Critical Distance is running a “blogs of the round table” challenge for people who pontificate about games, and I thought I’d jump in, because it seems like good times. The topic this month is “Being Other.” The idea is to discuss moments that a game made you feel like someone you are not.
You can view the other blogs here:
At first when I saw the prompt, I thought, well, this doesn’t really work for me. I’m a straight, white woman. When I have the opportunity in a game to create a woman, I do (though I don’t always create a straight one). Most other games cast me as a straight, white man. This is rarely a profoundly embodied experience.
Except, well, okay. I kind of act differently when I’m roleplaying a straight man. I really should force myself to analyse this behavior.
If sexuality isn’t part of the question, or, if there’s no choice in the matter, then it’s not really relevant. But if there’s an opportunity for a romance in a game, and I’m playing as a man (white or otherwise), I have a tendency to play as the biggest possible sleazeball. I flirt constantly, with everyone. Can I sleep with every woman? Awesome. Do I just have to pick one? Well, okay, but she’d better put out. I am that jerk who is thinking about sex with girls while they are talking. I pick any dialog choice that I hope will lead me in to a relationship.
I guess this pattern behavior started with the Leisure Suit Larry series, which, I’ve always liked. The point of those games is generally to have as much sex as possible (though usually it only ends up being the one time, after a series of comical mishaps). It may also have something to do with something I’ve written about before: JRPGs that often stuck my male avatar with a milquetoast love interest I didn’t much care for. Or maybe it’s just really fun to roleplay as the suave, sophisticated James Bond guy who gets all the ladies. Maybe it’s fun to imagine about that guy.
Or maybe I flirt for a nicer reason. If a game has more than one choice for a female love interest, that means the game has more than one woman in it. And the women are bound to have somewhat different personalities. It’s an opportunity to see and talk to female characters, and see how they’re written and portrayed. A little romance, maybe a little skin, is a nice bonus on top of that.
This is profoundly different from how I act and believe in real life. I wouldn’t want to be manipulated in that way or treated like a number on a score card. But in a lot of video games, I would like to “score as many chicks” as possible. I don’t know if this gives me any real insight at all in to how a straight man thinks. I do know that it’s kind of perversely fun, though.
I’ve heard I’m not alone, and there are other women that do this when playing as a straight guy. So who else is with me?
I have been told that “The Witcher” is probably the game for me in this regard. So I will play it soon and write some kind of trip report. Hopefully with sexy results.
…But I really am a straight woman, honest.
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