because those do exist, whereas the reverse doesn't. There's an incredible variety of playable male characters out there, it's kind of a side-effect of the lack of female ones

Do I think male and female brains differ in some aspect? Probably. But what's biological, and what's the result of hundreds and hundreds of years of societal pressure? I'm more inclined to see thinks like makeup wearing and cleanliness (two of the examples brought up to me) as societal pressures. There are plenty of…

Size is a physical, genetic trait. Cleanliness and wearing make up is not. Unless you feel like cavewomen were the original inventors of Covergirl.

Ok, those are physical traits. Height/weight, having breasts, etc. Being "delicate" is a behavior. That's not something that's naturally occurring...it's socially enforced. Women, even in general, cannot be forced into the single mold of "delicate." Feminine is not the same as delicate or weak or clean or tidy or…

I'll assume you mean 'dye', lol. But my answers are no, no, and no (not regularly. Maybe once or twice a month I'll put on some eyeliner, but that's it).

Funny you mention that. That's actually how I think a lot of diversity issues need to be handled. In Dragon Age: Inquisition, the character, Krem, is non-binary gendered. Funny thing is, it's not really a huge deal. It's not a huge deal for character design. It's not a huge deal for animation. It only really comes up…

Okay, let's go with me then.

Here's where we differ: I think the element of "risk" is GROSSLY overstated, and we have literally dozens of games starring women that were financially successful proving that statement inherently false.

It's not naivete. Did Portal 2 not sell, even though the main character is an ethnic woman (and the main villain is female)? Is Metroid not one the best selling Nintendo titles, despite starring a strong woman? Tomb Raider sold 8 million copies. A massive number of highly successful video games let you play as women…

I've heard this argument multiple times, that creators shouldn't be "forced" to change anything, and I agree...

Actually, she's attempted to. Along with others. In fact, along with me. I'm attempting to do so.

So people can't ever make suggestions or ask for any changes? Seems to me that on any given day gaming websites are full of gamers constantly making wishes and asking for improvements. Bring out sequel X, add blahblah to this game, make less of this genre and more of this genre.

So:

Let's start with your opening sentence: "The problem is some group will always complain." There's a lot wrong there. First of all, why does that mean that we should take no complaints seriously? I mean, if a couple of nuts complain about some really odd issue, you can probably ignore them, but that doesn't mean…

See, I would say that "variety is the spice of life". When I make characters in my comics, sometimes, yeah, I do make the character a black person "just for the sake of adding diversity" because I'm tired as hell of making the others white. I've made Asian characters, gay characters, men and women (even transgendered)…

That's what's so bizarre about it all. Anita is a moderate feminist who just says Feminist 101 things. Nothing radical about any of it. It's all really mild.

Her haters always seem to think she (and others like her) want all games to conform to some rigid feminist orthodoxy. In reality, she just wants games to be a little more friendly to women. A few more female characters, less of them being sexualized, etc. I don't think that people realize that even if they succeed,…

Nothing has to be neutral or lifeless - just realistic. The way the Destiny characters sit is a good example. We wouldn't expect a character to stand on its head but we accept this lounge position because of sexist stereotypes. If the character did stand on its head, we would expect an explanation or context. What was…

So do it intelligently.

That's the argument I always present to people that hate Anita. Forget the "message" and just ask yourself, "What does she actually want?" When you answer that question honestly the answer is not that world-shaking, no matter who you are.