Fact: Games Hate Women
Two recent events have cast doubt over the games industry’s attitude towards female gamers, suggesting that, from development right through to retail, videogames are still very much a boys club. We go inside the teacup to take a closer look at the brewing storm…
Politically Incorrect
At a conference in Edinburgh in 2006, David Gardner, then COO of Electronic Arts, delivered a grave message to the industry. “We are only reaching a small proportion [of people],” he claimed, “not only geographically but also genetically.” Gardner accused videogames of “failing women”, by allowing the industry’s senior creative positions to be dominated by men, by marketing every key release squarely at a male audience, and releasing condescending products like pink PSPs and games about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.That was five years ago, and while the industry has grown and changed since then, two recent incidents have prompted many critics to question whether anything has changed.
The first emanated from the offices of Gearbox Software, the Dallas-based studio that took over development duties on that bastion of crude masculinity Duke Nukem Forever. In an interview with Official Xbox Magazine, company president Randy Pitchford revealed details of a new multiplayer riff on Capture The Flag. Ostensibly called ‘Capture The Babe’, the mode will ask players to seek out and abduct a woman. However, there’s a twist: occasionally the “babe” will begin to “freak out”, and the only way she can be pacified is to give her a “reassuring slap”.
The outcry arrived almost instantly, with many people assuming that Duke’s slap had to be applied to the woman’s face. Fortunately, Pitchford was on hand to correct their mistake. “Get it right, folks!” he said via Twitter. “In the Duke Nukem Forever MP game ‘Capture the Babe’, Duke can give the girl a love smack on the booty – not face!” Needless to say, Pitchford’s less than eloquent retort did little to dampen the fires of controversy.
The next incident arrived just three days later, when UK high street retailer Gamestation launched a series of in-store adverts for its pre-owned games that bore the legend, ‘Cheaper Than Your Girlfriend’. Again, the complaints began to surface immediately, with one of the company’s female employees writing anonymously to Gamesindustry.biz. “It is pretty openly sexist – girls being cheap, obviously, but it’s also pandering to the old stereotype that gamers are guys,” she claimed. “Any discrimination is banned by [parent firm] GAME’s own employee regulations, so I don’t see why the company itself should be able to get away with it.”
The official reply arrived swiftly, but its defensive, unrepentant tone only served to fan the flames. “The Gamestation brand reflects its customer base, which is still predominantly the traditional core male gamer,” explained Neil Ashurst, head of public relations. “Our marketing and in-store POS does, and will continue to, appeal to that audience. Throughout its existence, Gamestation has always been slightly edgy and occasionally controversial. Our customers love this about us.”
Unsurprisingly, the anonymous female employee wasn’t convinced, telling Gamesindustry.biz, “I appreciate Gamestation’s style, but I don’t appreciate them making me feel I’m not who they think should be buying their products.”
In many ways these incidents have very little in common, but critics believe that this is a key part of the problem: taken together, they suggest that a ‘boys club’ mentality is still prevalent throughout the industry, from production right through to retail, and that mentality has the potential to manifest as blatant sexism. However, many have questioned whether either is evidently sexist at all: that Gamestation is correct to defend its marketing on the grounds that its customer-base is predominantly male, and that Duke Nukem Forever’s ‘Capture The Babe’ mode makes sense within the context of the game’s satirical outlook.
Now, we won’t argue that there’s no logic to those defences, but there is little doubt that ideas like ‘Capture The Babe’ and ‘Cheaper Than Your Girlfriend’ are the products of an environment where testosterone dwarfs oestrogen by several orders of magnitude. However, in the case of Duke Nukem Forever, it seems to be less a matter of sexism than skill. Gearbox has defended the ‘reassuring slapping’ on the grounds of satire, but satire implies a degree of intelligence that the idea simply doesn’t possess – it’s more Scary Movie 3 than Dr Strangelove, and few film critics would hesitate to call a film with similar content sexist.
