Feature: 1P Vs 2P #5 - Girls In Gaming
Posted 31 Jul 2008 at 15:04 by Tom Phillips
Contributed to by 1P and 2P
Can every girl in gaming be a poor damsel in distress or stuck with a disproportionate chest? 1P and 2P debate once more...
1P:No, no, no, no, no, NO!
2P: But yes!
1P: Stop saying that!
2P: Lucario sucks, Pikachu FTW.
1P: This is blasphemy!
2P: There's only one way to solve this: We must Brawl!
1P: Er.. well, I already told you, my Wi-Fi is broken! The dog chewed through the cable!
2P: It's wireless.
1P: Heh.. well.. We both agree that Samus owns, right?
2P: Yeah, all she has to do is belly-flop with her impossibly large norks.
1P: Oh here we go� If I hadn't met you, I'd suspect you were a girl.
2P: There are no girls in gaming, at least no real ones.
1P: Er� Lara Croft? Orchid? Yuna?
2P: Let me rephrase: there are no girls in gaming who are like girls in reality. They're fantasies created by male gamers, for male gamers.
1P: Could say the same for movies.
2P: Some, true. But many not. What girl wouldn't want to aspire to be one of the strong female leads that isn't running around in an impossibly tight t-shirt at the same time?
1P: Dude, games are the same. They are the ultimate immersive experience! You can become the character and lose yourself in the alternate reality.
2P: I wish we could lose you in an alternate reality.
1P: Maybe there's a parallel world out there where you've actually had a girlfriend. That's a scary thought.
2P: Don't you remember Sarah? She was a girlfriend.
1P: You were five and you cried every time she held your hand! Digital girls can be anything you want.
2P: Oh, don't even start� every girl in gaming has either: (a) A disproportionate chest; (b) A sultry mysterious-come-hither voice or (c) is a ridiculous simpering damsel in distress who you have to protect in order to feel like a big man.
1P: Samus? She is basically the last hope of the Galaxy against an unstoppable foe, you can't get a much better role model for girls than that.
2P:Yes, but the whole point of the game is to get to the end so you can see her with her suit off.
1P: Krystal? Ok, so she started life as the damsel in distress, but ended up becoming a big character in her own right.
2P: I wish Starfox Adventures had never happened. But yes, she does have some power in her own right. At least she's not as bad as say� Peach or Zelda.
1P: Peach got her own game where she was the one doing the rescuing! Besides, half the humour of her character is that she's such a doofus. And Zelda� did you play Ocarina of Time? She operated within a kingdom ruled by her sworn enemy helping out the hero.
2P: Who was a man.
1P: Look at the flip-side of this: we're also stuck with very few basic character types for the male heroes, right? It's not exactly a good model for young men. All the heroes are gung-ho muscle men certain of their cause, or they're the quiet, sensitive brooding Final Fantasy-type.
2P: Well, what about�
1P: There are exceptions to every rule! The fact is, if you say that girls in games are portrayed in a negatively stereotypical fashion, then you have to argue the same about men.
2P: I guess it's just more apparent with girls as they are less prevalent in videogaming.
1P: Exactly.
2P: Wait a minute�
1P: What?
2P: Did we just agree on something?
1P: � I feel sullied, somehow.
2P: This is going to take me a long time to come to terms with.
1P: Pikachu > Lucario
2P: Ah, that's better. You're WRONG!
1P and 2P invite you to air your feelings about girls in gaming below...
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