EQ2_Bloggers
02-03-2011, 01:09 AM
Rescuing the Princess … From Stereotyping
By Emily “Domino” Taylor
Last month I read an excellent blog post by Cuppycake on The Border House entitled “Unconventional Beauty: Leave Princess Theradras Alone! (http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=3283)” The post is about a character in the MMO World of Warcraft: a princess and a powerful elemental who is the mother to the centaur race. The article goes on to discuss the mixed, and generally negative, attitudes that many players express towards a character who does not fit the general conventions expected of a female character, particularly a princess (beautiful and in need of rescuing, for example). There are, in fact, very few important female characters in any computer game I can think of who are as unconventional in appearance as Princess Theradras.
I’m not sure whether to applaud the developers or not; as Cuppycake points out, it is entirely possible that her appearance is intended as comic relief, rather than an attempt to defy stereotypes. *Still, it’s refreshing to see unique characters who don’t fall into the same old over-used patterns, whatever the reason may be. *It’s for this same reason that my own personal preference when playing an MMO is to try and make an atypical character, one not conventionally beautiful. *Bothan, ratonga, ogre, tauren; whatever may fit the particular game world, I like to take an unconventional appearance as my heroine.
Sadly, we do not live in a world where the unconventional is embraced. It’s not that computer games are particularly stereotypical and narrow in view by intention, it’s just that the worlds of computer games are a reflection of the wider real life stereotypes we are exposed to every day. *It’s very easy for designers to simply mirror the stereotypes they see every day in the media and environment around them, without even realizing they’re doing so. *Therefore, as a game designer, it’s all the more important to be aware of these stereotypes and avoid falling into the trap of simply echoing them. *As a game designer myself, I try to keep this in mind at all times. *Since I’m just one member of a large team, I don’t have personal control over the design direction of the whole game, but where I do have the ability to choose or suggest, I try to take it. *For example, when creating new quests I’m generally very aware of things like NPC gender. I don’t want my NPCs to be all male, or all female. *I try to avoid assuming characters in the stereotypically feminine roles (such as healer/nurturer types) will be female. If there isn’t a particular reason that a quest character would be a particular race, then I try to avoid choosing the over-used “pretty” races too often. *For races that can have diverse skin tones, I try to include some less common skin colors. *And when an opportunity comes up to suggest something different on a larger scale, I do my best to raise my voice, and I’m always pleased when the game I work on does take the opportunity to step away from the same old stereotypes of either role or appearance.
One instance I’m very happy to have been a part of was a recent kidnapping plot in EverQuest II. *We knew well in advance that as part of the lead up to the last expansion, The Sentinel’s Fate, there would be kidnapping attempts made on the rulers of the two main warring cities in the game. *Both are in possession of ancient artifacts of great power, so both were targets when a third party decided he wanted the artifacts for himself. *One would be kidnapped, the other would narrowly escape and then encourage the rescue attempts of the other ruler. *But which would be which? *Our two rulers are Overlord Lucan deLere, an ancient and battle-scarred fallen paladin who leads the city of Freeport with an iron fist, and Queen Antonia Bayle, a beautiful young human who typically wears a rather revealing robe and rules the city of Qeynos with compassion and generosity. The obvious, stereotypically predictable choice would be for poor Queen Antonia to be kidnapped, then rescued by heroic players and/or powerful Overlord Lucan. *However, I and some others made the case that perhaps we should do the unexpected, and reverse the stereotypes. Why not have Lucan kidnapped, while Queen Antonia rides to the rescue? Although young and pretty, she is also intelligent, powerful in her own right, and has many loyal allies willing to come to her call. Besides, we argued, she’s far more likely to care to help rescue her enemy than Lucan would be. *And so it was decided. Lucan was kidnapped, and chaos broke out in his city as various in-fighting factions of his supporters battled to take his place; meanwhile Antonia narrowly escaped kidnapping and then worked to rescue the powerful Lucan so he could restore order in Freeport once again. *A small reversal of stereotypes, I suppose, but nonetheless not one that you often find in computer games, or indeed in most popular media.
Whether we’re in the game industry, or simply fans of games, I think it’s important that we remain aware of stereotypes and keep trying to challenge them. *As artists, we can create powerful female characters who are not pretty, or not dressed in a bikini, or not built like an exaggerated Barbie doll. *As designers, we can mix up the genders and races outside of the roles they’re usually forced into. *As producers and leads, we influence the direction of general design decisions, and encourage more creative and original storylines. And as fans and game players, it’s important to let the game companies know that you appreciate seeing something different, like Princess Theradras, or the beautiful queen riding to the rescue of the powerful Overlord, or similar. *Keep the positive feedback coming, and let’s hope that the coming years continue to bring us more similar challenges to stereotypes!
