The Historical Case for Playable Women in Assassin's Creed: Unity

[Robert Rath]

The Historical Case for Playable Women in Assassin's Creed: Unity

On October 5th, 1789 a mob of women - many of them market sellers armed with knives - stormed into Paris' city hall. As the six thousand women swarmed over the guards they started grabbing more than bread. Taking up pikes, guns and cannons, they coalesced into a column.


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[Falterfire]

Sure, one can say it was a financial decision, but in a conversation I had with James Portnow recently, he suggested that it would probably cost less money than Ubisoft spent on their E3 booth.

Because I've had one half of this discussion multiple times by now, I have a question about the other half: How much did Ubisoft spend on their booth at E3?

 

[Jupiter065]

Thank you Robert, excellent article. That last line gave me goosebumps.

 

[Darth_Payn]

I would like to wait until I hear about the modern-day-as-framing-device setting before I have a full opinion about this issue.

 

[PunkRex]

They proposed a different word: Unity.

Well put together. To be honest, it isn't even the lack of diversity in terms of race/sex that confuses me but the fact that they all look EXACTLY the same. Couldn't we get one with a beard or fancy mustache, this is France after all, I mean come on you got one in green looking like Robin Hood and Erol Flynns love child and you don't even give the fella dapper facial hair!?

Fore shame.

 

[PirateRose]

I'll say it again.

American Revolution ended in 1783
French Revolution started in 1789
Aveline was born 1746. Thus would be 43 by the time the French Revolution starts.

She exists during this time period and is half french. They could have just put her on a flash drive, mailed her to the developer, and used her. Hell, use her to create a couple of new female PC's.

 

[Ambitiousmould]

I thought they looked the player characters all looked the same because on your screen, you are always the same character, and the other three players have 'different' player models, but on their screens, they look like the protagonist and you look like one the other player models, sort of like how you always look like Aiden Pearce to you in Watch_Dogs. I may, however be wrong on that count.

Either way, it isn't necessarily the fact that there is no female PC, more the fact that they lied to us about why as though we're idiots, that irritates me.

 

[Eirreann]

I'll say it again.

American Revolution ended in 1783
French Revolution started in 1789
Aveline was born 1746. Thus would be 43 by the time the French Revolution starts.

She exists during this time period and is half french. They could have just put her on a flash drive, mailed her to the developer, and used her. Hell, use her to create a couple of new female PC's.

This is actually a pretty awesome idea....

 

[VVThoughtBox]

Doesn't it seems rather foolish to expect a work of fiction like Assassins Creed to tell the truth?

 

[She-Pudding]

I saw this arcticle and thought "Another feminist uproar on The Escapist? " I'm female and all, and pro-me stuff is generally awesome, but I was beginning to worry that the voices defending us were becoming overwhelming to the point of resembling something like radio static- here specifically. Though Ubisoft's the one being targeted by the content creators, I don't want men to feel so villified and brow-beaten that they won't want to listen further, lest they stick their neck out and it get chopped off.

Thankfully, this piece added depth to the subject. It was fascinating, factual, and did not make all women victims nor men villains, as has already been done recently ad nauseum. Thank you for adding to the conversation, Mr. Rath, and not just extending the bad mojo Ubisoft had started.

...For the record, I'm always glad to see social progress being talked about and debated. But beating a dead horse all week CNN/FOX style is just tiring to watch.

 

[Something Amyss]

I mean, this is cool and all, but I don't think we need an historical case for an Assassin's Creed game in the first place. Assassin's Creed is an historically accurate series in the same sense that Doctor Who is hard science fiction. And that's fine. I like fake history stories, alternate history stories, and history lite stories, just like I likes me some Doctor Who.

The point is, women playing a part in the revolution is completely irrelevant to their presence in AC: Unisex. The revolution could have been a total sausage fest and it wouldn't make a difference. It could have been run by a matriarchy and it also wouldn't matter.

I'll say it again.

American Revolution ended in 1783
French Revolution started in 1789
Aveline was born 1746. Thus would be 43 by the time the French Revolution starts.

She exists during this time period and is half french. They could have just put her on a flash drive, mailed her to the developer, and used her. Hell, use her to create a couple of new female PC's.

And asset recycling is common in game design.

Either way, it isn't necessarily the fact that there is no female PC, more the fact that they lied to us about why as though we're idiots, that irritates me.

I doubt anywhere near as many people would have reacted as they did before the excuses were made.

