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[Crossing Eden]

EDIT:Instead of rushing to respond only to the title and find what you perceive to be an exception to all the tropes in the articles, actually read it, because your example has probably already been mentioned.

While dads are everywhere in games, mothers are almost invisible

We've heard a lot about the dadification of videogames. The recent E3 games convention showed the likes of Kratos, Marcus Fenix and Corvo joining Booker DeWitt, Joel and Ethan Mars as tender-but-tough paragons of fatherhood.

So where are the heroic moms?

Game development teams — very often led by middle aged men — are happy to churn out fictional models of brooding, paternal excellence. But they take a very different approach to depicting motherhood.

Polygon looked at a selection of more than 40 recent or recent-ish games featuring moms and mom stories, representing a cross-section of story-based games covering the last decade or so.

We found that gaming generally treats moms as background narrative props for protagonists, very often dead or absent. Sometimes, older women with children are presented as anti-moms, whose quest for power concludes with sentiments of regret generally absent from games in which male villains are vanquished. Those women who are portrayed as positive mother figures are often not actual mothers at all.

LONG DEAD MOMS
The most common state for a mother in games, is to be dead. Deaths often occur in childbirth or the early childhoods of protagonists.

Ellie's mother Anna, in The Last of Us, dies soon after childbirth. She serves in the game as an inspiration to Ellie, through letters. This is a common device in games, with dead moms showing up via ancient correspondence or as ghosts and spirits

In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Link's mother is a fighter in the Hyrulean Civil War, who delivers her child to an ancient tree for safekeeping before expiring from wounds. When Link is told the story of his mother, it serves as an inspiration to complete his quest.

NARRATIVE USEFULNESS
The Uncharted series' treasure hunter Nathan Drake's mother was a historian who committed suicide while he was still a child. It is said that she suffered from depression. Once again, mother serves to create a narrative link between the protagonist and the danger of his work.

Margie Jensen is the adoptive mother of Deus Ex's Adam Jensen, who exists in a dysfunctional urban society beset by challenges created by technology. She is absent from his life. We know that she was unable to have her own baby, is addicted to antidepressants and lives in Detroit. The links are manifold.

Leandra Arnell is the mother of protagonist Hawke in Dragon Age 2. She is murdered by a serial killer, briefly returns as a reanimated monster, and, once safely dead, appears as a ghost to tell her son she's proud of him. Apart from being dead, expressing pride is a mom's main function in games. With Leandra, we got both.

SEX WORKERS AND WILD WOMEN
Video gaming's weird obsession with childbirth, death and corruption is given full flight in Bloodborne when a character called Arianna, Woman of Pleasure, who describes herself as "a whore," gives birth to a monster, which the player is obliged to kill. Arianna also appears to expire.

Prostitution crops up here and there in mother stories. In Heavy Rain, Lauren Winter is a sex worker whose child is murdered by a serial killer.

MARITAL PROBLEMS
GTA publisher Rockstar gave us another grotesque mother in Bully. The unnamed mother drops Jimmy off at boarding school before departing on a year-long honeymoon with her fifth husband. She is a selfish and mean woman, a classic fictional Bad Mother.

The marital difficulties of parents are sometimes used as a backdrop for game tales, usually in more sophisticated storytelling settings. In Gone Home, both parents are away at a retreat when Kate returns home. As the player investigate the house, it emerges that Kate's ecologist mom Jan has been considering an affair with a co-worker, but has drawn back.

Life is Strange's Joyce Price is the mother and Chloe. She is wise and kind, even though she's had it rough. She works as a waitress in a small town diner and is married to a difficult man. Despite having little freedom of her own — her life in the game is mostly shaped around her daughter's concerns — she's a convincingly portrayed person who does her best in difficult circumstances. Price is a rare example of a real world video game mom who is alive and seemingly admired by all.

MOMMY'S DEATH SAYS GO
At least these women are extant in the stories in which they focus. The death of a mother serves as the principal catalyst in games like Far Cry 4, in which Ajay travels to the Himalayan country of Kyrat to honor his mother's last wishes, and spread her ashes in her homeland.

