“Fantastic!”
Theme Music
This episode comes with a content warning for game footage involving
hypersexualized female characters and is not recommended for children.
As always, remember that it is both possible and even necessary
to be critical of the media we enjoy.
That’s going to be especially important to keep in mind
given the video game franchise we are about to discuss…
In 1987 Nintendo released a 2D action adventure game for their
Nintendo Entertainment System which departed
from traditional video game conventions.
Metroid starred a bounty hunter named Samus Aran
who is covered head to toe in the now iconic cybernetic “power suit”.
The game’s manual referred to the protagonist with male pronouns
and described his identity as “shrouded in mystery”.
Metroid was notable as an early example of a game
that employed multiple alternative endings which could be unlocked
based on the player’s gaming skill and performance.
If the player is able to complete the game in under five hours
a short cutscene will play featuring the protagonist without their armored helmet,
revealing that Samus Aran is, in fact, a woman.
This was a significant moment in gaming history,
especially for many female gaming fans, because, at the time,
nearly all protagonists were just assumed to be male by default.
Remember this was back before the internet,
when you couldn’t just hop online to find out about all the secrets and spoilers,
so for many players, the ending of Metroid came as a genuine surprise.
Still, the subversion only worked provided players were skilled enough
to achieve the surprise ending.
In retrospect, Samus’ gender reveal perhaps should not have been as shocking as it was,
considering that Metroid is heavily influenced by the Alien films.
Sadly the alternate endings did not stop there
the two “best” endings make Metroid one of the first games
to exploit the Women as Reward trope,
as both reveal Samus in various states of undress.
The better a player does, the more clothing is removed.
If the player completes the game in under 3 hours Samus is shown without her armor
and in a leotard.
If the player finishes in under 1 hour they are treated to Samus in a bikini.
So yes, Samus wasn’t a damsel’ed woman waiting at the end of the game as a trophy
rather, her body itself became the prize awarded to players for a job well done.
Later games in the Metroid series continued the convention of
rewarding players with endings featuring Samus in various states of undress.
In one sense Samus Aran definitely did subvert traditional gender tropes
of the 1980s by taking on the role of intrepid hero.
However she and her body were still presented to players as prizes to be won.
The convention, of earning access to cutscenes or ending vignettes
with eroticized female bodies can be found in many titles over the past 30 years.
“Apollo”
“Whoa! Whoa!”
(Audience laughter)
“Oh!”
We can trace the roots of the Women as Reward trope all the way back
to the beginnings of the medium itself.
As we discussed in our damsel in distress mini-series,
upon successful completion of many arcade games
players were rewarded with the related Smooch of Victory trope, so named
for the kiss the hero received as a reward for rescuing a kidnapped princess.
Sometimes the prize is blatant as with the Standard Hero Reward
in which a king will give his daughter to the hero.
On other occasions, it’s taken a step further by employing the parallel
Sex of Victory or Rescue Sex trope. Yes, it’s exactly what you think it is:
instead of a kiss, sex with the rescued victim is the player’s reward.
“That was gonna get ugly. You saved us!”
“My pleasure, ladies.”
“Thank you, thank you. Thank you.”
“You saved my life. A bit of joy as recumpence is not too much to ask.”
“I’m intrigued. It’s been a tough day. I think some joy might do me good.”
(Moaning)
We’ve coined the Women as Reward trope to describe a long-running pattern
found in interactive media.
It occurs when women or more often women’s bodies
are employed as rewards for player actions in video games.
The trope frames female bodies as collectible, as tractable or as consumable
and positions women as status symbols
designed to validate the masculinity of presumed straight male players.
There’s some overlap between the Damsel in Distress and Women as Reward
but they function differently.
While the Damsel in Distress trope uses women
as a plot device to motivate male heroes,
the Women as Reward trope presents women as a formalized reward mechanism,
meaning that the reward is coded into the game system itself.
The result of this incentive structure is that access to women’s bodies,
women’s affection or women’s sexuality is reduced to a simple equation that guarantees
delivery as long as the correct set of inputs are entered into the system.
In this way the Women as Reward trope helps foster a sense of entitlement
where players are encouraged to view women as something they’ve earned the right to
by virtue of their gaming actions, skills or accomplishments.
