The Halo video game franchise has been one of if not the most successful video games to ever hit the market. With over ten different games being released from 2001 to current date 2017 the Halo series continues to flourish. For a short synopsis, the game has a main character by the name of Master Chief a super solider set out to defend the world from the Alien Covenant. Master Chief also has an Artificial Intelligence companion by the name of Cortana that joins him on all of his missions. Even with all the strength that Master Chief obtains he can not seem to function properly without Cortana.

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Gender roles play a huge part in this aspect of the game between Master Chief’s and Cortana’s relationship. Now even though Cortana is a product of Artificial Intelligence her developers made her in a way where she is slim, big busted, and sports a complimenting figure. The character of Cortana can somewhat be imprisoned at times. She is a essentially a computer that can be programmed to do anything while she sends Master Chief Commands while he goes out into battle. Cortana is represented through all three major platforms of visual, verbal, and technological media the developers have created her in a sexualized way while also being under strict control. I believe that this character definitely reflects off the broader social norm for many reasons. For instance it is known that a majority of video game players are male. So the video game creators had to develop a character that makes them wanting to come back and play. They used the image of what a good looking women is in the real world and turned her into a sexualized icon in a video game.

Nakamura states that “identity prosthesis to redress the burdens of physical “handicaps” such as age, gender and race” (Nakamura, 2006: 319). I feel as though this relates very well with my topic because instead of the video game developers making Cortana appear as human they made her artificial intelligence. This possibly could give them an excuse when it comes to how they develop the female character over time. What Schaap means when he says “Cyberspace, the concept of an inhabitable, electronically generated alternate reality, has become the dominant metaphor for thinking about the nonspace of electronically represented and mediated symbolic interaction.” (Schaap pg. 233) It means that the things we see out in the real world we are bringing in to a different reality and turning it into something that is not. When something like this happens characters like Cortana start to form and topics of controversy start to emerge.

1. Do you think there will be a new generation sweep of female led video game characters?
2. Do you believe it is intentional when female characters come out to be something that they are not? Or is that just how society portrays them?