Brink : No Girls Allowed

[CommanderKirov]

Such a bad reason to whine. Seriously, female characters do not need to be represented in every single scenario because some scenarios simply would be unreasonable featuring them.

Mount and Blade Fire and Sword? No female commanders.

TF2? Only female character sitting safely in her office yelling out orders (Fine with that).

You may be fine with that, but have you any idea how many people are modding in female textures and sound packs for characters like Scout and Pyro? And how popular those texture mods are? How to spite no indication everyone is desperate to assume Pyro is a woman underneath all that fire-proof clothing.

I occurs to me the likely reason fighting games have much more varied genders is the quite simplistic hit-boxes, I believe most fighting games still retain 2D hit-boxes for the most elaborate character designs.

And I'm fine if you want to mod it so it fits your needs. But do not go up and arms against the developer for not including such choice just because it did not fit in their vision of the game.

 

[Treblaine]

]Um... What, some sort of gender fairness doctrine? I don't think that's a very good solution. I don't think alternating back and forth between all male and all female would be conducive to inclusiveness or sales. I think the guy who said all the characters should be androgynous made more sense.

I don't really care much about fairness for women, I just want to see more women in video games. This is the male chauvinist (technically not chauvinism) in me speaking selfishly wanting to see more women simply because I like them.

And if it is too hard to do a set of animations for each gender as a developer can only make animation sets for one gender why does it ALWAYS have to be male? Maybe I was too hard saying "alternate back and forth" but you have to aim high for a suggestion to get any traction, just sayin "maybe sometime, like, always the next project never the current project" won't do it.

Do they think we can't relate to a warrioress? I don't want bimbos, I wan't Samus Aran types (not the Other M version), classic Lara Croft, the Ellen Ripley type.

I'm in favour of androgyny if it means something different. Like for example the upcoming indie game "Depth" where you play a shark (of obviously ambiguous if not irrelevant gender) eating divers who try to steal gold from a sunken wreak.

Or a game where you are all robots or aliens.

 

[Katana314]

Question.

What would people think if, later down the line, after they've recouped some costs and had some gameplay feedback, they had female character creation as a special DLC package that costs about $10-15? Would you be outraged about that, would you consider buying it?

 

[Treblaine]

And I'm fine if you want to mod it so it fits your needs. But do not go up and arms against the developer for not including such choice just because it did not fit in their vision of the game.

hey, developers should pay close attention to the mod community and take heed, it is quite a good barometer of what the fans of your game actually enjoy. And if developers don't give their fans what they will enjoy then a competitor could step in and do that instead and you've lost a golden opportunity.

I have as much right to be "up in arms" about wanting a change as you have a right to be "up in arms" about wanting things to stay the same.

The developers can do what they like but the last thing I think anyone wants is for developers to think no one would like female characters in a competitive multilayer shooter when they would actually be very well received.

 

[Wicky_42]

personally i think its simply easier to only include male characters, for example:

larger builds are slower and resist more damage (like the heavy), whereas smaller builds are faster but yet resist less damage (like the scout).

adding in females on top of this formula makes this more complicated.

imagine a female heavy :S that doesn't really fit.

That's actually a really good point which has to do with the game mechanics and not social pressure. Excellent job sir!

imagine a female heavy :S that doesnt really fit.

Wow, a fat woman. How does that "not fit"?

I don't know if you intended it but it really does come across that you find it OK for a guy to be big, fat and strong but women would be well...

:S

I'd only get that problem if I tried to see her in a sexual way, but to spite cultural perceptions it does not help to look at all women in terms of sexual appeal. Imagine if every woman saw Heavy in that way... very few women would like him to spite his inherent appeal as a character.

Just thought you'd like to think a bit more on the issue, Jumbo Palace.

