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[SephLuis]

To me it boils down to a game having interesting characters, regardless of their genre. Especially in story driven games that have a set cast of characters that the player cannot change or influence.

However, if the game is one where you create your own character (dark souls) or your character has a bare minimum of a background and the rest in all on you (Persona), then I think it's very important to have that option.

 

[Squire]

It's that attitude that led to lead protagonists being dominated by men.

Gotta tackle the issue head on instead of being apathetic.

I think the fallacious attitude "Games with female main characters don't sell" and bad focus testing is what led to protagonists being dominated by men. Ugh, that story about the Bioshock Infinite cover.

His point and yours aren't mutually exclusive though, they compliment one another.

By responding to the attitude with "I don't care either way" you communicate your apathy, but not necessarily support for change.

 

[Mael]

Yeah, same answer as the one I'd give for minority characters in lead role :
very important.

Take Pokemon for example, no one would want the game to ditch the character selection and when they ditched the skin tone that one time it really made the game so much more boring than it could have been.

I can get story heavy games not being a good fit for a choice in the character you're playing but if it's a platformer or something more gameplay driven, don't be lazy and provide a choice.

 

[The ๖ۜBronx]

It's not apathetic if you seriously don't care either way.

.

 

[BBboy20]

Sign me up in the extremely important category.

Oh you.

 

[Crossing Eden]

Yes, I'm playing Emily in high chaos Though I still don't murder every NPC and all, but despite my not-so-best efforts at stealth I end up with high chaos on every level. Oh well.

I mean on one hand, the guards are just doing their jobs, on the other hand, their bosses messed with papa:

 

[Mobile Suit Gooch]

Female leads are my preference, bruh. Give me moar.

Spoiler

Come on Atlus/P-studio and give me one for Persona 6. Don't be a bitch.

 

[blummer102]

I feel like a whole study did not need to be done on this. Female protagonists (and any protagonists that are different from the stereotypical male ones that have been prevalent in gaming for the last thirty years) are important for diversifying the hobby and making it more interesting. Gaming should be for everyone and should try to appeal to everyone!

Simply put - without a female protagonist, we wouldn't have Valkyrie Profile, and that's a crime!

 

[TSM]

For myself I'd be fine with a majority of characters being female. I'm sure my daughters would appreciate it even if I don't particularly care either way.

That's basically the definition of apathy.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/apathy

I think it's less apathy over the gender of a character and more apathy over things that aren't intrinsically gameplay related. I'll put up with a whole bunch of nonsense if the core gameplay loop is fun, but I could care less about the story, characters or setting if the core gameplay is boring. Frankly I find most game's stories and characterizations overwrought and actually a detriment to the games themselves. Any game with unskippable cutscenes does their game an incredible disservice.

 

[Gotdatmoney]

I feel like a whole study did not need to be done on this

Yes it did. Otherwise you have idiots saying that it doesn't matter to the audience whether a game has women or men as the protagonist. Now we have an actual studying saying yes, women actually care about having women in leading roles.

 

[NexusCell]

Don't really care if a game has a male or female protagonist as long as they are interesting, although having a female protagonists makes it much more likely that I'll give the game a closer look.

 

[Squire]

I wonder how often female anti-heroes are avoided out of fear of optics? It's more likely it just never even comes up 99% of the time (which is itself sad), but I feel like something people have picked up on is female characters consistently being put in two positions in games: Damsels or adversarial characters/outright villains in male-centric stories and the damaging real world attitudes that enforces.

 

[Yearsoflurking]

I like diversity that has a purpose, not diversity just to fit marketing option b. Minority stories need to be done with more justice; i think a game like mafia 3 is how things should be done.

 

[SchrodingerC]

Gamers who care more about the availability of female protagonists scored higher on Design (lots of customization options), Fantasy (being someone else, somewhere else), and Story (interesting plot and characters).

That unsurprising to me. I tend to play RPGs a lot more because those games often time allow me to pick the gender of my character, and I love long complex stories with detailed characters.

