Taking a closer look at the roles and characterization of female characters in the games I've put to the Test, I figured I’d start with a game that I have more than a little familiarity; Thief: The Dark Project. I’ve had a long-standing obsession with this whole series and they’re usually my favorite place to start any sort of discussion.
Disclaimer: it’s nearly impossible to manage character analysis without getting deep into spoiler country, so I’m not going to bother to contain them. You’ve been warned. Besides, this game is thirteen years old, if you haven’t played it yet, you probably aren’t going to. Unless my glowing endorsement is enough encouragement, or you are my roommate, in which case I’ve been telling you to play it for years and I have no sympathy for you, sir.
For an entertaining and brief summary of the series, you could do much worse than Yahtzee’s Zero Punctuation. The Thief series is pretty much as it sounds; you play Garrett, a self-professed master thief who runs around in a pseudo-medieval metropolis stealing things. Somewhere in there and completely against his better judgment he get roped into saving the world a couple times.
Despite being one of my all-time favorite games, Thief utterly fails the Bechdel 2.1; there is only one female character. While she does play a key role in the narrative, she is sadly underdeveloped. Posing as an independent fence, a woman named Viktoria hires the protagonist to steal an item from a wealthy noble named Constantine. So he does. It turns out that she is acting as an intermediary of said noble, who wanted a demonstration of Garrett’s skills. They hire him to steal another item. So he does. It THEN turns out that they were using him to obtain a powerful magical artifact that will bring about the destruction of the modern world as they know it and Constantine is in fact the pagan Trickster god and Viktoria his dryad companion. She brutally maims Garrett and leaves him for dead, and that’s the last we hear from her this game as the Trickster goes on to try to bring chaos back into the world.
Though necessarily mysterious and enigmatic, Viktoria is not an exceptionally complex nor does she have much overt characterization. We know what she hopes to accomplish, but not much about why. As with a lot of villains’ motivation, it's not exceptionally clear why she wants to help destroy the world. We learn in later games that she draws power from the forces of nature and chaos, but in the first game of the trilogy none of this is covered. We can only presume that she will gain power in some way, and that it will probably be bad.
Impressively, despite that fact that she approaches Garrett to ask for his help, then betrays him in the last act of the game, Viktoria manages to avoid the typical Femme Fatale trope, though apparently TV Tropes disagree with me. Maybe I've played this game way too many times, but I didn't notice any indication that she was appealing to anything outside of Garrett's greed. She doesn't use her feminine wiles to manipulate or befuddle him, she doesn't approach him from a position of vulnerability, when she double-crosses him it's not in a moment of weakness or against her better judgment, and she certainly isn't reformed by the end of the game nor does she get her comeuppance. She doesn't hit any of the hallmarks of a true Femme Fatale, and I'm ok with that. Tropes can make rather weak, if not predictable, villains.
So while her characterization is a bit thin, Viktoria'a role in the plot in an important one, as she shows up bearing the plot, helps to move the story forward and turns out to be a surprisingly trope-free antagonist. Not bad for a character that has a total of maybe twenty lines.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Bechdel and Gaming
Recently I've noticed a lot of talk on the intertubes about The Bechdel Test and how this assessment of the female perspective might be applied to video games. For those of you unaware, the original purpose of The Bechdel Test was not to gauge the quality of the movie or the female character, but merely to assess the presence of women in film. The rules are simple. To pass the test, all three of the following conditions must be met;
1. the movie must have two (named) female characters,
2. who talk to each other
3. about something other than a man.
I don't want to get into it too much, as there are many sites out there that do a much better job at analyzing the whys and wherefores, but suffice it to say, a surprising amount of movies fail this simple test.
So what of games, a media widely created and consumed by men? How can this test be adapted to fit a medium much less static and more dependent on user interaction? Especially when many examples of said medium have no talking at all? By the current rules, Portals 1 and 2 would fail simply because Chell never responds to GlaDOS's conversation/belittlement. Chell is one of the least objectified and exploited female characters in the industry, and her game would fail The Bechdel Test purely because she doesn't open her mouth. Clearly this test is going to have to be updated if it's going to have any real success in evaluating the female perspective.