I would rather have the option of female characters, but it wasn't going to be a dealbreaker for me. Still, the excuses are dumb. Some of the excuses that have been made (like historicity) are downright stupid.

 

[Something Amyss]

I don't want men to feel so villified and brow-beaten that they won't want to listen further, lest they stick their neck out and it get chopped off.

I'm not particularly sure why men should feel vilified or brow-beaten merely by no longer having exclusivity status or being the only group taken into consideration.

Doesn't it seems rather foolish to expect a work of fiction like Assassins Creed to tell the truth?

I don't know why you'd say that. It's so far been accurate, from ancient aliens to da Vinci inventing man-powered flight.

 

[Sylocat]

I thought they looked the player characters all looked the same because on your screen, you are always the same character, and the other three players have 'different' player models, but on their screens, they look like the protagonist and you look like one the other player models, sort of like how you always look like Aiden Pearce to you in Watch_Dogs. I may, however be wrong on that count.

You are correct, that is the "official" reason the PCs all look the same. However, it's a completely ludicrous design decision in the first place, and since the story of the game is made up by Ubisoft anyway, they have no excuse for whining "story reasons" as though the story were completely out of their hands.

Doesn't it seems rather foolish to expect a work of fiction like Assassins Creed to tell the truth?

The Assassin's Creed franchise has been openly boasting about its attention to historical detail. It's been a major selling point in the ad campaigns since day one.

 

[the December King]

I'm not particularly sure why men should feel vilified or brow-beaten merely by no longer having exclusivity status or being the only group taken into consideration.

I think that this has less to do with the gaming population at large having a desire for diversity, and more to do with confused reactions from men who feel like they have been beaten in some contest that they were not active in, and yet appear to have been the other 'team'. I myself have felt vilified for things out of my control, like this exclusivity status you have mentioned. When someone is scoffed at and they have no control over the situation, it does get tiresome. When people achieve victories in equality, some of the language used inevitably can sound like a victory OVER white men. Since I'm not oppressing anyone in particular, as an example, such verbiage eventually weighs on one. It might be that individuals are taking it too personally, to be sure. But I can understand where that feeling might come from.

In short and more on topic, I don't want to play a female character. I never have and that's just how it is. To be fair, I want to play monsters and inhuman things most of the time, but I rarely get what I want anyways.

But I can understand how a gamer girl, or even just someone who is tired of the surplus of male only characters in non-narrative specific games, might want to play as a female character. And so I feel they should be catered to.

 

[Gamer87]

Thank you, Robert Rath. That was an excellent read and I really hope someone high up at Ubisoft gets a chance to read it too.

 

[VVThoughtBox]

I don't want men to feel so villified and brow-beaten that they won't want to listen further, lest they stick their neck out and it get chopped off.

I'm not particularly sure why men should feel vilified or brow-beaten merely by no longer having exclusivity status or being the only group taken into consideration.

Doesn't it seems rather foolish to expect a work of fiction like Assassins Creed to tell the truth?

I don't know why you'd say that. It's so far been accurate, from ancient aliens to da Vinci inventing man-powered flight.

Even though Assassin's Creed is very accurate in it's historical depictions, it is still a work of fiction. The story told in the games are slightly embellished to make things interesting. I don't know, something about the way gaming journalists treat history rubs me the wrong way. I doubt many of them paid attention to the French Revolution in History Class.

 

[PoloniumFist]

The last line in this article gave me goosebumps. I knew that already, but that's what's so confusing. Not having female characters playable after naming the game after the proposed asexual motto of the Revolution... I don't know what's happening.. and the devs really ought to tell us. Enough with the bullshit excuses.

 

[The Grim Ace]

I was expecting far more people braying and screaming as is common every time this topic gets brought up instead of the just one, yay civility.

OT: It isn't the lack omission that bothers me nearly as much as to the laziness of the excuse. You had the resources, it was originally planned, then they changed their minds about it. There really isn't a good reason for it, but there it is.

Good thing Uplay is unusable, or I'd have a proper problem.

 

[Falterfire]

I don't know why you'd say that. It's so far been accurate, from ancient aliens to da Vinci inventing man-powered flight.

Even though Assassin's Creed is very accurate in it's historical depictions, it is still a work of fiction. The story told in the games are slightly embellished to make things interesting. I don't know, something about the way gaming journalists treat history rubs me the wrong way. I doubt many of them paid attention to the French Revolution in History Class.

...

I really don't think you read the quote you responded to. Zachary Amaranth is clearly being sarcastic.