Border House
Breaking down borders in video games.
Hey, Baby Link Roundup/Open Thread
Jul 20th
A screen shot of Hey, Baby. A woman is sitting on a bench in a city while a man stands next to her. It looks like he is trying to get her attention.
Trigger warning: Street harassment.
So, recently a Flash game was released that caused a bit of a stir on a number of gaming (and feminist) websites. The game is called “Hey, Baby”, and it is a game about street harassment. It is a first-person shooter where you play as a woman walking around a city fighting off waves of men who approach you while repeating “classic” street harassment lines, everything from the notorious “Smile, baby” to shouted rape threats. Killing the harassers results in a gravestone popping up with their line engraved on it. There are also both male and female bystanders who do nothing and can’t be killed. If possible, I do recommend playing the game a little before reading this post; it’s a Flash game and only takes a minute to play, although it is quite violent.
There have been a number of different reactions to the game around the internet. It has started a conversation in the gaming online community about street harassment (and in the feminist blogosphere about satirically violent video games), and for that alone, I think this is a win. But I’d like to take a closer look at the various reactions surrounding the game.
Two Links of Interest: Racism in The Sims and Gender and Gaming Interview with Jennifer Jenson
Jul 16th
First, Racialicious has a brief entry describing how The Sims just did this totally racist thing. I think it’s a good illustration of how small moments in a game may not seem important to a game designer, but can throw people playing the game out of the experience. When playing video games many players don’t want to be thinking about real-life concerns, but sometimes they are just there.
Second, I recommend taking a look at Girls, Gaming and Gender: An Interview with Game Designer and Researcher Jennifer Jenson. She talks about a new and awesome-sounding project she’s involved in, The 3G Summit: The Future of Girls, Gaming and Gender, and the state of current research into gender and games. She touches on several issues with studies of gender and gaming that are useful particularly when reading second-hand reports of such studies. I especially appreciate her point that when talking about “gender and gaming” we should be talking about women and men, rather than assuming that men are the default and gender is only important in games when women are involved.
Persona 3 Portable – Female character now included!
Jul 16th
Persona 3 Portable U.S. cover. It shows both a male and a female main protagonist. Behind them are other cast members from the game.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 is now on it’s 3rd iteration. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 was released in 2007 for the PlayStation 2. It’s success led to an updated Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES edition in 2008 with new post game content and some quest modifications. But the latest PSP game, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable, comes with a pleasant change over the previous versions – the option of a female main character!
The game is a mix of dungeon exploring, demon card collection and fusion, and social interactions with classmates and townspeople. With the addition of a female protagonist there are new and altered social links added to the game. If you want to know more about the male side characters from the original game, then this is your chance.
I am thrilled about a female main character in this series! But not everything about the new version of Persona 3 makes me happy. In order to have the game on the PlayStation Portable, Atlus had to make a few design changes. One aesthetic change is particularly striking. The menus and selection screens for the male character are blue whereas those same menus for the female protagonist are pink. Even the icons for the party members are outlined in either blue (for male main character) or pink (for the female main character). NOOO!! More pink? Must every female thing be coded pink? The potential issues with mandatory pink for girls have been discussed here as well as many other locations.
The pre-order bonus for the game was a baseball cap that is decorated in the same way as that of Junpei, one of the male characters in the game. Potential options for the pre-order that Atlus did not choose could have been a figurine of a demon or a plush toy. A pre-order bonus for another game in the Shin Megami series last year was a plush Jack Frost demon dressed as the main character in the game. While I think the hat is fun, I wonder why the pre-order bonus was something based off a male character when the major selling point of this new version of the game is the addition of a female protagonist.
Even with these issues I am still very excited for a Persona game with a female protagonist and am look forward to replaying this game despite having sunk over 100 hours into Persona 3: FES. But I do wish I didn’t have to look at all that pink to do so.
Pink background status screen for female main character in Persna 3 Portable. This screen shot is taken from the Japanese version of the game.
Battle scene for female main character in Persona 3 Portable. It shows the selection wheel in pink and pink outlines around the other characters' icons. This screen shot is taken from the Japanese version of the game.
