Mums in games

Pokémon mums, by ViViVooVoo

When I saw that last week's 5 Fandom Friday* theme was "favourite fictional mums", I knew I was going to have a hard time adapting this to "favourite mums in games". What I did not know was that I would have to scratch the "favourite" part altogether, because there simply wasn't enough data. With games traditionally focusing on the combat adventures of healthy, young characters; mothers, associated with homeliness, parenting and familial relationships, don't exactly score high on the agendas of game developers.

I'm sure there are some games featuring great mothers out there, but for now I'll focus on two questions: how many mums are there actually in the games I play? And: in what way is motherhood portrayed?

Disclaimer: as the role of mothers can mostly be derived from the stories they are part of, this post contains spoilers.

"Mom" in Pokémon Crystal

1) Pokémon

So the first game series that popped up when I was thinking about mothers in games was, somehow, that of the Pokémon games. I especially love "Mom" in the second generation, because she will offer to take care of your money - only to call you when you are out in the field telling you she bought all this stuff for you... with your money.

I guess "Mom" doesn't have a deep character and doesn't perform any actions, staying at home all the time, but then again, none of the Pokémon characters do: it's just not that type of game. At least she is better off than "Dad", who doesn't turn up until the third generation.

Refugee Ellis (left) and grand master Satele Shan, mother of Theron (right)

2) Star Wars: the Old Republic (SWTOR)

Mums don't do very well in SWTOR. All player characters lack parents, unless you count adding one of your other characters in the legacy family tree as one, which only you yourself can see and doesn't have any effect on the gameplay. The game relies heavily on the adventures the player, of the traditional "hero" type, experiences, yet mothers rarely pop up in these. While the developers took great care to create a gender equal environment (in fact succeeding by making in-game life feel more equal to me than analogue life), the characters you meet are usually in their professional setting. A lot of them could be mothers, but we simply don't get to know anything about that part of their lives.

The first mother I thought of in SWTOR was Ellis, mother and refugee who turns to the player for help finding her lost son on Ord Mantell. It is a sad and fairly realistic story, which is probably why I still remember it, even though you only speak to her briefly. The other mother I can think of is grand master Satele, mother of Theron Shan. She probably has been too busy with her work to be a good mother, as their relationship doesn't seem to be the best, however, we don't get to hear more about this. These are the only mothers I can think of right now: in my opinion an astonishingly low number, compared to the hundreds of NPCs you meet throughout the game.

Eir Stegalkin, an unexpected mother

3) Guild Wars 2

I find Guild Wars 2 to be more focused on exploring than on complex storytelling: the stories are playful and enjoyable, but contain a lot of stereotypes and aren't striving to be realistic. It is therefore not surprising that motherhood isn't a popular topic in this game. I haven't consciously met any mothers at all during my playtime, let alone my character's mother. However, I haven't played all races and background stories yet, so I might be missing some (if you do know a prominent mother in Guild Wars 2, please let me know in the comments). The only mother I could find was Eir Stegalkin, who apparently has an adult son, and I only found out about that through googling (although I expect you find out about this when you meet him later in the personal storyline). The times that my character met her, she was heading out on adventures or sculpturing at home. It isn't easy to imagine her as a mother: for one, she looks max in her 40's to me, which means she was young when she raised her son. Where did she then find the time for all her supposed acts of heroism? Maybe she had a cute stay-at-home dad that took care of their son - now that would be an unexpected turn of events!

A bit more googling brought me to this event in Kessex Hills involving a mum NPC, but I don't have vivid memories of it. I may have totally missed it while exploring that area.

Hildith, mother of twins and leader of Grimslade

4) Lord of the Rings: Online (LOTRO)

LOTRO is the exception out of the three MMOs mentioned in this article. Especially in the post-Mirkwood stories much attention is paid to daily life, including that of minorities. I already wrote earlier that the game is unique for featuring many children. With many Rohirrim gone to fight in the war, West Rohan in particular proves an ideal nursery for able women. We meet several strong mothers, taking care of their children or even whole towns. One of them is Hildith, mother of the twins Grimbert and Grimbald and leader of Grimslade in the absence of her husband (pictured above). Another strong mother figure is Fríthild, thane of Stoke and reeve of the Broadacres region. She is the mother of Fríthbert and Edhild; Fríthbert inherits the title of thane at a young age after she meets a tragic end getting fatally poisoned during a feast, no doubt by political enemies.

Just like in the other MMOs, player characters don't have parents to start with. However, LOTRO has the option to adopt other players. Parents and children show up in a character's family tree, which can be viewed by other players upon inspection.

Samara, mother of Falere, Rila and Morinth (left) and Benezia, mother of Liara (right)

5) Mass Effect

Back to one of the earliest games I wrote about on this blog: Mass Effect. I'm not currently playing the Mass Effect games, but I clearly recall two mothers: Samara and Benezia. Benezia is the mother of one of the main characters, Liara, and becomes indoctrinated by the Reapers. When she betrays her people, the player is forced to kill her. Liara struggles with her mother's death, but decides to remember her as the caring mother she was before that.

Samara's story is about the difficult relationship between motherhood and professional duty. She is a member of the Justicar order, bound by oath to bring criminals to justice. One of the criminals she hunts is her daughter Morinth, a fugitive Ardat-Yakshi: an asari born with a genetic defect that poses a threat to society. All three daughters of Samara are Ardat-Yakshi, but Falere and Rila chose to live in a secluded monastery with other Ardat-Yakshi. Later, Samara is faced with the choice to either kill her other two daughters, who cannot live in seclusion anymore because their monastery has been destroyed, or fail to live up to her oath (meaning she would have to kill herself). Because of the great love for her daughters she chooses the latter, unless the player timely interferes. If you want to know more about motherhood in Mass Effect, this article by Joel Wallick goes into it in more detail.

Conclusions

Few mums are found in the games I play. My guess is that, as most games focus on adventure and heroism, mothers just aren't all that hot. Out of the games I've investigated, Lord of the Rings Online is the most prolific when it comes to mothers. I think the game does a commendable job not approaching them as stereotypes, too. Mass Effect does the best job of investigating the relationship between mothers and children. You get the feeling the characters are more than just mothers: they are human beings in the first place and one of their many roles is that of being a mother. The tiny role mothers play in Star Wars: The Old Republic is disappointing, seeing as the game is produced by the same company as Mass Effect.

I do wish minorities such as mothers, fathers, children, disabled etc would play a larger role in games. Not only would that make games more realistic (and I realize whether you want this or not is up for debate), but it would make a welcome change to the trope of the perfect, young, healthy adventurer we've become accustomed to.

* 5 Fandom Friday is a weekly event organized by the Female Geek Bloggers group on Google+.