Also, gaming has been a goddamn white sausage fest for a long. Let's continue on diversifying gaming's catalogue of characters and protags.

 

[Kinyou]

Interesting how hardcore gamers overall care less than casual players.

 

[Squire]

Interesting how hardcore gamers overall care less than casual players.

Hardcore gamers (and some devs too) suffering from a tunnel vision that's laser focused on "games games games" and not what goes (or can go) into them or what people can take away from them is undubtedky the root of a lot of the industry's problems. In terms of both culture and business.

 

[Giolon]

His point and yours aren't mutually exclusive though, they compliment one another.

By responding to the attitude with "I don't care either way" you communicate your apathy, but not necessarily support for change.

FWIW, PK Gaming's line about apathy was edited in after/during my response.

Though, I don't think apathy is the cause, but if people weren't largely apathetic about it there would have been more resistance to the situation developing, no?

-------------------------------------------

As I think about it, I'd really like to see answers to the questions framed in the following ways (responses broken down for men, women, casual, core, and hardcore):

• How important is the choice between a male and female protagonist?
• How important is it for a game to have only a male protagonist (i.e. no female protagonist)?
• How important is it for a game to have only a female protagonist (i.e. no male protagonist)?
• How important is it for games with only a male protagonist to exist?
• How important is it for games with only a female protagonist to exist?
• How much does having only a male protagonist affect your interest in a game?
• How much does having only a female protagonist affect your interest in a game?
• How much does having a choice of male or female protagonist affect your interest in a game?

Seeing how the responses compare between demographics would be extremely interesting.

 

[Sylas]

I like diversity that has a purpose, not diversity just to fit marketing option b. Minority stories need to be done with more justice; i think a game like mafia 3 is how things should be done.

I think it's just as important to have this so-called marketing option b. In some cases you just want a character that looks like you--especially with younger people. There doesn't always have to be a story behind why someone is a minority or a female protagonist. Sometimes you just want a little girl to go, "Oh wow. She's really cool!" and feel like she can be represented just like a boy would.

I feel like people sometimes confuse tokenism with, again, marketing option b.

 

[Mobile Suit Gooch]

FWIW, PK Gaming's line about apathy was edited in after/during my response.

Though, I don't think apathy is the cause, but if people weren't largely apathetic about it there would have been more resistance to the situation developing, no?

-------------------------------------------

As I think about it, I'd really like to see answers to the questions framed in the following ways (responses broken down for men, women, casual, core, and hardcore):

• How important is the choice between a male and female protagonist?
• How important is it for a game to have only a male protagonist (i.e. no female protagonist)?
• How important is it for a game to have only a female protagonist (i.e. no male protagonist)?
• How important is it for games with only a male protagonist to exist?
• How important is it for games with only a female protagonist to exist?
• How much does having only a male protagonist affect your interest in a game?
• How much does having only a female protagonist affect your interest in a game?
• How much does having a choice of male or female protagonist affect your interest in a game?

Seeing how the responses compare between demographics would be extremely interesting.

I'd like to see a survey on this too.

 

[Damn Silly]

I like diversity that has a purpose, not diversity just to fit marketing option b. Minority stories need to be done with more justice; i think a game like mafia 3 is how things should be done.

Eh, while stories that focus on the experience only one subset of the population could have are great, there should also be non-straight white male characters just because, otherwise it never becomes normal to have a character that isn't a straight white male.

 

[SephLuis]

Gaming should be for everyone and should try to appeal to everyone!

I do agree with this, but let me use your example to develop an idea even further.

Simply put - without a female protagonist, we wouldn't have Valkyrie Profile, and that's a crime!

In this case, we could have had a Valkyrie Profile with a male lead, however, it would probably be a vastly different game than the one we actually got and, probably, a lot less interesting. Just as a reminder, there is one in the DS that the protagonist is male and he wants to get revenge against the Valkyrie (I think, I played very little of that game).

