Playable female character

Lady Bug (1981) was one of the first popular games to feature a playable female character.

Games with a playable female character are noteworthy because, although women make up roughly half of the world's population, only a fraction of games feature playable female characters. Those that do often have the woman as a single female in an otherwise all-male cast or simply swap the male character with a female portrait without altering the game in a substantial way. Since having a playable female character is a novel concept, I have made a category for it on my Wiki.

Most gaming databases have lists for female protagonists, for example, MobyGames has such a category. It being such a large database, it also depressingly shows that only around 2% of video games have a female protagonist. My site expands the category to all games that have a playable female character, even if she's a minor character, and even if they only way you can tell she's female is because she has an "F" in the status bar. Games which feature a playable female character often also have a strong female character, though not always.

The first game I ever remember noticing that a game had a playable female character was around 1989 in King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella. Although I had previously played games like Ms. Pac-Man, the fact that she was female was totally irrelevant to the game, so it didn't leave a mark on me. As a child, I didn't like the idea of having to play a princess in a game because I wanted to live out my boyish fantasies of being a strong heroic knight. However, as my taste in fiction matured, and my understanding of how women were oppressed, even in video games was expanded, I began to really appreciate games which feature playable female characters. While I'm pleased to see that percentage of games which feature playable female characters has been increasing over the years, there is still a long way to go before playable women appear in even a tenth of the games being made, let alone half.

Examples

These are games that are important to me which feature a playable female character. For all games, see the category.

Title	Released	Notes
Borderlands	2009-10-20	One of the four classes, Lilith the siren.
Borderlands 2	2012-09-18	One of the four classes, Maya the siren.
Diablo	1996-12-31	One of the three classes, the rogue.
Diddy Kong Racing	1997-11-21	One of the eight racers, Pipsy.
Final Fantasy VI	1994-04-02	Three of the 14 primary playable characters, Terra, Celes, and Relm. All playable minor characters are male.
Gauntlet	1985-??-??	One of the four playable classes, the Valkyrie.
Golden Axe	1989-05-??	One of the three playable characters, Tyris Flare.
Gone Home	2013-08-15	The protagonist, Katie.
Her Story	2015-06-23	The protagonist is female.
Ittle Dew	2013-07-05	The protagonist, Ittle Dew.
King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella	1988-??-??	The protagonist, Rosella.
Left 4 Dead	2008-11-17	One of the four playable survivors, Zoey.
Left 4 Dead 2	2009-11-17	One of the four playable survivors, Rochelle.
Mario Kart 64	1996-12-14	One of the eight kart racers, Princess Peach.
Metroid series	1986-08-06	The protagonist of all the games in the series, Samus Aran.
Portal series	2007-10-10	The protagonist in both games, Chell.
Secret of Mana	1993-08-06	One of the three playable characters, Primm.
Super Mario Bros. 2	1988-10-??	One of the four playable characters, Princess Peach.
Ultima series	1981-??-??	Almost all of the Ultima titles allow you to play a female character, early games just use a M/F in the stats. Later games add female graphics and change dialogue.

Links

   

• giantbomb.com/female-protagonists/3015-2287/games - Giant Bomb.
• store.steampowered.com/tags/en/Female+Protagonist - Steam.