Final Reflection

Throughout the semester, I found our unit on the portrayal of race and gender in videogames to be one of the most interesting topics we covered. In my previous exposure to videogames, I have always been more of a passive … Continue reading

Throughout the semester, I found our unit on the portrayal of race and gender in videogames to be one of the most interesting topics we covered. In my previous exposure to videogames, I have always been more of a passive absorber of subliminal messages. I was never really aware of the problems with the decisions programmers make about race and gender until experiencing this unit. As such, many of my posts critiqued the portrayal of gender in the videogames I played, and I was extremely happy to see posts that did the same, or critiqued the portrayal of race in videogames.

I noticed that the majority of the games critiqued for their portrayals of race or gender by our class were big-budget, console games. Chris, points out the sexist lack of agency in the female characters of Skyrim, while Desmond points out the villainous and weak portrayal of Arab soldiers in Metal Gear Solid V. Sam critiques Grand Theft Auto for including the mechanic of easily obtaining a prostitute and sleeping with her, sexualizing the few female characters in an extremely successful game franchise.

I think that Sam really highlights the main question that everyone should be asking of the decision to sexualize females, give them no agency, or to portray race in certain ways: why include the mechanic? In a videogame the creators must code everything that happens, so no decision is made “just for the heck of it.” Even a game that attempts to break stereotypes like Paul claims The Walking Dead does still fall into racist assumptions.

I think that it is extremely important to engage with videogames so that we can learn the effects they have on society. Players must take note of the underlying assumptions found in games, so that they can then take note of the underlying sexist and racist assumptions that permeate our society. As Violet points out in her post, the assumption that only white, heterosexual males can make believably strong characters simply illustrates that society only values white heterosexual men.

The more people that notice this problem, the greater the chance will be that differences can be made. With my final project, I was inspired to make a game that works against these tropes thanks to my eyes being opened to them. As we teach people to draw attention to problems, we increase the chance that people will work to solve these problems. If we have more people inspired to engage with—and even make games that subvert—painful assumptions in videogames, we begin a path that can lead to society correcting these assumptions.

 

The Growth of Female Sci-Fi Characters, as Seen in Broken Age

In, “No Business in Space? The Female Presence in Series Science Fiction for Children,” Karen Sands details the history of female characters in the science fiction genre from the 1940s to the mid-1990s. Though a bit dated now, the article … Continue reading

In, “No Business in Space? The Female Presence in Series Science Fiction for Children,” Karen Sands details the history of female characters in the science fiction genre from the 1940s to the mid-1990s. Though a bit dated now, the article serves as a great comparison for how far female characters have come in children’s science fiction stories in recent years. While the article focuses on literary female characters in the science fiction, I chose to use the article for insight on the female protagonist in the videogame Broken Age, which was released in 2014.

At its heart, Broken Age is a science fiction game. Broken Age tells the story of two teenage protagonists, a male named Shay and a female named Vella. While Vella’s narrative begins in a traditional fantasy world, Shay’s narrative is firmly rooted in science fiction, taking place in a spaceship as Shay is on a mission to help his home planet of Loruna. The two narratives seem to have no relation, as the player progresses through the game, Vella and Shay’s paths cross and Vella take up residence in the science fiction world. As such, Vella can be used to illustrate how improved the female character is in the science fiction genre.

Vella, seen here, is the female protagonist of Broken Age

Though Sanders mentions that females were beginning to receive better roles at the time of her publication (1997), she outlines two major problems associated with female science fiction characters. First, female characters in science fiction stories are always characterized by their communication skills (Sanders 22). Regardless of their intellect (as female super geniuses and ordinary girls were common tropes at this time), female characters were always highlighted for their ability to communicate than their male counterparts who had more central roles and solved problems with their intellect, ingenuity, or physical skills (Sanders 17). Sanders explains this trope by saying that females, “solve mysteries (without using scientific knowledge),” by helping “to bring people together through their power to communicate” (19). Secondly, Sanders discusses the problem of female character rarely having, “the opportunity to work alone to show off their capabilities; girls and women are still under the direction of men and boys” (22).

Fortunately for Broken Age, Vella’s storyline actively works against these tropes. Vella’s communication skills are not highlighted as her strongest asset. In fact, Vella is a poor communicator, as seen by the way Vella is unable to effectively convince anyone of the problems with the Maiden’s Feasts and the mogs. Vella never solves a problem through communication; Vella actively chooses which object in the environment and in her ability to solve any predicament she is faced with. Similarly, Vella always solves problems on her own. There is no male character to claim Vella’s success, or to give her orders. Thus, Vella does have the opportunity to work alone and proves the worth of female characters, even in a science fiction setting. A stark contrast to the characterizations Sands describes, Broken Age shows just how far female science fiction characters have come.

