"Call of Duty: Ghosts Features Female Soldiers in Multiplayer"

[CloudAtlas]

http://kotaku.com/call-of-duty-ghosts-features-female-soldiers-in-multip-1137930238

So even Call of Duty does it now. Why there's still any multiplayer title of that kind out there that doesn't offer you to play as woman is totally beyond me. I can't imagine any move that yields more inclusiveness for at lower cost. On top of that, it's a move towards greater inclusiveness that no male gamer could possibly find offensive. Or so I would think; I'm not naive.

 

[Lilani]

inb4 "But this isn't realistic, there aren't that many women on the front lines in the military!"

I'm happy for this news. The entire point of games like this is essentially wish fulfillment. Considering you just have to stand still for a few seconds to become fully healed after getting filled with enough bullets to take down a small troupe of elephants, I don't think a few women on the battlefield is going to affect the player's suspension of disbelief much further.

 

[Nonomori]

http://kotaku.com/call-of-duty-ghosts-features-female-soldiers-in-multip-1137930238

So even Call of Duty does it now. Why there's still any multiplayer title of that kind out there that doesn't offer you to play as woman is totally beyond me. I can't imagine any move that yields more inclusiveness for at lower cost. On top of that, it's a move towards greater inclusiveness that no male gamer could possibly find offensive. Or so I would think; I'm not naive.

Because it generally doesn't matter. You will see the person for two seconds before you blow their heads off and move on. Also, other than being a bit skinnier, with all the gear on is there really that much of a difference at first glance? I would rather them spend the time on balance (which the CoD series has always lacked it seems) than focusing on female player models, the mocap for them, and the customization on the player character.

I don't understand that logic. Why don't we have both? It's not like they don't have money or time to improve the franchise in thousands of different ways.

 

[rbstewart7263]

http://kotaku.com/call-of-duty-ghosts-features-female-soldiers-in-multip-1137930238

So even Call of Duty does it now. Why there's still any multiplayer title of that kind out there that doesn't offer you to play as woman is totally beyond me. I can't imagine any move that yields more inclusiveness for at lower cost. On top of that, it's a move towards greater inclusiveness that no male gamer could possibly find offensive. Or so I would think; I'm not naive.

Because it generally doesn't matter. You will see the person for two seconds before you blow their heads off and move on. Also, other than being a bit skinnier, with all the gear on is there really that much of a difference at first glance? I would rather them spend the time on balance (which the CoD series has always lacked it seems) than focusing on female player models, the mocap for them, and the customization on the player character.

I don't understand that logic. Why don't we have both? It's not like they don't have money or time to improve the franchise in thousands of different ways.

Truly this isnt some indie developer here. after this theyl just keep reusing models adn stuff anyway.

 

[tomtom94]

I think the fact that it's such a minor thing is, paradoxically, why it's so great that they have chosen to do it. They could have gone "No, you know what, it's not worth it", but they didn't.

That said, it needs to be implemented well. Not like, say, Bomberman: Act Zero.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

While I give them props for this, I'd say it'd just boil down to just clicking a box to get a different voice.
It reminds me of Halo's option, aside from the voice, I couldn't find any other difference between the Male and Female models.
Not that it's a bad thing mind, just saying they will more or less all look exactly the same.

 

[Nonomori]

http://kotaku.com/call-of-duty-ghosts-features-female-soldiers-in-multip-1137930238

So even Call of Duty does it now. Why there's still any multiplayer title of that kind out there that doesn't offer you to play as woman is totally beyond me. I can't imagine any move that yields more inclusiveness for at lower cost. On top of that, it's a move towards greater inclusiveness that no male gamer could possibly find offensive. Or so I would think; I'm not naive.

Because it generally doesn't matter. You will see the person for two seconds before you blow their heads off and move on. Also, other than being a bit skinnier, with all the gear on is there really that much of a difference at first glance? I would rather them spend the time on balance (which the CoD series has always lacked it seems) than focusing on female player models, the mocap for them, and the customization on the player character.

I don't understand that logic. Why don't we have both? It's not like they don't have money or time to improve the franchise in thousands of different ways.

It is just the way I saw it. No team, even if it IS Infinity Ward has an unlimited amount of resources and money. Considering that they never had female character models in the recent games means they can't just touch up the old wiremodels with a new coat of paint as they generally do. They would need to create a new character model, new wire model, new mo cap for that character, new customization. Depending on the amount of customization, it could take quite a few resources and quite a lot of time that could have been better spent on the balancing of the multiplayer, not just a new coat of skin.

Then again, I believe that balancing goes first and foremost before fancy graphics/customization.

