So, this isn’t another post whinging about my life, don’t worry.
Instead, I’m talking about computer games. Specifically my favourite computer game (probably). And in fact that’s not even what I’m going to be talking about…but lets not get ahead of ourselves.
I was reading this article. It’s about the arch villainess SHODAN, technically only gendered feminine in her desire for motherhood and her voice chip. That’s right, she’s an AI gone mad. She’s also the star of the show in the two System Shock games. Literally two of my favourite all time computer games. Once I figured out how to get out of the first room, the original system shock was genuinely my first truly immersive gaming experience. I loved it, I was terrified of it. I dreamed about it, and eventually, I completed it. I felt like I was that Hacker.
Many years later and the sequel comes out. Still awesome, still immersive, still great. And then SHODAN shows up, properly, and it all starts to make sense.
I won’t talk too much about her, as Mr Gillon does a good enough job for the most part. He really got me reminiscing about just how much I loved that game. Some interesting ideas about different aspects of her personality and characterisation, particularly the anti God, anti Christ role. The motherhood stuff is interesting too. I failed to notice that you on at least two occasions pass through a process that could be described as a birth canal metaphor, I didn’t even notice the inverted cross on any significant level. I was too wrapped up in the fear that I’d never make it to the end.
Anyway, the point is, that Gillon then goes on to shatter all respect I have for his work (which so far as been an excellent ‘literary’ analysis of the game…this is something we don’t see enough of….the application of literary thought to computer gaming. This is good, this is kind of what I’d like to do sometimes. but I digress). He loses my respect by simply being a bastard. He’s already been teetering on a strange obsession with SHODAN’s femininity, (he we clearly have a guy who thinks that all gamers are guys and so this is an important part of the audience/text dynamic. We’re living in the male gaze here folks…even though the audience has control over the gaze), and he takes it one step further.
See if you can spot the precise moment when I wanted to hit him:
SHODAN is… The Girl Your Mother Warned You About
But perhaps more notably she’s also, the sexualised, confident, independent woman. That is, the bitch. And this one’s pronounced to almost comic degrees. Actually listen to her opening speech, for Christ’s sake: “L…l…look at you, hacker: a p-pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you r-run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?”
Yeah, you filthy bitch, talk dirty to me.
Meat? Bone? Panting? Sweating? Even “running through my corridors”. Listen to the theatrical voluptuousness of the performance. We don’t have to draw many diagrams to stress what she’s actually talking about.
Don’t let the fact she’s insulting you distract you from the key issue. Not all clichéd femininity sexuality is submissive: The idea of woman as a cold distant and untouchable… well, machine is where Shodan finds her peers. Hell – if she ever gets bored of almost (but not quite) killing hackers at the edge of space, she could find busy employment running an S&M-themed phone-line. Double Hell – actually look at the relationship between Shodan and yourself. While in reality you’re in a consensual relationship where both needs the other, in terms of the actual second by second practice it’s a straight Domme/Sub arrangement. She tells you what to do. You do it. She insults you. You’re just lucky she doesn’t make you lick her boots clean or something. The American advertising for Shock put it somewhat crassly: “She doesn’t need to use her body to get what she wants… she’s got yours”.
It’s a terrible advert. It’s also completely right.
-Kieron Gillon – The Girl who wanted to be God
Fucking bastard idiot. For a start, he outright states that a woman who is ‘sexualised, confident [and] independent’ is by definition a bitch. Then goes on to in great detail discuss how great it is to be part of this submissive sex game that is what the game is really all about. Oh, I’m sure you’re doing wonderful things for the gender divide by pointing out that ‘not all cliche femininity [sic] sexuality is submissive’, because you’re definitely pointing towards the whole span of human feeling there.
I never felt that the game was in anyway sexualised….who has time to think about sex when you’re constantly being attacked by moaning zombies and terrifying spider mother women…and you NEVER have enough ammo. It’s pure life and death, struggling to save the universe and yourself from a couple of demented demigod like entities.
Don’t cheapen the kind of raw lust for power that SHODAN represents with some kind of sexual desire, it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t sit right. She isn’t a ‘bitch’, any more than the Xenomorph Queen (or Ripley for that matter) in Aliens is, she’s a personification of an unethical drive to achieve Godhood. She’s pure megalomaniac.
It pissed me off.
A lot.
Though possibly not as much the ending of the game itself did.
So, to track back for those who haven’t played it, or who don’t play games, you play a nameless hacker (in the first one you can name the hacker) who never speaks. Simply because there’s nobody alive to here him. He’s communicated with via e-mails and ‘datalogs’ basically audio diaries left by the dead that lie all around him. That’s how you pick up the narrative; how the world is built. Through these snapshots of life on ship before you awoke to find everything royally screwed up.
