That's why!

Femme fatality.

Rubi Malone from Wet.

People ask me, why I like to play almost exclusively with female characters. Of course by people I mean men. Men, who play as girls just for change’s sake.

Let’s see. I grew up playing with fantastic characters like Guybrush, Indiana, Zak, Sam and Max and Brandon. Accational Nintendo-trips included Mario, Link, Mega Man and some Disney licence game heros. What do these have in common? Thaaat’s right, you're a dude. No wonder I was savoring the short moments I was allowed to play as Sophia instead of Indy.

Right, so now there are new(ish), wonderful games like Dead Space, Bioshock, Just Cause, Assassin’s Creed and Uncharted - with their sequels, Splinter Cell, Gears of War and Metal Gear Solid series, God of War, Prince of Persia (reboot), Saboteur, Dante's Inferno and Alan Wake…which also all have a male protagonists.

I know, I know, there have been girl characters. Lara of course, who never interested me at all, not by plastic looks or boring personality… And in some ealy strategic games I liked (Heros of Might and Magic) they did give the opportunity to be a girl (or at least think yourself as one). It didn’t affect on anything, but it was there. And then there was Baldur's Gate. Most praise goes to Final Fantasy games. Sure the protagonists tend to be men, yet more and more girls are involved. There has been multiple playable characters of which many are strong, interesting women. The all girl X-2 certainly got mixed reviews, but goddamn! An all girl game! FF is capable of evolving, and that alone warms my heart.

The better reason, I think I have the right, not just for a girl, but for the best character in the game. Thus, I refuse to choose Amy in Sonic or Peach in Mario, since they reek of weepy utter phlegmatism. Why aren’t other games evolving?

The unfortunate fact it that strong heroines are really freakin’ rare nowadays.

Yeah they’re good when given. Faith from Mirror’s Edge was possibly the coolest thing ever, Bayonetta from last year’s great hack&slash had lots of balls, and "Wet girl" Rubi kicked bunch of asses as well. But that’s it. That's seriously all there is.

Now you’re saying ”how about Tekken and DOA, SoulCalibur and Street Fighter?” Sure, fighting games have always had a few girls in there, not much though, compared to men. For example, Street Fighter 4 has only 5 female characters of total 25 of which two are starting characters. DOA on the other hand can’t be taken seriously after the bikini-mess.

Shooter games show least interest in pleasing women (why does everything I say sound so dirty?). FPS zombie scuffle Left 4 Dead, along with the sequel, allows you to play with one girl. The new Gears of War 3 has a girl, but you can’t play as her.

Really game makers, really?

Ah yes, but there’s always the games in which you can actually modify a character. Great right? Yes, most def. Female Sparrow, Shepard and Warden. And the gameplay is great too. But...

It still seems like the whole industry is actually made by men for men and girls are left to be the secondary audience. If there is a choice it’s always a ”choice”, an alternative, meaning default is still a man. You can see this from several game trailers.

They try. They really do. I guess they just don’t get that we girls don’t want to be ”the other” on the side. Guys have their attention by default. Girls have to ”earn” it.

I was almost happily surprised that DAO had the courtesy to step up and make origins trailers, starring just girls. Out of the six possibilities, two were female versions. City elf and mage. Also Fable has fixed its ways for Fable 3. (I wonder if you can still change your sex mid-game? I mean that was pretty rad.)

See, I’m not totally crazy! There’s studies. May I present: 85% of video game characters are male.

"Emma Westecott, a games research fellow at the Newport School of Art, Media and Design, agrees. "The lack of opportunity for identification through role models leads to self-censorship," she said. "Many young girls simply don't see gaming as being a feasible career choice.”

That's right Emma, you tell them!

See, girls might have gotten used to playing with male characters, but we surely aren’t happy about it. Last year’s statistics say women cover almost 40% of all gamers. That’s a loooot of hard earned female cash put into games, folks. Almost makes you think, don't it.

Still, something’s done right at some point, and there is remarcable stuff we can all look back to. These four have left their mark in gaming history and are mentioned every time someone names their favourite character. So my thanks to you Jill, Jade, April and Rayne.

Oh Lulu, let me play thee! Goth awesomeness from FF X.

Pirate chick Kat from my first PS2-game ever, Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat.