Thinking with Portals: Wheatley

A couple of weeks ago I posted a piece talking about the character GLaDOS in Portal 2. Here is my accompanying piece (possibly the first of two or three) about GLaDOS’ male A.I. counterpart, Wheatley. Two things of note: there will be spoilers in this article, and it’s going to have a very pro-feminist slant because I’ve been reading a lot of anti-feminist things the last few days and I need to balance all of that out somehow, so you may need to take a few things with a grain of salt.

As mentioned in the previous article, GLaDOS is predominantly a cold, calculating character (alliteration FTW). Wheatley, on the other hand, is a bit of a comedic tool — very jittery, a little awkward, strangely inept, and more of a joke than anything. At the beginning he acts as Chell’s guide, leading her through Aperture in hopes of escaping. While looking for a way out, they stumble upon GLaDOS, restarting after her defeat in the first game, and she immediately begins sending you through tests again. Before long, Wheatley devises a plan to take GLaDOS down by putting himself into the position to control Aperture and leaving GLaDOS to rust.

What makes Wheatley interesting to me is that his personality almost completely changes once he gets a taste of power. As soon as he replaces GLaDOS as the main controller of the facility, the phrase “absolute power corrupts absolutely” comes into play, in the literal sense. He goes from being unintentionally goofy to being openly hostile in less than two minutes, praising himself for taking over and marvelling at his greatness. Not a minute later, he becomes enraged when GLaDOS points out that Chell did all of the work for him and that his actual purpose at Aperture was to make GLaDOS less intelligent by offering up bad ideas in order to keep her from becoming completely independent. In retaliation, he tells Chell that he’s the boss now, does the only thing he can think of to humiliate GLaDOS — turning her into a potato battery (quite a step down from being an all-powerful A.I., wouldn’t you say?) — and then smashes both GLaDOS and Chell into a pit in the floor, yelling, “COULD A MORON DO THAT?!”

After taking some time to cool down, Wheatley realizes that Chell doesn’t take him seriously in spite of his new power. He tries to take a leaf from GLaDOS’ book in emotionally whittling her down, but it backfires:

Wheatley: All right, so that last test was seriously disappointing. Apparently, being civil isn't motivating you, so let's try it her way, all right, fatty? Adopted... fatty! Fatty, fatty no parents?
GLaDOS: And...?
Wheatley: What?
GLaDOS: What exactly is wrong with being adopted?
Wheatley: What's wrong with being adopted? Um, well, uh, Lack of parents?
GLaDOS: [to Chell] For the record, you are adopted and that's terrible. Just work with me.
Wheatley: Some of my best friends are actually orphans.
GLaDOS: Also, look at her, you moron. She's not fat.
Wheatley: I AM NOT A MORON!

While researching for this article, I found a clip on YouTube full of quotes from Wheatley. I don’t remember a lot of them from the game, strangely, so perhaps they were yanked. Or maybe my memory’s just awful. Anyway, they exist, apparently, so I’m going to talk about one of them. For one particular ‘exchange’, Wheatley tries to convince Chell to jump into a pit. When it doesn’t work, he tells her that at the bottom of the pit, in addition to her long-lost parents and an escape elevator, are: a trendy fashionable jumpsuit, a handbag, a yacht, hunky men (“possibly a boyfriend!”), members of a boy-band (who “haven’t seen a woman in years, and they’re not picky at all — they don’t care if you’ve got a bit of brain damage, they don’t mind if you’ve been running around, if you’ve been sweating”), and a pony farm.

Everything about this belittles Chell, though probably unintentionally on Wheatley’s part, I’m sure. He, like GLaDOS but not as clever, believes that if he appeals to everything that women are ‘supposed’ to want, Chell will do anything he asks. He also apparently believes that the promise of men who are so desperate to see a woman that they won’t care if she’s at full mental health and doesn’t look absolutely gorgeous is a positive thing in a woman’s mind.

Nearing the end of the game, Wheatley becomes more and more unstable. He begins hurling blame at Chell for everything that’s going wrong, accusing her of using him for her own gain and for taking advantage of him because he wanted to help her. It doesn’t take long for him to make threats of violence against her either.

A lot of these things parallel abusive relationships, and (this may be a bit of a stretch, but humour me) they even reflect the “friendzone” baloney that’s becoming a greater and greater problem in the world of dating. What I mean by that is that Wheatley (read: bitter men, generally) felt a connection with Chell that she doesn’t reciprocate. When she doesn’t help him to further his own gains, he feels used and resents Chell (read: women who aren’t interested in said bitter men) because he voluntarily did things for her when she didn’t promise any reward (read: relationship, be it romantic or sexual; in the game, the reward would have been to escape Aperture) for such tasks, so he gets angry, acts out, becomes violent, and accuses Chell of being the problem.

