I have issue with this whole issue of male/female genre.

It's not that I don't think there are valid arguments about it, and I can see why people are concerned. Although I'm not an avid gamer, myself, I am an avid anime fan. And, like gaming, anime is part of geek culture, which is widely accepted to be boys-only. And we all know anime is FAR from boys-only. I know a lot more FEMALE gamers than I do male. So I think I have some right to bitch about the subject. But, like so many aspects of culture, I think this whole thing is taken way out of proportion, which only makes things worse.

See, yes, it is true that male gamers become male game designers who design games for male gamers. But that doesn’t mean that girls aren’t happy to play them, too. One of the problems is that every game that gets designed for a female audience usually revolves around the players’ FEELINGS, to the point that there is no other point to the game. I’ll point to that ‘Purple Moon’ idea that involved the player going around a wood picking up stones that equated to their feelings and carrying them home in a basket. I mean, COME ON.

 The fact is that women like sex and violence as much as men do. And guys, believe it or not, don’t actually mind the occasional conversation about squishy love subjects. But people refuse to believe these things, and so when targeting for one or the other, they overcompensate on one and completely ignore the other. You can have DOOM, or Imagine…! Babies. And it applies to TV, manga and anime, too. You can 300, or… Pride and Prejudice. And yet, the most successful manga artist in the world is Rumiko Takahashi, who writes Shounen, which is pointedly aimed at fourteen year old boys, but this author makes everything in her stories surround relationships.

I love Rumiko Takahashi almost as much as I love Joss Whedon, and so I believe these two should get together and teach the world about how to construct good entertainment.

Joss Whedon is a cultural studies student, and when you’re looking, you can see it in everything he does. Right down to the fact that in Buffy, anyone who smokes ends up dead. I’m serious – check it out. Except the Vampires, who are already dead and therefore inherantly evil, so we can’t trust them as role models anyway. Yet everything he touches turns to gold, and fans that know him trust his judgement. Everyone I’ve talked to is TERRIFIED of the new Wonder Woman movie ever since Joss Whendon left it because of ‘creative differences’. He knows girls like sex and violence as long as it’s not too over the top, and that boys can handle relationships as long as it’s kinda stunted and awkward. Because love is stunted and awkward and kinda icky.

I have a theory that the reason guys are so scared of romance stories is not because they don’t like it, but because the guys in these things always know what the hell they’re doing.

AH HAH! I just thought of a new idea for my honours thesis that might actually get me a supervisor at Curtin! AWESOME!

…sorry.

No, but seriously! I’m gonna use Rumiko Takahashi here, because she kinda makes my point. Granted, people say her work is girly for a shounen manga, and it is. But it’s still damn freaking successful. And despite the fact that Ranma 1/2 is all about Ranma screwing up his relationship with women, and said main character spends half his time as a woman, I’ve never heard a guy actually downcry it. And I think it’s got a lot to do with the fact that the manga takes all the potential relationships you might ever have and sends it to the extreme. Shampoo is that girl that really just wants sex and doesn’t actually care too much, Kodachi is the happy-families girl (poisoning any chance of a good relationship by dreaming of two point five kids and a dog), Ukyo is the female friend that wants more, and Akane is that girl that you really do like but can’t… quite… get the right words out… so it’s easier to just insult her. And he NEVER gets it right, right up until the end. So guys can read this (with the pretence of preferring the slapstick and martial arts) and identify. And girls can get into the violence and sex because those parts are always intertwined with comedy. Who CARES if Ranko had spent all her time naked? She obviously didn’t care and was usually more preoccupied with what was going on around her.

The same happens in Inuyasha. And yes, I am fully willing to admit the comparison that it’s Dragon Ball Z for girls. That sword goes through so many powerups, and yet all the bad guys are still around, and the story just keeps going on and on and on… but it’s entertaining. Girls like Kagome because she’s smart but… well… a ditz. She doesn’t get things right, but be damned if she ain’t gonna try! She’s the one that really kicks butt in the series, but hey, Inuyasha’s the tank, so she can play damsel in distress. Guys like it because… demons and warriors and bloodshed and that frikkin huge sword that keeps getting more power! Okay, so Inuyasha’s true power is related to his love for some ditzy chick and the rest of his adopted family, and he gets his shirt off more often than any of the girls, but who the hell cares?

If they could do this sort of thing in games, the whole problem would be avoided. Like, I’ve got severe issues with Neverwinter Nights 2, don’t get me wrong, but it involves a romance subplot and takes a substantial bit of time out of your game to develop it. But only if you play a male character. A female character… technically gets one, but it doesn’t do anything. You flirt with one hot character, but inevitably get with the boring paladin, and get absolutely no sex out of the deal! Who would play a female character, when the male ones get to not only flirt with any female that moves, but actually jump in the sack with a hot, sassy elf?

I mean… really.

My point is… screw the male/female gaze binary. I like a movie much better if it’s got some hot chick showing her legs, because then, chances are, a guy is gonna get his shirt off. I want to button mash in games, and that’s much easier to do when I’m wielding a sword or gun than if I’m building a relationship with some NPC in a dating game. Hell, even in the Sims, where I live to get my sims to the top of their career paths, I want them to be getting some on the side, and probably cheating on their partner, because that often leads to a punch up. I’m sick, twisted and bloodthirsty, as long as I’ve got some nice, mellow characterisation to go with.

Is that so hard to do?