Female Characters in Games

The cluster discusses gender representation in video games, focusing on debates about the need for more female protagonists, character customization options, criticisms of sexism in game design, and whether such representation affects player enjoyment.

📉 Falling 0.4x Gaming
2,071
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#1793
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
7
2008
7
2009
30
2010
32
2011
44
2012
131
2013
200
2014
148
2015
155
2016
124
2017
96
2018
76
2019
120
2020
94
2021
176
2022
184
2023
167
2024
136
2025
135
2026
9

Keywords

HN youtu.be blogspot.com MISOGYNIST PC WWIII C64 ycombinator.com STEM YOU characters female women male games character game anime men gender

Sample Comments

egypturnash Feb 28, 2014 View on HN

How does this stop women enjoying games? See this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7317484

fennecfoxy Dec 6, 2023 View on HN

As a gay man I still play games that don't have gay characters in them (even though I wish there were more). I don't believe women differ from myself at all and I don't think the character's background matters as long as the general platform is diverse. I'm sure women will play games with female main characters, male main character etc in the same way that I'll play games with straight main characters and gay main characters alike.Seems kind of sexist to imply ot

pornel Dec 5, 2023 View on HN

It's not inherently sexist to point out differences between sexes, especially in context that isn't discriminatory. There are also practical differences due to environment and culture, not biology.In case of games, usually the problem is that the stories are written from a perspective of a male fantasy, where role of women is reduced to just being a pretty accessory. "Dead hooker" jokes aren't equally funny to everyone.Whether this game will be more appealing to wo

probablyexists Jan 31, 2022 View on HN

Agreed. This reads like those memes about men writing female characters..

webehere Mar 9, 2015 View on HN

"I've created a cool game with heaps of female characters""YOU MISOGYNIST! The female characters are all X"."We've taken feedback and made some Y & Z characters as well"."YOU MISOGYNIST! There is more to women than X, Y & Z.""So we've made a game with male characters..."That's the argument as I can see it. Is it fair or real? Who knows, but that's what it is!

advantark2 Nov 7, 2016 View on HN

I wish this were a joke. A tampon is unambiguously designed for women. Video games are designed for those who enjoy them.

gibolt Jan 29, 2022 View on HN

Why give the option for gender selection or character customization in video games? People care about seeing themselves represented. It doesn't hurt anyone to have options (other than those who have to wade through supporting unicode standards)

egypturnash Feb 28, 2014 View on HN

Imagine a world where every major video game stars women. Where when there is a man in the cast, his only character trait is "he's the guy", versus an assortment of ladies who are at least two-dimensional. He is also probably going to be kidnapped, so he has no agency as a character - really, he only exists as a prize for the ladies to fight over.This is not one game. This is pretty much any video game. This is pretty much every single video game in the world. Games where a mal

benmller313 Mar 26, 2021 View on HN

Why wouldn't a woman be able to be good at a game made by a white man?

kmeisthax Aug 28, 2024 View on HN

"In Pre-WWIII America, the Gender of Video Game Protagonists Was a Highly Political Decision"