8 Ugly Problems About Gender Representation The Gaming Industry Won't Admit

7. Women Are Damselled At An Alarming Rate

This really isn't a surprise considering poor Princess Peach still has to wait for Mario to rescue her, but surely more dramatic titles should be doing away with this formula? Though I hate to harp on about Arkham Knight again, it was certainly a big offender when it came to taking typically strong female characters and placing them in a role amounting to little more than being the player's motivation for advancing the story. Incidentally, even Catwoman makes a self-aware quip regarding her role as acting as the player's motivation to take down Riddler - showing that even Rocksteady's writers are aware of her downgrade from Arkham City. Let's not try to pretend that there's a shortage of badass women in gaming - there isn't. But there's certainly a big problem with the industry when it comes to placing female characters in perilous situations solely to motivate the player. Fair enough that men also occupy a certain amount of screen time as the hostage, but developers are certainly no strangers to playing up femininity in the name of instilling a sense of vulnerability to the proceedings.