Uncharted Space: Feminism in Video Games

 In the video game world, there is one certainty: boys play video games. There erupted in the early 2010s a culture war in the gaming world. It was discovered that girls play video games and didn't like how women characters were portrayed in games. The scantly clothed women who had unusual physical proportions seemed to be the reason girls wanted some things to change in the gaming world. Showing actual women who were based on reality instead of the imaginations of boys. It seemed that gamers had to take sides and really couldn't ignore the issue. This was even true for the developers. One that decided to take a stand against the sexualized video game women characters was Naughty Dog. During the heated debate happening online, Naughty Dog was working on their final Uncharted game for the series. They didn't change their story but it appears that including women more prominently and showing that they were just as capable as the men. I plan to do an analysis of this for a deeper dive in a future paper. 

Uncharted 4 box artwork

However, one thing that I really wanted to point out right now is how after several developers started listening to female gamer concerns, they started releasing video games taking those concerns into consideration. The culture war in the gaming world started to fizzle out. This seems to be the third wave of feminism to create equality in a fairly new sphere of influence. That is not to say that all game developers have done this but since the major ones have, most other developers have listened to all gamers. 

The third wave of feminism also should include other things in video games. What are those things that we can see changing in future games? What other games have you noticed change because of the culture war?

Comments

  1. Lindsie WharffFebruary 10, 2024 at 7:20 PM

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  2. Lindsie WharffFebruary 10, 2024 at 7:21 PM


    This is one of my favorite topics to discuss. One of the most shocking developments in the industry is the reveal that Grand Theft Auto’s next installation will feature the franchise’s first female protagonist. This shook the industry, mainly because prior installments seemed to have negative portrayal of female characters. I personally love the series Five Nights at Freddy’s. Steel Wool recently released a digital extension to Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach called ruin. It featured a young female protagonist named Cassie. Bendy and the Dark Revival also focused on a female protagonist. I love to see the industry growing! Even Garten of Ban Ban’s main protagonist is a mother seeking to find her children. It’s fun to see them portray their intelligence and strength!

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