Duke Nukem has always been a chauvinist pig, and it’s unreasonable to expect that to change simply because the industry is so desperate to grow up. However, it’s eminently reasonable to expect Gearbox to deliver a more sophisticated take on the character than the crushingly unfunny efforts of 3D Realms, yet ‘Capture The Babe’ is arguably the crudest and most offensive ‘joke’ in the series’ history. Duke Nukem 3D was notable for its physics and not its script, but based on this evidence it seems Gearbox believes it was the other way around, and we shudder to think what other humorous treats Duke Nukem Forever has in store. Pitchford and his team have as much right as the Wayans brothers to crack bad jokes, but we sure as hell don’t have to laugh at them.
Ultimately, though, it’s Gamestation that looks like the real dinosaur. Right now, the only major growth areas in gaming are mobile, social and free-to-play – where the proportion of female gamers is far higher than it is in the console space, and growing all the time. Conversely, console games are in a period of steady decline, and any significant future growth will almost certainly be driven by companies bringing this new female audience into the fold. If Gamestation seeks only to preserve a crumbling status quo, it will very quickly be left behind.
Don’t believe us? Here’s some evidence…
Exhibit A
Dead Or Alive Xtreme 2
In the interests of fairness it’s worth mentioning that almost every one of Tomonobu Itagaki’s games contains at least one impossibly top-heavy female character. However, the Xtreme Beach Volleyball games are on another level. You seem to occupy the role of a sweaty, sunburnt stalker, plying girls with make-up, perfume and soft toys until they grudgingly allow you to take pictures of them straddling tree branches.
Verdict: Guilty
…………………………………………………………………………………….
Exhibit B
Bayonetta
While we admire Bayonetta’s sublimely intricate gameplay and eye-bursting presentation, the amount of time Platinum Games’s Kenichiro Yoshimura spent on giving the titular witch the perfect ass is somewhat disconcerting. “I really wanted to get Bayonetta’s backside perfect,” he admitted on the studio’s blog. “I guess I’m into that sort of thing.” Fortunately, her saucy librarian exterior is balanced out by her strong, self-possessed character.
Verdict: Not Guilty
…………………………………………………………………………………….
Exhibit C
Resident Evil 5
In all the puffed-up brouhaha over whether Resident Evil 5’s representation of Africa tripped over into racism, most critics missed out on a far more obvious example of subjugation: Sheva’s unlockable leopard-print bikini. Troubling connotations of the choice of leopard print to one side, turning a seemingly strong, wilful character like Sheva into a scantily clad sex-pot is a textbook example of boys club thinking. If it weren’t for the bikini, Resident Evil 5 wouldn’t be near this list.
Verdict: Guilty
…………………………………………………………………………………….
Exhibit D
Soul Calibur
There’s a convincing argument to suggest that Dead Or Alive is the prime candidate for the most sexist fighting game, but with Itagaki and co already represented by Xtreme Beach Volleyball we thought it best to cast the net wider. And so to Soul Calibur, with its panoply of female characters who are united by their fervent belief that full body armour is totally unnecessary in a one-on-one fight to the death. Just search Google Images for Taki, Cassandra or Ivy and you’ll see what we mean.
Verdict: Guilty
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I’m a huge gamer and I’m female. In soooo many games, girls are depicted as sex objects all the time. All the women have these giant breasts, and moving in ways that pleases men..LIke I wonder are there any females working on these games? I get really offended all the time. Like what gives? Developers are perverted…
this article is full of bs.
if u play any of these games men are objectified as much as women and use as much clothing as these women. but it seems that if u objectify women its a bigger deal. how about u grow up.
recap, you’re a retard. games have always been a male-dominated market, so of course games are going to objectify women. until more women are on creative development teams, thats what we’re stuck with. don’t give me that “men can be objectified too” BS, because that’s what it is BS. grow a pair, be a man, and respect your lady. how hard is that for you meatheads? and girls, get into games, and making them. they kick ass, chicks kick ass, i don’t see how that can be a bad combination.
Well said, MJ
Agree MJ712. The people above seem to be forgetting that though some women find the majority of male characters attractive, they’ve not been designed for that purpose. They’ve been created to appeal to the white teenage male fantasy of what constitutes a heroic figure. Female characters are mostly designed to appeal to those audiences ideas of the perfect women, which is where the huge amount of sexism comes in.
