For a long time, gaming was considered a male pursuit, but things aren't just changing on that front; they've changed.
According to a Pew Research Centre report into American tech ownership, 42% of female respondents owned a games console, compared to just 37% who identified as male.
It's a slightly different picture according the Electronic Software Association, which found that 59% of males it polled identified as "gamers", against 41% of women.
Either way you look at it, there's a narrow gap there, and being a gamer is no longer just a thing that only boys do (if it ever was).
According to a Pew Research Centre report into American tech ownership, 42% of female respondents owned a games console, compared to just 37% who identified as male.
It's a slightly different picture according the Electronic Software Association, which found that 59% of males it polled identified as "gamers", against 41% of women.
Either way you look at it, there's a narrow gap there, and being a gamer is no longer just a thing that only boys do (if it ever was).
NEGATIVE DEPICTIONS
You don't need me to tell you that there's often a lot of talk about the negative depiction of females in video games.
And, indeed, if you're a misogynistic idiot, the negative impact of females in gaming.
It's fair enough though that women would feel poorly represented, or misrepresented. Traditionally, female game characters were damsels in distress, pink princesses, or identical to their male counterparts, but with bows on their heads. And when graphics got better, it was all about the chainmail bikinis and pendulous breasts.
Things are better, but not much better. Women are still often represented as eye candy: Koei Tecmo has just announced that Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 will feature "realistic tan lines" and bikini "malfunctions" alongside a refined version of its realistic breast physics software, Soft Engine 2.0.
It's shameless objectification of women, obviously, reinforcing all manner of dubious body fascism and social inequality (is Lara Croft really any better though? She somehow manages to keep her make-up on throughout Rise of the Tomb Raider...).
That said - speaking as someone who has never been a woman - I don't think any of us (male, female, straight, gay, trans, white, black, Asian, cats, dogs...) are particularly well represented by video games.
You don't need me to tell you that there's often a lot of talk about the negative depiction of females in video games.
And, indeed, if you're a misogynistic idiot, the negative impact of females in gaming.
It's fair enough though that women would feel poorly represented, or misrepresented. Traditionally, female game characters were damsels in distress, pink princesses, or identical to their male counterparts, but with bows on their heads. And when graphics got better, it was all about the chainmail bikinis and pendulous breasts.
Things are better, but not much better. Women are still often represented as eye candy: Koei Tecmo has just announced that Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 will feature "realistic tan lines" and bikini "malfunctions" alongside a refined version of its realistic breast physics software, Soft Engine 2.0.
It's shameless objectification of women, obviously, reinforcing all manner of dubious body fascism and social inequality (is Lara Croft really any better though? She somehow manages to keep her make-up on throughout Rise of the Tomb Raider...).
That said - speaking as someone who has never been a woman - I don't think any of us (male, female, straight, gay, trans, white, black, Asian, cats, dogs...) are particularly well represented by video games.
JRR TOKEN EFFORTS
There are more token efforts to offer female playable characters these days.
However, I'd argue that Lara Croft, that female Spartan in Halo 5, and the female versions of the male characters in Assassin's Creed Unity and CODBLOPS 3, don't do anything besides the same default video game character behaviour as their male counterparts.
Is that really what women want from their characters? Simply making them as equally unrealistic as male video game characters?
There's nothing about any of the characters mentioned above, beyond superficial elements, which suggest they're female. I don't get any insight into being a woman from them. In some respects, they're the very definition of the developers going "There - happy now?".
It seems that as far as video games go, making female and male characters equally capable and bloodthirsty is as deeps as it goes into exploring what it is to be a man or a woman. All you have to do is stick a bow on their head, and it'll shut up the feminists, right?
Obviously, there are exceptions. Ellie in The Last of Us, Kaitlin in Gone Home and Max from Life is Strange are all characters who are convincing in their female-ness (at least, they are to me - a man). But when it comes to most big, Triple-A action games, female characters are cyphers. Thing is, so are the male ones, and I'm not sure it necessarily matters one way or another.
I'm no defender of male rights, or whatever they're calling it, but if we were to turn the tables, we'd all be labouring under the impression that being a man is about having enormous muscles and the biggest gun you can handle.
There are more token efforts to offer female playable characters these days.
