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The Border House is a blog for gamers. It's a blog for those who are feminist, queer, disabled, people of color, transgender, poor, gay, lesbian, and others who belong to marginalized groups, as well as allies. Our goal is to bring thoughtful analysis to gaming with a feminist viewpoint and up-to-date news on games, virtual worlds, and social media.Discussion Policy
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Tag Archives: Characters Done Right
Lara Croft, Bravery, and Humanity
The following is a guest post from Daniel Bullard-Bates: Daniel Bullard-Bates is a feminist and an ally with a degree in religious studies. He works at the American Civil Liberties Union and writes fiction when he isn’t playing video games … Continue reading
The Longest Journey and Dreamfall
Writing about the game that gave this site its name feels a bit like smugly opening a discussion about science fiction with “Did you know that Blade Runner is kind of a big deal?” But with creator Ragnar Tørnquist’s new … Continue reading
Posted in General Gaming, Indie Games, PC Games
Tagged characters, Characters Done Right, class, dreamfall, ragnar tornquist, The Longest Journey, women in games
9 Comments
Immoral Women: Why We Need More of Them
One of the most irksome things I hear when I make arguments for ‘good/positive portrayals’ of characters from traditionally marginalised backgrounds is that my interlocutors immediately assume I’m calling for portrayals of moral paragons. They seem to think I’m … Continue reading
Into the Snows of Yesteryear: A Review of B. Sokal’s Syberia
Adventure games always held a special sort of promise for me; they were a respite from the usual childhood fare of platformers and shoot-em-ups. Fun as those could be in their own right it was wonderful to play a genre … Continue reading
Posted in Casual Games, General Gaming
Tagged Characters Done Right, disability, female characters, gender, Kate Walker, neuroatypicality, Syberia
14 Comments
Characters Done Right – Aveline
Memorable characters have unique motivations, stories, and personalities. Video games often have ensemble casts with the individual party members simply serving the main character’s interests. As a healer, damage dealer, or thief they are there to compliment the gameplay style … Continue reading
Characters Done Right: Scarlett of Scarlett and the Spark of Life
by guest contributor Kirk Hamilton Kirk Hamilton is a white, straight cisgender male writer, musician and jazz educator in San Francisco. He is the founder of Gamer Melodico and is currently the games editor at Paste Magazine, where he makes … Continue reading
Characters Done Right: Kreia of Knights of the Old Republic 2
Spoiler Alert and Appropriately Long Explanation: There is no way I can talk about this character in any substantive manner without completely spoiling Knights of the Old Republic 2. It’s really just impossible without being so vague as to be … Continue reading
Posted in General Gaming, PC Games
Tagged Characters Done Right, feminism, Knights of the old Republic, Kreia, Obsidian
32 Comments
Characters Done Right: The Honeywells
Far too often characters in video games are completely one dimensional: the helpless female white mage or the burly male protagonist with a huge sword. When breaking from tropes, simply making a healer be a male character or a warrior … Continue reading
Characters Done Right (Retro Edition): Alpha Centauri
One of my favourite games of all time is Alpha Centauri, by Firaxis. To a large extent, it exists only because of legal wranglings over who held the rights to produce more Civilization games. With the rights uncertain, Sid Meier … Continue reading
Posted in PC Games
Tagged 4X, Alpha Centauri, characters, Characters Done Right, diversity, Firaxis, race
19 Comments
Characters Done Right: BioShock 2′s Grace Holloway
BioShock 2 started off at a slow, plodding pace that made me wonder if I would regret my decision to purchase the game. As many reviews note, it is a game that picks up steam and finishes strongly, in opposition … Continue reading
Posted in General Gaming
Tagged BioShock 2, Characters Done Right, politics, racism, women of color
8 Comments

