The Last of Us Part II​ is a story-rich narrative game by Naughty Dog that is a sequel of an exclusive game for PlayStation 4 ​The Last of Us ​ (2013). The player controls two characters who live in the post-apocalyptic United States. The game allows the player to play as different characters, seeing the story of the game from multiple perspectives and times. In the first part, the player plays as Ellie who is trying to find Abby to get revenge for killing Joel, her best friend, which they had more like a Father and Daughter relationship. At the end of Ellie’spart, she gets to see Abby again. Then it cuts to the second part where the player plays as Abby who has quite a masculine video game body and whose father was killed by Joel when he was trying to operate Ellie to create the vaccine. The time when Abby’s part begins is after she kills Joel and before she meets Ellie in Ellie’s part. The player also has to fight through many kinds of infected, human enemies and a cult called Seraphites. The game has many cutscenes so that the player can absorb the story thoroughly. The game tries to create bonds between the player and in-game characters as loads of background story has been well-added to each character. In previous games, female characters are mostly sexualized, exaggerated proportion, stereotyped and it all has been normalized in the games industry until the present day; for example, ​Grand Theft Auto has a consequence on women in real life. Also, in the​ Resident Evil series, Ada Wong, a female playable character, is a lone spy working in secret. She specializes in hand-to-hand combat shooting crossbows and using grapple guns to go through obstacles. Even though Ada is capable of terminating zombies just like Leon, she still needs to be assisted by Leon and his new partner Helena Harper. Furthermore, the design of her clothes is impractical as they make her fight through every gigantic zombie in a tight red dress and high heels. While the game above has stereotyped female characters, ​ The Last of Us Part II ​ is on a different path of creation. Neil Druckmann, a creative director from Naughty Dog and director of ​The Last of Us Part II​, in 2013, mentioned FeministFrequency’s online video series Tropes vs Women in Video Games as an inspiration for why he “doesn’t like” what he sees in the representation of females in video games and he also gave examples with Quiet from ​Metal Gear Solid 5 and Ayane from​ Dead or Alive ​series. In their previous games, Naughty Dog was also concerned about the realistic female representation such as Nadine in ​Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and Uncharted 4: a thief's End ​ and Ellie and Riley in The Last of Us: Left Behind.​The company creates every female character in ​ The Last of Us Part II ​different from other games as they are not the damsel in distress either waiting to be rescued or helpless, unlike in other games such as ​ Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Spider-Man, Bioshock: Infinite or God of War 3. The Last of Us Part II ​ is, in my opinion, the only game to break the gender stereotypes for all major and minor characters.

It is clear that the player base of the game has issues with the game's “unrealistic” body type. One of the commentators made it clear that Naughty Dog goes out of its way to create apolitically correct, but unrealistic female figures in the game. What could be derived from the comments of the player base is that they are disappointed by the company’s disregard of conventional female representation in video games. An account named TLOU2_Throwaway2 on Reddit makes a topic about Abby’sunrealistic physique, they state that they cannot relate to, project onto and/or sympathize with Abby. They explain “a game like Street Fighter, MK or Gears of War has buff ass women (cough Chun Li) but no one questions it because that's both the style and the norm of the characters' designs in the established universe.” which for me, seems to be an irrelevant example. First of all, ​The Last of Us Part II ​ is not that realistic, to begin with, it is a story about a zombie apocalypse. Second, the point is not how realistic it is but how women have been represented in video games. Last, those female characters mentioned above have exaggerated proportions and are sexualized so they are also the stereotype of the female character. Moreover, the Naughty Dog team created this game that has unconventional gender representation as they try to portray the character as close to women as possible and appropriately represent women in video games. 

