Trivialising the Trope

According to Thompson, “Globalization . . . refers to the growing interconnectedness of different parts of the world, a process which gives rise to complex forms of interaction and interdependency” (cited in Rantanen 2005, p. 7). Video games benefit from the “growing interconnectedness” because of the ability for people from different countries to play each other over the internet.

This week in our tutorial, as a response to part one of 'Damsel in Distress: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games' by Anita Sarkeesian we drafted the concept for a video game that subverted the 'damsel in distress' trope. Our action-adventure game is titled Indiana, about a girl rising to the challenge of rescuing herself in a Wild West setting. Because the whole point was to be subversive, we decided to give the main character, Indiana, a gender-neutral name and have her kidnapped in the first scene by an outlaw (making it seem like every other video game).

Her male counterpart sets out on a stereotypical quest in order to save her, but instead the game flashes back to an appropriately dressed Indiana (in order to subvert the ‘female as prize to be won’ trope), who frees herself and embarks on a quest of her own.

Raessens (2010, p. 379) says that “interactivity . . . can be defined as the possibility for the player to take up the role of narrator and influence the course of events and actions, possibly as a character in the plot.” Indiana as a game promotes interactivity by allowing gamers as the character Indiana to a large extent create their own adventure.

Raessens (2010, p. 381) also describes reconfiguration as being able to “control the transformation of a body of information to meets its needs and interests.” Indiana meets the needs and interests of a wide audience, having the violence and action for guys, while a female protagonist will attract more girls to the game.

Her cowboy comes back at the end to rescue her, but finds that she’s already escaped. Both of them then fight the evil outlaw because Indiana has stolen his gold (the object of the cowboy’s quest).

The game will be compatible with an Xbox and PS3 platform, with a realistic render art style, similar to that of  Read Dead Redemption, as pictured below.

References:

Image 1: Reith, G 2010, ‘Gaming Bolt’, retrieved 11 September 2013, <http://gamingbolt.com/red-dead-redemption-reviewed>.

Rantanen, T 2005, ‘Theorizing Media and Globalization’, The Media and Globalization, Sage, London, pp. 1-18.

Raessens, J 2005, ‘Computer games as participatory media culture’, Handbook of Computer Game Studies, MIT Press, Cambridge, pp. 373-388.

Sarkeesian, A 2013, 'YouTube', retrieved 11 September 2013, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toa_vH6xGqs>.

Rockstar Games 2013, 'Red Dead Redemption', retrieved 11 September 2013, <http://www.rockstargames.com/reddeadredemption/>.