Online Games

Several games, mostly in the nature of RPGs and Fighting games, offer the player the choice to assume the role of a female character. RPGs often permit the user to choose various characteristics of the playable character such as affiliation to a particular sect, specialization in a mode of combat, player attributes and also the appearance of the playable character. The effects of choice of male or female gender in most games are often limited to the appearance of the character and responses from non-player characters and rarely affect the attributes of the character. Examples of the above include Mass Effect and the Fallout series. Certain RPGs have character classes of which some maybe female such as in Diablo 2 which include the Amazon (portrayed on the Amazons) and the Sorceress (portrayed on Witches) as female character classes having unique abilities and attributes. Fighting games include female fighters such as Mortal Kombat featuring various female fighters including Sonya Blade and Frost.

Among real time strategy games, some games like Warcraft III and the Command and Conquer series include female units that can be created (or recruited) and controlled by the player and also include female characters as part of the storyline. While Warcraft III features a fair share of female combat units, they are limited to unique commando units in the Command and Conquer series such as the NOD commando in Tiberium Wars and Natasha Volkova in Red Alert 3.



There has also been an increasing trend for women to be used as the sole protagonists in modern games. This is reflected in characters such as Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider series, Cate Archer in the No One Lives Forever series, Chell in Portal, Faith in Mirror's Edge and Nariko in Heavenly Sword.