Even when she enters an unusual science fiction world, Vella is the one who solves her own problems

Works Cited

Sands, Karen. “No Business in Space? the Female Presence in Series Science Fiction for Children.” Foundation 0 (1997): 15-24. ProQuest. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.

Image Sources

  1. https://www.cosplay-it.com/en/cosplay/10332/vella-broken-age
  2. http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPad/Broken+Age/feature.asp?c=65109

Classifying the Pointing of Broken Age

During my playing of Broken Age, I was interested in the way that the game’s format as a point-and-click game affected the game itself. As a point-and-click adventure game, Broken Age requires the player to use the computer mouse to interact … Continue reading

During my playing of Broken Age, I was interested in the way that the game’s format as a point-and-click game affected the game itself. As a point-and-click adventure game, Broken Age requires the player to use the computer mouse to interact with the world. I found this method of playing to provide a new element to the game itself, slightly altering the games classification when using Roger Caillois’ four classifications.

Using Roger Caillois’ classifications of games from his work, “The Classification of Games,” I noticed that Broken Age is clearly an agôn game. According to Caillois, agôn games are competitive games in which the player seeks to prove their superiority, be it superiority of speed, endurance, strength, memory, skill, or ingenuity (131). In Broken Age, the player seeks to prove their superior mind by solving the puzzles presented to them while progressing through Shay and Vella’s narratives. Solving the puzzles require the player to obtain objects and talk to various characters, all by clicking on them.

Broken Age does provide clues as to what objects to interact with and what non-player characters to talk to in order to gain the skills or objects needed to solve the current problem or puzzle. Through conversations with the non-player characters, Shay or Vella, and by extension the player, can hear helpful hints as to what type of objects they should be trying to find. While sometimes this is enough to aid the player, the game adds another layer of help.

This image show the gameplay of Broken Age. In this screenshot, Vella is attempting to obtain that golden egg, and must use the ladder she previously obtained that is in her inventory at the bottom of the screen.

As a point-and-click game, the cursor is an extremely important part of Broken Age as it leads to the completion of all the game’s actions. Typically the cursor looks like a normal mouse arrow. However, when the player hovers the cursor over an object that can be interacted with, the cursor changes into a starburst-type shape, cluing the player in to the fact that the object or character can be interacted with.

This image showcases the described cursor change in Broken Age. In the bottom left of the screen, the cursor can be seen in its starburst form, showcasing the ability of the covered dish to be interacted with.

This cursor changes provides the game with another of Caillois’ classifications: alea. According to Caillois, alea games are all about luck and chance, “winning is the result of fate rather than triumphing over an adversary” (133). Thanks to the ability of the cursor to change and clue the player in to what objects are interactive, the player can simply wave the cursor around until they see the cursor change into the necessary starburst. This alters Broken Age from an agôn game that requires skill to pass through the puzzles to an alea game that affords the player the opportunity to wildly wave their cursor around until a solution appears, all as a result of the game’s format.

Works Cited

Caillois, Roger. “The Classification of Games.” The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology. Ed. Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2006. 129-47. Print.

Image Sources

  1. https://portforward.com/games/walkthroughs/Broken-Age-Act1/Broken-Age-Act1-73.htm
  2. http://www.gamezebo.com/2014/01/28/broken-age-act-1-walkthrough-cheats-strategy-guide/

Damsel in Distress

Attached to this post is the link to my final project. I created a word-based game on Twine with Chris Cardwell called Damsel in Distress. The game was inspired by Anita Sarkeesian’s Feminist Frequency videos, specifically her “Tropes vs. Women in … Continue reading

Attached to this post is the link to my final project. I created a word-based game on Twine with Chris Cardwell called Damsel in Distress.

The game was inspired by Anita Sarkeesian’s Feminist Frequency videos, specifically her “Tropes vs. Women in Video Games” series.

Damsel in Distress

Perception Is Not Reality in Broken Age

In Broken Age, an indie point-and-click videogame developed and published by Double Fine Productions, the player plays as two teenage characters, a girl named Vella and a boy named Shay. While both stories eventually intertwine, each has a different starting … Continue reading

In Broken Age, an indie point-and-click videogame developed and published by Double Fine Productions, the player plays as two teenage characters, a girl named Vella and a boy named Shay. While both stories eventually intertwine, each has a different starting point and follows a different narrative path. Both stories, however, have a similar theme unifying them before the stories intersect: perception is not always reality.

