Can the sexism in these types of games stop?

[Streetboat]

There's always someone...


Look, the game is the way it is and complaining on the forums won't get a goddamn thing done about it. I find it quite irritating that they spend countless hours creating a product that, frankly, was a risky step forward in the horror genre due to its bare-bones gameplay, smaller emphasis on monster chases, and greater presence of subtle clue-based storytelling, all wrapped up in a neat little $15 package for you to enjoy, and you find a reason as outlandish as this to complain? The protagonist isn't the right gender for you? What, like that has any effect whatsoever on the narrative? The game is set in 1899, and things were sexist back then. Women couldn't even vote. They were simply not a big part of the industrial movement, and the industrial movement is central to this game.

I do not believe the gender should have changed, because it would be unlikely for a woman to have built her own empire of butcher's machinery, simply due to a lack of rights and respect. I know you say 'pigmen didn't exist back then either, so why not?' and I'll tell you why. There's a difference in fiction between basing it in reality, and creating your own reality. I believe the stronger fictional story would be one that is grounded in reality, but has fantasy/fictional elements in it. They aren't actually real, but they feasibly could be.

I'm not saying women are weak, blah blah blah, I just think that it's such an incredibly small and minute thing to be complaining about that you should honestly just not be so vocal about it and simply be happy for what you do have. There are plenty of games/movies with strong female protagonists, why do you have to complain about this one? Were you expecting something else?

[Tesseract]

I grew up playing survival horror games, and the ones I grew up on were pretty fair to both sexes - male and female.

Silent Hill 3 had a female protagonist, sadly, the only one in the series.
Resident Evil was the most fair, the first three games having equal opportunity of playing as either a man or female (and both).
There were others like Clock Tower, and Fatal Frame... but over the last decade there hasn't been much fairness to females in gaming.

Now, I am a big fan of the Penumbra games, and the first Amnesia game. Not a big fan of AMFP, but can't the developers please just make ONE full-length game where the entire game has a female protagonist? Justine does not even count because that was one level and extremely short. And I do feel like they did it so people would not call the developer "sexist".

Why aren't developers producing at least one full length game with a female protagonist?

Are they afraid of being labelled "ghey" or not masculine?

I really want to know.

All these games revolve around "daddy" this or "daddy" that, or my father died and I need to search for him... I don't like it and its exhibiting some serious mother issues. To me it's becoming apparent that most developers today are exhibiting serious mysogyny.

Please don't call me a feminist because I think most if all of you know that there are no games produced in the last few years with a female protagonist.

Name one full-length first-person horror game with a female protagonist?

None.

And ones that are not horror, lets see: Tomb Raider, Bayonetta, Lollipop Chainsaw... and 99 of the other titles have male protagonists.

Are you a troll or a you serious? You seem like one of those crazy Anita Sarkeesian fans who incorrectly use the word 'misogyny' which you just did. Not only that but it's always the same thing 'name a game that has a female protagonist' (in your case a horror title this time.) I highly doubt the females who play this game could care less what sex the protagonist is.

Where exactly is this subliminal message promoting hatred towards women in this game? Other than that who cares whether the protagonist is male or female? I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill.

Even though I am male I played as a female in Borderlands 2 (the mechromancer,) yeah BL isn't a horror game but my point is, is that the gender of the protagonist shouldn't matter.

[Kreekakon]

Personally I don't really think it matters. Same goes to whatever race, religion, or whatever beliefs the main character has. Just make what what suits the story. It's not discrimination. It's just doing what's best suited for the story.

I wouldn't enjoy games any more, or less depending on the protagonists gender. What would bother me is if it was changed just to appeal to people, and had no business being that way in the story.

[Babomancer]

It's not dumb at all... there is just a bunch angry men coming at me because they don't want a full-length survival horror game with a female protagonist.

I guarantee if Frictional Games made the next game with a female protagonist you would be pretty pissed.

I don't understand where you are getting this. I don't care who the lead character is, if it's a great game I'll be happy. If the lead character is female and it's also a great game, all the better. What's the big deal?

Can a female please state her opinion on this?

Like Jens said, their team is all male, writing what they know. Similarly, the vast majority of the industry is populated by males, and likewise for the consumer base. As the saying goes, you write what you know, hence the disproportionate number of male-dominated games vs female-dominated games. If you don't like it, then work on female-centric games yourself and get others to do so as well.

And there are a lot of people that think the way I do. A lot of people would love a new female protagonist in a survival horror game.

No, most people are reasonable and don't expect every game designer out there to be freaking Joss Whedon.

I am just suggesting something, like any fan would do for a game in development.

The game is not in development. It was released yesterday.

By the way, there was an incredible AAA survival horror game with a female lead that came out about 10 years ago. Eternal Darkness, maybe you've heard of it? More likely you were too busy hating on men to notice.

[ruzen]

Hes just trolling guys. BTW Justine has woman char.

[Mervin]

[Adrianis]

I totally agree with the sentiment of what you're saying Tombcool but it's completely misplaced. If a writer wants to create a relatable and convincing fictional character they need to draw on personal experience to do that, if they are male therefore it becomes very difficult to create a convincing female character. I don't think I could create a Mother or Daughter character, because I don't understand completely the motivations of those roles, so any attempt would be disingenuous and insultingly shallow and neither male or female player would find the character relatable.

Likewise the setting is totally relevant, if for their story Chinese Room decided the main character should be the wealthy industrialist in turn-of-the-century London, then yeh it had to be a male character - saying 'its fiction so you can do what you like' is pointless, a big part of horror is creating a believable situation that the player can relate to as real, that is what makes the un-real parts that much more disturbing

Instead of attacking male developers for not creating female characters, you need to be promoting female developers, that's the only way we are going to get more interesting, well-thought out and relatable female protagonists in games.

[felixmole]

Are they afraid of being labelled "ghey" or not masculine?

I really want to know.

All these games revolve around "daddy" this or "daddy" that, or my father died and I need to search for him... I don't like it and its exhibiting some serious mother issues. To me it's becoming apparent that most developers today are exhibiting serious mysogyny.

I think a male protagonist fits better in this historical context.

However you are partly right in the statement I quoted - I just don't think it's the case here. The misogyny IS predominant in the video game world, as much for the users (who may react differently as they see a woman in online game, most often for the worse) as for the developers (who most of the time choose to show off women that will supposedly attrack young males).

[Babomancer]

I'm reading this thread from the steam overlay while I play the game. Makes for great dramatic tension.

[Kreekakon]

I deleted the posts regarding that little spin of drama earlier. I'll leave this thread open for now to see if we can try, and get some legitimate opinions on the matter in here.