The Not-So-Silent Protagonist

[A man is] an idiot online, [he gets] called a fucking idiot. [A woman is] an idiot online, she gets called a stupid whore.

Abbie Heppe from G4tv.com recently reviewed Metroid: Other M, and a not-so-surprising thing happened: there was backlash. The review was largely negative, when other reviews were generally average or higher. The review concerns itself with calling out the disparity between the female protagonist's prior actions throughout the series and the way the character is presented in this iteration. As an internet denizen, I am not in the least caught off-guard by this. When a highly anticipated game from a well-known publisher (Nintendo) and developer (Team Ninja) comes out, reviews are scrutinized, debated, ripped to shreds as individuals attempt to cling to their preconceived notions that were largely borne from marketing. When an outlier appears, it is usually lambasted as "unfair" or having missed the point. This is not new, and it will happen with nearly every major game release.

What was surprising was the nature of the backlash. While G4 removed most of the comments from the review (which can be found here), many a blog post has been made about their largely misogynist contents. Such gems as "Silly feminist and their emotions getting in the way of professionalism," and "Who are videogames like Metroid made for? Boys! (This isn't Cookin' Mama)".

For those unaware, Samus Aran, the hero of the Metroid series, is a bounty hunter in space. Her first appearance was in Metroid on the NES in 1986. Throughout the game, Samus' gender is never revealed. Upon completing the game, however, Samus removes the helmet of her suit and lets loose flowing green hair. This was revolutionary at the time, given that most (if not all) protagonists in video games were either male or had no gender.

Without getting into too much detail, Abbie's point is this: by this point in her life, Samus has nearly eradicated an entire species of dangerous creatures, infiltrated several dangerous space pirate facilities, blown up the majority of them, destroyed a handful of planets, and killed a flying space dragon four times.

However, in Metroid: Other M, the sight of the same flying space dragon elicits tears and flashbacks of a childhood event.

This clear disparity upsets Abbie, rightfully so, I believe. In an entertainment medium largely devoid of non-over-sexualized female representation, to Abbie the apparent degradation of a strong woman is jarring. To many, Samus was the Ellen Ripley of video games. I think it speaks to the current "boys club" nature of the current video game industry.

Avoiding the argument of whether games journalism should involve actual criticism or whether they are a consumer service ("What does it mean?" versus "Should you buy it?") is impossible in a situation like this. Veracity of some of her claims aside, namely her assertion that Samus was previously a silent protagonist, Abbie's arguments against the goodness of Metroid: Other M are largely opinion and reflect that some things are very important to her -- things which Other M disrespected.

To stoop to the level of name-calling and making sexist comments is a disservice to both women and video games (and the people who play them) as a whole. The question I have, though, is this a disproportionate response to something with which someone disagrees? Or is it indicative of an underlying sexist nature of video gamers?