To Girls: Concerning games lacking Female Perspective

[Viniciuskk]

I was reading this (http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... 13&t=18910) topic, and had to agree with the people who said that, even though you may play as a female character, there is often a lack of female perspective. Now that I think of it, I might also be running into it in my own game, so as a novice game maker, I want to ask everyone: Do these games have the "Female Perspective"? Can I use them as a base to get closer to this "Female Perspective"?v (Of course, each girl has their own mind, thus reacts differently to different things, but based on their character, do you think the author of these games managed to keep up with a good Female Perspective?)

(At least, I really think they do, except for The Witch's House.)

In every of them, you play as a girl trapped somewhere and needs to find a way to survive. The one I liked the most was Mad Father, the story is amazing. There are so many things that are secretly linked to each other that you can easily miss if you aren't paying attention to EVERY, literally EVERY detail in the game.

Mad Father: The story of Aya, whose father is a scientist that uses living people as test subjects. Her diseased mother comes back from the dead to take Aya's father with her to the realm of the Dead.

http://vgboy.dabomstew.com/other/madfather.htm

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Ib:

A game about a cute young girl trapped in a museum where the paintings and artwork start to move. She has a red rose, and when it is damaged, so is she. (Ib is the youngest girl of all, probably about 7 or 8 years old)

http://vgboy.dabomstew.com/other/ib.htm

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Misao:

The same creator as Mad Father, the story of a girl whose friend misteriously disappeared and is believed to be dead. She comes back, and curses the school, seeking revenge on all those that bullied her. (Note: When completing this game, it is possible to play as a Male character too, but it doesn't quite make any difference at all, except for a few dialogue changes here and there.)

http://www.mediafire.com/?kba90hx4zrfkwa9

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The Witch's House:

A blond, 13 year old girl is lost in a forest and has no other option but to seek refuge inside a house, if only she known it belongs to a Witch. (This one is very creepy, and Viola (the girl you play with) doesn't say anything at all, so there wouldn't be any difference if it was a boy.)

http://vgboy.dabomstew.com/other/witchhouse.htm

(The RTP Maker needed to run Witch's HOuse is included in it's download page, right below the game download link)

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By the way, every game listed here was created by japanese dudes.

P.S: The games are very light, less than 50 mb, except for Ib. Read the "READ ME" in their folder if you have problems playing any of them.

[Vialixia]

'A female perspective' is a difficult thing to judge. I really think in order to appeal to a female audience, you just need to make sure you're female protagonists feature traits that a female would find empowering rather than distracting. This doesn't mean your characters can't be weak, but they should all have admirable traits. Moreover, try and avoid the obvious (making everything pink, adding ponies, lol) as it can be pretty patronising. All in all I've found the things that appeal to women are games with engaging storylines that are believable and treat women respectfully. You don't have to play as a female character to achieve that (although I usually prefer to play female characters if I have the choice to.)

[Viniciuskk]

Uh, let's put for example, Chainsaw Lollipop. A cheerleader that goes around slaughtering undead. That is obviously intended for male audiences, but, uh... There are undoubtly woman who would be capable of doing that too, except that they probably wouldn't wear cheer leader clothing.

So, if you put on that girl some decent outfit and change the game's name to, let's say, the Undead Assault or whatsoever, would it have at least a little female perspective? (I didn't play this game, but let's consider that it totally lacks any story at all, and it's just about a girl on a zombie slaughter fest. I think it wouldn't have much, and would still be aimed at males.)

It can be kind of an admirable trait that she is fearless of the ravaging undead and all that stuff, but... *confused*

[SundownKid]

I don't think there's such a thing as a female perspective so much as an "are your female characters believable" perspective. I certainly don't think that Call of Duty is from a "male perspective", since as a man, I would never do something like shoot up a bunch of people. That doesn't mean that it has to have a woman who is vulnerable, just normal.

Chainsaw Lollipop might claim to have a pro-female protagonist, but it's really more of a gratuitously sexy woman wrapped in a coat of "I'm independent". If a guy were running around Gears of War in a bathing suit flexing his pecs and not power armor, guys would say it was ridiculous and not independent. Sure, he could choose to run around like that, but why would he? I think the female perspective would be to make her more realistic in terms of her sexualization, not necessarily her personality or job. Fearless, great, highly sexualized, unnecessary.

