{"id":12983,"date":"2024-06-13T19:50:12","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T17:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?p=12983"},"modified":"2024-06-26T22:39:03","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T20:39:03","slug":"changing-the-game-female-representation-and-mythology-in-game-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/12983\/changing-the-game-female-representation-and-mythology-in-game-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Changing the Game: Female Representation and Mythology in game development"},"content":{"rendered":"
To understand how and why the female characters within video games are changing, we first must look back at the history of the making of video games. Back when video games were starting to gain popularity back in the 1970s<\/a>, game development studios were prone to hire only men. Historically, the video game industry and the IT industry are deeply connected. Women in the early days were only hired for low-paying jobs that required minimal technical skills and often faced glass ceilings within the company. On top of that, research on the topic of the target group for video games was not popular. Yet a few press reports underline the fact that female game developers represented barely 3 per cent of the workforce in 1989. This however experienced a growth to 33 percent in 2016<\/a>. This caused men to be represented as hyper-masculine and women were hypersexualized.<\/p>\n[aesop_gallery id=”13339″ revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n Even though video games were once targeted primarily at the teenage male target group, women have always seemed to have had an interest in video games and their development. The online population surveyed for 2023\u2019s Global Gamer Study show that 45 per cent out of the total cohort that says to play video games are women. Yet 36 per cent of women consider themselves a gamer.<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n This ratio can also be seen in the classes of Master Game Development <\/em><\/a>at the school LUCA School of Arts in Ghent, Flanders. Even though the halls and classrooms of LUCA School of Arts are now almost deserted due to the three-week exam period, the man and women ratio shows an interesting light on the new gaming industry. \u2018Around thirty per cent of the student population identifies themselves as a woman, and a little under seventy as men\u2019 tells Robin Gielis, teacher, coordinator of<\/p>\n Game Design and guidance counsellor for students currently doing their internship. Robin knows a lot about the industry and its current climate from his students\u2019 point of view. He acknowledges the changes within the last few years are visible, yet he also points out that this change has already been going on for a long time within Europe. \u2018I notice a huge difference between the United States and Flanders. The United States has now made a countermovement. Yet we notice that the designer who writes the character and the storyline changes if it is written by a man or a woman. So, the balance between the two is not completely the same.\u2019<\/p>\n With three Game development studios scattered throughout the city of Ghent give many opportunities to the Students of LUCA. One studio in particular stands out. Larian Studios<\/a> is mainly known for releasing the popular role-playing game (RPG) named Baldur\u2019s Gate. This dark fantasy game has taken its inspiration from the fantasy tabletop role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, which in turn has taken great inspiration from many mythological tales. \u2018I really enjoy this game. This studio has been a reason as to why I started my studies at LUCA,\u2019 says LeAnn Kuiper, a first-year student in LUCA\u2019s game development. \u2018I just love all RPGs that are inspired by mythologies or are fantasy-based\u2019.<\/p>\n Mythologies have clearly been an inspiration for the game industry for a very long time. Successful games such as Zelda<\/a>, which has aside its Celtic origin, taken inspiration from Japanese myths and legends as well. They have all proven that taking inspiration from these intriguing stories is popular among the gaming target group. And the popularity is still going strong.<\/p>\n\n With the new mythology-inspired games such as Hades II<\/a> from the game developer Supergiant Games was released on the 6th<\/sup> of May this year trending on Steam, mythology-based games are still in all the rage. Yet even this popular inspiration source is still changing the gaming industry. This can be seen in the change of gender in the protagonist. In Hades I,<\/a> players used to play as the son of Hades, Zagreus. In the new release of Hades II<\/a>, players will now follow the immortal daughter of Hades named Melino\u00eb. Even though Melino\u00eb is portrayed as a strong woman seeking justice in the underworld and as the daughter of Hades in the game, her original story is much different. In the original mythology, Melino\u00eb is said to bring nightmares, madness and ghosts. In this story, it is Zeus disguised as Hades who fathered Melino\u00eb.