“Return” and why games need bad middle-aged women

I bought it Return, A video game from the developer Housemarque, without knowing anything about it. Well, that’s not entirely true. I knew it trailer that it had to do with escaping the loop of time and seemed to have futuristic-looking technology and monsters or something. That didn’t matter at all, because I wasn’t buying the gameplay, I was buying it for its protagonist, Selene. Selene is a fairly common video game character in most respects: agile, skillful, intelligent, confrontational a seemingly insurmountable challenge. It’s not uncommon for a character to be played as a woman, but that doesn’t make Selene special. It is middle aged. I finally get to see myself in a video game.

I’m 50 years old this year, and it’s not what I expected at all. I know I’m no longer young, but I don’t feel old. The Middle Ages, it seems, are that time in your life that you’re smarter than before and, more importantly, old enough to know that you don’t know everything. In college I can’t move as fast as I can, and I have lines on my face, but overall I’m fine physically. If I’m so brave, I think it’s the best version I’ve had so far. Too bad no one notices.

People don’t put a lot of effort into me because I miss the only thing that would be important to them: kids. Whether they mean it or not, when someone discovers I don’t have children, they back off a little. Not out of disgust, but out of confusion. What is a 50-year-old woman talking about if she doesn’t have children? What do women of that age do?

It’s an attitude that is repeated among video game characters. Women in games are usually young and sexy or old and wise, unless they are evil, of course, in which case they are sexy and evil. They are friends or party members or they are not, but they are not so many stars. It’s not as bad as before; the video industry has come a long way since it was unveiled Metroid that was ernegatu, the heroine was a woman all the time! Yes, we love Samus now, but never forget, it was supposed to be a tremendous twist when you were acting like a woman. There are many more opportunities to play as a woman, especially when you focus on games that you can make your own character, but they are almost always young.

Actually, that makes some sense. A young body is usually more skilled than an older one, and if you’re playing a game that involves a lot of physical activity, it’s a logical choice to lean towards someone in their twenties or thirties. I have nothing against younger characters. Actually, I think the 2013 reboot Tomb Raider she’s great, in part, because Lara Croft is very young. He has just graduated from college and has not had to face any real challenges, so when he is shipwrecked, hurt and alone, he has to get into the emotional resources he had no idea about. It’s a really powerful experience, and almost all of us live it.

So imagine what it would be like to be Lara as a person 30 years after that first adventure. What would the adventures of the decades teach him? What friends has he made and what enemies? How many times has he cheated to death and how has this affected his approach to danger? Well, we’ll probably never know, because game publishers think it’s interesting when Lara can do it ForbesList of 30 under-30s.