Anyway, the point is that it’s incredibly immersive. When playing each of the games, I find myself in character in a way I’ve probably never been with any other game. I yell at the screen, I argue and hurl abuse at the people and entities in game. I cringe when some new beasty is launching itself into me, and I sweat when I run out of ammo.
You develop your character as you wish, simply in terms of skills and upgrades to provide different ways to go around obstacles and kill enemies, nothing really character development related, but you let yourself slip into the role more and more as time goes on. You start to care for the characters, you start to get involved. You start to hate SHODAN, on a personal level, you start to want to beat her just because you think she deserves it, not just because she’s planning to destroy everything you know to be real. Occasionally, you believe her lies, you get tempted by the promises she makes.
It’s a genuine involvement.
Anyway, so you’re there, playing a version of yourself, and you struggle your way to the end. In the end sequence (the bit you’ve played through the whole game to get to…the milk and cookies at the end of a hard days work) SHODAN offers you a chance to rule by her side, as an equal, one of the rulers of the universe. You have the choice, shoot her last remaining terminal and destroy her, or join with her.
Then….it all goes wrong….you get a shot of the player character (the games been entirely First person till now) and he’s just some regular soldier guy with silly goggles. And he says…not you…him:
‘Nah.’ in the most irritating American accent ever. And he delivers the coup de grace.
The fucking bastard. That was my shot. I’m not you, I’m not a yank, I don’t want to have to be this irritating action movie stereotype…my response would have been much wittier and generally more English.
Completely ruined my end of game experience…
At the last second…after the game itself had actually finished, it broke the immersion that made it such a brilliant experience.
Really ruined my day.
Now, if I was a female gamer…I’d be even more pissed off, my gender would’ve been decided for me, yet again. One of the great things about first person, and unidentifiable characters…is that it becomes you…whoever you are. It can mean a lack of characterisation…but at the same time it means more immersion…more involvement…more you.
This is the key.
As I mentioned earlier, the computer game is a realm in which, a lot of the time, the ‘gaze’ and the object position, is decided by you, as the audience. Warren Spector, one of the Look Glass/Irrational Games Design Lords, has some really interesting things to say about audience involvement in his series on ‘Next Generation game design’, for the escapist magazine. He talks a lot about about audience involvement, and infact, audience ‘authorship’ of the stories being told.
This is one of the things about Computer games that many people might not get. Often times you come out of it telling your own stories, specific game moments that may never have happened to anyone else. The more open ended the game situation is, the more likely it is that you’ll find entirely different challenges and stories to tell. The story of the game comes not just from its scripted narrative, but also from the scrapes you get into, the dangers you face, and the solutions that you come up with.
As soon as the non-gaming public start to see this, and the designers start making more games that are about things other than fighting for survival, then we may have a games industry full of new and brilliant stories, totally different stories, new stories, and each of them will be made as you read them…more than ever before.
Here’s hoping.
The Bastard, passing through.
Wanted to note that lines which caught your initial ire is actually aimed at the Misogyny in System Shock 2 rather than evidence of the Misogyny in yours truly. I probably should have stressed the irony more. I thought people would assume that me arguing a woman who acts in a way is a “Bitch” was me obviously rolling my eyes at such a categorisation rather than supporting it. Apologies for being unclear and deliberately provocative in my phrasing. Mea Culpa: I just thought it was funnier.
I don’t think a woman with such traits is bad. I’m arguing that Shock 2, through the simultaneous sexualisation and vilification of SHODAN, certainly does. It’s a critique. That Shock 2 is a bit dodgy in its sexual politics doesn’t mean that you can’t hail it as interesting work. Great literature is packed full of clearly misogynist characters (Your Common Or Garden Lady McBeth and friends.) Of course, there’s a vibrant feminist tradition in reclaiming misogynist character portraits whose bedevilled characteristics are actually a good thing (Choose your own example, from Lillith onwards).
But if it’s there, you say it. That’s what critiques are all about.
Worth adding the piece is primarily about Shock 2. The presentation of SHODAN is far more sexualised in the sequel than the original – in fact, it’s not there at all in the original (I don’t think I made the argument, but a friend convinced me that in Shock 1 Shodan’s primarily an It, while in Shock 2, she’s primarily a she.) . It’s not her only aspect – the feature touches on a load of other ones, as you note – but I don’t think you can dismiss it out of hand as you have.
Are you arguing that opening monologue I quoted *isn’t* full of obvious sexual imagery, Because it is, to a mock-worthy amount – which is why I mocked it.
(That said, I go back on forth whether I paid too much attention to SHODAN with relation to gender. Yeah, I go on a lot. But I also think everything I say is valid and and, worryingly, it’s actually a big chunk of what makes SHODAN different, and why she’s getting a six page feature in a games rag anyway.)