In my search to find existing articles on this topic, I came across The Maggie Test. To pass the Maggie Test a video game must have:
1. a playable female character
2. which is available to play right away, and not as a special bonus feature
My problem with this test is that it doesn’t meet the goal of the original test, to properly illustrate the female presence. Take Half Life 2, for instance, a game that would pass the original Bechdel Test without any help would in turn fail this one because Alyx Vance is neither playable nor joins the story right away. This test is too limiting as it implies that the only way a character can contribute to the narrative is to be controlled by the player.
Daniel Feit’s test does a better job at actually assessing the participation of female characters. His point is that games tend to be light on the talky and heavy on the action, so to base analysis purely on dialog would be to ignore a significant portion of games as a whole. His answer to this issue is Bechdel 2.0. Heavily based on his musings, and bearing a similar name, I've come up with a variant. To pass the Bechdel 2.1 a game must;
1. have two (named) female characters, one of which must be either a playable character or a character present in the world for at least 50% of the game,
2. who interact with each other in a relevant fashion.
Feit's test requires this interaction to be in the manner that their male counterparts do – if it’s a FPS, the characters shoot each other, if it’s a fighting game female combatants battle one another, if it’s an adventure game they adventure at each other – but I'm going to alter that a bit and just require meaningful interaction. I define 'meaningful' as somehow related to the purpose of the game (fighting in the case of a fighting game, cooking each other if it's a cooking sim, etc.) or related to the advancement of the plot (you can figure out this one yourself). It’s not perfect but it’s a start. I’m also going to place the caveat that it doesn’t count if the game allows the player to create a character of either gender. We’re going for pure authorial intent in regards to gender representation. Also because I’m irritated at Mass Effect for only ever marketing dudeShep.
Now that we have a test, I’m going to try to implement it to the best of my limited ability. If anyone reading this (all two of you) cares to contribute, I’d love to have help creating a more comprehensive list. I also fully intend to write a bit about each game, but first the list. And as an experiment, I’m going to assess if the same games pass the reverse test, the Ledhceb Test if you will; whether it has two male characters that interact with each other. It should be interesting.
And because I love Portal, orange will indicate when a game passes the Bechdel 2.1, blue will indicate a game that succeeds the Ledhceb Test, mauve will indicate double victory, and black has failed everything. Complicated enough? Excellent.
Borderlands: Barely passes, as you can play as a girl and you're being lead around by the Vault Chick, but it does irk me that all the baddies are male.
Dragon Age Origins: All party members kill both male and female adversaries.
Everyday the same Dream: This game has only one female character.
Evil Genius: Your henchmen of either fend off super agents of both.
Half-Life: There are no female characters in this game.
Half-Life 2: Alyx and Gordon both light up male and female zombies.
Half-Life 2: Episode 1: Same as above(need to confirm.)
Half-Life 2: Episode 2: Same as above(need to confirm.)
Mass Effect: Equal amounts of killing from either gendered squadmates of either gendered enemies (ok, so it still passes).
Mass Effect 2:Same as above.
Left 4 Dead: Male and female characters killing male and female zombies.
Left 4 Dead 2:. Same
Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening: A handful of women, but none of them interact.
Portal: The behavior spheres at the end can be argued to be male (if we're allowing GLaDOS to be female), but they only show up at the end and they don't interact with each other.
Portal 2: Chell and GLaDOS collaborate, Wheatley and personality spheres get up close and personal.
Sam and Max 101: This game has only one female character.
Sam and Max 102: This game has two female characters, but they never interact.
Sam and Max 103: And back to only one female character.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Equal killing of and talking to either gender.
Team Fortress 2: This game has only one female character and all she does is yell.
Thief the Dark Project: This game has only one female character.
Thief 2 the Metal Age: It's actually through the interaction between two women that a vast majority of the story is dispensed.
Torchlight: This game has a female playable character and equal killing of either gender.
So clearly I tend to play a good amount of games with a decent female presence. I will be adding to this list as my library of played games expands and I remember game's I forgot I played.
1. the movie must have two (named) female characters,
2. who talk to each other
3. about something other than a man.
I don't want to get into it too much, as there are many sites out there that do a much better job at analyzing the whys and wherefores, but suffice it to say, a surprising amount of movies fail this simple test.
