Women in modern games: WoW Cataclysm has some pretty cool women in it. Let’s hope for a trend!
I think Yuriko especially made an impression because I first heard about Puzzle Bots from Melissa’s negative review of the character profiles, and Digital Changeling’s concerns about the stereotyping. So yes, she starts as an incredibly problematic shy, smart Japanese girl stereotype (and one I’m especially inclined to dislike as it’s one people apply to me). What surprised me when I got to play Puzzle Bots myself is that even in a very short game, Yuriko actually grew considerably from her initial characterization. I can’t really give details without spoiling the (rather touching) end of the game, but I have to say that part of why I adored her so much was that she started as a problematic stereotype but was able to move past that and it’s most definitely implied that she’ll be growing even more. Despite the problematic stereotypes (nothing you don’t see watching movies already) I’d totally give this game to a younger girl as long as I was pretty sure she’d complete it to find out how much more awesome Yuriko can be.
So here’s your chance to warm my heart even more: what great characters have you seen in modern games? Let’s not let the industry rest on its laurels and concentrate on characters from games released in the past two years or so.
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Manuel:
January 20th, 2011 at 11:07 am
Hi, there’s a typo in the second link to “Now that’s what I’m talking about…” : the code looks like a href=a href=”url” (href twice). Feel free to delete this trivial comment once the problem is fixed. (Not being a gamer, I don’t have anything useful to add to this nice post.)
Terri:
January 20th, 2011 at 11:11 am
Thanks! I’d just noticed the markup error myself when it showed up in my feedreader looking a bit weird.
It’s fixed now.
Grimmtooth:
January 22nd, 2011 at 9:34 am
Wow, I’m flattered that you found that entry to be pleasing.
The comments on that post have some more examples of other strong female characters that I either didn’t mention, or haven’t encountered yet. I suspect there will be a lot more to come from them.
Gaurav:
February 1st, 2011 at 10:52 pm
It’s a dismally short list, even without the two year limit. My favourite female character since 2009 is Leliana from Dragon Age: she’s a great fighter (although some of my friends disagree, she’s just the kind of striker I needed), has an interesting backstory, an exotic accent, and has a nasty sense of humour while still being a sweet and affectionate member of the group.
My favourite female character of all time remains Alyx Vance from Half Life 2 and its expansions, though. Smart, clever, perfectly capable of taking care of herself without help from you, with a distinctive personality and always ready to climb up the side of a building for The Resistance. I hope the next Half Life expansion (or even – gasp! – Half Life 3?!) comes out soon!
Terri:
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:48 am
That *is* a dismally short list, but it looks like it’s mostly from triple-a titles, so I imagine it’s missing quite a lot of neat folk from indie games (like Yuriko above!)