Quit the internet tough guy act MJ. No one said anything about disrespecting women. You are the one that said it. In fact, if you are in a relationship, you girl is the one who probably where’s the pants.
@Dan- Way to have your own opinion on the matter wuss. How about you not waste a comment space agreeing with some Politically Correct ass-wipe.
I have to agree that girls are underrepresented in the gaming industry, to a degree, and it must be difficult for the industry to move away from sch a traditional fan base. However I think the capture the babe idea is hilarious and don’t see why it should be so offensive, its a bit of fun, and pretty hilarious, and in keeping with the context of the game. As mentioned, the Duke is a chauvanistic pig, and it suits the game down to the ground. There are plenty of male characters who woman find attractive; Dante, Prince of Persia etc (often not because of archetypica muscles and good looks but their mysterious loner qualities I suspect…)
The new Dante in the rebooted DMC series definitely seems aimed to that kind of end…
Anyway, I dont think people should get so caught up on the objectification of the human body, regardless of gender. Ultimately its a natural human instinct and is usually a bit of fun within games – Think Timesplitters FP…. some hilarious characters, my girlfriend loved them.
What a lot of feminazi bullshit. If women want games made specificaly for them, they should make their own games. If you can t stand the boys club games, don t play them and go back to the kitchen.
gaming (includes sport and activities) are one of the top needs of man even in a relationship. Thereare lots of female gamers around the world but more female doesn’t even consider gaming as a need or even a want. Hence, game developers have to develop games suitable for the guys as a big marketing strategy. That being said, there are alot of Female and family oriented games being released (eg.Wii and DS games)
Lol. The butt ugly feminazis are envious of female video-game characters. How pathetic…
Meh. All I have to say is that if girls have a problem with the way that women are objectified in games, then do something about it. Jump on the development teams, and try to make some changes, but on the up and up, they are just games, nothing serious. There are plenty of game that can appeal to a female gamer…like off the top of my head, more than half of Bioware’s games, in which you can romance male characters if you play female ones, and vice versa, hell, even if you are a male character. I just get tired of various women who have a problem with the way that video game girls are designed. If they were all ugly, or average looking, then they wouldn’t be saying anything whatsoever, but because they are designed, and act better than most of the women who complain about them, then there is where they catch their fire.
Congratulations. You found out that sex sells. This has been a known fact for decades.
You disagree with sex selling in games, yet you idolise anorexic models showing of designer clothes and purses.
/discussion
I’d just liek to make this clear. GAMES ARE OUR FANTASIES. Seriously, don’t get so uptight about this alright? If we can’t ‘live’ out on our fantasies in games, where else do you expect us to live them in? Oh, ok, i get it, you want us to make REAL women act them out for us, is that it? Way to go, Now THATS what i call objectifying.
Okaaay, why am I not surprised something like was brought up? Honestly, I don’t think video games hate women. I do wish more women were portrayed in video games though. Of course, I played some of the games. Bayonetta, I haven’t played yet. I will say this: game are meant to show us either what reality is or what fantasy is. I could be wrong. Sex sells, but it shouldn’t get in the way of the fact that we women also have feelings and intelligence. Especially in the video games.
/rant
to put it simple, most gamers are men, dont lie, you know its true, thus giving us fan-service, is a big up in money for the dev’s. they arent here to make everyone happy at once, because this is a immpossibility, thus they appeal to the masses, which are the men. there will be no defining factor of where anything can be called excellent by everyone, so whats the big deal? what are women portrayed as? the housewife who’s in the kitchen, what are men portrayed as? the ones who bring home the bacon, anyone remmeber these days? that people seemed to give less a crap about it and just lived thier live’s? i want to tell you guys something, do you know who mostly played ff10? men, and why? because lulu and rikku were half-clothed/sex appeal, heres the end of the line, not every man is a idiot, not every woman is a housewife, not every man is faithful, and yet not every woman is ethier,we are literally two sides of the same flipping coin, except heres the main difference. men dont hide it as much…. enough said, we are blunt, and possibly dumb about it too, but guess what, anything can happen with anyone~ so less complaining about this, and as seen before, do something about it because ladies
Its time to nut up, or shut up.
