Love What You Love: Women’s Empowerment Through Mobile Gaming

I was born and raised in Southern California, and even from a young age, I never quite fit in anywhere. Maybe it was how my mom dressed me in head-to-toe tie-dye, or how my dad drove me to kindergarten on the back of his motorcycle instead of in a minivan. I thought that made me the coolest kid in school. The actual cool kids did not agree.

I was an only child, so time at home could get boring fast. Luckily, I had more books than friends, and my imagination soared high. I was devouring books faster than my parents could give them to me. My mom didn’t want to buy any more $7 books that I would finish in less than an hour, so they sought another solution. My dad liked video games, so they decided to share that experience with me, but I don’t think they were prepared for how much I would love them.

There wasn’t so wide a range of games as there is today, and that was further limited because the only games I had access to were those my dad had bought for himself. I had very little interest in spaceship games that just endlessly produced enemies to shoot, and even less interest in the combat games that pitted one empty pixelated character against another. The one I got the most invested in had more of a story, even if it was limited by the technology. I was aware at the time that video games were considered more of a boy hobby. But having some video games to play was better than nothing, so I kept playing through the years, though the amount of time I could devote to gaming lessened as adult responsibilities took hold.

And then 2020 happened.

The year 2020 has brought us wildfires, COVID-19, and murder hornets, just to start. I’m lucky enough to have a job that allowed me to immediately transition into working from home, and that keeps me plenty busy during the day, but once I clock out, I’m left adrift. I remember a time when I used to do things in the evening, like dinners and movies with friends. That feels like a lifetime ago now. I think there’s one thing we can all agree upon: 2020 is not the year we were expecting.

On the plus side, it’s given me more time for gaming. In the gaming world, a host of first-person shooter clones – all designed for men – are likely being prepared for the expensive new consoles set to drop before Christmas. They’re more aggressive, mostly about war or zombie-killing or car theft or sports, all of which I can take a hard pass on. I’m sure a small portion of women out there enjoy these types of games. I’m just NOT one of them, it is 2020 now can we have some nice games for us gals?

Enter casual mobile gaming, a surprising balm for my frayed nerves. Match-3 games are perfect for those of us who want to sit down and binge a show, but can’t entirely sit still and need to keep our hands busy. And of course, The Sims Mobile is there to serve the same purpose as The Sims always has: to bring comfort and joy to people who want the world and the people in it to behave exactly as directed for once.

WHY INTERACTIVE ROLEPLAY GAMES? THEY’RE MORE FEMININE, THOUGH NOT ALL PLAYERS ARE WOMEN.

Personally, I’ve found a lot of joy in interactive story games. After all, I’ve spent over a decade dedicated to the big, sweeping RPG worlds of Dragon Age and Mass Effect, and most of my social interaction these days involves rolling dice in one of the three Dungeons and Dragons games I play on a regular basis. I’ve come to believe that there should always be an element of choice in the games I play, and that those choices should matter and should drive the game forward.

That’s where interactive fiction comes in. Many of these RPGs are designed by women, for women. Most of these games will feature a main character – frequently female – who progresses through the story as the player makes the important choices and follows along the new path each choice creates. They take place in fantastical original worlds, or they create new takes on familiar worlds. They allow and encourage the player – you – to make decisions that shape kingdoms. They want and encourage women to play video games. Finally!

Sounds good, right? And I haven’t even gotten to the steamier side of things yet.

Many of these games also feature love interests, and you get to choose who you want. What – or who – is your deepest desire? Odds are good there’s a game or two that can put you in a position to play out a romance with them, whether you’re looking for a boy next door, a heroic champion of good, or a bad boy with a heart of gold. Personally, I’m all about the bad boys, so the latest game I played through, Legend of Tepe, had my full attention.

Games like Episode: Choose Your Story and Choices are good for their variety, but they can be pretty tame in the romance department. After all, they are rated 12+, and the game will fade to black after a kiss. I’m not knocking that. But I’m an adult, and I want details. And an adult interactive story like Legend of Tepe (Rated R) really delivers, without sacrificing story details. It’s new and different from the other games I’ve played, and I feel like I’ve finally gotten my hands on exactly what I’ve wanted for quite a while now.

Story-wise, our heroine has to navigate a new world, a new set of powers, political concerns, and the choice between two delectable men, each with their own distinct personalities and desires, but she isn’t defined by them (The men aren’t push-overs either. Much like interacting with other people in real life, the choices our heroine makes can shape them and influence their decisions). She still has her own priorities and needs, and she never lets herself forget that she has duties and concerns that the men could help her with, but she won’t let them do everything for her. And there are many other supporting characters that keep the story multi-dimensional.

That being said, throughout the adventure-infused plotline (almost like a TV show), she’s still allowed to have fun, and so are the players. The love scenes are enjoyable, exciting, and varied. The female creator of Legend of Tepe believes that femininity and masculinity not only can coexist like yin and yang, but also counts for one of the most desired and seductive trait in a being.

THE TYPICAL MARY-SUE CHARACTER IS FROWNED UPON, BUT IT’S USED FOR A REASON. CAN WE CHOOSE TO BE SOMETHING DIFFERENT? IT’S 2020 – LET’S KEEP OUR OPTIONS OPEN.

