It’s time again for another round of linkspam. Happy Wednesday!
Therazane from World of Warcraft. An earth elemental with a large belly, voluptuous breasts, and a big toothy grin.
Therazane and the Other Strong Women of Deepholm (Orcish Army Knife): “Therazane is a great example of Blizzard proving they can break their decidedly-sexist previous habits and introduce strong, independent female characters. The other Deepholm women were all great, and were just as impressive and confident in their respective quests, but Therazane really takes the cake.”
Jared Loughner’s Scary Online Postings Discuss Rape, Rejection (Jezebel): “Tucson shooter Jared Loughner’s postings on online gaming forums reveal a disappointment with life that turned violent and misogynist.”
Gay Characters: The Longest Journey (GayGamer.net): “It seems to illustrate how strongly Funcom wanted to have this particular couple in the game, and treated it with care, avoiding capitalizing on the ‘lesbian fantasy’ most straight males are assumed to have, and giving them actual sexual autonomy.”
Women in Games Scholarship (Vancouver Film School): “Vancouver Film School (VFS), Canada’s premier post-secondary entertainment arts institution, is pleased to present the third annual Women in Games Scholarship – the first scholarship of its kind in the world – to encourage greater opportunities for women pursuing a career in game design.”
Fat Character in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (men_in_full, LJ): “AC2 impressed me with its incidental crowd character designs, which included both men and women of varying sizes, including fat people (and some pretty attractive fat men.) Laura, who’s played ACB all the way through, tells me that there’s even more diversity among the men in that game.”
An Interview with Bad Fish: On Women and Marketing in the Game Industry (GamerGrrlz.net): “The women who are game makers in the industry as it stands are there because they are movers and shakers and probably care little of what others think. It comes with the territory of being in a male dominated industry. You’re not there “because of”, you’re there “despite that”. If we reject the association of video games with masculinity, it will work in everyone’s favor.”
Bringing a Bikini to a Sword Fight (IGN): “Women in games are usually treated as little more than eye-candy, and frequently, developers will give you a “sassy” female sidekick so annoying that, when given the option, you’d rather shoot her and fail the mission than spend another minute with her whining and yelling for you to save her.”
Tokenism: Why “Almost” Isn’t Enough Part 1 (Ars Marginal): “White authors, I’m not grateful that you deigned to include people who look remotely like me only to treat them like shit and kill them off. I don’t have to take it and like it. In fact, you’re being racist assholes and you will not get brownie points except from neo-conservatives and other bigots.”
What did I miss? Leave links in the comments. Feel free to send me links anytime as well!