Undead Labs Child’s Play Charity Beat Down: Interview with Frag Doll Valkyrie
Jul 10th
The Child's Play Charity logo--a picture of a white controller, with a cross in the middle, on an olive green background, and the words "Gamers Give Back: Child's Play" under the controller.
Recently I attended the Undead Labs Frag Doll Beat Down Event in Seattle, Washington. This was a charity Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 tournament at Undead Labs. This was no ordinary tournament, however. This tournament was held to raise money for Child’s Play, a charity that donates games and console to hospitals, for the benefit of sick children. Members of the Frag Dolls, a group of women gamers formed to promote Ubisoft games and raise the visibility of women gamers, came to Seattle to compete in front of an audience of Undead Labs supporters and friends.
I had a chance to interview Amy Brady, also known as Frag Doll Valkyrie, about the tournament and about her work as a Frag Doll.
How did you get involved in the Child’s Play / Undead Labs event?
Valkyrie: The Frag Dolls have been big supporters of Child’s Play for years and we wanted to contribute in some way to the charity auction. We brainstormed a bit about how we could help raise money and decided on creating a “Beat Down” package for people to bid on. The beat down consisted of flying out to kick the butt of someone’s friend/s. We thought this would be a fun package and would allow us to do what we do best—kick some tail!
Undead Labs was the winner of that bid, and they decided to take it ten steps forward by creating a tournament out of it and raising more money. So instead of us coming out to play against a specific person, they held a 32 man tournament in which people donated to play in, and we played against the winners of that tournament. A brilliant idea and a lot of fun-and they raised over $3000!
What fantastic ideas all around for a great cause.
How did you prepare for the Undead Labs tournament? Did you do anything different than your regular tournament prep routines (if any)?
Valkyrie: Although we didn’t go all out on practice, as we play quite a bit anyway, [Frag Doll] Fidget and I did a little prep-work for the tournament in the form of practicing some 2v2 for the finals. We only spent about 5 hours total on it, as most of our practice time is 4v4, and we weren’t completely sure about how the tournament would work, and [we didn't have information about] all the maps/modes except the first round. In the end it’s a good thing as we ended up playing 3 rounds and we let the competitors choose the last two maps and modes!
How was the Undead Labs tournament? What were your most memorable impressions of the night?
Valkyrie: The Undead Labs tournament was awesome! It was a very relaxed setting with many people from the industry playing and partying it up. I think everyone loved the show they were given and enjoyed watching the pwgage that occurred as Fidget and I stomped the competition. The most memorable moment was when Fidget pulled out her sniper and facilitated the crowd to “ooh” and “ahh’ as she repeatedly spawn sniped the opposition!
It was definitely an impressive showing. It was fascinating to witness the strategies and tactics that you and Fidget used to rally together, hunt down, and kill the competitors. I heard more than one comment about how quick Fidget’s reflexes are, too.
Was the Undead Labs event any different from the sort of events you attend and participate in as a Frag Doll?
Valkyrie: This event was very different than what is normal, as it was a much more relaxed and smaller environment then we are used to competing in. I really enjoyed the more intimate interactions with the people there, and it was a great event for Fidget make her début LAN competition.
So, let’s talk about the Frag Dolls. What are the guiding principles of the Frag Dolls?
Valkyrie: Frag Dolls do try to set themselves as role models to some extent for female gamers. It has always been our mission to promote female gaming in a positive and competitive light. While we are not a normal team, in that we work in the industry and were hired to promote Ubisoft brands, we have always taken competition and knowledge of the gaming industry very seriously!
Do you think the Frag Dolls have a role in fighting against sexism in gaming communities? If so, what do you think that role is, and what sort of activities do the Frag Dolls participate in that help with this?
Valkyrie: As a well known female gaming group, it is inherent that we have a role in fighting sexism in gaming. The natural mental tendencies in this male-dominated industry lean toward women being sub-par gamers and any female that is in the public eye will have a role in representing all of us—whether they wish to or not.
