By Lola at Wednesday, May 13, 2015 12:54:00 PM

I have tremendous respect for the NAG and rAge Expo teams. They have been a driving force and pioneer for South African gaming. They've been around longer, accomplished a lot, paid the price. It is therefore with much regret that I am writing this article.

Let's backtrack a bit. A few weeks ago NAG revealed the new Roxy for this year's rAge. The mascot for South Africa's biggest annual gaming and technology event screamed bad taste, male power fantasy and disrespect.

rAge is a family event, the opportunity to introduce non-gamers to the incredibly creative world of video games and a gathering of gaming fans, male and female. NAG came to their sense and launched a reboot of Roxy, this time, fully clothed. They also issued a formal apology:

"rAge has always been a family-friendly show and in hindsight the image of Roxy didn’t fit into this dynamic. We also should have taken into consideration all the current thinking on female characters in video games. We’re really sorry to those people who took offense to the original Roxy artwork. What we’ve done is change her outfit to something more appropriate."

Even with her clothes on, is the "improved" version of the rAge mascot sexist, outdated and obsolete?

As a female gamer and industry person, I find NAG's explanation of what Roxy represent extremely troubling. I am not the only one. Sam Wright, female gamer and Editor at TechGirlZA, product development & marketing manager for Africa’s only fixed fire engineering solutions manufacturer and she holds an honours degree in Communication Science, also shared her concern.

"My understanding of a mascot is a symbol used to communicate an idea, build a connection and become a relatable figure for a company or product. I think a good mascot embodies the characteristics or attitude that you want to assign to the product/company/brand. A mascot provides that link or connection to the product/company/brand.

So what is the idea that Roxy embodies? What is the message she is trying to portray? What relatable characteristics does she embody that communicate a particular group’s message to the target audience?" Sam Wright.

Update from rAge Senior Project Manager

I asked Michael James, Senior Project Manager for the rAge a few questions.

Why must the mascot be female?

Why not use a female, there are three choices here – male, female and other/nonspecific (like a robot or alien or whatever). I guess these days the safest is using a robot but that’s been done before and safe is boring.

When we originally thought of creating a mascot (and this will perhaps answer your second question) we went with a female for the reason I wrote in the release that went on the NAG site, “Roxy has always been a strong female character in a world dominated by male stereotypes, and she takes no crap from aliens, zombies and so on. This is how we’ve always thought of her.”

She was conceived in a time when all the chatter/buzz/noise on the Internet was about why so few female characters appear in games as the leading character. We only really had Lara Croft (but that’s not a great example because of how she was sold to the male dominant gaming community at the time).

But discussion like that means change, but it’s a slow process and only recently we’ve seen games like Mass Effect and Call of Duty offer a female skin/option. When Roxy was created we decided to run with a strong female lead to show that we supported that thinking and we continue to use her now because she is part of the show.

Of course things change, and now the chatter has changed to something different – how females are and have been portrayed in games and in general, and the sex sells dynamic the world has always lived with. I agree with all the thinking and how it got to where we are today, when you look back it’s pretty disgraceful how women have been treated in the fictional worlds of gaming and how they continue to be used to sell things to men. It’s great that our Roxy has attracted so much interest and it’s important for people to change how they think about the world and hopefully make it better and more balanced."

Will Roxy always be the rAge mascot?

"I can’t really comment on if we’ll ever change Roxy into something else at this stage. I’m not a big fan of letting current outside influences change how we do things too much – Roxy was influenced at the time by a relevant line of thinking and back then it worked out very well. One thing this has taught me however is that I need to just spend a little more time thinking about these things before deciding on a look and a style. So end of the day whatever we do in the future will be more in line with what’s acceptably politically correct (progress) without caving in completely and neutering creative flair and style."

What does Roxy represent?

For us, Roxy has always been a strong female character in a world dominated by male stereotypes, and she takes no crap from aliens, zombies and so on. This is how we’ve always thought of her. - NAG

If you really think about what Roxy stands for:

By implication, their idea of a strong female gamer is a skinny, super sexy and gorgeous looking pin-up poster girl, and the lesser clothes she wears, the better. Wait, let's cover up her twins and ass, don't forget those gorgeous legs. Girls, that's what you'll need to make it in the harsh world of video games. A world filled with males. Remember, be tough, be brave, and take no nonsense from whatever they throw at you. Girl, you are gorgeous - that's all you need.

Hold on just a moment. Did you notice that male gamers are also stereotyped? To be honest, the whole games industry seem to be stereotyped. Is the new rAge mascot an accurate representation of South African gaming culture?

The gaming landscape is changing

There are more women involved in gaming today than anyone ever imagined would be: gamers, developers, press and in key industry positions. In fact, the UK has more female than male gamers! The Entertainment Software Association 2014 survey found that "women age 18 years and older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population." I like to believe that we are all evolving, that the stereotyped male gamer is not the only voice we hear. Over the past few years, both male and female industry people have campaigned to rid us of the bad legacy of "world dominated by male stereotypes."

They've received death threats, rape threats, had their personal lives invaded and resigned their jobs because of online harassment. All because they are fighting to change the gaming landscape. We still have far to go to even the playing field and to correct misconceptions about both female and male gamers, but don't you dare tell me nothing has changed.

Out of respect and recognition for how far we've all come, shouldn't NAG put Roxy to rest?