The only point at which Wheatley feels any remorse at all is when he’s stuck out in space, completely alone and stripped of power (by two female characters, which would make it all the worse for him if he was a human instead of a machine), which makes it quite clear how absolutely hollow his apology is. Even then, ‘remorse’ isn’t the right word; he simply says in mild tones that if he had the chance to, he’d say he was sorry and make things right, all the while completely devoid of any actual guilt like the sociopath he’s become.

Art imitating life, ladies and gentlemen. The only difference here is that the abusive character still comes across as entertaining during his antics, which thankfully isn't generally true to life.

Episode 44 - All About Indies - Best of 2012

We took some time on the show this week to reflect on Wired Magazine's list of the best games of 2012.

What's not to love about Borderlands 2?!

Joined by new writer, Mark Schjoll, we discuss the passion and willingness to take risks we see in this list comprised of indie games that truly push the boundaries of gaming. (Journey, anyone?)  Warning: There are Borderlands 2 and Far Cry 3 spoilers in our discussion of those games. Look for Mark's article detailing his favorites of 2012 and some much anticipated games for this year.

We also ask a probing question: How many women are playing Far Cry 3? We'd love to hear from some women gamers playing this popular title, especially given Mark's insights about the violence in the game. Leave a comment here or grab us on Twitter. You can even comment on our page on Facebook as well! 

Game on Girl is on Stitcher so you can stream our show to your mobile device or subscribe via iTunes or the RSS Feed.

Until next time, game on!

Regina & Rhonda

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Famicom Females - Arkista's Ring

Arkista's Ring Box - Hard to believe this was an American-only release, eh

Background - This is the first of a proposed feature series where I (and, through the comments, you) examine the early women gaming heroes who appeared on the NES or Famicom. The format is currently tentative, but this is sort of an experiment to see if this is something that will be of interest to the Game on Girl readership. I think that's enough exposition; let's begin!

Study 1: Arkista’s Ring (American Sammy)

Arkista’s Ring is a bit of an odd duck. Sammy, a Japanese company, developed this game specifically for American audiences. It never had a domestic release in Japan. Despite that, it seemingly wanted to aim for Japanese audiences, given its box. The anime stylings of heroine Christine and her antagonist are hard to miss.

Christine is an elven archer, utilizing her bow to slay various creatures in a Zelda-esque action/puzzle game. The plot is fairly standard for the time; the realm of Arkista (thus “Arkista’s Ring”) has been plagued by a wicked Shogun who has stolen all of their treasures and plunged their land into chaos. Christine, a young warrior, offers her assistance to retrieve the stolen valuables and defeat the Shogun’s ninja army. She sets out to the Forbidden Castle, but first must make her way through the ruins of Arkista, a volcano, and the Ninja Dungeon. After defeating Shogun on Stage 31, the game loops. With Arkista’s Ring in hand, Christine can recover her health as she walks. This is good, as the game’s repeated levels are much more challenging to our heroine than before. Once 125 stages are conquered, you’ll see the ending…which isn’t much. I’ll cover that in a bit.

How does she accomplish that goal? She needs to clear out each map from the various foes before a key appears, which will grant her access to the next area. Plucky players can find hidden exits strung throughout the game. There’s a bevy of items to pick up that help Christine by boosting her arrow strength, armor, and other attributes, as well as expendable items such as potions, but ultimately it’s her versus the evil Shogun’s horde. Later levels will challenge players with extreme prejudice; enemies become more erratic, quicker on their feet, and can shoot through walls, making Christine’s efforts to succeed quite difficult. You’ll need to be quick with your reflexes and with your smarts if Christine is to survive.

Christine’s design on the cover isn’t the most flattering female design in gaming history. While her upper body is mostly covered (save an exposed midriff), her legs seemingly are barely protected by any sort of armor (from what I can tell). I’m not really sure what she’s wearing on her hips; is it a bikini bottom of some kind that features two layers, or is it a cloth that dangles in front of her “armor”? I can’t fully answer that, and the game’s chibi sprite doesn’t offer any further answers. Overall, I’d say that she’s not really challenging the status quo of pandering woman designs all that much, but she's not all that offensive, either. In terms of personality, she’s silent as a mouse until the very end, where she declares to the player “thanks for helping me save Arkista’s Ring”. Appreciative, sure, but that’s not all that emotional.

