On Tuesday an alliance of campus organizations protested AXE’s “Mojo Master,” a game in which players try to score dates with scads of scantily clad virtual women. It’s about time someone criticized a part of gaming that is often overshadowed by the violence debate.
Many have said that media objectify women, but in video games this objectification is most apparent. Most games focus on male protagonists, while women have played a second-class role since gaming’s earliest days.
When gamers beat 1986’s “Metroid,” an interstellar shooter for the Nintendo Entertainment System, they found a twist ending that nobody expected: Samus Aran, the game’s masked hero, wasn’t a man. Samus was one of the earliest examples of a strong female protagonist, but this achievement was marred by the infamous “Justin Baily” code. The code allowed players to beat the game in less than two hours, which revealed the game’s “best” ending and featured Samus in a bathing suit. But pixelated, 2D, bikini-clad space vixens on the NES didn’t have much effect on sales.
The advent of 3D technology propelled objectification to the level it is at today. In 1996 Eidos Interactive released “Tomb Raider” starring Lara Croft. Croft, a cross between Indiana Jones and Pamela Anderson, is gaming’s first and most famous sex symbol. While some appreciate Lara’s adventuresome spirit, it was her bust size that got her on magazine covers. In 1998 Details magazine put Lara on their list of the 100 sexiest women. The “Tomb Raider” series was a financial boon to Eidos. Other developers saw this and tried to emulate it.
Female characters in video games have been much more prevalent since Lara’s arrival, but gaming’s male-dominated audience has heavily influenced the portrayal of women. In short, the bigger and better the boobs are, the more likely it is that a game will sell.
Although all of gaming is guilty of objectifying women, some of the most blatant examples can be seen in fighting games, in which graphics and character design is vital to success. Early ads for the popular fighter “Dead or Alive 3” featured a pair of guys hypnotized by two scantily clad female fighters duking it out. The overly bouncy breast physics in the “DOA” and “Soul Calibur” series are so outrageous they border on comical.
Game developers need to realize that they are excluding many gamers. Some developers seem to be catching on. In 1993 UbiSoft released “Beyond Good & Evil,” which pitted Jade, an inquisitive photographer, against a corrupt empire. Nintendo is currently working on “Super Princess Peach” for the Nintendo DS, in which Peach goes on a quest to rescue Mario.
As for “Mojo Master,” it’s getting more attention than it warrants. It isn’t worth the time it takes to download. It’s all style, no content and no class.

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