Masculinity in Video Games

[KillerGremlin]

Originally Posted by Vampyr

I think that the dealio here is that big boobs aren't what makes a character feminine, but I think that's what you mean when you say characters have gotten "more feminine."

Another big cop out when designing female characters that game designers tend to take is to, as you said, just load them up on stereotypically male characteristics. Want a strong female character? Load them up on tattoos and make them rude to everyone, that should do it (case in point: Jack from Mass Effect). They failed so spectacularly with that character. The person who designed her actually said she was supposed to be a strong female character...it's madness. They managed to do everything wrong with her - totally male characteristics (down to the name), plus a sex addiction and skimpy clothing. Jesus Christ.

Games need "strong" female characters that that aren't strong because they represent male stereotypes. A good example is actually Anya, from Gears of War. Her character is almost motherly towards others, especially Marcus, but she's also a fierce fighter and intelligent.

Motherhood is actually a theme that could really be explored in video games that could actually add a ton to female characters. And I don't mean that every female should have a child - exploring the negative of motherhood (women who don't want children, and how they interact with them) is another possibility. As of now it's not really commented on either way in video games.

Feminism hates motherhood. Good luck. Being motherly is fitting in the hegemonic male culture. Why should a female be motherly when she can fight it up or go all slutty. I love feminism...it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

Not all feminism is horribly written. But 98% of pop feminism is trash. A lot of it masquerades behind constructs that don't exist in real life. A lot of it hides behind fancy words and lengthy books that would take a scholar to deconstruct.

Most scholars are off doing things worthwhile though...like becoming lawyers or physicists or doctors. It's a great irony.


EDIT: And as a huge Halo fan...HUGE HUGE Halo fan...Cortona saves Master Chief a few times, and he rescues her. I love Cortona, and she is an awesome, strong, female lead. Is she motherly? Maybe...I dunno. To me she is kind of sexy and like a companion.

[Vampyr]

Well, that's why I said characters who don't want to be mothers would also be interesting.

But yeah, maybe the reason game stories haven't gone there is because they would inevitably screw it up.

[KillerGremlin]

Assuming that video games are on par with books or cinema...and they are with an ever expanding library...

You are going to have some pop trash, and some good stuff. We can accept that there is a "strong man" mytho....as per the Greek stories Prof S mentioned, or movies like Conan the Barbarian, 300, Commando, and Die Hard. But maybe people just like watching stuff blown up. I get the homoerotic nature of the strong man mytho...but I'm not empathizing or envying these guys. I don't want to look like a beefcake.

If anything, the emergence of these "strong men" in video games is a retort to all the guys in skinny jeans. Big beefcake guys are on the decline these days, with a curving upward group of metro-sexual males.

This issue is much more complicated than that badly written article, and video games as a medium deserve some love. I enjoy the occasional manly man movie where shit is being blown up and they are cranking out the cheesy as fuck one liners. If you can't appreciate what Gears of War is....polished testosterone and blowing shit up...then how can you appreciate something like No One Lives Forever or Metroid Prime?

[Typhoid]

Wait, it's not like male leads in games in the past weren't war-mongering muscle-having gun-toting women-fucking machines.

It's just that when games first started coming out that the graphics were dirt-poor, so you couldn't have definition. Everyone was a block regardless of how beefy they were supposed to be. So when going back, you have to rely on the glorious box art to portray your characters, and let the imagination turn the blocks into those muslce-laden destruction-Gods who love to fight.

I present to you Sean's first annual nothing's-really-changed awards.




























However, like I said, it's not like certain companies haven't made their leads more feminine as the years have gone on. Even just starting at FF7, you have Cloud, a cocky masculine male lead in the army. Then a slender egotistical college kid. Then you have a monkey-boy with a tail. Then whatever the fuck Tidus was. Then you have Vaan and Penelo - but considering the main character of the story is technically Asch, it's already a girl. Then you get Lightning, which has seemingly come full-circle where they just removed Clouds dick and gave him tits.

I'm not saying that's a problem, or bugs me. I was just bringing it up.

[Teuthida]

Originally Posted by Typhoid

However, like I said, it's not like certain companies haven't made their leads more feminine as the years have gone on. Even just starting at FF7, you have Cloud, a cocky masculine male lead in the army. Then a slender egotistical college kid. Then you have a monkey-boy with a tail. Then whatever the fuck Tidus was. Then you have Vaan and Penelo - but considering the main character of the story is technically Asch, it's already a girl. Then you get Lightning, which has seemingly come full-circle where they just removed Clouds dick and gave him tits.

Yup, it's the exact opposite in Japan. I've seen articles about how there are no longer any strong male leads in most of their recent entertainment.

Probably very different for video games where you need a lot of approval for the final design of a character (I'm guessing) but in terms of comics, at least for me, big muscly guys are just more fun to draw.

And I prefer my video game characters to be cute, colorful and barely humanoid. The only game of this generation I've played is Portal 2. I would say that's a strong female character.

The body types just seem to make sense for the type of game they're in. Going by the character roundup Earl did at NOTR, the only thing these male characters are guilty of is being boring. Looks like could swap in most of them for any of the games. Sev is basically Drake with a beard and baggier pants. And what is Cole MacGrath's deal? Other than the scar, he's a normal dude. If I had to guess based on the picture...he's a forest ranger? Scar's from a raccoon but he tells everyone it was a bear.

[Professor S]

FYI - I have engaged the bitch in debate. Fun!

[Blix]

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

EDIT: And as a huge Halo fan...HUGE HUGE Halo fan...Cortona saves Master Chief a few times, and he rescues her. I love Cortona, and she is an awesome, strong, female lead. Is she motherly? Maybe...I dunno. To me she is kind of sexy and like a companion.

As a huge halo fan you should know it is Cortana, not Cortona.

Edit: Don't take it personally, it's just you made the same mistake many times and it got to me. XD

[KillerGremlin]

Originally Posted by Blix

As a huge halo fan you should know it is Cortana, not Cortona.

Edit: Don't take it personally, it's just you made the same mistake many times and it got to me. XD

lol, correction definitely noted. I still stand by my opinions on the issue though. Cortana is hot...not motherly.