Bechdel test: Does your game pass it?

[Orb]

In the 1985 comic Dykes to Watch Out For, two women discuss seeing a film and one of them explains that she only goes to a movie if it satisfies the following requirements:

1. The movie has to have at least two women in it,
2. who talk to each other,
   
3. about something besides a man.

That's how the Bechdel test was born, a method to evaluate gender gap in the media. Though these three steps may sound very simple, an incredible amount of movies don't pass it. Some of the most famous sagas, such as The Lord of the Rings, The Dark Knight, and Back to the Future don't pass the test.

The Bechdel test has been widely used to identify problems regarding gender equality on the media. It should be noted that those films that are directed (or co-directed) by at least one woman are more likely to pass the test, as women have a less androcentric perspective.

So, share with us your thoughts: Does your game pass the test?

 

[sabao]

By the Bechdel Test's criteria, films like Pacific Rim, Aliens, games like Tomb Raider (maybe even the Jolie flicks), Metroid all fail. While the examples stated only have one female character of note, you do have to consider these characters were written to stand equal among the rest of the cast. It's a nice test, but feels far too narrow.

 

[Warpmind]

If memory serves, at the time of that comic's release, only Alien passed the test, along with some lesbian pornography.
It's a little better now, but as sabao pointed out, it's not a very good test for equality, all in all.

However, there is one interesting thing to look at each movie for: the question of why a movie or game passes or fails the Bechdel test.
If it fails due to #1, eh, that's not necessarily a problematic one, depending on the movie's subject. A WWI movie from the trenches, for example, would likely find it difficult to justify the presence of one woman, let alone two.
If it fails due to #2, well, again, depending on the movie, it might feel excessively contrived to force a scene in which the female characters meet up and talk.
If, however, it fails due to #3, then there's a far stronger argument for suggesting something's gone wrong...

 

[Rhaeami]

Interestingly my first game nearly fails the test simply because there are only 2-3 real characters in the game. They all happen to be female. If the test were reversed, it *would* fail. I imagine there are many, many video games where it would be somewhat silly to apply this test.

 

[Nantas]

My game passes it.. I have a lot of female NPC's talking to each other, about something other than just men.

But I don't think this test is absolutely revelant of what is and what is not mysogene.

 

[Orb]

@Warpmind Yes, that's a good point, it really depends on the whole concept of the movie (and things have definitely improved over the years). A movie about the second world war would be more likely to show only male characters as back in the days only men went to war. But that raises another interesting question: Why are there no movies based on the female nurses that served in public hospitals during WWII? It seems to be connected not only to the display of the story but to the pre-determined concept of building up a story where only men are necessary, for example. Of course, a movie about nurses might not be as interesting as Operation Valkyrie, or Saving Private Ryan, but that raises more complex social and historical issues.

@Rhaeami That makes sense. Now that I remember, another example would be a movie about a post-apocalyptic world in which the chromosome Y has disappeared and, therefore, only women make up the most of the human population. Though I haven't seen any movie with these features, it would be interesting. But yes, you're right, it's silly to think that the test can be applied to all cases (e.g. Animal crossing, haha)

@Nantas Some versions of the test require the female characters to be main/secondary characters. So extras and NPCs wouldn't count Also, this test is not really meant to evaluate mysogyny, but rather helps to understand the unconscious biases that many producers and directors have when creating a film. Just because you don't have more than 2 important female characters it doesn't mean you are misogynist or anything like that.

I myself found it interesting as I realized that my game (so far) hasn't passed the test. In the historical context in which my game is made, is perfectly possible for two women (as main/secondary characters) to talk to eachother about, for example, politics or war. So it kinda helps me to understand if I'm being fair with the realistically possible amount of men and women that are shown in my game, as I understand that I might have a unconscious bias towards male protagonists and so forth.

Obviously, the test is a bit outdated, and will not apply to all games/movies, as it really depends on the direction your story is taking.

Thanks to all for the insight, really good comments

 

[Nantas]

You're right ! It all depends on the context. I know that in my game, context makes it absolutely possible for women to become equal, even greater than men, because the world's situation is at a point where every people of talent is needed.
When I created the characters for my game, I decided to create a female rather than just males (there are very very few main characters in my game => 4 playable), because I thought that I had to make it.

