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Portrayal of the Female Gender in Video Games

Bradlie Johnson
Ms. Garcia & Mr. Stoll
17 October 2014

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Video games have seen great growth in past decades, progressing from blocks of light
moving on linear paths to full-length stories filled with relatable characters. The portrayal of
female characters however, is a topic which has attracted much attention in recent years. Critical
reviews deconstruct female characters, gamers protest exclusion, and studies note the stunning
differences between the depictions of male and female characters. Many gamers deny the issue
exists, but upon examination it becomes clear that the presentation of female characters is
problematic for a number of reasons. The select portrayal of women as objects in video games
results in skewed views of gender roles both inside and outside of the game. Due to the
underrepresentation of women in video games, the objectification, marginalization, and
sexualization of female characters produces players with sexist opinions of the female gender.
Female characters make up a minute percentage of the cast of video games, leaving
female players with a lesser means of identification than their male counterparts. The striking
aspect of this is that female players actually make up a larger portion of the gaming community
than the stereotypical gamer. Boys age 18 or younger make up only 17% of American gamers,
while women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game playing
population at 36% (Essential Facts). In spite of this, male characters within video games
drastically outnumber female characters. Women represent about half of the worlds population,
yet only a fraction of the cast of video games. A 2002 study of 47 games revealed that there were
more characters of an indeterminate gender than female characters, meaning predominately
[more] animals or aliens without speaking parts (Beasley 289). These ratios hold true
throughout most of the videogame industry, with women outnumbered by men and even by
animals. Female gamers thus have fewer characters to relate to by gender. Relatability to ones
own gender, also referred to as identification, is a staple which contributes to girls appreciation

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of video games. The upcoming game Assassins Creed: Unity was recently targeted by gamers
who did not appreciate its relatability. Unity itself is set during the French Revolution and
follows the story of an order of assassins. Following the announcement of the games
protagonists, fans of the Assassins Creed franchise prompted a Change.org petition for greater
representation within the game (Williams). They noted in their petition that the greater number of
playable characters within the game, which has increased from one or two in past Assassins
Creed games, was the perfect opportunity for developers to represent women. Unity instead
features four white male protagonists. The 10, 000 signatures which the petition calls for reveal a
massive population of gamers craving a greater means of identification. The present lack of
female characters strips women of female role models in video games, such as the famous female
revolutionists who were historically active during the French Revolution. While the genderbased differences are striking, the portrayal of those few female characters which do appear
reveal much more than a simple imbalance of numbers.
The limited array of character roles women appear in proves to be a sign of their
objectification in video games. First and foremost they are most often depicted as weak in
comparison to male characters both physically and emotionally. A study of the covers of 47
popular games found that good women [were] shown as cute and unthreatening (Jansz 143).
By comparison, male characters were depicted in dominate poses, holding weapons or standing
with their feet planted firmly apart. Women are instead made to be peripheral to the focus of the
cover and thus the game as a whole. Their role as indicated by the essential preview of the game
is that of a supporting character, neutral or otherwise by definition supporting. They act as
cheerleaders for the main character but otherwise have little to no effect on the plot of the game.
Worse still, many female characters act as the entire plot of video games with their deaths. In

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God of War, the main character Kratoss wife and child are killed off prior to the events of the
game, resulting in Kratoss quest for vengeance against the gods. Red Dead Redemption,
Infamous, The Last of Us, and so many others utilize the death of a woman as a driving force for
the male lead. In these games women exist not even as supporting characters, but as a means to
further the character of men. Female characters are set aside as objects of the past and play small
or nonexistent parts in the actual plot of the game. Many female characters are included, but are
intentionally separated from the main action of the video game in order for male characters to
take control. According to Burgess, female characters are rarely given roles of action compared
to their male counterparts[who tend] not to share the spotlight with primary female characters.
However, female characters typically [do] share the spotlight with a male (427). In the main
Resident Evil games, a franchise which does portray women in roles of action, protagonists Jill
Valentine and Sheva Alomar are often accompanied by male partners. Within the same franchise,
however, male protagonist Leon appears solo in his own game and protagonist Chris Redfield
leads not only half of the main games but also a number of spinoffs. This manner of setting
female characters aside in favor of male characters perpetuates the objectification of women in
terms of role. It insinuates that women are incapable of strength. Male characters participate in
the action of the video games, while female characters are often set aside, made to be afraid, or
face injury in their attempts. The most obvious example of this is the famous damsel in distress
trope which permeates the cast of video games. As a character archetype it represents women
who face great danger and must be rescued by the hero of their story. The trope is perhaps best
known for its origin in video games: Princess Peach. In the world of Super Mario Brothers,
Peach is a princess kidnapped by the games main villain Bowser. The game takes main character
Mario through multiple levels of action in order to reach the castle which supposedly houses