In this series, my guess is that the story depended more on how the developer wanted to portray the legend of the Valkyrie. In the two first games, the main character was a Valkyrie herself thus there couldn't be any other leads expect a female one. In the DS game, the developer chooses a male lead so the point of view would have to be of how someone else (a 3rd party) sees and interacts with the legend.

While I wouldn't say we would never got Valkyrie Profile, it would be a drastically different experience just because the point of view was changed. This is one of the cases where the mythos justifies even more the use of a female lead and, IMO, enchances the actual lore of the game itself. Bayonetta, with the legend of Witches, does the same.

In another topic, the first two Trails in the Sky games have Estelle as the main lead and I doubt anyone else would have it any other way. In this case, there is no mythology to support why Estelle (or the main character position) must be female, however, the developers did such a great job with her that the story probably wouldn't work as well as it did in any other way.

I think those are the actual good examples of how to develop female leads, instead of just putting one there just for the sake of it.

 

[LightofRohan]

Dunno about anyone else, but its really important to me. Mostly cause its so rare to see competent well developed females that are in the main role

Gotta say though, it's rare to see competent well developed males that are in the main role as well. Which people rarely realize... but I get what you are saying.

But it's hard to see gaf threads about how trash game stories/characters are, then pretend that bad writing is exclusive to female characters.

Outside of that I understand.

 

[SixMachine]

Gender of the lead is a huge important part of a game's viewpoint since it is through who's lens the story is seen through. For example, Gravity Rush works extremely well with Kat as the lead, she is extremely feminine in many ways and is pretty refreshing character wise to play through the game as. If she was a boy, it would be through a completely different lens and context that it would be entirely different. The opposite would be the Yakuza games, Kazuma Kiryu is extremely manly, from his voice, exterior, mannerisms, and the way he aggressively kicks the shit out of everyone in Kamurocho, but his viewpoint is important in the context of the game, especially since being a father is a big deal to Kiryu and how he interacts with others.

I do think when games use a vanilla cardboard cutout where it can be anyone as the protagonist, that is the lazier option. Even if you are trying to appeal to the most people, it does not narrow down to a more specific context that they can potentially go into more detail with a character and show a more unique and personalized character. It was interesting to see how Kat interacts with a boy she has a crush on, even though I am not a teen girl, and likewise it was interesting to see how Kiryu various encounters with the opposite sex turned out (both seriously tragic and the really weirdly funny ones. He's never calling that hotline again), even though I'm not nearly as grizzled as he is.

 

[karnage10]

I'm the type that doesn't care if the main char is. I just want something compelling. I don't even mind re-using cliche as long as it is fun.
All this said there are way way too few games with main characters that are female or non-white. I don't even know if there is any game where the lead char is black and female; i sure as hell haven't ever played a game with such a char in my 15 years of playing video games. This is just sad.

 

[Foxy the Fox]

More female MCs is always welcome. The numbers says that everybody loves girls and I think is true.

Why people wants to play as a bald marine and see it all day is unknown to me. Fem protags are always more interesting.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Perfer males if at all possible. Don't care to play as females for the most part but when it makes sense I don't see why a person would protest.

 

[Dommo]

Just as with any other medium, it's important to get an assortment of different human experiences to diversify and grow our understanding of others. Right now, in video games, and to a lesser extent other mediums, that doesn't happen for women as much as men. So yeah, it's pretty important.

- It's important to have heroic, brave, idealised female characters so women have something to look up to.
- It's important to have mentally strong, intelligent female characters so we know that women can be just as capable as men.
- It's important to have flawed and complex female characters so we know that women are vulnerable, complex beings with the same complexities as men.
- It's important to have central female characters going through issues specific to women to give women something to relate to and to shed light on them for men.

These are all reasons why having specifically central female characters is important and not just "whatever. Either works fine and doesn't make a difference to me."

 

[Mobile Suit Gooch]

Why people want to play as a bald marine and see it all day is unknown to me.

I don't know, it's a preference.

