Mega Man has become a mega woman. Or something like that. Apparently for the first time ever, Mega Man ZX offers fans the chance to play as either a boy or a girl. I reviewed the game last week for the AV Club. And, big shock, I played through as Aile, the girl.
Funny thing is, I kept forgetting I was female. Except for a few scenes here or there, it makes almost no difference which character you pick. And it’s obvious that the conversation text written for Vent (your traditionally gendered Mega dude) wasn’t altered for Aile’s story.
Why should it be? Equality to the sexes, right? But the fact of the matter is, gender doesn’t just affect the way we speak, it affects the way we’re spoken to. For better or worse, we talk differently to women and to men–especially in the game world.
A female protagonist, strong though she may be, will be addressed in a markedly gendered way. She will be hit on, called “cute”, or told she’s much too weak–even if she then proceeds to show those stereotyping jerks who’s boss. But no one will ever say to a male character, “Ooh, a man. What are you going to do, shoot me with your gun? I’m so scared.”
October 5th, 2006 at 6:56 am
In the real world, sure - who says the rules have to be the same for a videogame?
October 5th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
I think videogames should make gender dynamics part of the play, rather than just topical lip service though an initial choice with no lasting repurcussions. Fallout 2 did this incredibly well, as you’d have a much harder time using sex appeal to get your way as a man, amoung lots of other subtle differences.
October 5th, 2006 at 7:06 pm
It’s worth noting that in the original Mega Man games, in Japan called Rockman, the hero had a female counterpart. The hero’s name was Rock, and her name was Roll. She wasn’t playable in any of the core games, and wasn’t even seen much in the games themselves, but she was a robot and presumably capable of kicking ass too… if she had undergone the fighting-robot conversions Dr. Light had made to Rock.
Of course really, robots are genderless, and any appearance one way or the other is obviously just a choice of the designer. That Rock got the conversion and Roll was left in her boring role as laboratory housekeeper proves that sexism dies hard, even when you’re an android designer.
October 6th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
I think Roll made an appearance later though, but they changed her to a robotic dog (I hope that wasn’t intential).
Although speaking of ‘toughness’ and men. In the game Tales of Symphonia the main character ‘Loyd’ is often told he isn’t strong enough or its implied he is weak. I don’t know how that ties in, just thought it was similar.
October 7th, 2006 at 1:12 am
Video Games still have a long way to go in terms of writing, yes. In all respects.
Remember, though, that in japanese, it’s much easier to make the transition from male to female speech, as there are specialised grammatical markers dedicated to differenciating both.
Comes with/contributes making their non-ontologic conception of identity, I’d say.
Now I’ll have to check the japanese version to see if they changed markers (in that case, it’s a problem of translation).
@Patrick: however much I liked the use they made of gender in Fallout 2 (in terms of game design), I always find it sad when women are being pushed in the social skill ghetto (to Interplay’s credit, they didn’t limit women, it just appeared as being their turf more than it was men’s).
October 7th, 2006 at 1:13 am
Also:
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/pantsu/these-games-have-underwear-205682.php
^_^”
October 7th, 2006 at 8:30 am
I’ve also been playing a lot of Okami recently, and there are some interesting gender dynamics going on there too. Amaterasu is female (”mother to us all”), but, like Aile, she more or less gets talked to like a male. The creative team admits that, while in Japanese folklore she’s definitely female, they tried to make her gender ambiguous for the game. Can we say “make sure the American boys can identify with our character”? Still, she rocks. I am curious if the same touch-ups were done in the Japanese release…
October 8th, 2006 at 5:23 pm
Did you guys play Doom 3? That game, like, ruled.
October 9th, 2006 at 5:42 am
Loved Okami, beautiful thing.
I remember being surprised at first by the ambiguity around Amaterasu’s gender. People keep switching social markers depending what they think they’re talking to, and quite often the avatar “dog” part is being addressed to in a way that feels male. I had a hard time figuring it, and it would take a pretty good translator to convey that well in english (would be easier in french, I guess, with all the gender markers we have, but most our video game translations are so bad it hurts anyway, so I don’t even hope they’ll be doing a good job out of it - can you believe I once spotted “Don’t you go dying on me” translated as “Ne vas pas mourrir sur moi”… yes, that bad).
October 10th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
. . . it's much easier to make the transition from male to female speech, as there are specialised grammatical markers dedicated to differenciating both.
I’m a little hazy on my Japanese, but it isn’t a gendered language per se - the way, say, French is - but there are certain idioms, words, etc. one is supposed to employ based on one’s gender. E.g., “boku” and “ore” are both first-person pronouns, but only boys are supposed to use them, IIRC; girls are expected to use “atashi” or “watashi,” presumably because they sound more feminine.
And if that’s what you were trying to point out, consider this a clarification. :-)
Can we say "make sure the American boys can identify with our character"?
Sure. What does picking a goddess outta Shinto mythology as their main character have to do with that? :-)
October 10th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
What does picking a goddess outta Shinto mythology as their main character have to do with that? :-)
Normally, the male gamer population gets fussy over playing as a female… unless it’s a sexualized female. So a female wolf? Sounds like it should cause trouble to me. But make her more gender ambiguous, and we have a more comfortable fit with the American audience.
October 11th, 2006 at 8:15 am
But make her more gender ambiguous, and we have a more comfortable fit with the American audience.
Yeeees, because American men are so much more comfortable with gender ambiguity in shape-shifting goddesses. Why, we take to it like they’re pretty-boy metrosexuals! ;-)
October 11th, 2006 at 9:31 pm
Normally, the male gamer population gets fussy over playing as a female"¦ unless it's a sexualized female. So a female wolf? Sounds like it should cause trouble to me. But make her more gender ambiguous, and we have a more comfortable fit with the American audience.
… a large portion of which will take one look at something like Okami, mutter “Gaaaaaaay,” and immediately move on to the nearest gun/penis game no matter WHAT gender the wolf is.
October 12th, 2006 at 10:55 am
Remember also there are markers (politeness suffixes among others), that mark the gender of the preson you’re talking to.
Let’s take a simple exemple: Ranma. The male version is addressed to as Ranma-kun, while the female version is addressed to as Ranma-chan or even just Ran-chan (the male part may suffer variation too, but nothing as cutesy inducing as that short/diminutive version).
Politeness markers used to talk to Amaterasu can vary a lot during the game. Made me feel a bit weird in the beginning.
Anyone else feeling sad about the news of Studio Clover’s dissolution ?
October 15th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
Politeness markers used to talk to Amaterasu can vary a lot during the game. Made me feel a bit weird in the beginning.
Did you play the Japanese import?
October 16th, 2006 at 10:16 am
Did you play the Japanese import?
Yup, as someone studying japanese, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
I’d advise doing it to anyone learning the language who can bear playing to a slower pace because of text deciphering (but then it was never a problem for me: that’s how I started learning english at age 6… because there was no adventure games in french…). ^_^”
Also, the pretty good use of wackified folklore injected throughout the story is just great. Clover’s take on the Taketori Monogatari just had me laughing like a child… the awesome use of character design to enhance story sure helped.