General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Anita Sarkeesian, Video Game Rape Culture, and Why Online Harassment Is Not a Joke (long screencap) [View all]keroro gunsou
(2,223 posts)but i've played several games with strong female characters. final fantasy 6 comes immediately to mind. sure, there are story driven moments where they fall into the trope of the distressed dame, but in the end, they kick as much, if not more ass than the male characters. chrono trigger has a trio of strong female characters, who literally move heaven and earth to save their friend and the world.
and for all the pooh poohing over lara croft's physical appearance, i'd argue that she's a very strong female character. i for one wouldn't put up with 1 scintilla of what she goes through... albiet virtually. i've only played 2 of the tomb raider games, and i don't recall a situation where lara croft fell back on using her looks or attributes to get what she wants.
that said, yes, many gamers out there are assholes. the good news is most of them grow out of it. there are several online communities that are trying to bring peer pressure to bear to get some of the more moronic to grow up and act right, but it's an uphill battle.
there of plenty of female gamers, just not many females who develop games. the guilds i belonged to in world of warcraft and final fantasy 11 were dominated by ladies. in some cases they were just as big of a bunch of assholes as the males i played with....
gender is no defense if the game sucks. i've played some truly horrible games developed by men. would women devs have done any better? who knows.
i guess it takes all kinds... YMMV