Mass Effect

Gaming is the fastest growing entertainment sector in the world, according to the PwC ‘Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2024-2028’ report, with revenue anticipated to exceed $300bn by 2028. There are currently 3.31 billion gamers around the world, of which women make up 49%; the average player spends at least seven hours a week immersed in a virtual world. And yet, games do not represent this almost equal gender split. Gaming has been perceived as a male-dominated environment and the result has been a dearth of female protagonists. Grand Theft Auto V, one of the most popular games on the planet, has long been criticised for its misogyny: women in bikinis, as passive damsels in distress, or in hypersexualised roles such as prostitutes and strippers.

Of course, the backlash around this accusation is always fierce. Even Rockstar Games is resistant to accepting the fact that the game opens a doorway to perpetuating violence towards women. When a 12-year-old boy reenacted a scene from the game on his sister, the developer defended it saying it was about cannibalism, not rape. Which is, of course, okay, right? However, this title is not the only one that regurgitates increasingly decrepit stereotypes or throws women into games with limited dialogue and relevance. The remake of Final Fantasy VII, for example, increased the amount of dialogue given to its female character by almost 10 times the original, but most of it was flirting. Even innocuous games like Harvest Moon and Paper Mario 64 have sexism baked in – in the case of Princess Peach, literally. She has to bake a cake to escape. Tomb Raider’s recent revamp, which had exceptional writing from Terry Pratchett’s daughter, Rhianna, was filled with moaning and chest close-ups.