Girl Power

A friend of mine recently put forth the suggestion that someone should make an RPG out of the anime Revolutionary Girl Utena. I myself haven’t seen the TV series but I am aware of Utena itself – to a point where I can some potential in that idea. If we follow the Bioware business model, there are some workable ideas that may come across as familiar territory: Sword fights, romance sub-plots of either gender, a princess to defend and a major catastrophe to prevent. Throw in some unique art direction, bizarre symbolism, and the idea just might work.

 Of course, the afore-mentioned points are all story-telling elements. I reiterate, I have not seen the TV series but I have seen the movie – but that was back in 2001 and I think, by now, my head has stopped hurting. So what I do know about Utena? Well I do know about its critique of shojo anime and how it challenges the various stereotypes of the genre. But here’s the thing: I have no interest in shojo anime – maybe because, oh I don’t know, I’m a GUY. Not only that but many shojo anime I’ve seen seem to follow a similar template: All the female characters are strong/independent/heroic/boyish/physically aggressive/matched up with each other whilst all the male characters are either a) evil bastards, b) incompetent as much as possible or c) decent & polite and thus set up to have their balls kicked in so hard they come out his ears. True they have been some shojo anime I have enjoyed but those shows have the male cast and female cast on equal ground. In fact as a writer myself, I couldn’t care less about gender or sexual orientation for I’m far more interested in creating characters. Likewise, extremes don’t interest me, only equal ground.

But I digress: As much as I despise the ‘females good/males bad’ shojo trope, I can see it having some potential as an RPG: You see, when you get down to it, in any RPG the player builds a character to use with the issue of gender selection being a lesser decision. More often than not, the gender selection is a cosmetic decision (although it does affect how they’re addressed by the in game characters and determining who the Player Character gets to bang over the course of the game). So here’s what I propose: How about an RPG where the gender selection can actually effect how the game is played? You know, two separate campaigns which can yield completely different outcomes. And if we decide to follow the good/bad decisions route that have appeared in many games, it can be used to turn the entire concept on its head: Thus, using the shojo trope I described, the selection of a female character may yield a traditional RPG campaign but the selection of a male character may lead to something different.
So what I have in mind is a female character can go through the entire campaign making ‘good’ decisions and come out heroic or she make ‘bad’ decisions and come looking evil. Conversely, a male character can go through the entire campaign making ‘good’ decisions and come out constantly getting screwed over – or he can make ‘bad’ decisions and come out victorious (however over the skulls of many). Of course this is not the first time a ‘character does good things but comes out short’ scenario has appeared (Final Fantasy Tactics anyone?) but it certainly does offer four unique paths through the game.

Only problem is, this idea won’t sell at all: For male gamers make up a large portion of the gaming population and most likely won’t take too kindly at such a condemnation. Oh well….