There was a franchise of books (which then became movies) in recent years. Let’s say it rhymes with “Swilight.” It featured a teenage girl torn between two love interests. There are a lot of fans, but it also received a lot of hate for various reasons, like bad writing and the men in the book being somewhat problematic in their own right. Another frequent complaint was that the main character was just a Mary-Sue, a self-insert character for the author to live out her wildest dreams. But there’s a reason these books were so popular, and it may not have been because the vampire or the werewolf was a perfect choice. It’s could be because our main character, the Mary-Sue, was not just a self-insert character for the author, but a blank slate on which the reader could draw their own personally traits, like kindness or bravery, rather than someone who is devoid of personality or flaws.

Critics would say that was a flaw.I’d say that same dynamic is better suited to interactive romance novels. In the interactive story, there are additional choices I can make that lead to different paths, and I take back control of the possibilities I can define. That interactivity ensures that our main character will not remain a blank slate forever. Each choice shapes the main character, making her more and more the person we’d like to be. We can become our ideal selves, if only for a little while, without the real world getting in the way. If you enjoy comic books, romance/fantasy novels, or super casual games, and you are bored in your evenings, you should definitely try this out.

OKAY, FINE, THE GAMES ARE FUN, BUT WHAT MAKES ME THINK THEY’RE EMPOWERING?

Women’s empowerment, as an ideal, doesn’t have one single, all-encompassing definition. Wikipedia tells us “Empowerment means accepting and allowing people (women) who are on the outside of the decision-making process into it.” Really, it’s even broader than that. It’s different for everyone. For me, women’s empowerment is whatever makes me feel like I have a choice in my destiny, like I have the final say in the big decisions that affect the direction of my life, and I am comfortable and unapologetic from within. In short, empowerment is whatever makes you feel empowered.

These games can do more good for people than one would expect at first glance. Back in our example game, Legend of Tepe, our heroine goes on adventures, both fantastical and sensual. Taking a day in her shoes is like a vacation from all the baggage weighing us down. Personally, I have social anxiety that can be crippling at times and a real problem with my self-esteem. But those are problems that I can leave behind me when stepping into the game world. There, I can make important choices and share in our heroine’s adventures, without the constant “What ifs” and worst-case scenarios playing in my mind.

But it’s not merely an escape from the everyday doldrums of life. Feeling good about oneself is a hobby that needs to be practiced. It requires courage to open up and be vulnerable. The game is a safe space to be a little more daring. The fate of the world may be in my hands in the game. The game is all about choice. I don’t have to be frozen with indecision there or anywhere else. The worst thing that can happen in the game is a bad ending, and sure, that’s a bummer, but I can just replay or start a new game (or a new day), learn from my mistakes, and make different choices. It’s a lesson I’m trying to take back with me to the real world. In real life, I don’t want that much responsibility, but it encourages me to take a hold of my own fate. I’m not anywhere near ready to handle the whole world, no matter how many world domination scenarios I fantasize about, but just my own life? I can do that. In fact, that seems downright reasonable after coming back from the vacation in the fantasy world of the game.

GAMES ARE MORE FUN WITH COMPANY. I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO THE ONLINE COMMUNITY.

As of 2019, 46 percent of all gamers were female, but only 24 percent of game developers were female. It’s nice to imagine a world where there are more female game developers, and they’re equally respected. In that world, there would likely be more creative games, rather than – or maybe in addition to – yet more first-person shooter clones.

It’s a beautiful world to imagine, right? It should be more than that. It should be the goal.

If I want to meet that goal, that means playing more games focusing on story over any other aspect, because that is what I love. It’s not because I’m bad at combat, but because combat is just the obstacle in the way of me getting to what I really love, which is a good story with characters who have enough depth to make me care about them. So the best thing for me, really, is the interactive story game.

And the best part? The game is free. Although there are paid options that are really worth my every penny. Hey, if someone makes us feel good, why not contribute so we can have more titles like Legend of Tepe? I am not shy in showing my love and support when I can, especially for a fun experience. Perhaps the biggest contribution we can make is also the easiest: play the games we love, and be ready and happy to share that that’s exactly what we’re doing.

Legend of Tepe is an exclusive title that lives on Vatra® App. I feel less alone when at least one person I know has played the same game as me. Imagine being the only person you know who watched Game of Thrones! Luckily, Vatra already has an online community, with pages on Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram, and I hope it grows fast. I have things to talk about, opinions to share, and love scenes to hyperventilate over. I need more people to talk to!

An online community is also important for spreading the word about great games. The more successful these sorts of games are, the more that will be made, allowing more female creatives to break into the boy’s club. Hopefully this will not only lead to more games designed for women, but to better games across the board.

At the end of the day, it’s been a tough year all around. It’s important to scrape out whatever tiny crumb of joy we can. Perhaps the most empowering thing of all is to love what we love without shame or fear of judgment. Adult interactive stories like Legend of Tepe are not a “guilty pleasure.” I think that’s the best lesson to be learned from these interactive story games: choose what makes you happy, love what you love, and don’t be afraid to shout it from the rooftops.