As the so-called "political correctness" becomes more and more fierce in Europe and the United States, the discussion of the design of female characters in games seems to be no longer a big news, and has even become a topic that needs to be taken seriously in the European and American game markets. But the strange thing is that whether you are familiar with the game industry or not, you seem to be able to conduct it.
On December 27, Bloomberg published an article titled "The Game Industry Is Struggling to Change Sexist Attitudes." The article is not long, only 1200 words translated, but it is better in that both the title and the content of the article are aimed at the most sensitive parts of the Game in Europe and the United States. Therefore, on Twitter, the article has also gained a lot of discussion.
The article first set a personality for the game industry at the beginning, saying that "the video game industry has long been plagued by gender discrimination and gender stereotypes", and in order to make this view stand, the author also gave an example of Activision Blizzard, saying that about a decade ago, a woman suggested to Blizzard developers to add more "female characters who don't come out of Victoria's Secret", but was booed.
Subsequently, perhaps for the author's sake of comparison, the article immediately turned sharp, praising Sony's blockbuster product "Horizon: Dawn of Zero" released in 2017, arguing that the game portrayed the heroine Eroy as a smart, witty character, rather than a pawn, victim and object of male desire.
Before it was over, the article went on to assert that Horizon 2: Forbidden Lands in 2022 — the sequel that turned Eloy's character Hannah Hoekstra into a middle-aged mother — could change the "superficial perception of women" of other developers and even help attract more female players into console games.
Seeing this, GameLook is still wondering why the author strongly binds the success of "Horizon" with the character image, he/she does not expect that he/she is still "output" behind him, and claims to be a game lover, playing mainstream games such as Tomb Raider and Original God, but most of the women in these games are dressed exposed, making themselves "very uncomfortable", and there are too few characters like Eloi.
At the end of the article, the author also carefully gave reform suggestions, believing that large game manufacturers should set an example, recruit more female employees, and increase the proportion of female and male. Whether it is in-game or out-of-game, women's experience is "shameful", and it is hoped that "the latest round of public opinion will stimulate developers to change this culture".
In the European and American markets, which have always held high the banner of feminism and political correctness, GameLook originally thought that this article would present a one-sided situation of public opinion as they superficially said, but did not expect that the comments actually overturned.
"ZZZQ's speed, I can't keep up"
Judging from the Twitter comment area, the hot reviews have been occupied by dissenting players, most of whom think that the author's vision is too narrow, and he does not talk about the heroines with intelligence and personality in other games, but only talks about Eloy, as if Eloy has become the first female character to stand out.
In a hot review, one player said that in fact many of the game's popular characters are women, in order to refute the statement that women have long been used as "pawns, victims and objects of male desire". In addition, the views on female characters in the article are very misleading and unverified.
Some players incarnate as "yin and yang masters", suggesting that the author should also deal with the problem of "objectifying men" while discussing female characters. Immediately posted a muscle map of the protagonist of "God of War", KuiYe, which attracted many netizens to echo.
In fact, many players, like GameLook, have a lot of doubts about why the article strongly binds the success of Horizon to the character image. Some netizens believe that gender (the success of the game) is not the focus, the process of the game is. Some people may also be fed up with the European and American rhetoric and bluntly say "shut up".
Amid the many objections, there were also comments in favor of the article, arguing that the success of Horizon: Dawn of Zero made Elloy the first ever female character.
Some neutral netizens also suggested that there is no need to dwell too much on political correctness issues, and it is best not to play games that make them "uncomfortable". Some have extended the topic to the state of the European and American game scene in recent years, arguing that Chinese and Japanese games can occupy the global market precisely because their games do not discuss this.
Emotions come first, reason comes first
Although the controversy caused by the article exists objectively, and looking at the incident aside from the topic of political correctness, it is not difficult to find that many loopholes and errors contained in the article are the most fundamental reasons for the controversy.
As Twitter users pointed out, Elloy is not the first female game protagonist. And judging from the games that have been launched in recent years, women are not all pawns, victims and objects of male desire.
Examples of arguments come almost at their fingertips, such as Mass Effect: Andromeda, developed by BioWare, which was released at the same time as Horizon: Dawn of Zero, where there is a capable and trustworthy heroine, and the AAA game "Control" developed by Lu Meidi, which also features a woman.
From another point of view, the views expressed in the article can hardly stand up to scrutiny, such as linking the success factors of the game with the image of the character, and even extending to "changing the original appearance of the actor for the sake of correctness", once the game is successful, it can be said that it can be used to argue for its own point of view, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.
But if a little thought makes the game really successful today on the "turning the protagonist into a big mother", or even on making a plot like "becoming a pawn, victim and object of male desire", then why did Zelda Legend: Breath of the Wilderness become the best game of the year in 2017?
You know, in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wilderness, although the game is named after the heroine Princess Zelda, the irony is that she has never become a controllable character in the core series. Princess Zelda's main role in the game is to be kidnapped, cursed, imprisoned, turned to stone — and waiting to be saved by Link.
Moreover, if, as the author of the article said, Horizon: Forbidden Lands in the West will attract more women to console games once it is successful, do new players really like the game content itself, or is it like buying it for some kind of correctness? Does this behavior in turn affect the objective evaluation of the gameplay of the work?
In the Western art tradition, ancient Greek sculpture has always occupied a very important position. Among them, famous works such as "Venus with a Broken Arm" and "Discus Thrower" that show the beauty of the human body are often interpreted by the outside world as the pursuit of idealism and human beauty. But from the perspective of the article, I am afraid that it is somewhat "incorrect".
There is a sentence in the "Story of the Editorial Department": "Once the naked body becomes art, it is the most holy, and once morality is reduced to hypocrisy, it is the most vulgar." Therefore, game manufacturers only need to be brave enough to do what they think is right, and not be bothered by the worldly gossip, after all, the final result is still up to the player to vote with their feet."
····· End ·····
GameLook Daily Game Industry Report
Global vision / depth is material