I wouldn't consider "female soldier" as fancy customization. Actually, it's a very common characteristic among human beings.

It's okay that you have a preference, but these supposed balancing problems do not occur due to lack of time or resources. It's not like they had neglected gameplay to focus in customization, after all, they announced a bunch of new modes and tweaks. "We went through every single system in the game", said the executive producer. Maybe you'll have what you want.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

Oh boy. Some CoD fanboys abused and threatened game developer because of change in SMG performance and now can you imagine their reaction to this? It's gonna be glorious. Although, that did spark my interest in Ghosts multiplayer I gotta admit.

 

[hazabaza1]

Cool.
Still not going to get it until they make the multiplayer less shitty but this is a good thing.

 

[Korten12]

Cool.
Still not going to get it until they make the multiplayer less shitty but this is a good thing.

From what I gather, the only way to make it "less shitty" to the escapist community would to turn it into Battlefield or Counter Strike.

 

[EternallyBored]

http://kotaku.com/call-of-duty-ghosts-features-female-soldiers-in-multip-1137930238

So even Call of Duty does it now. Why there's still any multiplayer title of that kind out there that doesn't offer you to play as woman is totally beyond me. I can't imagine any move that yields more inclusiveness for at lower cost. On top of that, it's a move towards greater inclusiveness that no male gamer could possibly find offensive. Or so I would think; I'm not naive.

Because it generally doesn't matter. You will see the person for two seconds before you blow their heads off and move on. Also, other than being a bit skinnier, with all the gear on is there really that much of a difference at first glance? I would rather them spend the time on balance (which the CoD series has always lacked it seems) than focusing on female player models, the mocap for them, and the customization on the player character.

I don't understand that logic. Why don't we have both? It's not like they don't have money or time to improve the franchise in thousands of different ways.

It is just the way I saw it. No team, even if it IS Infinity Ward has an unlimited amount of resources and money. Considering that they never had female character models in the recent games means they can't just touch up the old wiremodels with a new coat of paint as they generally do. They would need to create a new character model, new wire model, new mo cap for that character, new customization. Depending on the amount of customization, it could take quite a few resources and quite a lot of time that could have been better spent on the balancing of the multiplayer, not just a new coat of skin.

Then again, I believe that balancing goes first and foremost before fancy graphics/customization.

Yeah but balance isn't handled by the same people who do character models and texturing, so time isn't really relevant in that department. Also it sounds like this change is being made as part of a whole new soldier customization addition so if it does go through like that then the female character models were likely created as part of that system along with a whole slew of male options. As much as you may prefer they focus on balance, throwing animators and artists at a programming issue accomplishes nothing, neither really does throwing more money at it if you've already got your playtesters and coders working full-time, after a certain point just throwing cash at something starts to have diminishing returns. Still, all the modeling in the world won't save a game if it isn't programmed and tested right, but with how much budget gets thrown into CoD games I doubt their programmers are hurting for funding at the moment.

 

[hazabaza1]

Cool.
Still not going to get it until they make the multiplayer less shitty but this is a good thing.

From what I gather, the only way to make it "less shitty" to the escapist community would to turn it into Battlefield or Counter Strike.

I'd be fine with more focus on the actual gunplay and less one hit kills, perks, killstreaks, deathstreaks, level ups, etc etc.

 

[Evonisia]

I think it's a positive thing, I've been waiting for it to get through Infinity Ward's or Treyarch's skulls for years now.

It's a shame that, besides a few minor things, Ghosts looks like shit so I won't be getting it, unless there's some circumstance in which I obtain one unwittingly.

 

[Tayh]

Good for CoD. Really. And I don't even like CoD.
Hopefully other FPS games *cough* Battlefield *cough* will pick up on this, since they're already trying to copy CoD anyway.

 

[Hazy992]

And thus, Xbox Live douchebags will start shouting 'Tits or GTFP!' not just at female players, but at the in-game soldiers themselves.

That was my first thought as well. If there's one thing you can rely on the COD Xbox Live community for, it's sexism, racism, homophobia, basically insulting anyone who's not a straight, white, cisgendered male.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Nice move from IW. Nothing (that I can imagine anyway) that would be all that difficult to implement, and yet could make a world of difference to some people, and hell since lots of companies apparently copy CoD, this may lead to more females in games in generals, which is a good start.

 

[MCerberus]

The weird part?

CoD2 has a level where the first NPC you see is a female sniper while nazi propaganda is blasted at your hiding spot
CoD4 has the chopper pilot that provided air support for you. She was shot down and started taking pot shots at the enemy while you try to save your comrade. No mention of gender, she was just there.

So what took so long?