This screenshot shows the opening of Broken Age, where the player can choose to play as either Vella (left) or Shay (right), though the player must play as both to complete the game

This screenshot shows the opening of Broken Age, where the player can choose to play as either Vella (left) or Shay (right), though the player must play as both to complete the game

Vella’s story begins in her hometown of Sugar Bunting. Sugar Bunting is a town in a large area of land terrorized by creatures known as mogs. Every 14 years a mog visits these lands during an event known as the Maiden’s Feast. Each town selects various young girls for the privilege of being maidens in the feast—sacrificial lambs who satiate the mog’s hunger in exchange for the mogs not destroying their village.

Sugar Bunting's Maiden's Feast is shown here, with each of the 5 girls awaiting the mog's arrival

Sugar Bunting’s Maiden’s Feast is shown here, with each of the 5 girls awaiting the mog’s arrival

While everyone believes the mogs’ visits are great blessings and being selected as a maiden is a great privilege, when Vella is selected, she sees it as the opposite. Vella sees the mogs as dangerous enemies who should be fought against rather than creatures to be appeased. Through the player (and Vella’s) actions, Vella eventually escapes the Maiden’s Feast and begins her quest to kill the mogs.

In this quest, Vella eventually learns that the mogs aren’t creatures but “spaceships” piloted by citizens of a planet known as Loruna, like Shay. Shay was under the assumption that he was the sole human inhabitant of his ship the Bossa Nostra. Shay believes his only companions are two computers programmed to believe they are his mother and father. Though, his parents keep him occupied with repetitive fake missions involving robotic friends, Shay eventually meets a stowaway named Merrick, who offers to let him take control of the ship and undertake “real,” threatening missions to rescue innocent creatures from dangerous forces.

Once his path crosses with Vella’s, Shay eventually learns that the helpless creatures he has been saving are the maidens from the various Maiden’s Feasts. He also realizes that his computerized parents are humans who have been so occupied keeping him and the ship safe that they could only appear to him through computer projections. Finally, Shay realizes that he has not been in space at all, but on the planet containing Vella’s town of Sugar Bunting.

As Shay and Vella continue to solve the mysteries and search for answers regarding their strange predicaments, they encounter even more situations containing falsehoods. Throughout the game it is apparent that not everything is as it seems, reinforcing the player’s take-away that perception is not always reality.

Image Sources:

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_Age
  2. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.doublefine.dfa

Pokémon as a Form of Conservation

The Pokémon franchise is well known for its cast of colorful cartoon animals. Children of all ages easily come to love these creatures and do all that they can to raise them, but does this love of fictional animals translate … Continue reading

The Pokémon franchise is well known for its cast of colorful cartoon animals. Children of all ages easily come to love these creatures and do all that they can to raise them, but does this love of fictional animals translate into a love of real animals? Four professors at Cambridge seem to believe that it does not, but that it could. In their article, “Why Conservationists Should Heed Pokémon,” Andrew Balmford, Lizzie Clegg, Tim Coulson, and Jennie Taylor detail how they came to this conclusion.

Many Pokémon resemble flora and fauna from our world, so does this foster a protective instinct?

Many Pokémon resemble flora and fauna from our world, so does this foster a protective instinct?

In the article, the researchers discuss an experiment they conducted which determined a child’s ability to recall the names of a random selection of local wildlife and a random selection of Pokémon (Balmford et. al. 2367). Unsurprisingly—depending on your Pokémon fan status—the children were much more able to recall the names of the Pokémon than they were able to recall the names of the local wildlife (Balmford et. al. 2367). The researchers cite this result as proof that kids can get excited about wildlife and conservation when they are interested in the subject (Balmford et. al. 2367).

While I believe the researchers are making an interesting point, I am having some trouble with their tangential association of conservation to Pokémon. In my opinion, the researchers only focused on Pokémon as an example of a way that conservationists could go about improving interest in conservation. However, when I played Pokémon X, I found the game to contain an extremely conservationist message. Throughout the game, the player encounters numerous characters that encourage the player to develop a strong, loving relationship with their Pokémon. In the Pokémon world, the Pokémon are wild animals, so the game is therefore advocating that the player develop a relationship with wild animals outside of the game’s magic circle.