 

[LotusHD]

Gender of the lead is a huge important part of a game's viewpoint since it is through who's lens the story is seen through. For example, Gravity Rush works extremely well with Kat as the lead, she is extremely feminine in many ways and is pretty refreshing character wise to play through the game as. If she was a boy, it would be through a completely different lens and context that it would be entirely different. The opposite would be the Yakuza games, Kazuma Kiryu is extremely manly, from his voice, exterior, mannerisms, and the way he aggressively kicks the shit out of everyone in Kamurocho, but his viewpoint is important in the context of the game, especially since being a father is a big deal to Kiryu and how he interacts with others.

I do think when games use a vanilla cardboard cutout where it can be anyone as the protagonist, that is the lazier option. Even if you are trying to appeal to the most people, it does not narrow down to a more specific context that they can potentially go into more detail with a character and show a more unique and personalized character. It was interesting to see how Kat interacts with a boy she has a crush on, even though I am not a teen girl, and likewise it was interesting to see how Kiryu various encounters with the opposite sex turned out (both seriously tragic and the really weirdly funny ones. He's never calling that hotline again), even though I'm not nearly as grizzled as he is.

Agreed on Gravity Rush, playing as Kat was immensely refreshing in a way that could never be replicated if she was a guy.

 

[PhilipDoesMatter]

I personally love and prefer them. When they give me the choice, I choose female, especially when you can empower her with a cool armor.

Btw my preferred char of all time is Celes (FF VI). Strong as fuck, delicate as a poem. Can't be more charming.

Way to go female characters.

 

[Danjin44]

Gender of the lead is a huge important part of a game's viewpoint since it is through who's lens the story is seen through. For example, Gravity Rush works extremely well with Kat as the lead, she is extremely feminine in many ways and is pretty refreshing character wise to play through the game as. If she was a boy, it would be through a completely different lens and context that it would be entirely different. The opposite would be the Yakuza games, Kazuma Kiryu is extremely manly, from his voice, exterior, mannerisms, and the way he aggressively kicks the shit out of everyone in Kamurocho, but his viewpoint is important in the context of the game, especially since being a father is a big deal to Kiryu and how he interacts with others.

I do think when games use a vanilla cardboard cutout where it can be anyone as the protagonist, that is the lazier option. Even if you are trying to appeal to the most people, it does not narrow down to a more specific context that they can potentially go into more detail with a character and show a more unique and personalized character. It was interesting to see how Kat interacts with a boy she has a crush on, even though I am not a teen girl, and likewise it was interesting to see how Kiryu various encounters with the opposite sex turned out (both seriously tragic and the really weirdly funny ones. He's never calling that hotline again), even though I'm not nearly as grizzled as he is.

Kat is one of my favourite Female characters. we need more Kat.

 

[Shaanyboi]

Representation matters. Diversity matters. So they are both very important.

Short and sweet

 

[Yearsoflurking]

I think it's just as important to have this so-called marketing option b. In some cases you just want a character that looks like you--especially with younger people. There doesn't always have to be a story behind why someone is a minority or a female protagonist. Sometimes you just want a little girl to go, "Oh wow. She's really cool!" and feel like she can be represented just like a boy would.

I feel like people sometimes confuse tokenism with, again, marketing option b.

I agree with you as a minority, i just wish they were done better consistently

 

[tbm24]

It's really important to me, especially now to share those games with my daughter as she grows older. She'll notice at some point that games are male heavy, but if it takes longer than usual I'll consider it progress.

 

[Neoxon]

Representation matters. Diversity matters. So they are both very important.

This post nails it.

 

[TheSkullPrince]

It's very fucking important that we have more female protagonists.

Oh and the whole "I don't care what gender a character is as long as it's done well" is basically the same as the "I don't see color" excuse people give to try and justify the lack of POC protagonists.

 

[hikarutilmitt]

Because apathy is the greatest enemy of empathy. If you don't care, care for the people that do.

