this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2023
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A lot of AAA games (which I find already weird to single out non AAA games) offer free character customization or at least a gender choice. Of fixed characters there's a bunch too, some with multiple games (Horizon, Control, Hellblade, Life is Strange, A Plague Tale, Alien Isolation, Mirrors Edge, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, 2013+ Tomb Raider, The Last of Us, Metroid, Half Life Alyx, Kena, etc.). There's even more if you'd consider indie titles too.
While a customizable protagonist with gender choice is nice, it's not really in the same discussion category. A static protagonist -- a lead character with a personality, characterization, and growth arc -- is a different thing. And for those to be women, let alone well-written women, is comparatively much rarer. One major reviewer I watch often did a diversity breakdown of recently reviewed games and it's kinda bleak (photo attached, here's the source). Improving, but bleak.
Let alone many of the women we're given fall into some pretty common pitfalls for writing women (here's a good discussion on that subject in the context of a specific show--Arcane--but the advice is pretty damn solid and generally applicable) so even with the examples we have, we're often left wanting. Which is why, despite my inclusion of a pie chart above as quick data to digest the problem, it's important not to look at diversity in games as a checkbox. It's nice to be able to play as Kassandra instead of Alexios, but adding a throwaway line every 15th quest about how some rando isn't sure a woman can handle this job doesn't help make me feel like Kassandra is on my wavelength.
And this isn't even a vital issue for me. I've been playing as Mario since I was 6. As Snake, as Ezio, as Link, as Geralt, as Cloud... a good game is a good game no matter who leads it.
....but it's really nice to feel like a dev gets me sometimes, and it's so rare.
Very hard disagree. I'd say it's even two steps ahead of having fixed gendered characters that in the end will just fall into certain gender stereotypes. Having the choice of gender, and more and more commonly even separated from the biological sex, gives players the freedom to play the character they want to play, instead of being forced into one gender role or the other, including all its potential stereotypes. As much as I like characters like Ellie, which is actually my favorite video game character, I will still always prefer games to have character customization. The problem here is more of a logistical one because you'll obviously need more voice recordings, and potentially motion capturing, depending on how story intensive the games are.
Also, your own graphic kind of disproves your claim? Bunched together, the female pie pieces might not quite as big as the male ones, but it's actually somewhat close (I'd estimate about 2/3 if we'd combine them). And the largest piece is unspecified, which, assuming they didn't include genderless proptagonists like animals or robots in this chart, would be the one that gives people the choice.
What? It's nowhere near. Half the size of the males at best. Now I know you aren't approaching this discussion in good faith.
Gender affects how you experience life and molds the kind of person you become. The writing behind a customizable character simply doesn't take that into account. But as you aren't here in good faith, you'll respond that this is a good thing, somehow, because you're used to being represented and understood by the writers of all these characters.
Well, at least I can still convince others by leaving this here.
To be fair he said "a couple of games with female leads per year at best"
Most of your list are older games. ME is probably more than a decade old?
The second game came out in 2016. And like I said, a lot of games nowadays let you chose your gender or have proper character customization. So you can freely chose to play a male or female lead in those games.