Holy shit. Somebody listened. And it wasn’t just an indie game developer with nothing to lose, it was a big name AAA developer. Kotaku’s Patricia Hernandez published an article yesterday (Nov. 30) on how the writers for Dragon Age 3 actually removed a portion of the game because of a group of women’s input. Apparently during a peer review of the game a woman spoke up and said a certain plot point could be considered rape. Instead of dismissing her thought the team realized she was right. Can I just say “BRAVO” to the team and their ability to actually put a woman’s perspective to good use?? Now, while this is definitely a huge step in the right direction, Hernandez also makes a point to illustrate the fact that the team confirmed this with a whole table of women. What if she had been the lone voice? Would this specific portion of the game still have been removed? I’m really hoping and praying the answer to that question is yes.
Hernandez also goes on to recall certain portions of games that had the potential to be removed if a woman’s opinion had been taken into account (I’ll let you read her article to see all of her picks), but I had never seen or heard of the video of Kara (a tech demo done by Quantic Dream), a female android who just wants to live.
http://youtu.be/Dou4Gy0p97Y
This video has to be one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen. While at it’s very core it has nothing to do with rape or sexual assault, everything about this ‘Kara’ begging to not be dissembled has my skin absolutely crawling. From the moment she starts to beg for her life to when she is almost fully dissembled, my whole inner being is screaming for it to be stopped. How did this video even come to be made? I can’t imagine a single woman (or truly anyone who has been assaulted) being able to sit through that and not experience some sort of trigger. This is an absolutely perfect example of how good intentions can be executed extremely poorly without the proper input. This is why our voices need to be heard in the industry. This is why we fight to become a part of an industry that does not currently recognize our full potential.
