A worthy cause if you’ve got a few bucks and you’d like Feminist Frequency to make this series of videos exploring the hundreds of instances of problematic video game characterizations of women. Go see the Kickstarter project and, if you can, donate.
Update: Looks like they’ve met their goal, but the series as a whole needs donations to keep the lights on anyway, so I don’t see any reason to stop now!
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MichaelD
May 18, 2012 at 1:05 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
And its already passed its goal of $6k. Shiny Shiny ^.^ I look forward to seeing the results.
Just for fun the I’m going to try to name all the characters in the title card are (left right top bottom)…..
Princess Peach from Mario games
Cortana from the Halo series
Miss PacMan from the Pacman series
Not sure who the pixie thing is
Mai from King of Fighters
Ashely from Resident evil 4
Next one is from gears of war don’t know the name
not sure who the 8bit girl or angel are…
Daphne from Dragon’s Lair is on the ground
Nurse Valentine from SKull girls
And finally Lara croft from tomb raider
So I give me 8.5 out of 12 :P
Jason Thibeault
May 18, 2012 at 1:38 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Wow, nice! When I queued it up last night, it was still over two grand away!
Skip White
May 18, 2012 at 2:27 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Speaking of Princess Peach, does anyone know at what point in time she ceased being Princess Toadstool and apparently changed her name?
Jason Thibeault
May 18, 2012 at 2:32 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Skip: In the intro to Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64, where she signs the letter as “Princess Toadstool (Peach)”. The letter asks Mario to visit the castle because she baked him a cake. Because a regent of a kingdom has nothing better to do but bake cakes for plumbers.
leftwingfox
May 18, 2012 at 2:40 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’m figuring either the Mushroom Kingdom is actually a constitutional monarchy with Peach as a ceremonial figurehead, or she’s been kidnapped by Bowser so often that the Mushroom Kingdom has taken her out of the loop for security reasons.
“Now she’s going Kart-racing with him? Oh fer… just give me the Bob-omb codes instead.”
LeftSidePositive
May 18, 2012 at 10:45 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Here’s another update: Anita has announced that if she raises more money over the original goal, she will make MORE VIDEOS!!! Yay! It’s another trope for each $1500, and trope #6 is funded already.
Tropes 7-10 look really interesting, too, so let’s donate!
Frisch
May 19, 2012 at 12:01 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
The angel is from Hitman Blood Money. She’s an assassin posing as a lounge singer at a Heaven/Hell themed night club. She knifes the shit out of you if you piss her off. Which is kind of rude.
julian
May 19, 2012 at 8:26 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
She’s going to have soooo much material lol
With the demographics video games are largely produced for and by being what they are stereotypes and enforced gender roles are the norm.
Bryan
May 19, 2012 at 12:31 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
This looks to be a great video series! I’ve always been appalled at the relatively one-dimensional nature of women in video games (booty shorts abound!), and though things are slowly changing, it’s still pretty bad.
@julian #8:
“With the demographics video games are largely produced for and by being what they are stereotypes and enforced gender roles are the norm.”
True, video games have traditionally been produced for younger males, but that’s changing as those younger males age and mature and more women begin playing video games. The big question is, are the developers giving their audience what they want, or are they giving their audience what they THINK they want? Ie, are they simply making skimpily-clad female characters because they’ve always made skimpily-clad female characters, and they just need a wake-up call that not all gamers are 12-year old neck beards?
left0ver1under
May 19, 2012 at 3:26 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I can only recall one game which claimed not portray women in a sexual manner, but even that was dubious: Septerra Core.
Maya, the central character, may be fully clothed, but her form-fitting clothes don’t exactly hide her body. And the posture and clothes on Led, the blonde character, suggest cuteness and sex rather than portraying amputees as just folks.
http://www.wallpaperpimper.com/wallpaper/Games/Septerra_Core/Septerra-Core-1-1024×768.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septerra_Core
Jasper of Maine
June 8, 2012 at 7:07 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I don’t know if you read comments this far back, but you might want to make note that she’s under seige by asshates trying to shut down her campaign and stuff.
Latest Project Update
Jasper
June 8, 2012 at 8:17 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Maybe I can trigger a moderation queue? See post above
Jasper
June 8, 2012 at 8:18 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Trying different email
Jason Thibeault
June 8, 2012 at 11:15 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
It’s okay Jasper, I get emails for all comments. I saw the first one you sent. I’ve been working screwy hours though, so I was asleep. I’ll try to cover this top-level ASAP.
Fligmesee
July 2, 2012 at 12:45 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hello just thought i would take two min’s to tell you all regarding my sites, they all are on the identical topic :) have a fantastic old day ;)
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The 2012 Lousy Year In Review » Lousy Canuck
January 1, 2013 at 11:27 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
[...] beating gender roles into your kids, but it was totes a kinda sorta a joke (only not). The Tropes Vs Women In Video Games kickstarter happened, with nobody aware of what kind of shitstorm it was about to cause. John Scalz attempted [...]