I know that there have been a few posts about video games from this class, and I like to keep the diversity, but I just feel compelled to write about the new game, Borderlands. In Borderlands, you can choose between 4 characters, 1 of which is a female. All the characters have their own unique superhuman abilities. Of course, I am always expecting the female characters to have at least strong characteristics, such as a more powerful appearance and less exaggerated female attributes. For instance, her alias is 'Siren,' and the other male characters are 'Brick,' 'Hunter,' and 'Soldier.' To get a better idea of what the characters look like, you can watch the intro trailer:


Her is a game description form the Borderlands Official Website and a list of some of their special abilities and character descriptions from the 'Borderlands Strategy Guide:'

Game Description
"Borderlands is an original first person role playing shooter game that combines the intuitive rewards system of action role playing games and the frantic paced shooting combat of first person shooters"

Roland "The Soldier"

Description:
Military trained killer
Prefers combat rifles and shotguns

Skills:
Impact
Defense
Fitness
Barrage
Metal Storm

Mordecai "The Hunter"

Description:
Master of long range combat
Prefers sniper rifles and revolvers

Skills:
Killer
Out for Blood
Lethal Strike
Predator
Aerial Impact

Lilith "The Siren"

Description:
Uses deception and trickery
Prefers incendiary, shock, and corrosive weapons

Skills:
Diva
Inner Glow
Hard to Get
Intuition
Mind Games

Brick "The Brick"

Description:
Ignores pain and hits hard
prefers explosive weapons and his fists

Skills:
Iron Fist
Short Fuse
Diehard
Safeguard
Unbreakable

I only took a sample of 5 skills out of each of the characters 21 skills. Lilith's skills represent witchery and favors deception as her description points out while the male characters represent physical strength and mental toughness. Even her favored weapon, the SMG (small machine gun) are smaller and less intimidating than her male counterparts. There is one good thing about this game that I must point out though, there is only one white male character, but he still is the most physically intimidating, towering over all other characters and resembling a roid-raging maniac. I'm not exactly sure what Mordecai is, but his name and facial features suggest something other than white. I'm thinking that he may be asian. Roland, the final male character is a black ex-soldier.

Lilith's female appearance is not as exaggerated as a lot of other video games, but she is still fragile and dainty looking. I would expect a veteran female mercenary to be extremely physically fit with a more 'salty' or hardened appearance. Especially if it is in a video game being as it is fantasy and the possibilities are endless.

I think game designers and developers are still sticking to the tried and true, trying to appeal to everyone without offending certain groups. It's good that they recognize that white males are not the only ones who use video games as entertainment. Don't get me wrong, I love it when a video game has a female main character, I eat it up, but lets try not to make them so hyper-femm. Not that there is anything wrong with being hyper-femm, its just not realistic for a mercenary to run around in heels. But then again, it is a video game. It needs some sort of sexual appeal, right?