Female characters in rpg horror games

[johndfg 4]

I'm creating an rpg maker horror game, and as I'm playing other rpg maker horror games, I've noticed that EVERY SINGLE MAIN CHARACTER is a female!! All of them! (My game is going to have a male character) Why is this? Is a female easier to relate to, or can they show more emotion in games or something(I really have no clue) An interesting question if anyone wants to help me out

Edited November 4, 2015 by johndfg

[Rikifive 3,411]

Well, I have no idea - didn't noticed that. =P

 

For me, there's no difference, I'm also making a male character in my horror game and nobody in complaining. =P *xoferew I see you there xD*

 

I think Japanese-type games have female character very often, though I'm not sure why's that ~ perhaps females can be scared more easily and stuff.. IDK.

[xoferew 261]

In movies, they scream a lot louder for sure.

 

Maybe the idea is that male viewers/players will feel protective of the female charas whereas with a guy chara they would roll their eyes at him for not being manly enough to extricate himself?   Lots of people play games because they want to be big and powerful and save the world, maybe the thinking is that men don't want to identify with weak, vulnerable male charas?  And, female players are happy to have female protagonists and don't see their vulnerability as making them unlikeable?  Not saying that's what I think, but maybe that's what the "industry" thinks?

[dipping dots 68]

I see the trend, too. It's alway either a little girl or a little boy. I don't really mind, but a little diversity would be nice. You actually don't see many adult women in RPG horror nowadays, usually children. And it probably is for the reason xerofew stated, you want to protect these small children.

 

I'm trying to break this norm with my action horror game, which will focus more on the characters' friendships than the horrible situation they're in. All the characters are twenty-something tech support office workers.

 

For a horror game to have adult characters, the situation has to be intense enough to where it would break the mind of an adult in order for the player to sympathize with these characters. It can't be like walking through a horror fun house that would only scare a child, it has to be a situation where these adult characters would have good reason (apparent to the player) to be scared out of their minds.

[lonequeso 1,921]

I never noticed that, either. I wonder if that just happened by coincidence or if there's something deeper to it.  I suppose it doesn't really matter. Just don't make one of the characters black and make him the first one to die. =D

[+ Takeo212 1,079]

I think the female is used more because;

 

1. They are more "fragile" in horror/violent situations. No one would scare and harass a big buff guy, right?

2. They have more "appeal" to audience. Apparently it's more the male audience that play horror games, so the female is the sexy, appealing victim they have to save. Eye candy basically.

3. The game creators can get away with sexual reference and scenes - at least in a few games anyway. No male gets harassed by tentacles? So unfair!

 

That is at least my thoughts on it. I don't agree with them, but that's how it seems to me.

I personally don't mind who the main is, as long as they aren't whiney. If they are whiney, I expect character development throughout the game.

I find females more relate-able - simply because I am female - but a male main shouldn't be any different.

Personally, I was going to make a choice "are you male or female" and let the player name the main, that way they can try immerse themselves that way.

[Kayzee 4,033]

Honestly, I think it's mostly just because the RPG Maker horror game trend contains lots of games with a female protagonists and most games just sort of copycated them. Maybe there was an earlier one I don't know about, but I think the whole RPG Maker horror trend started with Yume Nikki, it is at least the first RPG Maker game I can remember that had horror elements and no battles or traditional RPG Gameplay. Then again, maybe Corpse Party had more to do with the trend, though I think only the first game was RPG Maker and it wasn't for the PC.

Edited September 14, 2015 by KilloZapit

[Mysticphoenix 8]

That's not true. There's plenty of male protagonists. Alan Wake, Evil Within. All but the third Silent Hill protagonists are male. Dead Space's is male. Alone in the Dark's is male.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Mysticphoenix

[Kayzee 4,033]

I think they were talking about RPG Maker games in particular.

[Jon (NPC) 19]

Possibly because games want the protagonist to be without fault, innocent. If they die, it's truly terrible because the "did nothing wrong". Females are definitely subject to the stereotype of being 'innocent', especially at a younger age, and the only females that seem to die in horror games are the ones who seem to sleep around.

 

I guess they believe that men appear to be less innocent, more easy to let die in most situations. They generally are portrayed as lovable best friends (sometimes love interests) if the creator wants them to live. 

[Rikifive 3,411]

Female is kind of helpless and more *eeeek!-y* in games, while male doesn't give a [keyboard button] about scary stuff and punches everything in da face. 

 

I mean, when you're playing as a female character you're felling kind of helpless and the character is screaming more often than a male, who screams VERY rarely (and even if, then it's like "Oh nope, that scared the pants out of mah!")

 

That's a kind of stereotype ~ for me there's no bigger difference, it also depends on what type of 'horror' it is.

