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

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

One of the issues with different character models is that it will affect balance. If the female model is slightly thinner or shorter then that's a smaller hitbox that will be harder to hit (even if it's just a dozen pixels difference that will be an advantage in the long term)

Everyone has heard of the inbalance of oddjob's model from Goldeneye, and while it won't be anywhere near as bad as that, you will find people who will see this ever so slight advantage as imbalanced.

I know, you'd think they would just copy/paste the same hitboxes or something.
While I understand the need for different hitbox sizes in say, Team Fortress 2, Seeing how the way COD works, It shouldn't be an issue to give every PC the same Hitbox.

 

[Nosirrah]

*Slow clap*

Well done, only took you, what? 10 years?

 

[Colour Scientist]

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.

Even then, they'll still probably hate you!

 

[ShinyCharizard]

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

Yeah same. Until they make the multiplayer less of a clusterfuck designed for people with ADHD I won't be getting it.

 

[the December King]

As an acknowledgement of female soldiers and equality, I say it's a great and positive step. But if they act any differently, have any edge, or do not preform otherwise like their male counterpart in the services/army/whatever, then I'm not so impressed. After all grunts no matter their gender have to conform and be part of a unit first and foremost.

Captcha says: tea with milk.

Heh...

captcha called me on being a sissy.

 

[Frankster]

Heh for some reason i'm not surprised that its kotaku being the one to break the news xD

Anyways good for them, id be curious to see what general reception of the cod community is to this announcement...

 

[MarsProbe]

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.

I seem to recall reading about the reasons from Brink's (remember that?) reason for not including female characters for selection was that it was going to cost too much to create a separate base model for the female avatars. OK, so I don't really know anything about that developer so maybe they were strapped for cash but really? They can't stretch to making female avatars? This was also the time that that most feminine of shooter series, Gears of War, had offered female characters both in single and multiplayer, so really, there shouldn't have been an excuse there.

Still, in a COD title, I can somehow see this being messy. I'm just glad I won't be around to see it.

 

[generals3]

I can safely say I don't care. Neither am I planning to buy CoD nor is the inclusion of female avatars in MP of any concern to me. To be totally honest i'd go as far as saying it may even be a negative point for me. It suggests they invested time in something I don't care about instead of something I may have actually liked.

PS: Who wants to predict a huge increase in teabagging? ^^

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Good. CoD has all the resources it needs to have female character models available for multiplayer. It's not a realistic depiction of combat so it doesn't have to be accurate to the military necessarily either. There are really no excuses for a game like CoD that hardly has to change anything else about itself between iterations.

 

[TehCookie]

CoD lets you play as a human? I always thought you were a floating gun. I never was interested in the series and adding a woman isn't going to change that. For those who wanted it though, yay for you.

Capcatcha: i know nothing!
Well at least someone/something is on my wavelength.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Oh God, all them teenage boys on Xbox Live are gonna have a field day with this.

 

[shadowuser10141]

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.

Well, if I learned something on the escapists forums is that white straight cisgender men always whine. Even when everything is going their way they find straws to grasp and then go on building strawmen to cry about the women, the transgenders or any other minority having too much privileges and using them to make their games gay.

They are such crybabies.

On topic, I can't say I'm really proud of them to include this option this late. But it's still a step in the right direction, so they deserve a pat on the head.

Straight white male who whines about minorities. Totally not a strawman.
Contradicted yourself in your own post.

Life is difficult for all of us and you will learn that once you take the chip off your shoulder.

Disclaimer: I am 100% in favor of diversity in the playerbase and the games themselves.

 

[wulf3n]

Well, if I learned something on the escapists forums is that white straight cisgender men always whine. Even when everything is going their way they find straws to grasp and then go on building strawmen to cry about the women, the transgenders or any other minority having too much privileges and using them to make their games gay.

They are such crybabies.

On topic, I can't say I'm really proud of them to include this option this late. But it's still a step in the right direction, so they deserve a pat on the head.

Is this Irony? It feels like irony.

Complaining about people grasping at straws to whine, only to grasp at straws to whine.

Pro-equalists: Give us more diversity Games Industry.
Games Industry: Ok.
Pro-equalists: What took you so long?

So rather than showing gratitude that developers/publishers are listening you criticism them.




OT:

I get the feeling this is going to be one of those situations where no one that plays CoD cares, and all of those who do care don't care enough to go out and buy CoD.

So when the game sells the lowest number of copies it has in years, most likely due to the current economic climate the blame will ultimately be laid upon the inclusion of female player models and gender diversity in games will be set back another 20 years.

 

[Yuuki]

I don't get what's the big deal about being able to play as a female soldier in a multiplayer shooter for two extremely obvious reasons:

1) It's a multiplayer first person shooter. You can't see anything other than your gun/hands, as far as you're concerned you're nothing more than a camera hovering 5 feet above the ground. Now you can be a *female* camera! Alrighty then...?

2) The hitbox, shape, proportions, size, etc of the female model will have to be identical of the male model for balance purposes, every pixel counts since this is a competitive shooter. Considering gender is purely a physical aspect (as far as games go), if all physical aspects are the same, what is the meaning of gender? Nobody is characterized in multiplayer, nobody has personality, everyone is just a tool to be used and discarded.

