So, without much else going on, what took centre stage? Sexism. Nose punching. Rape. And I for one am glad they did, because there's no other art-form that needs a bigger kick up the Smartglass when it comes to the representation of women, than gaming.
One of the favourite titles I remember from my formative years was an open-world brawler by the name of Urban Chaos, the first game developed by the now defunct Mucky Foot.
The lead was a hard-nosed (more on fragile noses later) African-American woman called D'Arci Stern. She was authoritative, she could batter criminals with wanton, wilful abandon, but also coax suicidal polygons from the ledges of tall buildings.
A few weeks ago, IGN's Keza MacDonald wrote a thoughtful, and downright important piece regarding the frankly baffling E3 Hitman Absolution trailer.
Trailers by their very nature steal context and meaning from much of the action depicted within as they've got limited time to whet the appetite for a game you won't see for half a year at least. But when they use that time to treat our retinas to lingering shots of PVC nuns' capacious breasts, backside cleavage and smashed up lady noses - all for a game series that by and large is a grown-up game of hide and seek - it's a misstep, plain and simple.
Reductionist spaff
But, such is modern media that the right to reply is only one or two clicks away, so what followed was a torrent of some of the most furiously sanctimonious, reductionist spaff the internet had been treated to for some time.
I won't go into details, but suffice to say there was a lot of hand wringing and fist shaking; words like 'kitchen' and 'feminist flag' were chucked into the mix too. I'd love to see what a 'feminist flag' looks like. If I were a radical feminist, I'd surely find flagpoles way too phallic.
To be fair, a lot of the commenters were clearly on the young side (though battling misogyny with ageism serves nobody) and they perhaps didn't have the greatest understanding of human sexuality, certainly in regard to the use of religious imagery and why it commands such potency as a fetish.
Yes, some Hitman games have had their fair share of in-game sex workers, strippers, geisha and so on - but watching a latex-clad nun's nasal bone shatter in slow motion after spending an age ogling her behind? I count myself as being a fully paid-up Hitman aficionado, and I'm certain that kind of behaviour doesn't get you that 'silent assassin' sew-on badge.
But if I could address the commenters directly...
With the greatest of respect gents, you or I simply don't get to decide what women find objectionable. We have no more right than I, as a white man am able to decide whether or not black people get to wrap the 'N' word round their tongues, however distasteful I may find the connotations of the term.
We've never been routinely pilloried, censured or even executed due to which genomic sequence our bodies happen to carry.
We rarely get passed over for work because our nipples happen to reside a couple of inches further away from our ribcage.
The unassailable fact is that women still don't have equality. Either grow up and deal, or come back to me in another five hundred years, when woman have had the vote for the same amount of time as we have, and we'll talk about how unfair yet spectacularly empowering a Wonderbra is.
So, days passed. The outrage subsided. Went away. Disappeared. A trailer that threatened to further ghettoise an art form we care dearly about was quickly forgotten.
IO Interactive half-apologised without ever really understanding why the video put people's noses out of joint (if you'll excuse my turn of phrase) and even Square Enix's insistence that the autonomy of the creator was sacrosanct fell on disinterested ears. Gaming's always been able to shrug off controversy with swaggering ease.
Lacking in iRONy
Enter Crystal Dynamic's executive producer Ron Rosenberg. He squawked to gaming site Kotaku about his new title which happened to star a strong, sexy female protagonist; the darling of mainstream journalism a world over; old pointy boobs herself, Lara Croft.
Quite aside from the suggestion the trailer itself makes:
...that a vulnerable female can't be truly under threat until the aggressor is male sexuality, which is in itself an embarrassing, lame conceit, Ron's colossal bunkum about the character herself was the most laughable, telling aspect of the whole sorry mess. "When people play Lara, they don't really project themselves into the character. They're more like 'I want to protect her.'"
Ron, whether you're male or female, it's really not any sort of stretch to project yourself onto Lara. You're flesh and bone, she's flesh and bone. Every video game character, male or female looks vulnerable next to a massive fucking dinosaur. Or a giant mystical stone robot, intent on staving your head in, all in the name of...being a mystical stone robot.
If I can manage to project myself onto Rayman, a multicoloured demented idiot with no forearms and built-up shoes, I think I can probably make the existential leap to one of those exotic long-haired humans who just so happen to have the power to bust out an ovum every month.
"You start to root for her in a way that you might not root for a male character." Ignoring the interesting use of the word 'root' and its antipodean double-meaning for just one moment, by this logic why not cast a Pret a Manger Hoisin duck sandwich as your next lead?
