Women in the video-game industry have typically been scantily clad buxom beauties with one of two stereotypical personalities: playful schoolgirl archetypes (male fantasies) or ice queens. These are unrealistic representations of their real-world counterparts, but consistent in video games. But one game seeks to break that trend: Bioshock: Infinite. Developed by Irrational Games, Bioshock: Infinite treats the player with an in-depth relationship with a very beautiful young woman named Elizabeth (picture provided) who was locked in a city in the sky. But Ken Levine, creative director and founder of Irrational Games, is disappointed in the Internet’s focus on Elizabeth’s chest and not the story.
On January 4, Ken Levine, in an article by ign.com, said that, “in terms of her body type, I think certainly people on the Internet have spent way more time thinking about Elizabeth's chest than I have. It's something I've barely thought about.” He continued to say that, “It's disappointing when [Elizabeth's appearance] becomes a focus for conversation because that was never my intent and it's sort of a disincentive. I'd much rather talk about what she's going through as a person.” My advice to Ken Levine is to understand that the Internet is pretty anarchistic when it comes to opinions. Some of the opinions he is hearing could probably be children, immature adults or people who are just genuinely sexist and wouldn’t give a female character the time of day.
Eight days later, ign.com writer Colin Campbell wrote a piece discussing Ken Levine’s statement and Bioshock: Infinite’s busty protagonist.
“By making her conventionally attractive, the game easily markets itself and broadens its appeal. There is absolutely no getting away from this. Elizabeth looks this way for a reason. She was not accidentally created. Her bust size is not random.” Elizabeth seems to have such a voluptuous figure to make the marketing of the game that much easier to the general populace. It’s a sad fact in the 21st century that sex still has this much marketing power over the casual passerby. I can only assume that Ken Levine never intended to be so deceptive as Campbell explains that, “based on his record as a story-teller, this game is going to be awesome. And so he does not want his beloved project to become misinterpreted.”
Based on Ken Levine’s past history, with the critically acclaimed Bioshock and System Shock 2, I have no doubt that Bioshock: Infinite will develop Elizabeth past a physical attraction with legs. Solely based on the E3 2011 demo, Elizabeth was caring and compassionate toward dying animals and committed toward her escape of the floating city. But whether I like it or not, video games are a business product and companies need to make money, and games need be sold to the largest number of people to be lucrative.
Email me with your opinions of Elizabeth and the female representation in gaming at shfawcet@asu.edu.