'-> When you want to show character reactions more often (monologue and stuff), then female would be better - a scared grown man may look weird.

'-> When you want to scare players just by ambience, monsters and stuff, while playing as character, that is not yelling anywhere, where possible, then male would be kinda better.

'-> I you want a character, that is not scared, but screams for no reason, then use "Not telling" gender. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

Japanese games rarely use male characters at all - There are *cute* females all over the place and not just in horror games. Where did that came from? =P

[+ Takeo212 1,079]

If a male main is used, then the game will most likely contain combat of some elements.

Is the main is female, then the game will probably contain hiding and such.

that of course isn't 100% the case, but it seems to be a theme.

 

Men are used mostly to show strength and bravery. Having a scared grown man is "unmanly and weird" in cases. So they are used in combat scenarios, or to defend the female because their useless apparently.

 

Females are screamish, innocent and I suppose can look creepy as hell when demonic (I'm looking at you Mirai Nikki!)

 

Atleast that the video game stereotypes.

 

 

Don't mind those though, just do whatever you wanna do.

I like games with a mix of males and females, that way the stereotypes are removed slightly. Especially if the man is cowardly, and the female wears the pants! (and the gun~)

[+ Lyla 41]

If a male main is used, then the game will most likely contain combat of some elements.

Is the main is female, then the game will probably contain hiding and such.

that of course isn't 100% the case, but it seems to be a theme.

 

Just felt like pointing this out, but one of my favorite horror RPGs (and there's not many) is Parasite Eve. The main character is a woman, but she is a badass cop with special abilities and she kicks ass. ^.^ Then again, I'm biased because I'm also female, so... I love that game. The only other ones I've played have had males as the lead (Doom 3, Dead Space). A guy freaking out isn't out of place... but it is true that a guy would react differently than a girl when scared out of their minds. Though perhaps it's more accurate to compare masculinity and femininity than male and female. *Shrug*

[+ Takeo212 1,079]

^ I didnt consider Parasite Eve as a horror, but that was a good game

 

I love seeing the "badass female main" image, just because yea, I'm female, but that is true.

The depiction of the character shouldnt be "male" or "female", but more simply, hw the character themselves are personally.

 

 

Say, a gothic girl who likes dark, creepy things will feel comfortable in a dark haunted home (the masked serial murdered might be different though~)

However, a gaming computer nerd male thrown into the same situation might be like "holy crap monkey, I'mma die!"

 

It's more based on character personality/traits that actual gender

Maybe even the guy trying to act all cliche macho, but turns out he's terrified and acting strong is his "calming" method.

[lonequeso 1,921]

Lara Croft was always badass. The more recent ones focus less on her sex appeal and more on her ass kicking appeal. Not horror either, but she gets an honorable mention 

 

With a little tweaking you could make Metroid into a survival horror game. Samus loses her suit and is pretty much defenseless against them. She must rely on stealth and her wits to survive, find her suit, and blast the suckers straight to Hell. Who here wouldn't play that game?

[Kayzee 4,033]

The depiction of the character shouldnt be "male" or "female", but more simply, hw the character themselves are personally.

 

Yes yes! That's exactly how I feel a lot of the time! I am almost to the point where I almost want to see a game who's main character is androgynous and just refuses to state their gender, like the main character of Undertale. (also... It's fully out now?!?! Must buy!)

[Mysticphoenix 8]

I think they were talking about RPG Maker games in particular.

No difference.

 

In that case, there's One Night. The protagonist is male.

 

I believe we don't have to make a character scream or act pansy to make it scary.

Edited September 17, 2015 by Mysticphoenix

[lonequeso 1,921]

 

I think they were talking about RPG Maker games in particular.

No difference.

 

In that case, there's One Night. The protagonist is male.

 

I believe we don't have to make a character scream or act pansy to make it scary.

 

Very true. The protagonist can be as stoic as they come, but if potential death lurks around every corner, it's still scary for the player.

[johndfg 4]

I think they were talking about RPG Maker games in particular.

Yes, pretty much every single one...

Yume Nikki

Ib

Witch's House

Mad Father

Paranoiac

Misao....

[INDOJIN 70]

Hmm, interesting that you bring it up. Maybe us being conditioned by the damsel in distress trope has something to do with it? Because I'll be honest, if I hadn't seen this thread, my main character in a horror game would definitely have been a female or a child. 

[lonequeso 1,921]

 

I think they were talking about RPG Maker games in particular.

Yes, pretty much every single one...

Yume Nikki

Ib

Witch's House

Mad Father

Paranoiac

Misao....

 

That's odd when you stop and think of it.  Are those all indie games? I always thought of RPG Maker games are more indie gaming. Usually, indie games are more progressive, but here we have 'em fallin' behind.

