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Essay

Stay Awhile and Listen: Diablo III’s Female Character Models Are A Step In The Right Direction

by Becky Chambers | 12:30 pm, April 2nd, 2012


After twelve years since the Lord of Terror was unleashed, it’s finally official: Diablo III will be raising hell on May 15. All I’ve ever really wanted in life is a co-op hack-and-slash dungeon crawler, so I was excited for this game from the get-go. But after spending a little time poking around on Diablo III’s official website, I’m really excited. Like, super excited. I am downright stoked. And it’s for a very simple reason:

All of the female characters look like someone I’d like to play.

As I mentioned back in January, Diablo III will be the first game in the series to offer full gender customization for player characters. This on its own is a welcome addition, but the fact that the female character models are so good has earned Blizzard a stamp of approval in my book. To help explain why, I’m going to put these new ladies into the greater context of how Blizzard has portrayed women throughout their games.

My enjoyment of a game is ultimately determined by a balancing act between two factors: does the gameplay appeal to me, and do I enjoy the story? A game with no story or even a bad story can still be fun, so long as it has engaging gameplay. On the flip side, I’m willing to forgive clunky gameplay mechanics if the story is really good. If a game has both solid gameplay and a great story, then I’ll be throwing my wallet at the developers behind it for years to come.

As far as that balance goes, Blizzard has the gameplay side down pat. I have played everything they’ve released since 1998, and even though I wouldn’t count anything they’ve made among my all-time favorites, I know I can always count on Blizzard for a good game. But in terms of story, I’ve often been underwhelmed by their female characters. I don’t need a game to have prominent female characters in order for me to get into it, but I do want it to be a place in which women feel welcome (to be fair, Blizzard does this better than many, but they’re still rather hit-or-miss). I don’t want to spend my free time in a world where women play second fiddle to the “real” heroes. That doesn’t mean that the protagonist has to be a woman, but it does mean that if the majority of characters are male, I’m going to notice the treatment of the female characters all the more.

That last point was something that affected how I felt towards my first Blizzard game, StarCraft. In StarCraft, women are rare, uniformly flirtatious, and only exist in support roles. The exception, of course, is Kerrigan, who is one of the most memorable video game villains to date. I was in my early teens when I first played StarCraft, and though I thought it was cool, it didn’t really capture my interest. My grade school notions about girl toys and boy toys were not far behind, and at the time, StarCraft felt like a game that did not belong to me. However, just a few years later, I played Warcraft III — which has very similar gameplay to StarCraft — to death. In hindsight, I think this has a lot to do with the inclusion of the matriarchal Night Elves. At that point in my life, playable female characters were scarce, and I didn’t care that these supposedly fierce, cunning warriors were charging around in purple mail bikinis and responding coyly when I clicked on them. Warcraft III was a game in which I could command an army of women riding on tigers. In those simpler times, that was the best I could hope for.

In terms of story, Diablo II treated player-controlled heroes relatively equally regardless of their gender, but there was a caveat. Character gender was predefined by class. You could play a tough, heroic-looking melee class, but only as a man. If you wanted to play a woman, you were stuck with a scantily-clad caster or archer. I didn’t want to play any of those. I wanted the tough, heroic-looking woman, but she was nowhere to be seen. The trend of assigning female characters solely to ranged and casting classes is hardly exclusive to Blizzard, but it’s certainly one that they have embraced for a long time. As a teenager, this bothered me. Okay, it still bothers me, but nowadays, if I’m not offered gender customization, I’ve resigned to prioritizing class abilities over predetermined gender. In my formative years, that was a choice that I really wrestled with (if you’re curious, I went with the Amazon).

By design, World of Warcraft avoided delegating players into classes or genders by giving them the ability to create a fully customized character. Even so, it was clear that the developers didn’t see male characters and female characters in the same light. To show you what I mean, here’s the Tier 3 Paladin set on a male character:

Now here’s the exact same set of armor on a female character.

If you’ve never seen an armor set disparity like this in WoW, that’s because the female armor has improved considerably throughout the expansions. Midriffs and hot pants were common when I first started playing back in 2006, but by the time I quit three years later, most armor sets were identical between genders. Blizzard, it seemed, was finally taking their female players into account. I haven’t visited Azeroth since 2009, but my friends who still play tell me that the only well-ventilated armor sets to be found are a few lingering remnants in the oldest, un-updated areas like Outland. In other words, they’re not pieces that you are likely to either find or use.

