Media Coursework Report - Representation of women in video games

Explore the extent to which female representations subvert stereotypes in certain video games with particular reference to ‘The Walking Dead by Telltale Games’, ‘The Witcher 3’ and ‘Life is Strange’.

Ever since the first video game created in 1958 to video games in the modern world today have changed drastically whether it’s the storyline or even the characters to try and interest the public but has video games gone too far by creating false stereotypes that has become reality today.  It has been over 90 years since the first motion film produced without sound and throughout the decades it has drastically changed to make bigger profits to the audience whereas, video games have only been around for 60 years and is making 4x as much money as films created today. This can be seen in the article on 'The Guardian in 2008 "a British-produced game of GTA IV made over $310m which was more successful than the film Spider-Man 3". This can all be referenced by the video games; 'The Walking Dead by Telltale Games', 'Life is Strange' and 'The Witcher 3'.

Female representations can be subverted through the use of gender within the media such as video games, as the large majority of video games are developed by men. This can be shown in the book 'Thinking about video games, interviews with the experts' by David S. Heineman which stated "The vast majority of classic video games were designed by men, from a male perspective, primarily for male audiences" In 2015. This can affect the stereotypes in video games today as the creators/developers are being biased by their own gender which can make the stereotypes of women non-existent compared to the men.  This can be referenced within the game 'The Witcher 3' as the main character is a male figure who is meant to be strong and a hero within the game, the wife in the video game is sexualised which is suggested as a slut. This can express that the representation of females is meant to become attractive to the male figure to show happiness and achievement of a good long relationship.

In comparison, the use of gender within the video game 'Walking Dead by Telltale games' can show that the main character in season 1 shows a strong male criminal that looks after a mixed-race girl who becomes the protagonist of the game. This can subvert the normal stereotype as the two main characters are with a darker ethnicity which is different to other games and the girl in this situation is represented more as a loveable character whereas, the enemies are all white which subverts all types of stereotypes seen in the media today especially with female characters. This can be backed up, with the quote "They've mixed up gender stereotypes, played with power, tackled intolerance and diversity issues throughout" on the telegraph 10^th December 2012.

Another extent of a female representation that can be shown in 'The Witcher 3' where woman can be seen as damsels in distress. This can be highlighted at the beginning of the story as the main protagonist (Geralt), has to go and find Ciri who gets lost in the forest of Brokilon where she nearly dies. This type of stereotype is seen in many different types of games but it is very rare for the damsel in distress to be a male figure. This could be backed up from the quote "for much of the game he pursues lost loves both romantic and familial" on the telegraph 13^th may 2015. For example, another damsel in distress could be 'The Walking Dead', the main character is 'Clem' a young female figure who gets a distress signal from a young teenage boy in season one of the game, this boy is a from scouts and is meant to be able to look after himself but gets lost and has to be rescued. However, within the game the damsels in distresses are seen the other way around through the use of different stereotypes. This can be seen within the quote “For every character that initially conforms to a stereotype, there’s a moment where you think you’ve got them sussed” on The Telegraph 10^th December 2012.

Conventional stereotypes of independent girls can appear in both 'The Walking Dead: Season 2' and 'Life is Strange'. In 'The Walking Dead' the main protagonist is Clementine who is shown as a mature, kind and polite girl who is brave enough to survive in a zombie living world, similar to this stereotype is Maxine Caulfield who is the main protagonist that is quite ‘geeky’ and quiet within 'Life is Strange' but doesn't need any help from anyone else. This can be backed up by the videogames 'The Walking Dead by TellTale Games' - quote The Telegraph 2014 "when Clem must stand her ground she is not afraid to brain a zombie with a claw hammer or sink her teeth into the living". This can be shown within a key scene where Clementine shows independence when she takes the lead to go out and survive on her own looking after Alvin Jr who is a baby at the end of season 2. In comparison to this, 'Life is Strange' can also show a scene of dependence is when she finds her power to revert time to be able to change the future about a certain death. However, in the video game 'The Witcher 3' the stereotypes of woman are portrayed as people with rights or being able to be independent and more objects for the men after their battles at work. This can be seen in the introduction of the video game where Geralt (main protagonist) is at home with his wife Yennefer who being the centre of attention by being sexual with slow romantic non-diegetic music to him showing the different power levels between men & woman.

Within 'The Witcher 3' woman are displayed to have less-authority than men within this video game, this has been done to be able to emphasises how much power and dominance Gerald has within this franchise. It has made Gerald look muscular and tough so everyone will fear him when playing as him as the main character whereas, it has made all the other female figures such as Ciri look weak and humble. This can be shown in the opening scene of 'The Witcher 3' as Ciri is jumping around on ropes and becoming more flexible but when Gerald enters the scene she gets told off and has to do some studying rather than going out to battle. However, this is not shown in 'The Walking Dead' video game as everyone is seen equality, this is shown in season 2 where 'Clem' takes lead on the situation and has a big role in deciding what happens and where to go next. Finally, the video game 'Life is Strange' has broken this stereotype completely as it has subverted the stereotypes of females, this can be backed up through the article on 'The Gaudian "Games with female protagonists will not sell". This was stated to the creators/directors of the video games Life is Strange when they pitched it to major publishers to sell the game and it turns out that not only did it subvert the stereotypes of gender within the game but it also showed the media of how stereotypes can be subverted successfully through the use of authority and gender within their video game.

Overall the extent of female stereotypes subverted in certain video games has gone too far. However, these types of stereotypes gather the audience to want to play these games due to these stereotypes such as woman becoming objects so male players are able to enjoy the game or woman becoming damsel in distress characters, which can imply that the male figure is more dominant in the video games today. However, there is another idea that the female stereotypes are slowly dying in today's video games as most games now have each character male or female to be treated equal and that nobody has more power and dominance except the protagonist and the antagonist within the certain video game.