In Final Fantasy 13, playable character Hope watches as his mother is killed during a rebellion

POSITIVE MOMS … NOT REALLY
There are other examples of positive and powerful role models who are also mothers. Sheperd's mom in the Mass Effect series is an admiral, though we only encounter her through letters to her child, in which she states the usual maternal pride.

Interestingly, positive mothers are often not actually mothers at all. In The Witcher 3, Geralt love-interest Yennefer of Vengerberg is ward to special child Ciri, and a highly capable sorcerer.

Mother Giselle in Dragon Age: Inquisition is a beloved, brave and generous older woman who displays all the qualities of idealised motherhood, but she is a cleric, not a biological mother, so far as we know.

Bayonetta is that very rare character, a mother who is also a player-character. She is a reluctant ward to Cereza. But it turns out that, via some time paradox shenanigans, Cereza is Bayonetta at a younger age.

ABSENT MOMS
These stories of mothers demonstrate that gaming generally treats moms as cardboard cut-outs whose only function is to create narrative space for protagonists.

Of course, orphans are a staple of fiction, allowing characters the space to define themselves separately from parental expectation. It's something of a cliche, most especially in children's fiction in which the protagonist becomes powerful. Think Harry Potter, Tarzan and Superman. In games, control, power and individuality are especially important. But their overwhelming presence in games smacks, not merely of bias, but of a lack of imagination and an inability to confront tired ideas.

In games, mothers are almost never playable characters. One of the few exceptions to this is the as-yet unreleased game Thralled, about a slave trying to escape to freedom, while keeping her baby alive.

Gaming is not alone in portraying mothers negatively. From fairy tales to Game of Thrones and TV's Mom, we've seen wicked or crappy mothers. We've also seen a lot of treacly idealized mothers over the years. Other mediums manage to create great stories out of bad moms and good moms. But gaming has so far failed to offer a range of perspectives on motherhood, that sit far outside issues of absence or neglectfulness.

Meanwhile, game developers often celebrate fathers as strong, powerful and morally upstanding, while also offering a broader range of adult male characters that take in the entire spectrum of hero, anti-hero, incompetent and villain.

Game companies are overwhelmingly staffed by men. Despite the recent splurge of hero parents at E3, there's little sign of mothers getting a fair portrayal.

But as gaming becomes increasingly diverse, perhaps we'll see improvement in the years ahead.

Omitted a lot of examples from the article to give incentive to read it. http://www.polygon.com/features/2016/7/7/12025874/where-are-the-video-game-moms

I've actually been thinking about this lately so it's good to see someone point it out with various examples.

 

[Aters]

But..Pokemon.
I think it's more of a missing parents thing than a missing mom thing.

No one asked where is Chrono's dad when he was first woke up by his mom.

 

[UnluckyKate]

Moms are though ?

 

[Finaika]

Sombra.

 

[Crossing Eden]

But..Pokemon.

Read the article.

 

[Lapidus' Beard]

Seth Balmore from Lost Odyssey.

 

[Kieli]

Moms are though ?

moms r tuff

 

[Tye The Czar]

Good point. We at least need more Ellen Ripleys and Takamachi Nanohas in our games.

 

[lightskintwin]

It's a male dominated industry.

 

[TheSpoiler]

I love me some C. Viper. CIA agent by night, parent by day. She checks in on her child (and eventually goes back to her once SF4 is over), and still has enough personality to be more than "just a mom" (in so far that it's not just a notch on her personality belt, if that makes sense).

 

[Crossing Eden]

It's a male dominated industry.

Which can be alleviated by being more diverse. Just like how people are generally becoming more accepting of female protagonists who aren't sexualized, (along with bringing in a new audience that previously thought gaming was supposed to be a boys club), creating stories about motherhood would work as well.

 

[Manmademan]

The Boss, Metal Gear Solid 3. EVA, Metal Gear Solid 4.

 

[tiprun]

Wasn't it a video game mum playing Doom for Polygon the other month?

