Rock, Paper, Shotgun

15/02/2013 at 10:39 El_Emmental says:

Too much games to go through (and no need to repeat what was already mentionned), but for Great Justice, the Gina character from Half-Life 1. One hell of a respectable character.

First featured during the Hazard Course (as a hologram), she was a playable character model in multiplayer, wearing the same (= no stupid “boobs armor”) HEV suit (with a different color, like desert-camo – not pink by default, thankfully)(back then you could customize the colours of all models ; green HEV-suit 4′eva) – seeing her carrying the green rocket launcher, or headshotting you with the Magnum, was pretty common and completely normal. She later got her own HL game in the form of the PS2 “Half Life: Decay” (2001).

[ As we're in Walker's land, I'm kinda allowed to do the following post, no ? :P ]

It was one of the first (there’s probably an earlier game, before 1998)(by 2001, HL Decay wasn’t that of a pioneer anymore – or was it ? co-op mode, and only featuring 2 female HEV-suit scientists blasting their way through Black Mesa) playable female character in a FPS, even if it was only in MP (in HL1). And, most importantly, it was a credible character: no over sexualization, while still remaining feminine (haircut and voice, and iirc, the model was very slightly different). Seeing her quickscope-headshotting a camper while using the Long Jump Module was an excellent “take that, sucker !” scene.

It’s also interesting to note that she’s the Hazard Course hologram instructor: she’s in charge of training scientists (the player included) in moving through a dangerous environment in a robotic suit, and show excellent physical capacities (without a single world/hint at how it would affect her sexual prowess).

Seeing her player model in a MP game (casually, without any fuss) really reassured me (nb: I was still a teenager): women were able to play video games, the social stigma surrounding video games (especially MP video games) was only a temporary problem only carried by the biggots and the close-minded, and in the next 3-4 years I’ll be able to share gaming experiences with anyone, regardless of their gender.

Oh boy I was wrong, until Portal and the Wii (and only a year or two after their releases), all the female gamers I knew (sister, friends, classmates, etc) had to fully hide their gaming hobby from the public eye to not be rejected by other girls (feminity being “incompatible” with video gaming), and the Gina character ended up being an oddity most people forgot ; but to me, it was part of the maturity of video games, its future.

That’s why the apparition of FemShep, almost 10 years later, didn’t really surprised me, it was just “Gina is (finally) back” (with boobs armor, because AAA). It’s a shame playable female character are most of the time only available in games aimed at a “female” audience: where are the super-violent, bloody-gore, high-skill-ceiling FPS shooters, with a credible female playable-character ?

Devs are too afraid of being called sexists (by people who never played their game), or disappointing some of their audience (and getting the very few but very visible fratboys to speak out, Faith-needs-bigger-boobs style), so they avoid the question altogether and only cast dull, yet-another-though-guy characters.

Looking back at TF2 (even if the only female characters are off-screen), Valve really showed how diversity can bring a lot to a game . It’s a real shame they still have the most iconic characters in the FPS genre (and I truly love the TF2 characters – Medic especially, never got a proper Meet The), where are the successors ?

Opinion, away !