When the boys who make games grow up...

[usernamenumber]

(if this reads like a rant, it's not my intention, more just an observation with a question at the end... ok, and a bit of a rant in the middle)

A while back, a friend commented on the "dad-ification" of video games; the phenomenon where as game developers get older, male game protagonists go from being motivated by protecting/rescuing their female love interest to protecting/rescuing their female child or ward.

I thought, "huh", noting that while I hadn't played Bioshock Infinite, it seemed to fit the mold from what I'd heard, but I couldn't say I was personally familiar with the phenomenon.

Then I played Dishonored. And then I started Dead Rising 2. And then... you get the idea.

Not that I doubted it, but it's funny how as soon as the trend was pointed out, the next couple of games I played illustrated it perfectly.

I wonder how people would have reacted if in Dead Rising 2 you were looking for medicine for your helpless young son; not that I object to the helplessness in its self-- it's appropriate for a kid that age in the middle of a zombocalypse, but I have to wonder whether the game would be more likely to find an excuse for the kid to pick up a baseball bat and defend himself during a cutscene or something, lest his agency and masculinity be impugned (to be fair, maybe they do that later on with the daughter, but I kinda doubt it).

Or what if Corvo in dishonored was protecting a prince? With the same dialogue, would there be more complaints about the prince being "whiny" and "annoying"? Would the affection between Corvo and the prince prompt a bunch of pedo jokes? (because non-violent emotions between males are scaaary, and all male affection is probably sexual on some level anyway, right?... not that I'm bitter or anything)

Anyway.

I hope I don't sound like I'm on too much of a high horse here, I'm sure most of the motivations behind these design choices are quite innocent, but when something becomes a trend, or, dare I say, a trope, it denotes a certain lack of originality when it continues to be used over and over again, and it seems to me that the "hero is motivated by rescuing/protecting the (literal) girl" thing is becoming as much of a trope as the "hero is motivated by rescuing/protecting the girl(friend)" thing was before it.

Question: do any examples of games that subvert this (male protecting a boy, or woman in the hero protector role) come to mind?

Comments

[dot_fennel]

I hope I don't sound like I'm on too much of a high horse here, I'm sure most of the motivations behind these design choices are quite innocent

Sexism sucks! You don't need to apologize for pointing it out. And it doesn't suck any less just because people do it out of thoughtlessness. Writing a AAA video game isn't something people do accidentally, or finish off in an afternoon without the chance to rethink their first impulses; by the time something is being pressed onto physical media and distributed all over the world, the people who do it are 100% on the hook for the choices they made.

I played one of the Deadly Rooms Of Death games in which you were a father protecting his hapless son, but I can't remember if your son does pick up a weapon at some point.

And, depressingly, that's all I can think of.

[tuff-ghost.livejournal.com]

Seconding the "sexism sucks; apology not required" remark.

I don't know of any games which subvert the trope, but I'd sure like to see it happen in a big title.

I'm playing Dishonored now, and also watching a Let's Play of The Last of Us. The difference in quality of writing between those two games is massive. The story and "character development" (lol) in Dishonored is just a flimsy prop for decent, fairly fun gameplay. In TLOU it's fantastic; the "daughter" character has her own voice and personality, and there's nothing fomulaic in the relationship between her and the protag. It's the difference between formulaic and effectively referencing/using archetypes.

TLOU still sticks to the trope though, and I don't see it as subversive. I think my ultimate cynical point here is that the standard for writing in games is so far at the bottom of the cesspit that we don't need anything revolutionary or subversive in order for a huge improvement in the depiction of female characters. I wouldn't be surprised if anything truly subversive wrt gender roles failed in flames, just because male gamers' expectations are so coddled and cherished by publishers.

I'm very conscious of my position on the margins of gaming, and to me the majority of female characters in games are just reminders that game writers consistently fail or refuse to empathize with half the human race. yep, it makes me bitter.

[usernamenumber.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the writing in Dishonored is... well, the plot was good, IMO. I have to give them that I didn't see the Big Twist coming, though in retrospect I really should have, but the whole (mostly) silent protagonist thing makes it hard to feel like there's character development is anything but thin, and I was really disappointed by things like the (non-)resolution of Daud's plotline (though apparently the DLC deals with that pretty well).

Re your comment, "I wouldn't be surprised if anything truly subversive wrt gender roles failed in flames, just because male gamers' expectations are so coddled and cherished by publishers.":

I don't disagree, but if you haven't seen this, it might be nice to know that not all of them are pushovers about that stuff. I guess it's worth noting that Dragon Age II was not, in fact, very well received, but while the writing in the game was great, it did have some serious technical issues that were the source of most of the complaints I've seen. Regardless, since I'm on the subject, if you haven't played the Dragon Age series, I recommend them, and since you can design your own protagonist, they... kinda count?

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Infinity Blade II (iOS) has a female character protecting the male hero, but she only shows up outside of actual gameplay.

[mirrored-echo.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if you're familiar with Nier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nier_%28video_game%29) -- where there are two released versions, one for each trope (old man rescuing his daughter vs. young man rescuing his little sister). You might be entertained.

For examples that subvert the trope: Heavy Rain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Rain) has a father trying to save his young son. Final Fantasy X-2 and Dreamfall both have a female protagonist trying to save a male character, but male characters in need of rescue are never quite as helpless as female ones, for some reason. :) I can't think of any video games where you're playing a mother trying to protect her son -- then, middle-aged women don't get much attention in most media.

[maverick-weirdo.livejournal.com]

Here is someone else also commenting on the topic

[valadil.livejournal.com]

Tangential at best, but when I helicopter parent over Ben at the playground, I totally feel like Big Daddy. When I carry him around outside on my back, I feel like Hodor.

[faerieboots.livejournal.com]

Aurgh I know of a game that subverts this trope beautifully but I'm not sure if it's spoilery to mention it or not. XD

Also, I hear what you are saying, but I'm not sure I'd consider a man trying to rescue his son a subversion of this trope. It's tough being a lady who plays video games and seeing your gender represented in problematic ways, but I think it's even tougher when the response is to erase your gender entirely! XD

[usernamenumber.livejournal.com]

If I had to prioritize I would put having more female representation above having a greater breadth of male representation, but I'm not sure a man/boy relationship in a game wouldn't subvert the trend, albeit in a different way. To me it's partly about gender representation, but also about when and toward whom it's "ok" for a male to show even platonic affection.

[heiligekuh.livejournal.com]

Does it have to be a $60 shooter?

If not, buy and play Gone Home. Now. Try to read as little as possible before hand.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/232430/

[usernamenumber.livejournal.com]

Purchased! I look forward to checking it out.