Throughout the years, the portrayal of Asian women in video games has advanced remarkably, reflecting current societal changes and broadening diversity and representation in media.
Video games have always been mainly developed and played by men. Given that the video game industry is overwhelmingly male-dominated, the portrayal of women has been heavily influenced by this imbalance.
According to Collins, women are severely underrepresented across a large majority of media, and when they are portrayed, it is often in a negative or extreme way. While all women are susceptible to objectification, research shows that Asian women, in particular, tend to suffer the brunt of it for reasons heavily deeprooted in U.S. history.
In the early years of gaming, female characters like Ming Xiao from “Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines” (2004) and Kasumi from “Dead or Alive” (1996) were iconic examples of Asian women in video games, both often considered the “typical Asian woman.”
However, they were only ever ‘typical’ to Western audiences.
While the women listed above were strong and skilled in their own ways, they were created with the “dragon lady” and “lotus blossom” stereotypes, which portrayed Asian women as either dangerously seductive manipulators or obediently delicate sweethearts with no in-between.
These stereotypes not only reinforced harmful misconceptions but also compressed the portrayal of Asian women into one-dimensional characters lacking true complexity or purpose, only further feeding into the sexualization and fetishization of Asian women.
As the gaming industry grew, so did the need for more diversity and realistic representations of women; especially Asian women.
Lara Croft is not explicitly Asian, but “Tomb Raider” (1996-2021) was one of the first video games to truly polish and refine a female character throughout their series, setting a template for strong and independent female protagonists.
Following the “Tomb Raider” series, there has been a much larger shift towards increasingly authentic and genuine portrayals of women in video games. Especially Asian women, who at first were never given much spotlight.
For example, Ada Wong from “Resident Evil” was first sketched in 1998 as a supporting background character and only later turned into a playable character after developing staff expressed interest in fleshing out her character.
Not to mention, Ada’s first Resident Evil 4 design (2005) featured a red, traditional Chinese slit dress but was later changed in the Resident Evil 4 Remake (2023) to a red, woolly jumper instead to distance Ada from the derogatory “dragon lady” trope.
Furthermore, characters like Chell from “Portal 1&2,” and Faith Connors from “Mirror’s Edge” feature Asian female protagonists with complex personalities and backgrounds, showing the range of complexities within the Asian diaspora.
Overall, the portrayal of Asian women in video games has slowly evolved from shallow, harmful stereotypes to more genuine and empowering representations. While there is still, of course, progress to be made regarding diversity and inclusivity, the growth made so far reflects a positive shift towards more inclusive media.
Now, in more recent games, women are not defined solely by their ethnicity or gender, but rather by their choices and individuality.