... Too soon?

 

[SatoAilDarko]

Also a huge problem in manga/anime.

 

[RowdyReverb]

Isn't it also a good thing to provide the young men playing these games with role models for fatherhood? There is already a strong enough cultural bias towards women being matronly and men playing smaller roles in their children's upbringing, and it is already reinforced by every other form of media. If anything, I'd push for more active fathers in video games.

 

[truly101]

Video game moms are with Disney Princess moms...mostly dead or MIA.

 

[lightskintwin]

Which can be alleviated by being more diverse. Just like how people are generally becoming more accepting of female protagonists who aren't sexualized, (along with bringing in a new audience that previously thought gaming was supposed to be a boys club), creating stories about motherhood would work as well.

I agree, but I still had to point at the obvious for why this occurs. LOL

 

[sn00zer]

Lol they have a point. Was thinking of "moms" in games and I could only really think of characters giving birth to final bosses.

 

[chaobreaker]

Also a huge problem in manga/anime.

Obligatory

 

[fernoca]

Mortal Kombat has some.

Sindel since the 1995 game, as Kitana's mother. She comitted suicide to protect the Earthrealm, but was resurrected by Shao Kahn as an excuse to invade Earth. In the original timeline she recovered her memories and joined Kitana and the others to defeat Shao Kahn. In the 2011 reboot and new timeline, she remained evil as Shao Kahn fused Shang Tsung's escense to her makig her unstoppable, and kills basically everyone. She remains evil in X.

Sonya became a mother to Cassie Cage, after the 2011 game during the new timeline. The later outcome and a bit of obsession to return the revenants to the good side, make for her to be quite strict to her daughter and sometimes ignore her; which Cassie in turns joins the Special Forces to serve under her.

Vera Briggs is Jax's wife and mother of Jacqui in the X game/new timeline. While she's not shown in the game, it is alluded that she basically is the one keeping Jax under control after he was turned back to human, but the memories of the people that he killed as revenant still haunt him.

Then there was Takeda's mom along with Kenshi, but she was killed. Takeda blames Kenshi for that at first as Kenshi was a no show during his childhood.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

Also a huge problem in manga/anime.

Without Chi Chi Gohan would be as stupid as his father.

 

[True Fire]

People write about what they know. 30 to 40 year old male game devs are becoming fathers, so it makes sense why they have a huge bias towards writing fatherly figures. It's all about the subconscious.

 

[explodet]

 

[majik13]

What about Uncharted?

Spoiler

Elena in UC4

?


Anyways yeah, they are severely lacking.

 

[Theanine3D]

In the game I'm working on, a mom is one of the 3 prominent main characters. Her name's Minna. And no, she doesn't die. lol

Coincidentally, the boy's father is never shown, seen, or heard from in the game.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

I hardly play new games, but they appear a lot in a lot of old games I've been playing in the past couple years.

Pokemon series for one mainly just have mothers with no fathers in sight or explained. Pokemon Emerald is the only one of the series I've played where the protagonist actually has a father.

Earthbound: Your mother seems more important than the father in the game. She's actually taking care of Ness during the game and calling her and not your dad alleviates homesickness. The father in that game is never seen and you only call him when you want money. Ness doesn't really love him.

Chrono Trigger: Chrono's Mom is in it, but her role is basically of that of any Pokemon game.

Final Fantasy V: The mother here does fall into the dead trope, while the father is too, but he's more important to the game's plot.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse: Neither parent is shown, but both are assumed dead. Her mother's lineage is actually important to the character's plot and in game abilities or lack thereof.

Super Mario RPG: Only Mallows parents are brought up and there's not much I can say about them. They're just used to reveal that Mallow is royalty.

I did play Ocarina of Time last year and I see Link's mother as a positive in that situation. She risked her life so her son could live. His father wasn't even mentioned at all. Actually in most games I play I see mothers far more than fathers. Most of the time fathers aren't even mentioned.