As we gathered the literature review, most critics praised the game for challenging the idea of gender representation. Their main argument is that Naughty Dog is successful in challenging the player with these uncommon gender representations in the game. The reviewer states that the game set out on its political mission to ask us to identify with the characters’ identities. This is quite ambiguous as you can identify with a person’s fortune without identifying with their gender. Kotaku's reviewer also emphasized how this game wants to challenge the concept of gender and identity. (Dornbush, 2020)

The philosophy behind the character design is also to be considered. The impact and influence of the media on people's perception and that female representation in video games can lead to sexism "Many different aspects of life can influence sexist attitudes. It was surprising to find a small but significant link between gameplay and sexism. Video games are not intended to teach sexist views, but most people don't realize how attitudes can shift with practice."(Gentile, 2017) Ashley Johnson, the actor who acts as Ellie in the video game, has done an interview on female character representation in The Last of Us Part II. Johnson comments on an issue of a diverse cast of characters that "I just think it's essential, representation in all media, we need it in every form” and "I think things are slowly starting to change.” (Powell, 2020)On the political dimension to feminist criticism, Anita Sarkeesian and FeministFrequency want the game to have a correct representation of women is more likely to make the game considerable at this time so the blame on AnitaSarkeesian is unreasonable. Sarkeesian has an aspect of politics, she expects that the improved female representation in the game will be able to support the women's rights movement in real life.

These debates, whether they are from the developer, the player, the critic, or the researcher, reinforce the impact of video games on gender perception. Since video games are the most popular form of entertainment today, it is necessary to scrutinize the impact it will have on the gender perception of the audience. People involved in playing video games, in the beginning, are most likely to be boys or men; moreover, the game industries are dominated by male staff who aren't aware of gender issues. Most women included in the game industries state that the environment in the workplace is actually not friendly, even one says 'I was always told I was unusual' as the answer on why so few women design videogames. It leads to a problematic gender stereotype and sexualization of women including female characters in video games. But for ​The Last of Us Part II, Ewa Rajkowska provides the relevance of the female characters and the purpose of the author in this study. The strong and independent women tend to be added to the game as the lead characters while others are stereotyped as usual. Rajkowska is right about this issue in many video games but in The Last of Us Part II​, other female and minor characters also take a big part in the game, not just a bunch of helpless people. Even though it isn’t an interactive story game, still ​The Last of Us Part II ​adds the role of the player to the game.

Lev and Yara are brother and sister from the Seraphites, throughout the game players can see a wonderful brother-sister dynamic and relationship between the two characters. In gameplay, players will get through the story with both of these characters, and in the storyline,

Abby will get to travel and go through the mission with both of them individually. Yara cares a lot for her brother Lev, and she was even willing to leave their tribe and their mother so that Lev would be free and have a happier life. The players learn about Levthrough Abby's perspective because these two have talked a lot through their journey. The players learn that Lev is trans during a fight with some members of the Seraphites when a character calls him by his birth name. When things calm down, Lev asks Abby, “Did you hear what they called me?” When Abby says yes, Lev replies, “Do you want to ask me about it ?” Abby says, “Do you want me to ask you about it ?” and Lev says, “No.” then when he feels safe enough with her, he tells her his story. Lev teaches Abby to face her fear and their bond constantly becomes more powerful by the time they have spent together. Until one day, Lev runs away trying to sneak into the Seraphites village to see his mother by himself, and Abby goes after him to take him back. If this occurs in the beginning, we, the player, won’t want Abby to risk her life for him because in the village many Seraphites will be ready to kill Abby in one headshot. But after all Abby and Lev have been through together, I, as a player, I’m worried for Lev like Abby does. We get to realize that Lev is just like others, with no difference. 

This research is looking at the role of the minor characters through the framework of player interaction with the game. In ​the Last of Us Part II, the player will have an opportunity to look through the perspective of a female character named AbbyAnderson whom the critics comment on that she plays an essential part in breaking the mold of female representation in other games. Nevertheless, viewing the representation through the political lens might not be a rounded analysis because both Abby and the player will meet another character named Levwho also breaks the mold of gender stereotypes in society. Therefore, this research will be focusing on the relationship between the player, Abby, and Lev.

