Gears of War 3 to Feature Bernie Mataki

Now, for those of you who know me well enough to have heard me proclaim my love of Karen Traviss and her Gears of War novelization- usually that takes 2 drinks and 15 minutes- you'll know that they are amazing.

In the novels, which cover the periods before and between the console games, Traviss has added profound emotional depth that one can't really expect from cut scenes. I was deeply moved by scenes in the games based on the back story and resonance that had been built into the main characters in the novels, Dom's search for his wife held new depth, Marcus' every grunt held new nuance and subtlety.

You'll also know that they feature a particularly compelling female Gear (soldier), Bernadette "Bernie" Mataki who is not only a hard-core badass of the highest order, but who is a woman of a certain age.

While I will fully admit that she looks a bit less aged than she might for someone in her 50s or 60s, though the books do suggest that she looks a bit more weathered.  I love the character far too much based on Traviss' brilliant authorship to allow myself to get too worked up about the visuals... yet. Bernie, who is often called Granny, is the same age as the COG commander, Victor Hoffman.

In the future, no one has wrinkles, just fairly smooth joweling.

So, by video game visual standards for women, she's non-traditional.  One of her most charming qualities in the novelizations is her perceived lack of femininity: she's a Gear, an infantryman through and through, she's a hard-cursing, hard-fighting crude pain in the ass, and she'd kill anyone who says differently. There is much hay made about her lack of femininity, and her being treated as a Gear, not as a women. She is far from the only female Gear, but she is probably the oldest and most respected. It is interesting to see that juxtaposed with the sexy lady above, but despite the thoughts I have having read the novels, one can make a serious argument that if Karen Traviss is writing the game, she may have pictured Bernie differently. After all, people in their 50s aren't grizzled sea hags these days.

Daryl Hannah is in her fifties.

Bernie does have a romantic life, with Hoffman in fact over a period of decades; she is not sexless, she is simply older and a warrior. Depending on how the game portrays the character, her appearance may be contextualized in a way that is more compelling than a knee jerk aesthetic analysis can yield. 

Not pictured, the crushing of one's enemies, seeing them driven before one, and the lamentation of the Berzerkers.

The only thing that I felt was truly missing for me was that the female characters that Traviss had spent time developing in the novels were in the background, or completely unseen in Gears of War 2. But, with their addition to Gears of War 3, I am willing to forgive completely and buy in with my whole heart, hoping intensely that I will not be let down in a horrific soul shattering way (I'm looking at you METROID: OTHER M)

With Karen Traviss also listed as writer for Gears of War 3, I am especially optimistic. Her track record with this franchise is excellent, and her other work, the Wess'har Wars and her work with Halo and Star Wars are also phenomenal, coupling strong heroines, environmental awareness and totally awesome, brutal, kick-ass action.

Seriously, what point is there in saving the world if there are no women?

User-Generated Content and THE MOST AWESOME THING EVER.

Remember Shaylyn Hamm? Author of The Aesthetics of Unique Video Game Characters?

Refresh your memory here:

"...My research suggests that it is possible to create distinctive and unique characters that have a generally broad appeal among different ages, genders, and gamer types. The characters I created have body types, features, and ages that do not follow the ideal of what is typically marketed in the video game industry, yet they were well received by the majority of people who have reviewed them. My feedback also suggests that there is a desire among many gamers to see more varied female characters in games, and perhaps when more of such characters are introduced into mainstream games, the perception and role of females may become less limited. This is an area of study that is very relevant to modern gaming, as female characters are found in nearly every game, and they are found by many people, both male and female to be lacking of interest and personality. For further research, I would like to see similar tests by myself and other artists, with characters designed to fit and explore a variety of video games in a variety of genres and styles..."

Well, Ms. Hamm just became one of my personal heroines because not only did she write an AMAZING thesis but she was a winner of the first ever Team Fortress 2 Polycount Pack,

Members of the Polycount Community were given 5 weeks to come up with a SET of items for one of the 9 different TF2 classes. These sets had to be within the same theme, and fit well within the TF2 universe. In total, some 70 sets were completed and entered (read: thats at least 210 items!) It’s no wonder they had their work cut out for them when choosing the first ever pack.

