Alternative sexualities never get much on-screen time in “normal,” mainstream video games. Sure, in the Sims you can encourage your electronic creations to be gay, and some RPG characters – in the grand yaoi tradition – certainly confuse our perceptions of gender, but for the most part us lovers of kink have to stretch our imaginations big time to find potential in-game representatives (“Did you catch Link in that little tunic? Man, I bet he likes it rough”). Which is why it amazes me that, to the best of my knowledge, no one really talks about Voldo.
Not that his blatant sub-ness is anything new, but with a Soul Calibur 3 on the horizon the question pops up once again: just how much of Voldo’s puddy-gray ass will be seeing? In the first Soul Calibur, this major masochist’s costume went all out: straps across the eyes, and do I recall a ball gag? The second title offered a more kiddy-friendly (Children like S&M, right?) Voldo, one with fewer bondage-related accessories and more decadent pink velvet. And the third time around, who knows; he might end up frickin’ Mickey Mouse. However you dress him up, you can’t deny it: Voldo is one big submissive. He hisses, he squirms, and he likes pain.
Plus, he’s damn frightening. It took me a long time to get anywhere in Soul Calibur, because whenever the game would pit me against Voldo, I’d run screaming from the room like a, well, girl. Eventually, I learned if I could keep down my lunch long enough to play as him, I’d kick the crap out of other terrified gamers. Bottom line: he’s strong, he’s fast, and he’s creepy. An excellent role model for the sub gamer in us all.
Of course, Ivy is there too, the stereotypical, whip-cracking dom. She’s pretty good in a fight, but as a character she’s mostly comical – stuck somewhere in between a male gamer’s wet dream of a dominatrix and a pirate with poor fashion sense. Besides, she seems a lot more human than Voldo (literally and figuratively). For us, as a gaming community and a larger American culture, she’s really not so strange. And she’s not scary.
Which is all to say, exploration should be done into why we’re more frightened by a submissive than a dominant – why, in the case of Voldo, the rearrangement of normal gender roles is terrifying, whereas, in the case of Ivy, it’s just silly. Maybe, as a sub, I have a soft spot for anyone who can kick ass wearing leather straps. But there’s definitely seems to be more going on here than well-toned, exposed monster ass.
Bonnie Ruberg is a sex, technology, and video games journalist who contributes regularly to publications like The Economist, Forbes, and The Village Voice. By day she's also a comparative literature PhD student at UC Berkeley, where she studies French, English, gender, sexuality, surrealism and perversion. You can reach her at [her first name and last name, all one big word] AT gmail DOT com.
September 6th, 2005 at 11:36 am
While you’re on the topic of Voldo, if you haven’t seen this video, it’s worth a look:
http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/17611/
September 6th, 2005 at 5:15 pm
That’s beyond amazing. Thanks for the link!
September 6th, 2005 at 7:23 pm
I think the role of Ivy was to fight with her father, Cervantes ;-)
But the game missed out an opportunity…Even customized starting taunts(in soul calibre style, where they can combine to be clean taunts, or dirty innuendo) could have captured an audience.
I do enjoy SC’s cosplay, however…
…A catboy that dripped bishi would’ve been nice, though.
September 6th, 2005 at 10:12 pm
We’re venturing into the thin ice area of BDSM interaction with video games over at Slashdong, and presenting it with some articles on ethics. It’s tough stuff to deal with.
September 6th, 2005 at 11:09 pm
I don’t have my ps2 at hand right now to check, but IIRC in Namco’s Killer7, the player “assistant” sports ballgag, hood, collar…
September 7th, 2005 at 9:27 am
qDot – I’ll head over there right now and check that out. I love all the work that you guys do, and I’m hoping to write more myself on the topic some time in the future. Andrea – thanks for pointing that out. I, sadly, don’t yet own Killer7, but this might be enough to push me over the edge :-).
September 7th, 2005 at 9:30 am
Sorry, that was me a moment ago, on a borrowed computer. qDot – have you guys posted anything on the subject up at Slashdong yet, or is it just something fun to look forward to…? Couldn’t find anything on the site at the moment, but I may well be blind.
September 8th, 2005 at 9:58 am
Nope, we don’t have anything up as of yet, I’ve been busy working on bringing up a couple of new sites so slashdong is on haitus until this weekend at least (hence the filler posts I made yesterday :) ). Not to mention, I’ve gotta retool one of the articles I wrote ’cause I kinda threw ethics out the window on it and it ended up making me look like a sick, deranged bastard (laziness will do that :) ), and one wrong step on BDSM stuff gets you both blackballed from the community and hounded by all the wrong press. :)
September 8th, 2005 at 10:22 am
True, true. Well, let me know when someting goes up – I’d love to read it!