Pokémon X’s conservationist message can also be seen through the game’s villains: Team Flare. Team Flare seeks to make the world a “more beautiful place.” Though they aim to achieve this goal by eliminating Pokémon and conflict by enslaving the population, their message is still rather conservationist. In defeating the villains, the player enables all of the wild Pokémon to continue living a peaceful life, thereby preventing a mass extinction event—another conservationist cause.

Team Flare seeks to make the world a better place, some of their goals include maintaining energy consumption at conservable levels.

Team Flare seeks to make the world a better place, some of their goals include maintaining energy consumption at conservable levels.

These are just some of the many examples of the conservationist messages scattered throughout Pokémon X. I fully believe that these researchers missed the mark in their article. Rather than focusing on the things conservationists do wrong, they should have focused on the things Pokémon X and the Pokémon franchise do to further the conservationist cause.

 

Works Cited:

Balmford, Andrew; Clegg, Lizzie; Coulson, Tim; & Taylor, Jennie. “Why Conservationists Should Heed Pokémon.” Science, vol. 295, no. 5564, 2002, pp. 2367–2367.

Image Sources:

  1. https://www.pinterest.com/Lizzykatt77/pokemon/
  2. http://pokedream.com/games/pokemon-xy/14-anistar.php

 

The Casually Hardcore Pokémon X

In my opinion, the Pokémon series was always a game series for hardcore gamers. With type advantages, and the stats of various Pokémon to memorize and manipulate, it always seemed daunting to take my experience as a casual gamer into … Continue reading

In my opinion, the Pokémon series was always a game series for hardcore gamers. With type advantages, and the stats of various Pokémon to memorize and manipulate, it always seemed daunting to take my experience as a casual gamer into the Pokémon world. However, when comparing my experience playing Pokémon X to the characteristics of casual games found in Jesper Juul’s, “What is Casual,” I found it extremely difficult to clearly classify Pokémon X as a casual or hardcore game.

The first characteristic of a casual game is fiction. The cover of Pokémon X immediately clues the player into the game’s fictional setting. Taking place in a world populated by colorful cartoonish animals known as Pokémon, the game quite obviously satisfies this requirement.

The cover to Pokémon X's box shows the positive fiction used in the game by highlighting one of the cartoonish and colorful Pokémon found in the game

The cover to Pokémon X’s box shows the positive fiction used in the game by highlighting one of the cartoonish and colorful Pokémon found in the game

It should be noted however, that Pokémon X contains some fictions more closely associated with hardcore videogames. Throughout the game, the player must battle the villainous Team Flare, a group of thugs who commit various crimes in an attempt to take over the world. This effort culminates in the activation of an “ultimate weapon” which has the power to kill all the Pokémon in the world (see video below). The inherent dangers of these plot points and setting provide an experience more characteristic of a hardcore game rather than a casual game.

Like the blurred aspects of Pokémon X’s fiction, the usability of the game also does not clearly classify it as a casual or hardcore game. The majority of Pokémon X’s controls are easy to use and understand. To move the protagonist, the player pushes the arrows of the control pad and there is a button for performing actions and another for canceling actions. However, Pokémon X also relies on a turn-based combat system that could be confusing to novice players. The turn-based combat relies more on the manipulation of stats (as the fastest Pokémon attacks first) and the player’s careful planning rather than a free-for-all combat system which allows the player to simply push buttons until their opponent is subdued.

The Pokémon series has many long-term fans, yet still attracts new players. The inability of Pokémon X to be clearly classified as a casual or hardcore game could explain the universal appeal of these games. Even if we take into account Juul’s remaining three aspects of casual games, the classification is still foggy as some aspects (interruptibility) push the game towards becoming a casual game, while others (difficulty/punishment and juiciness) are more reminiscent of hardcore games. These blurred lines suggest that Pokémon X is a much more complex game than it might appear, or that Juul’s classifications are not as clear and universal as they seem.

Works Cited:

Juul, Jesper. “What Is Casual.” A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and Their Players. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2010. 25-63. Print.

Image Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_X_and_Y

The Shackles of Pokémon X

The Pokémon game series is one of the most popular and successful handheld game franchises in modern history. The formula of each game is similar—players take control of a young adventurer who seeks to raise a strong team of Pokémon … Continue reading

The Pokémon game series is one of the most popular and successful handheld game franchises in modern history. The formula of each game is similar—players take control of a young adventurer who seeks to raise a strong team of Pokémon to defeat opponents in battle. It has been many years since my last Pokémon experience, so it was extremely nostalgic for me to play Pokémon X. While playing the game, I was immediately struck by how limited I was as a player, especially for a game that appears to give players so much choice.