This is why the Frag Dolls have always been so active on competing on many competitive titles, not just Ubisoft’s. We know if we’re not out there and being proactive in maintaining our competitive edge, and trying to educate the masses about the hurdles female gamers are trying to overcome through various forms of promotion, that we aren’t doing much to try and change anything. Women are a vast minority in the world of competitive gaming and the more [women] that show up, the more it will pull other women with them.
Visibility matters. It’s said that a lack of representation and visibility of women in a lot of industries and in high-ranking, decision-making positions, influences how girls view those professions. So it makes sense that this applies to gaming as well. Having said that, I also believe that male gamers bear some responsibility in reducing sexism in games, and I know that in the clan you manage outside of your Frag Dolls duties, the all-female PMS Clan, you have an affiliate clan, H2O, which male gamers can join as allies to PMS Clan.
I’ve heard that some gamers believe the Frag Dolls are only pretty faces with no substance and, to put it bluntly, corporate shills. What is your reaction to that?
Valkyrie: Well, my reaction would be they haven’t played against or with us, nor have they even researched us to make an educated comment. Anyone that has done any of these things would be hard pressed to make that statement as we have placed professionally and competed on many titles!
Do you feel that women gamers in general have to work harder or put in more effort to be accepted in gaming communities than men?
Frag Dolls logo--Black on a blue field. There is a pink controller under the logo.
Valkyrie: There is a flip side to the coin on being accepted as a woman gamer. While many male gamers would be happy to play with women, even our supporters have a socialized tendency, sometimes unconsciously, to consider women gamers in general as sub-par. Whether they admit it or not, this is due in large part to stereotypical and social upbringing issues. This is also perpetuated by lack of top ranking females on competitive circuits.
Until we have more awareness and understanding of the issues at large, as well as top-ranking female teams, we will continue to fight these perceptions. And we need more competitive and skilled women gamers to do this, so really until we are no longer a minority, these issues will remain. That is why it is so important to keep promoting and bringing more women into the gaming world!
You’ve been active in gaming communities for a long time, to promote the visibility of women gamers and to help women gamers find safe spaces to come together. Is there any advice you can give women gamers who experience sexual or other kinds of harassment online?
Valkyrie: The best advice I can give is to surround yourself with friends when you play. If you don’t have a lot of friends playing games, you can look into joining other gaming groups and clans (female or co-ed whatever you prefer). Female gaming groups usually have measures to make girl gamers more comfortable while playing and you do get to play with others that experience the same issues you do—but you aren’t limited to support only by them. No matter who you are playing with, you will still encounter all kinds of situations that might be negative towards your gender but the mute function works wonderfully against the opposing team! Then you and all your friends can laugh at the idiots as you kick their butt!
I think it makes sense to try and seek out safer spaces, but inevitably and unfortunately a lot of gamers are forced to take measures like you mentioned to be able to play and have fun.
What games are you currently playing for work, and for fun?
Valkyrie: Most of my time has been spent on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, as it was our hope it would be picked up by a pro-circuit. But as of recently, it looks to be confirmed that there is no hope for competitions on this game due to the inefficient capabilities of the LAN settings, so I will probably be moving off it shortly! Other than that I have been playing a lot of Magic the Gathering: Duel of the Planeswalker to gear up for some fun social gaming nights and I just took a leap off a cliff and went back to my old classic favorite: World of Warcraft!
Thank you for your time!
Valkyrie: Thanks so much!
World of Warshaft (On RealID)
Jul 8th
Quinnae is a young, Latina trans woman who games, reads, writes, and likes slugs. Her hobbies-slash-flaming passions are sociology, feminism, gender studies, politics, and eating pizza. At present she is studying to be a college professor, and is also an officer in her school’s women’s rights club, as well as one of several moderators on a women’s issues forum.On her spare time she very much enjoys gaming, both on and off the Internets. Her latest love was Dragon Age: Origins but her gaming experience in RPGs covers a smorgasbord of titles including World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, Lord of the Rings Online, and Everquest II. Many many moons ago, she played Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and was hooked on fantasy ever since.