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By Emily “Domino” Taylor
Last month I read an excellent blog post by Cuppycake on The Border House entitled “Unconventional Beauty: Leave Princess Theradras Alone! (http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=3283)” The post is about a character in the MMO World of Warcraft: a princess and a powerful elemental who is the mother to the centaur race. The article goes on to discuss the mixed, and generally negative, attitudes that many players express towards a character who does not fit the general conventions expected of a female character, particularly a princess (beautiful and in need of rescuing, for example). There are, in fact, very few important female characters in any computer game I can think of who are as unconventional in appearance as Princess Theradras.
I’m not sure whether to applaud the developers or not; as Cuppycake points out, it is entirely possible that her appearance is intended as comic relief, rather than an attempt to defy stereotypes. *Still, it’s refreshing to see unique characters who don’t fall into the same old over-used patterns, whatever the reason may be. *It’s for this same reason that my own personal preference when playing an MMO is to try and make an atypical character, one not conventionally beautiful. *Bothan, ratonga, ogre, tauren; whatever may fit the particular game world, I like to take an unconventional appearance as my heroine.
Sadly, we do not live in a world where the unconventional is embraced. It’s not that computer games are particularly stereotypical and narrow in view by intention, it’s just that the worlds of computer games are a reflection of the wider real life stereotypes we are exposed to every day. *It’s very easy for designers to simply mirror the stereotypes they see every day in the media and environment around them, without even realizing they’re doing so. *Therefore, as a game designer, it’s all the more important to be aware of these stereotypes and avoid falling into the trap of simply echoing them. *As a game designer myself, I try to keep this in mind at all times. *Since I’m just one member of a large team, I don’t have personal control over the design direction of the whole game, but where I do have the ability to choose or suggest, I try to take it. *For example, when creating new quests I’m generally very aware of things like NPC gender. I don’t want my NPCs to be all male, or all female. *I try to avoid assuming characters in the stereotypically feminine roles (such as healer/nurturer types) will be female. If there isn’t a particular reason that a quest character would be a particular race, then I try to avoid choosing the over-used “pretty” races too often. *For races that can have diverse skin tones, I try to include some less common skin colors. *And when an opportunity comes up to suggest something different on a larger scale, I do my best to raise my voice, and I’m always pleased when the game I work on does take the opportunity to step away from the same old stereotypes of either role or appearance.
One instance I’m very happy to have been a part of was a recent kidnapping plot in EverQuest II. *We knew well in advance that as part of the lead up to the last expansion, The Sentinel’s Fate, there would be kidnapping attempts made on the rulers of the two main warring cities in the game. *Both are in possession of ancient artifacts of great power, so both were targets when a third party decided he wanted the artifacts for himself. *One would be kidnapped, the other would narrowly escape and then encourage the rescue attempts of the other ruler. *But which would be which? *Our two rulers are Overlord Lucan deLere, an ancient and battle-scarred fallen paladin who leads the city of Freeport with an iron fist, and Queen Antonia Bayle, a beautiful young human who typically wears a rather revealing robe and rules the city of Qeynos with compassion and generosity. The obvious, stereotypically predictable choice would be for poor Queen Antonia to be kidnapped, then rescued by heroic players and/or powerful Overlord Lucan. *However, I and some others made the case that perhaps we should do the unexpected, and reverse the stereotypes. Why not have Lucan kidnapped, while Queen Antonia rides to the rescue? Although young and pretty, she is also intelligent, powerful in her own right, and has many loyal allies willing to come to her call. Besides, we argued, she’s far more likely to care to help rescue her enemy than Lucan would be. *And so it was decided. Lucan was kidnapped, and chaos broke out in his city as various in-fighting factions of his supporters battled to take his place; meanwhile Antonia narrowly escaped kidnapping and then worked to rescue the powerful Lucan so he could restore order in Freeport once again. *A small reversal of stereotypes, I suppose, but nonetheless not one that you often find in computer games, or indeed in most popular media.
Whether we’re in the game industry, or simply fans of games, I think it’s important that we remain aware of stereotypes and keep trying to challenge them. *As artists, we can create powerful female characters who are not pretty, or not dressed in a bikini, or not built like an exaggerated Barbie doll. *As designers, we can mix up the genders and races outside of the roles they’re usually forced into. *As producers and leads, we influence the direction of general design decisions, and encourage more creative and original storylines. And as fans and game players, it’s important to let the game companies know that you appreciate seeing something different, like Princess Theradras, or the beautiful queen riding to the rescue of the powerful Overlord, or similar. *Keep the positive feedback coming, and let’s hope that the coming years continue to bring us more similar challenges to stereotypes!
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