Old Women in Character Article

 

Maid, Mother and Crone - The Limitations of Female Stereotypes in Gaming

Have you paid attention to the female PCs and NPCs in your game? Have you really paid attention to their role in the world? Character creation usually helps to define a character's function in regard to the adventuring world - whether they are the woodsman, the soldier, the wizard, the priest, the entertainer and so forth. The role of the character in the world may or may not be addressed, and gender roles are inadequately addressed when they are mentioned at all. A lot of spice can be added to your game by considering gender roles and how to play with them. The smallest touch can mean so much. Looking at the roles already in use is the first step in the process.

Most people work with what they know when they create characters, and most people know the major female stereotypes of maid, mother and crone. The maid is usually the young, beautiful sex symbol. The mother may or may not have children, but she is forever a caregiver to others. The crone does not always have to be the old woman; the crone can also be the bitch, the character that is beyond sexual appeal. How many of the female characters you've seen fall into these three categories? Especially when it comes to NPCs, the three stereotypes are used in abundance. DMs have a lot of characters to create and play, and stereotypes help them to create at a quicker pace. They have certainly been effective in stories for hundreds of years. Look at literature (Bramimonde in Song of Roland: maid), folk tales (Cinderella: maid, Stepmother: crone [not much of a mother, see]) and even television (both Deanna Troi and Beverly Crusher were mother-types). When we see female characters at all - and they are sorely lacking for making up half of the bloody population - they are in some part the three-fold feminine state.

Current Women in Character Article

 

Maid, Mother & Crone: The Limitations of Female Stereotypes in Gaming

Stored inside our minds are the characters we've absorbed from books, movies, and oral stories. We tend to draw from this arsenal of personalities when we create characters for roleplaying games, and we often assign gender based on the typical roles we've seen men and women play. While this can lead to some amazing characters, it can also result in unintended limitations and predictability. It can be interesting to examine the characters you've created to see which patterns stand out. Making an excel spreadsheet with information like gender, class, level, and such can help show trends you might miss if you're just working from memory. Have a look at the simple numbers first: how many men and women are there? If one gender greatly outnumbers the other, it might be because you have a default NPC that fills common roles with one gender. Examine how powerful or active male characters are compared to females. And then consider whether you've portrayed most females according to the stereotypes of the maid, the mother, and the crone.

The maid is usually the young, beautiful sex symbol. Her major functions are being pretty, fertile, and available. She might be able to show a little moxy and play hard to get, but that will only last so long. She shows up in a lot of Dungeons and Dragons games as tavern wenches and princesses. Maids tend to be valuable through their relationships with others - they're the daughters of kings, for example, and don't make their own fortunes.

The mother is defined by her capacity for procreation and/or her duties as caregiver. She can be pregnant or already in charge of children when she is encountered. The thing is, not all motherly characters have children - some mothers just spend their time mothering other characters. Some mother characters remain sexy and sensual, but many are portrayed in less sexualized terms. One thing that the maid and mother tend to have in common is overall passivity. These characters do not tend to assert themselves and are generally vulnerable.

The crone is the most outright unappealing category of the three. Despite the name, the crone is not always an elderly character. Rather, the crone can also be the bitch, the ice queen, and the raving lunatic - the opposite of the sweet and loving mother, the crone hates, dominates, and cajoles. Crones are drained of their sexual appeal completely, even if they are portrayed with young bodies. These characters are granted few positive or admirable traits, and they tend to misuse any acceptable talents they have. They rely on deception and subtle influence rather than direct aggression (as with many female characters). It is interesting to note that crone characters are more than able to assert themselves - they actually go too far with their own wants and powers, abusing others around them. Crone characters tend to be a bit more complex than mothers or maids and can make for great villains.

Through manipulating your established patterns, you can create potent changes in your game. While there's a lot to be said for the shortcut that stereotypes offer, it can be more engaging for everyone to go against the grain. Those playing female characters are probably going to want more than the old stereotypes offer, and players will probably be pleasantly surprised to see females presented different ways.