Let's Talk About XBox One Game

I just got done watching Spike’s live coverage of Xbox One and its exclusive game reveals. Granted, I’m not going to purchase an Xbox One, but I thought it would be fun to see some of the trailers for new games. And it was. Until something so repulsive and yet so familiar happened.

A producer for Killer Instinct was playing a game with an Xbox Live employee, Ashton, in order to demonstrate the powers of Smartglass. Ashton quipped in good humor that whomever thought it was a good idea for her to fight the producer of the game was “gonna get it.” She was a good sport about having the producer massacre her at his own game in front of thousands. And then he said, “Just let it happen. It will be over soon.” To which the audience laughed and applauded.

Yes, because the very real threats of violence against women are FUNNY. The world witnessed what non white hetero cis men experience in the gaming world regularly. Ironically, as Microsoft pushes for more ways to connect to others while gaming, this demo clearly illustrates why this might NOT be a selling point for some.

That would have been enough, but the producer kept going. “Wow, you like this,” he said to Ashton. Her response, “Uh, no. I don’t like this.”

My sentiments exactly. “Uh, no. I don’t like this.”

-A. 

Bayonetta and Camp

This post is a walk-through of the development of my thoughts regarding the video game Bayonetta.

Part 1: Parody

I don’t think anyone would dispute that Bayonetta is over-the-top.

Bayonetta Trailer

The game combines “hyper cool” combos/moves that only require button mashing with a “hyper sexy” main character whose stilettos are guns and whose outfit is composed largely out of her hair, and an objective to kill angels all set to a poppy, up-beat soundtrack. The target for enemies is a set of red lips, and when you successfully perform a move in the tutorial, the game praises you with “Cute!” and “Beautiful!” Bayonetta catwalks down the aisle of a train in a cutscene on the demo.

Any qualms I had about another buxom femme fatale was assuaged by the realization that this was a parody. The game is just too much to be taken seriously. A heavy reliance of tired stereotypes about femininity, hyper-sexualization to ridiculousness, and the intentionally provocative charge of killing angels with combo moves that require skill a novice could muster are all tongue-in-cheek. Bayonetta playfully critiques elements commonly found in “those other games” (and real life): the conflation of sex and violence, a heroine in a sexualized outfit, a heroine who is only her sexuality and is constantly reconciling the whore/Madonna paradox, endlessly bloody and graphic combos, the unabashed t and a shots.

One reviewer said they felt uncomfortable because the game seems to encourage objectifying Bayonetta (positioning her in suggestive poses and moving the camera around), and yet sets her up as a strong, independent, angel-slaying badass in the plot. That this tension was obvious in this game is part of what makes it an effective parody.

Part 2: Author’s Intent

Later, J. pointed me to some comments the developers made in regards to the creation of  Bayonetta. In creating the game, they decided to start with focusing on "her femininity and sexuality” and built the character around that. They achieved this in part by incorporating a butterfly motif with Bayonetta, a symbol typically considered “girly” but also is associated with female genitals. Other elements include the use of flowers, a focus on her shoes, and her (sexual) dress and comportment. One developer, Kamiya, said that the theme of the game and the power behind Bayonetta’s attacks is "sexiness."

Aside from the focus on sexuality and femininity conceptually, there was also a focus on these aspects of the character’s visual design. Kenichiro Yoshimura, who worked on the games images, said in regards to Bayonetta: "I really wanted to get Bayonetta's backside perfect. I guess I am into that sort of thing..."

Thank goodness Kenichiro Yoshimura spent hours toiling over that perfect butt, am I right?

 While there is not anything wrong with being “into that sort of thing,” or even creating a sexualized woman character, the creator’s commentary reveals a level of objectification.

These comments make me question whether or not Bayonetta really is parody. By focusing in on the character’s “femininity and sexuality” to an extreme, instead of other real aspects of her character, the development team did just what one needs to do in order to transform a character into campy parody. Unintentionally.

Part 3: Cross-Cultural Camp

But then it dawned on me that this game was made in Japan. There are numerous examples of Japanese games that when brought to the USA have elements that are “lost in translation.” Is Bayonetta one big misunderstanding?

I kept asking myself, if the “authors’ intent” was to pull off hyper-sexy fighting fuckdoll “with an air of mystery,” why could they not see that they were plunging head-first into camp instead? One answer is that “camp” is a culturally specific category. It is worth looking into whether or not “camp” as an aesthetic even exists in Japanese culture, and if it does, how congruent the Japanese ideas of camp are with the United States’ ideas of camp are.

