Illinois Tech digital humanities and media studies professor Carly Kocurek says that while masculine tropes aren\u2019t inherently bad, \u201cthey can limit the types of stories that get told and the kinds of ideas that make it to market, which can really dampen creativity and innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of pop culture stories and media rely on a shared pool of influences,\u201d says Kocurek. She points to movies like Star Wars that follow the hero\u2019s journey<\/a>, or fantasy characters like dwarves and elves that have been popularized by J.R.R. Tolkien and other writers. \u201cWe get certain ideas about what a hero is, what a man is, and we see them again and again.\u201d<\/p>\n Consider iconic game characters like Halo\u2019s Master Chief, Metal Gear\u2019s Solid Snake, or even Nintendo\u2019s mustachio\u2019d plumber, Mario. \u201cEven Spider-Man is kind of represented as a jock in video games,\u201d says Foddy.<\/p>\n Foddy, who developed Baby Steps alongside Ape Out developers Gabe Cuzzilo and Maxi Boch, says that most often, players adopt this role of a savior character\u2014someone capable and self-sufficient who reflects a heroic ideal. Gender doesn\u2019t always matter; Aloy, the heroine from the Horizon series, exhibits just as many masculine ideals as Nathan Drake of Uncharted. When it came to Baby Steps, the team wanted to go in the opposite direction: a character who\u2019s trying to live up to those expectations, but just isn\u2019t capable of it.<\/p>\n Still, Foddy says the game is sympathetic to its lead. He\u2019s up to the task and by the game\u2019s end will have scaled an entire mountain; he just doesn\u2019t begin his journey very well equipped.<\/p>\n \u201cHe’s a nerd, as is everybody who made the game,\u201d Foddy says. \u201cWe’re also gamers, so you know, we’re not out to get gamers.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of Baby Steps involves Nate, who comes from a wealthy family with plenty of opportunity, grappling with his own troublesome behavior. \u201cHe’s part of the privileged, white male default group,\u201d Foddy says. \u201cThat’s making his situation more burdensome for him because it underscores that his failures to accomplish success are of his own making.\u201d But the team was not interested in parroting stereotypical bootstrap advice. \u201cWe really wanted to resist the kind of boomer morality play of \u2018what you really need to do is get a job and start meeting your responsibilities,\u2019 and \u2018you’re just lazy and you’re too oriented to pleasure.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In playing this character, Foddy hopes people might reflect more on their own motivations and behavior, the why of what they\u2019re doing. During his time as a developer, Foddy has noticed that there is a certain subset of gamers who refuse to take help. They\u2019re the stereotype of a guy who won\u2019t ask for directions, or, for example, skip every in-game tutorial.<\/p>\n Others, he says, are of the \u201cgit gud\u201d mindset\u2014a slang way to say that you suck at video games and should try harder. Discussions around difficulty and skill have haunted video games spaces for more than a decade, whether it was about playing in online spaces or challenging series like Dark Souls; arguments about player skill vs. how hard a game should be are already taking place<\/a> in the Silksong community, roughly a week<\/a> after its launch. \u201cMany games really lean into competition as the primary experience,\u201d Kocurek says, \u201cand there is a kind of feedback loop because you get games that embed certain ideals and values that attract certain players who like those.\u201d<\/p>\n