Borderlands 2 "Girlfriend Mode" Helps Noobs Win

[SacremPyrobolum]

Wow, an ad and shameless plug delivered in the form of an editorial piece? Is this an Escapist first??

anc[is]At least they gave the girlfriend tree to the awesome female character and not the dolled up prostitute with an SMG

I'm sure you aren't referring to Lillith who is leaps and bounds the best and most powerful player character from the original game.

I think he's talking about Lilith's replacement siren Maya. Wearing what sorta looks like low-cut pants and a one piece wet-suit.

Well, there is nothing inherently sexist about looking sexy and in my opinion Maya doesn't look trashy at all, in fact less so than her counterpart.

Spoiler: Maya

Spoiler: Lilith

But I have always been of the opinion that the community seems to go of the rails a little bit when seeing female characters as they would critique literally everything about her look and will ***** incessantly if they find one thing attractive about her.

It's just another form of sexism, saying people can't be sexy without being made into sex objects.

 

[WanderingFool]

I think this is a cool idea. Maybe not how I would've implemented it since that leaves 4 characters that the other person can't really choose, but I like that they're considering everyone playing.

If you can't aim a pistol you shouldn't be playing FPS. Period.

Get your fukin elitism out of here. You couldn't aim a gun in an FPS at one point too.

Learning to shot is what ARCADE games are for, or were you never dropped of at a boardwalk as a child?

Firstly, not everyone wants to waste quarters on those freaking Light-gun games.

Second, playing a Console or PC FPS is not the same as a Light-gun game, which is the only shooting game I can think of you refering to.

Thridly... hrmmmm... *insert joke comment about being left on a boardwalk as a child*

If you can't point at something using a joy/analogue stick and if you've never played in an arcade, then you're not a real gamer.

And you never attended a boardwalk birthday party? I pity you.

There arent any boardwalks near where Ive lived... Though there was this one time I went to Coney Island... but I didnt like it as there was a bunch of guys in leather vests bunching people dressed up as baseball players and wearing overalls... seemed sketchy...

 

[maninahat]

The unfortunate choice of title for this mode aside, this really does sound like a great idea! My wife can't really keep up with me, my son or my daughter. Something like this would allow her to play along with the rest of us and not get frustrated.

Why not just call it Casual-mode or some such?

I'd like to think that the "girlfriend" thing is just a working title. Then again...

It does sound like a good idea, especially as my girlfriend sucks at FPSs. It might be nice to give her a chance.

EDIT: according to Rock paper shotgun, the "Girlfriend" thing was an unofficial, working title used by some clueless team member. It's officially called the "Friends forever tree".

 

[NightHawk21]

I think this is a cool idea. Maybe not how I would've implemented it since that leaves 4 characters that the other person can't really choose, but I like that they're considering everyone playing.

If you can't aim a pistol you shouldn't be playing FPS. Period.

Get your fukin elitism out of here. You couldn't aim a gun in an FPS at one point too.

everybody was a rookie or a noob once.Their partly trying to make a character that leans towards helping raw new players or for ones that want an extra challenge outside of just making enemies more or less bulletproff. (I also foresee bad respones because of the "Girlfriend" name of the tree.)

Learning to shot is what ARCADE games are for, or were you never dropped of at a boardwalk as a child?

As someone else has already pointed out, unless you're playing games on the wii or using the ps move the skills you developed playing light gun shooters are not exactly transferable.

 

[Rule Britannia]

Don't get me wrong this sounds cool and I'm really looking forward to Borderlands 2 BUT this is the noob tube theory. The new players will hardly get better if it's being made easy for them. The only way you get betterv at something is if you play with better players or more powerful npcs.

Looking forward to this game soooooo much :O

 

[PapstJL4U]

If you can't point at something using a joy/analogue stick and if you've never played in an arcade, then you're not a real gamer.

And you never attended a boardwalk birthday party? I pity you.

you were born with a controller in your hand? Everyone, who plays for fun and isnt an asshole is a realgamer...
Your lack of social awarness and empathie for other groups (and reading skills?) is just amazing.

@Sexismtopic: John Hemingway is lead designer an explained his idea and how he got it. He told the truth. The idea had a sexistic background, but thats no reason to suddenly lie about it. Maybe if Hemingway is gay and he has a boyfriend, then he would have called it boyfriend-mode, but it looks like he isnt. They already changed the name to bff...:/.

