Dragon Age lead writer says we need gender equality for more than equality’s sake
Joannes Truyens November 27, 2012 - 8:01 pmNews: David Gaider, lead writer of the Dragon Age games over at BioWare, has used an interesting development anecdote to illustrate that “greater female representation in game development teams has a more practical benefit than equality for equality’s sake alone.”
Spend half a minute browsing some of today’s tweets issued under the #1reasonwhy hashtag and you’ll get a pretty gloomy picture of the game industry. It seems casual discrimination and sexism are the norm rather than the exception. That’s why I’m highlighting a blog post made by David Gaider, who serves as lead writer on BioWare’s Dragon Age series.
Few would argue that BioWare is a studio that can pride itself on a fair treatment and representation of the LGBT community and both genders in general. Just check out some of their work on Mass Effect’s romance subplots. The studio is currently working on Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Gaider has written a blog post that offers a very interesting anecdote regarding its writing process.
“My team of writers on Dragon Age currently consists of nine people, most of which are female,” Gaider says. “If having such a large number of women on my team has taught me anything, it’s that you can’t lump them into one category of preferences any more than you could the guys.”
Gaider goes on to describe a meeting where some of the plot points were discussed in group, and one of the female writers pointed out that one particular suggestion could be interpreted as a form of rape. “It wasn’t intended that way. In fact, the writer of the plot was mortified. The intention was that it come across as creepy and subverting, but authorial intention is often irrelevant, and we must always consider how what we write will be interpreted.”
So a change was made, but it struck Gaider that the male members of the writing team all took the author’s original viewpoint. Only the female writers saw the potential for an unintentional interpretation. “If this had been a team with no female perspective present, it would have gone into the game that way. Had that female writer been the lone woman, would her view have been disregarded as an over-reaction? A lone outlier? How often does that happen on game development teams?”
“The gaming audience is changing, just as the nature of our games is changing, and perhaps there’s value in appreciating the fact that greater female representation in game development teams has a more practical benefit than equality for equality’s sake alone,” Gaider concludes.
This is akin to an issue that befell Crystal Dynamics over a scene in the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot that could be interpreted as rape. Even now they’re still defusing that situation.
Comments (12)
Interesting blog post, but I still wonder.. Why can’t we talk about rape in video games?
For me the better question is why would you? There is really no way of making light of a subject like that.
There’s also no way of making light of a subject like war, death, child abuse.. all of which have been covered by videogames. I just wonder why we draw the line.
I’d like to think that one day soon we’ll be able to talk about these sort of things in mainstream games, but right now I don’t think gaming has the kind of culture that’s capable of having those kinds of conversations in a mature, reasonable way. Misogyny is so deeply rooted and widespread in gaming that a serious treatment of rape and sexual abuse would be incredibly risky.
Maybe I’m too cynical? I hope so.
I agree with you video games are too immature of a medium both internally and with how they are perceived within the larger entertainment genre to tackle such issues. Perhaps some day they will have the cultural clout to tackle mature issues in a mature way but until then it will be confined to smaller obscure indie games.
You bring up a good point.. though I am a bit confused on the child abuse. War has been played as long as man has been alive, even as a kid we played cowboys and indians, army men, etc. I guess there are just some things are too sensitive for the public.
Papo & Yo was about child abuse, and I feel like that’s the one big topic people try not to talk about also. I guess.. just because something’s in a game doesn’t mean it’s to be taken lightly. Other media can discuss sensitive issues. Maybe videogames are still too worried about offending women. :/
I definitely think video games, like other forms of entertainment, could only be improved by gender equality (as well as racial, sexual, national, religous etc.) – I’m getting pretty bored of white straight western guys all the time.
I think video games can talk about rape, but let’s think about who the demographic of mainstream games are, and then think about what makes money. Sex sells, sure (and unfortunately, imo), but would rape sell? Probably not. Are most 18-25 year-old males able to handle that sort of subject maturely? Probably not. Does that mean mainstream media shouldn’t try to maturely tackle the subject and pin immature consumers against the wall? No. But at the end of the day, the money talks.
Rape is a serious topic, but it (or attempted rape) is something that could be tackled, if it’s handled correctly. Lara dealing with the fact that she was almost raped or could have been raped is something that should stay, as long as you’re not showing what nearly happened – or worse, having to play through it.
Having mature situations, or the events immediately after as may be more appropriate in certain cases, shouldn’t be seen as the line to not cross. Yes, there are certain topics to be a lot more careful with, but if you do into with some common sense and some different opinions (men and women, different races, different sexual orientation/preference, etc.), you can do it intelligently.
Other forms of entertainment deal with these topics, so why shouldn’t games? Foul mouthed 12 year olds on XBOX Live? The knuckle-draggers, griefers and the racist assholes who live to piss people off? The horny guy (teen or otherwise) who plays a game solely for its realistic breast physics?
It comes down to the presentation and what the player is able to do in the game. And the kind of game you’re talking about also determines what kinds of stuff you can and cannot get away with as far as your story, your setting, your mood. You can’t show Lara Croft avoiding rape, but it’s okay to commit mass murder in a GTA (or Saint’s Row) game? Excuse me?
Well put. I’m glad to see that I’m not the only person who feels this way.
Good point, I came here to try to say something similar, but you put it quite well.