This is illustrated in arcade classics like Joe and Mac
and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
after players save the damsel in both games,
she will bestow a kiss on the character who earned the most points on that stage.
“I owe you one.”
Entitlement to women is made even more explicit in many versions of Double Dragon.
At the end of the game, after the final boss has been defeated
and the damsel in distress saved, player one and player two must fight each other
over who “gets” to “have” Marian and with her, the smooch of victory.
Notice that Marian’s desires are not part of the equation, she has no say in the matter
she simply fills the role of a trophy for whichever player is ultimately victorious.
This scene serves as inspiration for similar scenarios
in more contemporary games like Castle Crashers.
We’ve identified 6 primary ways the Women as Reward trope manifests in video games.
Over the course of this episode we will examine each in turn.
In addition to the “earned cinematics” we’ve already discussed, we will cover
the trope as it relates to Easter Eggs, Unlockable Costumes,
Experience Points, Collectibles, and Achievements.
Easter Eggs are intentionally hidden secrets or jokes
which developers conceal inside of their games.
Like the eggs at a children’s easter egg hunt,
these secrets are usually difficult to find but are meant to be discovered as rewards
for particularly industrious gamers.
Easter Eggs can be hidden messages, items, secret characters or random events,
and their inclusion encourages experimentation with the game’s systems
and mechanics in order to uncover these extra treasures.
Some can be found inside game environments,
while others require a cheat code to unlock.
For example, if players input a specific button sequence while starting up
the 1991 role-playing game Rings of Power the title screen would change.
By pressing down, right, A, B, C and the start button, players were rewarded
with an image of a topless woman next to the Naughty Dog logo.
Easter eggs are, of course, not inherently problematic,
and gaming history is filled with examples of neat secrets
that designers have hidden away for players to discover.
But too frequently, Easter eggs are used as another way
to reward players with women’s bodies.
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 included a secret unlockable character named Daisy,
who bore the likeness of porn star Jenna Jameson.
Daisy’s sexualized appearance and skateboard tricks are designed as a reward
for those players who unlocked her.
One way to do that is by entering this code
Probably one of the most famous Women as Reward easter eggs
brings us back to Samus Aran.
The original Metroid used a password system to save progress.
By inputting the secret code “Justin Bailey” into this system,
gamers would unlock a powered-up playable version of Samus
wearing only her leotard-style bathing suit.
Incidentally this is the same outfit we covered earlier as an end-game reward,
only here she has the powers of the Varia Suit and its associated color pallete swap
which changes her hair color to green.
Players can then play the entire game as Samus without her space armor.
So she ends up exploring a hostile alien world
and fighting off deadly monsters in her underwear.
“Welcome to the Hovercon intergalactic hoverboard competition!”
There’s a bizarre easter egg in the original Ratchet & Clank:
If the player does a series of side-flips in front of a green-skinned alien,
the woman’s breasts will suddenly begin to inflate.
The more gymnastics stunts performed, the larger her boobs will become.
There are so many Women as Reward-style easter eggs in the Metal Gear Solid series
that it would take several hours to go over them all.
First released for the PlayStation in 1998 and then remade for the GameCube in 2004,
Metal Gear Solid featured not one but two separate easter eggs
that allow players to see Meryl Silverburgh in her underwear.
The second of these easter eggs requires players to follow Meryl into the ladies room
and interrupt her while she is changing. If this is done quickly enough
the next cutscene will play with Meryl in her underwear.
“Anyway, how did you recognize me in disguise?”
“I never forget a lady”
Jumping ahead to the fourth game,
the protagonist is assigned a psychologist for PTSD counseling.
During these remote sessions, if players shake their Playstation controller
the psychologist’s breasts will bounce and jiggle in response.
“Memories began to resurface from his childhood,"
"when he fought for Solidus in the Liberian Civil War.”
Keep in mind that easter eggs are not accidents or glitches.
They are intentionally put into the game by the designers,and as a result, indicate
the value that the designers themselves place on these female characters.
They communicate to players that yes, these women exist for players to exploit
or experiment with for their own amusement.