Despite this positive development, it was clear that Blizzard still had some wrinkles to iron out. The beta for WoW’s Cataclysm expansion introduced the Worgen race, which kicked off a debate over whether or not the female Worgen was too pretty or too ugly (it seems that “just right” was not on the table). The result was an ever-changing character model and a fanbase that remains divided on the topic (by comparison, the recently unveiled female Pandaren model for the upcoming Mists of Pandaria expansion has had no such troubles, and has been generally well received). Meanwhile, the single-player storyline in StarCraft II was criticized for effectively downgrading Kerrigan — again, one of the lone women in the StarCraft universe — from complex villain to damsel in distress. As is the case with many developers, gender portrayal is an area that Blizzard still struggles with. Evolution is never easy.

So while it’s too early to say how Diablo III will measure up, the female character models shown thus far have me feeling very encouraged. For starters, they are all wearing plausible armor. Their stomachs are covered. The only one who looks a bit waifish is the Wizard, which makes sense, and even she looks like she can tear it up. But the best of the bunch, in my opinion, is the Barbarian. She’s broad-shouldered. She’s buff. She’s got big, muscular thighs, which is exactly what you need if you’re going to be swinging an axe all day. And before you scoff at her bare legs, take note of what her male counterpart is wearing. This armor isn’t meant to be revealing; it’s meant to portray a particular culture. If you’re going to have armor that doesn’t cover a character from head to toe, this is exactly the way to do it. I believe this armor. I believe this character. This is a woman whose physical appearance meshes with the narrative context in which she is presented. Really, that’s all I want to see in a character model, and to find it in Diablo III was a pleasant surprise. Granted, the way your character is dressed in the game will depend on what armor you equip, but the fact that this is the public image they decided to give these women is heartening.

Are the designs perfect? No. Are the starting outfits for the Demon Hunter and the Wizard a bit irksome? Yes. But if we look at these character designs in comparison to the last fourteen years of Blizzard titles, it’s clear that things are continuing to improve for their female characters. And that’s something I can definitely get behind.

Though having the option to play a badass lady makes me feel welcome right off the bat, the game’s inclusiveness will ultimately be determined by the NPCs. It’s too early to know how Diablo III will measure up to its predecessors, but there are a few videos that have me intrigued. The two game cinematics that have been released (here and here) focus heavily on a new character, Leah (voiced by the venerable Jennifer Hale, no less). There’s a lot of speculation as to what role she will actually play in the story, but given how accustomed I’ve become to sexualized female characters in Blizzard’s promotional materials, my curiosity is piqued by how prominently modest, bookish Leah is being featured.

Even more promising is the trailer for the Demon Hunter class. Yes, I know, the high-heeled boots made me groan, too. But if you can look beyond the impractical footwear, there’s something interesting at work in this video. Here we have the standard trope of the frightened female victim becoming inspired to fight after seeing her rescuer in action, only this time, it’s another woman doing the rescuing.

May 15. My hopes are high. I can’t wait to see how this one plays out.

Becky Chambers is a freelance writer and a full-time geek. She blogs over at Other Scribbles.

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  • Nick Gaston

    Man, that Diablo female barbarian can spill open my living guts with a single swing of her massive, serrated iron greatsword rusted with the foul remnants of a thousand howling deaths any day!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kaarel-Jakobson/100000313100671 Kaarel Jakobson

    I thought Diablo II’s Amazons were pretty badass, myself… They weren’t limited to ranged weaponry either. As I recall, one of their tech trees was spears.

  • http://twitter.com/FroWillis Sarah

    Wait a female video game character with THIGHS!?!?!?!? Holy cow, I love her design to pieces. 

  • http://twitter.com/lifepostepic Cade DeBois

    I actually gave up on gaming for many years because I couldn’t take how female player characters were either non-existent and just gratuitous wanking-off material for 13-year-olds. Now I’m slowly getting back into it, and I confess, what the female characters look like is a big part of whether I’ll try out a game, let alone buy it. I’ve been playing Skyrim a lot and I’m surprised I haven’t realy see many people talking about this game’s female characters. I’m actually happy with how they handled the female characters and the range of body options you can choose from (including shaved heads, gray hair, scars and wrinkles). I also like that while you are given a weight range to choose from, its skinniest option still seems realistic and healthy-looking to me. Pretty much what you can opt for a male character you can for a female one (although male characters do tend to be more muscular–perhaps Skyrim could use a bit of queering up in this dept). The armor looks virtually the same for female character as male, and the non-armor clothing is pretty modest. (Granted if you wanted, you could loot some Forsworn armor which is pretty skimpy for both female and male Forsworn–at least it’s fair).

