Strong and independent – why are there more and more empty female characters in games?

Female characters in video games have come a long way, from scantily clad ladies in trouble to protagonists who can solve their problems without outsiders. But why is the image of the strong and independent being criticized right now? With your permission, we will discuss this topic a bit.

And yes, the author of this text is a girl.

And the demand for protagonists has increased? Why?

The female protagonist has long been no novelty: in 1982, for example, the players were delighted with Miss Pacman (Mrs. Pac-Man), in 1986 – Samus Aran (Metroid), and in 1996 two cult divas appeared at once – Lara Croft (Tomb Raider) and Jill Valentine (Resident Evil). However, there was no need to talk about some trend 20-30 years ago – rather about local performance.

It is very important that until recently, in 2017, Sony doubted the success of Horizon Zero Dawn because of the girl in the lead role, and Ubisoft management was sure that “women don’t sell video games.”

However, with the increase in the number of gamers, the number of protagonists also grows, and there is no feminist conspiracy here – girls usually prefer to play for the representatives of their gender, and the market simply responds to the demands of the public .

But still, despite the noticeable progress, there are still significantly fewer female characters in the lead roles than male ones.

What do we have now?

In the movie industry, characters like Rey (Star Wars) or Captain Marvel (from the movie of the same name) have almost become a household name for all the awkwardly spelled “strong and independent.” It would be naive to assume that the trend towards creating such protagonists will evade video games.

But how much potential did her story have!But how much potential did her story have!

Aloy from the Horizon dilogy, Lara Croft from Tomb Raider (the final trilogy), Jill Valentine from Resident Evil 3 Remake – All three are often high on lists of the best video game women. And their example clearly shows what is wrong with the image of the modern heroine.

So Aloy’s problems are not in the huge cheeks that the sequel gave her, but in the absence of at least some facets of personality. The girl seemed to have descended from the pages of clumsy fanfiction – perfect, smart, strong, kind and courageous.

The only thing that separates her from Rey Skywalker is her backstory and emotional baggage in the form of Rast (Aloy’s mentor). In all other respects, this is just as much a “Marisyushny” character (the hero, endowed with hypertrophic, unrealistic virtues, is formed on behalf of the character of the parody “Trekka’s Tale”), for which a piano is prepared in each plot of bush.

In the sequel, Aloy’s “Mariness” became very clear.In the sequel, Aloy’s “Mariness” became very clear.

Aloy easily masters the new and the unknown, wins the attention of others, protects the weak, tolerates no ambiguous hints – and is generally incredibly dull. This is one of those annoying cases where the amazing original design (just check out this cosplay guide!) has nothing to do with the character of the hero himself.

With the updated Lara Croft, there are no fewer problems: like Aloy, she just overshadows those around her with her impeccability, and the writers don’t seem to try to create interesting characters in the neighborhood, as if afraid to shift focus of the all-too-ideal protagonist.

Their only weak attempt Tomb Raider 2013. Although the project suffers from the strongest ludonarrative dissonance (the conflict between the plot of the video game and the gameplay), it still tries to tell the story of an inexperienced novice terminator Lara. There are her interactions with her love interest, and conversations with friends, and flashbacks with a mentor, as well as numerous attempts at survival. Even the rest of the series seems to be giving this up.

Many did not like Lara Croft, performed by Alicia Vikander. But she didn’t go far from the character of the 2013-2018 trilogyMany did not like Lara Croft, performed by Alicia Vikander. But she didn’t go far from the character of the 2013-2018 trilogy

BEE Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the developers made slight inroads into studying the soul of a young robber, but clearly something went wrong. That’s why at the exit, instead of the promised controversial character, we got an emotionally unstable teenager in the body of an adult. And there were conversations!

At the same time, Lara has no one to build a full-fledged dialogue with – there are only empty spaces, helping or hindering her. The girl herself is not afraid of falling planes or holes in her stomach from bullets – with a bow in her hands she can destroy even the ancient immortals.

She can handle everything alone. As a result, no moral and psychological training took place in three matches in “the same Croft”.

At the same time, in its desire to modernize Resident Evil 3, Capcom has drastically erased the original image of Jill Valentine.

The strong, strong-willed, yet ordinary girl has been replaced by a superheroine, adored by everyone, who doesn’t care about anything – whether it’s a rocket under her feet or a jump from a roof. And her confrontation with the Nemesis resembled a battle between the T-800 and the T-1000, it’s not clear which of them is even more invulnerable. That’s why the moment with Jill’s infection didn’t work. Seriously, with her face a few hours ago, brick walls were almost broken, well, what could happen to her?

As you might guess, the original didn’t allow itself such a thing: Jill was vulnerable, she didn’t raise anime guns with her bare hands, and all battles with Nemesis took place on the edge of her human strength.

Why is this happening?

Any character, regardless of gender, can be damaged by making them too perfect. Stripping the character of his flaws and putting him in a sterile environment where no one can match him is a very lazy way to create a supposedly strong protagonist.

In addition, now the vector of the development of male characters tends from the so-called male toxicity towards greater sensuality and emotional openness. You may also remember the updated Kratos (God of War) and Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption 2) and Sam (Death Stranding).

Even Kratos is no longer a vengeful bloodthirsty dunce.Even Kratos is no longer a vengeful bloodthirsty dunce.

At the same time, girls increasingly lose touch with these traits, as with a relic of the past, and acquire characteristics characteristic of hypertrophic action heroes of the 80s and 90s.

Against this background is a kind of Bayonetta (from the game) Bayonetta) looks unusual to say the least. She was originally designed to be intentionally cool and sensual, strong enough not to experience any trouble with enemies, and provocative enough not to be shy about taking on various “interesting” poses in combat. Her sexuality is an inseparable part of herself, but the developers don’t stop there. In the plot of the first game, Cereza appears – an ordinary girl, interacting with which the witch is revealed from another, more unusual side. Is this a beaten move? Naturally. Does it work? Doubtless.

In October Bayonetta will come back to us for the third time!In October Bayonetta will come back to us for the third time!

In addition to her, there are already examples of protagonists who cope much better with the role of really strong heroines: Senua from Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice Ellie and Abby The Last of Us: Part II, Clementine Out The living Dead. Having attachments, a love interest, great characters around doesn’t make them any less attractive – a character’s strength isn’t about being the best.

People like heroes who overcome difficulties, grow up, accept their flaws, admit mistakes – all this just does not happen if the character is free from flaws and doubts. But the problem of such heroines is far from just a game – just think of the Marvel superheroines.

Of course, the propensity to create empty “strong and independent” has not yet spread to the entire video game industry, but there are precedents (and quite striking!) and it’s hard to say how long this infection will poison our beloved industry.

***
I would like to believe that the era of faceless heroines, locked in the following modern standards, will not be with us for long – they have their place on the shelf of history, along with armored bras, the statement “girls don’t sell games ” and women’s bikinis as a reward for the level completed.

In the end everything changes.