Fathers, Daughters, and ROMs

Rachel Weil at Femicom wrote an incisive article about female agency and female-inclusive NES ROM hacks:

I would suggest that the recent popularization of these harassment stories has created a sort of anxiety around men's culpability in these scenarios, and that these pieces on "daddy hackers" aim to relieve this anxiety. They are heartwarming stories that present men as problem solvers rather than problem creators. These men use the technical knowledge that only they seem to possess in order to, as PC Mag reports, "empower female gamers."

It's really cool that these hacks are happening. It's not cool how they're being framed - as an afeminist, male-driven pursuit; a way to defuse concerns about women in nerd culture while still ignoring them. It immediately reminded me of when male progressives in the US talk about issues affecting "our wives, daughters, mothers" - women are liminally present, but they're never the ones speaking and never the ones spoken to.

So here's a list of games hacked to have more women, without any of that commentary, from Pauli Kohberger.