Battlefield V | Women in the game are not the problem
The problem is the way Dice decided to present them in the trailer and the excuses they provided afterwards. Dice decided to spend nearly 50% (50 seconds out of 115) on a British, front-line, steampunk-dressed, bat-beater amputee sniper that also happens to be a woman, jumping through a window whilst holding on her amputated arm her sniper.
During the live-reveal the Directors heavily focused on BF5 providing an immersive, honest, realistic and believable experience through relatable people that changed the world and their untold stories. The reveal trailer however seems to be contradicting everything they said few minutes earlier. In 2018 we have robotic arms that seem out of Deus Ex yet they still lack the fine motor movement most of us have, yet that sniper somehow was as agile as cat and supposedly “accurate” which makes very little sense.
She was also British for some reason. We know however that British women did not fight on the front lines. Women from France fought behind enemy lines, the Soviets had sniping companies, the Italians were part of the Resistance and so were the Polish. To say that women were idle is wrong, their part was as critical to winning the war, as were the men’s.
If Dice really wanted to include women, they could have shown partial scenes, say a French woman going for an assassination or sabotage. A squad of Soviet women crawling through the snow and taking out a camp. Despite all those women — whom we want to honor and express their untold stories, as the three directors said — Dice decided to create something otherworldly. Is that not dishonest? It screams, we couldn’t come up with a relatable story that is close to the truth so we decided to go create an abomination. Shows lack of any respect for the women that actually fought through one way or the other, the women that were incarcerated, killed, tortured, the women that worked 20 hours a day to keep their household and at the same time work in factories while anxiously hoping their husband and sons will come back.
Most articles like to paint the outraged fans as vile misogynists and so does Dice, believing that the reason for the outrage is the inclusion of women and I beg to disagree. It’s not the inclusion of women, it’s the way women were included that caused the backlash. There are many — and perhaps not enough — games that feature women, Samus from Metroid, Horizon Zero Dawn, Lara Croft, Red from Transistor. All these women have one thing in common, they are badass. The difference is that the story revolves around them, they are part of the story as much as the story is part of them. The characters don’t feel forced to be women for the sake of being women or inclusion.
The characters don’t feel forced to be women for the sake of being women or inclusion.
This is a major issue plaguing the west right now. The audience — predominately white cis male — has seen a trend on many video games that appear to be either pushing certain agendas or falling victims to them e.g. Mass Effect Andromeda(explanation here), movies have also been plagued by SJWs and Political Correctness. The same people that seem to enjoy constantly bashing, name-calling the same main audience of game.
Anyone who has been paying attention the last few years and is honest with themselves can observe the trends and it feels that Political Correctness has been plaguing everything we love and are passionate about. It’s been plaguing our hobbies, our movies, our games, all in the name of selling more, on complying with a collection of people that are actively trying to enforce their own ideas of not conforming onto others, on avoiding public distress and name calling for the creators by some vocal minority.
I am willing to give the Dice directors the benefit of the doubt, as to their reasoning behind this series of questionable decisions but there are certain things that are not helping their case.
I knew this was going to be a fight when I pushed for female soldiers in Battlefield. I have a daughter, and I don’t want to ever have to answer her question of ‘why can’t I make a character that looks like me?’ with ‘because you’re a girl’
- Alan Kertz
Dear Alan, if your daughter has to ask such questions then she is very young to be playing your adult rated game and makes us question whether or not you are taking seriously the age ratings of your game. Additionally, giving the above as an excuse, in other words, using your daughter as a shield for the backlash of your decisions does not help your stance but instead makes a call to feelings to defend your position.
You could have included women but limit it such that it depicts the truth, instead the inclusion of women was the epicenter — the front-line if you prefer — of the trailer. No Alan, women could have been included, you just didn’t need to pander on SJWs.
“I fundamentally feel to my core this is the right way, and I will find myself on the right side of history.” — Alan Kertz
That is not supporting your case either, the second sentence about finding yourself on the right side of history is especially concerning as it shows megalomania to say the least.
“I also know a lot in society has changed and for me personally I grew up a bit and looked at the world with new eyes. From within the industry we’ve seen so much male domination, for whatever reason, and I work for a studio and a company that recognizes the value of diversity in what we do as game makers. That’s been a big deal for me also. Sometimes just enough things come together to make it happen. It felt like an inevitability. The excuses were running out and the support was there…so it happens now.”
We do value diversity, everyone does in a sense as diversity has helped us progress. What we don’t value is diversity for the sake of diversity. Yes, I don’t see why not adding women in the game, that is not and has never been an issue. The issue is the path that they were added as it doesn’t depict the truth and spits on the graves of the women that could have been presented but were not, all for the sake of diversity.