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Gender Portrayals re: Champion Roles

ShadowKnight1224·8/27/2014, 10:06:08 AM·10 votes·2,148 views

DISCLAIMER: I am not attacking or criticising Riot. I am sharing the statistical data that I gathered, and abstaining myself from drawing any conclusions one way or another. It is my aim that this data may spark a healthy and respectful conversation on the portrayal of gender and how it reflects in role assignation in League of Legends.

Methods: I have not included champions who, while gendered, lack a sufficiently human form (or, in the case of Annie and Nunu, have not reached adulthood). I am using the official primary role that Riot suggests for the champions (even though they may not be up to par with the current meta).

Rationale for Exclusion: In order to avoid significant data skew, I have filtered the champion pool through these three questions: "Is the champion sufficiently human? Are they clearly gendered? Are they adult?" If the answer to all three questions was yes, I included them. My reasoning for doing so was to obtain data relating exclusively to the interaction between gender portrayal and champion roles. I wasn't out to make a basic comparison between genders and roles (I'm sure it has been done to death). I wanted to focus exclusively on adult, human-like champions who are given overt gendering, and see where they fell on the role distribution.

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Assassins

Female: 5. (Akali, Evelynn, Katarina, LeBlanc, Nidalee)

Male: 5. (Kassadin, Master Yi, Shaco, Talon, Zed)

Ratio: 1.

Note of Interest: Most of the male assassins are AD-based, most of the female assassins are AP-based.

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Fighters

Female: 7. (Diana, Fiora, Irelia, Kayle, Riven, Shyvana, Vi)

Male: 14. (Aatrox, Darius, Dr. Mundo, Gangplank, Garen, Gragas, Jayce, Lee Sin, Olaf, Pantheon, Tryndamere, Udyr, Xin Zhao, Yasuo)

Ratio: 0.5.

Note of Interest: Almost 43% of the male Fighters have Tank as a secondary role, while only ~14% of the female Fighters are the same. The majority of female Fighters (~57%) are Fighter/Assassin, while only ~36% of the male Fighters are the same.

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Mages

Female: 8. (Ahri, Elise, Karma, Lissandra, Lux, Morgana, Syndra, Zyra)

Male: 8. (Brand, Karthus, Malzahar, Ryze, Swain, Twisted Fate, Viktor, Vladimir)

Ratio: 1.

Note of Interest: Any experimentation on "tanky" mages tends to fall on the male side of the spectrum (Vladimir, Swain).

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Marksmen

Female: 7. (Ashe, Caitlyn, Jinx, Miss Fortune, Quinn, Sivir, Vayne)

Male: 5. (Draven, Ezreal, Graves, Lucian, Varus)

Ratio: 1.4.

Note of Interest: Of the marksmen presented here, Miss Fortune possesses the highest natural HP, while Quinn possesses the highest natural Armour.

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Supports

Female: 3. (Janna, Sona, Soraka)

Male: 3. (Braum, Taric, Zilean)

Ratio: 1.

Note of Interest: ~67% of the male supports are "tanky", while none of the female ones are.

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Tanks

Female: 2. (Leona, Sejuani)

Male: 3. (Jarvan IV, Shen, Singed)

Ratio: ~0.67.

Note of Interest: Of those listed here, Sejuani possesses the highest natural HP, while Shen possesses the highest natural Armour.

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Totals

Total Female Champions: 32. Total Male Champions: 38.

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Overall Gender Distribution

Female Champions: ~16% Assassins, ~22% Fighters, 25% Mages, ~22% Marksmen, ~9% Supports, ~6% Tanks. Most Likely to Be: Mage. Least Likely to Be: Tank.

Male Champions: ~13% Assassins, ~37% Fighters, ~21% Mages, ~13% Marksmen, ~8% Supports, ~8% Tanks. Most Likely to Be: Fighter. Least Likely to Be: Support or Tank.

Note of Interest: Despite male champions outnumbering female champions, the distribution is so skewed that female champions have a higher percentage of Assassins, Mages, Marksmen and Supports than their male counterparts.

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EDIT: I have decided to add additional analysis regarding secondary roles (as determined by Riot).

I will be using the same pool of champions as the first assessment.

Assassins:

Female: 6. (Ahri, Fiora, Irelia, Riven, Vayne, Vi) Male: 6. (Lee Sin, Malzahar, Pantheon, Tryndamere, Xin Zhao, Yasuo) Ratio: 1.

Fighters

Female: 4. (Elise, Nidalee, Quinn, Sejuani) Male: 9. (Jarvan IV, Master Yi, Ryze, Shen, Singed, Swain, Talon, Taric, Zed) Ratio: ~0.44.

Mages

Female: 7. (Diana, Evelynn, Janna, Katarina, LeBlanc, Sona, Soraka) Male: 5. (Ezreal, Gragas, Kassadin, Varus, Zilean) Ratio: 1.4.

