Interactive Fiction - Gender Benders
According to interactive fiction enthusiast Doug Atkinson, "there are a few fundamentals of identity that every (human) character must have...and one of them is gender."
Does interactive fiction really require gender identity to be enjoyable? Successful? Does this reflect modern interests?
Introduction
Atkinson appropriately raises a striking, similar question: "how is this [gender identity] handled in IF?"
He goes on to discuss the various popular genres and works of IF, explaining that there are typically three distinct methods for doing just that.
Essentially, IF authors choose one of the following:
• They explicitly or implicitly assign a gender to the main character.
• They choose to leave the gender unspecified throughout the game.
• They give the player the ability to choose the main character's gender.
IF and the Gender Divide
Atkinson concludes that the greater the depth of an IF game's story, the more essential it becomes for the main character's gender to be specified.
This is a curious observation, because it addresses an issue not normally considered when writing fiction for any medium.
Traditional novels, short stories, video/computer games, television shows, movies, and other forms of media almost require that their main characters are gender-defined from the very beginning. It is hard to imagine reading a full-length novel or watching a movie in which the main character is never assigned a gender.
Interactive fiction, on the other hand, is a medium that actually places its audience in the role of one or more of the characters, creating and maintaining a personal relationship between the player and the player character.
Another importance difference that should be noted is the typical expectations of the audience. When reading a book or watching a movie, the audience is usually placed in an omniscient role, reading or watching scenes in which the main character may or may not be present. In IF, the player is usually forced to stick to the role of one character, having limited knowledge of the other characters involved in the story.
The IF Audience and the Modern Connection
Atkinson eventually comes to another conclusion: that the IF audience is assumed to be of a male majority, because very few IF games have a main character with a defined female gender. He does note one special case, discussing a game called Plundered Hearts, in which the main character is a female who becomes romantically involved with a male pirate. Making a general connection, he states (and I agree) that the romance genre to which this game belongs is predominately catered to a female audience. He even hints to the fact that this holds true for the romance genre across all realms of media: literature, television, movies, etc.
The significance of this must be noted, and it raises more questions: is IF moving us away from the concept of a main character with a clearly defined gender? is traditional literature becoming less culturally adaptive, as our global community moves towards acceptance of new gender roles? does IF then have an advantage over other forms of media? and can this advantage be unlocked and used in those alternate forms of media?
Consider, for instance, those IF games which allow the player to choose the main character's gender. Although it typically has very little effect on the plot and only changes pronouns within the game which refer to the player character, it becomes much more difficult to use in games that require the player character to fit into a particular time, place, and predicament in the game world. Men and women, after all, usually behave in different ways for different reasons, and this would have to be taken into account when writing an IF game. As Atkinson points out, Plundered Hearts just wouldn't work if the main character were casually given a male gender role; "the motivations and character roles would go all askew."
So certainly, it cannot be said that the ability to choose the main character's gender in IF is a wholly productive and reasonable solution to the identity crisis. Games that have any sort of deep and involving plotline require the gender to be assigned for the player, right?
Not necessarily. Graham Nelson, the namesake guru of IF, created a game called Jigsaw in which the player character and the player character's nemesis develop a substantial level of attraction towards one another. Neither character is assigned a gender, and Graham does not provide the player with the option to choose the gender in either case. Despite this, the game still maintains a coherent and substantial plot.
As Atkinson mentions, some players complained that they would have preferred that the genders of the characters were known. Earlier in his essay, he also makes a comment on the fact that men have a greater aversion to playing female roles than women have to playing male roles. Yet it cannot be denied that this game's ability to stand alone without catering specifically to men or women says something for gender ambiguity.
Conclusion
Atkinson ends his essay by stating that "all IF characters, male or female, are limited." However, he slips in some thoughtful responses to his own analysis; he argues that if the gender roles in IF aren't handled properly, than the "illusion" of IF itself is destroyed.
Certainly, from all that has been examined here, it can be implied that some major changes in the "genderization" of IF games and other forms of media would be helpful. Will IF find a way to satisfy players of any gender while maintaining the same quality of literature that gender-specific games usually display? Hopefully, the future will hold answers to this and all other questions which have risen here.
Personal Experience
In order to do a little more investigation into this matter, I played through two games in which the main character is a female: Earth and Sky and Dinner with Andre.
Earth and Sky is a game in which the story revolves around a pair of young siblings whose parents disappear, leaving behind a "superhero" legacy complete with costumes and special powers. The player character is the sister, Emily, while her brother, Austin, is an NPC. I felt that the author did a fine job of making this game accessible to males as well as females, because the focus of the story was on the characters' growth as human beings, not merely as boys or girls, men or women.