Within the narrative framework of the game, the protagonist lives a life of relative freedom. For example, even though the character is only 10 years old, they can explore the country unaccompanied by an adult and can make decisions about which towns to visit, and which Pokémon to battle and which to raise. Unfortunately, this freedom is not mirrored in the player’s opportunities. During my experience playing Pokémon X, I found the game to be extremely oppressive in what actions I could undertake.

This image shows the map of the Kalos region, with each town and route labeled

This image shows the map of the Kalos region, with each town and route labeled

As seen from the map above, the Kalos region—the name of the country where Pokémon X is set—is quite expansive. However, the player is not able to explore all these paths at any moment. In some instances, non-player characters will block some of the routes and tell the player, “you do not want to go that way,” if the player attempts to pass. In other instances, some type of object will be blocking the path and the player is unable to pass unless they undertake a side quest to give them the ability to move the object.

At this point in the game, a snorlax blocks the character's way, so they must travel down Route 7 to retrieve a flute to wake the Pokémon up

At this point in the game, a snorlax blocks the character’s way, so they must travel down Route 7 to retrieve a flute to wake the Pokémon up

The other aspect of the game that I found limiting had to do with the actual Pokémon raising. Though there are hundreds of Pokémon that inhabit the Kalos region, the player is only able to hold 6 in their party at a time. As Pokémon get stronger by battling other Pokémon, the game almost advocates for the player to choose a core 6 Pokémon and stick with them to compete against the stronger trainers encountered later in the game. The game even forces the player to catch the games legendary Pokémon, Xerneas, at one point in the game, eliminating the player’s choice altogether.

The left side of this image shows the maximum 6 Pokémon in the players party while the right side shows the Pokémons maximum number of four moves

The left side of this image shows the maximum 6 Pokémon in the players party while the right side shows the Pokémons maximum number of four moves

Also limiting is each Pokémon’s ability to only know 4 moves at a time. Whenever a Pokémon levels up and attempts to learn a new move, the player must choose one of the original moves to forget. Much of the time, once the Pokémon forgets a move, it is gone for good. These limitations imposed on the player combine to create an experience that I found extremely frustrating, especially when I compared my experience as a player to the experience of the protagonist within the game’s narrative.

Image Sources

  1. http://www.serebiiforums.com/showthread.php?594375-The-Kalos-Region-Thread
  2. http://www.gamerguides.com/pokemon-xy/main-walkthough/to-gym-2-part-1/route-7-riviere-walk-1st-visit
  3. http://kotaku.com/tips-for-playing-pokemon-x-y-1444982237

 

 

Sexualizing Lara Croft for Profit

In his article “Lara Croft: The Ultimate Young Adventure Girl,” Kurt Lancaster details the sexualization of the famous Tomb Raider protagonist Lara Croft. An interesting aspect of this article is the shift in focus Lancaster takes with regards to the … Continue reading

In his article “Lara Croft: The Ultimate Young Adventure Girl,” Kurt Lancaster details the sexualization of the famous Tomb Raider protagonist Lara Croft. An interesting aspect of this article is the shift in focus Lancaster takes with regards to the way Croft is sexualized. While most people discuss Croft’s sexualization from a design standpoint—her bust line, her wardrobe choices, etc.—Lancaster focuses on the strategies employed by Tomb Raider’s developers to sexualize Croft for profit.

Though now Tome Raider is developed by Crystal Dynamics, at the time of the article’s publication, the Tomb Raider franchise was developed by Core Design Ltd. Core Design was not afraid to show off Croft’s body. A prominent image on the official Tomb Raider website was that of Croft lying seductively on a canopied bed in a provocative black evening gown.1 The image was used to entice the (assumed) male player to come and “play” with Croft by focusing entirely on her sexualized body rather than the adventure or action she undertakes.

This image was used to entice players to join Lara Croft on her adventures through the sexualization of Croft's body

This image was used to entice players to join Lara Croft on her adventures through the sexualization of Croft’s body

This image is not the only way in which Core Design sexualized Croft to sell the Tomb Raider games. At major gaming expos, such as the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Core Design would hire models to become a physical embodiment of Lara Croft, thus affording characters a physical embodiment of their sexy dream girl.1

Rhona Mitra was one of the first Lara Croft models: models hired to be photographed as Croft for the excitement of the game's players

Rhona Mitra was one of the first Lara Croft models: models hired to be photographed as Croft for the excitement of the game’s players

In my opinion, Lancaster’s 2004 article shows how far the Tomb Raider franchise has grown. As mentioned in my previous posts about Tomb Raider, Croft’s sexualization is already downplayed in the reboot, with more realistic body proportions and clothing choices. Crystal Dynamics promotional work for the game, such as the game’s 2 E3 trailers below, also focus less on Croft’s sexualized body and more on her status as a survivor.