Tekken: Haven't played one of these in a while, but I know that Nina, Michelle, and Jun are the only three mothers in the series. I can't remember that much in regards to Nina and Michelle, but Jun definitely falls into sacrificial dead mother trope. The dads in Tekken are pretty much horrible except for Marshall Law.

 

[notaskwid]

big daddy

big mama

 

[Flandy]

Spoiler

I'm joking

Spoiler

Mostly joking

 

[TheSpoiler]

Isn't it also a good thing to provide the young men playing these games with role models for fatherhood? There is already a strong enough cultural bias towards women being matronly and men playing smaller roles in their children's upbringing, and it is already reinforced by every other form of media. If anything, I'd push for more active fathers in video games.

It's not like we can't have both. Nier was so impactful because it displayed the rare love of a daughter and a father - an aspect most games don't even attempt to explore. But on the flipside, it's not like games can't also make another title exploring the material love of a mother and her children.

Despite whatever cultural bias may stand, A). having more mothers around isn't going to take away from fathers being in games (it's not a 1:1 ratio where they replace each other), and B). most are done in such a way that it's generic and less than impactful in the first place.

So up the quality, and diversify for everyone.

 

[adamsapple]

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

I hardly play new games, but they appear a lot in a lot of old games I've been playing in the past couple years.

Pokemon series for one mainly just have mothers with no fathers in sight or explained. Pokemon Emerald is the only one of the series I've played where the protagonist actually has a father.

Earthbound: Your mother seems more important than the father in the game. She's actually taking care of Ness during the game and calling her and not your dad alleviates homesickness. The father in that game is never seen and you only call him when you want money. Ness doesn't really love him.

Chrono Trigger: Chrono's Mom is in it, but her role is basically of that of any Pokemon game.

Final Fantasy V: The mother here does fall into the dead trope, while the father is too, but he's more important to the game's plot.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse: Neither parent is shown, but both are assumed dead. Her mother's lineage is actually important to the character's plot and in game abilities or lack thereof.

Super Mario RPG: Only Mallows parents are brought up and there's not much I can say about them. They're just used to reveal that Mallow is royalty.

I did play Ocarina of Time last year and I see Link's mother as a positive in that situation. She risked her life so her son could live. His father wasn't even mentioned at all. Actually in most games I play I see mothers far more than fathers. Most of the time fathers aren't even mentioned.

Tekken: Haven't played one of these in a while, but I know that Nina, Michelle, and Jun are the only three mothers in the series. I can't remember that much in regards to Nina and Michelle, but Jun definitely falls into sacrificial dead mother trope. The dads in Tekken are pretty much horrible except for Marshall Law.

Link's mom is mentioned in the OP. Most of the rest illustrate what the OP is getting at. When moms do appear, they're usually either dead or play a minimal/non-fleshed-out role, or serve as a tool to the plot or player.

Fathers don't seem to have that stigma. Nier and new God of War have a father as the protagonist, numerous games feature the protagonist's father in some kind of oppositional role to the player... I think it's a good thing, but it'd be cool to have more positive examples of moms in gaming like that, too.

With Tekken I remember Michelle vanished from the series once Julia arrived, and IIRC Steve is a clone of Nina... or something. They don't play it up too much compared to the Mishimas. Though speaking of which, Kazumi appears in Tekken 7, but I don't know if her role is something exceptional or not.

 

[Nostremitus]

I always visit my mom for some health and call my absentee father for money in Earthbound...

But yeah...

I wouldn't mind playing as a heroic mom in a game...

 

[Wulfram]

There's Senya in SW:tOR. And Satele. Though I'm not sure either of them count as positive as far as their motherhood goes.

There's Morrigan in DAI, depending on past events.

In Mass Effect, Aethyta is technically Liara's father, but is a female parent who is depicted positively and doesn't die. We kill Liara's actual mother, though its not like dads have a fun time in that series either.

edit: Wynne in DA:O is a mother too. Bioware does a decent line a badass older women, though they generally aren't doing much mothering on screen.

 

[GoldandBlue]

Gotta make all those games starring sad dads who lose their family.

