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.