This guest entry is reposted from her blog, The Nuclear Unicorn.
As I alluded to in my recent autobiographical posts, I was once a WoW gamer. Ahh, those were the days. I still miss those days, in fact! Which was why I was considering going back and firing up the ol’ Priestess so I could kick arse at raid healing again. I’m still in touch with plenty of WoW gamers, so my fingers remain ever so delicately situated on the pulse of that ageing but still powerful online gaming behemoth, including those times when it accelerates from WoW’s neverending and oh-so-entertaining drama.
Most in-game drama blow ups- this class getting nerfed, PVP being changed thus and so, raid gear altered in such and such a way- is geeky wonk of the nerdiest kind. But Blizzard has recently decided to inaugurate a change that raises important philosophical questions in spaces far beyond the alluring vistas of Azeroth. Real ID.
“Recently, we introduced our new Real ID feature – http://www.battle.net/realid/ , a new way to stay connected with your friends on the new Battle.net. Today, we wanted to give you a heads up about our plans for Real ID on our official forums, discuss the design philosophy behind the changes we’re making, and give you a first look at some of the new features we’re adding to the forums to help improve the quality of conversations and make the forums an even more enjoyable place for players to visit.
The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID — that is, their real-life first and last name — with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. Certain classic forums, including the classic Battle.net forums, will remain unchanged.”
As I reread those words on one particularly slow and sweltering afternoon I turned them over in my mind thinking this must be some belated April Fool’s joke. They’d force people to post their real names as a condition of writing on the forums? There must be some caveat to this. Surely they meant the reverse? Posting the name of your WoW character with the option of showing your real name? But, nope. They’re deadly serious.
Blizzard Wants The World To Know Your Name
Jul 6th
Battle net logo with a bright blue shiny "2.0" superimposed
Recently, we introduced our new Real ID feature - http://www.battle.net/realid/ , a new way to stay connected with your friends on the new Battle.net. Today, we wanted to give you a heads up about our plans for Real ID on our official forums, discuss the design philosophy behind the changes we’re making, and give you a first look at some of the new features we’re adding to the forums to help improve the quality of conversations and make the forums an even more enjoyable place for players to visit.
The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID — that is, their real-life first and last name — with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. Certain classic forums, including the classic Battle.net forums, will remain unchanged.
In an attempt to cut down on trolling and harassment in the forums Blizzard has proposed moving to use real names on forum posts. Unfortunately, this has been shown elsewhere to cause problems for the same people who are most likely to be dissuaded from posting by trolling. Serious posters who do not wish to have their online activity found by non-players or their real-life identity found by anyone wandering through the forums make significant contributions to the forums, whereas many trolls either use sock puppet accounts or simply don’t care about any real-life repercussions. If Blizzard wants to make Battle.net something more than that-thing-I-had-to-sign-up-for-to-play-WoW, they are going about it in a very odd way.
Until now World of Warcraft forum posts were made under a character’s name, so if you wanted to make an anonymous post you could create a new level 1 character and post using that character. It was a mark of authenticity to post under a max-level character, and there are many posters with long-running identities. The devs talked at one point about specific posters they listened to, all referenced by character name. Some character names became Community MVPs, demonstrating that there was already value attached to pseudonyms. One of these has commented that zie had been stalked in real life:
I love the game and will of course respect the coc/tos, but if the new forums require realid, which afaict they will (even though posts here won’t be retroactively outed)… then I’m forced to make a choice between posting there and giving out information that puts me at risk.
That is not a real choice.
-Snowfox, Vek’nilash
This is an important issue, because names carry markers of gender, ethnicity and real-world relationships that may be irrelevant to someone’s game play, but open up the possibility of harassment. It also makes it easier for harassers to follow people beyond the internet, making it a matter of personal safety. I find Blizzard’s decision unfortunate in every possible way. Forcing people to reveal personal details is no substitute for firm and consistent moderation, and will raise the barrier to entry of community participation. I know I will not be posting under the new policy.
