Disclaimer:This article does not represent Darthleon's or Metax's views on feminism,or the female part of the Earth population.In fact if you read this article you will notice that I make very little comments on genders or gender roles.That said if you are not on Earth right now you are a total bitch. Regardless of sex.
A couple of weeks ago I said in one of my videos that Princesses Peach and Daisy are a total waste of zeroes and ones.That is a pretty ballsy thing to say about the female character that has appeared in the most videogames.That pretty much sums up my opinion on all females that are there just to be a nice little trophy for the hero to save.Wow that was a pretentious sentence to write.Alright let's back it up a bit.
Let's see if I can explain that with normal people terms.Way back in the day game cartridges had a VERY limited space to hold their game in.Stuff like dialog and introductory text were not an easy thing to save in them. Getting a single line of dialog could mean that you either had to take a scissor to your credits or to your poor baby,cutting a level or a music track . As the years passed programers got better with the tools they had,even in the same generation.That is why we see games that have more in the same cart in the later years or them. But as a developer you probably wanted your game to have a story,some kind of narative.What is a very simple story you can tell just with images you already have? Bad guy kidnaps your girlfriend,go save her.Simple right? And that's how the damsels entered the game industry.Peach,Zelda,every girl from Final Fantasy ever,girl from Mother,the princess from the Capcom game with Arthur,even GODDESS Palutena needs saving in the original Kid Icarus. Not every game did it with women( read Megaman saves Dr L/Right his father) or at all (read Metroid),but a lot of them were on that subject.Basicly those characters are tools to an end,that being giving the gamer a direction,a goal.But using a woman as a tool is despicable,right?*smacks you in the hand with a ruler* NO!
Let's asume that you(yes YOU) are making a game.The game should have a story to fit your vision. Naturally that story has characters.So who do you,the developer care for the most? A)The story's characters or B)The gamer.I sure hope you know the right answer.You are making a GAME your number 1 corcern is the GAMER( and making money I guess but that's for another day).If you want to write a story about some characters go write a book( I am not shaming you,go write a book). The point I am trying to frame here is that you should not let technical limitations limit your entire vision, so if you must you can just abuse characters to complete it.And just to clarify to the stupidest of you, it's ok to use FAKE women(and men and dogs and whatever you feel like) in a story,if that is the only way to complete what you want.And back then that was one of the very few ways.
But let's fast forward to today.Today we have Blu-rays disks that have 25GB of memory and Steam and internet speeds that allow us to get HUGE games at any time.The above excuse doesn't hold any water.Seeing the situation of women in games, today is a far better age to be the girl character in a game.Girls are in control of whole games by themselves(Tomb Raider,Bayonetta,Beyond,Remember me) or are great supportive characters(Halo,Kingdom Hearts) that sometimes even outshadow the male main character(Bioshock Infinite,Last of Us,Walking Dead).However some girls keep getting kidnapped for no better reason than because "that's what girls do amiright". No.Mr game developer, or Ms,not pointing fingers here.That was ok way back in the day where we didn't have much of a choice.While the characters of your story are not as important as the game itself,we have grown up and the industry has evolved with us.We expect you to bring new tools.
As always,I am not the guy that just points out a problem and gives no solutions.Actually I am here to propose several.But yet again let me make an example.As mention before, your main corcern is the gamer,not the story characters.Write good enough characters and we will forgive missteps(unless we have another agenda and decide to complitelly ignore the rest of the message,in which case we are stupid idividuals).And to prove my point I will show you an example of a good female character and a bad female character with one anime series Code Geass(I am the first to use the word anime in this blog,better step up your game Metax).EXTREME SPOILERS ON CODE GEASS!During the end of season 1 Princess Euphemia is killed by the Japanesse rebel forces.Why? Because Lelouch(the main character) had an accident with his power and brainwashed her to kill all the Japanese people.And that was TRAGIC. Poor Euphemia wanted to liberate Japan,equality for everyone fix what the British empire brought to them and she was so sweet that watching more that one episode with her brought you diabetes. Her death reduced me to tears.This has happened only four times(in Lion King, Fullmetal Alchemist and Kingdom Hearts Days).On the other hand we have Shirley a character so forgetable I googled her as "schoolgirl that had a crush with lelouch" . That is her only character trait really. She was a nuisance in Season 1 and then a nuisance in Season 2,where she was finally killed of and we were supposed to care because the scene took like 4 minutes.Good ridance is what I say.
Treat your audience with respect by writing good characters,not good endings for your characters is the first solution.One good example is Zelda.Sure she needs help a lot,but the blow is definetly softer. In many games she is very helpful,downright necesary, in a couple games she is not even kidnapped and many times she actually protects herself,she is just not too good at it. Also she is kidnapped for a good reason:she is easier to find.Ganondarf has no interest in her,just the Triforce of Wisdom, that the fucking princess of the land has. An easier target than the stupid hero that at this time is probably braking pots outside a dungeon somewhere,probably in this dimension. Furthermore saving Zelda is just a bullet point,not the main objective.Saving the kingdom is what's important here.And that is another way to soften the cliche.Also if the saviour is a party of characters,saving the princess because that is only one of their objectives,other being loot and the kingdom.