Completely agreed with you the ending, by the way. From what I understand it was a controversial decision inside the Shock 2 team too.
KG
Now I feel rude, didn’t expect you to stop by. Thanks though.
It doesn’t feel at any point like you’re critiquing the games use of mysoginistic imagery, the tone of the whole article is very much one of praise. I had a feeling it might be intended humourously, but often humour that plays up to these kind of stereotypes, however it is intended, simply reinforces the ideology that is being criticised.
Having said that…I can’t lecture someone on manners that I’ve just called a Fucking Bastard idiot.
Apologies, I just got very wound up.
Like I say, it’s a great piece overall, its good to see people discussing games as though they are literary texts (for want of a better phrase) rather than just talking about how games are art, citing a few examples and then walking away.
In order for games to ‘grow up’ people are going to have to approach them in the appropriate manner, and analyses like these are exactly what is needed, so thanks for that.
On the other hand, if you’re going to try and critique something for being misogynistic, it normally helps to not simply repeat the stereotypes, and assume the message is getting through.
I think gender is very relevant, and I think that SHock 2 did play up to a lot of misogyny, just as you point out, SHODAN stops being a machine gone mad and becomes a frustrated mother, (is there an oedipal thing with the many? probably not, but if we’re talking literature we might as well drop oedipus in there somewhere) which seems odd, but I guess it just fits in more with the Many thing (she needs to be the machine mother in order to establish the irony…or something).
Anyway, I never picked up on her sexualisation, but like I say, I never picked up on the birth canal moments either, so maybe I’m just naive. I do think its strange to conflate dominant femininity with sexualisation though. I mean…obviously there can be a connection, but I don’t think a female showing contempt for a being necessarily creates a sexual dynamic. There’s plenty of non-sexual dominance in the world.
Anyway, thanks a lot for stopping by, and big heaps of apologies for being so rude…I’m normally much more polite than this. I did get worked up when I read that though, as it seemed such a maintenance of the status quo. I expect much more from good writing.
The more deeply I delve into literary criticism, the more I want to apply it to seeming non-related aspects of my life. Linking video games and literary criticism does wonders for my psyche…
..as well as re-awakening my longing for the old EverQuest, my first game experience. We did have the stories “made as you read them.”
I’ve never got into any MMO’s if only from fear of addiction. With a single player game, I know that there’s either an end or a point I can’t get past…which means there’s always a limited lifespan…if the plot and goals are always evolving and contiuing, and all these addictive reward schemes in place (I want to write an article on that…but I’m not particularly well informed so I’m not sure if I should) I fear it would absorb all of my life.
Games use have all the same vocabulary and colours as literature and art and the rest of the media forms, it’s just they use them in a more jumbled up environment. If you take the time to examine them properly, there’s a wealth of delight to be uncovered.
Warren Spector picks a great quote from Janet Murray in his article (linked above):
“[W]hy are we particularly drawn to discussion of digital games in terms of story?…[I]t is a medium that includes still images, moving images, text, audio, three-dimensional, navigable space-more of the building blocks of storytelling than any single medium has ever offered us.”
Which is interesting….basically, computer games can use all the other forms of art and literature as part of their language….but because computer games are ‘work’ and are goal orientated, often you don’t pick up on that.
Nothing else like it really, which is perhaps what makes it so interesting.
Though Alby, aside from what this silly definition of a bitch may be applied to, I believe I have met many more bitches than bastards in my life (bastards as opposed to pervs, which outnumber bitches). I mean I’ve been screwed over by more women than men, esp. in the workplace, I think mostly because I had a tendancy to let my guard down with them, thinking we’re all in the same boat and all.
May be it’s bad luck…and a lesson that you need to be cautious regardless of gender.
And oh my, what utter bitches….that was an unpleasant trip downmemory lane…
There’s a cliché about women having to stab each other in the back to get ahead, and that being one of the key reasons for the men remaining dominant. It shows itself in the amount of women who reject feminism.
The back stabbing thing is supposed to be especially prevalent in the workplace, where many women might see the way to succeed being to ‘get in with the guys’ and so seeing other women as a threat….or something.
I don’t know how true it is, but it gets talked about a lot.
I think you might just find that you’ve been screwed over in more honest/obvious ways by the ladies. The guys are on top already (as a rule) and so you may forget to notice that they’re screwing you.
That whole last sentence didn’t sound right…but you know what I mean.
Anwyay, for me, I think the whole point is that you have to do everything ‘regardless of gender’. HPS was recently talking about how gender is just a performance, a costume we wear.
It’s what’s underneath that counts. (Hear me barf)
Who is HPs?