When Battle.net first came out concerns were raised about cross-game data mining, the inability to share or sell accounts (already forbidden by World of Warcraft’s ToS), the use of “community” as a cover for introducing DRM and the desire for it to mesh with Steam. As far as I can tell, no one anticipated the possibility that Blizzard would “out” your real-life identity.
Amusingly enough, this change violates Blizzard’s terms of service, which promise to ban anyone revealing real-world information about a player. Clearly at one point they recognized the importance of pseudonymity; hopefully someone will stop this change before it goes through. There is currently a strong fan response pouring in and we’ll have to wait to see how Blizzard responds.
This also isn’t a new issue. Blizzard could have found the problems with their approach with even a cursory search on the topic. As such, I’ll recommend a couple of older posts I’d kept around on the issue. If you have favorites, please add them in the comments!
On real names online:
http://geekfeminism.org/2010/06/10/hacker-news-and-pseudonymity/ ,
Includes discussion of the intersection of harassment and real names:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/06/gender.blogging
MagiQuest – power of PINK!
Jul 2nd
MagiQuest is an interactive game experience. It is not a console or computer game, but more similar to live action role playing combined with video segments. Players walk around an area that is divided into several rooms. Each room is meant to be a different area in the game world: a forest, a cave, a magician’s house. There are people in this world that act as tour guides to help players if they get stuck or confused during the experience. Players carry around a wand that can be pointed at screens and hidden objects to interact with them. The wand acts in a similar way as the pointing action of a Wii remote. Point the wand at a treasure chest, watch it open, and the player gets money or gems added to their inventory. Point the wand at a rune and the wand marks that you have found it’s location. The game consists of finishing puzzles, collecting runes, learning spells, and defeating monsters with those spells. The story involves players running around the environment to solve puzzles and defeating monsters while activating short video segments that move the story forward. It is meant to be a fun interactive experience for children and adults. I recently received the following advertisement for a new wand type in MagiQuest:
MagiQuest Power of PINK ad. It shows an image of a pink wand with the text "MagiQuest introduces the power of pink! Unlock the powers of this fashionable, new, magical tool when it comes time to duel the dragons! Pink is powerful, indeed!"
My original reaction to this ad was very negative. Not another pink accessory for girls! Girls do not need things to be pink in order to enjoy or use the object. But, is this really the full story here? The ad never mentions females specifically. It mentions both pink and fashion, which are coded as feminine by US society but since the ad never says this is only for girls. Could they be implying that a pink, fashionable, and powerful wand is acceptable for bother boys and girls? Is it meant to be gender neutral? Sadly, a quick look at the website points to pink as code for girls.
Evolution of Anya Stroud
Jul 1st
To be perfectly frank, I am never quite sure why I’ve played the Gears of War franchise. While it certainly has given me fodder about which to write when it comes to issues of sexuality and gender representation, the game itself has no particular appeal to me (feeling no particular desire to grab my testosterone and yell ‘RAH!’). Having examined the reasons behind it, I have come to the conclusion that the academic gender studies person in me loves dissecting it as a piece of pop culture, and the optimist in me, who does exist, keeps hoping for some reveal that will show there is something more intelligent behind it all.
The last point may well be moot, however. Having rented both games, my roommate expressed an interest in playing as well; he went pretty much straight to the multiplayer modes–a mode I never thought to experience, finding shooters on a console controller awkward at best (personal preference). Having gone to E3, I volunteered to attend the scheduled event with Epic Games, having been the only of the GayGamer staff to have even played the games to completion. In the small room where only press were apparent, I found that the questions, outside my own, also focused on the multiplayer aspects. I am sure there exist players who care about the Gears world (comics and books beyond the game exist, after all), but the majority of the interest appeared to be in the newly announced Beast mode, and the awe at four-person co-op play.
Anya Stroud from the 'Ashes to Ashes' trailer. She is a white woman, seemingly in her 20s or 30s, with short-cropped hair. She is holding a chainsaw gun, leveling it off to the left, looking through its scope.