Marksmen

Female: 0. Male: 1. (Jayce) Ratio: 0.

Supports

Female: 8. (Ashe, Karma, Kayle, Leona, Lux, Morgana, Syndra, Zyra) Male: 1. (Gangplank) Ratio: 8.

Tanks

Female: 1. (Shyvana) Male: 8. (Aatrox, Braum, Darius, Dr. Mundo, Garen, Olaf, Udyr, Vladimir) Ratio: 0.125.

Champions Without a Secondary Role

Female: 6. (Akali, Lissandra, Caitlyn, Jinx, Miss Fortune, Sivir) Male: 8. (Shaco, Brand, Karthus, Twisted Fate, Viktor, Draven, Graves, Lucian)

Most Common Role Combination

Female: Mage/Support (~16%). Male: Fighter/Tank (~16%).

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EDIT: I have decided to add a weighted assessment combining Primary and Secondary roles. I give a value of 1 point to a champion's primary role and 0.5 to the champion's secondary role. Then I add up the numbers on a Male/Female split.

Weighted Score by Gender

Female

Assassin: 8 (~18%). Fighter: 9 (20%). Mage: 11.5 (~26%). Marksman: 7 (~15%). Support: 7 (~15%). Tank: 2.5 (~6%). Total: 45.

Male

Assassin: 8 (~15%). Fighter: 18.5 (~35%). Mage: 10.5 (~20%). Marksman: 5.5 (~10%). Support: 3.5 (~7%). Tank: 7 (~13%). Total: 53.

Note of Interest: Using this weighted score, I am able to approximate with significant accuracy the role distribution by gender as though I was including the entire champion roster (compare the highest/lowest percentages here with the ones I provide below under "Reassessment Using Excluded Champions").

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Additional Data

Most of the champions that I removed from this assessment are still assigned a gender by their lore (i.e., they are still referred to as "he" or "she").

Female champions that did not make it due to method restrictions: 8.

1 Fighter, 4 Mages, 1 Marksman, 2 Supports. (Poppy, Cassiopea, Anivia, Annie, Orianna, Tristana, Nami, Lulu)

Male champions that did not make it due to method restrictions: 40.

4 Assassins, 14 Fighters, 6 Mages, 5 Marksmen, 2 Supports, 9 Tanks. (Fizz, Kha'Zix, Nocturne, Rengar, Gnar, Hecarim, Jax, Mordekaiser, Nasus, Renekton, Rumble, Sion, Skarner, Trundle, Volibear, Warwick, Wukong, Yorick, Fiddlesticks, Heimerdinger, Kennen, Veigar, Xerath, Ziggs, Corki, Kog'maw, Teemo, Twitch, Urgot, Nunu, Thresh, Alistar, Amumu, Blitzcrank, Galio, Malphite, Maokai, Nautilus, Rammus, Zac)

Champions whose lore does not canonically assign gender: 2.

1 Mage, 1 Tank. (Vel'koz, Cho'gath)

Reassessment Using Excluded Champions

Female Champions Most Likely to Be: Mage (30%). Least Likely to Be: Tank (5%).

Male Champions Most Likely to Be: Fighter (~36%). Least Likely to Be: Support (~6%).

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Total Champions: 120. Female-Assigned Champions: 40 (~33%). Male-Assigned Champions: 78 (65%). Non-Assigned Champions: 2 (~2%).

Note of Interest: Both champions without an assigned gender are still male-voiced and, in the case of Cho'gath, given at least one clearly gendered skin (Gentleman Cho'gath).

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I will leave the conclusion-drawing to the reader, but it is my hope that this catches the eye of a Rioter and keeps this data in mind when designing future champions. I feel that Riot shows a willingness to be progressive that gives me a great deal of hope for the future.

Please keep the discussion civil, thank you.

48 Comments

Sunfield8/27/2014, 4:55:17 PM3 votes

Forced equality is not the real equality.

If you say; well we have to make female to male ratio 1/1 for tanks in order to avoid being accused of promoting stereotypes and make a champion like Olaf female instead of male even though his clearly norse warrior archetype, it will look forced and stupid. Gender of a champion is closely tied to his concept, ex. Vi is a badass female brawler and it wouldnt make sense to make her male, because her current identity is the best that riots creative team could come up with.

God I do hope Riot will never pay attention to statistics and male/female ratio when making champions, because gender of one should be based on an artist's idea, not being politicaly correct.

Also, why pretend that male and female ratio should be 1/1 in everything when both genders are clearly different from each other?

Eapenator8/27/2014, 1:14:41 PM2 votes

Why is this down voted, the post seems harmless enough...

redniwediS8/27/2014, 3:14:12 PM2 votes

While it's an interesting set of statistics, I'm not really sure why it needed to be done. I guess everything that can happen will happen on the internet.