 

[Boney]

Interesting article from the quotes you posted and did a fine job categorizing and finding a problematic pattern in video games. This goes hand in hand with the weak portrayal of women as vectors for other character's agency and father's are usually self projecting or pandering to your audience.

I'm also not going to make the developers take all the blame since this is a wider cultural problem that involve women being delegated to the private life, being outsiders to traditionally male dominated activities and undervaluing their traditional experiences and roles. This piece should have done the same thing for fathers though to create a more thorough contrast between how parental roles are understood in games instead of the carte blanche categorization they did with them.

There's also a methodological question regarding the criteria for selecting videogames that can create confirmation bias. But overall, good piece and this is the content that should be produced in these websites, and counter the stupidification of the readers.

 

[explodet]

Earthbound: Your mother seems more important than the father in the game. She's actually taking care of Ness during the game and calling her and not your dad alleviates homesickness. The father in that game is never seen and you only call him when you want money. Ness doesn't really love him.

This probably goes without saying, but the Japanese title of Earthbound is Mother 2.

She's pretty much the title character!

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

Link's mom is mentioned in the OP. Most of the rest illustrate what the OP is getting at. When moms do appear, they're usually either dead or play a minimal/non-fleshed-out role, or serve as a tool to the plot or player.

Fathers don't seem to have that stigma. Nier and new God of War have a father as the protagonist, numerous games feature the protagonist's father in some kind of oppositional role to the player... I think it's a good thing, but it'd be cool to have more positive examples of moms in gaming like that, too.

With Tekken I remember Michelle vanished from the series once Julia arrived, and IIRC Steve is a clone of Nina... or something. They don't play it up too much compared to the Mishimas. Though speaking of which, Kazumi appears in Tekken 7, but I don't know if her role is something exceptional or not.

Kazumi appears to be the main antagonist in T7 along with Akuma and possibly Kazuya and Heihachi. There all going to war to kill each other.

 

[Dolobill]

We had a mom protagonist in Metroid Other M.

 

[Ala Alba]

I never got very far in the game, but your mom is a party member in Grandia III.

I agree, though, that there is a lack of good mom characters in games.



Not really related to the topic, but I hate Polygon's site/article layout.

 

[Human Trashcan]

AAA Games are almost exclusively written and directed by men. Combine that with the prevalent trope of fridging female characters to provide motivation for the hero or a tragic background, and you have the daddification of games, often at the expense of female characters/moms.

 

[CertifiedFP]

Fallout 4 female protagonist though?

 

[Bornstellar]

Undertale has the best mom.

 

[Crossing Eden]

Fallout 4 female protagonist though?

Mentioned. Just read the article..

 

[Eumi]

Weird, always thought games had less dads. There are tons of moms in games I've played.

 

[Hyoukokun]

I know it's the exception that proves the rule, but Ness' mom in Earthbound is a perfectly ordinary, wonderful woman. It has a great little mechanic where you occasionally need to call her and talk to her to fend off homesickness. Perhaps all to be expected given that the game is "Mother 2" in Japan.

Mother 3, on the other hand...

Spoiler

slots right into the article's thesis as another video story in which the tragic death of a mother is a catalyst for the development of the plot and the core characters. It does things and goes places with the idea that most of the other referenced games do not, at least.

 

[E_Darkness]

Bayonetta is mentioned, but they don't mention Rosa?

 

[Krejlooc]

Chrono Trigger: Chrono's Mom is in it, but her role is basically of that of any Pokemon game.

lol, aren't we forgetting another mom in Chrono Trigger?

 

[cyress8]

Grandia 3 - Miranda kicked ass with dual daggers.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

I remembered one game where a mom is a major character.

In 999, part of the plot is that

Spoiler

Lotus's kids played in the first Nonary Game

.

...That being said, this character is the one with the most tenuous connection to the main plot apart from that. She does have a backstory and fully-fleshed out character though, being present for the whole game, but she's just kind of tertiary to the main mystery.

 

[Crossing Eden]

Bayonetta is mentioned, but they don't mention Rosa?

LONG DEAD MOMS