Telltale: What it Means to be a Girl in a Videogame

Being fully aware that Telltale Games’ next season of The Walking Dead is just around the corner (as I started writing this to be released 20^th December 2016) and I'm as excited for Season 3 as I am for AMC's Season 7, I want to talk about Telltale Games.

For this blog I want to look at how they have made me reconsider perceived gender roles. There'll also be a follow up blog looking back at some of the characters portrayed in their games going as far back as the first season of The Walking Dead (TWD).

To be honest this article was inspired by a scene in the recently concluded Minecraft: Story Mode (MCSM). I’ve sat and played through it with my son with the default character settings for the protagonist, Jesse, as well as the first few episodes using one of the female options. The thing is, this is exactly the same character, just a new skin and a different voice actor… This doesn’t affect the story and there’s no noticeable differences in any dialogue. So then why, when playing as the female Jesse, did I see a different team dynamic, pick up on different details and infer different relationships?

In the first episode Jesse meets Petra and there is an obvious bond. However, with the male Jesse I found I was thinking of this as some kind of mutual attraction. Whereas in the exact same scenes with the female Jesse I got the impression that Petra was more of a celebrity or “cool kid” with Jessse taking more of a “little sister” role. If there was ever a time for “notice me senpai” memes this would be it.

As each episode released fans have continued to ship Jesse and Petra, Jetra, but is the story designed this way or are most of us programmed to pick up on this boy meets girl dynamic?

You can even see a similar effect in Jesse’s relationship with Lucas, known to most of the characters as "Blond Guy". With the male Jesse there’s a bit of an uneasy friendship, but play as the female version and perhaps you’ll think of other reasons for the awkward pauses and goofy responses. Whatever social construct or mental process I'm subject to, it apparently reaches further than I thought.

Jesse has two friends, three if you count his/her pet pig, Reuben. In my eyes at least, being male or female shifts the dynamic of this group… It feels more natural for fem-Jesse to be close friends with her pet, hang out with Olivia and kinda just tolerate Axel. Whereas the male Jesse appears to think of Reuben as a brother, respects Olivia for her skill with redstone and likes to do stupid stuff with Axel. I have to wonder if anyone else sees it this way and how much of it is intentional design from Telltale, with so much player choice it's hard to tell.

Sometimes I think that Telltales's choices can tell you a lot about yourself, but given some of my recent options in other games that would make me un-trusting, cruel and selfish so perhaps I won't judge myself too harshly for having these preconceptions in a videogame.

I do want to take a closer look at what these observations say about the game and society though. Firstly the fact that the game can function with both interpretations and probably many in-between is a testament to Telltale’s story telling abilities and integrity; the story wasn’t changed to make it more "manly" or "girly" depending on your character design. I can’t say if it’s intentional but there’s a massive message about equality and gender stereotypes in the real world.

The game gets criticised for inconsequential decisions but when your dialogue choices can reflect how you see your character and their part in that world you realise how important it is that you can make these little personal touches (more on this in an upcoming blog). I've always strongly believed that these games are more about your choice than any consequences of that choice, but that's a rant for another time. An example of this tailored storytelling occurs early in the series; you get a chance to enjoy zipping through the Nether in a minecart with Axel or you can tell him to calm down and keep an eye out for trouble. You might find that you feel like one version of Jesse is more suited to one of those options than the other. Maybe it's best not to read too much into your decision but I'm fascinated that my mind made this distinction.

So what does this say about society? For one it shows how deeply ingrained cultural norms can be. I didn't expect to see the two versions of Jesse as separate characters. This makes me wonder what other social conventions I've assimilated without even realising. That I'm surprised that a male and female character are treated exactly the same in a video game is telling, without diving down the political minefield (and mixing too many metaphors); it suggests that maybe we don't get this kind of equality often.

Feel free to add your own comments below!