The fact that I happened to get a question in about Anya and the game’s addition of female soldiers seemed odd in such an environment. The answer I received is one over which I am still puzzling, and one on which I doubt I will have a firm opinion until I see the game itself. My question? Asking how the decision to include Anya on the front lines came about, particularly in contrast with her intelligence position in the first two games, and what it meant in terms of the world.
The answer tied back into the story and expanded with what seemed an appeal for the diversity of the cast. Keeping in mind that Jacinto had just been destroyed at the end of the last game, and that this takes place eighteen months after, it was stressed that there was a more primal nature to the game–particularly as it takes place during the summer months, and the demo highlighted more lush, outdoor environments. This means that humans are now going back to a more basic life, and everyone fights for survival. Cliff Bleszinski went on to say that they hope to explore the characters more, seeing how this sort of environment allows for both the evolution and devolution of characters–from the way it was said, it seemed that Anya moving beyond the bookish, protocol-following ways of her past is seen as the former. Time will tell?
However, Bleszinski also explained that there would be more female soldiers, naming one Samantha Burns, whom he described as an English-accented woman of mixed race who was incredibly competent. Yet another character he brought up was the Drake-voiced Jace Stratton, who seems the non-clichéd counterpart to Cole Train. What seems to be happening is an eye toward inclusion, and stepping beyond just tokenism. In text on a screen, this all reads well and good, so far.
Anya Stroud, holding a chainsaw bayonet in her right hand, held upright, with her left arm resting against her raised left knee, staring forward in a shadowy portrait.
The part of the answer that made me raise an eyebrow and recall that this is the Gears franchise, which has had some problems in how females in its universe are treated through canon, was when he stated that he also wanted to show Anya could be one of the guys, but still make it so you knew you could date her. I had suspicions at the end of Gears of War 2, when Marcus panics when Anya can’t be found, that there would be a romantic subplot involving her, about which I feel very ambivalent (and her liking Marcus seems confirmed through the Gearspedia and the novel Gears of War: Aspho Fields). The largest problem I have with it would be making her a primary character who is seen more just so that she can get into a relationship. Do not particularly want.
Another possibility that I would prefer, and seems to tie into the parental issues games seem to be facing more and more (or I’m noticing it more), is the fact that during the E3 event, Bleszinski mentioned Marcus’s father again, a subplot that has woven through the games, but never particularly revealed much. In contrast, Anya’s mother was a highly honored front line fighter who trained Marcus Fenix, and having issues where she deals with her mother’s past as a high-ranking soldier could be potentially of much more interest than a romance thread. I cannot recall too many games that explore connections between daughters and their mothers off hand (exaggerated by the fact that women feature so marginally).
Again, I am left at a crossroads, where I often see where the Gears story could be headed. While playing the sequel, I kept wondering when the twist would occur and we reveal that the Locust are something more than Tolkien-inspired orcs in a sci-fi setting (with all the connotations that can carry). While I’m not sure such plans exist, I suppose I will play the forthcoming game (likely a rental) just so I can see how much of this is just words given, and how much is actually enacted through the game itself.
The Sexist Interviews Courtney Stoker On Feminism and Geek Fandom
Jun 29th
Today, Amanda Hess posted an interview with blogger Courtney Stoker about being a feminist and a nerd, and participating in geeky fandoms where sexism seems particularly rampant. She doesn’t talk about games, but her experience is probably all too familiar for many of our readers:
I’ve blogged about Doctor Who and geek culture quite a bit lately, and I’d say about half of the responses I’ve received have been positive (and a few bright shining ones have been thanking me for saying what needed to be said). The others vacillate between mocking me for being a lady (the implication being that I am silly to talk about feminism or sci fi like I Know Things, on account of my obviously inferior lady-brain), mocking me for being a feminist (usually one Made of Straw), accusing me of inserting my dirty lady-feelings (irrelevant and irrational!) into a discussion of sci fi/geek culture, and determining that I am a Bad Feminist for any number of reasons. It’s hard, sometimes, because I only talk about sci fi things because I am a fan. Sci fi is a huge part of my life and my research. To have members of this community tell me that I am not qualified to Talk About Things on account of being a lady or a feminist is exhausting and disempowering. When I first forayed into this community, I thought that it would be progressive, feminist, and proud of its lady members (and not, you know, for their boobs). It’s been a hard let-down.
