God of War Developers Have "Pulled Back" from Violence Against Women
By George Denison on July 20th, 2012 (30 comments)
David Hewett, the design manager of Sony Santa Monica, has explained in an interview with IGN that the development team will be thinking a little more carefully about how violence is depicted in God of War: Ascension.
Responding to the criticisms of the game's violent trailer revealed at E3, he said:
There are some things we’ve pulled back from. I think where this has been an issue is with violence against women -- the team’s pulled back from some of that and assessed that a little more carefully. There are certain things that carry a different kind of resonance that we don’t want to get into. This isn’t about statement-making in that regard. It’s about fleshing out this character.
It's not just the issue of violence against women, but violence in general, that is being more carefully considered by the team. Hewett explained that Kratos is "seeking revenge and he’s after his ultimate objective and he will tear through enemies -- rip them in half -- as quickly as he can. But there’s not a lot of flourishes, there’s not any kind of enjoying the moment. There’s nothing about this that he’s enjoying."
Violence against women in videogames has been a hot topic over the last few months, with the controversial (and stupid) nun bludgeoning trailer for Hitman: Absolution and the furore over a supposed "rape" scene in the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot being prime examples. I think that's a good thing, and that the more discussion that occurs as a result of these outrages, the better the chance we have of shining a light on some of the murkier, more misogynist corners of the gaming world which have previously gone unchecked.
It might be a tricky task for God of War: Ascension to pull back from its violent overtones, especially since it's heavily inspired by Greek mythology which was itself steeped in violence and misogyny. There is one reassuring fact we can glean from the interview with Hewett, though: Kratos will still be a Mr Grumpy Pants.
God of War: Ascension's current release date is March 12th 2013.
George Denison
George Denison is a writer, editor and occasional podcaster for 4player. He has spent an unhealthy amount of his life playing Just Cause 2 and the Mass Effect games. Besides videogames, he likes words, cheesecake, and music. You can follow him on Twitter.
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lame stuff like this pisses me off... I hope they do a god of war: rape simulator.
Link / ReplyI really hope you're being sarcastic.
Link / ReplyAll kidding aside regarding these rather serious topics, I really hope they won't let these things affect them too much. What I'm trying to say is that they shouldn't back down from writing female enemies or bosses into the game because they're afraid there's going to be protests or something. Making Sony Santa Monica think twice about violence against women isn't a bad thing, but I hope they aren't going to have to be too politically correct.
Link / ReplySo Kratos is allowed to kill everyone except women? I think the greatest "misogyny" in video games is not killing women, but coddling them. Bad things happen to people in ultra-violent video games, and women are people too so we should be able to have games where women are killed in the exact same way and with the same frequency as men without people making a big deal. Women make up half the Earth's population but are under-represented in video games in both positive AND negative ways and I think that people coming to terms with violence against women in video games will lead to more female characters in video games, both heroic and villainous. That may sound like a terrible thing to say, but when the God of War developers say they're rethinking their violent game just because it involved women, then there is obviously something wrong.
Link / ReplyI agree.
Link / ReplyThere is definitely a balance that has to be struck, between being outright misogynistic (Duke Nukem Forever and, much as I enjoyed it, Saints Row 3) and, as you say, taking things too far the other way and saying "women can't be in combat situations, nothing bad can happen to them". The only way we can really solve the problem is to get both a wider female audience playing videogames, and a larger female presence within the industry.
Link / ReplyThe over-the-top violence is a very good discussion that needs to be had, especially after E3 and a lot of the audience reactions. "Oh don't worry, women are safe." wasn't a very satisfying response to it.
Link / ReplyWhat was the nature of the violence in the trailer?
Link / ReplyProbably for the best. The Poseidon Princess scene in God of War III was stupid/unnecessary and the rape-joke(?) trophy you got for it was deplorable.
Link / ReplyHow sexist of them.
Link / ReplyMaybe if violence wasn't the greatest selling point of their game, rather new mechanics, or an interesting story line, then they wouldn't have to worry about stupid shit like this.
