Brink : No Girls Allowed

[dementis]

Don't really care as I won't even see my character while playing anyway, y'know because it's a first person shooter.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Any game that offers even the most basic of character customization options, but does not include the option to select your gender, is immediately ignored by me. That's why I have not and will not play the Gothic series.

It comes down to the amount of extra work, developers are trying to put together an entire working world and all the customization is a low priority feature, that seemingly simple gender choice demands:
- two quality voice actors for the main character
- doubled voice/noise recording times
- doubled motion capture times
- all models/animations/interactions doubled
- all customizations need to be doubled
And I probably forgot many more

That is alot of extra work and when money/time is tight they just cut it, and those Gothic games don't seem like anyone had much time for anything.
Yes I would like all games to have all possible features but developers are limited.

 

[Hijax]

Does Halo have female charecters in ITS multiplayer? What about Section 8? I don't know why Brink is the upset. Of course, it is a little more jaring since there isn't power armor for everyone. Despite Spartans in Multiplayer looking male, it doesn't take much to imigine one as a girl.

Brink is the upset because, aside from forcing your character to be male, it has a very robust character customization aspect. The fact that it put so much focus into character customization, yet forced your character to be a guy, makes the issue (which is still present in other shooters mind you) more obvious.

Imagine if Bioware came out with a new RPG with their standard level of customization, but decided that your character had to be a girl, how do you think people would react? It's the same issue here.

Honestly? While i think there would be a cursory level of bitching about it, i don't think it would revolve around the fact that the character customization was awesome but didn't include girls. I think it would be about how it's 'against the bioware spirit'. How can something that Bioware did be against their spirit.

And honestly, can you name a single game that doesn't have people bitching about some aspect of it?

 

[BrionJames]

Is it really that big of a deal? I didn't stop playing Metroid because the main character was female. Sure, I imagine it wouldn't have taken that long for them to throw a female avatar in, but does there absolutely have to be? If the game itself is excellent and can be enjoyed by all why does there have to be the inclusion of sex to make you feel more accustomed to your avatar? What if they were robots and had no gender inflection at all? Sounds a lot like people are making something out of nothing.

 

[iLikeHippos]

I'm waiting for the day a really, really good RPG comes out in which you can only play as a female. Then I will sit back and whatch the crowds rage.

Until you notice that the goal of the RPG is to be the best cook and cleaner in the world.

Thank you. Now I'm imagining a woman cooking and cleaning while epic, orchestral music plays in the background. Game of the year.

Probably something along the lines of...
3...2...1... BEGIN! YOUR! COOKING!

... Damn it, now I want the game.

 

[Reveras]

Much appreciated and it happens to fit the situation perfectly.

 

[Trolldor]

So, why do you think the attractiveness of heavy-esque characters only matters when they are female?

Re: Gina Carano, I'm to lazy right now to find and post images. Good real-world example of a person who fits conventional beauty standards and is really tough, and has actually played a character in a video game. The only person who, to my knowledge, has won awards for being attractive *and* for punching people in the face. So, if publishers are 100% dead-set on not having female characters who don't fit conventional beauty standards, (which they unfortunately might be) they still have no excuse for making them look physically weak when that makes no sense in the context of the character haha.

I never said that "it only matters". I'm saying that muscular women are off-putting in a way that muscular men are not. This is true for most people.
Muscular men have been touted around for several millenia. Muscular women? Not so much.

Seriously, Gina Carano. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gina_Carano

Muscular. Not "off-putting."

But more to the point, there's a picture of the skeleton Heavy Weapons Guy would have to have floating around somewhere. It's pretty off-putting haha. And if you met someone with a Brick-type physique IRL, you would probably find him pretty off-putting too. Fact of the matter is, for whatever reason, male characters are generally allowed to be uglier than female characters.

Yes, because the audience can tolerate them more.
It's a smart design choice to have muscular men over muscular women because even if they're "ugly" they're not off-putting.

As for your example, she's your light-weight class. Now go find a middle-weight and a heavy class.

