Tomb Raider

Throughout gaming history, there have been many topics that have been the center of massive debates.  The more significant topics include violence, sex, and drugs.  Another topic that is highly controversial but not often brought up is a video games' depiction of gender. 

What's the big deal, you ask? 

Video games rely on several key components for it to thrive in the world.  One of these components is the story.  The story will certainly make or break the game under the right circumstances.  Perhaps the most recognizable (and over used) stories is about saving the damsel in distress.  Many a game has used this iconic tale to lure in players so there must be something interesting about it.  Right?  Actually, at this point the story has probably been used so much that people simply accept it as a tradition of sorts.  When we play a game like that, we know that the hero has to go and save the princess from the clutches of the villain.  A princess.  There's almost always a princess to be saved.  Not a prince or a lord, but a princess.

Before many Womens' Rights activist started coming to light, the ladies weren't usually treated on the same level as men were.  They were not thought of as equals.  Today, that has changed.  Any woman can have the same authority as a man can (at least, in America).  Yet, for some reason, video games will still represent them as weaklings or even trophies to the player.  Since the majority of gamers are teenage boys to middle aged men, women are more often than not portrayed in a sexual manner.  Large breasted and hourglass figured, these women are what the game industry thinks that these gamers want.  They're probably right.  However, it's all rather demeaning to females.

Of course, there are still games that exist that give the girls some respect.  There's Samus Aran from the Metroid series, Catherine, and of course Tomb Raider.  The newest product of the Tomb Raider series brought back the iconic mummy-fightin' heroine to fight the odds once more in a grappling adventure.  Lara Croft is a great example for a tough woman in video games.

It's interesting to note that the earlier games in the series show a Lara that was obviously designed to be sexually attractive to the targeted audience whereas this latest installment shows her as an average looking female.  In other words, there was less emphasis on the big boobs.  Why the designers felt this was a good decision, I'm not sure.  I imagine that the growing population of women gamers has influenced the producers to take this into consideration.

This game also boasts a more serious tone throughout the story.  Intead of a girl that starts out by running into a battle guns a-blaze, this Lara was shipwrecked and seperated from the rest of her team.  She is terrified of what could happen to her but musters up the strength from deep within to overcome the obstacles that lie ahead.  This is so much different from what she has been in previous titles. 

I'm not trying to say that all games should exclude any form of defacement of the female gender; nor am I saying that woman is the only gender that is discraced.  Men are often represented as heavish brutes and are almost always the enemy.  There are many games that don't represent women in a demeaning way that have been super successful.  If you're gonna put a woman in you game, don't just resort to the sex appeal right away.  At least give it a little thought...