Playing as Abby, we can perceive the difference between Abby and female characters in other games. Abby can be as strong and intimidating as a male character or be even more. It shows that women can be independent and they are capable of more than just the support of male characters. It doesn’t mean that women don't ever need help but in a way isn't that they will eventually need help all the time as other games make them.

Another minor character that the player gets to see through Abby’s perspective and interact with is Lev, a trans character. It's questionable that if Naughty Dog wants a transgender representation in their game, why do they make Lev just a minor character and not one of the main characters. Here’s the possible reason:

Joel had a conflict with various groups of people and the most severe one is with the Fireflies since he killed their doctor to prevent them from killing Ellie to make the vaccine. In ​ part II, ​ Ellie is certainly chosen to be the main character of the game and the antagonist has to be a member of the Fireflies, and it settles to be Abby, the doctor’s daughter. In Jackson, Ellie’s community, most people are unconfined and more sensible in a way that almost everyone does not reject Ellie for being queer and Ellie and Dina being together. As well as in Abby’scommunity, the Fireflies, and the WLF, people are not bothered by others’ sexual orientation as long as they behave and have a responsibility in their duty. Both communities are the opposite of the Seraphites, following gender roles is an obligation for the member, no exception. Girls are obliged to marry the elders while boys are taught to be warriors and are allowed to shave their heads. Anyone who breaks the rule must be punished like Lev is because he just shaves his head so being a member of the Seraphites makes Lev’s decision more powerful.

As a trans character like Levdoes exist in the world of The Last of Us Part II, ​even though he is a minor character we notice that Lev is not just Abby’s sidekick or just a character to add to create the diversity of the character in the game. Naughty Dogthoughtfully added Lev to the game to promote the political project by playing as a person who closes to Lev and we get to know what a transgender could be facing in real life and what it could affect them and their family both physically and emotionally. At the time we know that this character is trans, it is new to us as no game has ever had a trans representation that we can get this close to before.

Naughty Dog promotes the diversity of gender and the unconventional female character in the game as a political project by allowing the player to play the character as being one. In doing this it could surely receive a huge backlash from the player but will Naughty Dog be able to change their mind, the answer is a big yes. Some male players dislike playing as a character that they are not related to or a character that they want to be. It is peculiar for them that they have to play as Abby, meanwhile, if they get to play a male character, it is totally fine as the character has an ideal physique. Exploring the act of playing Abby and getting to know Lev through her view, from the appearance of Abby we notice that her physique makes her stronger and the way she fights is a little different. Then we get to understand Abby and know her better through her thoughts, her reason, her relationship, her loss, and many things that a human could feel. As for Lev, he does not deserve to be treated like how Seraphites did to him and it reflects what a transgender could face in real life. It could help to stop some people from calling their birth name and normalize their existence in games. Once the player realizes that being an unconventional character is not as bad as they thought, then the player will be familiar with the diversity and the unconventional character representation and will progress into accepting it as it does not affect the gameplay.

Throughout this work, I have studied that all the issues above are the consequence of the male-dominated games industry for a very long time. A game like ​Grand Theft Auto ​is included in normalizing inappropriate things; for example, sexualization of women or exaggeration of women proportion. No one questions the issue; even so, when the female characters have a firm body like male characters mostly do, there go curious male gamers trying to expose the impossibility of female characters having the muscle. The gamer argues that the body is unrealistic and brings up theories to prove that women cannot have them; on the contrary, if the character is a male character, no one will ever question why he got the muscle and they will say that it is a default of the game. In the Last of Us Part II, ​ Naughty Dog makes their game quite like a political project to challenge the idea of gender diversity and unconventional character representation. Lately, it is a good thing that the games industry started to adjust the female proportion more realistically and there is a diversity of gender representation. Even though many games still use the same pattern to create female characters and there are very few LGBTQ+. If more the games industries improve their view on female and minor characters, one day, the game industry will be able to denormalize the creation of exaggerating the proportion of female characters and create a lot more appropriate diversity in gender representation.

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