It was 1996 when a little development house out of the U.K. finished work on a lush new adventure game featuring a brunette archeologist named Lara Croft. It was a defining moment for me as I watched her strut seductively across my screen and into the sex symbol status that would turn the gaming world on its head. Fast-forward eight years through the evolution of next-gen hardware, multimillion-dollar budgets, and massive acceptance of games in pop culture. Still, Lara Croft continues to personify an ongoing culture clash over gender, sexuality, empowerment, and objectification. It was while standing in my first-ever ladies' room line at E3 2004 as I pondered the Playboy bunnies, the return of
Leisure Suit Larry, and the slew of buxom virtual ladies headlining each booth that I questioned whether the industry had evolved at all.
It might seem like a simple puzzle to solve: trying to understand why female representation in videogames--whether it's as characters, developers, or gamers--is important. But it seemed the more questions I asked, the more elusive the answers became. And it wasn't long before my own stereotypes were called into question.
When I requested an interview to discuss Cyberlore's Playboy: The Mansion, I never even considered that the senior designer on the Sims-style project might be a woman--one pregnant with twins, in fact. As I expected, Brenda Brathwaite has a lot to say about females in today's games. But I can guarantee it's not what you might expect.
"If you're going to animate breasts, animate them properly," admonishes Brathwaite. "The breasts in the original Dark Alliance drove me nuts. If my breasts moved like that, I'd go to the doctor...or call an exorcist."
While this industry veteran shows a sense of humor and perspective concerning her work, there are many who won't find the idea of creating a Playboy magazine simulator funny. "I suspect that those who feel it's a gender controversy have probably not seen an issue of Playboy magazine. They have it stereotyped," suggests Brathwaite. "I find that Playboy is a celebration of women and goes out of its way to be respectful. On Playboy: The Mansion, we were committed to making a good, tasteful game."
I got a similar response regarding Majesco's BloodRayne; Rayne, coincidentally, just appeared in Playboy's "Sexiest Game Characters" spread. And here too, the product manager for the goth queen was herself female.
"If you don't have the gameplay to back up the character appeal, T&A; will only get you so far," effuses Liz Buckley. "BloodRayne resonates very well with our target audience of males ages 17 to 34, but Rayne has a huge female following as well. I think that's attributable to her strength and attitude--it's definitely empowering to play as her."
So if it's all about personality, why bother with the heaving bosom and leather chaps? It turns out Rayne was an ugly duckling before her transformation to voluptuous vixen. "Initially, Rayne had a militant, dark gothic look. She was a brunette with tight buns in her hair and a very severe body line," explains Buckley. And I even found myself admitting I'd rather play the "extreme makeover" version of the vamp.
Maybe it's not a crime to sex up the leading ladies, particularly if they retain some character development. But what about Vivendi's upcoming Red Ninja, which claims to incorporate sexuality as a gameplay mechanic, allowing main character Kurenai to seduce unsuspecting guards?
"It's a challenging concept to attempt when body language and atmosphere are confined by things like polygon limits," admits Associate Producer Melissa Miller. "Early on, we conducted a focus test specifically with female gamers. They liked the concept of Kurenai but felt she was showing too much skin with the short kimono. Once we justified the need for some sexiness with the seduction mechanic, they bought into Kurenai completely and were really excited about playing her."
Producer Yozo Sakagami of Namco's Death by Degrees, featuring Tekken's Nina, expressed a similar design challenge when trying to achieve what his team calls "functional beauty in combat." It turns out that Nina's bikini and catsuit are more than just eye candy. "The outfit designs were based on ease of movement and variation in appearance," states Sakagami. "Depending on whether an attack connects with bare or clothed skin, the resulting damage differs."
Right. And are female gamers buying into it? "We've received favorable reactions from women toward Nina in this game. We were surprised because these women saw in Nina the character image we had hoped to create but feared we hadn't attained. Intangible elements such as these can easily be obscured while developing a game."
With such a positive response to stereotypical female protagonists, I began to question whether it was possible to design a strong female character without the requisite augmented body and sexual references.