Finch mentioned this the other day in chat, so kudos to him for the topic idea. XD~

Is the gaming industry dominated by male characters? Would it be more interesting to have more female leads?

It is kind of true thinking that there are more male characters than females, and they usually are better too. Generally speaking, I'm thinking its because video games are more directed towards the male crowd. o__o A selling gimmick, you could say, since I don't know if many boys would want to play as girls or anything. XD; But whatever games are good AND has good female characters, I think is a rarity. Like Fatal Frame, where the main characters are two pretty cute japanese girls. ♥

And I think it would be better to have them too. u__u Though I've been hearing that SH:C has a very dominate Karin. XDD

i agree. too many male characters... we need more female lead, not like Lenneth from Valkyrie Profile- she's too cold... but more like Jade from Beyond Good & Evil.

only problem is- if someone does create a female lead, she usually turns into a ditz (like Luna in FFX-2), or swoons over some other male character.

It's true that there are more male than female lead characters, but it doesn't really bother me. Most male leads have at least one female character tagging along who often is just as good a character as the lead himself, sometimes even better. Female leads may be in the minority, but the leads are not always the best character in a game. More often than not, I have a character in the game that I like much more than the main character, and there are plenty of likeable female characters among them.


Lol, Karin didn't mean much to me, I personally found her quite an average character. In that series, I find Alice to be the strongest female character. Her presence really stands out for me, especially after playing Covenant. She's a good example of a female that I find to be as strong a character as the male lead. ^^

When you play a game, you like to take the role of that character. Some games, such as RPG, you control that character, but most other genre, you like to believe you are that character, to a certain degree. Since there are more male game players, only logical that there are more male leads. But like I said, to a certain degree.



Tomb Raider kinda nulls your comment there. How much did that game sell? Guys like to play as women who can kick ass, not sissy characters. I think a lot of guy gamers don't mind if it's a girl or a guy, as long as that character kicks ass. I mean in both literally, and in the sense that it's a cool character.

I don't think female leads or a rarity, definatly not as common but I wouldn't say rare.

Personally, like I say, I don't care as long as it's a cool character. I think it's a subconscience thing though to accosiate power with male characters. Not being sexist here, but we're only human in in humanity males are naturally stronger; generally. Blah, I dunno if you get what I mean there. XD

Like I said, I don't know if guys would want to or not. XD Wasn't Lara Croft considered a gaming hottie? Maybe boys liked it cause the got to see her in shortshorts crawling and jumping all over. XDDD~

QUOTE (Sigs Minock)

only problem is- if someone does create a female lead, she usually turns into a ditz (like Luna in FFX-2), or swoons over some other male character.

It does seem like it would be like that sometimes wouldn't it? ><;; FFx-2 is such a bad example of females leading, because it was the epitome of ditz-gaming.

I misread that as "I don't know many boys who would want to play as girls or anything."

Sorry about that.

But yeah, lot of guys [that I know] don't mind playing as female leads, but, like I said, as long as they kick ass. Female character mainly seem to be wuss who the male rescues or something. But if they can kick ass, always nice to play as a hot character with guns or a massive sword. <3

I totally agree. As long as they kick ass I wouldn't mind. As you have said, most female chars. do seem to be wuss.

I also agree with what Xerno said about most main male characters have a female character tagging along with him. Most of the time they get most of the spot light like Lucia in Lunar 2. Lucia was kick ass before *SPOILER!


She lost her powers. Then she became like the stereotype female characters in most rpgs until the end when she regain her powers and then some and became bad ass again.



The thing I find wrong with most female characters that are main characters and are not wuss is that they are skimpy. Nothing wrong with some skimpiness, but they exploit it to the point that is mandatory (it seems like it) for the female to look that way.

Anyway I’m done talking nonsense here. I don’t really care what the gender of the main character is as long as they are koo and kick ass. But I’ll admit I like playing as a male the most. I mean who doesn’t like playing as the gender they are? I see why girls are kinda upset with the developers.

