We all know that tropes of women exist in video games. What we need to think about is why.
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I'm sure we all remember the particular brand of internet rancor Anita Sarkeesian's video series about women and video games and, in particular, its Kickstarter provoked. But even amateur games where players could beat her senseless didn't deter her, and Sarkeesian launched the first episode of her controversial series, "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games," was released last week. The particular trope investigated in this first episode, "The Damsel in Distress," as portrayed in most of Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto's franchises, including Super Mario and Zelda.
It's also one of the laziest devices to propel any sort of narrative, and its overuse in videogames can be attributed, in part, to the fact that the final objective of a game doesn't always matter all that much. The point of a game is often to play the game; you want to survive and win, but the actual gameplay can be divorced from what you "win." Putting a girl in a castle beyond the final level is an easy thing to do. We understand what the "damsel in distress" trope entails, and Sarkeesian's video definitively showcases its prevalence. But why it exists is more important.