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Princess Toadstool, also known as Peach. Marios goal is thus to defeat Bowsers forces, rescue
the princess, and save the day (Self). In essence, Peach acts not as a characteror, as her title
suggests, a leader of her peoplebut as a means for Mario to act as a hero. Peach is portrayed as
being unable to save herself, creating a reliance on Mario. By saving the damsel, Mario is more
easily seen as a hero by the audience. Peach, on the other hand, is reduced to a trophy which
players pursue throughout the game. She herself is granted as a reward for completion of the
game. This idea of women as rewards is the center of the textbook objectification of the entire
female gender in video games. Within the popular Grand Theft Auto and Sleeping Dogs
franchises, for instance, prostitution rewards the player with power-ups, stat boosts and/or
health regeneration (Sarkeesian). The same games feature soda and other consumable items
used to boost characters stats such as income and healing abilities within the game. Sex and
consequently women occupy the same purpose as soda. Women are reduced to existing solely for
the benefit of male characters within these games. In limiting their role within a video game to a
simple mechanic of it, women exist not as characters, but as mere objects. Objectification of
female characters continues past basic gender roles, though, and into an even dicier realm.
Women are blatantly and unnecessarily sexualized in video games. While many
companies have progressed to create strong female characters equal to men, they still stress the
visual appearance of said characters over that of male characters. While the popular Tomb Raider
franchise was hailed by the market for featuring a female lead in a serious action/adventure
game, protagonist Lara Croft became most notable for her enormousbreasts emphasized
under a form fitting tank top and her extremely short shorts (Burgess 421). Lara Croft, who was
created to be a model for independent female protagonists, was instead made most notable for
her sexualized appearance. This blatant sexualization aims often to simply differentiate between

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the male and female genders, a goal which tends to be taken unnecessarily too far. Massively
Multiplayer Online games (MMOS) are perhaps best known for these differences because they
allow players to choose the skills and appearance of their characters; the distinctions game
creators use to define classes, races, and genders often lead to blatant sexualization. These
differences are illustrated in Figure 1.1 and Figure 1.2, displaying screenshots of the character
creator of the MMO Rift: Planes of Telara.

Figure 1.1: Rift Male Warrior (Maisonave 9)

Figure 1.2: Rift Female Warrior (Ibid.)

The images represent essentially the same character, the only difference being their gender. Both
are of the Warrior skill class and both are equipped with said classs base armor. In spite of both
outfits being the same in terms of defense points within the game, they are visually different due
to gender restrictions for apparel in the game. The females armor is far more revealing and
obviously less practical. Her abdomen is exposed unlike the male, leaving her vulnerable to the
full-frontal attacks that a Warrior would expect in their daily lives. Additionally, the metallic
armor fitted to her breasts is not only impractical but also deadly. First, armor is traditionally
worn with thick padding beneath it to prevent chafing, something that such tight clothing as is
depicted in Figure 1.2 would hardly leave room for. Second, chest armor has historically been

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designed to defend against direct blows from melee weapons as well as arrows by having them
glance off and outward; a chest piece fitted to breasts would only serve to increase the chances of
arrows, swords, and even maces being refracted inwards to the center of the chest where the
heart lies (Asher-Perrin). The design of such breastplates meant to emphasize female breasts is
thus completely unfounded, unnecessary, and incredibly dangerous from a logistical view of
battle. The only purpose it could conceivably serve is to define and highlight female breasts in
order to please male gamers. The sexualization of the female warrior is not limited to armor,
though. It extends also to what this exposure reveals to us: females are held to different body
standards. The characters depicted in Figures 2.1 and 2.2 represent the body types available to
the Granok species in the character creator of the MMO WildStar Online. The Granok are
described as being silicon-based life forms made of living stone.

Figure 2.1: WildStar Online Male Granok (Body

Type)

Figure 2.2: WildStar Online Female

Granok (Ibid.)

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While the Granok are best known as warriors, a class which typically values strength and
endurance, the female Granok obviously lack these characteristics (Maisonave 16). They are
slender and do not possess the muscle mass evident in the male Granok. Again, both images
display the full range of body types offered to each gender. The females in Figure 2.2 thus cannot
be set to have the bulk of their male counterparts or even to have wider waists. They are thus
depicted not for the strength of their species, but for the ideal appearance of their gender: thin
build, narrow waists, large breasts. Additionally, while the Granok in WildStar Online are
essentially rock monsters, they possess gender differences visually reflective of human and
mammalian biology. There are made to be viewed as female rocks and male rocks. The female
Granok, in spite of being living stone, possess visually human breasts. There is no biological or
evolutionary basis for the presence of human breasts on rocks. Rocks do not nurse young and
thus have no need for the mammary glands found in breasts. This needless inclusion of breasts in
the design of the Granok applies human gender standards to aliens. Conker: Reloaded likewise
boasts a non-human female who is overly sexualized by human standards. The game itself
focuses on a war between squirrels. Its cover features the sole female charactera squirrel
suggestively stroking a large cannon. As Burgess points out, the most bizarre aspects of this
cover, and others like it, is the notion of sexy squirrels (Burgess 423). Sexualization of female
characters is so prevalent that it is applied even to animals. The all-encompassing application of
human gender standards to non-humans, as with rodents and aliens alike, merely perpetuates the
sexualization of women. By applying the same standards of sexualization to females of all
species, video games imply that these standards are normal, must be met, and are the defining
characteristics of all women. They imply that a woman is a female before she is a human. This