Conflicting views

For me, one of the most important views on the Roxy controversy has to be that of Laurens das Neves. She is Contributing Editor for NAG and Project Manager for the rAge expo. She's worked in gaming for more than a decade, and she's worked alongside the people who laid the foundation for what we know today as eSports SA. You can read more about her impressive gaming credentials here.

Lauren das Neves:

"I'm not offended by the picture or its connotations at all. It's pop art and I see it in comics in cosplay in movies and in a lot of games that I play. Yes granted the first version was entirely suitable for a family audience so that's been fixed by fully clothing her in a space suit, but its surprising to me that people still find it offensive. Yesterday I was playing Heroes of the Storm and there's a character called Nova and she basically is wearing something very similar and yet Roxy is not appropriate? League of Legends is filled with female characters like that so I'm not sure I understand what the fuss is about. But that's my personal opinion."

Del Angharad:

Del Angharad, South African game developer, writer and blogger. We've had the honour of having the brilliant Miss Angharad as a guest writer on MWEB GameZone. I value her input because of her keen intellect, deep understanding of video games and her grasp on the challenges female gamers face.

"There's increasing focus in our media of late on 'body positivity'. It's a movement dedicated to helping people of all genders feeling comfortable and accepted in their own bodies, regardless of their size or shape. It's a celebration of the variety that exists in the human form, an encouragement to love yourself for who you are and love other people for who THEY are. In the gaming industry, this has manifested as a desire to see more responsible character designs emerging from studios. This applies to male and female characters, and by 'more responsible', I mean designs that don't pander to the might-have-been-true-once-but-isn't-any-more demographic that the majority of gamers are teenage boys, and covers both the male 'power fantasy' (huge muscular men who largely look facially identical) and the male 'sex fantasy' (impossibly svelte women with huge gravity-defying boobs in clothing so scant it might as well not be there). This expectation that game design studios start being more socially responsible with their designs by no means exempts the idea that some men enjoy the stereotypical male power fantasy or even that some women enjoy playing the 'perfect female' - rather, it calls for designs to be more inclusive, more realistic, to encourage and become a part of this body positivity movement - to accept that people are staggeringly diverse in what they like and dislike and to work towards encompassing that diversity in the media they produce."

That's why Pin-Up Roxy is disappointing, even after being given back her clothes. NAG had an opportunity to do something positive, to commission an artwork that would represent a larger demographic, that would compassionately say 'Women, you don't have to be half-naked or have a tiny waist and dominant T&A to be hardcore or even to be loved at all - and men, we recognise that some of you care about more than what's skin deep' - and then to present that ideology as their representation of the people who enjoy videogames; a representation of our diversity. Instead, they took their mascot and shifted the focus from her abilities and persona to her body. They forced the audience's perspective to her curves and her skin, assuming that that's all we'd be interested in, assuming that all gamers are that shallow. We're not. Gamers aren't one specific subset of people - we're ALL kinds of people. I'd like to see that recognised by the people involved in gaming media who have the kind of visibility NAG will have at rAge. With great power comes great responsibility, and all that."

RinceThis - The male gamer:

Perhaps, the most insightful opinion is that of our typical male gamer. Thanks RinceThis!

"As someone who has been a gamer since age nine I've always had to suffer the image of what a gamer is. Some geek loser who can't get a girlfriend and who is on the fringe of society. I suppose this wasn't helped because to a certain degree the fringe of society thing was true. Games were made for a small demographic and so many of its marketing ideas were not developed. That has changed now. This whole Roxy thing is a perfect example of how mistakes can be made just because some marketing chaps didn't think about the industry and how it is now a mainstream social culture.

I am very much looking forward to the EGE in Cape Town this year and plan on dragging my sister and some mates (yes, WOMMINZ) along. Not a problem. Their logo is pretty straight forward and as yet I haven't seen any stupid mascots.

The issue with the rAge Roxy is that it is a very sexualised image aimed at the stereotypical male gamer of the late 80s and 90s. We've moved on from that. Well we are supposed to have done so. Having a scantily clad Roxy supposed to represent the current gaming industry that is supposed to be inclusive is just dumb. It pissed me off because I have been promoting gaming as an adult medium that is accessible for everyone, that mascot did not say that. It said 'this is what you can expect because this is what we think is normal' enjoy guys.

If I had a daughter and brought her along she would instantly think that is what is acceptable and thus perpetuate this old gender role. It also quite frankly embarrassed me because my sister knows I had a great time at rAge last year, something I keep going on about. Had I a girlfriend at the moment I don't think I would even show her the picture, is smacks so much of per-pubescent boy I feel ashamed to spread it!"

What to do?

Do rAge need Roxy as their mascot? Is it not time for a change? Here's a solution. Run a competition where the local gaming community present ideas for a new rAge mascot or logo. We have exceptionally talented artists, just take a look at some of their work on the inFAMOUS Second Son competition PlayStation South Africa ran last year.

Lastly, please do not think I am suggesting rAge should deliberately use a female avatar that doesn't appeal to our sense of beauty. I am saying, do better. Design something that represents the whole gaming demographic, something that shows how far the gaming industry evolved.

I've contacted, Michael James, Senior Project Manager for the rAge Expo, about their choice to have a female character as mascot. What are your views on the new Roxy? Is she an accurate representation of South African gaming culture?

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