Posted October 08, 2014
htown1980: I think I kind of agree. There are two issues:
1. Whether the trope exists; and
2. Whether there is something bad about it.
I think people often conflate the two issues by arguing that because they think there is nothing bad about it, the trope does not exist.
I think the trope exists. I don't think there is necessarily something inherently terrible about the trope.
I think it's less that they think that the trope doesn't exist, and it's that they view it in the way they view reality and other people. We're aware that other people are there, we just don't turn our focus to them. It's more of a case of being blind to the trope because their brains react to it in a natural way. 1. Whether the trope exists; and
2. Whether there is something bad about it.
I think people often conflate the two issues by arguing that because they think there is nothing bad about it, the trope does not exist.
I think the trope exists. I don't think there is necessarily something inherently terrible about the trope.
htown1980: I also think I agree. I think women as a background decoration is a trope used in some games. Its not used in all games, and its not necessarily bad. I also think men are used as background decoration in many games (Blackthorne immediately springs to mind).
OK, I hesitate for a very long time to call anyone in the circumstance 'decoration'. They're background characters, they live out their own lives independent of the story that's going on around them. It's not a bad thing, and it's certainly not a sexist thing, it's something that happens in real life outside of fiction even when we simply hang out with friends and loved ones. htown1980: I agree. I don't think its necessarily bad.
I don't think any of the tropes that Anita points out are necessarily bad (although in some situations they may be), but that doesn't mean they don't exist.
For me mainly, the tropes are just a good way of explaining how some games are just super boring (like console games in the 80s when you were constantly rescuing some chick). I think the background decoration trope is really just another example of that. I don't want to be a guy in every game I am playing and for the chicks in the game to just be in the background. I don't think that happens.
I don't think I can even name a person that wouldn't want to see more female characters, and more interesting female characters. I think the concern that people have is that people are treating the games industry like they treat movies and TV, where you have to forcibly change male characters to token females due to the lack of room for new programs and movies. I don't think any of the tropes that Anita points out are necessarily bad (although in some situations they may be), but that doesn't mean they don't exist.
For me mainly, the tropes are just a good way of explaining how some games are just super boring (like console games in the 80s when you were constantly rescuing some chick). I think the background decoration trope is really just another example of that. I don't want to be a guy in every game I am playing and for the chicks in the game to just be in the background. I don't think that happens.
I'm all for new games, even ones based on the style of old franchises with female characters, I just want to see new franchises, I want to see new ideas, I want to see something more then 'Roll, Dr. Wily has kidnapped Megaman, we need you to go rescue him with a new upgrade.'
Post edited October 08, 2014 by TwilightBard