Game on Girl Shorts – Ep 5: Contrasting Female Images at E3

June 7th, 2012 by Regina McMenomy

This week Game on Girl takes on the game industry and its marketing tactics. Specifically, Rhonda and I discuss the E3 trailers for these two games: Tomb Raider Crossroads and Far Cry 3.

Tomb Raider Crossroads

Far Cry 3

As many of you who have followed the site and my research already know, I am generally very celebratory about game culture. I think that gaming is a wonderful way people can learn about themselves, how to solve problems, and explore their identity. However, I often take issue with how games are marketed. This year’s E3 pressers leave me cold looking at how female characters are displayed and the uneven reactions these images produce in game news.

Rhonda and I discuss the controversies these two video clips generated, specifically the issue many male game journalists took with the attempted rape of Lara Croft. I guess it hasn’t been easy for many fans of Lara Croft to see her origin story begin gritty, violent, and dangerous. Oh and less boobtastic. She looks and acts like a fully developed character in this trailer, something that I cannot help but applaud. I am left wondering if the male reaction to this character development has something to do with the emotions they might experience now that they cannot openly and freely sexualize her character without some sensation of guilt.

The trend of game design towards more cinematic, complex, and deep stroy telling is exciting and wonderful. I sincerely wish the marketing executives would avoid such blatant stunts as the one seen in the Far Cry 3 trailer. It is apparent that the opening scene, which few have called pornography (a term used to describe the Tomb Raider video), was purely for shock value. Unfortunately, attention getting stunts like these only diminish what might be a beatiful, intriguing, and engaging game. I’ll never know because after this trailer, I’ll likely never pick up a copy of the game.

One of the themes that emerged from my dissertation research is that gamers consider themselves to be very savvy, intelligent consumers mainly because they choose to game over say a more passive media like watching tv shows or other, less engaging hobbies. I hope that at some point in the not too distant future the marketing mavricks at the major game companies will figure this out.

As always, and perhaps even more so with the controversial nature of this topic, we would love to hear what you think. Drop us a Tweet @game_on_girl or leave a comment here.

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Until next time, Game On!
Regina and Rhonda

Nickie Williams

Hey guys,

I totally agree with you on the Tomb Raider trailer. As you can see from the two posts I’ve made about the game, the origin story shocked me a little with the gritty behaviour. I grew up as a teenager on the Lara Croft of old, and so I’m very interested to play this so I can see what the game is like story wise and how it plays out game wise.
- http://twitter.com/doclizz Regina McMenomy
  
  Thanks for your comment, Nickie. I think the new Tomb Raider looks great and I know you are totally excited about it, too. Since you grew up playing her, do you feel like this is any kind of compromise to her character? The gritty, hard, bleak vision? I think it fits well with how she’s always been presented – getting the job done with no compromise.
  - http://twitter.com/GKickNickie Nickie Williams
    
    To me, Lara was always the girl who got stuff done no matter what the problem. Never one to let anything to get in her way in accomplishing what task needed to be done. And to an extend, I took that away from Lara and I’m very much like that myself as a person.
    
    I don’t think it should be any kind of compromise to her character, but because the new game is more about her origin story rather than the Lara we know- we don’t really know much about what will happen in the game other than she sets off on an expedition, gets shipwrecked and has to fight for her life by killing deer and fighting off unsavoury types.