But what interests me more is personalities. Rather than creating characters, I create personalities.

 

[umbralshadows]

My game passes yo. It has males, females, an genderqueer mains n' all levels a interactions with tha other charas between eachother. My game did originally start as a Boy Love novel thouh cuzz I wanted ta make an Open Love novel but thout people would laugh at it then I realized I didnt care an changed it back ta Multigender Love novel any way.

 

[Titris Thrawns]

Obviously, the test is a bit outdated, and will not apply to all games/movies, as it really depends on the direction your story is taking.

I would argue that the test isn't so much outdated, but the scope of its use is should be expanded.

As @sabao states, The Bechdel feels too narrow and what conclusions can we to draw from a quick test? That a singular game, movie, or piece of media does not have an interacting female cast and the female actors are primarily there to support the male roles. The key missing assumption is, the test is presumed to be passed by the male cast of the media being analyzed. Games like Metroid or games with few cast members could fail for both genders and thus be disqualified as examples of 'gender bias' in the field. Although, considering Metroid has a game mechanic of 'the better you perform the more suit Samus takes off as a reward at the end', shows that even if a BA solo female did have a female boss to talk to about the job, we still have other gender issues that can be discussed. Thus, the Bechdel relies on the assumption that the 'Male Bechdel' test passes.

I imagine there are many, many video games where it would be somewhat silly to apply this test.

But I don't think this test is absolutely revelant of what is and what is not mysogene.

I respectfully disagree on both these assumptions/conclusions. The test's purpose isn't to point a finger at a single game that fails it and concluding "Ah Ha! Caught you! You sexist misogynist pig-dog Dev!", but to use the result as a tool for further analysis. The Bechdel has been used specifically to tease out the gender inequality on a macro scale for female roles in relation to male roles. Thus I am going full pedantic/technical when I say we can, and should, apply this test to all games, but we must make sure to interpret the resulting data appropriately. Games like Animal Crossing are important to include because gender is present and the point of the Bechdel is to open discussions of gender equality. *Comes back from a quick Animal Crossing wiki adventure* Huh... If what I read is true, animal crossing has gender specific personality types... Lazy for male and Snooty for female.

Spoiler: Links to the Wiki pages

http://animalcrossing.wikia.com/wiki/Lazy
http://animalcrossing.wikia.com/wiki/Snooty

Anywho, The point is, the only games it would be silly to apply the Bechdel test to are games that are devoid of gender. Games like Spore or SimAnt, would be potential data points to ignore in the overall gender analysis. The analysis helps us tease out differences between unconscious & conscious bias; bias isn't the bad word people make it out to be. When we analyze the bias, that's where the teasing out of misogyny bias can occur. All of that can start from the simplistic Bechdel test.

With that underlying framework blueprinted out, I propose the Bechdel test can be expanded or 'universalized':

1. The game(Movie or other media piece) has to have at least two X (Children, Women, men, Baby Boomers or demographic group) in it,
2. who talk to each other,
   
3. about something besides a Y (Adult, Man, woman, Millennials or demographic group).
4. Don't forget to run the test again switching X & Y.

Since the end-game is equality, having an adaptable test allows for better dissections and discussions.

Apologies for my wall-O-Text in regards to the secondary thread talk .

On Topic: Does my game pass the test?

No and yes. The player is able to select the body, and thus presumed gender, of the protagonist. Depending on this choice, my game will pass or fail as the protagonist would be the only person that would speak with another female. The test would pass in relation to men. My game isn't finished and I plan to add more female cast members, but even if the test is passed 'later' in the game, the males already have passed the finish line. Now I'll have to analyze why this is so and if I should make changes to the current cut-scenes to 'pass' the Bechdel .

Hopefully that doesn't mess up the meta-data collection . Thank you for the discussion and allowing me to rub some grey cells together!