 

[Wicky_42]

I never said that "it only matters". I'm saying that muscular women are off-putting in a way that muscular men are not. This is true for most people.
Muscular men have been touted around for several millenia. Muscular women? Not so much.

Oh wow, I would hate to meet someone like you in real life - or they would hate to meet me - that comment just really riled me up :/

What you're basically saying is that because the media's been so saturated with big hulking guys it's fine, but if you were to do the same with the 'fairer gender' then everything would be wrong because there's no precedent for it?! Seriously? Man you are sexist! "We only want pretty women in our games! They're only for looking at, after all."

How would you feel if the only male characters in video games were Final Fantasy stereotype androgynous teens, and no macho-men were allowed because there was no precedent? Sure, we wouldn't be complaining about generic gruff-voiced space marine characters but still... Christ, did you even think when you wrote that comment above? Would you please try and be less misogynistic in the future?

 

[FateOrFatality]

It doesn't really seem to be a big deal to me. If I could only have a female avatar in a game, I wouldn't care in the slightest.

However, I'm pretty apathetic to customisation. It might matter more to others than to me.

 

[Vrud]

. . . So, why is it so important to have a highly customized male, again?

 

[General_Potatoes]

Did Halo have female charecters in IT'S multiplayer? What about Section 8? I don't know why Brink is the upset. Of course, it is a little more jaring since there isn't power armor for everyone. Despite Spartans in Multiplayer looking male, it doesn't take much to imigine one as a girl.

The last one did have females, didn't it? Or was that just the campaign?

No, the multiplayer did as well. Don't know why. I could hardly notice the change of gender.

 

[Jarlaxl]

Discuss your thoughts on the topic.

It's done for balanced hitboxes. Otherwise everyone would play female characters that are harder to shoot since women are generally shorter than men and also have different body shapes. These physical differences would be exaggerated in a stylised shooter.

Hm. While I question if "everyone" would do it (Timmy/Johnny/Spike player demographics, eh wot), I find this to be a valid point.

I was going to suggest that armor be used to "bulk up" women, but, from the looks of things, that would go against the aesthetic style Brink has going for it. These aren't Space Marines, and it would be jarring for all females to walk around wearing half a refinery in protection while the guys don't.

This stance can't even really be assaulted from a sexist standpoint, because (a) biologically it's accurate, (b) the game is hyper-stylized, and therefore exaggerated in aesthetic (as mentioned), and (c) yes, women fight, but reality doesn't operate on a system of physics and/or gun-play/bullet effects similar to Brink's.

Also, your avatar: OMG BUNNY BUNNY BUNNY

 

[bakutert]

I also don't mind/care if there are no female characters in Brink but imagine if the company focused on the characters rather than on gameplay,anyways its just my opinion on the topic.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

They said very early on that they would rather have very deep customisation options in one gender, than relatively shallow options for both.

 

[Kukakkau]

Considering all the characters are pretty burly and have to be for the parkour, I don't want to see female characters in it.

And anyway how does being unable to play as your gender "exclude" you from playing a game? Following that trend only females will have played tomb raider or mirror's edge.

 

[Vrud]

. . . So, why is it so important to have a highly customized male, again?

its just a feature
like bum shots in bulletstorm, or charge kills in gears of war, something nifty to sell the game on. You know the whole reason games are made

I thought the whole reason games were made was so I could have a game to play XD

 

[Vrud]

Considering all the characters are pretty burly and have to be for the parkour, I don't want to see female characters in it.

Huh?? Women do parkour.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

imagine a female heavy :S that doesnt really fit.

I can just imagine the stereotypical russian female olympian type. would give me the lols

see now that was my thought too, but if they implemented that exactly as you picture it, maybe thats being a little racist? and i doubt they would want lots of hate towards the game for that reason.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

They said very early on that they would rather have very deep customisation options in one gender, than relatively shallow options for both.

exactly my point i was trying to make, i didnt know they came right out and said that though.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

They said very early on that they would rather have very deep customisation options in one gender, than relatively shallow options for both.

exactly my point i was trying to make, i didnt know they came right out and said that though.

They said that as soon as they said there would be character customisation. There's probably an old news post on here somewhere. Either that or it was on GiantBomb.