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[Deleted member 47027]

People did it on 1up Yours all the time and pretty much everyone just laughed about it.

This is absolutely one of the reasons why nobody takes the game industry's reporters seriously. It's all a fuck-off session.

There are some sites that strive for professionalism, but when compared to other industries, we're the equivalent of showing up at a black tie dinner wearing shorts, a t-shirt with a slogan on it and flip-flops.

 

[Crash Station]

I'm talking about the characters being realistic, not acting like stereotypes. Say whatever you want to say, but a real teenage girl, more likely than not, would not act like Heather acted. Hell, a teenager period would not have acted that way.

And seriously, if you're trying to find somebody to jump on about wanting stereotyped female characters, you picked the wrong person.

I never finished the game, but from what I played, Heather acted EXACTLY like my sister. A bad/emotionally unstable girl that never listens to her father with a tiny bit of fighting experience due to using a tazer. The way Heather acted is exactly how I would expect her to act in Silent Hill.

 

[harSon]

I didn't say it should never be discussed, but when it's brought up so often it can't be see as anything other than whining. If Lara were the ONLY female lead I would be one of the angry voices, but there isn't a lot to complain about. I'm trying to say there IS diversity, people just have to play better games.

I mean, have any of you played Aquaria? Spectacular game, with a fantastic female lead.

Would you care to provide some examples of the over saturation of said viewpoint? For such pressing issues, I'd argue that the narrative regarding the underrepresentation and misrepresentation of females and non-white peoples within video games, television and movies, is in itself, underrepresented.

And the latter part of your argument is extremely similar to those I face regarding non-white actors/actresses in film and television. When talking about representation within a medium, it's important to include all aspects of said medium. For example, non-white people constantly appearing as backdrops within films does not change the fact that they're underrepresented within supporting and star roles. The same is true with females in video games.

There are certainly a lot of females within video games, but considering the fact that they consist of ~50% of the population, is their representation within video games, both big budget/low budget games and main characters/supporting characters, anywhere close to appeasing that ratio?

 

[2San]

Exception to the rule.

What she is saying is true. Video games do lack diversity in characters and themes.

No it's not, there is enough diversity. Only if you play FPS's there's is a lack of diversity, but that genre is mostly played by guys.

 

[Fantastical]

Kind of like how in RE4, Leon Kennedy makes no mention of his homosexuality and it isn't brought up in the story, because it doesn't even MATTER - it's just a personality trait.

Until the very end

Spoiler

on the jet ski

.

 

[Igo]

But it's not about that.



The article isn't even about girl gamers or guy gamers.

Neither is it about the role of females in videogames.

It's only about how well one publisher thinks games with a female lead will sell. To everybody.

Once again, reading the article will help.

This is why it's a poor article. Look at Activision's high profile output and tell where where a female lead fits. Look at the type of games they're releasing and who they're targeting.

Someone already made the point that Black Lotus wasn't released with a male protagonist either. It was instead reworked into a franchise game to maximize it's potential audience. Not only were Activision unwilling to take the risk on a female lead, they weren't willing to invest in a new title either.

The article should have been the things you mentioned with a broader scope to include other publishers.

 

[Crash Station]

At least one great one

I meant more in a fighting role but that works too. I should look into that.

 

[GreyMatter]

Your casting of non-whites (I assume, since most game protagonists seem to be white) as "exotic" is problematic in itself. It immediately makes them an Other, which is the problem to begin with.

Even Taco Bell is exotic when you've been force-fed McDonald's for 22 years.

 

[thebaroness]

Your casting of non-whites (I assume, since most game protagonists seem to be white) as "exotic" is problematic in itself. It immediately makes them an Other, which is the problem to begin with.

Ok forgive me for using the word exotic. Sorry that I'd really like to see positive Black, Indian, Native America, African, Philippino, and more races in the main character seat then there are now.

 

[faceless007]

Silent Hill 3 has Heather, who we are told is a teenage girl. Except, unfortunately, she never acts like it. Never once do we see her react to anything going on around her in a way that a teenage girl would realistically act. Never once does she have a realistic motivation for doing what she's doing and being able to be so okay with the world she finds herself in. I know the argument - "but but her motivation was trying to get home / get out!" - but that motivation is lazy, AND if it's all we get she doesn't even act realistically in it. Unlike Harry and James, Heather becomes a Resident Evil character, being able to easily wield and use weaponry that no teenage girl in her position should have any ability to use.