Well, it's usually the case, where when there's a female lead, she's in skimpy clothing and is basically a sex icon for nerds. (No offence to any guy who does have a picture of Lara Croft naked, on his bedroom wall. *cough*). I'd rather it be a male character than a girl in tight shorts and top. Probably the only female lead/co-star that you can play, that I've seen in "normal" clothing would be the woman out of Broken Sword: Sleeping Dragon. Which, by the way, is a brilliant game.

I have to say, in a lot of cases, it doesnt bother me playing as a female main character. I think its kind of an interesting change of pace. As long as the game isnt too girly..

Loved Valkyrie Profile. If it came to needing male representation, I thought Arngrim was a badass, and Lucian too.

Anyway, I think the industry is getting more diverse and creative, so if it seems too male dominated, it probably wont be for long.

Lenneth was cold for a reason, she had a duty and if she showed any emotions or remorse for humans, she wouldn't have been able to do her task and would've been replaced by her sister. She wasn't as cold later on in the game if you go for the A ending. =/ Personally, I liked Lenneth a lot, I loved her personality .

but that's off the subject! xD

It's not really rare to find a game with a decent female character, but it's not really easy to find them. I've played a few games with female leads that just rocked. Alex Roivas from Eternal Darkness is an easy favorite. She wasn't ditsy, but she was determined to find out what happened to her grandfather and the dark secrets inside the house and the tome of Eternal Darkness. She's probably one of my favorite female leads in a game and she didn't have to wear short shorts and show off massive amounts of cleavage. xDDDD

Anyhoooo! I wouldn't say it's male dominated, but it is a bit tough to find some decent female leads in a game. I really don't care if I'm playing a boy or a girl, as long as I like the character, I don't mind what their gender is. But I do think it's kinda sad that female characters in games like RPGs are made to be the weaker class. ;-;

Indeed, I really don't mind seeing more female leads. But I wonder if a character that acts girly-like, could handle such tough adventure ?

Don't think so...

Yes male characters dominate the gaming industry for whatever reason and I think it's pretty sexist. And it's always the scenario of them 'saving the world' or getting that chick or something. FFX as I'm sure made alot of female gamers mad due to the fact that the WHOLE STORY REVOLVED AROUND YUNA but that stinking Tidus was the protagonist. Also the supporting female characters as I'm referring to them as, always suck in comparison to the male protagonist stat wise or the rest of the roster for that matter. This is not the case in Suikoden games however.

These days I look for more games that have a female protagonist(see; TRAPT)

Well there are even less examples of games where the main character isn't Caucasian.

Anyway, I don't mind playing as a female role such as Lara Croft... in fact it helped a lot of male gamers because when they failed to execute a jump properly they could blame the fact that she was a woman. (sexist I know, but whatever).

However, If Lara Croft started to care much about her costume or they added an RPG element where you took her to the mall to buy her fashionable clothing that could improve her strength, then you'd lose your male gamers. The thing about Lara Croft was that her Gender didn't define her. She just did the job and had large boobs. It's the same in Resident Evil games where you would often control a woman but it's more about killing the zombies and staying alive.

FFX-2 was all about being a woman. The main characters were defined entierly by their gender. For example, in FFX-2, Yuna was an 'independant woman' who could take care of herself while Lara Croft was an independant person and belive it or not, that makes a HELL of a lot of difference. FFX-2 also made the mistake of thinking that their whole audience would care what costume they were wearing... I guess they thought that making the costumes instresting woul engage the 'sex and the city' audience while the skimpyness would attract the male. Sadly, It just plain Failed.

Damnit, I gotta stop writing these essays... heheh no one will read this!

Well in terms of quantity, I guess I do agree that it is more inclined towards male characters.

Personally I dont mind the gender of the main character as long that character is well dont then I'm all for it male or female. I dont think would necessarily make it interesting though if the gender of characters were changed.

No dont. Posters like you are rare. And I read that.

