Women and videogames: a response to BBC's Woman's Hour.

It was unfortunate that Woman's Hour (27/01/11) seemed to have guests that seemed to have very little understanding of the modern games industry and / or had difficulty expressing themselves.

The reasons behind women's position in videogames and the industry is simple:

Like any other 'interest' that is largely based around technology, it began as a hobby largely undertaken by men (like science, radio, television, the internet etc.- this phenomenon is another discussion).

 
  As it was mainly men designing fictional games for other men, most female characters were of a fictional / fantasy character, which is also true of other media- film and T.V. most notably. This is also true of the male characters, who tend to be muscly, brave, hero types.

This general male fantasy notion of women is never going to change- it is a fantasy that has existed since the beginning of human nature. This doesn't of course mean that it is the right way to depict women, but alot of human nature is based on primal instincts. It is exactly the same as many women fantasising about the hero male: firemen, Gavin Henson etc....

  As more women have become involved in gaming, both as players and creators, female characters have become less stereotypical (as have all characters, male and female). There are many more 'realistic' depictions of women in games, and you only focussed on the typical examples that exist in ALL media.

Examples of more 'normal' female characters:

Alyx from Half Life 2

Samus from the Metroid series

Chell and GlaDOS from Portal (pretty much a female-only cast)
Faith from Mirror's Edge (again, a female-strong cast)
Claire or Jill from Resident Evil

And a number from Warcraft.

  These are all main characters, but there are also many more ‘supporting roles’ that are more rounded portrayals.

  Of course, these characters are all attractive, but are certainly more 'normal' than many other portrayals, but this will probably always be the case- how often is a lead female character from a film or T.V. show unattractive?

  When people create fictional 'hero' characters, be it in any media form, they tend to give that character the features that most people aspire to. This is not a female specific thing, male characters nearly always fulfil this stereotype- most men aspire to be muscly and brave rather than the weedy, cowards that alot of us are.

  This is just human nature and will always exist to some degree. As any media develops and matures it tends to explore more rich and varied portrayals, and we are beginning to see this in videogames.

-tooplanx