 

[Zeriah]

Probably a little bit insulting but I did giggle, am I a bad person?

 

[StriderShinryu]

Aside from the unfortunate word choice and then massive overreaction to said word choice, when you actually look at what he's talking about, it sounds pretty cool. My girlfriend is a huge fan of Diablo style loot drop games but ian't really much of a well rounded gamer, so this sort of mode may be a great way to get her foot in the door and allow her some expeience without the frustration of constantly getting killed. I also like the fact that, because it's a character based skill tree, the whole game doesn't have to be lowered in difficulty to support it.

I guess my concerns are two fold. First, while I like the character design a lot, it kind of sucks to have this sort of skill tree only available on this particular character. Second, it sucks that you have to wait so long for this character to be available in game.

 

[Compatriot Block]

And here, this article, is where some people have crossed from pushing for equality to white-knighting.

My girlfriend (who loves video games, but sometimes has trouble with the FPS genre) thinks this is an awesome idea, and laughed at the unofficial name. Yes yes, anecdotal, not representative, etc., but sometimes you need to pick your battles rather than working up everything into a frothing rage.

Aside from the unfortunate word choice and then massive overreaction to said word choice, when you actually look at what he's talking about, it sounds pretty cool. My girlfriend is a huge fan of Diablo style loot drop games but ian't really much of a well rounded gamer, so this sort of mode may be a great way to get her foot in the door and allow her some expeience without the frustration of constantly getting killed. I also like the fact that, because it's a character based skill tree, the whole game doesn't have to be lowered in difficulty to support it.

I guess my concerns are two fold. First, while I like the character design a lot, it kind of sucks to have this sort of skill tree only available on this particular character. Second, it sucks that you have to wait so long for this character to be available in game.

Exactly. Honestly, the only problem I have with his choice of words is he should have known how volatile the gaming community is right now, and how likely they were to blow it up in his face.

 

[Lucane]

Wow, an ad and shameless plug delivered in the form of an editorial piece? Is this an Escapist first??

anc[is]At least they gave the girlfriend tree to the awesome female character and not the dolled up prostitute with an SMG

I'm sure you aren't referring to Lillith who is leaps and bounds the best and most powerful player character from the original game.

I think he's talking about Lilith's replacement siren Maya. Wearing what sorta looks like low-cut pants and a one piece wet-suit.

Well, there is nothing inherently sexist about looking sexy and in my opinion Maya doesn't look trashy at all, in fact less so than her counterpart.

Spoiler: Maya

Spoiler: Lilith

But I have always been of the opinion that the community seems to go of the rails a little bit when seeing female characters as they would critique literally everything about her look and will ***** incessantly if they find one thing attractive about her.

It's just another form of sexism, saying people can't be sexy without being made into sex objects.

Um I'm not sure if that was directed(in part)at me to or not but I wasn't saying either looked like a hooker but that the OP of this quote might have meant Maya instead of Lilith. I wasn't saying it's a crime to be lethal and sexy,sorry if I came off as such.

(*)= Edit.

 

[scotth266]

This is perhaps the stupidest pair of mountains I've seen people make out of a molehill.

The skill tree is REALLY called Best Friends Forever, which is a gender-neutral term. His use of the "Girlfriend" term was purely used to describe his view of a companion-type skill tree: he's a straight guy (I think) so he used the term that was most familiar to him: girlfriend - the fact that the character is a girl also probably helped him select that term. This is not sexism in any way, shape, or form.

Secondly, the pissing and moaning about "casuals" ruining your game is complete bullcrap. The ability to hit things even if you miss is something that will be useful to both people new to games and old hands alike: in fact, you could argue that it actually helps people in the middle the most, as that person will bit hitting most of the time, but still getting the extra damage from the rebounding bullets. And we still don't know any of the other abilities in the tree, either.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

anc[is]At least they gave the girlfriend tree to the awesome female character and not the dolled up prostitute with an SMG

I'm sure you aren't referring to Lillith who is leaps and bounds the best and most powerful player character from the original game.

I am. Your point?

 

[NightHawk21]

If you can't point at something using a joy/analogue stick and if you've never played in an arcade, then you're not a real gamer.