In my opinion, Christine is a respectable early female avatar. Her outfit is a little dubious, but she is a very strong character that builds up her talents as she plunges deeper into the labyrinths. She emerges as an accomplished heroine who can handle herself, and proves that she is able to rise up to a difficult challenge and protect her people. All and all, she is a character that showcases her power through her actions. I'm only one judge, though. I would like your input as well. Is Christine an adequate avatar for women? Do you feel that she is a decent representation of what a woman can be in a game? Is her character design faulty or sexist, or does it manage to be somewhat acceptable?

I'm also wondering if this concept should be a recurring feature for Game on Girl. I'm seeking some constructive criticism of this piece. You all would be considered one of the key audiences I'd like these to be read by, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask! What could I do to make this a better article, and what topics should I consider for future pieces? Are these interesting? Do I need more history, analysis, or information? And, ultimately, do you want me to continue doing these posts? Thanks in advance!

Sources and Of Interest:

Joystiq Virtually Overlooked Article – http://nintendo.joystiq.com/2007/03/29/virtually-overlooked-arkistas-ring/

The Cutting Room Floor Page - http://tcrf.net/Arkista%27s_Ring

Nintendo Complete Page – http://www.nintendocomplete.com/arkistas-ring/

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope your 2013 is already off to a wonderful start!  I'm going to kick off the New Year with a question regarding gaming that I've struggled with for years.  Ok, so this isn’t the most pressing of inquiries when it comes to gaming, but it’s one that really bugs me:  am I the only one who has a really, really hard time leaving a game?

Maybe it’s just for MMOs, since they involve subscriptions in order to play the game.  I mean, if you play games like Halo or Portal or Mass Effect, once you’ve bought it you can continue playing as long as you want; it’s just the newest iterations that cause you to shell out the moola.  But with (most) MMOs, you have to pay monthly to continue to play; otherwise, your account is suspended and you can’t even enter the game.

But this thing happens when I play MMOS – even if I’ve gotten tired of them, even if I’ve played them to the point of utter boredom, even if I get frustrated enough to determine that I never want to be in that world again – I have a very, very hard time letting them go. 

So what it is that makes it so hard for me to leave a game, even one that means nothing anymore?  The simple answer would be that I don’t want to let go of the time invested, but I honestly don’t think it’s that.  I’ve done lots of things that have taken up much of my time and a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and I’ve walked away.  And it’s not that the story I’ve built with those characters is too precious to lose – the nice thing about RP’ed characters is that their stories will always live on.

Maybe it has to do with a sense of accomplishment.  Most things that I leave behind, I do so once work on them has finished, or when I have hit some kind of solid stopping point.  In MMOs, there aren’t that many places where you can draw a line and say, “I’m done, there’s nothing more to do”.  Sure, some of the best players can play the endgame out so that there’s precious little left, but I’m not one of those players.  And especially as an RP’er, the game can exist and be dynamic even without focusing on ingame accomplishments, so those tend to come more slowly than for a Mastery player, or any kind of power gamer.

So maybe it’s not the time vested or the characters crafted, but the sense of “I’m not done yet.”  Even if I’m not interested in going further, there’s still a feeling that I’m quitting before getting to the place I was supposed to get, be it an endgame or a particular level or badge of exploration of a world, or whatever.  I’m not convinced of this yet, but it makes the most sense so far.

What about you guys?  Do you feel comfortable just walking away from a game, and if so, when?  I’m especially interested in hearing from other MMO players, but any feedback from any type of gamer from any platform is welcome.  Am I the only one that can actually feel angst when leaving a game?

Reflections on Year One

It was around this time last year that I started considering a new plan for Game on Girl. I'd taken a nice break post dissertation and Blue Star defense. I'd thought about my career and my research and what I really wanted to do with my time. Always my thoughts came back to conversations, really the pinnacle of what made my research unique and engaging, and how much I truly enjoyed talking to people about games and gaming. 

I put my evil mastermind to work and hatched a plan to launch a podcast and keep doing what I'd discovered I loved through the research: talking about gaming. The podcast has, in no uncertain terms, exceeded any expectations I had for it and now, with the addition of many other writers to the site, the conversations and ideas we are sharing here will only continue to grow. 

So as I reflect on the year I can't help but be grateful for the community we've built and the conversations we've had, the moments that surprise and delight me still, and the good times that are in store for the future. Here's to you, friends and fans of Game on Girl! May 2013 be filled with games, and great conversations. 

Game on!
Regina