However, I'd argue that Lara Croft, that female Spartan in Halo 5, and the female versions of the male characters in Assassin's Creed Unity and CODBLOPS 3, don't do anything besides the same default video game character behaviour as their male counterparts.
Is that really what women want from their characters? Simply making them as equally unrealistic as male video game characters?
There's nothing about any of the characters mentioned above, beyond superficial elements, which suggest they're female. I don't get any insight into being a woman from them. In some respects, they're the very definition of the developers going "There - happy now?".
It seems that as far as video games go, making female and male characters equally capable and bloodthirsty is as deeps as it goes into exploring what it is to be a man or a woman. All you have to do is stick a bow on their head, and it'll shut up the feminists, right?
Obviously, there are exceptions. Ellie in The Last of Us, Kaitlin in Gone Home and Max from Life is Strange are all characters who are convincing in their female-ness (at least, they are to me - a man). But when it comes to most big, Triple-A action games, female characters are cyphers. Thing is, so are the male ones, and I'm not sure it necessarily matters one way or another.
I'm no defender of male rights, or whatever they're calling it, but if we were to turn the tables, we'd all be labouring under the impression that being a man is about having enormous muscles and the biggest gun you can handle.
MALE PRODUCTS
We're all a product of our environment, one way or another.
We're all shaped by what's around us, and I'm sure that growing up I absorbed video games' depiction of gender roles... along with those I witnessed in commercials, movies, TV shows, and my parents' and grandparents' relationships etc. etc.
As have we all.
That said, I've never really felt I needed a male role-model from my games - to me, a man, they're mostly just bland avatars and I pay little attention to what sex the character is - but if I was looking for one there are precious few examples to chose from.
Most male characters in games are muscle-bound, gun-toting, psychopaths. The closest I've ever come to identifying with one was naughty schoolboy Eric from 80s ZX Spectrum classic Skool Days, and - once again - Joel in The Last of Us. Joel is a dad, probably about my age, and striving to protect those he cares about. But he still runs around shooting people in the head. Because that's what the game demands.
Most video games are action-based, and for that you need an action hero, male or female. I don't necessarily need games to speak to me by featuring a character who's a middle-aged couch potato who goes on an adventure.
Action games are escapism, and they're not the place for digging deep into a character's psyche. Do that, and you get this "ludonarrative dissonance" thing that's all the rage these days (basically, the conflict between story and gameplay, whereby one contradicts the other).
In extreme examples - such as in Rise of the Tomb Raider - it actually serves to damage the game as a whole, because they've gone too far during the cutscenes to create a rounded character.
Video game characters don't need to be deep, or realistic, but they do need to be consistent within their game worlds if we're going to buy into them. But at the same time, I'm curious to know whether simply levelling the playing field between male and female characters is what female gamers want from their avatars. Answers on a pink postcard.
We're all a product of our environment, one way or another.
We're all shaped by what's around us, and I'm sure that growing up I absorbed video games' depiction of gender roles... along with those I witnessed in commercials, movies, TV shows, and my parents' and grandparents' relationships etc. etc.
As have we all.
That said, I've never really felt I needed a male role-model from my games - to me, a man, they're mostly just bland avatars and I pay little attention to what sex the character is - but if I was looking for one there are precious few examples to chose from.
Most male characters in games are muscle-bound, gun-toting, psychopaths. The closest I've ever come to identifying with one was naughty schoolboy Eric from 80s ZX Spectrum classic Skool Days, and - once again - Joel in The Last of Us. Joel is a dad, probably about my age, and striving to protect those he cares about. But he still runs around shooting people in the head. Because that's what the game demands.
Most video games are action-based, and for that you need an action hero, male or female. I don't necessarily need games to speak to me by featuring a character who's a middle-aged couch potato who goes on an adventure.
Action games are escapism, and they're not the place for digging deep into a character's psyche. Do that, and you get this "ludonarrative dissonance" thing that's all the rage these days (basically, the conflict between story and gameplay, whereby one contradicts the other).
In extreme examples - such as in Rise of the Tomb Raider - it actually serves to damage the game as a whole, because they've gone too far during the cutscenes to create a rounded character.
Video game characters don't need to be deep, or realistic, but they do need to be consistent within their game worlds if we're going to buy into them. But at the same time, I'm curious to know whether simply levelling the playing field between male and female characters is what female gamers want from their avatars. Answers on a pink postcard.
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