  • http://otherscribbles.com Becky Chambers

    Ah, you’re right. I forgot about the spears. Still not quite on par with a greataxe, but yes, she could indeed perform melee attacks.

  • http://twitter.com/Kittshawke Kittyhawk

    StarCraft II is a trilogy and Heart of the Swarm (hopefully released this year), is focused entirely on Kerrigan, regaining control of the swarm and finally being truly in control of her destiny.  So while she might have fallen into the ‘damsel in distress’ trope in Wings of Liberty, she will be a far more complex (and badass) character in Heart of the Swarm.  I’ve never had a lot of interest in SC, but Heart of the Swarm has me intrigued, entirely because of the evolution of Kerrigan.  

    Blizzard is getting better at its portrayal of female characters.  The gaming industry has a long way to go, but it’s great to see progress.  I can’t wait to hunt some demons in D3.  

  • http://www.facebook.com/IvanBimbelov Ivan Bimbelov

    well also dont forget in the upcomming star craft 2 expansion Kerrigan AKA The Queen of blades will be anything but a damsel in distress and she will be the main character of the campaign story line 

  • http://www.facebook.com/IvanBimbelov Ivan Bimbelov

    also please consider this. at the time diablo II came out it was said to completely change and revolutionize gaming forever especially in the RPG world. the reason for these claims was because a lot of the game mechanics and features in the game were completely different than previous games, so for its time and for the type of computers that were available at the time the space and memory that diablo 2 took in a PC was enormous so the classes was one of the ways to cut the size down. and thats why each class could be only its specific gender. one of the reasons anyway.its really a surprise that they did any of them to be female considering at the time the gaming community was overwhelmingly male. so for the time that Diablo II came out having any female characters was a rather bold step considering their audience. and it was for that reason why the sorcerrer and the amazon are actually such exciting characters to play in terms of mechanics. the amazon is easily the most complex class in Diablo 2 with its traps and tactics. and because of that it became one of the most popular classes to play.

  • Anonymous

    Amusing that at the top of the page there’s a picture of a woman in a skin-tight jumpsuit showing us her behind….

  • Max Eddy

    When I played Diablo II, my favorite character was the Assassin whose gameplay just pleased me to no end. However, I was constantly annoyed despite the plate armor I heaped on her, she always had a loin cloth. 

    Like the author I’m similarly heartened by breaking the tie between class and gender, but also similarly irked by stiletto boots and what not. I’m hoping that the base armor sets will be more modifiable than previous games, but perhaps that’s wishful thinking. 

  • http://twitter.com/nazaniel_ Nazaniel

    Sadly, my Tier 13 paladin set has a midriff again, just like T3.  It looks ridiculous.  Every time I dare to hope that we might have taken a step forward… 

  • http://twitter.com/mattchaput Matt Chaput

    Let’s not pat them on the back too hard. Have you seen the Witch Doctor? Maybe they can’t handle not being racist on top of not being sexist.

  • Jamie Jeans

    I saw that as well in a few beta playthroughs and could hardly believe that design. They get necromancer and go with a Voodoo Witch doctor, with shrunken heads and feathers on the head dress and everything.

    Then again, in Starcraft 2, they had a black Jamaican Ghost character who was a walking stereotype so it’s not like this isn’t new, sadly enough… who was killed by the blonde haired, blue eyed Nova… >_>

  • http://twitter.com/Super_Widget Joanna

    Heels don’t bother me too much as long as they’re not equilibrium defying stilettos.  

  • Francesca M

    When the assassin became an option it was sooo awesome to play her.

  • Francesca M

    I know. :( Its why my dwarf pally wears a tabard all the damn time. And a shirt. Though it could be worse. I still have nightmares about a pair of mail pants out of gnomer that had my tush hanging out all the time.

  • http://twitter.com/clockworkfaerie Avalon

    Yawn. Oh, right. I’m sorry, I forgot I’m not allowed to be a woman without getting up in arms over fantasy games having revealing armor, because I’m not allowed to like showing off my stomach or chest or legs or anything else or else it’s pandering to the patriarchy.

    I’m sure I’ll muster up the effort to care… Eventually. Right after I get done THANKING Blizzard for making the Paladin T13 armor so much more appealing on my lovely draenei lady instead of the full covering the men have. 

    Honestly this whole anti-sexy crusade brought on by the new era of feminists-annoyed-by-everything is so very, very tiring. It’s this kind of article and constant ranting that makes me NOT call myself a feminist. (Which, I’m sure they’d say given my stance on this piece, doesn’t matter because according to them I’m not one anyway).

  • http://twitter.com/clockworkfaerie Avalon

    Speak for yourself. Paladin main of five years here, absolutely love the T13 ladies’ set. 