Now, why is winning a user-mod contest important to me? Especially when the winning design isn't even a girl, you ask?

Because, ladies and gentleman, two weeks ago these mod-packs were released for purchase in a user-generated virtual marketplace by Valve.

And.... (From Gamasutra) :

Her Winning Submission

"When Valve Software announced the results of Polycount's Team Fortress 2 item-modding contest, the winners were just excited that their creations would be in the popular mulitplayer shooter.

But with the recent introduction of the game's user-created virtual item marketplace, the Mann Co. Store, the winners' items went on sale to the Team Fortress 2 community -- and a 25 percent revenue share to the modders led to a surprising payoff.

Today, Valve said that community content creators Rob Laro, Shawn Spetch, Steven Skidmore, Spencer Kern and Shaylyn Hamm took home initial royalty payments ranging from $39,000 to $47,000 each from the first round of Team Fortress 2 content creation. And these are just the checks from the first two weeks of operation.

Kern told Gamasutra, "By having [user-generated content] implemented in the way that Steam has it, where people are getting monetary gains for the items they put in, it rewards people who put in the good items, who listen to the community and put in the stuff that everyone wants to see in the game. ... It'll bring out the quality artists to do the work."

He added, "It was completely mind-blowing, the size of the return that we're getting on these things."

Skidmore said, ,I feel like this is going to open up a whole new level for everyone in general that plays these games who has an interest [in game design]. .. It'll ultimately be better for the industry, attaching the community to the game developer.'"

This is fantastic evidence of the potential for revenue generation from user-generated content that can be applied much further afield as entertainment franchises seek out new ways to interact with fans, as well as examples for developing properties to establish strong conversations with fans early-on in their development. Suffice it to say I will be citing this campaign in pretty much everything I create from here on out when talking about User-Generated Content, and I will not be alone.

"Mommy, You're Good at Killing Monsters."

The other day while my mother had taken my older daughter, B – 3 years old– to the park. I was bouncing my baby son and playing video games, like ya' do, and when the pair returned, my daughter exclaimed with unrestrained joy and excitement:

"Mommy, you're good at killing monsters!"

I was startled and laughed out loud because "Yes, I am good at killing monsters." 

Now,  let it be known that I am not going to start playing violent video games daily in front of my daughter, she's a little young for that and as she has begun exclaiming, there are even parts of Scooby-Doo that are scary. But! I was both startled and excited that her walking in on me slaughtering hell beasts was not a moment of panic, but a moment of awe at mommy's ability to vanquish the concerning monstrous horde.

As you know, I feel strongly about challenging and yes, frightening your audience. I am a firm believer that if you face a fear and deal with it psychologically in a safe place, like a child dealing with nightmares at home where mommy and daddy can help put it in context, you'll be more prepared to deal with them later on. That said, I'm not sneaking into my kids' room at night and yelling them awake either.

On mother's day B sat through her her first movie (more or less), and this was really quite exciting for me and my husband, it was Where the Wild Things Are, and she asked a lot of really compelling questions. She was very concerned with how everyone in the movie was feeling, why people were being not nice to one another and the obvious concern of many critics, that the movie simply "wasn't the same story as the book." Which it isn't.

 She was much more bothered by the older kids at the beginning of the movie who made Max cry than she was of the Wild Things themselves, as well as the "Mommy who was Mad-ic and yelling" (for some reason "Mad" is "Madic" in B-language: "Don't be Madic, Calm Down!". Though she did find them "scary" the monsters were really only monsterous to her when they were being "not nice".

The film, and her concern for these characters, had a much more lasting outward effect than walking in on me fighting off the legions of hell in a lava pit, but, what has stuck from that is asking me if I'm going to "kill monsters". I usually say no, because I want to play puzzles with her, or because I was actually going to watch a DVD with her and had picked up the controller, let's be honest, it's easier to do something with her in the moment than play a game then clean up the paint that got all over the floor because I was in the zone.

