Duh, admitting the problem is the first step towards fixing it.
Valve is actually pretty cool about their female customers. I've been playing TF2 a lot, and I never got any of the abuse that it constantly getting thrown at women who play other multi-player FPSs like Call of Duty (plus, TF2 features one of the most competent and badass World-Ruling Evil Overlords in fiction, who happens to be an old lady). Chell was beautified for the sequel, but she wears sensible clothes and is never oversexualized. And I'm not really a Half-Life fan, but I heard that the heroine of the series is smart and never oversexualized either.
So, really, I wouldn't blame the game developers for the problem, but rather society as a whole. "Gender neutral" = "default" = "male" is our society's standard, it's shoved down our throats since we are born.
no subject
Valve is actually pretty cool about their female customers. I've been playing TF2 a lot, and I never got any of the abuse that it constantly getting thrown at women who play other multi-player FPSs like Call of Duty (plus, TF2 features one of the most competent and badass World-Ruling Evil Overlords in fiction, who happens to be an old lady). Chell was beautified for the sequel, but she wears sensible clothes and is never oversexualized. And I'm not really a Half-Life fan, but I heard that the heroine of the series is smart and never oversexualized either.
So, really, I wouldn't blame the game developers for the problem, but rather society as a whole. "Gender neutral" = "default" = "male" is our society's standard, it's shoved down our throats since we are born.