Part 4: What does this mean?

So, how does someone make sense of this? How much does authors’ intent matter when it comes to interpreting a game? How about cultural origin? If this game was not created as parody, but instead as an attempt at more sexist BS in the video game industry, does that undermine any empowering interpretations of Bayonetta, or create a hierarchy of meanings?

Personally, these realizations left me feeling conflicted over what had at first been a very tidy categorization of the game. At the same time, the United States has been creating “local” meanings for imports for years, and I don’t think Bayonetta is any different. I don’t have a problem continuing to enjoy the game as parody (in the United States at least?). However, the only remaining qualms I have surround the prospect of knowingly financially supporting an endeavor that was potentially at its root a sexist one.

- A.

Glitch and Cooperative Play

Glitch was a flash-based browser MMORPG in which harassment was extremely rare. Plagued by financial difficulties, the game ended in December of 2012. However, in light of the ongoing discussion regarding harassment in gaming communities, I think that Glitch provides an example of a game that was successful in fending-off player harassment. Glitch accomplished this in a number of ways, and admittedly perhaps its status as a small indie game didn't harm it either.

Glitch was a relatively unique MMO in that the game itself did not encourage aggressive competition among players. There is no Player vs. Player combat, and there were only rarely instances of Player vs. Environment combat. These rare PvE situations encouraged the cooperation of numerous players for the benefit of the game. A large part of the game was exploring the continuously expanding in-game world and learning new skills. Glitch fostered a cooperative MMO environment using a number of techniques.

Scene from the tutorial

One such technique was the utilization of Quests requiring another player. Quests gave players goals and rewards. A number of these Quests could only be completed through asking the participation of another player who did not get the same benefits of the Quest-holder. However, given the frequency of these cooperative Quests, Glitch encouraged an environment where helping another player for little immediate benefit was the norm (with the assumption that other players will do the same for you in the future).

Another variation on the Quest are those that specifically encourage aiding low-level players. Because Quests are provided to players based upon their level and previous Quests, certain Quests are only revealed at higher levels. One of these is a Quest to give items to brand new players. Often these items are ones that new players would be unable to attain on their own. I find these strategy of the game developers particularly brilliant as it sets up a support system for new players and improved community integration. Instead of the trope of gamers being hostile to newcomers who are perceived as "fake" or "noobs," Glitch encouraged acceptance of newcomers. When I personally completed this Quest, for example, the new player sent me a friend request and we continued to play together until the game's end.

Similarly, Feats were akin to global "Quests." That is, every player had the opportunity to participate in it at the same time. These Feats almost exclusively required generosity or cooperation. Examples include leaving complete strangers gifts at their homes or playing mini-games with other players. At the end, players who participate were rewarded with Feat-specific items.

Casting this rainbow on another player gives them more energy but does nothing for the caster.

A reflection of this cooperative community in-game ethos was evident in the use of community resources. In Glitch, there were a number of areas with community resources, such as gardens for example. It would be easy for players to continuously take from the gardens and never give back, simply selling the harvested items for profit. If this was the attitude in-game, the gardens would simply remain empty. However, it was rare to see a community garden with empty plots. For the most part, players were cautious to only take what they needed and frequently re-planted. Passers-by would sometimes stop to water a dry sprout so it would continue its growth, an action that drained the player's energy with no return. In this way, nice behavior was the norm even outside of Quests and Feats.

While Glitch was unusual in that it was almost completely without combat, it was quite usual in other ways as an MMO: it had a global chat, you could send players private messages, and there could be competition in other ways (levels gained, items gained, etc). The potential for harassment was there. However, by utilizing Quests and Feats that "game-ified niceness," Glitch to a large extent successfully avoiding allowing that type of environment to develop. This game-ification of cooperative play and nice behavior I believe has the potential to decrease harassment in other games, even those with a combat-based style of play.

-A.

MMORPGs and Sexuality

In "Doing gender in cyberspace" by Lina Eklund, women who are players of World of Warcraft were interviewed and Eklund discusses gender and sexuality performance in game. She (2011: 339) says, “women who play World of Warcraft bring with them their offline gender identity and social contexts when they go online.” Although I do not play World of Warcraft, this got me thinking about the MMORPG that I do currently play, The Secret World, and how the topics Eklund raises are reflected in the game.

