Randolph Palmer When I attend a show like GDC or E3, I tend to get several questions from the click associated with the truth that I actually have innie genitalia instead of outside. For example: What’s it like being a lady in the gaming industry? What advice do you have for young women who need to break into recreation layout?
I’m always a chunk confused by using these questions, even though I attempt doggedly to answer. Perhaps my confusion is that I don’t pick out myself as a “female fashion designer.” I am a sport dressmaker/writer. So my gender is irrelevant. Who surely cares? But a reporter at GDC this spring modified my mind. After I confirmed Moebius, which has a male protagonist, and an equally very male sidekick, he asked why I don’t write sturdy lady characters in my video games? He advised that girl recreation gamers NEED desirable function fashions. If anyone has been going to deliver the industry with strong girl characters, the few seen girl designers like me should be the few.
Well. Alrighty then.
I mumbled through a few forms of reaction, stating that I actually have had sturdy girl characters in the beyond– Grace in Gabriel Knight and Samantha in Gray Matter. As for Malachi in Moebius nicely, I just wanted to write him that manner! On my way returned domestic, I kept thinking about that interview. It bugged me, and I attempted to discern out why. My first response changed into woman recreation gamers need position fashions? Really? A lady doesn’t recognize who she is still an online game indicates her someone to emulate? Hmm. Do people ever say guys need ‘role models for their video games?
But greater to the point… why do I so often find myself writing male characters? The truth is, I’ve usually desired writing guys to girls in my novels as well as my video games. The answer changed into truly quite apparent—I don’t simply write male characters; I write male characters who’re warm without a doubt because I revel in it. And as a consequence crumbles any illusion, I should be above gender. The truth is, once I write a male character, I am writing to him from a lady attitude, as a form of myth. And why not? Male designers create lady characters who are male fantasies all of the time.
Let’s even the playing subject, humans.
There are, in truth, a massive portion of girls who play video games. According to the ESA, 45% of all gamers are a lady. Of course, this varies significantly by way of style; I’m positive. But if women generally tend to play the kind of game you layout for, why now not give them a male character they can salivate over? Because…
Reason #1: Male game enthusiasts are k with it.
Really. I even have by no means as soon as had a male player inform me, “I don’t like Gabriel Knight due to the fact he’s too attractive.” What? No. It’s never passed off. And why wouldn’t it? After all, the participant is role-playing that person. Who doesn’t need to be handsome, smart, and sexy? What doesn’t a man want to be hot? Do no longer fear the hotness.
Reason #2: Pop lifestyle says it really works.
Let’s evaluate several mega-hits in pop culture in the past ten years: Lost, True Blood, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Skyfall, Harry Potter. Okay, now not Harry Potter. Forget that aberration of the laws of space and time. See any hot guys in the others? I am relaxed in my case.
HOW TO WRITE A HOT MALE CHARACTER
You don’t have to be a female fashion designer to write a hot male character, and, sure, many video games already have them. But in case you’re questioning what makes a male person ‘warm’ from a female angle, or at least from mine, here are a few tips.
#1 Looks:
It’s a given that he’ll be handsome. But what does that mean? Consider your target market. A Mr. Universe type with arms like sledgehammers, the traditional male motion hero, is the ‘hot girl? Not in reality. Are you slanting the attraction at more youthful ladies or older? Up to a certain age, women locate overt masculinity off-setting. Teen idols are typical ‘twinks’ like ‘N Sync, Leif Garret, David Cassidy, or Justin Beiber. Maybe this isn’t your important individual; maybe it’s the teenager son of a secondary man or woman—however, why not add someone like this if your sport will be played utilizing younger teens?
Step the testosterone up a chunk, and you can cowl a reasonably extensive age range. Twilight, everybody? Though the books had been written YA (Young Adult), both the books and movies appealed to older women in addition to youngster ladies and have been defined utilizing Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner—both very younger men with quiet faces and ripped torsos that had been neither highly muscled nor furry.
(Seriously! We’re definitely discussing this!)
Personally, my appeal to-o-meter skews older; however, I generally tend closer to seeming not overly muscled or brutish. You might want to consider other types: Gerard Butler (muscular, however not big), Daniel Craig, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Alexander Skarsgard. Generally speaking, the lengthy, flowing hair of romance novel covers is out unless you could significantly pull off the entire Spartacus aspect.
If you’re a lady designer (or a gay guy, for that matter), go together with your instinct. If you’re not, ask your wife/lady friend and beta check with girls.
