Last weekend, my room mate and both of our girlfriends sat down and checked out 3D Dot Heroes for the first time. My room mate and I, being avid gamers, laughed at all the puns and references from the past. Our girlfriends, who aren’t gamers (but spent the previous hour playing Super Street Fighter 4 against one another) really liked a lot of the stylistic choices in the game and got a kick out of their boyfriends’ enthusiasm. And then my girl friend noticed something odd…
Now don’t get us wrong. We both love the game and think it’s clever and really cute. However there is something she noticed that upon second thought, was really off putting. When you select your character, all of whom are a reference to something from video game history, they are also labeled by gender. Which at first glance isn’t a big deal. A Wolfman obviously should be identified as a man. A succubus, well, by nature of the word itself is a woman. What’s so wrong about that?
Gendered classes
Well, the problem is that specifically gendering characters makes a certain distinction. Browse all the male characters and see that they are bad asses: Wolfmen, robo-Presidents, ninjas and the like. Whereas all the female characters are either corny, demure or something evil like a witch or succubus. And I know many of you might say, “well, you’re just reading into it too much.” And I would actually agree and disagree.
Yes, really going out of my way to say “Hey, you’re gendering these characters and giving them occupational stereotypes!” may seem like a bit much. Perhaps. Nonetheless, your individual opinion is moot if you’re a man who doesn’t even notice and picks a cool character. (Or if you’re a woman that doesn’t even notice.) The person who matters here are the women who may see this as an issue. You could be a very self aware woman and notice your options are not only limited but are much more boring and sexist.
Again I know this concept may seem far fetched or “reading into it too much” for some but I’m still concerned that consciously or unconsciously it’s reinforcing ideas to women that they are not only different from men, but they are also not allowed to be a real hero like a knight, warrior, robo-President or cool monster. They are forever to be the monster lady or the princess or a witch. I understand that 3D Dot Heroes is supposed to be a really cool take on traditional game norms, but that doesn’t mean it still needs to carry over the sexist themes of games past.
Now I want to hear what you think? Am I really digging or is their some weight to this argument? Let us know by leaving us a comment or a video reply on YouTube:
No related posts.
