Back in May, our Editor-in-Chief, Richard Bailey, published a piece on the exclusion of a female protagonist from GTA V. Surely, with three spots for playable characters, they could have figured out some way to fit in a lady, right? Not so much. While you can play as a female in GTA Online, women are left out from the role in single player.
Rockstar Games Co-Founder Dan Houser provides a glimmer of an explanation for the decision during an interview with The Guardian:
“The concept of being masculine was so key to this story.”
How is it that, “being masculine,” is crucial to the story? If certain characters needed to be portrayed as masculine for whatever reason, then wouldn’t, if anything, having a female as a counterpoint further reinforce their masculine characteristics? Furthermore, is Houser implying that women are the opposite of masculine? Surely, examples in our past piece describe how women can be portrayed as strong, bold and powerful characters, regardless of their gender.
Houser ends his interview with:
“We love games and we think we’ve got something to say in games, and that games have plenty to say. So shouldn’t we just continue doing that?”
I understand Rockstar has a story they want to tell and it called for three male protagonists, but I’d like a bit more explanation of the decision. If they have plenty to say, surely one of those things could involve the opposite gender at some point. This is now the seventh main entry in the series and I think it’s about time they mix things up a bit, especially since the entire development team has never starred a lady in the leading role. With their influence in the industry, having a female protagonist would be a huge step forward.
Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below! GTA V officially releases worldwide on September 17th for the Xbox 360 and PS3.
Source: The Guardian
