some cases, like with analytics, it’s pushed the design below-the-fold and requires MORE clicks to get to what I want. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
I am feeling magnanimous today, so much so that after waking up at three o’clock this morning I’ve decided to dip into my Morgue and share with you a piece I wrote back in college. (And later revised slightly for a few grammatical sparkles that, no doubt, savvy proofreaders may argue at length with me about.) It’s definitely a time capsule piece, so I buried in a coffin and forgot about it. Today, in honor of my sheer lack of superstitious feelings for Friday the Thirteenth, I have dug up these pixels from the abyss of my computer just for you!
Glossy plywood stands erect on four walls. A gas fireplace waits anxiously in the corner, its single log hissing for a mate. An imitation bear hide sprawls before it, glass eyes shining from the blue warmth. Leather recliners guard the prize, posted carefully on either side. They, too, gleam oh-ever-so-slightly from the sole source of heat in the cabin. A refrigerator hums itself to sleep apart from them, along the side wall. Its contents wait patiently to be eaten. Beer, store-bought venison, and cocktail weenies. A mousy cabinet waits in the refrigerator’s shadow, full of potato chips, cheez balls, and paper plates. A cardboard table fills the corner with a restless coffee pot and overflowing ash tray. The coffee pot breaks up the log’s mating call with a loud snap, angry for being empty too long. The cigar butts mark a trail through the kitchen to a shy bunk bed, napping in the other corner. Its resting companions are a window and a clock radio. The window dreams. It dreams of Caucasian, middle-aged, overweight male hunters who enjoy smoking and drinking. Abruptly, the clock radio wakes up and speaks in a firm voice.
Yes it is, Biff. But we certainly can not acknowledge this monumental day without also recognizing our late president Robert Radling, great-grandson of that astrology- loving president in the ancient nineteen-eighties. You know, Biff, I can still remember the stories that my great-great-great grandmother used to tell me about that era when I was younger. Imagine stereotyping each decade of a century!
That is something to think about, Buffy. It is so fascinating to think of how advances in cryogenics have brought families even closer together.
I know I would never be able to appreciate things like marketing soft-drink names on clothes if it wasn’t for my grammie, Biff. Remember to call your local cryrogenicist today to learn more about your history and appreciate our current way of life!
Thanks for that heart-wrenching reminder, Buffy. Now here’s time for a little trivia. What is the present-day sector for what used to be the northern part of the former state of Wisconsin? Dial 999-2545 now. That’s 999-2545. Caller number nine will receive a trip to that FABulous sector #87, also known as L.E.A.F. Leo-Erotic-Anal-retentive-Football-players. Who, coincidentally, are all under five feet tall.
Yum, sounds like the place that I want to be. What if Caller number nine is a heterosexual male?
Well then, he will win an all-expense paid trip to sector #103, whose acronym is—
Don’t tell me, don’t tell me! Is it C.H.E.A.P.?
That’s right, Buffy. Clean-Hard-working-Environmental-Axe-wielding-Potheads. My, you must be up on your geography today.
Well, Biff, it is SO hard to do nowadays. But I view the holonews every morning for weather and it tells me the climate-controlled temperature in every section!
Okay, Buffy let’s go to a caller. How are phone lines are a-buzzing. Let’s meet Caller number nine! Hello, you’re on the air with ZNOT.
Hi guys, um, actually I’m not your Caller number nine. I don’t really know the answer. I just wanted to—
Well, how ‘bout a consolation prize anyway. Buffy and I will send you a free T-shirt, a complementary coffee mug with our logo embossed in fourteen karat gold, and a FABulous bumper sticker. How do you feel about that?
Great. Um, can I ask a question?
Shoot. And don’t forget listeners, we are still waiting for that oh-so-elusive answer to today’s trivia question. Dial 999-2545 now. Go ahead caller, what’s on your mind?
I just wanted to respond, um. To this whole Separatist thing. I mean, why would you want to create a country that looks like bubble-wrap?
Oh. Oh! Who do I see a-knocking on our studio door? Here, live and in the flesh, to answer that question is Mr. History guy. Let’s sing that haunting ditty. Shall we, Buffy?
We shall, Biff.
Mr. His-to-ry guy. Mr. His-to-ry guy. He knows ev-er-y-thing. Oh yes, he does. Es-pecially about stuff. Stuff we don’t need to know. We’re so hap-py. He’s so mis-er-a-ble. Poor Mr. His-to-ry guy.