 

[Sgt Hyabusa]

I agree that it's dissapointing, although I understand the developer's lack of time and money, but to me it seems like a relatively small problem. Not that I'm sexist, but one of the points in the game is the idea behind characterization. At points in the game, mainly loading screens or lobbies, the characters interact with eachother, expressing feelings about the situation and task at hand. These exchanges would in real life dramatically differ if females were included. This would call for a massive amount of effort on the devs part, and that's simply something they don't have the time for. Granted they COULD have planned for this at the begining, but again, that'd take a lot more time and money. So while it is a bit annoying, I don't think the game should be frowned upon because of it. At least all the male characters don't act like Duke Nukem.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

Does thinking that this is good because I would feel bad shooting women make me sexist or outdated?

No, just chauvinistic.

Spoiler: Now THIS is sexist and outdated:

If by sexist and outdated you mean hilariously sexist and outdated.

And now for something sexist and RECENT.

 

[Gigano]

Could the character customization options of this action game have been better? -- Sure.

Is the fact that it isn't worth getting offended over in any way or form? -- Nope.

...Not like I had any trouble playing as Bayonetta, and if I happen to play a game where the character customization options are exclusively female, then I might just live through that too. Though I will of course make my anguished cries over such horrific and undoubtedly deliberately malicious sexism heard throughout all the ages of the world wonder for a few seconds why there's only a female gender option, before creating a female avatar and joining in on the fun.

But then again, I had trouble seeing what the whole Rapelay controversy was about too, considering nobody had been hurt by the thing. Guess that's one of the effects of occasionally working with the actual and serious problems real life women are facing, when they get so bad that laws are involved. Who the fuck cares that you can't play as a girl in Brink, or whatever some distant hentai game is about, when there's immeasurable amounts of real women out there with actual problems in need of support?

Anyone - man or woman - who have time to be offended by this should be on their god damn knees thanking whatever stars gave them such easy and carefree fate. They obviously don't know the first thing about any actual discrimination or misogyny whatsoever.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Honestly, I don't care if I have to play a transgendered Labrador Retriever with a tophat and Doc Martens, I care if it's a good game, and it would be awesome if people focused on that more than the incidentals.

I WOULD PLAY A GAME WITH THAT CHARACTER EVEN IF IT SUCKED.

Like Okami only with Monocles.

 

[Wicky_42]

Solution: make it an all female cast.

Seriously, set it in a future where for whatever reason 99% to 100% of the population are female. I mean who would care? Women wouldn't feel left out and really are guys going to complain?

If this obstacle of dual-genders is such a challenge then why should developers so often give up on female characters and focus 100% on males?

I think for developers who have in the past decided to go 100% male cast for the simplicity of animation and interactions, then for each game they should take it in turns, one game go all male, then the next game go all female.

I'm no feminist, nor even female, I am just fed up of so many games being sausage-fests. I want to see more females in games even if it means to the exclusion of all male characters.

I don't expect nor particularly want them scantily clad, just distinctly women, warrioresses

I would be down with that - go all alternate universe or whatever, or even not explain anything; TF2 is all male, Brink is as well, CoD and Battlefield as well; just make a game with an all-female cast, of all types and characters, and make no comment on it. Just put it out there as if nothing was different, and laugh at the double-standards of anyone who gets worked up at it.

It shouldn't be an exception to the rule to have a female lead, but most games have do actually have female characters as little more than love interests for the player character, if that. I think that the idea all female characters have to be attractive is flawed and disappointing (see all the comments of 'you can't have a female heavy - it wouldn't look right' for how the current trend has become so deep-seated), and the most basic way of dealing with it is just to increase the quantity of female characters. When they're no longer a novelty you can tackle the clichés. Once you've cliché-busted you're on track for well-rounded characters and the ability to get more out of your cast to tell more interesting plots.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

Honestly, I don't care if I have to play a transgendered Labrador Retriever with a tophat and Doc Martens, I care if it's a good game, and it would be awesome if people focused on that more than the incidentals.

I WOULD PLAY A GAME WITH THAT CHARACTER EVEN IF IT SUCKED.

Like Okami only with Monocles.

