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Uncategorized Saturday, November 10th 2012 at 1:00 pm

Dad Reprograms a Zelda Game to Make “FemLink” a Female Role-Model for His Daughter

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Parents will do anything for their children. Case in point: When father/gamer Mike Hoye plays The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker with his daughter, he reads her the story. When he does, he changes all the pronouns so that Link is actually a little girl, and Zelda is her little brother. Why does he do it? In a world where most of gaming classic heroes are men trying to a damsel in distress, Mr. Hoye wants his daughter to grow up thinking that girls can be just as heroic as boys. After doing this for some time, Hoye got fed up with having to do all the work in his head, so he took the time to reprogram the game with his own gender-swapped version of the script.

Since the Hoye family was already playing an emulated version of the game on their PC, it wasn’t incredibly difficult for Mike to get access to the game’s code so he could work his magic. Still, it takes a lot of time, patience, and programming know-how to do change every reference to Link and Zelda’s gender. From a writer’s perspective, for instance, it’s not as easy as just flipping all the pronouns. Writing on blog, Hoye conceded that he had to get a bit creative with changing words like like “swordsman” and “milady.”

If you’re interested, Mr. Hoye has made his labor of love available on his blog. Inserting the new code isn’t easy: You need to make sure you’re using the right emulator, (Dolphin) the right type of game file, (.GCM) and you’ll need to write a patch to change to the game. If you’re willing to do the work though, you’ll get access a unique version of the Zelda experience. More to the point, if you’re a parent whose concerned about gender stereotyping in media, this is a chance to break the mold.

(Blarg? via Buzzfeed)

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=63200811 Sarah Edwards

    This is awesome. Parenting done right.

  • Jack Bond

    I’ve always considered the “Girls should save the men in distress” forced plot idea to be a little tacky… but I guess technically there’s nothing wrong with it *Shrugs* I just don’t enjoy stories like that.

    Maybe if they make it realistic… If they make the girl a princess who always wears a dress, I can’t really believe she’s being the action hero at the same time.

  • Bob

    A lot of missing words in your articles lately, I guess spell checking systems haven’t catchen up with you folks :/

  • http://www.facebook.com/michelle.skaflestad Michelle Skaflestad

    Just an FYI, Bob. Spell check only tells you if what you’ve written is not an acceptable word. ;)Spell checking systems don’t catch missing words. Editors do…lol. You would have to re-read your article to realize there are missing words.

  • http://www.facebook.com/michelle.skaflestad Michelle Skaflestad

    …says a man. Not ONLY should she be the hero, saving inept men from themselves, why shouldn’t she do it while wearing a dress, and heels as well? #anythingyoucandoicandobetter

  • http://twitter.com/Ingwaz_Seishu Ingwaz Seishu

    perhaps because dresses are intentionally impractical, particularly when it comes to something like combat? If you’re going to be sword fighting, you need to be able to move freely and easily regardless of the situation and there are many times when a dress will hamper that. There is indeed nothing wrong with a female hero, but if you choose to do that, you shouldn’t have the stereotypical princess in her dress who has known nothing but a pampered life. You wouldnt expect that type of person to be a warrior hero would you?

  • raptornx01

    Absolutely. Equality for all

    (goes to work)

    Woman: This is heavy, can you lift it for me?

    #anythingyoucandoicandobetterbutchoosenotto

  • Anonymous

    So, it’s silly to fight in a dress, but it’s perfectly okay for a woman to dress in revealing clothing with her boobs hanging out and half her skin exposed, as we have seen in countless other female protagonists.

  • verybored

    And it isn’t going to weird the kid out when the little brother wears dresses all the time? XD

  • Jack Bond

    At least she’ll be more nimble that way. If a girl needs a stealth suit, she can have a stealth suit, but if she needs armor, she can wear armor. There is no case in which a dress is practical.

    My only concern is that it’s practical/realistic. I don’t care how ‘sexy’ she is.

  • http://twitter.com/Ingwaz_Seishu Ingwaz Seishu

    you know, i really dont remember saying that. Hang on, let me go re-read my comment. Nope, didn’t say that. So, perhaps instead of trying to put words in my mouth and make me look like some boob-obsessed pig, how about we go with what I actually said? No, a chainmail bikini or a skin tight suit with a giant hole right in the chest area is not a good idea. Yeah, I know why companies do that, it sells because its sexy, but i didnt say make her sexy. I just said putting her in a dress and expecting her to be able to perform in combat is stupid. guess what, putting her in a chainmail bikini or a skin tight suit with a hole in the chest is also stupid. seriously, you want to be a super hero but you have a hole right above the area where your heart is? what? why don’t you just stick the arrow in your heart yourself, it would be much quicker that way.