Another way to fix this problem is making EVERYONE need help. Example: Kingdom Hearts. Alright let's put this to sleep,Kingdom Hearts is NOT sexist.Yes the girls of those games need saving too,but literally everyone needs help.Kairi's heart is trapped ,better save her.King Mickey and Riku are trapped in a world of darkness,better find them.Sora's memories are fucked up,better fix em.He is not waking ,better find the reason why.Xion can't use the Keyblade,better pull double duty.Sora can't beat the enemy,better give Kairi a keyblade and help him.Ventus is too young to travel the universe,better bring him back.Terra may have too much darkness in him better make sure he doesn't fuck up.I even avoided a bunch of people because extreme spoilers.It's okay in my book if the girls in a world need help,when the rest of the cast needs just as much saving as them if not more.So the next person that says KH is sexist will get punched in the throat.Except for Metax,he will say it after reading this article.Basicly my point is change Damsel in Distress to X in Distress.Natually it doesn't have to be Man saves Woman.Or even the saviour and the in Distress be of diferent sex.
One last way is have the in Distress be completelly incapable to save themselves,but not because they are weak.One example is Ace Attorney. Maya needs a lot of help,but she literally can't help herself because she has no legal knowledge.Phoenix helps himself,and even another attorneys(yes Edgeworth would have the right to defend himself techically speaking) but he sorta knows what he is doing.You need a laywer to help you with law problems.
The smarter of you may have noticed something about my article.Nowhere have I proposed removing the In Distress cliche.There is a reason for this: we can't remove it.We won't because we can't.People will need saving.It makes for good stories.Imagine a game industry where noone needed saving.All the games I have mentioned so far would go out of the window.What I am saying is make the stories smarter.I started shaming Peach,because she is a relic in a ever moving industry.She defies everyting I said.Prime example Mario Galaxy.When Bowser attacks she has no army protecting her and she doesn't even run or fight back like in Mario RPG or Smash,choosing to be helpless.And why does Bowser kidnap her again?She is a trophy for Mario.Not for the player,not anymore at least.A player would be happier to save a FUCKING GALAXY rather than a stupid Princess.Just have Rosalina show up and be all like"Ok Bowser is trying to ruin the galaxy and you know him better than anyone.Deal with it.Oh hi Peach,nice earings".And the game would be the same.So Peach is a trophy for Mario,a literal waste of zeroes and ones ,and everyone following her lead is just as big a waste.
A couple of weeks ago I said in one of my videos that Princesses Peach and Daisy are a total waste of zeroes and ones.That is a pretty ballsy thing to say about the female character that has appeared in the most videogames.That pretty much sums up my opinion on all females that are there just to be a nice little trophy for the hero to save.Wow that was a pretentious sentence to write.Alright let's back it up a bit.
Let's see if I can explain that with normal people terms.Way back in the day game cartridges had a VERY limited space to hold their game in.Stuff like dialog and introductory text were not an easy thing to save in them. Getting a single line of dialog could mean that you either had to take a scissor to your credits or to your poor baby,cutting a level or a music track . As the years passed programers got better with the tools they had,even in the same generation.That is why we see games that have more in the same cart in the later years or them. But as a developer you probably wanted your game to have a story,some kind of narative.What is a very simple story you can tell just with images you already have? Bad guy kidnaps your girlfriend,go save her.Simple right? And that's how the damsels entered the game industry.Peach,Zelda,every girl from Final Fantasy ever,girl from Mother,the princess from the Capcom game with Arthur,even GODDESS Palutena needs saving in the original Kid Icarus. Not every game did it with women( read Megaman saves Dr L/Right his father) or at all (read Metroid),but a lot of them were on that subject.Basicly those characters are tools to an end,that being giving the gamer a direction,a goal.But using a woman as a tool is despicable,right?*smacks you in the hand with a ruler* NO!
Let's asume that you(yes YOU) are making a game.The game should have a story to fit your vision. Naturally that story has characters.So who do you,the developer care for the most? A)The story's characters or B)The gamer.I sure hope you know the right answer.You are making a GAME your number 1 corcern is the GAMER( and making money I guess but that's for another day).If you want to write a story about some characters go write a book( I am not shaming you,go write a book). The point I am trying to frame here is that you should not let technical limitations limit your entire vision, so if you must you can just abuse characters to complete it.And just to clarify to the stupidest of you, it's ok to use FAKE women(and men and dogs and whatever you feel like) in a story,if that is the only way to complete what you want.And back then that was one of the very few ways.