1. It is neither male nor female, so therefore both can feel sorry for it when someone tries to eat it
2. It is vulnerable and soft to touch, like a lady
3. It probably has root vegetables in it. Maximising 'rootage'
The bottom line is, video game developers can build extravagant, beautiful worlds inside a microprocessor the size of a fingernail, yet can't bring us a female protagonist worth her salt.
Developers. Bring us real, believable video game women, then you can toy with non-consensual sex as a plot device. The ball is in your court.
Video game fans. This isn't a feminist issue. This is about industry-wide self-respect.
The opinion expressed in this article is that of the author and does not reflect those of SPOnG.com except when it does.
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Comments
Gamewank_Jim 20 Jun 2012 12:33
1/4
This is 100% bang on. It is entirely an issue of respect
Trauma 20 Jun 2012 16:55
2/4
Of the hoisin-duck based snack, and its identity as "vulnerable and soft to touch, like a lady" - I like to think I'm slightly less vulnerable than a roasted waterfowl in a bap, and I'm certainly less willing to let strangers bite me.
On the other hand, and with all joking aside, I'm SO glad that people - men in particular - are willing to say that they don't think rape in games is okay. Sadly it seems that a great many internet commentors - and gamers, presumably - don't feel that a woman is qualified to judge what is and is not offensive or beyond the pale, and are being oversensitive and hysterical when we raise an example. It's sad to say, but the more male writers and gamers that object, the more weight the complaints seem to carry. If nothing else, this shows the lack of respect for women that the "so what? it's just a game!" faction seem to possess.
I'm reasonably certain that you've already seen it, but the following article is also worth mentioning: http://critdamage.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/quit-pretending-there-isnt-videogame.html
It's nice to feel that we're not the only ones that object to seeing women as victims of violent aggression.
On the other hand, and with all joking aside, I'm SO glad that people - men in particular - are willing to say that they don't think rape in games is okay. Sadly it seems that a great many internet commentors - and gamers, presumably - don't feel that a woman is qualified to judge what is and is not offensive or beyond the pale, and are being oversensitive and hysterical when we raise an example. It's sad to say, but the more male writers and gamers that object, the more weight the complaints seem to carry. If nothing else, this shows the lack of respect for women that the "so what? it's just a game!" faction seem to possess.
I'm reasonably certain that you've already seen it, but the following article is also worth mentioning: http://critdamage.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/quit-pretending-there-isnt-videogame.html
It's nice to feel that we're not the only ones that object to seeing women as victims of violent aggression.
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Interesting 24 Jun 2012 10:23
3/4
I would be over joyed if more white people objected to hearing some black rappers say the N-word, instead of finding out some by the music and rap it at home behind closed doors and when its overheard there return is and I quote "Well he says it in his songs so why can't I say it?!" I'm black myself and couldn't care less for saying the word or hearing it from anybody, I do wonder why its brought up in this article though as its kind of irrelevant to the point the article was making. It's a stupid word and there is no empowerment in saying it, only a sign that such a person would refer themselves to it is someone who enjoys being segregated and likes the attention it gives them. Its quite sad. It's like when unintelligent females call each other bitches and whores just because men decided one day it was an appropriate name for a women who didn't fancy him. We all know men are visual for just about everything so when a man decides putting a rape scene in a game where originally a strong women is the protagonist makes me question that, that man is feeding his own sad fantasy of 'okaying' trying to suppress a tough women in her own damn game, though she is a fictional character it seems a metaphor for his crushed ego. Someone should tell him a women can't emasculate a man, if he isn't tough or feel like he can't do what he want's its because he has chosen that life. A women can't make a man do something he doesn't want to do. Its a shame the creators of this new game could not think outside the female suppressing box, if they had they would have looked at Sarah Connor and Ripley for inspiration. Also comparing women to sandwiches? You may want to have a look at your own motives a little closer and make a conscious effort to not say things regarding your articles, just to say them. In no shape or form am I a feminist, I do beauty pageants 101 for not being a feminist. I just respect myself, and do any silly people out there who have never even been to a pageant its about female empowerment. Not to displease other women and certainly not to please men.
Sincerely,
I may not know what I want, but I certainly know what I don't want.
Sincerely,
I may not know what I want, but I certainly know what I don't want.
Interesting 24 Jun 2012 10:38
4/4
Ps: The Hitman thing unfortunately is just some guys sadistic dream of defiling a couple of nuns, trying to bring his and some other male weirdo's dreams to light only to then suppress them by showing you can then punch them in the face for being daring, and then have Hitman to then go off and look cool for doing it, I mean would any man who respects women do that or even show it to there kids? Many wonder why there sister's and mothers and daughters are then in and out of a relationship beaten to a pulp by an un respecting man? Much worse stay with that said offender because media (including GAMES and television) project that this retarded-ness is the norm. How very sad aye?