Why Black Myth: Wukong’s success should spark reflection on sexism in gaming

Sexually explicit comments by the CEO of the studio that developed the game underscore a wider problem in the gaming industry

Phoebe Zhangin Shenzhen

Published: 9:30am, 29 Aug 2024

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In recent weeks, Black Myth: Wukong has been called a digital masterpiece, an unprecedented miracle and a beacon of hope for the Chinese gaming industry.

As the first Chinese game to be dubbed AAA, meaning it took “a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of resources” to make, it has even been seen by the authorities – who have tended to portray games as “spiritual opium” – as an opportunity to boost China’s soft power on the international stage.

Admittedly, the game’s developers put a lot into it; their ambition was to create a Chinese game that could meet international standards. However, sexism allegations have surrounded their indie studio, Game Science, from the beginning.

Shortly after the trailer of Black Myth: Wukong was released in 2020 and generated global buzz, CEO Feng Ji made sexually explicit comments that led some to boycott the game. Graphics that the company used in its recruitment posters in 2015 – one image depicted a man holding a can of Red Bull over his genitals – had also come in for cricitism.

The studio has not publicly apologised, and defenders say such criticism intentionally stirs up hostile sentiments between the sexes.

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Sadly, sexism has been rampant in the global gaming industry for years. Many might remember “Gamergate”, a coordinated harassment campaign against women in the gaming industry that grew out of a 2014 blog post by a 24-year-old American, Eron Gjoni, in which he aired unfounded accusations against his ex-girlfriend Zoe Quinn, an independent games developer, saying that she had traded sex for positive reviews. An army of trolls then took the opportunity to police a woman’s sexual behaviour in the name of promoting “ethics in games journalism”.

As an active gamer since junior high, I may have not encountered anything as severe as Gamergate, but I’ve met my share of harassment, stereotyping and derogatory comments.

Female gamers far too often encounter sexual harassment online. A 2020 Post report quoted a woman who said she had been asked about her bra size while playing Dota 2, and told she played games “because she’s too ugly to have a boyfriend”.

Another common sexist belief is that women are bad at gaming, especially when it comes to combat games, with some claiming that is why there are so few successful women gamers in esports. This is often coupled with the stereotype that women are not suited to playing combat games and should stick to mobile games or otome games – story-based romance games targeting women, with a female protagonist surrounded by a group of men.

A woman plays computer games at an internet cafe in Beijing on January 26, 2024. Photo: AFP

This reflects the world in which we live, where combat itself is seen as a male domain. In the minds of too many male gamers, women either have no interest in, or do not have the skills to, figure out battle plans. The lack of say women have in the gaming industry only perpetuates this belief.

In recent years, the number of women gamers has increased, but they are still not regarded as having strong purchasing power. In 2019, China had 300 million female gamers, comprising 46.2 per cent of all gamers in the country, according to a report by the government-run game industry association.

One of China’s biggest mobile games ever, Honour of Kings, had more female than male players, although women were not spending nearly as much on the games they play, according to the report, which also said they accounted for less than a quarter of gaming revenue in China.

There are also very few women who are producers, designers or coders at production companies. This has led to character and storyline development catering to men, with female characters often being scantily clad and having large breasts.

Wu Zetian, China’s only female monarch, as pictured as a character in Tencent’s game, “Honor of Kings”. Photo: Handout.

The protagonists of many role-playing games are male, while female characters are their love interests or appear in side stories, often without full character development.

Women gamers are well aware of the problem and speaking out. I frequent a women-only gaming forum where gamers discuss which games make them uncomfortable and what seems to have improved.

One poster noted that in Nintendo’s Super Mario Odyssey, released in 2017, although Mario still had to rescue a princess, she walks off at the end, refusing to pick between him and another character. “They have a more advanced gender perspective now,” the poster wrote.

The forum also has posts from women producers, recruiting others to work together on a game catering to women. These may be small steps but show there’s hope for change.

Finally, until we effectively fight gender discrimination in the real world, misogyny will continue to plague the gaming world too.

Phoebe Zhang is a society reporter with the Post