 

[Rhaeami]

@Titris Thrawns , you disagreed with my statement that the test wouldn't make sense to apply to some games, but then said "the only games it would be silly to apply the Bechdel test to are games that are devoid of gender", which is a very similar statement. I had games like Pong, Asteroids, Space Invaders, etc. in mind when I said "many" games. Ultimately I think we're saying the same thing in different words.

Basically I'm just trying to say that the test was made with the assumption that it would be applied to stories involving several characters (because all movies do except, perhaps, educational films and documentaries), and that video games as a medium have a LOT more instances that break that pattern, either by not having gender or by not having characters (for instance, RTS games with nameless units).

 

[Orb]

@Titris Thrawns You've got some excellent points there thanks so much for such a detailed explanation

The reason why I brought up the example of Animal Crossing is because, if you follow the rules strictly (as they originally appeared), it wouldn't pass for some silly reasons:

1) There are no humans in Animal Crossing, just animals
2) Even though animals have their own gender, there's no interaction between them
3) The only real interaction exists between the main character (whose sex is chosen by the player) and the NPCs, but your character doesn't even talk or speak.

Of course, in this case it doesn't apply just because I'm following the rules strictly, but if we apply your —updated and improved— version of the test, then it would be definitely applicable. I guess it's an ambiguous example, my bad

But, as @Rhaeami pointed out, some more explicit examples of exceptions to the rule would be arcade games where no gender rules are applied (e.g. Tetris). Nonetheless, I posted this in the forum knowing that most people here (if not all) are creating RPG games (with RPG Maker); hence, the rules of the Bechdel Test are fairly suitable

But what interests me more is personalities. Rather than creating characters, I create personalities.

That's a really good point. I read somewhere in the forums a post from someone who was asking help about whether he/she should create a female protagonist or a male protagonist for their game. Most answers nailed it: It depends on the personality of your character, and the story of your game.

 

[Failivrin]

@Orb, speaking of female roles in WWII, have you ever heard of the Night Witches? All-female stealth pilots who frequently obliterated Nazi camps. Once the enemy was in sight, they would drop altitude, cut their engines and glide. The only sound the Nazis heard was the wind and the bombs.
Just a fun bit of history. The metal band Sabaton has a song about the Night Witches. Hollywood has never documented it bc the Witches were all Russian =p

That aside, there are other tests besides the Bechdel which may be more or less applicable depending on the situation. Personally I'm very tired of female token characters (often wimpy anyway). The game I am currently making has three core protagonists, all female. I might work in romance for one of them, but they've definitely got bigger things to worry about than men. Like dragons and demigods and global warfare...

 

[Matseb2611]

I think I've heard of it. Most of my games seem to pass it. I like to have female characters and most of them aren't romantic interests. I think it's no wonder that many Hollywood movies fail that test. I see a lot of films which have 1 major female character for every 5 or 10 male ones, and she is almost always someone's love interest.

 

[Titris Thrawns]

@Rhaeami I agree and I see where I goofed. I conflated your quote with Orb's Animal Crossing point, then got side-tracked by my wiki research. I think I also conflated your point of 'not all games' with Nantas quote so I could spring-board into explaining how 'applicable' the test can be. Does that make it a triple or quadruple conflation? *shrugs* My apologies for that, my intent wasn't to twist or discredit anybody's point, but to connect it to my explanation. Pong, Asteroid and Space Invaders are better iconic examples then what came to my mind!

@Orb Haha! I thought I was being too hyper focused on gender with the Animal Crossing example, that's what I get for being distracted by gender roles! In my haste to share, I forgot the point of the Bechdel is to point out differences in gender 'interaction' and then one can start talking about gender diversity, stereotypes or the what/why/how of a game failing/passing the test. Also shows my ignorance of how that game works. On the plus side, it does show how we can adapt the test to specific (game character demographics?). Is it more important to have main characters pass the test or is it good enough to have random NPCs satisfy the test parameters? This is a rhetorical question for anyone else that's like me and enjoys analyzing for the fun of it.

I enjoyed the male or female protagonist thread for the same reason. While Bechdel tests, marketing data, ideology, etc. are nice to have in the background of the developer's mind, the primary focus should be the sculpting of the story and personality of the characters in it. Without those, there is nothing to collect data from! (I think I like data too much)