Why Gaming Gets Women Wrong

Do you know about the hero’s journey? It’s a structure that nearly every good story follows. In “The Hero with a Thousand Faces,” Joseph Campbell describes it as a journey where a hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder, where they encounter fabulous forces and win a decisive victory. The hero returns from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on their fellow man.

But what happens when there’s a lack of well-written female characters in narrative-based video games? The hero’s journey falls apart if there’s no growth, and growth requires faults and flaws to make the character compelling to watch. Unfortunately, many “strong female characters” lack these qualities and are practically invincible.

Consider Aloy from the Horizon series. While captivating and inspiring, she’s not particularly relatable because she doesn’t have faults or flaws. This plays into a larger political issue surrounding how women are viewed in society today. The identitarian left views women as victims who need to be coddled, but this approach creates uninteresting characters.

Ellie from “The Last of Us” is an example of a well-written female character, but even she falls victim to being reduced to a “strong female character” in the sequel. We need more characters like Tali from the “Mass Effect” series, who starts off young and impulsive but learns to become more measured and aware of the world around her.

Women can be great heroes on their own hero’s journey, but they have to actually go on that journey, not just start out at the end with a dead dragon and godlike powers. Let’s create more Galbrushes and Talis and fewer Aloys.