So what of games, a media widely created and consumed by men? How can this test be adapted to fit a medium much less static and more dependent on user interaction? Especially when many examples of said medium have no talking at all? By the current rules, Portals 1 and 2 would fail simply because Chell never responds to GlaDOS's conversation/belittlement. Chell is one of the least objectified and exploited female characters in the industry, and her game would fail The Bechdel Test purely because she doesn't open her mouth. Clearly this test is going to have to be updated if it's going to have any real success in evaluating the female perspective.
In my search to find existing articles on this topic, I came across The Maggie Test. To pass the Maggie Test a video game must have:
1. a playable female character
2. which is available to play right away, and not as a special bonus feature
My problem with this test is that it doesn’t meet the goal of the original test, to properly illustrate the female presence. Take Half Life 2, for instance, a game that would pass the original Bechdel Test without any help would in turn fail this one because Alyx Vance is neither playable nor joins the story right away. This test is too limiting as it implies that the only way a character can contribute to the narrative is to be controlled by the player.
Daniel Feit’s test does a better job at actually assessing the participation of female characters. His point is that games tend to be light on the talky and heavy on the action, so to base analysis purely on dialog would be to ignore a significant portion of games as a whole. His answer to this issue is Bechdel 2.0. Heavily based on his musings, and bearing a similar name, I've come up with a variant. To pass the Bechdel 2.1 a game must;
1. have two (named) female characters, one of which must be either a playable character or a character present in the world for at least 50% of the game,
2. who interact with each other in a relevant fashion.
Feit's test requires this interaction to be in the manner that their male counterparts do – if it’s a FPS, the characters shoot each other, if it’s a fighting game female combatants battle one another, if it’s an adventure game they adventure at each other – but I'm going to alter that a bit and just require meaningful interaction. I define 'meaningful' as somehow related to the purpose of the game (fighting in the case of a fighting game, cooking each other if it's a cooking sim, etc.) or related to the advancement of the plot (you can figure out this one yourself). It’s not perfect but it’s a start. I’m also going to place the caveat that it doesn’t count if the game allows the player to create a character of either gender. We’re going for pure authorial intent in regards to gender representation. Also because I’m irritated at Mass Effect for only ever marketing dudeShep.
Now that we have a test, I’m going to try to implement it to the best of my limited ability. If anyone reading this (all two of you) cares to contribute, I’d love to have help creating a more comprehensive list. I also fully intend to write a bit about each game, but first the list. And as an experiment, I’m going to assess if the same games pass the reverse test, the Ledhceb Test if you will; whether it has two male characters that interact with each other. It should be interesting.
And because I love Portal, orange will indicate when a game passes the Bechdel 2.1, blue will indicate a game that succeeds the Ledhceb Test, mauve will indicate double victory, and black has failed everything. Complicated enough? Excellent.
Borderlands: Barely passes, as you can play as a girl and you're being lead around by the Vault Chick, but it does irk me that all the baddies are male.
Dragon Age Origins: All party members kill both male and female adversaries.
Everyday the same Dream: This game has only one female character.
Evil Genius: Your henchmen of either fend off super agents of both.
Half-Life: There are no female characters in this game.
Half-Life 2: Alyx and Gordon both light up male and female zombies.
Half-Life 2: Episode 1: Same as above(need to confirm.)
Half-Life 2: Episode 2: Same as above(need to confirm.)
Mass Effect: Equal amounts of killing from either gendered squadmates of either gendered enemies (ok, so it still passes).
Mass Effect 2:Same as above.
Left 4 Dead: Male and female characters killing male and female zombies.
Left 4 Dead 2:. Same
Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening: A handful of women, but none of them interact.
Portal: The behavior spheres at the end can be argued to be male (if we're allowing GLaDOS to be female), but they only show up at the end and they don't interact with each other.
Portal 2: Chell and GLaDOS collaborate, Wheatley and personality spheres get up close and personal.
Sam and Max 101: This game has only one female character.
Sam and Max 102: This game has two female characters, but they never interact.
Sam and Max 103: And back to only one female character.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Equal killing of and talking to either gender.
Team Fortress 2: This game has only one female character and all she does is yell.
Thief the Dark Project: This game has only one female character.
Thief 2 the Metal Age: It's actually through the interaction between two women that a vast majority of the story is dispensed.
Torchlight: This game has a female playable character and equal killing of either gender.
So clearly I tend to play a good amount of games with a decent female presence. I will be adding to this list as my library of played games expands and I remember game's I forgot I played.
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