[Kayzee 4,033]

Well "horror game" and "progressive" don't tend to go well together. But seriously, I am not sure what to do about this issue really. I like having female protagonists, and ideally there really shouldn't be any inherent bias to including them in particular types of games or giving them particular personality types. I mean, a female main character shouldn't be seen as sympathetic just because the female gender is "weak and vulnerable", but at the same time there shouldn't be any particular reason why "weak and vulnerable" can't be a incidental character trait of that character any more then it could if that character is male.

 

It's kinda annoying to have society be so locked into ridged gender roles that every single incidental feature of a character is always judged by how it does or does not conform to gender stereotyping. Sometimes a character is just a character and is not made with some grand inner desire to enforce or break a stereotype. I agree that stereotypes need to be broken and challenged, but I think it is best when gender roles are more ignored so characters can have a large pool of traits from both sides, not simply pushed to be as progressive and opposed to stereotype as they can. But that's kind of gets into the whole sexism/feminism debate as a whole which is a topic most people would be wise steering clear of because it's kinda a huge mess in games at the moment.

 

But what I will say is this: Too many of the horror game heroines aren't really that interesting as characters are they? Heck maybe the same is true of the heros as well. I think more horror games would be well served to inject a little more personality into their main character. Though it wasn't a video game (but it was kinda made though interactive story telling), I think the heroine from Ruby Quest is a good example. She can be vulnerable and girly, but also has "a mean left hook" and actually has a personality.

[lonequeso 1,921]

Gender roles have been becoming less rigid just in general. There's still a ways to go, but at least society is making progress.

Significant change in society typical takes a generation or two to take effect. All the old bigots have to die first. 

 

There's plenty of non-RPG maker games with strong female characters now. Not necessarily the main, but at least party members.One of my favorites is Estellise from "Tales of Vesperia" . A frilly pink princess that will mess you up   She was more a healer, but she had a couple really powerful offensive spells. I find her interesting because she has kind of a "girly girl" personality but fights like anything but. She does end up a one point being the damsel in distress, but instead of rescuing her she's turned against you and you have to defeat her in battle. Kinda flipped that concept on it's ear which I love.

I know that's not horror or an RPG Maker game, but this topic can easily be expanded to female characters/roles in general.

On the horror tip, there's non RPG maker games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill that feature more proactive stronger female protags. That's why I was surprised so many RPG Maker horror games are behind the curve. 

[Kayzee 4,033]

I dunno i they really are that much. Many of them might be, but again I think they are mostly following a fad. Yume Nikki didn't really have the main character react much to anything, and you could even pull a knife on random things if you wanted (it's kinda debatable how much Yume Nikki is actually intended to be a horror game and how much it is simply intended as a game where you explore fantastic dream worlds and encounter weird stuff, some of which just happens to be a bit creepy). Witch's House really has a nice twist at the end that sort of changes how you see the game.

It turns out the character you are playing is, in fact, the witch, having stolen the body of another innocent girl who is trying to use the powers of the witch's original body to get it back.

 

Edited September 22, 2015 by KilloZapit

[+ CVincent 234]

Since I'm working on a horror themed game I'll just put in my opinion here.

 

Firstly, it's quite obvious that it's easier to portray terror in females than it is males. Whether those reasons are progressive or not isn't really a major issue, it's just the reality that we're faced with when we play these games. Characters in horror games need to have personality otherwise they'll be stale and won't keep the player interested in having them stay a part of the story.

 

When making characters in any genre it's important to make them easy to relate to, thus is why if you're making a horror game it's generally not a bad thing to portray emotions of fear through a female character whom would otherwise be somewhat harder to connect with if they were male.

 

In my project we've been thinking heavily about how characters are as individuals. Each of them need to have traits and personalities that can be related with which in turn makes for some interesting connections between these characters. Most of our female characters actually take leadership roles in some form or another because of their education/histories.

 

Sometimes people have a hard time relating to male characters in horror games and that's understandable. There are ways to work around or with these issues to help keep the player interested without taking away the fear factor. A sense of frequent uncertainty is fairly important as for many men I'd think that clarity is truly important to them. Once you take away a character's stability they lose their comfort.

 

If anyone is about to attempt making a horror game then consider having a group of main characters to interact with rather than one or a few. I enjoyed watching a playthrough of Corpse Party since it had multiple characters who all seemed to have their place. Because of this I became more attached to the main character as those characters who were being interacted with gave that sense of comfort and stability.

 

It's a big process of taking away and giving to the player to truly build a horror game with characters that stand out and aren't single dimensional. Where the are hard times, give them good ones and vice-versa. Throwing scares and chases will not keep the player connected to the characters and will force your game to rely on gameplay instead of story.

 

I suppose that's all I have to say for now. Hopefully it helps the johndfg with his game and perhaps others who may be interested.

Edited September 23, 2015 by CVincent