After much furor, support, derision and spectacle all around, Anita Sarkeesian's first video in her ‘Tropes vs. Women In Games’ is now released.

Put simply...it's fantastic.

Thoroughly researched and truly entertaining, this first video focusing on the 'Damsel in Distress" trope goes deep into the history of gaming as Sarkessian investigates the role of women character in games in way that's balanced and outright funny at times. This series looks to be an integral element to the ongoing discussions concerning gender roles in the hobby we love, and should squelch detractors who insisted -with no factual basis- that Sarkessian's intensely popular Kickstarter was nothing more than a boondoggle for free games.

Articles on the internet and discussions on forums and twitter are all well and good, but nothing beats having a well researched view on the topic in easily digestible video form. Should this be required viewing for professionals in our industry; especially those who have a direct hand in creating the games we love? I think so. Having an all-inclusive view during development can only benefit games in the long run and, if anything, because stronger female characters simply make for better stories. 

Comments

  • Avatar
    eviljim
    11 years ago

    I have to say it was better than I thought and I am looking forward to part 2. I still see a couple of issues with it, but hopefully part 2 will fix those for me.

  • Avatar
    Skyliner
    11 years ago

    Squashed it. Nice, Anita.

    Hella impressive compilation too.

  • Avatar
    WubWub
    11 years ago

    Kinda disappointed with this. Hope this episode was just build up and hope she actually does some analysis next episode. All she does is point out times when the trope is used. It leaves nothing to discuss. Its like just naming action movies or games that involve some ripped person shooting everything that explodes or moves to save the world. People know its being constantly being used but why? Why did miyamoto add that character to star fox instead of having her in a separate series? Why does mario have so many games saving peach while there is none of peach saving mario?

  • Avatar
    Carlos Ottino
    11 years ago

    This is only the first episode and I enjoyed it. What I liked is that it gives examples and make us take notice of just how prevalent the trope is and what it actually signifies in regard to the player's motivations.
    I'm looking forward to the next one.
    WubWub, the purpose of this series may not be to try and explain the reasoning behind the use of the 'damsel-in-distress' but to bring to light just how widespread it is and then allow us gamers to realize why it should be changed and how.

  • Avatar
    Carlos Ottino
    11 years ago

    Also, maybe those princesses (Peach/Zelda) are being captured and thus in need of rescue because they are in positions of political power, not because they are women.
    Girl should have become a teacher or a doctor instead of getting into politics if they can't handle the risk.

  • Absolutely Daft Avatar
    Absolutely Daft
    11 years ago

    It's all good... It's all good. *Nods with Approval*

  • Avatar
    Binary79
    11 years ago

    Well thought out video but it felt more like a history of weak women in video games rather than
    actually explaining why this occurs.
    I'd like to chalk it up to video games in the past being played by a largely male market (roughly 75% in the early 90's) and advertised and developed as such.

    This percentage began to even out as the years went by and video games became more popular.

    Now(2013) as the demographic is practically equal (48% female and 52% male) advertisers and developers are simply sticking to what they know in order to sell games and keep there companies out of the red.

    While they may wish to make female characters central to games they can't/wont take the risk.

    PS: Very appropriate International Women's day post :)

  • OlMuttonchops Avatar
    OlMuttonchops
    11 years ago

    I found this video, and this subject in general, to be pointless. She should be talking about how lazy writers are, not how we live in some patriarchal society that is trying to keep women down through video games. The root of this trope is laziness not sexism.

    One point Anita made about 12 minutes in is that the trope taps into male power fantasies in order to sell to guys, but I think that's incorrect. Damsels being kidnapped is used because it's a fast, easy way of letting the player know who the bad guy is, and why he is bad, so they can get to the gameplay: the most important part of the game. Old arcade games had very little time to convey story because they had to pack as much gameplay in as possible. I don't know a single person who played those old arcade games wherein you rescue a damsel that actually cared about the damsel in question, let alone felt their loins flaring because they were empowered through her misery. Anita is definitely reading way too much into that.

    A small point, unrelated to the topic but related to what she said in the video, men most definitely are stronger than women. It isn't a social construct. It's biology. This new-age sociology that's all about labeling everything as a social construct pisses me off. It's disingenuous and anti-intellectual.

  • Fuzzydude64 Avatar
    Fuzzydude64
    11 years ago

    Yep. Gonna go with Davethezombie here. Also liked the video he linked to better than Anita's.

  • Fuzzydude64 Avatar
    Fuzzydude64
    11 years ago

    I also find it funny that Anita uses the image of Zelda from Twilight Princess despite the fact that she was easily her strongest in that game. She was never portrayed as weak in Twilight Princess, and willingly stood down in the face of her enemy. Not because she was weak or powerless, but being in a position of high political power, she stepped down when given a choice after Zant and his army of monsters stormed her castle: Submit or we kill all the citizens of Hyrule Castle. She stepped down to save her people, despite the fact that she probably could've taken Zant in a fight with her powerful Light magic. I feel an image of the Ocarina of Time or and earlier Zelda may have been more useful to her point.

  • Avatar
    TheGoddamBatman
    11 years ago

    The point she made about appealing to male power fantasies is ridiculous. Any empowerment comes from beating up the bad guys regardless of motivations. Singling out Double Dragon without mentioning the fact that Marian is a total psycho who ends up taking control of her situation by forcing the two brothers to fight to the death also seems lazy. Her point about tetra and sheik is also silly since all it doe is prove that Zelda's constant kidnappings are due to her political position rather than her gender. Also her French is absolutely horrific.

  • PabloGuy51 Avatar
    PabloGuy51
    11 years ago

    Whoooaa, I'm a little taken back here. Am I the only one who thought this was going to be a well-produced documentary with stuff like interviewing and what-not? High expectations and lack of me researching this aside, that presentation and everything in the first video was REALLY low-budget!

    But maybe I'm just speaking too soon. I hope she makes use of that money she got to really do something more interesting than just her talking on camera in the future.

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