Poll: If female characters were given an advantage....

[WindKnight]

Totally unbalanced, feministic bullshit. That is all.

I was going to say this in a less harsh manner.

Not much discussion value, OP, it's quite an obvious answer. Even if you think all women are inherently better than men, then you've got to admit that the game would be unbalanced and not fun for anyone who prefers to play a male character.

again, I've watched a number of anime where the plot device described is applied that makes women superior in this manner (usually its just to justify an all female cast so the male viewers have more cheesecake to look at).

Well, that isn't anywhere near what you asked, is it?
Of-course that is done in anime, and stuff like that, for sexual reasons mostly.
But it's not in the least connected to what you said.

But let's not bicker and argue about quasi-politic-gender views. I'm in a great mood!
I just became an uncle!

I was just wondering about seeing that same logic applied to a game, and how people would react to it.

 

[Risingblade]

We would have even more guys playing as girls and hitting on each other?

 

[BanthaFodder]

I'd say it's an unbalanced game made by some whiney feminist dumbass to prove that anyone with a vagina is an exclusive member of the master race.
also, a ton of guys would play as girls for a legitimate reason, so they'd get mixed in with the creepy guys who play as girls to get their jollies.

 

[disfunkybob]

If it was multiplayer, I would be surprised if it made it out the door. If it were the other way around, I would say the same thing.

If we are using it as a plot device, like the anime you suggested, then that's fine. We've seen that story. Men can't do something that women can. But then usually there is some kind of negating force to help the men keep it balanced.

If we are talking about hypotheticals, I would play as the woman until they nerfed women.

 

[sumanoskae]

It's unbalanced and possibly the pseudo social commentary of some pretentious douchebag of a designer.

 

[tokae]

Totally unbalanced, feministic bullshit. That is all.

I was going to say this in a less harsh manner.

Not much discussion value, OP, it's quite an obvious answer. Even if you think all women are inherently better than men, then you've got to admit that the game would be unbalanced and not fun for anyone who prefers to play a male character.

again, I've watched a number of anime where the plot device described is applied that makes women superior in this manner (usually its just to justify an all female cast so the male viewers have more cheesecake to look at).

Well, that isn't anywhere near what you asked, is it?
Of-course that is done in anime, and stuff like that, for sexual reasons mostly.
But it's not in the least connected to what you said.

But let's not bicker and argue about quasi-politic-gender views. I'm in a great mood!
I just became an uncle!

I was just wondering about seeing that same logic applied to a game, and how people would react to it.

Yes, I get that. And indeed, it could be a "fun" social-experiment.
But it's kind-of obvius how people react isn't it?

It's not really that I would mind the game as such.. But that whole under-laying mantra..

 

[WindKnight]

I had included a poll, but it seems the form decided to totally cut that out....

My options were - you would play as a male, for the challenge, play as a male as you would anyway, play a female for the bonuses, play as a female as you would have anyway, or just not play the game at all...

And to be honest, there have been a LOT of anime that have justified a largely female cast by saying women are better at whatever their plot device is.

The forums sometimes do that.

I believe the easy mode of Resident Evil 2 was played as a female, and the hard mode was played as a male. They were 2 different stories, though.

As for anime - I thought you were asking about games? This thread seems kind of sexist, don't you think?

Unless you're one of those feminists that think men are there only for reproductive purposes and heavy work and should otherwise stay out of the way. That's just horrible.

No, I just thought what would happen if the situation was applied to games. I'm the sort of person who notices things, thinks about them, and then wonder if the norm were flipped on their head, or someone tried to flip things on their head by, say, weighing the dice in one direction.

If it was applied to games, and your theoretical game was indeed produced and put onto the market, and the female characters were stronger in certain areas, then it would have to be balanced somehow. For instance, maybe female characters could be slightly faster and much better at magic, and male characters would be stronger, able to swing a sword faster and harder or shoot a bow and arrow longer and with more power.

Really, why not just make female characters if you're going to unbalance them like that?

Because some players might choose to play male anyway. There are those who pick th e hard option for the challenge, or pick the hard option not because its hard, but its because its what they want to be. They might want to ascribe themselves the persona of someone struggling against the odds an gender barriers.

 

[Feylynn]

Old.
It already exists in half a dozen anime and I just know the advertisements of the game would claim they were the first to the party.

That also is a poor example of how to do it in my eyes. Level rate doesn't really portray any difference in genders, if you are actually going to skew game balance I'd go with fire rate, reload times, and skill cool downs.
Then I say you should instead just exclude male characters entirely because skewed multiplayer game balance is a bad idea.

But if I step back and see this game coming out and deem it good enough looking to play then I'm happy with it because I usually only play female characters anyways.

Edit: Though apparently I'm the only one to not think it's bullshit, feminist, socially commentable.
There is all male character games everywhere, developers can make you play marble cheese if they so wish.
If this game is any of the above (excluding cheese) then Brink, Team Fortress Two, and Call of Duty are obviously conspiracy level male superiority hate generators that only exist to send the message that women are inferior.
This is NOT true, I don't see the opposite is true either.

