In a talk at GDC Next in Los Angeles on Tuesday titled “Binders Full of Women: Diversifying Feminine Archetypes in Games," Ubisoft Quebec narrative design director Jill Murray explained why she believes that the role of female characters can (and will) change in the years to come.
Murray, who worked on Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and ACIV’s upcoming Freedom Cry DLC, believes “the future of games will feature a representative balance of complex, interesting characters of each sex and gender.” Her talk was “less of a call to action and more of a prediction that by including women well in our games, we will move beyond common archetypes and find new inspiration for a greater variety of game stories.”
“In fact, I’m certain that this is what’s going to happen,” Murray added, “because in your hands and in my hands, it can start happening right now.”
Murray said she’s often asked, “what’s the most difficult thing about writing female protagonists?” but the answer is simple: “Nothing that’s not difficult about writing anything already.” In that way, any character, regardless of gender, should be considered equally. “I think the challenge right now for many people is in seeing women as any characters and not as ‘women characters’ as if it was a sub-category to itself,” Murray said.
Through her talk, Murray told the stories of eleven real women, ranging from the 7th century to World War II to today. Each woman accomplished something great, and Murray explained the story of each and provided examples of how that history could easily be applied to games. Lt. Colonel Nadezhda Popova, for example, was a member of an all-female bombing unit in World War II. Along with the rest of her regiment, she flew an old crop-dusting plane left over from decades earlier that wasn’t fast or sturdy, but was used for bombing runs because it was quiet. Along with several other brave women, Popova had to fly under German radar, get close and release bombs tied to the plane’s wings with wire.
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The challenge right now for many people is in seeing women as any characters and not as ‘women characters.'
“Why not a co-op flying game where your plane is not awesome?” Murray proposed. “There are no ammo or armor upgrades, and the number of things that can go wrong at any time climbs constantly. You work out increasingly innovative flying maneuvers.”
Other examples included Rani Lakshmibai, a central figure of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 whose story has "all the makings of an adventure game," and Empress Wu Zeitan, whose rise to power could make an excellent RPG in which you “break every single rule to scheme your way to running a vast empire.”
Murray offered several more stories along with a potential game example for each, ranging from a 19th century lighthouse keeper who could inspire a horror game, a mother battling cancer who could spend her final days exploring a game's open world, and even a woman from Murray's old neighborhood who could go toe-to-toe with any crime boss in GTA.
“We can fix this kind of epidemic oversight that’s been existing in games,” Murray explained. “And when we do, it’s going to be fun. Because the stories of women offer abundant variety. The toughest part about this talk was making the list short enough. Also, the stories of women reveal very compelling motivations. Any time you’re writing a character, you want that character to want something badly, and these women want things like revenge, power, status, survival, peace, and sometimes even just slightly better weather.”
In the end, Murray was asked if, as a woman writing about other women, it's bad to put too much of yourself into a character.
“I think a good writer will always find that there’s some of themself in probably all of their characters,” she said. “I think it would be a fallacy to think that we can actually take ourselves out of our characters. As long as you’re getting feedback regularly, reading through it yourself, and playing the game feels real and people are getting the right things out of the characters, then you’re probably doing it right.”
For more from Murray, watch her March GDC talk about the need for diverse characters in games and why it’s time for writers to open new narrative possibilities.
Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.
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Murray, who worked on Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and ACIV’s upcoming Freedom Cry DLC, believes “the future of games will feature a representative balance of complex, interesting characters of each sex and gender.” Her talk was “less of a call to action and more of a prediction that by including women well in our games, we will move beyond common archetypes and find new inspiration for a greater variety of game stories.”
“In fact, I’m certain that this is what’s going to happen,” Murray added, “because in your hands and in my hands, it can start happening right now.”
Murray said she’s often asked, “what’s the most difficult thing about writing female protagonists?” but the answer is simple: “Nothing that’s not difficult about writing anything already.” In that way, any character, regardless of gender, should be considered equally. “I think the challenge right now for many people is in seeing women as any characters and not as ‘women characters’ as if it was a sub-category to itself,” Murray said.
Through her talk, Murray told the stories of eleven real women, ranging from the 7th century to World War II to today. Each woman accomplished something great, and Murray explained the story of each and provided examples of how that history could easily be applied to games. Lt. Colonel Nadezhda Popova, for example, was a member of an all-female bombing unit in World War II. Along with the rest of her regiment, she flew an old crop-dusting plane left over from decades earlier that wasn’t fast or sturdy, but was used for bombing runs because it was quiet. Along with several other brave women, Popova had to fly under German radar, get close and release bombs tied to the plane’s wings with wire.
“
The challenge right now for many people is in seeing women as any characters and not as ‘women characters.'
“Why not a co-op flying game where your plane is not awesome?” Murray proposed. “There are no ammo or armor upgrades, and the number of things that can go wrong at any time climbs constantly. You work out increasingly innovative flying maneuvers.”
Other examples included Rani Lakshmibai, a central figure of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 whose story has "all the makings of an adventure game," and Empress Wu Zeitan, whose rise to power could make an excellent RPG in which you “break every single rule to scheme your way to running a vast empire.”
Murray offered several more stories along with a potential game example for each, ranging from a 19th century lighthouse keeper who could inspire a horror game, a mother battling cancer who could spend her final days exploring a game's open world, and even a woman from Murray's old neighborhood who could go toe-to-toe with any crime boss in GTA.
“We can fix this kind of epidemic oversight that’s been existing in games,” Murray explained. “And when we do, it’s going to be fun. Because the stories of women offer abundant variety. The toughest part about this talk was making the list short enough. Also, the stories of women reveal very compelling motivations. Any time you’re writing a character, you want that character to want something badly, and these women want things like revenge, power, status, survival, peace, and sometimes even just slightly better weather.”
In the end, Murray was asked if, as a woman writing about other women, it's bad to put too much of yourself into a character.
“I think a good writer will always find that there’s some of themself in probably all of their characters,” she said. “I think it would be a fallacy to think that we can actually take ourselves out of our characters. As long as you’re getting feedback regularly, reading through it yourself, and playing the game feels real and people are getting the right things out of the characters, then you’re probably doing it right.”
For more from Murray, watch her March GDC talk about the need for diverse characters in games and why it’s time for writers to open new narrative possibilities.
Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.
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