Overall, I like that B's first reaction was that Mommy was winning, she got very excited about it and cheered me on for several minutes before I decided to stop playing. I chose to stop because my arms were getting tired (bouncing a sleeping baby and working a controller is a surprisingly solid workout) but I'm glad I didn't immediately jump to shut off the console. If I can be a demon-vanquishing roll model to my baby girl, then I will take that and run with it.

I certainly am concerned about raising B to know that violence doesn't solve most problems, let's be fair, it solves the problems of ravening demons invading your cityscape in a video game. It was fun for me to be cheered on as I eviscerated the scary creatures that unflinchingly menaced my avatar as B yelled where they were coming from next. Afterwards, we all had a hearty cuddle and she was excited, not frightened by the experience.

I don't think I'll be letting her play Dead Space or BioShock any time soon, but maybe it's time we started thinking about a Wii.  I'd like her to feel she has the power to overcome scary characters, something I never got as a munchkin, I didn't play video games and the frighting spectres of childhood entertainment were never creatures I could interact with and vanquish on my own. Maybe if I'd been able to take on Freddie Kruger myself and overcome him in the video game setting, I would have been less plagued by nightmares. Or if I'd had the ability to control Jaws on a rampage I'd have been able to laugh him off a little more, I mean, I was hundreds of miles from the nearest large body of water.

 Waaaay less intimidating than my imagination.

The ability to interact directly with the characters who inhabit your nightmares is a gift, and one to which these new generations of kids have unique access. My three year old probably isn't old enough to meet Master Chief or take on the Locust with Marcus Fenix; but I think she's may be ready to be introduced to Mario.

The Aesthetics of Unique Video Game Characters– Game Career Guide

Everyone working in gaming should read Shaylyn Hamm's article on how to improve the aesthetics of female video game characters. Not only is her research fascinating, her artistic intepretations really capture the core of each character. 

"...My research suggests that it is possible to create distinctive and unique characters that have a generally broad appeal among different ages, genders, and gamer types. The characters I created have body types, features, and ages that do not follow the ideal of what is typically marketed in the video game industry, yet they were well received by the majority of people who have reviewed them. My feedback also suggests that there is a desire among many gamers to see more varied female characters in games, and perhaps when more of such characters are introduced into mainstream games, the perception and role of females may become less limited. This is an area of study that is very relevant to modern gaming, as female characters are found in nearly every game, and they are found by many people, both male and female to be lacking of interest and personality. For further research, I would like to see similar tests by myself and other artists, with characters designed to fit and explore a variety of video games in a variety of genres and styles..."

Ada Lovelace Day- Carmen Sandiego

Ada Lovelace day is about celebrating women in science and technology, and as is my want, I'm going to talk about a woman who is literally IN technology.

This woman in technology was and is an aspirational character who influenced a generation (and certainly me) to show that girls and woman can be anything, even international supervillains. Designed to teach geography, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego was released in 1985, and released a dozen successful games between then and 2001. The games also spawned a game show on PBS, several movies, a few animated serieses, a smattering of books and even an album from the game show by the band Rockapella.


Carmen Isabella Sandiego is a Hispanic, international thief with a lot of ambition and an absurd degree of technical acumen. Carmen Sandiego is a classic outlaw, a modern day femme fatale who not only knew how to run an international organized crime syndicate but was well versed in the world's treasures, coming up with countless schemes that somehow involved stealing the Taj Mahal, Ankgor Wat or Big Ben. Carmen Sandiego not only found a new way to logistically move these artifacts and monuments in every mission but she was particularly hard to catch.

She was always one step ahead of the ACME Detective Agency, whose chief was also at times a woman. As a little girl I spent hours learning geography while chasing Ms. Sandiego across space and time and I remember where Dar es Salaam is today in no small part because I played these games. Utilizing the video game format to teach with humor really resonated with this first generation of kids who had access to personal computers. Carmen Sandiego helped kids learn about the world they live in, historically, physically and even kept kids listening and reading as they learned about plants, animals and art. Something that I think needs to be mentioned is that these games were popular with girls AND boys, they were educational and fun and no one really cared that Carmen Sandiego was a girl, she was awesome.



... so was her theme song.