Link / ReplyBut make sure to tear off every guys' arms and use them to kill every other male character you can, and if you want to tear off their penises, go ahead because males are just whatevers, but, you even lay a finger on a single woman and heads will fuckin roll.
Link / ReplyThey should let the player decide whether that sort of violence against women is acceptable. Hell, if they're in this genre to begin with, shouldn't they at least be prepared for this type of problem? Seems like people are having second thoughts, or are being influenced by the publishers... you never hear about this stuff from developers that don't give a damn what the rest of the world thinks.
Link / ReplyYes, I would like it if Women in games were not put on pedestal. Go to the other extreme and I would have to say no to having people like Poseidon's Princess put into the game and the story purely to be killed. Might as well have just thrown her in a Refrigerator to show how transparent the whole thing is.
Link / ReplyBecause it is OK to brutally kill anything masculine.
Link / ReplyHow is violence against women worse than violence against men?
Link / ReplyThey should just drop the ascension subtitle and replace it with ultimate hypocrisy or something.
Link / ReplyTo me this is bullshit, but i would like to hear what girl gamers think of this.
Link / ReplyI haven't seen the trailer but as far as women villains in games go, it's a difficult balance. There is no point in denying that the vast majority of women are not as physically strong as men so having them do ultra masculine feats is ridiculous. Pitting a woman who is physically weak against an ultra masculine hero is basically simulating violent bullying, so that's not cool, and adding a sexual aspect to it is just downright horrifying considering that rape is a possibility that many women have to be aware of on a frequent basis. I think it's perfectly acceptable to have a face off between the sexes but the field needs to be leveled somehow - maybe make her really clever, or an engineer with some kick-ass robots... or a goddess that can fuck your shit up. Most important though, sex should never ever be connected to violence - that Tomb Raider shit is WRONG.
Link / ReplyI agree about sex should never be connected to violence. In term of physical violence, there's a difference between beating someone because you feel like it and beating someone who's after your head. Kratos is a bad ass mother f***er with anger issues and even if you're a men, women, child, demon, angel, deity, goddess, titan, meteor... If you're trying to kill him, he's gonna rip you apart. In the end, i wish they gave more information about this because if it's just for a scene to tell us what kind of character he was in the past and not part of the gameplay, i'm fine with that. Beside, I read Berserk so i've seen worst.
Link / ReplyIt's much fairer to women to just have them in the game to stare at their boobies and protect them from bad guys - they are obviously just sexual objects, and shouldn't be treated equally.
Link / ReplyDouble standards. Pff
Link / ReplyBut that's sexist against men. Oh wait, sexism against men doesn't exist. How silly of me!
Link / ReplySigh Keeping it classy, gentlemen, classy as ever
Link / ReplyOn a very surface level this can be seen as a triumphant move, however I think by reducing video game violence against women BECAUSE they're women is just as problematic as having that violence there to begin with. I understand the message they are trying to convey, but instead of taking it out entirely, why not have strong women being able to handle that and more importantly - give it right back? The problem here isn't the mere possiblity of women in games being exposed to violence, it's the WHY and the HOW. Why is that particular female a victim, and how does that effect how we understand that violence as gamers? Is it because she is hypersexualized like the twins from DNF or is it because she is an equal opponent like Bayonetta?
Link / Reply*affect, not effect. My bad.
Link / ReplyExactly. Bayonetta's sexuality is just a PART of who she is. A sexy woman who is strong and intelligent is a great role model, a woman who is sexy and not much else is too one dimensional to be interesting. The only problem with a one dimensional character is when EVERY female character is one-dimensional and people start saying: "This is a reasonable depiction of what a desirable woman looks like."
Link / ReplyDoes that mean we wont get to shoot kids in our saints row games now? aw =[
Link / ReplyThat's never gonna happen unless someone makes a mod of it, like Fallout 3.
Link / ReplySo it's sexist to women AND to men... does that mean that the sexism is completely canceled out? because it can't be sexist to both sexes... right? ):
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