  • http://twitter.com/clockworkfaerie Avalon

    That’s because Skyrim’s female characters are almost uniformly horrid. It’s almost impossible to make any of them attractive, and the hairstyles in particular are especially offensive. I did make a rather nice Altmer though.

  • Anonymous

     Do your thing.  All we’re saying here is that it’s good to have a female character taken seriously without all the sexualized trappings that that so often happens when they get portrayed in-game.  Maybe I don’t want a “lovely” toon.  Maybe I want my toon to look as badass as I feel when I’m playing her.   So you want yours to look different. So be it.

    Though I only speak for myself,  for me critique of the culture at large is a large part of feminism.  That goes for geek culture, too.   I’m not calling you a non-feminist, by no means, but if the opinions of others annoy you to the point that you can’t engage in a spirited dialogue with those you disagree with, it’s not that you’re “not a feminist,” it’s that you choose to be willfully ignorant.  And that goes beyond gender.

  • Colin Reid

     I suppose if you are being really critical, the Assassin also embodies a cliché about female warriors, in that she’s more of an agile ‘rogue’ type.

  • Colin Reid

    It is bizarre that so many games feature women who go around fighting nasties with exposed decolletage and/or midriff.  What’s the point of wearing armour if you give the enemy a clear shot at your heart or guts?

  • http://www.writing4rent.com/ JaneR

    I remember the hours I spent playing Diablo II. The Assasin rocked my world. I remember going between first three levels over and over again until the skeletons crushed from one tiny little blow. Ah, I’m getting sentimental.

    *grabby hands*

    Though I never actually cared what the avatar looks like. I just wanted to kill things.

  • Anonymous

    Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised because it was a Korean MMO but WoW outfits were like a breath of fresh air after the ones I had for female classes on Ragnarok Online, which were mostly scantly clad across the board and did not change when you changed armor. That really bothered me (that and the fact you could only make characters of the same gender as yourself). On WoW I could throw on an undershirt if I didn’t like the top I was given. No way to cover up if you were given a thong though.
    Obviously the game wasn’t designed with women in mind but it also bothered me that there were no attractive male characters I could make (at least not attractive to me, I’m not into manly beefcake dudes) until male blood elves came around.

    I too am sick of women relegated to ranged/magic damage/healer archetypes which is probably why 95% of my melee classes in WoW are female. Now there is nothing wrong with ranged and caster women, I just like to even the spread a little with some diversity.

  • http://www.facebook.com/1shewolf JoAnna Luffman

    Spearazon and Javazon are what I play. Ranged for those tough battles (Hell Baal, I’m looking at you!), melee for everything else.

  • http://www.facebook.com/1shewolf JoAnna Luffman

    Now, the important thing is if I can customize my character enough to have a chainmail bikini or if I’m stuck with the full armor.

  • http://twitter.com/maria_hoskins Maria P Hoskins

    I preordered DIII for my husband… Now I’m getting a copy for myself too!

  • Anonymous

    It’s the fact that the gals in video games tend to be relegated so often to the same roles and outfits that I personally take issue with. By no means does that mean that no one should be allowed to play pretty girly characters without a lot of clothing. I just think more variety is called for.

    If I said that all women in video games should always look tough as nails and be covered from head to toe that would be the same kind of inappropriate as someone insisting to me that I should want all my girl characters to look pretty and feminine. I embrace both types, and all the areas in between (for guy characters too!).

  • Anonymous

    There are a LOT of mods out there that improve the appearance of female characters in Skyrim. And last I checked, most of the really popular ones were made by women.

  • Lisa Liscoumb

    That’s one of the things I like about Titan Quest: Immortal Throne – no “you’re this class so you’re male, you’re this class so you’re female”.   You choose to play a male or female character and your class is independent of that.  And the costuming seems pretty good, too.  And, for me at least, the best part is that the storyline is good.

  • Lisa Liscoumb

    That’s one of the things I like about Titan Quest: Immortal Throne – no “you’re this class so you’re male, you’re this class so you’re female”.   You choose to play a male or female character and your class is independent of that.  And the costuming seems pretty good, too.  And, for me at least, the best part is that the storyline is good.

  • http://farseer-lolotea.livejournal.com/ Farseer Lolotea

    The issue with female worgen wasn’t so much that they’re either “too pretty” or “too ugly.” It’s that they got beaten with the “feminine caricature” stick until they looked almost nothing like the race’s very concept. Additionally, the differences between their face options are pitifully minimal.

