Gender and Videogames

Maja Mikula makes many interesting claims in her essay about the role of gender in video games, and it is a world I cannot be further removed from. Her views on what video game characters represent and how players relate to them I can empathize with.
Firstly, by reading just this essay alone, I am surprised at how closely relate to fictional video game characters. I thought you just play the game, and in the stretch of time that you are playing the game you delve into the character and that's it, it does not affect yourself at all when not playing the game. That is no the case however, when Maja cites people relating to the character Lara in ways like wanting to spend more time with her and protecting her. My previous thoughts to this essay was that video game characters were left more on the vague side in their characteristics to focus more on the player themselves and what the game entails, not just the character.
Another point she makes is how unrealistically Lara is portrayed in the game, with many sexual attributes enhanced and it is not accurately portraying women. I can understand this point but as a rebuttal I say, how can anybody in a video game accurately represent a person? It is a world of fantasy where everything is embellished and enhanced, every male character isn't an accurate portrayal of men in either. In any video game, realism and accuracy is not going to exist and for a reason, because it is a videoGAME, not a virtual reality.