In this way, Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix have taken a great leap forward by focusing promotion of the Tomb Raider franchise on Lara Croft’s status as a female action hero, rather than as a sexy adventurer. Though the Tomb Raider franchise was built on Lara’s status as a sex symbol, it appears that developers are slowly moving away from this stigma to create a more fully developed and feminist approved female videogame character. If this would have been possible without the franchise’s pre-existing success through the sexualization of their character, however, remains to be seen.

Sources

  1. Lancaster, Kurt. “Lara Croft: The Ultimate Young Adventure Girl. Or the Unending Media Desire for Models, Sex, and Fantasy.” PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, vol. 26, no. 3, 2004, pp. 87–97. www.jstor.org/stable/3246480.

Image Sources

www.jstor.org/stable/3246480

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/64387469646426872/

The Clothed but Still Sexualized Lara Croft

Coinciding with the relaunch of the massively popular Tomb Raider franchise in 2013, the protagonist of the series, Lara Croft, was redesigned as well. Lara is one of the most famous women in videogame history, notable for her infamous bust … Continue reading

Coinciding with the relaunch of the massively popular Tomb Raider franchise in 2013, the protagonist of the series, Lara Croft, was redesigned as well. Lara is one of the most famous women in videogame history, notable for her infamous bust line and barely-there outfits. Even though Lara is one of the first female action heroes, her choice of “lingerie as armor,” as Anita Sarkeesian refers to Lara’s wardrobe choices, is impractical and makes no sense for a woman rushing into battle.1

In her first appearances, Lara Croft showed quite a bit of skin and had extremely large breasts

In her first appearances, Lara Croft showed quite a bit of skin and had extremely large breasts

It seems that Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix sought to create a more realistic and feminist Lara Croft in the relaunch of the series. In the game, the protagonist is in much more appropriate outfits. In Tomb Raider (2013), Lara is dressed in long cargo pants and a tank top, with a greatly augmented bust. Lara is also less sexualized by being covered in dirt. This decision makes sense in the narrative of the game as Lara encounters a shipwreck that lands her on a tropical island in the Pacific Ocean.

For the 2013 relaunch of the series, Lara Croft was redesigned as a gritty, dirty, and clothed action heroine

For the 2013 relaunch of the series, Lara Croft was redesigned as a gritty, dirty, and clothed action heroine

While Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix would likely get commendation for their choice of Lara’s wardrobe in the 2013 version of Tomb Raider, I doubt Sarkeesian would be fully accepting of the game. In one of the earliest cutscenes in the game, Lara is immediately characterized by her sexuality, reminding the player of her desirability and attractiveness. Before the player gains the ability to have Lara shoot a handgun, a cutscene is presented that shows one of the island’s inhabitants finding a hidden Lara. Before Lara wrestles the gun out of the man’s hand, he strokes her side and then sniffs her hair in a distinctly sexual way.

Yes, in this scene Lara proves her ability by fighting off her would-be attacker, but that simple caress immediately clues the player in to Lara’s sexuality. While there is no violence in the scene, the implications of the caress are immediately understood. From the inclusion of this touch, Lara must be thought of by the player as a sexual object. An action hero, but still a sexual object. In this sense, the developers have taken a page from the book of the non-player sex object trope coined by Sarkeesian.2 Even though Lara is an action hero, dressed in a more appropriate garb in Tomb Raider, she is still sexualized by non-player characters. This in turn sexualizes Lara to the player in a distinctly anti-feminist way—through the threat of violence.

Sources

  1. Lingerie Is Not Armor – Tropes vs Women in Video Games. By Anita Sarkeesian. Perf. Anita Sarkeesian. YouTube. Feminist Frequency, 6 June 2016. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.
  2. Women as Background Decoration (Part 1). By Anita Sarkeesian. Perf. Anita Sarkeesian. YouTube. Feminist Frequency, 16 June 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

Image Sources

http://tombraider.wikia.com/wiki/Lara_Croft_(Original_Timeline)

http://tombraiding.com/video-games/the-new-tomb-raider-games/tomb-raider-2013/