Eklund points out that not only do players bring their offline gender and social contexts with them online, but also that “the game itself limits and restrains; it is not a neutral space” (2011: 339). In the case of World of Warcraft, this is reflected in part by the character designs and the heterosexual presupposition. A good example she provided to illustrate her point was in-game flirtation and dancing.

While The Secret World does not have the mechanic of flirting, and the game itself does not leave much space for inter-player sexual interactions, sexuality is pulled into the game in other ways, such as in cutscenes and NPC dialogue. An example of this could be the “Dragon” faction initiation cutscene. This scene continues the exoticizing and eroticizing of Asian women, however I think that some elements have some potential for challenging in-game heteronormativity.

Cut-scene

In this scene, a member of the Dragon faction, a young Asian woman, aggressively pursues the player’s avatar, bringing the avatar to climax (a moment when your mind is “open to the truth,” allegedly), which transports the player/avatar to what is effectively the game’s tutorial, where as you play as unknown characters stuck in a Tokyo subway fighting something supernaturally evil. It is worth noting that the initiation scenes for the other factions (Templars and Illuminati) are not sexual in nature. What I find interesting about this scene is that it is exactly the same, regardless of the selected sex of the avatar. While the clip is voyeuristic, I found it gratifying as a queer player that the creators did not swap in a man for players with a female avatar, thus leaving open the door for (some) queer expression, albeit under a presumably (heterosexual) male gaze.

Perhaps a more convincing example of The Secret World crafting a cyberspace that challenges heteronormative assumptions can be found in the example of “Moose.”

“That man saved my life, selflessly, and I love him for it. I’d go to the ends of the world and back for Andy…I don’t think I’ll ever win him over though.”

Moose is a NPC in one of the first areas a player begins the game, which is a town overrun by the living dead. Moose is portrayed as a tough, explosives-making, lone-wolf biker. However, as the player pursues dialogue options with Moose, it becomes clear that he is in love with another NPC in the area, Deputy Andy. This character is an example of everything media usually does wrong done right. Moose is not “the gay character.” He is not a gay caricature. He is a character that happens to be gay, which is never turned into a cheap plot device. This signals to me, and probably other queer players, that this is a cyberspace heterosexuality is not assumed, either on the part of the NPCs or the players themselves.

So while The Secret World does limit and restrain players, for example by offering only two (cis-)sexes to choose from and by effectively limiting body models to the “conventionally attractive,” I think the MMO opens up in-game sexuality in a way that perhaps World of Warcraft does not.

- A.

Eklund, Lina.
2011    Doing gender in cyberspace: The performance of gender by female World of Warcraft players. Convergence. 16: 323-342.

Sexualization of Men in Videogames

The sexualization of women characters in games has received attention from numerous sources over the years, including media, parents, and academics. However, Brathwaite, in Chapter 1 of Sex in Video Games, offered that women were not the only ones to be sexualized, but that in fact, several characters such as Duke Nukem and Kratos from God of War represent the sexualization of men.

"SEXXXY!"

This assertion confused me. I do not consider these characters to be hypersexualized, or even particularly sexualized. From my perspective, these characters are hypermasculinized. They may possess an over-the-top “idealized” body, but the player cannot, for example, move camera angles around to examine a character’s butt the way a player can for Lara Croft. In conversation H made a good point which is that many of these characters are not what a heterosexual woman would find sexy, but perhaps represent what a heterosexual man’s idea of what they think a heterosexual woman would find sexy. It is clear the the over-the-top “idealized” bodies of the male characters are for the benefit of the heterosexual men playing, much like the over-the-top “idealized” bodies of the female characters are for the benefit of the heterosexual men.

So I began to wonder, what would a (hyper-) sexualized man look like in a video game? J and I threw around a number of different ideas. Would a main man character who was dressed in a Chippendales outfit while everyone else was dressed normally count? How about one wearing a crop top and booty shorts? A revealing police uniform? But then we realized we were verging on The Village People territory. A character like the ones we described would be considered silly, not sexy, particularly to a heteronormative audience.

It is impossible to hypersexualize men the same way games hypersexualize women. This is because even if a man is sexualized, there is not a power dynamic which encourages players to view them solely as objects or possessions, like there is for women. Society does not allow for a man to be reduced to the sum of his body parts. There are no cultural narratives in the United States that contest a man’s place in a position of power or state that a man’s sole value lies in his biology, like there are for women.

- A.