I don't mind if the main character is a woman, but I really don't like it when they try to make her masculine. I wouldn't like to see a woman that can carry Clouds sword because it would look strange (I can understand a gun) or a woman that screams like a drill seargent(not saying its wrong, but it would be strange). I like women who are feminine and have great courage rather then butch and aggressive. You have to also understand that a majority of games are developed by men so women are represented the way that men see them or the way that men like them. If more women entered the game industy, we might be able to see a more diversified spectrum of women characters.

Personally I prefer playing as a male lead, but I dont mind seeing female leads in some games. I find it more fun playing as female in genres that are not RPGs for some reason though, but I do like having female characters in my party in RPGs.

I don't mind if the leads are mainly males, if many female leads are going to be ditzy. I can't stand ditziness. And more male leads = more game bishies, so all is well for me. XD

But it is true that there are way more male leads than female leads. I do think it has something to do with the targetted gamers being mostly males. From my roleplay experience (though not very much compared to the real veterans), most male RPers usually use a male character and seldom considering using females. While female RPers mostly uses females, but sometimes, do use males as well. Perhaps it's because people are more used to playing a character of the same gender? I don't know, since I have a somewhat equal amount of characters from either gender.

But truly, I would like to see a female lead in a game like Devil May Cry or Chaos Legion (not wielding a buster sword, of course). If done well, that would be totally hawt.

PS. I don't like my female characters too skimpy, though Ivy Valentine's design from Soul Calibur 2 is really distracting. ^^;;

Gender doesn't really matter too much to me in games, so I guess this isn't an issue I've really paid much attention to. I'm more focused on other aspects, such as gameplay mainly. But yeah, I guess the gaming world is somewhat dominated by male lead characters. But then again, there's probably at least twice as many male gamers out there than there are females, so yeah.

But I guess it might be nice to see more female lead-characters. Only makes it that much better when your character is not only badass, but also cute and fun to gawk at. =) And in the end, the only -real- difference it would make for me, is that I might be pressing that jump button a bit more....Ahem. >_>;

Yeah that is true, but I think they have been trying to break out of that shell in the past years. Though they have to go in a different direction, because I am so tired that if there is a female lead they have to make her almost like Lara Croft. Shocking for guy to say that, but I'm tired of the whole "I'm female lead and I have gigantic knockers!" Just goes to show you that no matter what, sex sells.

I don't like to see Cloud carrying Cloud's sword because it looks strange.

Anyway, I don't really have anything new to say, but I think that video games are definitely geared more toward the male audience (and the ones that aren't suck), and naturally the main character will end up being male for this reason. This also explains the, erm... shapes, if you will, of the female leads. Ever since Tomb Raider and FF7, zit-encrusted horny 12-year-olds have been doing their two favorite things at once. And that sells well, so it keeps going.

Not that that's a good thing, I'm actually disgusted. And some of my favorite games have female leads. But they're only good when done right. Some of my least favorite games have female leads, too.

Everybody keeps mentioning Lara Croft as kicking ass, but how am I the first to mention Samus?

Although I saw some program on TV where they said that Lara Croft wasnt supposed to have such big breasts to begin with

Yes, more male characters, but untill maybe a couple of years ago, gaming was something for guys.

Girls never played games and lately more and more girls start playing games, so that is why there are still many male heros.

One thing that people seem to forget is that there is always a female character besides the male leader. Mainly in RPGs it is this way, Final Fantasies are a big example in this.

Another thing why there are so many male characters is, role playing games are meant for the player to place himself inside the character and play his role. A guy doesn't play a female character the same way he does with a male character, although most guys and in most situations, besides girls and guys are very diffirent, look at FF X-2 and FF X.

Personally I don't mind, but I like to place myself inside the character and for me it is easier wih a male character then a female character.

Karin from Shadow Hearts as mentioned above is a good example, since she is very strong personally. Had quite a troublesome past and she shows quite some strength and an own free will which not many female characters have in games, for example Tifa in FF VII, she basically followed Cloud everywhere without having her own opinion.

A female lead character is nice in a game, but I doubt that I will play the game the sae as I would play with a male lead character.