title: "Three Lists" summary: "A short exploration of a common trend in gaming and in social settings. Don't read the tags." date: "2019-04-07" description: "A brief discussion about the genders of characters in video games and the connection to the trans experience, generally." tags:

• "video-games"
• "gender"
• "choices"
• "hidden-intent"
• "fb-rants"
• "extra-long"

• "transgender" words: 727 img: "/images/PrideLogo.png"

Three Lists and a Lesson

So as not to give away the bit on the not-so-harrowing conclusion from this fun little exploration, I will simply say that what follows is an examination of a phenomenon without diving too deeply into the cause.

So I started making a list on Friday. It got way out of hand, but it is an interesting list nonetheless. So I have a question, but I will only use part of the list.

What do the following video games have in common?

• 7th Saga
• Baldur's Gate(I and II)
• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
• Diddy Kong Racing
• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
• Final Fantasy VI
• SaGa [Final Fantasy Legend Series]
• Gauntlet (the whole series)
• Icewind Dale (I and II)
• Killer Instinct (the whole series)
• Mario Kart (the whole series)
• Mario Party (the whole series)
• Mortal Kombat (the whole series)
• Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen
• Soul Calibur (the whole series)
• Street Fighter (the whole series)
• Super Mario Bros. 2
• Super Smash Bros (the first two)
• Zombies Ate My Neighbours

And yes, this is a short version of the list. They all have a common theme that is not something I expect anyone to recognise. If they do, then odds are, they share an experience with me and can identify more games that belong on this list. I will to the answer and its significance in time. But I have to draw the picture properly.

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Lemme share a second list. See if you can spot how this one is different than the first.

• Back to the Future (both games)
• Bases Loaded (the whole series, though it has reason)
• Batman (all the NES games)
• Battletoads
• Blaster Master
• Bomberman (all of them)
• A Boy and His Blob
• Captain Skyhawk
• Castlevania (at least the first 4 games)
• Cool World
• Deja Vu
• Donkey Kong (all except DKC2)
• Double Dragon (all of them)
• Dragon Warrior (all of them)
• Final Fantasy (all except VI, but only up to X)
• Goonies (both games)
• Indiana Jones (all of them)
• Ironsword (and the rest of Wizards & Warriors)
• Legend of Zelda (except for two or three games)
• Mario (almost all of them except those listed in the first set)
• Mega Man (all of them)
• Seiken Densetsu [Mana Sword Series]
• Shadowgate
• Uninvited
• Willow

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What's interesting here is that these lists only includes

1. games I played
2. game series that started on the NES
3. nowhere near the complete list of (1) and (2)

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Think on this list. What do these games have in common that differs from the first two lists?

• Cacoma Knight
• Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
• Lost Kingdoms 2
• Metroid (almost all of them)
• Mischief Makers
• Tomb Raider

You'll notice that this list is MUCH shorter than the other two. While I grant that it could be much longer, this is what I remember offhand.

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Before we get to the good part. Take a moment. REALLY think about it. What do the games in those lists have in common within a list that is different between lists. If you've already figured it out, then well done. Otherwise ...

• The last list is the most interesting one. It contains only games where the player-controlled protagonist is not only default female, but necessarily female.
• The middle list contains two classes of games: the player-controlled protagonist is male by default, even if there are female characters involved XOR the female options are limited to specific parts of the story, and not the whole game.
• The first list is really great because it sets you up to play male or female without restricting the gameplay in any real sense.

Now, as I mentioned, the all-female list certainly could have more games, but I only listed the ones I had available before age 18. Likewise the other two.

But here's the thing that I find interesting: in EVERY case on the first list, I chose female characters almost unilaterally. Sure, occasionally a guy would be interesting to play, but my preference was always for the girl. So far as bby Terra was concerned, it was the obvious choice. And it's interesting to note that this experience isn't exactly unique. In fact, a lot of trans content creators have made a lot of humourous content about exactly this phenomenon.

Now, I'm not saying that every little kid who plays the opposite gendered characters is definitely trans, but I am saying it is a fascinating area of study if someone wanted to run the numbers