Courtney also talks about the roles women and girls are expected to play in geek fandoms, how some white male geeks appropriate the experience of oppression, and the politics of cosplay. It’s a great read.
I’ve definitely gone through this sort of thing in the various gaming communities I’ve tried to join. It’s often these sorts of experiences that lead people to create communities like The Border House. Is Courtney’s story familiar to you? Are there any fandoms that are more welcoming? If you do participate in fandom, how do you deal with marginalizing comments?
E3 2010: A ‘Moving’ Experience
Jun 23rd
(N.B. Trigger warning for violence perpetrated against women, sexual in nature. Spoiler warnings for Heavy Rain.)
Lauren Winters, a middle-aged white woman with dark brown hair, head cocked to the side. She wears a bathrobe, and is staring slightly off-left.
This past week I had the opportunity to attend E3 (many thanks to GayGamer for the honor), and during that time I was able to test the three main consoles’ newest technological ‘innovations.’ For the Playstation Move, I was shown many games I could easily see on the Wii, and therefore I sort of shuffled through them, not wholly impressed by the graphical power that the PS3 provided. No, I was much more interested in the demo they had of Heavy Rain being played with the Move control scheme.
Despite its flaws (particularly in Madison Paige), I enjoyed Heavy Rain. It had its fair share of problems, and I probably am more in love with the potential than with what I was actually presented. While demoing the Move for the game, the man behind me happened to share some highlighting scenes for me that made me cringe, and wonder for whom this game was designed.
The first scene I played was the same demo available on the PSN, playing Scott Shelby, going to interview Lauren Winters. I’ve written my impressions of how I believe the control scheme worked during the fight, but before I even reached that scene, the demo representative shared this tidbit with me: if you wait half a minute or so to knock on the door and intervene, Lauren will have a black eye after you rescue her. I could tell by the way he repeated this twice (a common trait from people showing me games was to stress over and over what they believed I was supposed to be doing, rather than letting the game guide me and speak for itself) he wanted me to actually witness this, at which I cringed.
No. Beyond just the considerations I had for Lauren, having finished the game already, I could not fathom why it was important that I witness a woman with a black eye because an irate man decided he wasn’t pleased with her. From the way it was discussed, this would change nothing else in the game, and would not communicate anything to me. While I would like to believe it to be a powerful statement of our own society’s capability to be silent on issues of domestic violence and abuse of sex workers, I do not believe the way it was represented to me supports such a conclusion.
The second scene available, and this is the point where I put down the controller, hoping that our booth tour guide would get the signal, was Madison Paige’s initial scene. Cue being told that there were multiple ways to get Madison killed during this scene–something that would never have occurred to me. See, put in the situation the scene puts forth, my immediate idea was to escape assault on Madison, tinged as it is with rape and assault triggers.
Let me reiterate, it never occurred to me to replay the scene and try dying at earlier moments to satisfy some curiosity. Given the choose-your-path style of gaming that Heavy Rain encourages, I suppose it makes sense to allow for different outcomes at different junctions during that long, painful scene.
I am not sure what to make of my encounter, to be honest. Sure, it impressed that the Move was an experience that would work well for certain games (and accomplishes a small, but important step toward immersion for Quantic Dream’s vision), but it has now attached itself to a memory of someone selling the violence that you are able to witness against two of the three primary female characters (arguably the mother is a minor character).
Had I been female, I wonder, would the same message have been conveyed to me? Would I have been encouraged to witness the same scenes in the same way? The game is triggering enough as is, but to have this pushed forward so… effortlessly on his part left a foul taste in my mouth.
My advice to Sony? Get someone to tell me about the game without the glee derived from seeing women battered and attacked in very triggering ways. Then again, considering the Playboy spread and Taxidermist DLC, I am not sure I have any faith remaining in this particular game.
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