Jason Davis

Trope Paper
English 1100
The Stereotypical Look into Woman Video Game Characters

Many of us have a favorite past time of slaying dragons, conquering epic adventures, and
completely forgetting about reality to zone into a video game. Video games are playable in a
multitude of different ways, and the first one dates back to 1947. A simple way to describe the
first video game would be to compare it to a modern game of ping pong. There were two boards
on either side of the screen that the user could control, and an automated ball that would bounce
different directions based on the algorithm it was running on. No humans were present, so back
then there was no question about gender equality in the roles of video games, but on the other
hand, fast forward 60 plus years and that is certainly not the case. Female characters in most
famous video games are portrayed as weak compared to the man, and unable to conquer many of
the tasks that the male dominant characters are able to do without failure. We are going to take a
look at five different examples where this stereotype, or trope is obviously present. Many people
have composed reports that present this example in hope to catch peoples attention and make
female video game characters more powerful, accomplish more important tasks, and in some
cases to even defeat a male character within the role playing world.
The first video game invented to include a female protagonist within the game was PacMan. Ms. Pac Man was designed to target a female audience, or in other words to catch their
attention to increase the amount of people to play Pac-Man. This was taking place in the 1980s,

and was a widely successful strategy internationally. Everyone knows who Pac Man is, and the
game would not be the same without the female protagonist playing a role. Now let us focus on
some major controversy going on about this subject that will help us better understand the
stereotype, or trope that is present. Most of the female characters that were being developed in
the 1980s were by males, and many believe this is the reason they are portrayed with
exaggerated sexual appearances, or why they are not as dominate in the game. A great example
of the first video game to do so was Tomb Raider, where they are leading impossible roles for
young girls. Lara Crofts characteristics were unnatural thus why they are considered to be an
impossible example.
While females may look good, they do not do so good. Often times we see the female
characters getting rescued by the stereotypical male hero, and the storyline may differ but the
moral of the story remains: the weak and incapable female character - such as Princess Peach in
the famous Super Mario franchise - is getting saved by the powerful and capable male hero.
Super Mario is a legendary game, and was ages ahead of its time. In total there are over a
whopping 171 Super Mario video games within the franchise, Princess Peach is only playable in
one of those video games. In many of the short interludes within the different Super Mario
storylines, Princess Peach has been portrayed incarcerated in a tall tower screaming, Mario!
Mario! Help me!
A popular vlogger and YouTube icon, Anita Sarkeesian, created a three part video serious
titled, Damsel in Distress. Damsel as defined on WikiPedia means, a single or unmarried
woman. Where she references over an incredible 171 different video games that all have a
damsel in distress. Star Fox Adventures is another example where Crystal is sexualized and also

looks weaker compared to Fox. To make it clear, Crystal originally had her own video game and
was later seen in Star Fox Adventures. While she was in her original game she was playable and
had more abilities, and when she was in Foxs she was seen as an item of desire, as well as being
trapped similar to Princess Peach in Super Mario. Following the story line of Star Fox
Adventures, by the end Fox rescues his beloved Crystal. All of these examples include a damsel
in distress that is getting rescued by the more dominant male character, and this goal is achieved
in every story line only in a slightly different manner every time.
Now that we have a better understanding behind the premise of this trope and how it
originated, let us take a look in the 21st century and see what society has done to address this
issue. In the most played video game in the history of history, League of Legends, champions
appear to be rather diverse. You see women champions that have muscles and are looking
directly into the camera, while you also have females that have less clothing on and appear
weaker. With the male champions, you see heroic looking characters that appear large in size and
have an unreal amount of muscle. However, you also see male champions that are skinny and
realistic in size. Even some of these characters are not wearing a lot of clothing and fall short of
an intimidating appearance. We can consider this the naysayer of the damsel in distress
stereotype for several different reasons: the designer team is diverse with both female and male
employees, there are some kick ass female champions that can easily outplay male characters.
Unlike Super Mario, Star Fox Adventures, and Pac-Man, the female characters are essentially
more equal when compared to the males in terms of stats. In society this is remarkable, because
it meets a center point admit all the controversy. Feminists are satisfied with this game, while the
game conquers the male audience as well.

Another aspect of the controversy that I want to talk about is the idea of video games not
being the same without the male characters being more dominant than the female characters.
Most feminists would not agree with this philosophy, but our biological backgrounds which have
been present since before humans existed, insists that the male build is more powerful than that
of a female. In nature, often times the females stay behind while the alpha males hunt to bring
back dinner. This is also seen within human society, where the wives stay home to clean the
house and tend to the kids while the husband goes out to make a living for the family. My point
is that this idea might not be so far fetched - would the Super Mario franchise be as successful as
it is with Peach rescuing Mario? My answer is no, humans would likely lose interest in the video
game because of our biological background. We are born to believe that males are more powerful
than females, and this when this trope present, it makes a successful video game successful.
Lastly, the popular console game Destiny, is also another great example of female
characters being as dominant to a male. The creators allow a full range of customization to both
male and female characters, and the female ones can actually look cooler and more bad ass if you
will, than to that of the male characters. Destiny was initially released to the public in 2014, and
provides us with a great example on how society has again addressed the issues surrounding the
trope throughout the course of history. Many people may not even notice this trope until it is
pointed out to them, but it is important that we understand it because video games can play a
massive role on the brains of little kids. Different concepts come with the idea of female roles
being equally powerful to the males and maybe in the near future we will see some more
original story lines develop due to the realization of this trope.

The popular culture surrounding video games is massive, and the controversy over this
trope still remains unsolved. While we see some progress developing in the gaming community,
it does not change the video games that have been produced, but the important thing is that
progress is being made. We wont see any eminent progress for a while because this issuing is
being addressed step-by-step.