Unfettered Blather

There is no big secret that there are women out there, at this very second, who make their living off of being sex objects. Each one of them doing their part to make sure gender equality is continually set back and that other women who want to be valued for their individual accomplishments will forever compete against the misogyny leveled at their gender.

While this may be a frustrating situation in the real world, there is a distinct difference between a woman who chooses to run around scantily clad and a digital rendering of the same. See, in the real world we’re talking about real women who have made a choice to dress a certain way, to act a certain way, and to pursue a certain means of putting food on the table. I do not care to get into a social commentary as to whether they had a choice or not, people make choices all the time and when you are talking about women who exist purely as eye candy I generally can’t feel much in the way of sympathy. I am much more concerned with some of my former co-workers who had the mixed blessing of being attractive and yet talented. Some of those women would rather be evaluated according to their achievements, while others continued to play off their looks despite working in a professional environment and having enough brains to not have to resort to being objectified. No skin off my nose, they made their choice and they can live with it. Complaints about not being taken seriously are usually shrugged off.

In the digital world though, most depictions of men and women are chosen by the various creators, designers, artists, and so on. Naturally I would assume a certain prevalence for characters to be portrayed appropriate to their surroundings. For example, I would not expect a game about Navy SEALs to feature pink tutus and tiaras. I don’t stress over the depiction of men running around in combat fatigues carrying assault rifles because it’s appropriate for the setting. However, why is it that when we add a woman to the mix the treatment is no longer equal? Certainly in “realistic” games, they wouldn’t even have a woman as a character, so the point is moot there. When we get into speculative fiction then it seems any pretense at realism, at least in terms of gender portrayal, are thrown out the window. Men are still dressed in combat fatigues and web gear, as are the women except they will also have a uniform with an oddly exposed belly, displays cleavage, and may have an exposed thong.

Eh?

I am not making this up by the way. Just looking at the box art of SiN: Emergence shows this very stereotype. I’m singling it out, but don’t think for a second it is only a single instance of this kind of depiction. This bizarre perception of women can be seen in games like Sudeki, where the “princess” prances around like some kind of stripper, just about any fighting game, and I couldn’t even begin to cover how most fantasy games portray women.

The problem is not escapist fantasy. I’m a big fan of escapist fantasy. I’m a big fan of sexy women. Hell, I even enjoy looking at women who dress like sex objects. I have no problem with any of this. However, the digital world does not have the same rules as the real world, in that the women have a choice. See, while I enjoy looking at real flesh and blood women who willingly dress like sex objects, they are balanced out by real women who work as professionals that I have to interact with. These are real people to me, and despite the gender difference I can relate to them as people. I have worked for women, I have worked with women, and I have had women work for me. All this is good, and it provides a necessary balance to keep me from falling completely into the abyss of chauvinism.

This balance is sorely lacking in contemporary video games, where a strong woman is usually also depicted as overtly sexual. This is just plain silly. A woman like Alexis Sinclaire would not become a CEO because her reliance on sexuality, family ties be damned, would keep her out of the boardroom. Again, in the real world, do you think the Hiltons will ever let Paris have any meaningful stake in their business? Ah hells no!

The depiction of women is in the hands of the creators, and their choices are often very telling. The justification often bandied about is that it will “appeal to the target demographic”. However, why limit the target demographic, and are you saying your target demographic cannot be lured into playing your game based on its merits? Are big breasts justification for bad game design? If so, why are we punishing women in the name of lousy games? The problem that exists with a lot of games is that they limit their audience by the content of the game. It is a poor assumption to think that women are not going to play your game for whatever reason. Certainly if their choice is to play the typical alpha-male or the woman in the metal bikini it speaks rather poorly. Yet this is often the choice we players are presented with when gender is an option, and it gets even worse when they are presented with the supporting cast. I’m not calling for an abandonment of sexy women, but I do think that a little real world balance is called for.

What I see envisioned in many games today is the fantasy that all women are sex objects and exist for the pleasure of men. What kind of message does this send, and do game designers really desire this kind of world? Do they really think most men desire this kind of world? I can certainly see the appeal of such a vision to an adolescent male who has not bothered to put a lot of thought into the drawbacks of such a society. However, as a non-adolescent male I find it a bit frustrating to be forced to interact with what is essentially a set of boobs with a person attached to them. Not only is it shallow and immature, it shows a distinct lack of creativity. That is the point where all the justifications about target demographics and audience appeal fall away. This constant barrage of female sexuality is creatively bankrupt. It is not innovative, it is not daring, and it ceased to be edgy about a thousand leather thongs ago (I’m not talking footwear either). The only true rationalizations are laziness, lack of imagination, and sheer exploitation. I won’t deny that men want to see scantily clad women, just don’t assume that is all they ever want. The women in games can’t choose to be anything other than what they are, it’s up to the development teams to decide they can develop real characters with women.

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