Lumus Avatar8/27/2014, 3:16:53 PM2 votes

Leona is one of my favorite Tanks in the game. I love her backstory. She seems to represent a female with strong convictions and who won't let society decide for her. She's empowering, in my opinion. So while you have the stereotypical teenage-boy fantasy sex icons (Miss Fortune, Jinx, Sivir, Vayne) You also have the sensibly-dressed females who wouldn't bother to seduce you before killing you.

I love the analysis you've done, it's very well thought out and relevant. I would like to see more female champs like Leona, if only to balance out the male-female split. It's hard to take the emphasis off of sex-appeal: It's a driving factor in the game's success. They know their target audience and how to market to them.

Thank you for your work.

MrSc0tty8/27/2014, 12:24:06 PM2 votes

So questions.

  1. why is Leona a "tank" while Taric and Braum are "supports?" Leona is pretty much exclusively a support, and has a very "support-like" personality similar to Braum. (see: "Stand behind Braum" and "They'll have to get through me.") both are protective in nature.

  2. why not include champions who "were" male and who now are male voiced other things? Examples: Nautilus was a sailor, is now nautilus, clearly male. Dr. Mundo is a mutated male-with the same sort of technology as singed who you did include. All told, there are twice as many male champs as female champs-if you want to look at the ratios for future developments you may as well just include all of them as they've all got "de facto" genders. Why leave out the yordles for instance?

  3. Diana is an assassin, Nidalee is currently played as a fighter though she was a Mage. With this change the majority of the female assassins are built tanky (Nidalee Irelia Shyvana Vi and I would say Elise as well but you're excluding her as non human I think?) while there are only Riven and Fiora played as mostly squishy semi carry assassins. I think the point made in this section is largely conjecture.

  4. overall the problem you're having is role confusion (in my opinion) and your exclusion of a large amount of the champion pool. A better discussion would be an examination of the roles of ALL the female champions, versus the total number of champions in a role, with an even distribution of gals/role being 1/3rd of the champions roster for that role since females are at present 33% of the champ pool almost exactly.

Example: fighters

Riven Shyvana Elise Evelynn Nidalee Vi Irelia Poppy Fiora

9 champions out of

Udyr Aatrox Xin Zhao Garen Darius Renekton Nasus Rumble Jayce Master Yi Yasuo Tryndamere Volibear

22 champions (might be missing a couple). That's better than a third, so for the current overall ratio pretty good, and with only two champions generally considered to be sexualized fighters probably need the least help out of any class in terms of female champions.

Linna Excel8/27/2014, 7:37:47 PM2 votes

You forgot some yordles and it's pretty obvious Nami is female.

Because boobs.

MrSc0tty8/27/2014, 6:04:55 PM1 votes

(Creating a new post because I think we've been splitting hairs not that the discussion hasn't been incredibly enjoyable, feel free to keep replying to that )

The problem her isn't anything to do with minutiae. The real issue I draw with your data set is that you make conclusions based solely on your own criteria which could be argued either wa. The statements I have a problem with:

-the statements on the highest natural stats reflect nothing in riots overall design. The design and art team may create a "female duelist carry" but they aren't going to tell the balance team "and because she's such a strong female give her the highest base armor out of all the AD carries". That's not really a note of interest as much as an unrelated observation and it could be construed as an attempt to sway discussion one way or another. It's irrelevant to the discussion of champion design as a whole

-"There is no tanky female support" and "The majority of female fighter characters are squishy rather than tanky" are false observations given the reality of the way the game is played. In this instance, Riot has admitted that the tags are implemented before they know for sure the role of the champions-but it's hard to believe that Leona, with her passive, was not designed to be a supportive champion. Additionally I would say that Morgana fits the bill as a tanky Mage with her short range tether ult, focus on utility over burst, and cc immunity, at least as much as Ryze or Swain if not Vladimir.

The only really solid conclusions I can make about the female champion representation in this game is:

  1. there are more make than female champions

  2. a female champion is far more likely than a male champion to contain an element of sex appeal

  3. non humanoid champions trend extremely heavily toward the me end of the spectrum (I would say that in many cases that is because it's easier to make a character sound menacing or evil with a low male VO. See: Rengar, Renekton, Skarner, Khazix, Velkoz)

kiloechoesp8/27/2014, 3:42:28 PM1 votes

Honestly i'm not surprised. In the U.S. the active duty force is 14.5% women.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/24/us/military-women-glance/

Gender stereotypes portrays women as weaker or lesser than men in battle and war. After doing a little research and reading up on the facts, this is probably mainly due to the fact that women can get pregnant while on duty. Of course when you are having a baby, you can't really do the stuff fit men could do. And then you have to take care of the child and yeah...

Gender stereotypes move from real life to in game. A majority of the players in LoL are men. Of course, they would want to make men seem tougher, even though a women could do the same exact job.

So, is this necessarily a problem? Maybe, maybe not. Interesting I suppose.