Gender has always played a heavy role in the video game world, particularly a misogynistic one that heavily caters to a predominately male audience. Time and time again, as new games emerge, the same testosterone driven plots are thrown at us with a new template for the same shoot 'em up game you just bought the month prior.
But occasionally there are game changers. As early as the NES system, games such as Metroid, were risky enough to add playable female characters to their games. Much to the dismay of players that had found out their "guy" Samus was actually a girl the whole time, it still wasn't a harshly accepted ending.
I am more interested to explore gender roles within video games, and those roles that break the norms set by years of male gamers' games. I know from experience as an average gamer that I'm a lot less likely to play games with female leads due mostly to the gaming world I was raised in. But am I alone? I would venture to say that most hardcore male gamers would do the same because it's what they've done for years. This begs the question "Why not pick the girl?".
Photo credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/random_j/
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