Heather was a character with amazing potential, because we had the chance to see the world of Silent Hill from the viewpoint of a character totally different to (a) what we are used to, and (b) what we had seen previously in the serious. Harry and James had that primal "I'm a guy who has to protect a girl" instinct kick in, and we could understand that as a source of their strength. Here we had the chance to see how somebody totally unprepared for the world of Silent Hill would handle it, and Heather ends up being more of a "man" - in terms of her attitude, what she is capable of, and how she deals with things - than either Harry or James.

I don't think your point is entirely invalid, but given the bolded it's really hard not to read into your post a subtext of "Girls aren't as strong/able to handle being thrown into abject horror as well as guys." Please tell me I'm wrong.

 

[Oxymoron]

I think the thing here though is that the article is stating that there are lots of male developers out there who *do* want to make games with female characters, but their bosses aren't letting them for fear of their products selling poorly.

I think we can, and should, broaden the scope of the argument to be a little wider than strictly the ills the article points out. Yes, as you point out, this specific case is that, when some developers showed interest in making games with female protagonists, they were shot down from on high. That's reprehensible, and, I believe, the kind of attitude that could lead to mainstream gaming being ghettoised in much the same way mainstream comic books are. It can't, however, be the principal reason female characters are so dramatically underrepresented. Teams with considerable creative freedom and leverage, like Infinity Ward, Blizzard, Irrational, Rockstar, Remedy, also haven't been putting up strong female characters, and nobody can credibly say it's because some middle manager told them female characters don't sell. Those companies are suffering from a lack of diversity in their internal corporate culture, not from bead counters bringing them down.

However, we do actually see a fairly large amount of diversity in the few companies that are allowed to make female protagonists. For example, BioWare has lots of female writers, but we still get compelling female characters out of them that are written by men as well.

I don't think we should make the assumption that just because the people writing female characters are sometimes men that they are unable to make them compelling, interesting, and diverse. This seems silly to me and in opposition to the point the article is trying to make, which is that many developers simply aren't allowed to every try.

That second point is ridiculous - of course I don't think men are incapable of writing women, and a lot of my favourite female characters in television have been written by males. To hold up Bioware as an example to hold up is almost as ridiculous: for every well written character with an actual personality (by the standards of gaming, of course) like Tali, there's an adolescent fantasy like Morrigan or Miranda. Not presenting female characters as mindless sex objects should be taken for granted, but Bioware can't even jump over that very low bar.

 

[Jex]

The problem with this is that "everybody" in this case is 18-35 males, which make up a vast majority of the market Activision is going after when making action games.

Why is that a problem? Is that market automatically against female protagonists in their videogames? I believe this was actually the main question of the article.

 

[badcrumble]

I can agree with you halfway, I just don't think it's as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Hypothetically for sake of peaceful discussion, what is your ideal main character? What would you like to see in a future video game, what would you like to play as? (Don't list already existing characters, but something new that's all your own) Actually that would be a cool discussion all of it's own, to see what people WOULD like to play as.

Personally, I'd like to play as an Indian female sniper in a Borderlands-ish setting with a ton of wallrunning al la Prince of Persia. That would be so sweet...

I'm somewhat in favor of the faceless protagonist as sort of a modern iteration on the SNES-era silent protagonist - for example, Samus could've been anyone, and the game points this out by surprising you with the fact that she's a woman at the end of Metroid. Master Chief could be a member of any race.

However, that tends not to lead to truly memorable protagonists, just easily-sympathetic ones.

Anyhow, when it comes to female main characters, I'd love to play as a less-sexualized sort of female assassin in an American noir setting - a femme fatale, perhaps, but one who might choose to use her sexuality as a weapon, or who might precisely be seen as unthreatening by others precisely because she's a woman, but would actually be quite dangerous and assertive and sort of a lone-wolf type. Something like a mixture between L.A. Noire and Hitman with a female protagonist.

Or I'd love to play as The Boss and include a genuinely harrowing section where you have to run and crawl through a battlefield to find a safe place to give birth. <3

I also wouldn't mind a Wii game with an Indian protagonist wielding an urumi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urumi

 

[Pimpbaa]

Games need more sexy female leads.

 

[faceless007]

Everyone has gotten hammered and said obnoxious shit but if I did so on an industry podcast related to my job on which i was representing my company, I would be fired and rightfully so. To me its just indicative of a industry that hasnt grown up enough to expect professionalism from its peers

So your problem is the entire damn industry is unprofessional and needs to fire people for saying stupid shit?

