Most people don't seem to understand the word "indetification". You can't identify with Lara Croft, you don't identify with Lara Croft, you never did identify with her. People like characters, they sympathize with them but they're not identifying with them. Why? Because you can only identify in specific situations. You can say "yeah, I would do the same" or "yeah I feel the same" but you can't say "I identify with her/him". You're not an archeologist on a hunt, Lara is and you sympathize with her. Many gamers seem to forget this, it doesn't matter if someone is male of female, you could identify even with an asexuel alien but as said only in specific situations.

That beside, why does no one gets the rape scene right?
First: It wasn't Lara, it was a friend of hers
Second: It was no rape, it was sexual harassment and that's it
Third: A real rape would be great but unfortunatly we won't get this.

The third point is important because there is a difference in a simple Transformers story and grown up stories like Schindlers List. If you want to evolve story telling, you need to make "more". You need diversity in terms of tools, styles, stories. Rape (for BOTH genders!), child death, drugs, sex, violence or a simple, quit taxi ride. It's realism that many games are lacking and therefore any intent to make the media more diverse is good.

Of course, that is just one step. After that but best right as you do that, you need to make it right. Call of Duty never did it right, it was absolutly clear PR. Of course, you can still stimulate the media with acts like these but unfortunatly it's not enough to just say "kill all the innocent". That's just lazy PR.
Funny is, Tomb Raider didn't had such a lazy aspect, many people were like "What? Where the hell was there a rape scene?". The whole scandal was forced by a minority who saw something which wasn't there and this minority is destructive as hell saying that such a scene shouldn't be in a video game.

Samus Meets With Her Agent

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8NM1IgDMvI&feature=plcp

Can't wait 'till Macho Man is threatened with the same fate worse than death. Let's not be squeamish, ladies.

Jock-Strap

If you don't listen to anything else I'll say, here is a 100% successful suggestion that I have heard from other people. You don't like the story line of this game? Don't play it. I would assume that's what you do with other forms of entertainment, right? I know when I see trailers for movies that disgust me in every possible way (Saw, Hostel, etc.) I DONT WATCH THEM. If I see a book that looks too raunchy, too violent, too corny, or even has too much of a freaking color, I DONT READ IT. If I see a (Oh boy, here comes the one that applies to you) videogame that seems just inappropriate, I DONT BUY IT, I DONT PLAY IT, I DONT EVEN WHINE ABOUT IT! The company has the right to put pretty much whatever content it wants in the game, it's up to the consumer to make sure that the consumer doesn't support it in the form of money (if the product is out of good form).

Evolve - what this article is about. You are mad because Ron Rosenburg has said that Lara Croft's character has evolved. How can you say that she hasn't? Maybe because you don't know what evolve means. From what I have seen, she has evolved tremendously! She is no longer the invincible, know all, set of jiggly polygons that she once was. Now she is a vulnerable and unsure character that gamers can better associate with. That is change! That is a definition of evolution. She also happens to look good, but look at today's media, its rare to see someone that isn't unrealistically beautiful (whether naturally or not) in the spotlight.

You also seem to be mad that Ron said that (paraphrase) "People want to help her." Here is what I believe is the biggest failure in your argument. In the game, PEOPLE ARE HER! If you think about it, gamers aren't helping a female in distress because she is a female, they are helping themselves because their character is in danger. I doubt anyone buys Halo and plays as the Master Chief and decides, "well damn, this isn't fun, my character is a male and I only help females." While Master Chief isn't being fondled by a creepy dude, the analogy is still relevant, I help the Master Chief because I am the Chief in the game. People see the character as themselves and I don't think that her being a female has little to do with their wanting to help Lara (and thereby helping themselves) progress through the story of the game.

If worse come to worse people, forget what Ron Rosenburg says and play the game. There is only so much you can understand about the game's literature from the trailer. After you play the game, only then do you have the credibility to write an article that can determine the sexist-ness of the scene. I hardly doubt that the 2 mins lets you understand the extent of Lara Crofts so-said evolution.

Rape is a horrible thing that happens to people everywhere. It's a travesty that women and men alike should never have to go through. But it exists, and it is part of all forms of media. Why has this been such a big deal for people? Why do you spend time trying to destroy a company who put a less than 5 second attempted rape scene in a trailer to game that you don't even know how far it goes when you could be writing a bash article on other way creepier and darker books and videogames?

good article... except that samus existed years before lara croft!

still can't find the word "rape" in that Ron bloke's quotes that you say are about Lara being raped or threatened with rape or sexual violence. that's just a rubbish thing to do Helen. why?

If it makes you feel any better, a lot of male gamers find this shit creepy too. Kaidan Alenko has made us a lot more comfortable with our inner snuggler.

To me it seems like one of the first real life game characters is trying to bridge the yahoo between games and films. There is a growing argument in games that even though you cash have great cut scenes and gameplay like in uncharted, mgs, even call of duty to some extent, the playing character is pretty much a killing psychopath. By really caring for your character, perhaps the developers are trying to make the players care more than where's the next save point. a.step.in the right direction I say.

Pretty sexy photo thanks

Hey, lets "write" an article with very little facts and full of unfounded claims!