<\/p>\n\n[aesop_gallery id=”13308″ revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n Looking back, it was clear that the earlier games inspired by mythology were designed for a teenage boy\u2019s fantasy. But this is changing rapidly. Take the game series God of War for example. The game God of War started as a Greek mythology-based game. Later on, within the game series the game will be based on Norse mythology as well. In the first few games, Kratos, the main character of God of War, would go on a destructive rampage throughout Greece, only stopping to enjoy the nameless half-naked women scattered throughout this world. \u2018As a woman looking at these games, you just cannot relate to them. This makes it less fun to play sometimes. This is however changing within the last few years, tells Len Meassen. And the change is obvious. Whereas women used to be either angry or sexy in games such as God of War, they are now much more complex. In their newest version of the game, God of War Ragnar\u00f6k, players will partly play as Freya. \u2018The interpretation of the Goddess Freya as an angry and grieving mother who has a complex and meaningful life. This isn\u2019t something that we would\u2019ve seen her portrayed as twenty years ago. But I can also remember that the Greek Goddesses in the original mythology were often just angry women trying to get control over men.\u2019<\/p>\n\n When asked if he saw the influence of mythology on games, Robin answered that this influence has been going on for years. Yet at LUCA the influence has become less nowadays. \u201cWhen indie game developers find something too commercial, they will switch to something else,\u201d tells Robin. \u201cYet we do notice that students still take inspiration from them.\u201d This is confirmed by LeAnn. \u201cI use a bit of my own experiences in life and a bit of old stories. They make an interesting combination.\u201d \u00a0Looking at how the students of LUCA design games, there is a difference between men and women. “Women will more easily lean towards deep storylines. Men will more easily choose to solve it with an action. And by action, I don\u2019t always mean violence. Just an action, a deed. Women tend to lean more towards education and underlying storylines that grow through the narrative. Men will more easily choose the hands-on approach. That\u2019s something we notice very much. One is not positive or negative. There\u2019s just a difference in approach. And we do notice a slight difference that women tend to choose a more nuanced approach. And men somewhat more easily choose the rougher approach. But it\u2019s not always violence. I must emphasize that. Luckily, they are not that clich\u00e9” Explains Robin. \u201cWhen you look at feminine women and masculine men, they also dare to create strong feminine characters. Or vice versa. That women say, I want to create a strong male character but in my way. The spectrum has broadened significantly. People dare to experiment more with characters, but also with stories. And more and more things are being addressed that were consciously not addressed in the past. So, the boundaries have blurred, or people dare to cross the boundaries more boldly.<\/p>\n\n This difference in approach might be the reason why women joining the game development workforce has had such an impact. With organizations such as Women in Games<\/a> striving for equality within the work field and women naturally adding different views on how developing games can be done, games will become more inclusive. And thus, new mythology-inspired games such as Hades II will have a broad variety of background stories and a diverse narrative approach.<\/p>\n Another reason why the characters of mythology might be so different in the modern retellings of mythology could be due to tales being retold from the perspective of the character. This first-person narration causes mythology to change with modern beliefs. A nice example would be Medusa\u2019s story. The Roman author Ovid<\/a> describes the mortal Medusa as \u201ca beautiful maiden seduced by Poseidon in a temple of Athena. Such a sacrilege attracted the goddess\u2019 wrath, and she punished Medusa by turning her hair to snakes\u201d.<\/p>\n There are now many differences in Medusa\u2019s story if you look at how the tale is being retold. The Los Angeles Review of Books writes: \u201cThe feminist turn for the gorgon is roughly contemporary with the release of Clash of the Titans. Arguably catalysed by H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Cixous\u2019s germinal 1976 essay \u201cThe Laugh of the Medusa<\/a>,\u201d a new crop of feminist poets, novelists, and academics began to explore Medusa\u2019s transformation from woman to monster as a metaphor for women\u2019s sexual repression\u201d. This example of how a tale can change is still in the retellings of mythology.<\/p>\n As the landscape of game development evolves and the mythologies are being retold, it becomes clear that these two are being influenced by each other. The portrayal of female characters is crucial in shaping the future of both aspects. From its historical roots where male dominance and stereotypical portrayals prevailed, today’s game development scene and mythological references reflect a more inclusive and diverse narrative approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Even though the gloomy weather and the dark clouds threaten to wreak havoc on the residents of the city, the city of Ghent shows a bright future for the new generation of game designers in training. Video games are becoming increasingly more popular with a wider audience. As more women openly embrace gaming and its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3282,"featured_media":13003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acls","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n