Is THAT what your wearing?
Knowing the story behind the female game characters clothes
Now I know for some people this can be a difficult topic. There are many examples that can argue both sides of the argument. But that is what I am here to point out.
Of course when you first see a female video game character, whether she be the main character or not , you automatically look at her. You do not look at her name, go to your computer and look up who she is in the story of the game. Instead you look at her character. You notice her clothes or armor; her face and features; the way she stands and the manner basically in which she conducts herself. You think she looks like an interesting character.
First impression of a character, aside from game play, is everything when it comes to promoting a video game. Many gamer, myself included, are drawn to certain games because of it’s characters and the way they look. My opinion: A lot of times the games with the cool looking characters, have the best stories and such within it.
With this being said, I have chosen one of my favorite games to use as examples for my statement. I picked this game because I began playing it based only on the thought “The characters looked interesting”. This game is Resident evil 2. In this piece I will be examining the clothing choices of NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) and the relation it has to the characters story in the game and their background story.
Understanding the NPC
In Resident evil 2, we are introduced to many characters that appear in other game through out the series ; Leon Kennedy; Claire Redfield; Sherry Birkin. But one character that everyone really remembered was an NPC up until I believe Resident evil 6. Yes I am Speaking of Ada Wong. While she does have a interesting back story, I will not address it here. Right now, we only will be looking at her first appearance in Resident Evil 2.
Ada Wong first appears in resident evil 2, as a young woman claiming to be looking for her boyfriend (This is confirmed by the novel based book. I am slightly unsure if it is this way in the game.). Now even though the graphics were not as good back then as they are now, she is portrayed as a sexy woman, dressed in a short, slim-fitting,red dress with matching low heels. Even her demeanor has a flirty sort of feel to it.
As you continue you to play the game, You see that she is a very capable character, heels and all, not letting her clothing choice become an inconvenience.
Now, while a lot of people may argue that programmers could have dressed her differently or she doesn’t have to be wearing something so feminine in such a game as resident evil. Let me tie in Ada’s choice of clothing to the story.(an opinion I have come to terms with based on the information I have read and stated here)
Ada Wong was sent to Racoon City to to obtain a sample of the G-virus for her employers. She had previous relations in Racoon, and used these relations to find what she was looking for. But, As part of her guise, she would tell people she was in the city to meet her boyfriend John. She was actually involved with a John who had been employed by umbrella, but he had perished in Spencer mansion, the setting of the first game. This story became even more important when the outbreak occurred. She couldn’t tell anyone she knew what umbrella had been up to.
So from these facts, I have come to the realization that 1. For the sake of the game’s story, Ada’s outfit made sense. She had come to Racoon in the guise of a girlfriend looking to spend the night with her man, when the outbreak happened. and 2. The outfit fit in with her own character who is some company’s “spy” of sorts.
Playing the game and finding out more about Ada and her story helped me to understand her character and the way she was portrayed a lot better than when I had first picked up my controller. And she is just one NPC out of many that are judged based firstly on how she is portrayed. We have to remember, A video, a lot of times, is just an interactive story. We pick and choose some characters to use and play with, interact with others , and others are mainly there to bring the game to life more. Like the unimportant noble woman standing next to Sansa in Game of Thrones. Every character has a part to play and they way they look, what they wear, contributes to that part. So please, before you fully judge any character, know their story, play the game.
sources:
http://residentevil.wikia.com/wiki/Ada_Wong
Resident evil: City of the Dead by S.D. Perry (video game novel adaptation)
Resident evil 2 (Original video game)