This feels like now, if I don't work for the movement (whatever it may be) then I'm somehow against the movement, and that's not how it works. It's happening all over the place. But who are you to say that, ya know, I have to care for the sake of it? For the sake of others? Are they simply incapable of doing their part on their own?

It's kind of like not voting for a president, I feel: if you hate both candidates (this isn't the first time) you're doing more damage by voting for one just to vote "against" the other one. In this case, I'd be "helping" a cause I have no, well, cause for. I guess this still keeps me in the hardcore crowd, sure (and it's not wrong) but putting emphasis on it too much and forcing it to become a thing and making it a point to make one, even if it weren't planned, is just ticking a box on a checklist for social responsibility rather than making it meaningful.

I'd rather have 2 or 3 games with 2B or Aloy or Kat than 50 with the current Lara Croft.

Far enough into the future, if the resources are invested, we'll be able to have whatever race/gender/alien/whatever we want as the protagonist and the story will work around it appropriately. We can create what we want instead of needing to be created for us and then resulting in these discussions. But, when we reach that, will we be devoid of premade characters made for a narrative? Will it just come full circle and we end up with this discussion but with a different thing?

 

[texhnolyze]

It's very important to me.

However, if the game's theme wouldn't allow it I'll be fine with it.

For example, a female protagonist in a Yakuza game would be impossible.

 

[LotusHD]

This feels like now, if I don't work for the movement (whatever it may be) then I'm somehow against the movement, and that's not how it works. It's happening all over the place. But who are you to say that, ya know, I have to care for the sake of it? For the sake of others? Are they simply incapable of doing their part on their own?

It's kind of like not voting for a president, I feel: if you hate both candidates (this isn't the first time) you're doing more damage by voting for one just to vote "against" the other one. In this case, I'd be "helping" a cause I have no, well, cause for. I guess this still keeps me in the hardcore crowd, sure (and it's not wrong) but putting emphasis on it too much and forcing it to become a thing and making it a point to make one, even if it weren't planned, is just ticking a box on a checklist for social responsibility rather than making it meaningful.

I'd rather have 2 or 3 games with 2B or Aloy or Kat than 50 with the current Lara Croft.

Far enough into the future, if the resources are invested, we'll be able to have whatever race/gender/alien/whatever we want as the protagonist and the story will work around it appropriately. We can create what we want instead of needing to be created for us and then resulting in these discussions. But, when we reach that, will we be devoid of premade characters made for a narrative? Will it just come full circle and we end up with this discussion but with a different thing?

Considering the past couple of months, this is like the worst example to use lmfao

 

[RowdyReverb]

I think it's possible to say that there should be more diversity in game protagonists, but also say that it doesn't necessarily detract from a good game if it has a white male protagonist. The two opinions don't have to be mutually exclusive.

I personally don't care who my player character is as long as they are somehow interesting, but I would think it's obvious that there is a dearth of female characters in games

 

[Nirolak]

Near the beginning of this generation when this was becoming a very popular trend, sites like Kotaku and Polygon asked publishers and developers why they were adding them, and basically all of them said it was because way more women were playing their games now.

It does add up with the industry stats we see too about the number of female gamers.

 

[hikarutilmitt]

Considering the past couple of months, this is like the worst example to use lmfao

It was a parallel in arguments, not a political statement. Hell, these past few months could be made for this entire discussion about "apathy" anyway.

 

[Squire]

This feels like now, if I don't work for the movement (whatever it may be) then I'm somehow against the movement, and that's not how it works. It's happening all over the place. But who are you to say that, ya know, I have to care for the sake of it? For the sake of others? Are they simply incapable of doing their part on their own?

It's kind of like not voting for a president, I feel: if you hate both candidates (this isn't the first time) you're doing more damage by voting for one just to vote "against" the other one. In this case, I'd be "helping" a cause I have no, well, cause for. I guess this still keeps me in the hardcore crowd, sure (and it's not wrong) but putting emphasis on it too much and forcing it to become a thing and making it a point to make one, even if it weren't planned, is just ticking a box on a checklist for social responsibility rather than making it meaningful.