I think the title and tone of this article is rather misleading, answering your own question with your own clearly alarmist and disjointed slant does not convey much integrity.

I am a male gamer and played the first two tomb raider games because they were actually good games not because a game designer decided to attach digital melons to her chest. The later games were nowhere near as good and I dare not even mention the horrendous movie spinoffs or action figures with barbie-like proportions. The reason these things were not as good is because they relied on hype and dare I say it the 'sexual' side of the main character rather than on producing a good product.

At no point does the statement by Ron Rosenberg imply that Lara will be subjected to rape, attempted or otherwise. By your logic he would also be implying that Lara may be subjected to best iality should she happen to be set upon by a bear. Having a female character in a violent game in no way implies that she will be sexually violated by passing wildlife!

Everyone has heard of the saying 'sex sells', while it is clearly true it is also an obvious lazy and jaded approach to marketing a product. It is not just males who respond to this kind of approach, it is a simple fact of biology and we are as hardwired to respond to it as anything else in the animal kingdom. What makes us different from the animals however is our ability to analyse what we are seeing and also adjust our response to it.

At what point is what he saying in anyway new? All he is saying is they are going to have a few twists in the plot that mean when the 'Generic Character' thinks they are on top of the world they will be knocked back down again, probably in an equally generic way that we have seen a million times before.

Lets change Ron Rosenberg's statement around a little here to demonstrate my point.

"When you see 'them' have to face these challenges, you start to root for 'them' in a way that you might not root for a 'human' character . . . When people play 'Generic Character', they don't really project themselves into the character. They're more like 'I want to protect 'them'.' There's this sort of dynamic of 'I'm going to this adventure with 'them' and trying to protect 'them'' . . . The ability to see 'them' as a 'Generic Character' is even more enticing to me than the more sexualised version of yesteryear. 'They' literally go from zero to hero... we're sort of building 'them' up and just when 'they' gets confident, we break 'them' down again. . . 'they' are literally turned into a cornered animal. It's a huge step in 'their' evolution: 'they are' forced to either fight back or die

What we have here is not evidence just of the industries ignorance of what makes women tick, but what makes characters in general interesting. Why must we always start with these blank canvases that we must bestow character upon ourselves through the trials and tribulations of the gameplay? Why cant we play a game and unfurl the intricacies of a character, their mindset and histories as a part of the entertainment process. Quite frankly I am getting rather tired of taking Mr or Miss Boring on an action packed adventure of finding better weapons and then walking him or her to the end of each level after finding the appropriate keys.

I am extremely disappointed with this article and they way in which you have used a serious crime in order to 'sell it' to readers. Quite frankly you should be ashamed of yourselves, the New Statesman should be providing articles of quality and intelligence and sadly this is neither.

I haven't been a "gamer" in the modern sense; I played Atari games as a kid but the original Tomb Raider was probably the _latest_ computer game I've played; but I've kept occasional tabs here and there through the grapevine.

I find your comments on Master Chief interesting in juxtaposition to your mention of Samus Aran. Samus in the original Metroid was effectively genderless until the END of the game, and even at third hand I heard about the shockwave that went through gaming when it was first discovered that "Samus is a WOMAN!" I'll bet THAT played games with the "bond" between gamers and the Samus character! Details and personal stories of the first-person experience of that transition would make an interesting article.

This is ridiculous. Why does the video game medium always have to be positioned as the stepchild of entertainment media. I don't see anyone raging about 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' or books that have equally offensive, much more extreme cases of rape depiction. It's about realism and engaging an audience in the end. Not like any of us have played the game yet but I seriously doubt this so called rape scene(s) goes anywhere beyond the initial attempt. Unfortunately (but realistically) a woman in danger may differ greatly from a man in danger. I'm gonna go ahead and trust the guys at Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix to know how to take care of a female protagonist. Ever since the trailers came out I've been completely and emotionally attached to Lara's character much more than ever before. Words have a way of being placed under a microscope, but artistically I understand what they're going for. Idk about anyone else but I think this Lara is empowering. It's a 'beat all the odds' kind of story. And she's proportionally built compared to the Lara's of yesteryear. I also agree that I've been sucked into this spin story, cheers!

maybe just me, but i got the impression you read too deeply into this. all of the promos they've shown for her have humanized her. From the video of her in the rain, injured, attempting to start a fire to keep warm to what Ron stated. Looks like a case of Scotomisation either by myself or you.. I'm leaning towards you.

Really? Rape is what you read into that?

I recognize the general point you're trying to make regarding female representation in games and the ways to improve it or send it back to the stone age, however I think you've overthought this one somewhat. 'Cornered animal' can suggest threat of violence, etc - but there could be several factors that lead to this metaphorical 'cornering'. And in no way did I think 'Oh, they're trying to rape her' when I read the original article a couple of days back. The 'cornered animal' approach is equally compelling in male protagonists such as Nathan Drake, Batman, Master Chief etc - it's about survival against extreme odds.

It's fine if you want to guarantee readership and web traffic by using rape as your example, in which case, well done, as I have fallen for it as have many others. But this kind of overreaction in coverage can't exactly help the medium, or the representation of women in games, mature either.