Androkguz, if you want a snack, I found
this article interesting for the very broad historical argument that it tried to make, through a study of FPS avatars. If you don't have the patience to read all of it, at least look at the figures and then read the discussion at the end.
Most interesting finding, relevant to the topic:
81 percent of titles require a player to play a male avatar, and this shows no signs of decreasing (if anything, the reverse is true). Similarly the games where a Caucasian avatar is required remain firmly in the majority and examination of the trend in this over time shows no noticeable decline.
So according to this study, at least until very recently, things haven't been improving in the FPS genre as a whole.
Has anyone played the Mass Effect games? I feel those are a pretty good example of a couple really well written female characters.
Sure! I've played the first two. The characterization was pretty good in general, with great dialogue writing all around, as well as character arcs that tended not to reduce people to their gender roles. I mentioned it in the former post because the series likes its sexy female sidekicks, especially with the second and third game. Some of that is indistinguishable from a fan base that voices its attraction towards particular characters (Miranda and Liara foremost, you can probably think of a few others).
ARRR!
