Female Protagonists?

[Crystal]

If you don't want a tomboy or a sweet girl then how about a seductress? I've never seen a seductress be the main character in a videogame. Like this would be awesome for a more dialog based game where you have to seduce you enemies into doing what you say...making the game about manipulation instead of battles.

Interesting idea, but it really wouldn't fit with the kind of game I'm making. And also because I don't consider myself to be good at flirting (nor can I tell when someone is flirting w/ me :blush: ), this might be difficult for me to pull off. Thanks though :smile: .

 

[dadevvtsvre]

If you're interested, I can bring in a bit of writing advice as well. This kind of stuff is usually applied to movies and novels but there's no reason it can't be applied to a game as well.

The 'Hero's Journey' (aka the monomyth) is a formula that can be found in a large chunk of stories and movies for hundreds of years. It is a very basic set of 'stages' that the protagonist goes through while on his adventure, you can look it up if you want more details.

However, some have claimed that the Hero's Journey has a bit of a male bias, so some writers and psychologists have created a version of the monomyth that applies strictly to female characters. You can use it to get a basic idea for plot structure and how to develop your character, but I don't advise following it strictly. It also depends what kind of plot your game will have - games that are adventures and epics will follow it a lot more closely than murder mysteries, for example.

Anyway, check it out if you're interested, you might get some new insight from it. It might not be what you're looking for, but definitely a worthwhile source of information.

http://www.agoodstorywelltold.com/conte ... es-journey

 

[So fist]

don't listen to these idiots. a female protagonist must be a slave to her emotions and be utterly dependent to a strong male love interest who protects her and helps guide her through her day to day tasks that aren't part of the natural female sphere (shopping, cooking, dick sucking, and child rearing). Her dialogue should be laden with all manners of frivolities and flirtacious laughter and all the lowercase i's should be punctuated by a heart instead of a dot. Her love interest should be a brooding jerk that she pines for because of his exceptional unordinariness. When love interest is gone she should become utterly helpless because the world is so dark and confusing without his distant uncaring guidance to provide her with purpose.

 

[candle]

I suggest you read twilight. that book contains everything you should never do with writing a female protagonist. and then read something much better like Kim Harrisson's Hollows books. Rachel Morgan is a badass bounty-hunter-witch-that-can-use-demon-magic, but isnt super serious and has some big flaws like always choosing boyfriends who are bad news (in vaious ways), never keeping out of trouble, and being a bit of a thrillseeker. Ivy, in contrast is a bad-ass, wealthy, self-assured, bi-sexual living vampire who was abused by her master and can't seperate blood drinking from sex or sex from love.

Also, just write a character. If in the proccess of discovering who that character is, you find out she just happens to be female, fine. If not... well you get the picture.

 

[Crystal]

@dadevster: I found the website very helpful, thank you so much :thumb:

I suggest you read twilight. that book contains everything you should never do with writing a female protagonist.

Oh, I've read all of the books and I agree. Bella Swan = worst character ever! She lacks personality, and has no real reason to even exist. And she pretty much turned out to be a Mary-Sue towards the end. I cannot express enough at how lame the last book was!
Anyways, I'll be sure to avoid all that.

 

[Tuna]

If you want to be sure to appeal to your male audience, oversexualizing your female protagonist is always something to think about, e.g. Lara Croft.

But in terms of a non-cliched female protagonist, why not do the opposite of a tomboy if that's what you're trying to avoid? Make her shriek with fear when she runs into that giant bug monster in the local cave system, or make her stop and mention going into the town's dress shop when she passes it on her way out of town.

 

[Perihelion]

Trying to make an anti-cliche is just as bad as making a cliche. Just think about your character in terms of what forces in her life have made her the way she is and figure out the rest from there.

Also, oversexualized female protagonists are a big turn-off for me as a female gamer.

