The Rise of Badass Female Characters in Video Games.

By Jana Roumie 

When you hear the word ‘gamer’, what comes to mind? A white heterosexual man living in his mother’s basement? Well, that’s no longer the case. The period of white male games for white male gamers has ended. Over the last two decades, there’s been a huge economic rise in the gaming industry which has caused the market to boom. Statistics show a specific rise in the female demographic of gaming. Previously, female characters were extremely underrepresented in the gaming industry, but today, women make up 48% of the game buying audience. Although we’re not nearly at the point where female characters are sufficiently represented in gaming, it’s important to signify how far we’ve come and how far we still need to go. The gaming industry is on the right path, however, we need more.

In the past, the limited number of female characters were created specifically revolving around the male gaze. The gaming industry wanted to appeal only to the male gamer, therefore making the female characters either emasculated or extremely sexualized. They were almost always made to be less threating, and players choosing a female character would have to escape difficult challenges as your character would undoubtedly be killed.

Jay-Ann Lopez is the founder of Black Girls Community – an online community highlighting black female gamers in the industry. Diversity in gaming is necessary, as it not only means crucial representation for a large number of female players but also because it provides a better understanding for men in terms of changing the viewpoint of a woman’s abilities in video games. Diversity isn’t only restricted through the depiction of gender, we also have a long path to go to signify race, age, religion and sexual orientation.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Jing Li, a game designer working at PixelOpus says "having more women in the industry could increase variety in game ideas and perspectives, which will help games attract a wider range of audiences and eventually help games become more mainstream." Seeing a strong female lead character has a much better chance of appealing to a female gamer. Now let’s take a look back at how these badass female characters have progressively developed over the past decade:

Bayonetta 

Bayonetta is the protagonist of the Bayonetta video game series, published by Sega and available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo. Throughout the game, Bayonetta's searches for her forgotten past, as she revisits her old home and fights dangerous and deadly enemies along the way. She is arguably one of the greatest and strongest characters to play with. Her highly feminine aesthetic makes her stand out among other female game characters. Designer Mari Shimazaki was asked to create her with three main traits in mind: a female lead, a modern witch, and her capability to use four guns, making her extremely powerful. Her strange mash-up of a typically sexy aura but with extreme combat skills and perfectly timed attacks makes her particularly unique. She is one of the most brutal and deadly female game characters of all time, overtaking many male characters too. In 2018, Lady Gaga tweeted her love for the character, referring to her as "tough."

Faith

What an iconic character. Faith is the protagonist of the Mirrors Edge series, a game developed by EA DICE and played on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox. The game is set in a dystopian society where Faith works as a courier to deliver messages while also evading government surveillance. In the game Faith is never sexualized or objectified in any way, she wears normal clothes that cover her body and she’s not extremely curvy or skinny. She wears a plain black tank top, cargo pants and a pair of sneakers. She also has a pixy cut and many interesting tattoos. Her character doesn’t need to be saved, rather she’s the one doing the saving. Surprisingly, in the video game, Faith has to help a woman who's going through a forced marriage to save her family business. It’s very uncommon to see video games touch on these societal issues but this game and Faith are just examples that show how the gaming industry is gradually maturing. She showed the world that a woman does not have to play the victim role, they don’t need a man to succeed or help them in life.

Samus  Aran 

She’s as badass as it gets. Samus had built herself a reputation of being one of Nintendo’s most admired and essential characters in gaming history. She is the protagonist of Metoriod's science-fiction game series, which can be played on any Nintendo gaming console. Samus is an ex-soldier of the Galactic Federation, who eventually becomes a galactic bounty hunter. Throughout the series, she executes missions and hunts down enemies and their leaders. When Samus was first created, players believed she was a man as her identity was covered by a full-body suit. But later it was discovered that those who finished the game fast enough were shocked to see Samus reveal herself as a female character. Before Samus, there had been very few to almost no female game characters, but she was a success! Samus is 6’3 and weight around 198 pounds which immediately goes against the typical idea that a woman has to be small and petite to be considered attractive. She showed us that woman can be and are independent. The way Samus’s character is being used to advance feminism in gaming is quiet and influential. She broke the gender norm that its men who must be the hero.

Lara Croft

Lara croft is perhaps one of the gaming industries most well-known and influential characters. She is portrayed as a highly intelligent and physically strong English archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and dangerous ruins. The video game was created by Core Design and can be played on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox. She, specifically, has seen one of the largest shifts in terms of her over-sexuality. The changes made to her character in Tomb Raider (2018) has seen her character's clothes and aesthetic change to emphasis her skill-set and fighting ability rather than her figure. Her adventures depict her as a strong, brave hero that basically does whatever she wants, a great role model for any female gamer.

Ellie Gibson

As the representation of woman in gaming has changed, so has their roles within the industry. The Last of Us, released February 2020, can be played on any Playstation console and includes numerous strong female and homosexual characters. The video game presents realism through the main female character, Ellie Gibson, as she moves through familiar environments and interacts with many elements of the real world. She has to travel across a post-apocalyptic United States in order to find a cure for an infection she is immune to. Ashley Johnson, who plays the voice actor of Ellie gave an emotional speech at the BAFTA awards “I feel so lucky I got to play Ellie," she said. "I'm so proud I got to play a strong female character who isn't sexualized, or a damsel in distress, or even the opposite of that.” She is not a princess, queen or a ruler, she is simply a normal girl trying to make her way in this messed up world. Her vulnerability is exposed through her brave attempt at showing fear while also being powerful by demanding her needs. Typical social roles are reversed throughout the narrative of this video game as Ellie continuously argues and challenges her male companion’s decision-making skills.