Tag: gender
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The Silent Protagonist and Gender Fluidity
There is a lot in a voice. In a person’s voice there could be markers for gender, age, and sexual orientation. So why do some games have hours of audio recorded for every other character and yet none for the protagonist? Moreover, why do so many game developers choose to give their hero no voice…
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Link is Genderfluid
The release of Breath of the Wild is still on everyone’s minds and on everyone’s Switch consoles. This is a game that appeals to a wide spectrum of people of all backgrounds and all genders. We see everything through Link’s eyes and so he is adapted in our eyes to suit our own head canons. That…
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Butterfly Soup: The Bisexual Visual Novel We’ve Been Waiting For
There are three main things you have to know about Butterfly Soup, 1) It’s very, very gay, 2) It’s also very, very bi, and 3) it knows how to do representation very, very well. The creator of the visual novel, Brianna Lei, describes the game as “A game about gay Asian girls playing baseball and…
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10 Gifs That Perfectly Describe Gamers on Live Chat
Let’s face it, almost all of the bigotry that comes from online gaming comes straight from the live chat. Whether it’s via text form or over voice chat, you always get a slew of gamers who just do not know when to stop talking. Sometimes you’ll find feminist-friendly servers, or at least a match full…
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Horror Games That Don’t Rely On the ‘Mental Illness is Scary’ Trope
If I asked you to think about the average horror game setting, then chances are that your mind probably wandered to an abandoned mental hospital, or a spooky forest inhabited by “crazy people.” I know mine does. The horror game market is so overly saturated in games about mentally ill villains, that it’s clear many…
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E3 Presentations Featured Just 8 Female-Led Games
You might have noticed during my Gender at E3 series that I wasn’t exactly blown away by any of the press conferences when it came to showing women. And stepping back now that the shows are done, things really come into a sharp focus: this was a terrible E3 for female protagonists. Eight games. Tacoma.…
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Gender at E3: Nintendo
The Nintendo E3 press conference opened with a reel showing a diverse cast playing a bunch of Switch games, from Arms to Rocket League. Unfortunately, while they were happy to show people of all kinds enjoying their games, they weren’t so keen on including them in the games or the presentation themselves. Female characters were…
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Gender at E3: Playstation
The Playstation E3 press conference was a whirlwind of trailer after trailer after trailer, leaving no stage time for anyone except Sony President and CEO Shawn Layden. The games themselves, then, were mixed in every respect. Out of the gate they showed Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, featuring Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross, both women of…
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Gender at E3: PC Gaming Show
The PC Gaming Show at E3 showed off various bits of hardware and a bunch of upcoming games. Somehow, not one of these things was represented by women. Streamer Sonja Reed was given a secondary presenter role, but the developers interviewed by Sean Plott, who was given the the main stage, were overwhelmingly white men. There…
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Gender at E3: Ubisoft
The Ubisoft E3 press conference was hard to parse. Not just because of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, but because of the shadow that South Park: The Fractured But Whole cast over it. It’s not like I wasn’t expecting South Park to be bad. At last year’s E3, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone discussed…
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Gender at E3: Devolver Digital
The Devolver Digital presser was less of a conference and more of a surrealist skit, but it was a surrealist skit with plenty of women in it. Primarily headed up by Nina Struthers’ unblinking comedic presence, she was joined by bit characters like the scientist Margaret as things devolved (hah) into body horror and gore.…
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Gender at E3: Bethesda
The Bethesda E3 press conference opened with a bunch of kids talking about what their parents – mothers and fathers – did for a living. Both women and men were shown enthusing about their jobs and the games they’re making. Though Pete Hines did all of the presenting, Bethesda was careful to include female Youtubers…
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Gender at E3: Xbox
The Microsoft press conference featured more women on stage and on screen than EA’s did within the first 14 minutes. They started out with the reveal of the Xbox One X, and the face they chose to be the player was a (white) woman. Immediately thereafter they announced Forza Motorsport 7, with a female driver…
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Gender at E3: EA Play
There was a segment in the EA Play press conference pumping up their new esports project, which is designed to encourage more new competitors. “Ladies and gentlemen sitting on your couch, this could be you!” exclaimed one man. Except that the montage of new competitors had not included a single lady. This was in many…
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The Hypocrisy of our Love of Sheik: A Character to be Seen and Not Heard
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, wasn’t a very popular game in my social group. The Scottish kids I grew up with were more interested in soccer, boy-girl pop groups, and Furbys. As such, I never really heard the name ‘Zelda’ being thrown around. [SPOILERS For Breath of the Wild, Ocarina of Time, and…
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Gaming is a Drag
The Emmy award-winning RuPaul’s Drag Race is currently in its ninth season, and shows no signs of slowing down. With drag becoming more widely accepted and celebrated in society, how do we engage with our own gender identity? RuPaul famously said “You’re born naked and the rest is drag”, essentially meaning that everything you do is…