Video Game Demographics

Links- Grab Bag

I've been negligent in my blogging (check out what I've been writing for the Social Robot) mostly because work has been busy, nothing I can talk about yet though. So in the meantime, here's an assortment of interesting things that have passed into my "to write about" list but well, I don't think I'm going to get to any time soon.

Mathematicians find a formula for a hit film sequel:

The research, which will be published in the Journal of Marketing this month, examined data from all 101 movie sequels released in North American theatres between 1998 and 2006 and a matched sub sample of stand-alone films with similar characteristics. According to the formula, upcoming sequel The Twilight Saga: New Moon should be expected to return $34m more for the producers in its US run than a comparable vampire/ teen romance movie with the same characteristics that is not a sequel.

Here is an interesting review of a book that talks about "The Trouble with Boys" which points out how while girls are thought of as "sugar, spice and everything nice" little boys face the same blanket stereotyping that girls do. Always good to remember and discuss.


From Jezebel: An interesting (but slightly limited) study was recently posted on the Pixels and Policy blog, about attitudes towards "female avatars and gender expectations." The results? For many women players, it's easier to embrace sexualization than to fight it.

The NY Post Interviewed Sarah Haskins, who if you have been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know I love.

“Advertising is so ridiculous because it’s trying to still use some of the traditional gender roles, while also trying to match the changes . . . in the past 40 to 50 years,” says Haskins, who has a background in improv comedy... Haskins says the comedy of “Target: Women” masks serious intentions: “As the Internet and TV and movies all become one scary machine in your living room, it’s important that we all have some level of media literacy.”

TV discovers that DVR is not the horrifying dragon eager to eat its ad sales that it once assumed.

"DVR ratings now add significantly to live ratings and thus to ad revenue... The DVR was going to kill television,” said Andy Donchin, director of media investment for the ad agency Carat. 'It hasn’t.'”

And finally, here are two articles that deal in classic female archetypes: The Stepmother, classically evil, petty, vein and malignant, and the Fairy Godmother, Fairy Godmother Academy specifically, a children's property with a transmedia rollout attached to it that is being developed through Random House.

Brenda Laurel on Girls and Video Games

It can't just be a giant sexist conspiracy... these people aren't that smart!

Here is an interesting video about video games and girls, if you have 13 minutes knock yourself out. The idea is basically that girls weren't playing games, and then they analyzed what it would take to get girls to game and then implemented it and it was successful. But, the greater question, I think, is asked in the comments. Why are these games worth while for either gender? School games are a normal part of education these days, when I was growing up I had a kindergarten class from K-8 and even as I was an older child essentially T.A.ing in younger kids classes, the girls were no less interested in the games than boys.

There are 2 narratives going on here, the dynamic of the game industry as it relates to educational games, and the dynamic between empirical studies and social case studies. The most valuable part of this video is around 8 minutes where the lecturer actually shows interviews with girls who they interviewed.

If you're a tomboy playing a girl game, you might think they're a little sissy.

Rocket's Tricky Decision, seems interesting and Rocket as a character has a lot of potential for expansion. This is an interesting study because it talks about fan validation "this gives girls a chance to know that they're being seen." That validation is really important to any audience and to young girls, is certainly vital to development of confidence and will influence their choice as to whether to look at the game a second time or not.

The final note of the video however, a tongue in cheek jab at video game developers in general, speaks to an assumption made that I think takes away from the lecturer's point. I feel like she'd made her point, that this game has been successful because it listened. But traditional FPS games, listen to their fans as well, and there IS a large fan base for explosions, grotesque (meaning exaggerated) distortions of forms and the fantasy of immediate and dire action. Just because you as a creator do not want to look at that fan base doesn't mean that its not a reasonable segment of the market, and it doesn't help create your market to be antagonistic to others. While I'm sure she's encountered that antagonism from the Video Game establishment, she proves that there is a place for her, and other creatives making different narratives in the gaming arena.

The giant conspiracy is one of disinterest, no one has been interested enough to make the game before. It's not a question of an entrenched market preventing something, it's a question of no one stepping up and volunteering. The audience is there, there just aren't any products to fill it.