 

[Xanadu84]

The inherit unbalance would hurt it greatly as an action game, and the mechanic would put it squarely into the realm of...for lack of a better word, lets say Art game. It's a game that is making some kind of social statement that is bound to surpass the game play itself in noticeability. Would it be an effective game at communicating a worthwhile idea? Maybe. But frankly, I see no way it could rise above being a self-defeating double standard.

 

[icame]

A new game has come out - its the bees knees, reveiwers and players are loving it, both singleplayer and multiplayer. its the hot new game, thats selling in droves...

And the basis of the game is that women are inherently better at whatever form of combat its based around. Whether its a mystical force, or a unique and powerful control system that women inherently adapt to faster and better, women are the primary force in the singleplayer, and to map this across to multiplayer by saying that female characters gain skills/ranks/abilities at a notably faster rate. A character of either gender starts even, and the nominal 'caps' are even, but a female character will gain those ranks and reach that cap faster than a male character. What would you make of this?

That it's an unbalanced game. What else is there to make of it?

The first post thread killer strikes again.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Totally unbalanced, feministic bullshit. That is all.

I don't think you understand the word "feminist."

Indeed I do, and I am of the belief that it's not needed in society, because it's very well covered from a socialistic political-view.

What if I think that men and women should be equal, but I don't think the government should run the economy into the ground?

 

[Canid117]

I would call it "Horrible design."

 

[Jennacide]

Pandering. And not even clever pandering.

I can think of one game only that has a difference in gender when you start out, but it's mostly cosmetic and unobtrusive, and that is Final Fantasy XI. (I know, SE doing something smart? I was shocked too) In FFXI, your baseline stats would have a minor variance based on gender. For instance, if you started as an Elvaan, females had a 1 agi bonus and 1 vit reduction from their male counterparts. In this fashion there is a difference in gender, but not one that makes either one substancially better at any task, but does differenciate them.

What I would like to see is a game do something like this, but not based on gender but build. Say for instance you take a game with a character creator like APB had, you make a light framed character of average height, you get a bonus to agility or something at the cost of strength. Then conversely you make them a muscle bound psycho and get the opposite bonuses.

 

[tokae]

Totally unbalanced, feministic bullshit. That is all.

I don't think you understand the word "feminist."

Indeed I do, and I am of the belief that it's not needed in society, because it's very well covered from a socialistic political-view.

What if I think that men and women should be equal, but I don't think the government should run the economy into the ground?

Ah, then the word you are looking for is equality my friend.
Nothing else.

 

[monstersquad]

You mean just like it is in real life? At least academically. But really, a rose by any other name is still sexist. Just like this idea. I identify witht the issues it's trying to fix, but you're forgetting that this kind of conflict is what gives life meaning. Inequalities, the way they're perceived and the way we interact with them are the driving force behind history. So don't go trying to fix what isn't permanently broken.

 

[MasterV]

again, I've watched a number of anime where the plot device described is applied that makes women superior in this manner (usually its just to justify an all female cast so the male viewers have more cheesecake to look at).

I was just wondering about seeing that same logic applied to a game, and how people would react to it.

Well, look. The cheesecake thing could probably be valid. But this kind of logic would be problematic in a video game. Miss Arendt sai it all in the first post really. It's just unbalanced. You're proposing a multiplayer game, with gender options where the female enjoys power-gaming abilities inherently. This will lead to

a)Munchkins making women just for the power gaming potential.
b)People who enjoy playing as a female making one and enjoying the scale tipping in their favour
c)Pissing off everyone else.

The anime you mention are targeted at a very specific audience. Thy are also non-interactive and not competitive in nature. If this was a single player only game then it sounds like an interesting idea for a gameworld.

It certainly hasn't happened before, but feminists would shoot it down because it would imply that being a woman makes life easier or some other crap They always find something to complain about. And yes they would. You described it as being the bee's knees and everyone is playing it. Not to mention disgruntled manchildren who will feel like their masculinity is being mocked by a game like this. A woman being superior to a man? Preposterous. It would create controversy at least.

 

[Thespian]

So everyone just picks females and half the content is useless...

 

[Tulks]

El Snippo

That it's an unbalanced game. What else is there to make of it?

/thread

OT: Replace male/female with character classes, and you get an existing source of complaints about RPGs, and to an extent games in general, since before they migrated to digital media. Why would splitting the same power imbalance along gender lines instead solve the problem.

If the aim is to make it more of a difficulty selection, or to allow for self-imposed challenges, the former would give me a little cause to worry about unfortunate implications and the latter can be done without much help from the designer.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Totally unbalanced, feministic bullshit. That is all.

I don't think you understand the word "feminist."

Indeed I do, and I am of the belief that it's not needed in society, because it's very well covered from a socialistic political-view.

What if I think that men and women should be equal, but I don't think the government should run the economy into the ground?

Ah, then the word you are looking for is equality my friend.
Nothing else.

AKA feminism, when discussing gender equality.

 

[Dragonpit]

I was just wondering about seeing that same logic applied to a game, and how people would react to it.

Then you have your answer. Most people would call it an unbalanced game, with some people labeling it as an attempt at feminism (whether they'd be right or not is up in the air). Visually speaking, you're right, it could be attractive to male gamers, but on a purely practical perspective, it'd be questionable.

Also, whether it would be a good game anyway or not is also up in the air.