“The guys are on top already (as a rule) and so you may forget to notice that they’re screwing you….”
Heheh…I get it.
But actually the guy screwing was in this egotistical, belittling sort of way, and the women was in this slimy turn on you last minute sort of way. In most cases I found myself ganged up on, by women taking sides with the men (or women). Both sexes seemed to enjoy the act of screwing, goes to tell more about the power thing….
I hated people in general then. No I’m surrounded by nice, non-screwing humanity, my SO’s friends.
HPS = Hedonistic Pleasure Seeker. The post is over here: http://hedonisticpleasureseeker.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/drag-queen/
Though I never got round to watching the videos.
People are obsessed with power and dominance, and I think that many women, in reaction to the oppression of the androcentric society, find more complex (or perhaps less complex…it’s hard to tell) ways to dominate. Individual manipulation of expectations perhaps.
But here I am painting genders with a big brush rather than letting people paint their own self portraits.
It’s good to be surrounded by the non-screwers. Some people just suck the energy and harm rather than being happy to be.
Or something.
About the drag/transexual thing.
Why would wearing a dress make you any more feminine? I mean I never, ever understood. And when i see the exaggerated make-up and flashy clothes I see ridicule of the feminine rather appreciation.
On the other hand if you want breasts and don’t mind cutting of your choo-choo you must really want to be female.
But what is feminine, I mean, wearing a dress and having breasts? I don’t get that either. Breasts are for breast-feeding and sex I guess because of the erogenous zone thing, but with an operation you get neither.
So, for me personally, when talking about this kind of thing I make a distinction between gender and sex. Gender is femininity/masculinity, a set of qualities presumed by society and partly constructed by the media. Sex is the bits you’re born with.
Now I think that some people feel that they were born with the wrong one or the other. Some might actually simply not feel free to play with their gender unless they change their sex because of societal pressures…that scares me. Others may simply feel that it’s not enough to play with gender…they need to shift their whole sex.
And more power to them, if its possible, and they’re sure, then that’s a great thing to do.
I wrote the trans/femininity thing, and the fact that it can seem like a parody, but I think that’s only in a minority of cases…and I think it draws attention to the flexibility of gender anyway. People should be more open to a spectrum of personality types which is mostly unrelated to biological sex…and how so much of what we construe as being sexual difference actually being the way people are raised and the way society constructs identity.
Anything that makes people free from societies stereotypes is wonderful…and the things that outright challenge them are desirable…though I guess not everybody things about the identity politics involved.
I don’t know. I’d kind of like to look into the trans scene more, its something I don’t know much about that lingers right on the border of my own identity.
It’s all very interesting.
It is.
The only guy whose ‘femininity’ I bought on screen was John Lone in M.Butterfly. I remember the guy looking utterly feminine sitting in one place waiting for someone at a train station. More feminine than I could be standing or walking.
Although is was pretty plain he was male.
I was scolded about wearing flat ugly shoes, I never got around to wearing heels, even with a lot of berating.
Plus it makes your butt stick and I have enough of that.
Stick out I mean.
Alabaster: Don’t worry. I’ve had a lot worse thrown at me in my time. That you got worked up and genuinely put some thought into your position is what made me want to actually try and rephrase what I meant I agree: I may have masked my point a little in my approach for some people, which is why I wanted to be clear.
And yeah – anyone who links to my site turns up in the referrals, so I’m genuinely aware when someone is saying something about something I’ve written.
And – God – the whole sex/identity thing in this thread is absolutely My Thing. I’m not going to write anything as I suspect I’d never stop.
KG
And – heh – I know HPS from a comics-related forum I’m on. I love the electric internet.
KG
Well, thanks for stopping by and clearing things up, you’re more than welcome to ramble as much as you like. It makes me feel better about how much I go on sometimes. Identity in all its forms is probably one of the most common themes of this blog, so anything you have to say is a welcome addition to the compost.
In regard to HPS, it’s strange how small the internets can be sometimes…all things conisdered. I recently uncovered a real life friend (who I’ve known practically since I was born) political (in a way) poetry on a certain Damp Canadian blog. That was a shocker.
Oh, and I’m really enjoying Busted Wonder by the way…jsut as another aside.
As for Butts sticking out, I think it’s strange that something so uncomfortable can be considered a normative behaviour. I’d steer clear of anything that’s going to permanently screw up my posture unless its definitely going to make me comfortable in the immediate (slouching=fine, heels=bad).
But that’s just…like…my opinion..man.
Not seen the Butterfly Madam, so can’t talk about that. I can’t think of any great examples of feminine men, but I know that androgyny is a think I tend to take notice of, in men and women.
Can’t think of any examples though. Must be tired.
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