This year at E3, there were more video games that didn’t have a protagonist or the protagonist had no gender than games that featured a female protagonist. Only 5% of the games shown at E3 asked players to assume the role of a woman, learning her story, seeing her emotions first hand, and empathizing with her. It’s the worst percentage since 2016, when only 3% of games featured a female protagonist. To make matters worse, it seems to be a continuation of a downward trend.
Games that allow players to create their own characters and gender, however, are now more popular than ever. While this is better than nothing, it’s still not the right direction. We need more games that exclusively star a female lead. Here’s why.
In This Article:
Empathy
The origin of the Bechdel test, from “Dykes to Watch Out For,” by Alison Bechdel.
Women are accustomed to empathizing with men. We play as them in video games, they’re the lead characters in most movies, and our stories tend to revolve around them. It’s so biased, we now look at media through the lens of the Bechdel Test. This asks films to follow three simple rules. The movie (or, in this case, game), must have two female characters who talk to each other at one point and it’s not about a man. That’s it. Simple, right?
Many, if not most, films fail the test.
But men aren’t as good as empathizing with women. They frequently fail to see why issues of going out alone at night, using public transit at night, abortion rights, sexual harassment in the workplace (everywhere, really), power dynamics in the work place, interruptions, microaggressions, emotional labor, or simply emotional expression are important to women. We know all about the experience of boyhood, the pressures society unfairly puts on men, and a man’s path through life. We’ve empathized with him in teen comedies, action movies, in dramas, film noir, and even cast away on islands. But men empathizing with women in media? That’s far more rare. In fact, you’re more likely to hear about how women are “impossible to understand” than someone empathize with a woman.
We Need More Female-Led Games
Games that only have one lead character force you to see the world as they have. It isn’t just a story of what happens then, but how your character feels about that. It might not always be as personable to the player, but through empathy, we experience what our characters have experienced. It’s an interactive form of storytelling that is rich, impactful, and wonderful.
And that’s something we deprive men and women of by only having gender exclusive games about men.
Life is Strange
From Life is Strange: Before the Storm
In Life is Strange, you see slut shaming, issues of sexuality, and sexual assault and harassment through the lens of a teenage girl. his might be the first time many men have been asked to empathize with a character like that. Judging from the Life is Strange subreddit, many men were surprised at just how hard the game hit them. You can find thread after thread of adult men saying the game made them cry. It’s a powerful story, one they wouldn’t have ever gotten through a cookie cutter story where the protagonist could be custom-built.
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Then you have games like Horizon: Zero Dawn. I really don’t want to spoil it, because piecing together the mystery of that world is one of the greatest joys gaming has ever offered. However, once again, there is only one protagonist. A woman. You see her relationship with her father, her rigorous training, and how she became a skilled hunter and an inquisitive, strong, intelligent, logical woman. You also see how some people can’t treat women with respect, or hound her with sexual advances. It forces you to rethink our society and where it’s going. Again, this is often the first time men have felt the kind of emotions that women deal with all the time.
Captain Marvel
We’re veering off into movies with this one, but if you don’t want to see any Captain Marvel spoilers, scroll to the next paragraph. Okay? Good. So the scene where we look back into Carol Danvers’ past? When we see how many times she was scolded for doing boy things, told she couldn’t compete with men, told she wasn’t good enough, blocked, pushed down, and chastised? She was told she was unworthy because of her gender. There wasn’t a woman in the audience who didn’t know that exact feeling, and it’s almost universally a uniquely female experience. It was incredible to see that on the big screen, and know that other people would understand that struggle.
Why is This Important?
All of these situations get men to see the world through the eyes of a woman, if only for a few hours. That builds empathy for women, understanding for women, and support of women’s rights and freedoms. Men who engage with these empathetic stories about women are will likely understand women better. They’ll listen when women say they feel uncomfortable at a bar, or going out at night. They’ll understand when a woman wants to take a Lyft home instead of the train or walking. They understand the deep dread a woman feels when she’s told she has no choice with her body. Or when she’s interrupted in the workplace, or passed over for a promotion, or sexually harassed. This empathy can build a better, more innovative, more collaborative, and more understanding society. It’s what we should strive for. Unsurprisingly, media can impact this greatly.
Representation Matters
Samus Aran, the female lead of the Metroid series, is a stoic, badass bounty hunter.
My favorite games are Life is Strange, Horizon Zero Dawn, and almost all of the Metroid games (especially Prime 1 & 2, Samus Returns, and, of course, Super Metroid). These are all games with female protagonists. I think it’s because these games were easier for me to see myself in. You can feel empowered by playing games that feature someone like you. I can connect to Lara Croft far better than I can Nathan Drake, but I can still get sucked up in either of their (fantastic) stories.
When I was younger, I saw Jurassic Park. I think I was in 2nd grade. Towards the end, it’s the girl, not her brother, who saves the day by bringing the park back online. I thought computers were a girl’s thing after that. I didn’t feel so bad being obsessed with them. Now I’m a software engineer. Seeing that it was a possibility enabled me to become my best self.
The same goes for seeing a woman be strong. Seeing a woman stand up to men who tell her to step back. We see a woman who stands up to adversity and we know we can do anything too.
Representation is society’s feedback loop. It’s how children learn what they can do in this world. You can’t just tell a child they can be anything, you have to show them they can be anything.
And from a detective, a hunter, The Hunter, or an archeologist, tomorrow’s girls will have a few examples. But not enough. We’re failing the girls of tomorrow. We’re failing women now. And we’re even failing men, who are missing out on an opportunity for personal growth.
We need more women in games. Because the world would be a better place with a little more empathy.
Source: Anita Sarkeesian and Carolyn Petit, Wired and Feminist Frequency