/end-rant
GamerGirl1 no offence but yes they do this, but NO Devs are not perverted
lets face it the gaming is a market and as a market the corporate big wigs like to earn the most profit possible to do this they appeal to their MAIN (notice the word MAIN) product market this being MEN (anyone that denies men our the main force of gamers within the word is a fing moron) and as men most of us our yes I shall state it PERVERTED (as you like to call it) now how do you appeal to a pervert?
-Big Tits *check*
-Innuendo attitude *check*
-Skimpy Outfits *check*
-No Brains & Quiet *check*
these are all things that the common man likes or would like within their women or their woman now, as a market developers use these things to manipulate (and yes I am actually stating that they dont give a damn about us, the good Devs listen to their community yes but not because they care but to get our opinions so they can manipulate us better next time) the market and gain the highest amount of profit possible
Women YES its sad that these things our within games
YES its sad that these things our a mans secret longs
and YES its sad that sex sells games
But its how business works and before you say “sex selling things is wrong” look at victories secret then STFU
Victorias secret, sorry, stupid makes me rage type
Quote KoKojinAsh
“-Big Tits *check*
-Innuendo attitude *check*
-Skimpy Outfits *check*
-No Brains & Quiet *check*
these are all things that the common man likes or would like within their women or their woman now”
No, this is what fourteen year old boys want, or what lecherous scumbags want to see when they go to a ‘Gentleman’s’ club. People with such under-developed social attitudes aren’t men. Basically, if this fits their criteria for what they want in a woman, they have a hell of a lot of growing up to do.
its-a-bisuness
they-are-here-for-money
men-pay-money-for-boobs
its-natural
less-butthurt-please
This whole thing is bullshit, yet another feminist ploy attacking with their standard nebulous arguements. I mean seriously, the largest portion of consumers in the game industry are male, deal with it. Is it really that hard too accept that their may be and exclusive all male club? The duke nukem capture tha babe thing is hilarious as all hell, as is the “cheaper than your girlfreind” comment. I mean really anyone who has dated someone knows dating a girl can usually be expensive, dinner, club, drinks and dancing? that close too $200. i mean not all girls are high maintenence but alot are. lastly keep the feminist agenda out of videogames FFS, save it for you horrid stimulus package escapades like in 2008. initially the money was going too be for infrastructure work, opening up something close too 100,000 jobs, construction and other tasks. The NOW (national organbization for women) got up in arms with slogans like “where are the jobs for women?” or “jobs only for big muscle men”. With women screaming into his face obama swapped that package for healthcare jobs and the like, something that women “could do”. apparently hard work like construction according too the NOW, is also an all male club. i loathe this crap.
shitstorm again…. *sigh*
sorry to pop your bubble but i will pay for whatever i want, if it happens that me and a ton of other people “want sex” in their games i couldn’t care less about what you want, don’t like it? don’t buy it…
articles like this keep coming up more and more these days, please do us all a favor and do a little research before posting crap that as been more than properly discussed before
btw, try checking out male characters in games, i can find as much female sexy characters as macho-like males or androgynous characters… try coming up with a reason for that and then stop embarrassing women
I don’t agree with Soul Calibur IV, Resident Evil 5 and Bayonetta judgement.
Soul Calibur IV : Every women in the game have a deep story, varying from abundant roles.
Setsuna : Shes an elegant japanese woman who seeks revenge and is after Mitsurugi. She once said to a girl that the revenge path isn’t the best choice, it’s the official ending in SC III.
Seong Mi-Na : Shes taking care of Yun-Seong and is guiding him to avoid the path of the “evil”, or Soul Edge. Like a big sister.
Ivy : Shes hunting the “ghost pirate”, Cervantes. He adopted her as his daughter but mistreated her and now shes pissed off. Also, you can choose clothes in SC and rather use a less provocative cloth. So not their fault if you’re a perveted and deny it. P.S : Her second costume is always elegant, easily being from a high-class lady from nowadays England.