This isn't an RPG or MMO where you can spend hours appreciating your sexy male/female model and dressing them up.

But whatever, if this is cause for some kind of celebration then celebrate away, I don't want to ruin the moment. If there is some kind of mysterious female demographic out there for whom the lack of female soldiers was the only reason they couldn't get into Call Of Duty Multiplayer, I guess this is what they've been waiting for.

More inclusivity = better.

Hopefully other FPS games *cough* Battlefield *cough* will pick up on this, since they're already trying to copy CoD anyway.

What's the point, considering:
1) You've never played Battlefield MP
2) You most likely aren't interested in ever playing Battlefield MP

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Halo's had this for years, and nearly 90% of people playing as females in Halo were male, so I don't see that changing here. I can't wait for white knights to start complaining about how hurting women is terrible, even though most women don't give a fuck a fuck.

 

[CloudAtlas]

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.

That's precisely what I had in mind; glad to see that no one went down this (extremely stupid) line of reasoning, yet.

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.

Even if it doesn't matter to other players, it can still make a difference for the player who is choosing to play as woman. The last online shooter I played was Planetside 2. Leading squads and platoons as female soldier made me feel a bit like Commander Shepard or Wreck-It-Ralph's Sgt. Calhoun, and that was kinda cool.
Plus, female player models don't necessarily need different mocap. Many games that do feature female player models don't have that, I think. You won't achieve perfect results without, sure, but it would do.

One of the issues with different character models is that it will affect balance. If the female model is slightly thinner or shorter then that's a smaller hitbox that will be harder to hit (even if it's just a dozen pixels difference that will be an advantage in the long term)

Everyone has heard of the inbalance of oddjob's model from Goldeneye, and while it won't be anywhere near as bad as that, you will find people who will see this ever so slight advantage as imbalanced.

I'd be very surprised if female player models end up notably slimmer or smaller than their male counterparts, or if there are any gameplay differences at all. I don't think anybody would want that.

I seem to recall reading about the reasons from Brink's (remember that?) reason for not including female characters for selection was that it was going to cost too much to create a separate base model for the female avatars. OK, so I don't really know anything about that developer so maybe they were strapped for cash but really? They can't stretch to making female avatars? This was also the time that that most feminine of shooter series, Gears of War, had offered female characters both in single and multiplayer, so really, there shouldn't have been an excuse there.

Yea, I don't believe that for a second. Not ever. How much can it cost to design a few base models, and record some female sounds and voice snippets? You don't need anything else. The only reason for this being too expensive is that you just don't care about it at all. Anyway, much older modern military shooter featured female player models before. Joint Operations, for example, released 9 years ago, had them.

Edit:

I can't wait for white knights to start complaining about how hurting women is terrible, even though most women don't give a fuck a fuck.

I can't remember anyone who actually plays games of this kind complaining about that, so you might be in for a long wait here.

 

[Playful Pony]

I've kinda given up on CoD, but I really like that they did this... I'm used to not being able to play as a female so I can't really say it bothers me too much when I can't, but whenever there is a female option available I'll go for that one (with a few exceptions, such as in coop games with one female character that is utterly despicable... A nod of aproval from me, and should the game turn out to be good I might actually enjoy the benefits of this myself! ... Now come on Battlefield, you can't be any worse than them can you?

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 see how you can paint this as anything but a good thing. Besides, what they did was likely just slim down the waist of their male character slightly, add some slight buldges to the upper torso and make a new face or two! Planetside 2 and Blacklight: Retribution has had female characters for quite some time, so there is no reason why the biggest FPS franchise on the planet should be any worse... It's not like they don't have the resources!

 

[CloudAtlas]

I don't get what's the big deal about being able to play as a female soldier in a multiplayer shooter for two extremely obvious reasons:

1) It's a multiplayer first person shooter. You can't see anything other than your gun/hands, as far as you're concerned you're nothing more than a camera hovering 5 feet above the ground. Now you can be a *female* camera! Alrighty then...?

You still see your hands though, you have a female voice as well, and you know that other players see your female model. As I said in my previous post, doesn't have to be much to make you feel different.

Hopefully other FPS games *cough* Battlefield *cough* will pick up on this, since they're already trying to copy CoD anyway.

What's the point, considering:
1) You've never played Battlefield MP
2) You most likely aren't interested in ever playing Battlefield MP

This is no quote of mine. But for what it's worth, I played Battlefield MP; what I never played was CoD MP, nor am I interested in doing so. Still, I wanted to commend this move towards greater inclusiveness; credit where credit is due.

 

[A Weakgeek]

Well, if we're talking about realistic looking combat gear for women, its not exactly form fitting. I don't see why they'd have to do anything but make a new face texture (Since they'll be semi bald anyways) and just warp the waist area a little bit.

A bigger problem in my eyes would be infinity ward deciding to go overboard and make them look too different. Being in the Army is not a fashion statement, you're SUPPOSED to look the same, regardless of gender.

EDIT: Besides, if its made by infinite ward, its going to be 2 teams of quickscopers running around in ghillie suits. Slapping a female face into those green wookies shouldnt take more than 15 minutes.

 

[VodkaKnight]

I don't see how it makes a difference. Female soldiers probably won't be easily distinguishable from male ones at a glance.
Besides, the difference is just a minor cosmetic one.