Famale Charchters in Videogames: The Opposite of "attractive" would it work?

[Bridge]

Because most people are blank templates that absorb culture like sponges. Anyway dude, I have to agree with Hirnwirbel on this one. A person like that would (no offense) be more of a nuisance to talk to than interesting. If you want to create a dramatic, profound game that tries to portray mental illness* and what it's like to have it/know people with it then go ahead, put that character in the game. But if it's just a "normal" game that has a conventional storyline you are not going to be able to casually put a character like that in there. Usually people with mental illnesses are only put into typical stories for comedic effect or for horror, and for good reason. People like that are difficult to deal with.

*Blanket term for simplicity's sake, I mean no offense

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how can it be a stereotype though when its based 100% on real people? you would be surprised how many aspergirls meet that description, just take 5 minuites on wrong planet. im confused how reality can be seen as a
sterotype?

Stereotypes often have a grounding in reality - that's how they come into existence. By taking the character traits of one "extreme" member of a group (women in this case) and assuming that all members of said group have them.

The main problem is, however, that it could be perceived the wrong way. If your character was a man who'd have the same character traits, it might be easier to get the actual point across - that is raising awareness for the dificulties people with aspergers have.
But unfortunately, many of those asperger and autism traits you mentioned are also associated with very negative and very old stereotypes about women (being insecure, easily frightened, dependend on other people, being very emotional and easily bursting into tears...). Therefore your original point could get lost, because people might misunderstand what you are trying to say by including that character.

Like I said, if you were to make it very clear that her characteristics do not stem from her being a woman but from something entirely different, it could work....but the risk of it being misunderstood is always there I guess.

[the dark side]

@ hirnwirbel hmm, interesting idea,. what if i give her a freind whos also in the typing pool who also has aspergers, who himself has a lover in a female feild operative, and the 2 aspie charachters are shown to have virtually identical charachter traits, despite there genders, with the main difference is the male on is into more boyish things such as steam trains and motorcars,. could that work?

indeed, the whole point is raising awareness of aspergers via the games media, as 1. gaming has a profound presence in many peoples lives and 2, you really would be suprised to find out how many people with strong aspergers traits are actually involved in making videogames! if people can see how horrible being an aspie can be, but also the stuff we can do, perhaps one or two people may become a teeeeeeny little bit more tolerant.

@bridge, no offense taken. yes, the is a pretty conventional "old skool" spy shooter in terms of its basic gameplay, with a few innovations and elements from other genres, but its storyline is far from conventional, being my own personal take on a british political "eurothriller" with no punches pulled in terms of its content, i show people as they really are, sterotypes stay at the door.

[Bridge]

hmm, interesting idea,. what if i give her a freind whos also in the typing pool who also has aspergers, who himself has a lover in a female feild operative, and the 2 aspie charachters are shown to have virtually identical charachter traits, despite there genders, with the main difference is the male on is into more boyish things such as steam trains and motorcars,. could that work?
indeed, the whole point is raising awareness of aspergers via the games media, as 1. gaming is the biggest media of them all, and 2, you really would be suprised to find out how many people with strong aspergers traits are actually involved in making videogames! if people can see how horrible being an aspie can be, but also the stuff we can do, perhaps one or two people may become a teeeeeeny little bit more tolerant.

A piece of advice: Most people do not like propaganda. If the only point of your game is to create awareness for Asperger's, think long and hard on whether it is worth making in the first place. Also, gaming is not the biggest medium at all. Far from it actually.

[the dark side]

no, no, the aspergers awareness is just an element i had, to try and do some good in the industry, and to put the 2 people who mean or have meant more to me than life itself, into the game.

The main point of the game is to bring back the "old skool" spy shooter gameplay style, upgraded with todays graphics, as i beleive it is a superior gameplay style to the more common MMS that has swamped todays industry, and to tell a intriquing eurothriller storyline inspired by the EU banking crises, british politics, and the dangers of holocaust denial. if there is any propoganda, its pretty much pro monarchist "go britian go", in a neat little inversion, i think, on the go USA go propoganda of the MMS genre that is so popular these days.

so, err, if gaming is the biggest media today, what is? gaming is certainly a big media in my life, its the only thing that keeps me sane some days!

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what if i give her a freind whos also in the typing pool who also has aspergers, who himself has a lover in a female feild operative, and the 2 aspie charachters are shown to have virtually identical charachter traits, despite there genders, with the main difference is the male on is into more boyish things such as steam trains and motorcars,. could that work?

Hm, yeah that could work much better, I guess. It would definitely make things more clear there.

