“But even when the player’s character is female, it is very rare that her motivation is to rescue a helpless man(let alone one that has half is clothes torn off)”

Is that not also an imbalance?

Good, I think we’re on the same page then.

Exactly, in fact I stated that in my original post.

“I think the actual problem here is that the ratio of male protagonists to female protagonists is imbalanced, which is due to the vicious cycle of culture affecting business and vice versa.”

The big picture problem is that our culture is affected by what corporations sell us, and corporations are affected by what our culture dictates is popular. As I said, it’s a vicious cycle that is particularly hard to break, and the consumers will have to be the ones to break it first. And it is for that reason that I think Anita could afford to be a little more positive. Her overall message is sound, but I think her delivery comes off rather harsh. People are more accepting of change when it comes under the guise of a education rather than critique. I would rather see videos where she discusses ideas for games to subvert these tropes. And that may well be coming down the line, I don’t know.

“Except that almost never happens. 9 times out of 10, if someone gets kidnapped or murdered to provide a motivation for the protagonist, the protagonist is going to be male and the victim female.”

I’m not saying it’s equal in anyway. In fact I stated quite the opposite.

“If the gender ratio here were 50/50 or even something closer to that like 60/40 it wouldn’t be harmful because it wouldn’t be a trope.”

So you admit that the stories and characters themselves are not the problem, but rather the imbalance in the stories that are told is, correct?

What about male characters being used to further a female character’s story? Or male characters being used to further a male character’s story? Can’t we just chalk it up to side characters themselves being used to further a protagonist’s story? I think the actual problem here is that the ratio of male protagonists to female protagonists is imbalanced, which is due to the vicious cycle of culture affecting business and vice versa.