Ubisoft Designer Talks Future Of Female Characters In Video Games; The 'Challenge' Is To Start Seeing Women As 'Any Characters'?

In the gaming world there is a lack of female leads, but Ubisoft Quebec narrative design director Jill Murray believes this will change in future titles.

During a talk at the GDC Next in Los Angeles on Tuesday titled "Binders Full of Women: Diversifying Feminine Archetypes in Games," the design director explained why female characters will become more prevalent in the gaming industry, according to IGN.

However, in order to create the change, Murray believes the first step is for gamers and the industry alike to stop looking at female characters as any different from other game leads.

"What's the most difficult thing about writing female protagonists?" Murry asked the crowd, "Nothing that's not difficult about writing anything already."

"I think the challenge right now for many people is in seeing women as any characters and not as 'women characters' as if it was a sub-category to itself," Murray said.

Murray believes the stereotypes of female characters can be changed with good writing and a compelling story, just like any other title that's aiming to be the next big hit.

"We can fix this kind of epidemic oversight that's been existing in games," Murray explained. "And when we do, it's going to be fun. Because the stories of women offer abundant variety. The toughest part about this talk was making the list short enough. Also, the stories of women reveal very compelling motivations. Any time you're writing a character, you want that character to want something badly, and these women want things like revenge, power, status, survival, peace, and sometimes even just slightly better weather."

Murray said the changes in the gaming industry can and should begin immediately.

"The future of games will feature a representative balance of complex, interesting characters of each sex and gender," Murray said.

She adds her talk was "less of a call to action and more of a prediction that by including women well in our games, we will move beyond common archetypes and find new inspiration for a greater variety of game stories."

To read IGN's full story about the future of female characters in video games, click here. "Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD" will be released in January 2014.