"Forced Castration" Coming to Age of Wushu

[knight steel]

For all you people saying Awesome-I wonder How you would react if the gender were swapped?

My guess there would be a huge outcry and anyone supporting the game would be called a misogynist but because It's a guy I guess it ok.

Don't get me wrong I think it's a cool idea regardless of the gender if it happened to a female avatar I would like the idea just as much.

I'm just pointing the hypocritical double standard is all.

 

[Jaegerwolf]

Well first, do the male character models actually COME with genitals? If not then there isn't really much difference now is there, unless they modified all the pants to not have a bulge.

Non-consensual sexual violence.. That's.. Some very bad moral ground right there. I'm quite against this in any game, the force part anyway, the whole having to decide to join them and chopping your junk off is interesting dilema, but else..

As to the non-consensual ACTUAL violence? Yes I get your point but is this REALLY that different then shoving a sword through a guy's chest?

Oh god what no that's not... AAAAAAAAH!

If I ever play Age Of Wushu I will DEFINITELY make a female character.

You sure? It's also got a mechanic for kidnapping female chars and selling them into sex slavery. This is one f@$#ed up MMO.

Wait...are you serious?

 

[Yuuki]

Oh god what no that's not... AAAAAAAAH!

If I ever play Age Of Wushu I will DEFINITELY make a female character.

You sure? It's also got a mechanic for kidnapping female chars and selling them into sex slavery. This is one f@$#ed up MMO.

You call it fucked up, I call it experimental/adventurous. At least the developers have the balls (no pun intended) to put whatever mechanic they feel like in their game without fear of getting swamped by the "omg this offends us" brigade

If it ultimately fits the game's theme/gameplay and turns out to be a fun mechanic, the game will succeed. Fantasy is fantasy, fun is fun, no matter how fucked up. Criticism revolving solely around "well this is fucked up" will fall flat, because there are games where you can walk around the streets brutally murdering people with household objects and that didn't stop the game becoming a massive hit (Manhunt).

Or as the rule goes in Japan, "everyone is free to indulge in whatever fantasy they like - as long it doesn't affect anyone around them negatively, and doesn't break the law". Sounds like heaven for artists/developers to basically go nuts, no wonder we get crazy awesome devs like Suda51 out of that country and nowhere else

 

[Jandau]

Spoiler: So I'm guessing this is the faction leader?

Seriously though, while this is definitely kinda messed up, I do have to applaud a certain level of experimental daring. People always talk about wanting to see games push certain boundaries. Well, here's one being pushed. Probably not the one we had in mind, but still, it's something.

Though I do have to wonder if characters can go on a wang-restoring quest of some kind?

 

[Sectan]

Well first, do the male character models actually COME with genitals? If not then there isn't really much difference now is there, unless they modified all the pants to not have a bulge.

Non-consensual sexual violence.. That's.. Some very bad moral ground right there. I'm quite against this in any game, the force part anyway, the whole having to decide to join them and chopping your junk off is interesting dilema, but else..

As to the non-consensual ACTUAL violence? Yes I get your point but is this REALLY that different then shoving a sword through a guy's chest?

Both getting your bits chopped off and getting a sword through your chest are awful, but the sword through the chest is just violence with a quick stab stab done. whereas the castration is borderline and probably crossing over into torture territory. And it takes a pretty eh..."Different" kind of mind to torture someone compared to just killing them.

How it works in an MMO I guess we'll see. Although if somebody ever told me castration was a mechanic in an MMO I'd probably look for a reason to politely get to the other side of the room as fast as possible.

 

[dragongit]

Ummmm... no thanks. I could play a game where my life is at stake, I could be sliced open and gutted, my eye ripped from their sockets and my flesh burnt like bad KFC... but having my junk be under attack crosses the line for me.

 

[Spiritmaster]

Well I suppose people won't get "raped" as hard in pvp anymore (huehuehue) but yeah, pass for me, though the idea of this kind of addition to a game could be interesting in a more story driven rpg rather than an mmorpg.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Two thoughts went through my mind while reading this article.

1. "Why would they do this?"
2. "I guess they can forget about teabagging him afterwards."

Was this actually a big thing in China back in the day? I'm curious as to if they can at least try to hang onto the pretense of "historical accuracy", or if this is just some weird take on the "nutshots" in Combat Arms.

 

[Deathfish15]

Every MMO has to have it's "thing" to attract new players, I guess it's this game's to remove it....

 

[Abomination]

Two thoughts went through my mind while reading this article.

1. "Why would they do this?"
2. "I guess they can forget about teabagging him afterwards."

Was this actually a big thing in China back in the day? I'm curious as to if they can at least try to hang onto the pretense of "historical accuracy", or if this is just some weird take on the "nutshots" in Combat Arms.

