Gamer Girl Power

In my teens, I moved away from reading romance because all of the heroines were vapid fools with no thoughts of their own. Stephen King and Dean Koontz had stronger female characters, so I switched to reading horror. When I craved fantasy, Robert Jordan (despite his cray beliefs about the female wardrobe) and George R.R. Martin both had heroines and antagonists that made me proud.

I write gay romance, so I read fewer stories with female protagonists every year. I still play video games, however. Based on what I’ve seen so far, it looks like Gears of War 4 got the female characters right.

Gears 1 was a sausage-fest. Granted, I loved it. I will love Damon Baird until the day I die. He’s a smartass and a scientist, just like my Lemur.

Gears 2 made me fucking cry. *SPOILER* Dom put his wife out of her misery. First time a video game ever brought me to tears. (Twice, because wow, what happened to Kai is just as bad.) Now that is a fucking love story.

Gears 2 also gave more screen time to Queen Myrrah, the leader of the Locust. She’s a fucking badass, too.

Gears 3 introduced female fighters. Finally. No more Anya in her dress grays. She donned Cog armor and started fighting for survival of the human race against the Locust. Sam, Bernie, and Valeria, too. Why, you ask? Why did they introduce female characters? They realized that women actually play this game. (Well, and some guys happen to like playing female characters. Jonathan Groff confirmed it on Looking. Yes, I believe everything I hear on HBO.)

Judgment‘s Sofia was a badass with a checkered past. Baird didn’t even give her shit about it. Much. (Come on, it’s Baird…) She’s my favorite of the women, so far.

Now, there’s Kait. Lemur and I have only played the first chapter in campaign, and I think we’re only halfway through (tired last night–you don’t understand how tired I have to be to skip out on playing before 10 on a Friday night) but I cannot wait to learn Kait’s story. This is Kid Fenix’s coming of age story, but it’s hers, too. And damn, her mother Reyna could kick Sindel‘s ass back to Outworld. (Did you see what Reyna did to that robot/First Chancellor?! That’s as far as we’ve gotten, so no spoilers.) Oh. AND the First Chancellor is a woman, too. 

Yeah. Women are here to stay in my favorite game series. I’ll let you know if anything changes my mind throughout the campaign.