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/