A few gaming facts. Number one: half of the world’s gamers are female. Number two: only 22 per cent of game designers are women. Number three: game designers continue to pull out tired images of sexuality – the tough, musclebound man, while the female character is often overly sexualised and dressed in overtly skimpy outfits.
However a new campaign by a bunch of French female game designers aims to rectify the gaming industry’s clichéd tropes.
The group, called Women in Games France, has launched a new campaign via creative agency BETC Paris called #GenderSwap that replaces (or “modded” as it’s called) male character movements with gestures and moves typically reserved for video game’s female characters.
The gender defying group asked: “What if video game heroes rolled their hips to send an important message?”
The aim of the campaign to try and double women and non-binary people working in the gaming industry over the coming decade.
The result? As you’ll see below, is both cheesy and almost painful to watch at how glaring the difference between the two genders actually is.
#GenderSwap is now running live thanks to elected streamers’ Twitch channels including Morrigh4n, Kaosvmd, Red Fanny, Adyboo, Hiuugs, Modiiie, Nimelya and Titavion.
Check out the spot below:
Commenting on the work, Morgane Falaize, president of Women in Games France, said: “Some of the scenes that we collected had already been shared online, but some others had not. When all grouped together, it shows how large the issue is and we hope it will help realize how severe it is. Things are starting to change.
“Some exceptions to this representation exist; but for one Aloy in ‘Horizon’ or Ellie in ‘The Last of Us,’ there are dozens and dozens of female characters that are often way too cliché. Just like the film industry, television and advertising, video games have a profound impact on people’s representation of the world that we live in and the interactions that we have with others.”