Cassandra & Sofitia : For Sofitia, I just say this : Shes a mother. Never seen that before in a female game character. Cassandra : Shes looking to destroy Soul Edge and then to get back to her sister – Sofitia – to have a good life and help her out. They are like a double.
Taki : Shes a ninja, so obviously her outfit needs to lack armour for the sake of speed. But if you want, you can choose a more “ninja-like” costume for her, she wears much more armour and her boobs are covered by clothes.
Amy : Unlike most female character in games, her body is small and fits more like a pre-teenager fit. I’m not sure but her soul was taken and she doesn’t talks, her brother Raphael looks after Soul Edge to bring her back to a past state.
Xianghua : Basically, shes like a soft flower with elegant blade-like techniches and have a crush on his friend, Kilik. Shes also member of the elite chinese guard, wich means she holds a position of respect.
I could list more, but that would take alot of time. So you should consider Soul Calibur Series as “not guilty”.
Resident Evil 5 : That’s gonna be quick.
1 – They are at Africa, so of course they will find black people trying to kill them, since they are infected.
2 – The responsibles for the “Uroboros” parasite are white people from America, Umbrella. It’s like the responsibles for civil warfare in Africa, white people from rich companies trying to stop Africa’s nationalization. And they are flawless
3 – Sheva Alomar is black, so it’s very likely for her to have “a bigger butt” than average women. I live in Brazil, I know what I’m talking about. No rascism, it’s a mark of her etnic group, that won’t make her less inteligent or make her have less dignity.
4 – The so-called “bikini costume” isn’t a sexy costume, it’s a war-like costume, like the ones tribal warriors from Africa wore during wars and combats. Even european kings used skin of leopards and lions to demonstrate their power and majesty.
Enough said. Please think better before judging companies. I’m a gamer and I hate the fact that few women play games.
You’re all idiots.
This article is for the birds.
Please make like said bird, and fly away.
No one wants to hear your whining.
No one cares about your bitching.
If you want a meaningful “female” character made, get the degree, get the expertise, and go make it.
See how well it sells, and then get back to us on that.
But why is there no mention of the fact that all males are depicted as broadly muscular? Or that barbarians tend to be depicted as just wearing furry underpants? There is no question that there is a seedy undertone to a number of games out that do lead to sexism, but why are no outcrys over people like Kratos? Balance where it’s due.
Hella late to the party, but-
I’m much more offended by the idea that, as a female gamer, I’m supposed to be offended by this crap. As long as I’m not laggin’ out, it’s all good. Frag on!
First of all, I’m a feminist and I fight for equality!
Second, my tag is: DarkangeliC/Darkani/ArcangeliC, I’m not just a casual female gamer.
I don’t care if the female character is sexy or not, if she is looking feminine and cool it’s ok for me. I’m not a fat girl and I do not feel jealous or hate (All the other female gamers I know feel the same), It’s just a 3d girl. What if she has a secret costume showing off some parts of her body? Are you telling me that the boys hate girls because they like to see our body? This is ridiculous.
Your opinion is not “The female gamer opinioN”. The biggest problem (and you should put it in your mind) is the fact that we are not even represented in the large majority of the games, it’s almost as if womans are not part of the entire world! Examples:
1-Bulletstorm
Ok, 1 female protagonist, but OMG we walk into an entire world full of mutant guys and not a single mutant girl! How do they reproduce!!?
2-Borderlands
The same as above
3-Brink
SUPER CUSTOMIZATION(My favorite thing in a game). But no girls allowed.
And in the MMOFPS genre for example, there are some games that should be simple banned,
Suden Attack/Crossfire (and others):
The only female playable options we have are prostitutes! And we have to pay to play as her in a “Free2Play” game. Not free for girls I guess…
If not like this, we are always the undefended(unplayable) useless girl that needs protection from the protagonist.
We wan’t to fight, we wan’t to shot, we don’t care about receiving a HS or even NS, we wan’t equal rights and representation. Nothing more!