Well, OK. How does that relate to this thread or the article though?

 

[Jex]

The article should have been the things you mentioned with a broader scope to include other publishers.

Apparently, articles should be about things other then their subject?

 

[mollipen]

EDIT: Looked at your larger post and I still disagree. Heather was never a "normal" teenager to begin with. Of course she won't react the same way as a normal person would, with the way she's been raised by Harry and considering her background.

And that's one of the parts where I felt like Team Silent was lazy, because it's easy to just say "oh well the storyline explains why she's this way" and be done with it. Instead of that, I'd have rather seem them take the game into a more interesting direction, rather than make her just another Jill or Claire.

I never finished the game, but from what I played, Heather acted EXACTLY like my sister. A bad/emotionally unstable girl that never listens to her father with a tiny bit of fighting experience due to using a tazer. The way Heather acted is exactly how I would expect her to act in Silent Hill.

I'm not saying that a teenage girl can't be exactly what Heather was, and I think some people might think I'm saying that and thus stereotyping. My argument is that I honestly do not think most average teenagers would have acted like she did in that situation. Even if some might, it's a more interesting concept to take the game down a route of somebody who is scared s**tless yet has to keep trudging on, versus a character who is, most of the time, rather "eh, whatever" about everything.

To be fair, however, I'd also level the same argument towards Harry and James as well to some degree. Even if they had far better and more realistic motivation for doing what they did, they too were never nearly as freaked out about what was going on as they should have been.

 

[ElectricBlue187]

So your problem is the entire damn industry is unprofessional and needs to fire people for saying stupid shit?

Well, OK. How does that relate to this thread or the article though?

Maybe you should read the post i was responding to, perhaps?

 

[2San]

Why is that a problem? Is that market automatically against female protagonists in their videogames? I believe this was actually the main question of the article

Why should they risk it though? They are a business(this is Activision if you haven't noticed) there is no indication that a game with a female lead will sell better.

 

[Kinyou]

I don't think that MW2 ever referred to the gender of Ramirez....

 

[Dude Abides]

Where is this "call to arms" people are talking about? I didn't see one in the article.

 

[Empty]

i'm not exactly surprised that activision would be so cynical, but it's still disheartening to read stories like the true crime one.

 

[Jex]

Why should they risk it though? They are a business(this is Activision if you haven't noticed) there is no indication that a game with a female lead will sell better.

If they aren't a stupid business they could do a little research (apparently not the kind they've been doing up till now though) and understand their main audience.

If it is largely males (which it may be), the next question for them should be "and what if we want to sell to that other 50% of the planet?" (That's assuming that there research shows that all male players would hate to play as women).

Then again, I suppose they have Guitar Hero.

 

[faceless007]

Maybe you should read the post i was responding to, perhaps?

You were responding to me. :lol :lol

 

[Complex Shadow]

Exception to the rule.

What she is saying is true. Video games do lack diversity in characters and themes.

what exception. i don't even.....

 

[badcrumble]

Ok forgive me for using the word exotic. Sorry that I'd really like to see positive Black, Indian, Native America, African, Philippino, and more races in the main character seat then there are now.

This (and the gender thing) might actually be a great topic for a separate thread. I have a feeling the discussion would be much more positive.

 

[subversus]

Company wants to sell product, news at 11.

its bestselling product Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was made against all focus tests. Activision used these tests to show IW that players want WW2 shooters and when IW said that they still want to make Modern Warfare game Acti refused to send them developers kits. But IW insisted, the game was made, the rest is history.

Only Blizzard and the game made against execs will keeps this publisher afloat. Ironic, isn't it?

 

[thebaroness]

I'm somewhat in favor of the faceless protagonist as sort of a modern iteration on the SNES-era silent protagonist - for example, Samus could've been anyone, and the game points this out by surprising you with the fact that she's a woman at the end of Metroid. Master Chief could be a member of any race.

However, that tends not to lead to truly memorable protagonists, just easily-sympathetic ones.

Anyhow, when it comes to female main characters, I'd love to play as a less-sexualized sort of female assassin in an American noir setting - a femme fatale, perhaps, but one who might choose to use her sexuality as a weapon, or who might precisely be seen as unthreatening by others precisely because she's a woman, but would actually be quite dangerous and assertive and sort of a lone-wolf type. Something like a mixture between L.A. Noire and Hitman with a female protagonist.