Oh yes. Household guards and some generals too. Being castrated was sort of like... marrying the Emperor as a dude. It was the ultimate pledge of loyalty and trust.

An Emperor liked the idea of castrated generals because it meant a coup in an attempt to establish their on dynasty was essentially impossible. This allowed for generals to be granted incredible powers and responsibility without the concern of revolt.

 

[piinyouri]

I actually find the idea of a guild/faction comprised of eunuchs to be a pretty awesome idea, considering the games setting.
Why are they automatically an "evil" group though aside from the castration tactics(which I admit I could do without. Just give me an androgynous master swords man to run around with)

 

[ycc]

I know this sounds weird but this seems more like a homage to a famous wuxia novel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smiling,_Proud_Wanderer) where there exists this forbidden swordplay skill that required castration before you can proceed training. Few of the characters secretly did it and managed to become really powerful, but got kind of messed up (in the head) in the process.

Not sure about the forced part though...

 

[OtherSideofSky]

Well, that does sound like the kind of thing that might happen in some of the martial arts novels I've read while practicing my Mandarin...

Still, what sort of things did you do in Soldier of Fortune? I remember literally nothing except the egregious loading times.

 

[ycc]

I know this sounds weird but this seems more like a homage to a famous wuxia novel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smiling,_Proud_Wanderer) where there exists this forbidden swordplay skill that required castration before you can proceed training. Few of the characters secretly did it and managed to become really powerful, but got kind of messed up (in the head) in the process.

Not sure about the forced part though...

Oh I missed the fact that the skill is called "Sunflower Manual" so yeah this is a direct homage to the novel. You can just google "sunflower manual" if you want some lore. Had to do with the fact that it was written by an eunuch or something like that.

 

[Lonewolfm16]

Two thoughts went through my mind while reading this article.

1. "Why would they do this?"
2. "I guess they can forget about teabagging him afterwards."

Was this actually a big thing in China back in the day? I'm curious as to if they can at least try to hang onto the pretense of "historical accuracy", or if this is just some weird take on the "nutshots" in Combat Arms.

Eunuchs being a important social class in ancient china, totally true. They would castrate rapists, prisoners of war, and other criminals and make them into slaves. They also served as harem guards, which makes sense. Some castrated themselves to get jobs serving the emperor and became very very powerful. But armies of eunuchs ambushing, castrating, and then offering membership is somewhat less accurate.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I recently started playing this and I have no idea what I'm doing. It's one very weird MMO. And it's about to get weirder.

 

[Gatx]

What exactly is involved in castration? Is it just a label or title that shows whether or not you've been castrated? I mean, it's not like you can have kids or even sex in the game anyway. Might put a damper on any cybering you might hope to do though if you're walking around with a "eunuch" title.

So, I assume there's a reason for this, some lore or ancient tradition that explains why this is in?
Would be nice if the article covered it, instead of going "Kotaku" on it.

I'm not really an expert on Chinese history but I know eunuchs are present at least. Castration was a form of punishment, but a lot of the guard for the Emperor and people who worked in the Imperial palace at some point were also eunuchs for some reason. I've been told it was so they wouldn't be a threat towards the Emperor's concubines and daughters and what not, but it could also be kind of like an extreme form of a dick waving contest - no one who serves the Emperor may be more "manly" than he. That's just rampant speculation on my part though.

 

[Strazdas]

ALlowing players to force permanent world change in the game, thus giving more fredom? 100% behind this even if i dont play this game.

Both getting your bits chopped off and getting a sword through your chest are awful, but the sword through the chest is just violence with a quick stab stab done. whereas the castration is borderline and probably crossing over into torture territory. And it takes a pretty eh..."Different" kind of mind to torture someone compared to just killing them.

How it works in an MMO I guess we'll see. Although if somebody ever told me castration was a mechanic in an MMO I'd probably look for a reason to politely get to the other side of the room as fast as possible.

ALL violence is torture unless it resutls in death, in which case its murder.
you cant just slap someone and brush it of "its just violence".

 

[Karadalis]

I'd be "scared as dick" if a gang of eunuchs wanted to chop my manly bits off.
I need better jokes.

OT:
While this is strange as hell, it adds an awesome new mechanic to the MMO world. Track down and enemy, maim him without killing him, then releasing him with an invite to your clan? That's actually quite fantastic. Props to the guy(s) who thought of it.

How about we implement a gang rape feature useable against female chars while we are at it... because we sure as hell did it for male characters allready!

Imagine this: You "gang rape" a powerfull female avatar for a certain amount of time while good npcs and players try to stop you and once youre finished there is a little chance of them becomming psychologically damaged and if thats the case you get to send them an invite to your player run whorehouse....

The hell is wrong with you man? Advertising gang rape of male chars.. and lets face it this IS exactly what this is, as something "good"? Thats just sick.

Unless this was entirely sarcastic, in wich case i said nothing.