Interview: Are women poorly represented in video games?

By CVG Staff for computerandvideogames.com

Teeny bikinis, minimal dialogue and curves from another planet. All standard fare when it comes to women in - particularly violent - video games.

Yet despite the modern software industry giving us plenty of girls who "kick ass" (minus the bubblegum), are in-game depictions of girls archaic and unjust?

Indie developer Kung Fu Factory certainly believes so. The US studio is readying its take on the MMA, Supremacy, which releases on 360 and PS3 via 505 games in June, and is promising a title that can stand up against the finest in the genre.

But what's grabbed all the headlines isn't the Supremacy's fast-and-furious gameplay, nor its vicious finishing moves; it's KFF's decision to include female fighters - a first amongst peers such as THQ's UFC and EA's MMA. The studio wants to avoid "putting women in the 'princess who need rescuing' role", or objectifying them.

To be clear, these aren't your typical underwear-modelling, impossibly proportioned video game gals; there's little time to be coquettish when you're beating the stuffing out someone in a cage. Frankly, they're not exactly shy of smashing you in the face.

We caught up with KFF co-founder Ricci Rukavina to ask his thoughts on the use of women in games - and why his team decided to cut back on the titillation, and let the Supremacy's girls' fighting speak for itself...

Why did you decide to include female fighters in Supremacy?

It's interesting that it's taken so long actually, we've seen plenty of female MMA fights and it didn't make a lot of sense 'not' to include them. It is part of the sport after all. And it helped that 505 Games was really supportive and rallied around the idea.

Once that happened we were able to start working with fighters like Felice "Lil Bulldog" Herrig and Michele "Diablita" Gutierrez. They're super excited about it and they're just as determined, just as committed to their craft and just as bad-ass as any male fighters out there. They also love games - so that's cool too.

Would you say they are represented in Supremacy a little differently than most women in macho fighting games?

If by macho fighting games, you mean games like Mortal Kombat, Soul Calibur or Tekken, I would say the main difference is women are typically represented in those games with an exaggerated sense of body proportion and are often times overtly sexualized.

For instance, look at the Dead or Alive series: Ivy Valentine from Soul Calibur, or even the nearly topless Catwoman from Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, and compare them to the real fighters in Supremacy MMA and you'll see what I mean.

Also, there's no supernatural elements in our game, so you won't see any dragon-punching or six-armed women like Spiral from X-Men: Children of the Atom and MvC2. Not that there's anything wrong with that in those games - its bad ass, but it's just as bad-ass to have real females in a real MMA game. So we represent them as they are from their clothes to their stories to their fighting style.

Is this a real point of different between you and the likes of EA's MMA and THQ's UFC?

It's one of many differences between Supremacy MMA and the other MMA games on the market today. Obviously, THQ's UFC game doesn't feature women because Dana White has all but banned women from ever competing in the UFC.

Comments

8 comments so far...

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Sleepaphobic on 16 Mar '11 said:

Is there a mud wrestling game mode?
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PandyBear on 16 Mar '11 said:

Is there a mud wrestling game mode?

You'll be wanting to buy Rumble Roses mate, that whole game was pretty much Dead or Alive: Mud wrestling
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jonbwfc on 16 Mar '11 said:

I think you want this game. Or possibly this one. I can't believe they didn't get mentioned tbh.
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MightyJordan on 16 Mar '11 said:

Did there really have to be another new MMA game? Especially one focusing on female fighters? EA have a deal with Strikeforce. Strikeforce have their own women's division where some of the top female MMA fighters reside; Gina Carano, Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos and Sarah Kaufman, just to name a few. EA's already working on MMA 2, so they could very well include the Strikeforce women's division in the sequel.
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rbt2 on 16 Mar '11 said:

Not enough women shown in games doing what they do best - the washing up.
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liquidphantom on 16 Mar '11 said:

So instead of sweaty dick punching we get sweaty vag punching? No thanks, I like my female characters totting guns while wearing hot pants in the jungle either that or blue..... or blind but not blind and waiving a glow stick.
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Sleepaphobic on 16 Mar '11 said:

Not enough women shown in games doing what they do best - the washing up.

Or making sammiches
@Mighty Jordan: EA's MMA 2 is most likely done and probably the women fighters in the Strikforce org as well. UFC bought Strikforce. You must've heard that by now dude + DFW for some reason doesn't like the idea of girls fighting. Tbh after seeing Cyborg then who can blame him? Coenen is crazy bad ass though, she could probably beat a few of the guys with her sick jitz off her back.
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MightyJordan on 21 Mar '11 said:

Not enough women shown in games doing what they do best - the washing up.

@Mighty Jordan: EA's MMA 2 is most likely done and probably the women fighters in the Strikforce org as well. UFC bought Strikforce. You must've heard that by now dude + DFW for some reason doesn't like the idea of girls fighting. Tbh after seeing Cyborg then who can blame him? Coenen is crazy bad ass though, she could probably beat a few of the guys with her sick jitz off her back.

Actually, I didn't know that until I read it a few days ago. From the looks of the deal though, it looks like you'll probably have to make yourself known in Strikeforce now before you get a chance to move up to UFC. Plus no women's division in UFC, that's staying in Strikeforce for now.
As for the games, I reckon it'll be business as usual for this year, and then Zuffa (the parent company of UFC and now Strikeforce too) will probably merge the two big games together and create one huge MMA game featuring both Strikeforce and UFC. Which would be pretty awesome, as then some players could make up dream fights with Fedor that they'll never get to see in real life now. God knows who would develop it though. My bet would be on THQ, as Dana White probably still hates EA just a little bit.