Blog post 9: Female Character Design in Video Games

Keezy Young shares her point of view on what makes a great female character design in video games.

Young explains that with female character design, attributes are often slapped on without much thought. 

"If 95% of female warriors wear low-cut boob plates, we can acknowledge that at least some of those designs are probably great, and still argue that the trend is obnoxious—especially since male characters are rarely given the same treatment. This is where a lot of frustration with female character designs comes from. The criticism is about the gendered double standard within trends, about the mismatch between context and design, and about the laziness that many designers fall into in choosing attributes to use in designwork; it isn’t a criticism of sexy designs or “beautiful” characters."

She talks about 8 female characters designs that stand out to her the most in video games. These females aren't over sexualised in their visual design, one of her favourites being Samus Aran:

"Nobody who played the first Metroid knew that Samus was a woman until the very end, when she pulled her helmet off, but it was a purposeful design decision. It was supposed to be a big reveal, and it played on the idea that women aren’t protagonists, aren’t strong, and aren’t expected. Or, at the very least, that if women are present, they’re marked by their gender. The designers knew that players would automatically assume Samus was a man because she bore none of the typical markers of being a woman."

Young believes that there could be more diversity in female characters instead of the generic female body type of large chest, small waist with a fit figure.

League of Legends recent female champions have some interesting designs.

There is Illaoi, who has a bulkier frame. She is more manly and appears to look strong. I don't really see this type of character design much in video games.

Then there is Rek Sai, which is a non-human character design. With the absence of physical feminine characteristics, we straight away assume she is male by default. But the designers slapped on a female gender to is creature. This was a big deal when the character was first released, getting the community talking about this different depiction of a female character. 

There is nothing wrong with emphasising the female figure in design. I do agree that there should be more diversity in female appearances with race, body shape and age in video games.

This Week in Videogame Blogging:

http://www.critical-distance.com/2015/11/15/november-15th-2/

Keezy Young: 8 Great Female Character Designs From A Designer's POV: http://remeshed.com/2015/8-great-female-character-designs-from-a-designers-pov/

Blog post 8: Do games really teach us anything worthwhile?

Naomi Alderman was present at a debate on technology and the future a few months ago and was confronted with the line that: “It turns out computer games merely teach you how to play other computer games.” Alderman  argues that games don't have to teach us anything. She believes that games have experiences to offer that you can't find anywhere else, that no other medium can.

Alderman believes that:

"A novel can let you into a character’s triumph in battle, but only a game can make you feel proud of your victory. A TV show can make you feel disgusted by a character’s avarice, but only a game can make you feel ashamed of your own actions.
[...] Games have that same electric tension you might find in the theatre, but instead of watching the actors, you are both the actor and the audience."

Alderman concludes that games can give you experiences that are unique but games may not teach you life experiences, increase your resilience, raise your IQ or improve hand- eye co-ordination.

In my opinion, I do believe that gaming can teach you a few things. Gaming can improve your hand-eye co-ordination over time. Real-Time strategy games require us to plan, strategise and manage resources. They also require fast analysis and quick decision-making. Simulation games usually try to mimic the real world, such as managing a city. This can teach us management decisions and using resources appropriately. Puzzle games let the players solve intricate problems under time pressure which involves logical thinking. But do these skills apply to real life and are they worthless? Honestly, as an avid gamer, I don't notice these skills impacting my everyday activities.

Games don't give me life altering experiences, but when was that the point of video games? I play games for different reasons. Escapism, challenging myself, being competitive or simply to just lose myself in its world with the art and music. Gaming has been a huge part of my life and its helped me form friendships and has given me years of entertainment. I enjoy games for what they are, not for making me a better person in life.

This Week in Videogame Blogging:
http://www.critical-distance.com/2015/11/08/november-8th-2/

Naomi Alderman:  Playing video games doesn’t make you a better person. But that’s not the point:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/06/video-games-give-you-unique-experience

Blog post 7: Tone Control Podcast with Tim Schafer

I listened to Episode 12 of Tone Control, where Steve Gaynor talks to the well known game designer Tim Schafer.

They discuss about Schafer's career, starting from when he was fresh out of college and hired by LucasArts as a tester. He then became co-writer, programmer and additional designer for games at LucasArts such as The Secret of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle.

Schafer describes his time being at LucasArts as a "Crazy, magical, and happy time. We were really spoilt at the time and worked right out of college, it was great because of the freedom and creative ideas." Schafer talks about being co-writer on Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle saying "It is good to remember how scary it was to lead my first project and how much safer I felt knowing I had a co project leader."

In 2000, Schafer founded Double Fine Productions after he spent over a decade at LucasArts, developing games such as Brutal Legends and Costume Quest.

Schafer talks about his experiences brainstorming ideas for games, pitching the ideas to publishers and thinking of budget whilst creating games. 

I enjoyed listening to the long career of Schafer and the experiences he has had working for LucasArts to owning his own company.

Tone Control, Episode 12: Tim Schafer: 

https://www.idlethumbs.net/tonecontrol/episodes/tim-schafer