  • Anonymous

    Oh my gosh. You are so mad.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Alonguy98 Jason Haden

    That’s awesome, and really sweet. But it’s not magic. It’s just a hex edit. I could do it in my sleep. Compile a female Link model and have it running in the game, and THEN I’ll be impressed.

  • A T Elwer

    What about Metroid? Sammus was a strong female character, right?

  • Idlethoughts

    So, “I’m a troll” is what your saying.

  • http://twitter.com/Ingwaz_Seishu Ingwaz Seishu

    Mad I am not. However, absurdity deserves to be pointed out and considering you took that, at least in my opinion, is completely reasonable, and tried to twist it around on me and make me out to be a boob-obsessed pig basically, I think you deserve to have someone point out the absurdity of your statement. In other words, if you’re going to open your mouth and try to make others look bad, expect them to throw it back in your face and show just how stupid it really was of you to say that.

  • Anonymous

    How about we stop arguing about what is practical for a woman to wear in a fantasy video game. I for one would love to play a game with a girl in a dress simply because it is absurd. I think it would be a fun deviation from the regular woman heroine. I also never called you a boob-obsessed pig, but merely pointed out that the alternative to dresses is the “sexy” woman protagonist. There never seems to be anything else in video games. You took it personally, however. So good for you for being such a Sensitive Suzie. And you’re still mad.

  • http://twitter.com/Ingwaz_Seishu Ingwaz Seishu

    So, to be clear. You think the idea of having a female character in a combat based game wearing a dress is a good idea because its absurd? that sounds like a bad idea to me as instead of appreciating a strong female character, its a ridiculous female character. Also, you didn’t just merely point out the usual choice of the scantily clad female characters, you directly insinuated that it was what I was suggesting. also again, I’m not exactly sure what you’re reading from my comments, but I have not used words or expressions that should show anger. If you’re reading anger in them, then you’re misreading me. I may be sarcastic and condescending in some cases, but I have not been angry. Oh, sorry, that last big word means to talk down to. One last thing, If i took that personally, I wouldn’t really be able to handle many situations in life at all would I? No, it was not taken personally. Rather, I stood by what I said and defended what I said when someone sought to put words in my mouth. Oh, and if you want it to stop, you’re free to stop commenting back any time.

  • Anonymous

    Who’s putting words in whose mouth now? Who is misreading who now? “Oh you don’t know big vocabulary.” Okay, Ingwaz. You got me. Please stroke your dick a few times for me because you are much more intelligent than I am. I only wish I could be half as cool as you are in these comments.

  • http://twitter.com/Ingwaz_Seishu Ingwaz Seishu

    actually, the part about explaining the word condescending was meant to be just funny, not taken seriously. I assumed you already knew the definition but I simply thought it fit the idea of my being condescending even though I hadn’t previously. So, feel free to disregard that as it was more meant as a playful jab. If you did take it personally then I apologize, sincerely. Also, I’m not sure how i put words in your mouth. the only instance where I can think that might be brought into question is the idea that you were insinuating that I was suggesting that it was a good idea to basically have a female hero in a stealth suit with a big hole cut in the chest. If that is what you’re referring to, then I don’t see how I’m putting words in your mouth. Originally I pointed out that wearing a dress in combat is highly impractical. To that you replied that wearing revealing clothing was okay. I didn’t bring that up at all and your wording is slightly accusatory. So, it seems to me that you were insinuating that I was suggesting that should have been the case.

  • http://twitter.com/kaitzi K G

    Yes! ….but that was not really advertised, and when it was, all we got was a lot of metroid-porn.

  • http://twitter.com/kaitzi K G

    Why?

  • http://twitter.com/kaitzi K G

    oooh, cause you have gender-norms BURNED into your brain. I see.

  • http://twitter.com/pounddollarsign Michael Corey

    OK, “The Mary Sue” is a useless website, but if you’re going to force it’s existence why not put this article there? It actually fits there.

  • Rico

    I’m late and idk if you’ll get this but the revealing clothes that Lara Croft wears is way better for moving around then a dress or even jeans for that matter. I guess all gymnasts are sluts, right?

  • Whatthefkk

    gymnasts aren’t fighting battles