This is Mr. History guy.
The reason why I called is because I wanted to figure out why we were in these, these bubble things. Every time I’ve asked anyone else, no one seems like they’re able to give me a straight answer. Has life always been this way?
With the wonder of cryogenics at our disposal, today’s history lesson comes to us from Robert Radling himself. Back a little ways when President Radling got into office, around 2045 or so, life as we know it sucked the big pickle. Asian-Americans were dating Afro-Americans. Full-blooded Americans were sending their children to school with Haitian-Americans. Homosexual girls were found in clubs singing for heterosexual audiences. Things like that. So R&R, as we so lovingly called him, decided we needed to make a drastic change in our lifestyles. So he consulted his mentor and parapsychologist, Dr. Arnold T. Jujube. At first, separations in the gas-permeable, weather-controlled, plasma aerospheres were determined by ascending and descending sun signs. But, when the Saggitarians shot one too many arrows, and the Virgos couldn’t reproduce, Radling decided it was time for a larger change.
But Mr. History guy, that doesn’t explain how we got into these smaller bubbles.
Caller, we are not done yet! This portion of today’s history lesson is direct from Dr. Jujubes’ clone! Never lose your loved ones. Live forever without having to bear children the natural, messy way. Clonay, clone today. Take it away, Mr. History Guy.
Well thank you, Buffy. After consulting Dr. Jujube, Dr. Jujube realized that R&R really was taking some “R&R” when he tried to use only sun signs to classify citizens! So the Dr. slowly poisoned R&R with cyanide to make it look like he had a massive, heart attack. He got away with it, too. I guess Radling’s wife hated him and took the fall. And guess what happened next?
What Mr. History Guy?
Dr. Jujube became our very next president. He developed a form known as I.M.B.T.T.R. for placement into the “bubbles.” Race, religion, eating preferences, favorite vacationing spot, tolerance for road rage as well as many other factors played into the thousand-page form. Then, results were tallied and calculated. Those matching over 80% are placed together into an environment. And they are only retested every twenty years! Other than the inter-global incident of 2087 and the disappearance of the former state of Oklahoma, we really haven’t had any problems.
Thank you Mr. History guy. That answer explained a lot. Do I still get a free T-shirt?
Well, Caller, I think you more than deserve it. What do you say, Buffy?
I think that would be swell, Biff. Uh, I mean Mr. History guy. Time to take another caller. Will this one be our Caller number nine. Are you there?
You’re on the air with ZNOT.
Ooooooo, I love you guys. Especially you, Biff. Ooooo.
Why thank you, I’m oh-so-flattered. But do you know the correct answer to today’s trivia question?
Is the answer to your question sector #53?
Yes, why Buffy, I think she’s right! But can you give us the acronym for today’s prize?
H.O.N.E.Y. Hunting-Old-Negligent-Erring-Yodelers.
Yes that’s correct for a trip to Sector #87! They are yodeling hunters. They are old. They have a norwegian background and they never hit what they shoot at!
Oooooo, Biff you’re the greatest. Ooooo.
Now here’s something that will take you back to the time of my great-great-great-grammie. The song is called “Material Girl” and is performed by a woman who professed to be holy!
That’s FABulous, Buffy. And here you are callers, your flashback to days gone past. You’ve all got it coming to you.
The clock radio sings. The hissing log quiets down and falls asleep, snoring. Blue flames shrink in the fireplace to nothing. After tossing and turning on its burner a few more times, the coffee pot settles down into a melting sleep. The window continues to dream of old men shooting at deer, but never finding their mark.
THE END
Ever since I stopped watching my word count and worrying about b.s., my productivity has jumped. I’ve written, on average, 5,000 words a day on top of my core responsibilities for the past two weeks. I have fallen in love with my art again. No wonder the Old Spice guy popped into my head this morning when I was having coffee. (I linked to the video below. If you can’t see it on your screen, click here.)
Here’s what he said:
Look down. Back up. Where are you? You’re in a bookstore promoting the books you want to write. What’s in your hand? Now back to the clock. It has “it.” It’s two contracts with several agents waiting to rep the novels you wrote. Look again. The contracts are now book deals.
Anything is possible when you stop watching the clock and get back to work.
Thanks, Old Spice guy!