I think in general you should also take this argument into account:

If you want to create a dramatic, profound game that tries to portray mental illness* and what it's like to have it/know people with it then go ahead, put that character in the game. But if it's just a "normal" game that has a conventional storyline you are not going to be able to casually put a character like that in there.

The thing is, you have to be sure to set the right tone for the game. If people do not expect the game to tackle such issues from reality in a serious manner, they may have trouble understanding those characters.

Most people are used to game characters being kinda "standardized" (heterosexual, no mental illnesses, no major disabilities...) - I mean, that's why you are trying to raise awareness in the first place, right? So you have to make sure they are prepared for those kinds of things.
If they simply expect a nice retro-shooter, they might be confused if the game suddenly starts tackling such issues. I mean even the old games with a good story like Deus Ex never talked about those kinds of things - while being somehow related to real life problems, they always stayed on a somewhat "abstract" level, like propaganda, plagues, class wars... they rarely went for such personal issues is what I'm saying.

Of course the most elegant thing would be to just have the characters in there without any further comment - to emphasize how it's not unusual to meet such people in real life. (Kinda like putting homosexual characters or the like in a game without that being their sole defining trait) But I'm afraid it might not work that easily because not everyone would "get" it... but then again, shoving the issue into the player's face might indeed feel too "propaganda-ish". It's a difficult thing.

so, err, if gaming is the biggest media today, what is? gaming is certainly a big media in my life, its the only thing that keeps me sane some days!

Yeah, you maybe But in general I'd say television still takes the spot of being the biggest media influence for most people.

[the dark side]

hey hirnwirbel, and thanks

good point, i will have to work on the tone, ill get to cracking on that, it is a little bit on the "nice retro shooter" line at the moment, ill have to work on preparing the player for the fact the game does tackle some strong issues.

exactly, that is indeed why i am trying to raise awareness, life isnt like that, there is No such thing as normal! all normal is, is a rule of thumb created by the majority to give them a world they can cope with, trust me, if it was the other way round, and it was the NT people in the minority, it would be them who would be considered "odd" and hated on and teased by people who couldnt cope with there abnormal behavior.

i know, even deus ex had its limits, wich left me thinkin "they could have gone a bit futher!", i think it has something to do with the fact many games are created by neurologically typical people, who follow the limits of "normal society" one of wich is "dont make people think too much". i dont have the luxury of being NT, i see the whole world as an envelope that needs to be busted open, so i take my storylines were i feel they need to go. even if that would be very uncomfortable for an NT person playing, to me, they need to see the real world, not some sanitised hollywood version of it, in the media, as it will help them grow as people.

its certainly not unusual to meet people with learning difficulties in the work place, especially in the united kingdom, were you have to hire so many workers with learning difficulties, by law, even the ministry of defence has to hire people with mental and physical disabilities as "secretarial pool" staff. and indeed, that needs to be shown, there is no such thing as normal.

i think this standardisation actually comes from old novels and films as there writers often created charachters on a basis of people with mental issues or physical deformaties, were the ultimate in evil, and i think, due to the massive popularity of these novels and films in the past, may have lead to those attitudes on people with mental and physical issues entering the western cultural subconcious, so the media avoids creating those charachters now, unless to give people something to laugh at, as the cultural subconcious tells us that they have to be evil, or someone for them to bully, because the media thinks the mind of the average iq, "just want a laugh" everyman wont be able to cope with them being portrayed as a sensative and serious charachter. wrong, of course it can, it just needs to be given the chance to try, so long as its prepared for it, it should be able to cope, its only the "dudebro", hyper agression ""xboxlive deffmatch" market that wont be able to cope i think, but, i can't see them buying this game anyway as it isnt on the games consoles, doesn't have one of 3 golden FPS franchise names on it, and would be "too hard" due to its health system in their opinion. (it is totally medikit based, no automatic regeneration in the slightest, sure, to balance it the main player charachter can take about 40 ak rounds before dying as opposed to the 2 of a regeneration charachter, but, its still a lot harder than a modern health system, as you actively need to seek out medkits)

i never do normal charachters, as i said, even my main player charachter needs glasses as he is a little bit short sighted (they also mount the HUD, giving them a gameplay purpose as well) and has a crooked nose, owing to it getting busted in a punch up from before he joined her majesties security forces.

normal charachters are boring, they are like beige formica, they are simply so common that they are not only disinteresting, they tend to just fade into the backgroud, invisible, how is anyone supposed to write a great story about Beige?

[Juby]

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