 

[moxie]

If you want to be sure to appeal to your male audience, oversexualizing your female protagonist is always something to think about, e.g. Lara Croft.

you so silly

That would appeal plenty to the lowest common denominator I guess, but overly sexualized female characters can outright offend and turn people away too. There are lots of ways to design an appealing, attractive character without giving her knockers the size of basketballs and tiny shreds of clothing.


i say this even as one of my favorite games of all time (planescape:torment) is guilty of this in the worst way. e-even the zombies. uch:



post and scolding edited in light of realizing it's a joke~

 

[BwdYeti]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/ ... Characters
Good timing? Coincidences?

 

[flowerthief]

I'm sick and tired of the super big boobs tough girl protags. I enjoy Tomb Raider in spite of that, certainly not because of it.

What is wrong with a female protagonist that is sweet and gentle? Those are the kind of girls I like in real life so why wouldn't I like them in fiction?

Interestingly, Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria has a female protagonist who is both tough AND gentle. Okay, it's actually two different characters, but I thought that was a unique way to appeal to both tastes. (Unfortunately, the story in that game is pretty bad but at least they did a good job with the characters)

 

[Astromech]

Supposedly female main characters are rare in games because young boys only want to play as males, but young girls are fine with males or females. So, it's safer for a mass-market game to create a male main character. I guess the success of Tomb Raider and Metroid has shown that boys can stomach Croft-esque characters, hence that cliche.

We don't have to feel constrained by that though!

Something that might be fun to experiment with is take a well-known male character and think what a female with the same personality traits would be like. I think it might help you realize that men and women don't have to be that different.

 

[MagitekElite]

I don't mind playing as a male or female (is a girl myself). But I do like playing more as girls as the games I have played that stared females as the main role, have been among my favorite: Tomb Raider, Metroid (as listed), Ghost in the Shell, Parasite Eve as well as the Resident Evil games (they count xD).

The last of your post reminds me of what I read SE did for Lightning. Though I haven't played the game (and hear badly about it), Lightning doesn't seem that bad. Its a great suggestion, or so I think! :3

 

[candle]

This may help. I never got to see the panel when i was there, but watching it now was pretty interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p03yWv13j1Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap3h9-yfrnQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMCsgqQx9UI

 

[Crystal]

Thank you, Candle! Those vids have given me a lot of insight. I agree, they were very interesting to watch and the women of the panel did a good job explaining qualities that would make a genuine character. I'm also glad they had examples of female characters from some games, that really helped.

 

[Perihelion]

Oh yeah, that was a great discussion. Most of my favorite characters, and most of the characters I try to write, are a mix of tough and vulnerable. Emotional vulnerability is a huge, huge factor in making a character sympathetic.

 

[RavenTDA]

As far as wanting to play a boy or girl more... it doesn't really matter to me unless it's a game that *I AM* supposed to be the character.... such as Dragon Age, Fallout, the Pokemon trainer :p I want to be a girl or else I feel really cheated. Or at least have a choice... I sometimes go back and play as a male but I mostly like to be female in those types of games.

 

[TNB]

Actually, I have a question for all of you male players out there. Are you turned off by a female protagonist in a game, assuming level of characterization and etc. are equal to a male? I know a lot of guys like female protagonists if they have a nice ass, but let's say fairly basic sprite games.

well im not it doesnt matter of "asses, boobs,or genitalia" because as long as it has a good storyline it's good enough for me :smoke:

 

[benos]

I wanna play as a very fat female character, such a turn off, but would be fun to play as.

 

[Eventing_Guy]

I don't care... I want FUN gameplay!


Metroid games... (Samus Aron)

They give you bit of her past through out several games...

Other than that your just shooting and killing everything in sight!

:lol: Super happy FUN time for me!!!

 

[Ceiling_Cat]

young boys only want to play as males

Ummmmm no.

I think I already asked that somewhere else... anyway, doesn't matter. If she's not a bag of fanservice, it's fine.