Diveristy and Communication Blog Asingment 5

Video Game Design

November 8th, 2009

Chapter 6.5 of our textbook explored images of women in video games. Traditionally women have been presented in the following roles: Damsels in Distress, Femme Fatales, or Buxom Babes.

The chapter concludes as follows:

“What remains to be seen is whether images of women, which in the past were nearly absent from virtual worlds, will evolve beyond what one game producer called “fantasy art wet dream material” (”Girl trouble, 1998, p. 99) and into strong, independent characters th at are not trapped by sexist stereotypes.

This blog assignment gives you the opportunity to become a video game designer. Describe how you would “redesign” women in a video game of your own creation so that they are not trapped by sexist stereotypes.

__________

I would re-design women in video games so that their presence as virtual characters are equal to that of the males. This means that the video gamer would have an equal number of male and female characters to choose from, rather than the token one or two women characters that are generally available today.

In terms of appearance, I think it is important to note that many of the male characters are also typically idealized in their physical physique. So, I imagine any consumer is likely to appreciate and be more drawn to playing the games as an "attractive" character, regardless of sex. So though I would definitely avoid the "buxom babe" appearance, the female characters would probably be designed with attractive features. However, their chests and frames would be more realistically proportioned, and they would be fully clothed. Hopefully these changes in appearance will help lessen the Femme Fatale affect of alluring "vixen" imagery and behavior.

As far as damsels in distress, it simply wouldn't occur in my video game. It is unlikely I would create a violent video game, but if there was fighting in it, the characters (male or female) would probably be rescuing children or innocent bystanders. Characters could potentially rescue each other if the situation were to arise in my game, but it would work both ways- meaning, the female characters could rescue male characters as well as the other way around.

The appeal to the female character would not be one of sensual mystique, but one of courage demonstrated through selfless actions aimed towards helpings others. It is likely that in order for this to happen without mass amounts of violence, the emotional ties to characters or players in the game would have to be more dramatized than they are currently. It is these ties that, when tampered with, would garnish a strong enough gamer reaction to make role playing decisions that do not involve physical fighting, such as questions of loyalty, ethics, or morals, the primary bulk of the game activity. I suppose that in order to make the game marketable, there will have to be some level of combat, and so there will likely have to be inherently "evil" characters. This leads me to belive my game would have to be one based in fantasy, in order to avoid other detrimental stereotypes.