And you never attended a boardwalk birthday party? I pity you.

you were born with a controller in your hand? Everyone, who plays for fun and isnt an asshole is a realgamer...
Your lack of social awarness and empathie for other groups (and reading skills?) is just amazing.

As someone else has already pointed out, unless you're playing games on the wii or using the ps move the skills you developed playing light gun shooters are not exactly transferable.

I didn't say you had to be good at it, but if you can't be bothered to do it yourself, then what the hell are you playing a shooter for?

@PapstJL4U: how do you know I wasn't?

I believe you did. You said you if you can't aim you shouldn't be playing. Based on the information presented in the story, mainly that you still need shoot in the general direction of the enemy, and your response indicates that you have a problem with this (ie. you should be able to hit the enemy yourself, or you could say be good at aiming).

Also people play games for different reasons. Sometimes people play stuff cause one of the people likes it and you play cause your curious or to spend time with them. Hell I got a buddy who loves Dynasty Warriors and I'm indifferent about it, but if we're waiting on something we might load it up and play a level or two.

 

[scotth266]

You know what, I'm convinced that half the stupid going on here is thanks to the needlessly inflammatory title and subtitle this thread carries. I usually don't count myself among the "Escapist news is shit" crowd, and the news itself is actually pretty good, but the headline makes this all seem fairly tabloidy - trying to create a problem that really doesn't exist.

As an FYI, here's something Randy Pitchford (president of Gearbox) posted on Twitter:

I'm sure Hemmingway is getting noogied now, but not his fault. A personal anecdote has been twisted and dogpiled on by sensationalists. Fun!

 

[Lucane]

Don't get me wrong this sounds cool and I'm really looking forward to Borderlands 2 BUT this is the noob tube theory. The new players will hardly get better if it's being made easy for them. The only way you get betterv at something is if you play with better players or more powerful npcs.

Looking forward to this game soooooo much :O

That's why it's not on every class or even at launch of the game(I'm upset about not being able to use the Mechro for a while skill trees aside) you don't start learning to drive a car at 60mph and i didn't here them say every missed shot will for sure hit it's intended mark so aiming would still be the biggest benefit. unless you've got the enemies attention in which case the ricochet for partial damage from shots fired maybe better than direct fire for standard damage while taking fire. Which I would believe would be a learned decision/skill.

 

[Ariseishirou]

Why not "Casual" mode? Or "Novice" mode? Or "Support" mode? Or "Recruit" mode? Or, hell, "Easy" mode?

There were already a plethora of terms that not only describe precisely what he had in mind, but do it better than the sexist horseshit he came up with. Why didn't he choose one of them instead?

My male BFF can't keep up with me when we play CoD together either - what, should I write Activision to throw in a Boyfriend Mode just for him?

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

So don't want to make this into another feminism thread...

I can think of at least three better words for it right now off the top of my head.

'Beginner skill tree'
'Casual skill tree'
'Tutorial skill tree'

I mean come on, there's genuine issues about what constitutes correct treatment of women both in the gaming world and as gamers in real life, and then there's just being insulting.

And this isn't even being done with a sense of witty self-irony, this is a developer who, unable to think of a better term for inexperienced beginner players who need an easier difficulty (there's another few terms) apparently only being able to think of 'girlfriend' as an example of someone who can't play videogames.

 

[Zachery Gaskins]

If you can't point at something using a joy/analogue stick and if you've never played in an arcade, then you're not a real gamer.

Strange. I thought a gamer was someone who likes and wants to play games.

We shall strive to be worthy of your sense of grandeur.

 

[NathLines]

Seriously? I read the entire article and I didn't even react to the guy saying "Girlfriend Mode". I had no idea that people would be so up in arms about this.

The character sounds really interesting. Makes me even happier that I'll get her for free with the pre-order. I'm lucky I have friends, making the game cost me a meager $35. A good deal, I say D:

 

[Lucane]

Damn. I was looking forward to this game. But alas, I won't be giving money to a group using such silly terms and helping to propagate stereotypes.

-1 sale

Did you miss the part where it was just what one guy is calling it and not the actual name of the mode?

Also, it's not a stereotype if it's true.

In this case it would only be true if it was 100% of the time, Which it isn't.