Or I'd love to play as The Boss and include a genuinely harrowing section where you have to run and crawl through a battlefield to find a safe place to give birth. <3

I also wouldn't mind a Wii game with an Indian protagonist wielding an urumi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urumi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Assassin , it's an awful game but it sounds like just what you were looking for. All I'm trying to say is that it's not quite as bad as everyone makes it out to be. What we need are more races. And a Competent Wii game with an Urumi sounds badass I also love the Boss, and a good game starring her would be even more badass.

I tend to be against silent protagonists, because the majority of instances I feel disconnected from what's going on. But that's just me.

 

[Nirolak]

I think we can, and should, broaden the scope of the argument to be a little wider than strictly the ills the article points out. Yes, as you point out, this specific case is that, when some developers showed interest in making games with female protagonists, they were shot down from on high. That's reprehensible, and, I believe, the kind of attitude that could lead to mainstream gaming being ghettoised in much the same way mainstream comic books are. It can't, however, be the principal reason female characters are so dramatically underrepresented. Teams with considerable creative freedom and leverage, like Infinity Ward, Blizzard, Irrational, Rockstar, Remedy, also haven't been putting up strong female characters, and nobody can credibly say it's because some middle manager told them female characters don't sell. Those companies are suffering from a lack of diversity in their internal corporate culture, not from bead counters bringing them down.

Which male characters from Blizzard do you think stand out as strong males relative to Blizzard's best female characters?

That second point is ridiculous - of course I don't think men are incapable of writing women, and a lot of my favourite female characters in television have been written by males. To hold up Bioware as an example to hold up is almost as ridiculous: for every well written character with an actual personality (by the standards of gaming, of course) like Tali, there's an adolescent fantasy like Morrigan or Miranda. Not presenting female characters as mindless sex objects should be taken for granted, but Bioware can't even jump over that very low bar.

It's very true that BioWare makes all sorts of pandering characters, but this isn't solely limited to females.

I feel what you're doing here is singling out bad female characters as an argument that there is poor diversity among video game writers, when what we're really seeing is just across the board shitty writing.

 

[2San]

If they aren't a stupid business they could do a little research (apparently not the kind they've been doing up till now though) and understand their main audience.

If it is largely males (which it may be), the next question for them should be "and what if we want to sell to that other 50% of the planet?"

Maybe they did?

There are games for girls?Do you think the sims is made for guys? MW2 doesn't seem to appeal to girls, so they don't bother with it. Epic saw demand for women Gears so he put them in Gears 3. There's isn't a grand conspiracy going on here. Boy and girls tend to like different things.

 

[harSon]

Why should they risk it though? They are a business(this is Activision if you haven't noticed) there is no indication that a game with a female lead will sell better.

It's the same assumption that is plaguing the film industry. Studio's assume that society has made no progression over the last 40 or so years, and as a result, cast their films with the belief that predominantly white societies will not respond well to a cast that is not similarly homogeneously white. This could very well be true but we'll never know if its simply misplaced fear due to the fact that studios aren't really giving society a chance to prove otherwise. Which basically creates a self-damning cycle...

Parallels can certainly be made for the video game industry as well.

 

[badcrumble]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Assassin , it's an awful game but it sounds like just what you were looking for. All I'm trying to say is that it's not quite as bad as everyone makes it out to be. What we need are more races. And a Competent Wii game with an Urumi sounds badass I also love the Boss, and a good game starring her would be even more badass.

I tend to be against silent protagonists, because the majority of instances I feel disconnected from what's going on. But that's just me.

I agree w/r/t silent protagonists, but I do understand and support the idea of the player being able to fill in the blanks with themselves.

 

[Enosh]

Dumb feminist is being dumb.

95% of the people who play action games are men. Publishers like to make money. Deal with it.

I wouldn't have problems playing an action game with a female lead

ofcourse it has to make sense in the context of the setting
a modern call of duty game with a female lead would be stupid beacose the US military doesn't alow women to take frontline combat roles and would constantly have to make excuses to throw you into a frontline situation

now something futuristic like samus is a difrent story, homefront could have a female lead since I think a resistance organization wouldn't care about what you are as long as you can fire a gun etc etc

 

[mollipen]

I don't think your point is entirely invalid, but given the bolded it's really hard not to read into your post a subtext of "Girls aren't as strong/able to handle being thrown into abject horror as well as guys." Please tell me I'm wrong.