Or a sequel to Psychonauts.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Does thinking that this is good because I would feel bad shooting women make me sexist or outdated?

No, just chauvinistic.

Spoiler: Now THIS is sexist and outdated:

If by sexist and outdated you mean hilariously sexist and outdated.

And now for something sexist and RECENT.

ROFL the ending of that is just precious xD

 

[PhiMed]

Does thinking that this is good because I would feel bad shooting women make me sexist or outdated?

No, just chauvinistic.

Spoiler: Now THIS is sexist and outdated:

If by sexist and outdated you mean hilariously sexist and outdated.

And now for something sexist and RECENT.

LOL. "I withdraw my offer of sex, and shall scuttle away in horror."

 

[PhiMed]

personally i think its simply easier to only include male characters, for example:

larger builds are slower and resist more damage (like the heavy), whereas smaller builds are faster but yet resist less damage (like the scout).

adding in females on top of this formula makes this more complicated.

imagine a female heavy :S that doesn't really fit.

That's actually a really good point which has to do with the game mechanics and not social pressure. Excellent job sir!

imagine a female heavy :S that doesnt really fit.

Wow, a fat woman. How does that "not fit"?

I don't know if you intended it but it really does come across that you find it OK for a guy to be big, fat and strong but women would be well...

:S

I'd only get that problem if I tried to see her in a sexual way, but to spite cultural perceptions it does not help to look at all women in terms of sexual appeal. Imagine if every woman saw Heavy in that way... very few women would like him to spite his inherent appeal as a character.

Just thought you'd like to think a bit more on the issue, Jumbo Palace.

LOL. Sarcasm clearly is never lost on you.

 

[zehydra]

It doesn't matter if a game has female characters, male characters or both. They could be gender neutral for all we care.

Does it matter?

no.

 

[binvjoh]

Lazy developers.

It's not like it would take that much work.

I hope thats sarcasm, as someone elsehas already stated in another very long post, it would take quite a lot of work actually

And obviously they must be right.

 

[Wicky_42]

LOL. Sarcasm clearly is never lost on you.

Exactly :]

 

[Gottesstrafe]

It shouldn't be an exception to the rule to have a female lead, but most games have do actually have female characters as little more than love interests for the player character, if that. I think that the idea all female characters have to be attractive is flawed and disappointing (see all the comments of 'you can't have a female heavy - it wouldn't look right' for how the current trend has become so deep-seated), and the most basic way of dealing with it is just to increase the quantity of female characters. When they're no longer a novelty you can tackle the clichés. Once you've cliché-busted you're on track for well-rounded characters and the ability to get more out of your cast to tell more interesting plots.

Once they reach protagonist status though, they'd be given very little choice. Most MALE protagonists are granted their role via the virtue of being the most handsome character of the lot (or at least the least aesthetically handicapped). You don't often get ugly SOBs like Kratos or Marcus Fenix.

To be fair, some of the female Heavy skins are actually shaping up pretty nicely.

http://chemicalalia.deviantart.com/art/Female-Heavy-134774670?offset=30

http://chemicalalia.deviantart.com/art/More-female-Heavy-stuff-143198963

http://chemicalalia.deviantart.com/art/Female-Heavy-views-145112064

 

[zehydra]

A large number of guys tend to play as females in FPS's anyway because of smaller hitboxes. Not just because they're female.

-_-

 

[Wicky_42]

Lazy developers.

It's not like it would take that much work.

I hope thats sarcasm, as someone elsehas already stated in another very long post, it would take quite a lot of work actually

What it would basically come down to would be a doubling of some (NOT all) customisation items and maybe variants on animations as necessary. Everything else is mountains out of molehills. Honestly don't think that it would have been too much to expect as only 1 gender basically halves the customisation options for players but less that doubles the work required.

That said, it's the dev's prerogative, and Valve's decision to have an all-male cast in TF2's (a game comparable in some respects) only received some casual jokes over its years.