But let's fast forward to today.Today we have Blu-rays disks that have 25GB of memory and Steam and internet speeds that allow us to get HUGE games at any time.The above excuse doesn't hold any water.Seeing the situation of women in games, today is a far better age to be the girl character in a game.Girls are in control of whole games by themselves(Tomb Raider,Bayonetta,Beyond,Remember me) or are great supportive characters(Halo,Kingdom Hearts) that sometimes even outshadow the male main character(Bioshock Infinite,Last of Us,Walking Dead).However some girls keep getting kidnapped for no better reason than because "that's what girls do amiright". No.Mr game developer, or Ms,not pointing fingers here.That was ok way back in the day where we didn't have much of a choice.While the characters of your story are not as important as the game itself,we have grown up and the industry has evolved with us.We expect you to bring new tools.
As always,I am not the guy that just points out a problem and gives no solutions.Actually I am here to propose several.But yet again let me make an example.As mention before, your main corcern is the gamer,not the story characters.Write good enough characters and we will forgive missteps(unless we have another agenda and decide to complitelly ignore the rest of the message,in which case we are stupid idividuals).And to prove my point I will show you an example of a good female character and a bad female character with one anime series Code Geass(I am the first to use the word anime in this blog,better step up your game Metax).EXTREME SPOILERS ON CODE GEASS!During the end of season 1 Princess Euphemia is killed by the Japanesse rebel forces.Why? Because Lelouch(the main character) had an accident with his power and brainwashed her to kill all the Japanese people.And that was TRAGIC. Poor Euphemia wanted to liberate Japan,equality for everyone fix what the British empire brought to them and she was so sweet that watching more that one episode with her brought you diabetes. Her death reduced me to tears.This has happened only four times(in Lion King, Fullmetal Alchemist and Kingdom Hearts Days).On the other hand we have Shirley a character so forgetable I googled her as "schoolgirl that had a crush with lelouch" . That is her only character trait really. She was a nuisance in Season 1 and then a nuisance in Season 2,where she was finally killed of and we were supposed to care because the scene took like 4 minutes.Good ridance is what I say.
Treat your audience with respect by writing good characters,not good endings for your characters is the first solution.One good example is Zelda.Sure she needs help a lot,but the blow is definetly softer. In many games she is very helpful,downright necesary, in a couple games she is not even kidnapped and many times she actually protects herself,she is just not too good at it. Also she is kidnapped for a good reason:she is easier to find.Ganondarf has no interest in her,just the Triforce of Wisdom, that the fucking princess of the land has. An easier target than the stupid hero that at this time is probably braking pots outside a dungeon somewhere,probably in this dimension. Furthermore saving Zelda is just a bullet point,not the main objective.Saving the kingdom is what's important here.And that is another way to soften the cliche.Also if the saviour is a party of characters,saving the princess because that is only one of their objectives,other being loot and the kingdom.
Another way to fix this problem is making EVERYONE need help. Example: Kingdom Hearts. Alright let's put this to sleep,Kingdom Hearts is NOT sexist.Yes the girls of those games need saving too,but literally everyone needs help.Kairi's heart is trapped ,better save her.King Mickey and Riku are trapped in a world of darkness,better find them.Sora's memories are fucked up,better fix em.He is not waking ,better find the reason why.Xion can't use the Keyblade,better pull double duty.Sora can't beat the enemy,better give Kairi a keyblade and help him.Ventus is too young to travel the universe,better bring him back.Terra may have too much darkness in him better make sure he doesn't fuck up.I even avoided a bunch of people because extreme spoilers.It's okay in my book if the girls in a world need help,when the rest of the cast needs just as much saving as them if not more.So the next person that says KH is sexist will get punched in the throat.Except for Metax,he will say it after reading this article.Basicly my point is change Damsel in Distress to X in Distress.Natually it doesn't have to be Man saves Woman.Or even the saviour and the in Distress be of diferent sex.
One last way is have the in Distress be completelly incapable to save themselves,but not because they are weak.One example is Ace Attorney. Maya needs a lot of help,but she literally can't help herself because she has no legal knowledge.Phoenix helps himself,and even another attorneys(yes Edgeworth would have the right to defend himself techically speaking) but he sorta knows what he is doing.You need a laywer to help you with law problems.
The smarter of you may have noticed something about my article.Nowhere have I proposed removing the In Distress cliche.There is a reason for this: we can't remove it.We won't because we can't.People will need saving.It makes for good stories.Imagine a game industry where noone needed saving.All the games I have mentioned so far would go out of the window.What I am saying is make the stories smarter.I started shaming Peach,because she is a relic in a ever moving industry.She defies everyting I said.Prime example Mario Galaxy.When Bowser attacks she has no army protecting her and she doesn't even run or fight back like in Mario RPG or Smash,choosing to be helpless.And why does Bowser kidnap her again?She is a trophy for Mario.Not for the player,not anymore at least.A player would be happier to save a FUCKING GALAXY rather than a stupid Princess.Just have Rosalina show up and be all like"Ok Bowser is trying to ruin the galaxy and you know him better than anyone.Deal with it.Oh hi Peach,nice earings".And the game would be the same.So Peach is a trophy for Mario,a literal waste of zeroes and ones ,and everyone following her lead is just as big a waste.
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