Let me rephrase what I wrote a bit, and say that Heather comes off more as a stereotypical male video game character than either Harry or James did. Harry and James were great characters because they were crafted more realistically; your average person wouldn't be able to just pick up a submachine gun and be able to use it properly, and we saw that in those two. Heather, however, had a lot of the reality of what a character in her position would and wouldn't be able to do stripped from her (in my opinion). It isn't about saying a girl can't do the things she does, it's saying that a human being at that age and lifestyle probably wouldn't be able to do the things she was doing. Unless, of course, Harry was training her for the possible day that she'd wind up in Silent Hill herself.

 

[2San]

It's the same assumption that is plaguing the film industry. Studio's assume that society has made no progression over the last 40 or so years, and as a result, cast their films with the belief that predominantly white societies will not respond well to a cast that is not similarly homogeneously white. This could very well be true but we'll never know if its simply misplaced fear due to the fact that studios aren't really giving society a chance to prove otherwise.

Parallels can certainly be made for the video game industry as well.

There are movies around for every gender, sexuality and ethnicity what's your point?

 

[george_us]

Why is that a problem? Is that market automatically against female protagonists in their videogames? I believe this was actually the main question of the article.

Who knows. All Activision is concerned about is making a profit and they feel that the best way to do this is to create games with white male protagonists. I'm sure they could branch out but what would be the point exactly? They've obviously got the demographic they're going after cornered so what would be the point in risking a loss in sales? I highly doubt they'd be expanding in any significant way.

 

[Catalix]

I can agree with you halfway, I just don't think it's as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Hypothetically for sake of peaceful discussion, what is your ideal main character? What would you like to see in a future video game, what would you like to play as? (Don't list already existing characters, but something new that's all your own) Actually that would be a cool discussion all of it's own, to see what people WOULD like to play as.

Personally, I'd like to play as an Indian female sniper in a Borderlands-ish setting with a ton of wallrunning al la Prince of Persia. That would be so sweet...

For me, there is no one single "ideal" main character type that I would want.

I'd just appreciate more diversity across the board these days. Developers could do better, really.

 

[ElectricBlue187]

You were responding to me. :lol :lol

So you said GAF is unfairly biased against Leigh because of this and that and I told you exactly why I don't respect her and now you're wondering why i told you? Um ok

 

[Fio]

Aren't there more girl gamers than guys? The majority of gamers aren't guys, the majority of gamers who play games in "hardcore" genres like FPS, RTS, Racing, competitive, are guys and I don't think putting female protagonists in games where you're shooting and stabbing people in the face are going to make females want to play those games. I don't believe genres like FPS and the like will ever catch on with females simply because they're not really built for them.



The problem with this is that "everybody" in this case is 18-35 males, which make up a vast majority of the market Activision is going after when making action games.

PC people will never understand this, to them, everything has to be equal, even what's unequal, nothing else matters, only their far fetched ideals about equality. How would Rockstar fit in a female lead on RDR? How would Epic make half of GOW's characters females? It's simply not possible, but hey, let's ditch those games in favor of more 'gender aware' genres, that'll make everybody happy.

 

[Jex]

Maybe they did?

Their research methods seem dubious at best.

There are games for girls?Do you think the sims is made for guys? MW2 doesn't seem to appeal to girls, so they don't bother with it. Epic saw demand for women Gears so he put them in Gears 3.

But this isn't "games for girls" vs "games for guys" it's "female protagonists" vs "male protagonist" in regards to sales.

And earlier you mentioned that it would be a "risk" to have a female lead in an action game, but Lara Croft pretty much debunks this nonsense.

There's isn't a grand conspiracy going on here.

But..no one ever said there was.

Boy and girls tend to like different things.

*is blinded by a flash of the obvious*

 

[Igo]

Apparently, articles should be about things other then their subject?

The subject was poorly thought out.

Why is that a problem? Is that market automatically against female protagonists in their videogames? I believe this was actually the main question of the article.

How many female soldiers on the frontlines are there? How many female gang bangers are there?

 

[Oxymoron]

Which male characters from Blizzard do you think stand out as strong males relative to Blizzard's best female characters?

I'm not going to speak to games they made a decade ago, but the SC2 campaign was very much a sausagefest. Raynor, Tychus, Valerian, Zeratul all had storylines and motivations, whereas Kerrigan just kinda stood around (in high heels!) telling me I'd pay for my treachery.

It's very true that BioWare makes all sorts of pandering characters, but this isn't solely limited to females.

I feel what you're doing here is singling out bad female characters as an argument that there is poor diversity among video game writers, when what we're really seeing is just across the board shitty writing.