Dinner With Andre was a little more focused on a female gender role for the player character, placing the player in the role of a young woman on a date which goes horribly wrong. Nonetheless, I felt satisfied with the experience because the writing style and content was very humorous; if the story had been more serious and centralized around the relationship between the player character and her date, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much.
So, in light of my own personal experience, I must admit that playing female gender roles in IF games doesn't bother me too much unless the game's story completely depends upon the gender of the main character. In IF, a game's story probably shouldn't depend upon gender roles to such a high degree, anyways; in other words, if a plot is really a good one, it should be good not because the main character is male or female, but because the content of the game is appropriately riveting and interesting for people of all gender divisions.
Questions
• Do you feel that IF games must specify a gender for the player character to have the best possible storyline? Why?
• Of the three methods of genderization that IF authors have developed, which do you feel is the best? The worst? Why?
• Do you believe it's true that men have a harder time fitting into female roles than women have fitting into male roles? Why or why not?
• Do other forms of media besides IF have conventions for gender selection? How does this affect their popularity or content?
• Females: how do you feel about the fact that IF and other types of electronic games place so much emphasis on male gender roles? Why?
• Consider other aspects of IF games... Such as the plot, the NPCs, the dialogue, the writing style, etc. Does IF differ from other forms of media in its use of these elements? How so?
Sources:
Character Gender in Interactive Fiction, by Doug Atkinson
Comments
Hmm, remind me to drop some explosives in my game somewhere for you, Denishia, so you can just blow holes through the walls. :P
Posted by: ChrisU | December 1, 2004 12:47 AM
I also commented on my blog about your presentation. I personally don't think it matters in Interactive Fiction what gender you are, unless of course your in a category like romance. But as far as games that don't even tell you what gender you are, I don't even notice or think about it. I'm usually too worried about how the hell to get out of the room I'm in.
Posted by: Denishia Salter | November 30, 2004 10:59 PM
Personally, some of the best games ignore that, me whoring Zork again.
I loved the fact that you refered to Metroid, one of my all-time favorites. I'm currently typing up my blog entry about IF and gender and all that, and it shows that sometimes graphics don't affect that mystery. People like a sense of the vague, of the unknown, as it leads to a bigger surprise at the end.
Posted by: TimothyTraini | November 30, 2004 8:39 PM
Hehe, for some reason I thought Dinner with Andre was hilarious. I must have sat there for half an hour trying to figure out how to get the waiter's attention, before I gave in and took a look at the hints menu...
There's nothing quite like beaning someone with a dinner roll... Mweheheh.
Oh, and after careful consideration, I decided I like this style better, too. Kind of wacky, which fits my mood lately, I guess.
Posted by: ChrisU | November 30, 2004 12:09 AM
First, let me start by saying I like this blog style better. Sorry.
Next- I want to know the gender of my player. I have never played a game where I could chose the gender. Yet I have played games where the gender was not directly specified. To me, it is annoying. I like to create an image in my mind for the game, including what gender I am playing. It honestly doesn't matter either way if I am a male or female, just as long as I know.
When playing IF games, I usually automatically think that my character is male. I'm not sure why I do though. Probably because I know that the author is a male and he probably wrote in his own gender, as authors usually do.
I have played 'Dinner with Andre' and hated it. Not because of the gender, but because I couldn't do anything other than pick up my glass! Yet it was nice to know my character's gender.
Posted by: Vanessa | November 29, 2004 9:53 PM
Chris I'm really glad that you raised this point, I never really thought about this in my game. I took the time to answer some of your questions on my blog. This is really a subject that I never even thought of when playing many of my games, I actually went back through and checked some out. I seemed to notice a heavy pattern of the games I choose to play did not give a gender, or even a him or her. Well happy writing, can't wait to see your game!
Posted by: samantha | November 29, 2004 9:43 PM
::Shifty eyes:: I didn't change it...
Posted by: ChrisU | November 26, 2004 1:54 AM
Chris,
I do think its a bit ridiculous to put so much emphasis on the male gender in IF games. I am glad that there are games out there that have female characters, though.
Yes, why did you change your blog back!?
Posted by: storm | November 24, 2004 12:49 AM
Though I CAN'T believe that you changed your blog back to this, I did enjoy your presentation today very much.
While you could make the distinction between sex and gender, as Evan suggested, we knew a general idea of what you were talking about.
I don't really have time to play interactive fiction, your reflections inspire me to play a little more. :-D
Posted by: Amanda | November 22, 2004 5:28 PM