I'd rather have 2 or 3 games with 2B or Aloy or Kat than 50 with the current Lara Croft.

Far enough into the future, if the resources are invested, we'll be able to have whatever race/gender/alien/whatever we want as the protagonist and the story will work around it appropriately. We can create what we want instead of needing to be created for us and then resulting in these discussions. But, when we reach that, will we be devoid of premade characters made for a narrative? Will it just come full circle and we end up with this discussion but with a different thing?

It's funny how emotional some folks get at the point about being apathetic.

Like, you don't care - about a lot of things, as this post makes clear - but you're EXTREMELY passionate about your right to not care.

 

[DxD]

Zero important to me.
I play whatever the game gives me.
I think my first female character was Peach from Mario 2.

For MMO, I play both. I paid $30 to switch my male character to a female one because nothing more badass than a woman tanking a hit from a giant boss.

But I can see how the other would say it is important because it is lacking.
I think I played Peach then Terra as my 2nd female character, 2 generation of gaming for me to play another main heroine. (I don't count fightning game.)

 

[hikarutilmitt]

ya know what? no I'm not doing this.

 

[LotusHD]

It was a parallel in arguments, not a political statement. Hell, these past few months could be made for this entire discussion about "apathy" anyway.

I'm just saying lol

 

[Nekketsu Kõha]

Zero important to me.
I play whatever the game gives me.
I think my first female character was Peach from Mario 2.

For MMO, I play both. I paid $30 to switch my male character to a female one because nothing more badass than a woman tanking a hit from a giant boss.

But I can see how the other would say it is important because it is lacking.
I think I played Peach then Terra as my 2nd female character, 2 generation of gaming for me to play another main heroine. (I don't count fightning game.)

Think that might have been the first time for me as well. Have a hard time thinking of something else. She was the best character as well.

 

[MoonFrog]

It isn't an issue I don't buy games over, but I do think, in general, the trend ought to be towards more and more differing female leads.

I don't think games need to have protagonist choice (that includes gender) or just have a predetermined female leads. There is no "ought" at that level and I'm also personally fine with the lead being male (or female).

A wrinkle is I'd probably side-eye an elaborate character creator that didn't have relatively inclusive options. A gender toggle is pretty low hanging fruit in this regard, right next to a range of skin tones.

But generally, I don't see it as a game-by-game problem, rather an overall cultural product problem.

Obviously, this is an uncomfortable position even if I'm pretty sure it toes the correct lines wrt oughts. The overall cultural product is only changed by change among its individual constituents, even if no single one ought to have a female lead. (Well, perhaps there is some narrative reason or there is a character creator, etc. but taking a step back towards a more abstracted "initial" game). Something has to move somewhere for the whole body to move.

Basically, I'm going to keep buying games as I do and hope the industry shifts creatively but not hold the status quo, absent any further considerations, against particular developers.

Idk how that rates on the importance scale.

...

Another thing to consider/be curious about is what effect "waifu" has on these numbers, insofar as that might highlight interest against the grain of the thread but in line with "female protagonist is extremely important."

The capacity to "waifu" just about anything attractive to a general audience suggests perhaps the interests don't diverge much. But my point is, people are talking about that 24% and there is also the potential for "I want female main characters but only if they are attractive (romantically/sexually) to me." (Which, tbc, is more than just enjoying it when you are so attracted or looking for that sort of experience--it is being repulsed from an otherwise attractive game (to you) because it doesn't give you that experience).

 

[KillLaCam]

I don't care what gender he character is as long as they're cool or interesting

 

[Alex_Mexico]

I did play Horizon. I like her design but I personally don't like her personality at all.

So you think a robot that has her ass exposed and her eyes covered was a more compelling character than Aloy?

I'm not saying Aloy is the end all be all of that 2B was bad but if you think you connected more with a hypersexualied high heels wearing ass exposing blindfolded woman (the eyes are a window to the soul after all) than with the best new videogame female protagonist we've had in years then it may help understand where you're coming from.