We're seeing shitty writing, and we're seeing lack of diversity and sexism, and one doesn't excuse the other. I was bored as fuck by the assassin dude in ME2, but I didn't find his portrayal insulting like I did the constant cheesecake shots of Miranda. Bad writing is one thing, but that there was nobody in the office with the clout and assertiveness to put their foot and and say "that's insulting and degrading to fully have the human race" is entirely another.

 

[2San]

Their research methods seem dubious at best.

But this isn't "games for girls" vs "games for guys" it's "female protagonists" vs "male protagonist" in regards to sales.

And earlier you mentioned that it would be a "risk" to have a female lead in an action game, but Lara Croft pretty much debunks this nonsense.

But..no one ever said there was.

*is blinded by a flash of the obvious*

And your research is based on feelings? There is no proof that a female protagonist will sell better. Nor is there that male protagonist will sell better. So can't Activision do whatever they fuck they want? If you haven't noticed they aren't really open to innovation and just want to make money.

 

[harSon]

There are movies around for every gender, sexuality and ethnicity what's your point?

That 20-30% of the population is not white and 50% of the population is not male, but white males are disproportionately represented within films in comparison to their demographic percentages while other groups are underrepresented (not to mention misrepresented) within lead and supporting roles?

 

[Jex]

Who knows. All Activision is concerned about is making a profit and they feel that the best way to do this is to create games with white male protagonists. I'm sure they could branch out but what would be the point exactly? They've obviously got the demographic they're going after cornered so what would be the point in risking a loss in sales? I highly doubt they'd be expanding in any significant way.

Wait, so lets assume they have every single male captured by their game (unlikely, I know). And that's roughly 50% of the world captured.

So, creating a game that would capture the other 50% (also very unlikely) of the market (e.g. doubling their existing profits would would be failing to expand "in a significant way?" What? :lol

How many female gang bangers are there?

In my country? A lot.

And your research is based on feelings? There is no proof that a female protagonist will sell better. Nor is there that male protagonist will sell better. So can't Activision do whatever they fuck they want? If you haven't noticed they aren't really open to innovation and just want to make money.

I've done research now? Sheeiit I should get me a grant or sumthin'.

I think we can say that, from the sales of Lara Croft, their exists room for a female protagonist. Which is apparently more faith then Activision has in the success of a female main character.

That's about it. I didn't say anything more then that.

 

[Gravijah]

What the hell, The Sims is "made" for girls? Where did this come from?

 

[Kinyou]

I'm not going to speak to games they made a decade ago, but the SC2 campaign was very much a sausagefest. Raynor, Tychus, Valerian, Zeratul all had storylines and motivations, whereas Kerrigan just kinda stood around (in high heels!) telling me I'd pay for my treachery.

There is no reason why being the Queen b*tch of the universe should keep you from looking good!

 

[badcrumble]

There are movies around for every gender, sexuality and ethnicity what's your point?

I think what's weird in the movie industry is that there's an almost entirely separate ecosystem for black-targeted movies (Tyler Perry stuff, etc.) from the whiter Hollywood ecosystem, with different writers/directors/casts et cetera, and the fact that this exists says that mainstream Hollywood isn't doing a very good job of catering to anything but white people.

When we get a Marvel or DC superhero movie with a black lead, I may change my mind.

The movie industry is much, much better about its treatment of female characters and protagonists, though, for the most part, even if it's not perfect.

 

[Pimpbaa]

I'm not going to speak to games they made a decade ago, but the SC2 campaign was very much a sausagefest. Raynor, Tychus, Valerian, Zeratul all had storylines and motivations, whereas Kerrigan just kinda stood around (in high heels!) telling me I'd pay for my treachery.


We're seeing shitty writing, and we're seeing lack of diversity and sexism, and one doesn't excuse the other. I was bored as fuck by the assassin dude in ME2, but I didn't find his portrayal insulting like I did the constant cheesecake shots of Miranda. Bad writing is one thing, but that there was nobody in the office with the clout and assertiveness to put their foot and and say "that's insulting and degrading to fully have the human race" is entirely another.

Looks like the feminist propaganda has got to you.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

This is why it's a poor article. Look at Activision's high profile output and tell where where a female lead fits. Look at the type of games they're releasing and who they're targeting.

It would be pretty fucking easy to pick a famous DJ / Skateboarder / Musician to front a DJ Hero / Skateboarding / Guitar Hero game if they wanted to.