"You Can Be BOTH Sexy AND Powerful!": Female Presentation in Video Games Using Genshin Impact as an Example

This paper examines female representation in video games through a case study of Genshin Impact, focusing on miHoYo's January 2022 redesign of four female characters, which was announced alongside version 2.4 and framed as a response to Chinese governmental censorship. The authors use the reaction of the Chinese Genshin community as a lens for a broader inquiry into how female characters are designed, narratively constructed, and received. Their central thesis is that scholarly and public discourse often treats physical attractiveness and competence as mutually exclusive, a dichotomy that oversimplifies gender identity and reinforces restrictive notions of femininity.

The study draws on a narrative literature review of prior work on female game characters, including findings that female characters are less frequently featured and often hypersexualized, alongside research on the "Lara Phenomenon," which highlights powerful, competent female protagonists. The authors' analysis of Genshin's character designs shows a reduction in exposure through added clothing after the redesign, and they find that both pre- and post-change female characters combine physical attractiveness with distinct personalities, strengths, and independence. The community's response was polarized: one faction celebrated the changes as a victory over sexualized design, while another argued that the game's narrative already presented its women as strong and independent.

The paper's key conclusion is that the clash between these two discursive positions reveals a deeper ideological divide about how women are understood and valued in gaming. The authors argue this divide limits the depth of female representation and risks reinforcing harmful stereotypes. The study is qualitative and textual, centered on a single game and a single community debate rather than a large sample, and it is situated within the Chinese gaming context.