[Viniciuskk]

If a guy were running around Gears of War in a bathing suit and not power armor, we'd say it was ridiculous and not independent.

I ROFL'ed at this

But in Chainsaw Lollipop, she is far from wearing anything suitable for a zombie apocalypse, still it doesn't quite sound as ridiculous as imagining a half naked weightlifter bashing zombies with his bare fists or shreding them to pieces with a chainsaw. (I think I feel like this probably because I'm a guy. ***Tending to Sexist? Damn it***)

[Vialixia]

To be honest, Lollipop Chainsaw doesn't really appeal to me. It's a 'sexy chick' in a costume. Her worth is not in her intellect and she isn't a very interesting character, aside from her aesthetics that are designed to appeal to a male audience. Equally, though, I know plenty of ladies who are fans of this game. What would appeal to me is if the game was about zombie survival; the protagonist was more realistic. Maybe she's wearing clothes that are a bit rougher round the egdes, attractive but practical. She has questions she needs to answer about herself, and her intellect and wit are the things that usually get her out of trouble. All females are different of course, so it's hard to say.

But if you make a female character: think of the male equivalent. If it'd be stupid, out of place and ridiculous, it probably is.

[Viniciuskk]

But if you make a female character: think of the male equivalent. If it'd be stupid, out of place and ridiculous, it probably is.

At least, for me, if you put a woman in the role of Rambo, it does quite sound out of place, but not that there aren't any women out there capable of doing what Rambo did.

There is Ada Wong, afterall. (With increased "skills" due to being an important character of the movie, but whatever. Rambo also has his "hero invulnerability".)

[SundownKid]

At least, for me, if you put a woman in the role of Rambo, it does quite sound out of place, but not that there aren't any women out there capable of doing what Rambo did.

There is Ada Wong, afterall. (With increased "skills" due to being an important character of the movie, but whatever. Rambo also has his "hero invulnerability".)

I don't think Rambo is the sexualized version of a man, though, so much as a power fantasy for men. Rambo isn't exactly meant to be attractive for girls like a scantily-clad cheerleader would be for guys.

[Viniciuskk]

Not about the "sexualization" of the characters, but the feeling that he/she is "out of character"

It's sounds much more convincing to see a man going rambo-like than a woman. (God of War, for example. Just imagine a woman with as much muscles as Kratos, struggling to fend off a giant statue's feet.)
Ada Wong doesn't seem to be strange because she uses her wits and cunning, rather than machine gunning everything in her way.

Kratos, obviously, is kind of out of character too. What mortal can kill Gods that easily? o.o

[SundownKid]

It's sounds much more convincing to see a man going rambo-like than a woman. (God of War, for example. Just imagine a woman with as much muscles as Kratos, struggling to fend off a giant statue's feet.)

But, it's certainly not impossible, if you do a google search for bodybuilding women. There's a persistent belief that women are by and large weaker than men, while this might be true for some women, there will still be women who are equally as strong as men, if not moreso (unless you bodybuild, that is)

It's not weird because it's impossible, just because it's rarely done because guys don't think it's sexy enough to have a muscular woman running around.

[Vialixia]

I think it's possible to be a physically strong women, it isn't always about the intellect. Appearance-wise, if you put your female character in a bikini in a battle field, would that be acceptable if it was a man? No, so don't do it for your female character either, as the first rule. (That's what I meant by my first statement.)

[Vialixia]

I have something relevant to this, I guess. I redesigned Soul Calibur characters to be more appealing to a female audience.

http://girlcalibur.posterous.com/

[Viniciuskk]

Yes but, God of War would sound much more out of place than it already is (A single mortal killing Gods). I'm sure my father would say "WTF is up with that woman" if Kratos was female. It's all about society standards I think...

[SundownKid]

Yes but, God of War would sound much more out of place than it already is (A single mortal killing Gods). I'm sure my father would say "WTF is up with that woman" if Kratos was female. It's all about society standards I think...

It is about societal standards, but that doesn't mean you have to follow them to the letter and have a girly woman in Kratos' place rather than a muscular one, at least if you want to add "female perspective". It's not like games aren't fantastic enough that you can't have a muscular woman in a warrior role. It's really more about the sex appeal from a guy's perspective that such a thing is strange.

[Viniciuskk]

I think it is possible to put a non-muscular woman in Kratos' place, as long as you change the story. For example, her strenght would come from Mana (like in games, or Ki like Dragonball), but I think it would be sexist...