Document Type
Article
Abstract
In 2009, the fighting game Tekken 6 included a character called Leo. In the art book included in the special edition of the game, the game developers revealed that Leo was purposefully never assigned a gender so that both male and female players could relate to the fighter. While the inclusion of a genderless character seemed progressive for gender representation in video games, the response of the players showed otherwise. I argue that the inclusion of an androgynous character in a well-established game franchise context did more harm than good. John Sloop refers to this idea as “gender disciplining,” which is when a person is shunned by society for not adhering to the traditional United States gender binary. For video games to truly become progressive, changes in gender representation need to occur in game contexts. Having a token character make up for years of stereotypical gender representation is too little and too late.
Repository Citation
Fecher, Leland. "Gender Issues, Fighting Games, and Progress: An Analysis of a Genderless Character in Tekken 6." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture vol. 12, no. 2, 2012, pp. 1–17. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol12/iss2/6