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blatant sexualization of female characters inevitably suggests that the female gender is
unimportant in video games aside from appearances.
The creators of video games increasingly marginalize female characters by labeling them
as unimportant. Video game companies display obvious financial opposition to games featuring
female characters. In the past few years, games with a female only protagonist got half the
spending of female optional, and only 40% of the marketing budget of male-led games
(Oravasaari). The result is the highly unbalanced numbers seen today. Most popular games
feature male protagonists because they receive more spending money. Games with female
protagonists lack this support, producing low-budget, unheard of games or not producing games
at all. Opportunity for an independent female protagonist often abounds, but representation is
lost for the safety of a male lead. Such is the case with Assassins Creed Unity, whose technical
director claimed, A female character means that you have to redo a lot of animation, a lot of
costumesIt would have doubled the work on those things (Williams). The sentiment was later
refuted by a former designer for the company named Jonathan Cooper, who argued it would take
only a matter of a day or two to code a female protagonist into the game. Previous Assassins
Creed games have featured women after all, and Unity operates on the same system; coding
would merely have to be transferred for animations. The excuses gaming developers use to
account for a lack of female representation often lack foundation and instead reflect this simple
preference for games with male leads. Due to the rarity of female protagonists, the kinds of
developers that push for them are generally ones that are trying to be different elsewhere too
(Oravasaari). Games that are already risky investments often feature female leads in order to
either explain their potential failure or attract the attention of female players starving for
representation. Portal, for example, is a highly acclaimed game initially launched as being

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experimental in its play style. It consisted of a series of unique puzzles and, as it were, a female
protagonist named Chell. While Chell is celebrated, she rarely appears to the player; the firstperson perspective left many players completely unaware of her gender throughout most of the
game. In this way she is not acknowledged as a woman. Her revolutionary strength is lost to
many gamers because developers hid the fact that she was a women. Opportunities for
representation are swept under the rug or, in this case, behind the camera. Perhaps the most
telling story of the marginalization of female characters is that of the would-be Dinosaur Planet.
It initially featured Crystal, a strong, capable fox girl who set out to save the world. The game
was rewritten to become the third in the Starfox series, another game entirely. In it, Crystal was
transformed from a female adventurer into a damsel in distress. As such she was trapped in a
crystal throughout most of the game,

meant to be saved by the now-male lead, Starfox

(Sarkeesian). In this manner many female characters are simply tossed aside in favor of male
characters. Female characters are set aside, unable to even be created without the accompaniment
of blatant sexualization or objectification. Pushing female players and female characters aside,
however, does not reduce the impact of their inclusion.
The general lack of proper representation of the female gender in video games produces
players who have unknowingly adopted a belief in stereotypes. The interactive nature of gaming
contributes to the effect it has on players. Due to the control granted to players over their
character, they are encouraged to participate directly in the objectification of women
(Sarkeesian). Assuming the role of characters in video games places players in control of
programmed acts of violence and/or objectification. Video games are intended to empower
players, and players who come out of such situations carry this feeling of dominance over
women with them in their daily lives. According to Cultivation Theory as brought up by

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Maisonave, ubiquitous consumption of media causes these media to become a solidifying
source of knowledge of the world (2). Thus players who are exposed often to the objectification
or marginalization of women in videogames come to see these phenomena as acceptable and
even expected. Many gamers have become so accepting that they combat attempts at change.
Anita Sarkeesian, a prominent critic of the portrayal of women in video games,

recently

received death threats for planning on speaking at Utah State University (McDonald). The threats
were sent to the university and threatened a school shooting if Sarkeesian was allowed to speak.
Some gamers such as the writer of these threats believe so powerfully in the current state of
video games that they vehemently attack all who disagree. Objectification, sexualization, and
marginalization in and of themselves are not indications of players or gaming companies seeking
to attack women, but the omnipresence of these issues produce a culture of acceptance. It creates
players willing to participate in objectification and actively defending problematic games. This
result is the ultimate effect of misrepresentation.
While many may argue that women in video games are becoming increasingly
independent or that their sexualization is a stylistic choice, the number and portrayal of female
characters remains blatantly at odds with that of male characters. Female characters are
objectified, unnecessarily sexualized, and looked down upon by the industry which creates them.
Worse yet, the scarcity of women in video games results in poor representation being practically
their only representation. The result is a culture of games and gamers who accept and expect
these portrayals in all women both within and outside of video games. Given the vast number of
female characters which misrepresent hungry female gamers, the video game industry has a long
way to go before character equality is a reality.

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