The Mass Effect: Developing Alternate Relationship Dynamics in Video Games

Kathleen DobruseMichigan State University

April 17, 2014PCA/ACA National Conference, Chicago, IL

@dobrusek

The Mass Effect: Developing Alternate Relationship

Dynamics in Video Games

Women in gaming

• Industry still male-dominated• Need to think critically about how to make

games inviting to women• A focus on the relationships—romantic or

otherwise—between characters would appeal• Could have the ancillary benefit of making

games more enjoyable for male players too

Defining “alternate” dynamics

• Contrast with traditional relationship dynamics: male=active, female=passive

• Women as prizes to be won– Mario franchise– Early Zelda– Double Dragon– Dragon’s Lair, etc.

See TV Tropes:– Save the Princess– Smooch of Victory– Standard Hero Reward

There's something terribly retro about all this, besides the fact that you're saving your kidnapped girlfriend, which as game stories go is only slightly newer than "you have to shoot the thing." — Zero Punctuation, Shadows Of The Damned

Recent romance mechanisms

• Fable 2 (2008)– Perform “favored actions” (ex. dance, make fart

noises, thumbs up, etc.)• Skyrim (2011)– Go on specific fetch quests, then propose

• Dragon Age: Origins (2009)– Give gifts to raise approval to minimum threshold

to initiate romance dialogue sequence

Mass Effect 2

• 2010 sequel to Mass Effect (2007), which had its own problems with romance.

• Focusing specifically on the female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian (aka “Shakarian”) pairing.

(Cosmic Love, 2012, p. 51)

Demographics

(Cosmic Love, 2012, p. 54)

(Cosmic Love, 2012, p. 55)

So why the interest?

• Despite differences in species, Garrus remains a popular Love Interest (LI) among both female and male players. What is the attraction? What did the developers “do right”?

A relationship built on friendship

• Trust• Camaraderie• Honesty• Open communication• Freedom to disagree

Alternate dynamics

• Equal power distribution• Shepard initiates romances, but there’s no

active/passive dynamic

Resources• Deviantart

– Garrus-Fangirls– ME Romanceables

• Tumblr– #shakarian– #shakarian Sunday– FuckYeahShakarian– FyeahGarrusVakarian

• An Archive of Our Own– Commander Shepard/Garrus Vakarian– Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian

References• Kafai, Y. B., Heeter, C., Denner, J., & Sun, J. Y. (Eds.). (2008).

Beyond Barbie & Mortal Kombat. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

• Wendell, S., & Tan, C. (2009). Beyond heaving bosoms: The smart bitches' guide to romance novels. New York, NY: Fireside.

• Cosmic Love. (2012, December 17). Mass Effect 3 romance DLC survey results: Revised edition. http://me3cosmiclove.wordpress.com/

• Sarkeesian, A. (2013, March 7). Damsel in distress: Part 1 - tropes vs women in video games [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6p5AZp7r_Q