    As for female pandaren: it’s true that most critiques of them are fairly minor. That’s not to say that there are none at all. (For one, their face options seem to also be afflicted with “worgenosis.”)

    And yes, I’m liking the way DIII is handling things.

  • Anonymous

    How is it racist to include a character based on voodoo culture?

  • http://twitter.com/Diablo3Warrior Diablo 3 Warrior

    Very thoughtful and interesting article. I have noticed that Blizzard has been changing the female appearance in WoW, possibly due to the fact that World of Warcraft has a ton of female players, second only to The Sims. It would clearly be a mistake to overlook that fact, and I think they’ve gracefully adjusted them from “poster girls” to bona fide avatars with the same depth and expressiveness as their male counterparts.

    In Diablo 3, I’m really pleased with all of the female aesthetics. Even as a male player, I favor the female versions of Demon Hunters and Monks. Both have such ferocity without compromising their femininity, much like the heroins of The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones.

    I have a few other thoughts on character classes and choices at Diablo3Warrior.com.

  • James Dyer

    I personally liked the way gender was in D2. Look at it this way, Take the Demon Hunter and make her a guy. Take away the tight clothes and the big boobs and what you have is this demon hunter with no personality. I think that the model brings more personality to the character then the back story. Every game needs its stereo types, so if I want to be a mage in D3, im gonna be a woman and if I want to be a monk, im gonna be a dude.

  • Anonymous

    A while ago a bug in Diablo 3 can lead you to the area in the map which you cannot reach in the beta. I don’t think many players have read the detailed information of the new map.
     
    So we will share the BUG maps with everyone in the next 4 phases.
     
    In this phase, we’ll introduce part of the Field of Misery map. It’s a large area and contains a lot of information. Let’s start the thrilling adventure together!
     
    Check the video out in d3guyz.com/?q=node/1484

  • Jack Rizutko

    Wait, Diablo 2 DOES HAVE a melee female, the Assassin.

  • Jack Rizutko

    I say the following as a self-identified male feminist in a very happy egalitarian marriage…

    I think there are two very distinct elements to a feminist critique of video games.  A) female roles in the narrative: They have a bad history and an overhaul is needed big-time.  B) female sexualized images: you have to get over it.  It comes with the territory, and until comic book men lose their six-pack abs, the women are going to keep showing belly. 

    Thats not to say I am against improvement in the latter area.  I don’t get off on pixelated thongs, or roid-puffed action heroes.  I play video games for the mechanics, creativity and competition.  I just think there is a level of stylization in game design for an action adventure fantasy setting that comes with the territory.  There’s no sense getting mad about it.  Its not sexist to draw attractive women any more than its sexist to draw beefcakey men.  What’s sexist is the treatment of women as secondary less capable or generally one dimensional while the narrative revolves completely around dudes.

    The change in narrative grinds very slowly, but the general push towards character customization in video games allowing gender choices is a big step in the right direction overall.  Thats the big plus to fantasy/sci-fi.  When you add in factors like magic/high tech gizmos, the sexually dimorphic size ratio stops being relevant to the scope of roles women can fill within a violent world.

  • http://skybluepunk.livejournal.com/ SBP

    misfire

  • http://skybluepunk.livejournal.com/ SBP

    It’s NOT based on actual “voodoo culture”; it’s a grotesque parody of the vodou religion as seen through a Western lens, one that perpetuates the ‘barbaric savage’ stereotype.

    That is why it’s racist.

    hth

  • Maximo Roboto

    It’s not a parody. It’s an archetype, much like how the knight in shining armor is an archetype of European fantasy. The witch doctor in Diablo III is not meant to be a representation of any real-world Voudoun traditions, (which places the game a meager step up from games such as Resident Evil 5 or Dead Island), and really isn’t any more barbaric than say the barbarian or the creepy necromancer. And seeing as how Blizzard made the knight in shining armor (a “positive” archetype) in Diablo II an African-looking warrior, I wouldn’t go calling the developers racist just yet.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Roxanne-Kubiak/519742383 Roxanne Kubiak

    My favourite character is actually the wizard, I really appreciate that diablo III has a mix to choose from, some women prefer to have a practical, non sexualized character, but since I’m quite sexualised and impractical myself I like to have a more sexy character, it works both ways if someone has got a ample cleavage and long legs it’s nice to see them as a warrior as opposed to a simpering maiden.

  • http://www.facebook.com/rumbeard Andrew Weiss

    But dwarf and gnome midriffs are the best… just like our awesome female barbarian up there.  Need more BBW in games.

  • Francesca M

    I prefer to show off Dwarf cleavage. ;P

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