Poll: Would you not buy a game, if they gender swapped your hero?

[Bobular]

I think if you want to gender swap a character you do it like with Uncharted, Nathan Drake is basically gender swapped Lara Croft, but he's his own character too.

I would rather see a new character with simmer traits and game play then just changing an existing character for the sake of adding more female game characters.

In short more female characters not change existing ones.

 

[Ishigami]

It doesn't really matter. The gender of the protagonist is usually irrelevant.
What would really change if Link was female or Lara Croft was male? Nothing because their gender is at large irrelevant to the story or gameplay and it doesn't really say anything about our society anymore as well.
And this is true for the majority of video game protagonists.

Samus in the first Metroid worked because it was the 80ies. She was portrayed in a male gender role while her real sex was obscured by armour. The reveal therefore played with the gender role expectations of the audience which was mostly male.
But we are way past that.

Gender swap is a lame concept.
On one hand you can argue well if doesn't matter then why not do it and on the hand if it doesn't matter then why mess with it?
Ultimately I think established character should be left alone. New characters are the way to go for me.
Therefore, a gender swapped game will receive criticism from me for being unoriginal and I will be wary of it because it apparently felt the need to emphasis an utterly unimportant aspect.

In general I don't pick my games because of the genitals of the protagonist.
I had fun with Nathan Drake as much as with Lara Croft. What mostly matter is that the game is actually any good.

 

[Amaror]

Depends really. If we would be talking about a game like Zelda, were the main character is another person in every game any way, who's just another "chosen one", then I wouldn't really care about the gender-swap.
If, say, CDPR did a Witcher 4 game and turned the established Character of Geralt into a female, then no I wouldn't buy the game. Not because I don't want to play a female character, I would be totally on board with a game about Ciri for example, but rather because genderbending established character shows that the writers don't really have much respect for the materiel they are working with and I would not trust even CDPR to make a good story with an attitude like that.
This isn't just about genderbending, it's mostly in generell about writers disrespecting the materiel they work with. I don't like that. If you want to have a female character so bad, just make a new character or use one of the allready availible female characters. Don't change a character that's allready well established in a way that doesn't make sense.
In generell I don't really care about the gender/race or anything of the character I am playing as long as they are good characters. If it's a self-insert character that doesn't really have an unique personality I like to play as a male because that makes it easier for me to project myself into the character. If the character does have a strong personality then I will just roleplay that person, no matter if they are male/female white/black/asien or purple for all I care.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

No, because in an established series it just would be shameless pandering and games that do that are usually shite. That's basically it.

 

[flashoverride]

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[2HF]

And if we assume equal qualty, we are to assume that gender has no effect on quality since it is possibke to swap it and not affect quality at all...somehow...meaning that if you make any such choice based on gender you are choosing whether or not to get the games on criteria outside of quality, which is even MORE illogical, so I chose not to assume equal quality.

Choosing which gender you want to play as in damn near any game that allows the option doesn't affect the quality of the game, does it? I hear ME is better with female Shep but that's an outlier.

Actually it does, as you need to write far more script, develop time for animations and flags, and all that for an option most people will not actually use.

Am I the only one who sees the disrespect in demanding (and I don't mean asking but the more violent demanding) a female Link? The character was created by Shigeru Miyamoto as a memory of his childhood, why change it for idiotic gender wars?

Not the conversation we're having right now, but nice job missing the point.

The quality of the game already in existence does not change if you play it as a male or female. Skyrim is a finished game. Not one single reviewer gave it 2 different scores based on which gender they decided to play as. Same goes for every game with both genders as an option.

Did Miyamoto go around actually slaying creatures and rescuing princesses and defeating giant hulking evil men? I'm not demanding a change, I'm asking for one good solid reason as to why Link could not be female. Just one. If any franchise was ever perfectly capable of flipping the characters gender it's this one. You could not ask for a more perfect set up.

I don't care about your gender war. I saw someone somewhere say "what if Link was a girl" and I thought "that might be fun, and I see no reason why it couldn't happen, I'm all for it".

 

[Joccaren]

Depends on the game, and the character, and how its executed.

Imagine you're playing Mass Effect though, you save the game, and come back the next day. You load your save, and your character is completely different, and gender swapped. You wouldn't be impressed.
Same goes for any pre-established characters. Don't gender swap. Its lazy, its stupid, and it throws continuity errors in everywhere.

Say you've got a complete non-character like Doom-Guy though. No, even Master Cheif isn't a complete non-character. He's got a plot to him - as does Link [Not necessarily a plot 100% there for either of them not to change gender, sure the laws of the Zelda universe and the pattern of reincarnation could suddenly change from what's been going on the last few thousand years, and Master Cheif could just get a sex change 'cause reasons, but plot wise they are canonically male, and some form of a continuation of the same character. Throw in a new character, or use an already existing one. Don't just gender swap for EZs]. Complete non-characters... Who gives a fuck.

Honestly, though, I don't want gender swapped characters in general. I want good, new female characters. I mean, I want more games like the old Rare classics today. I don't demand Call fo Duty turns into a Rare classic styled game, and I wouldn't buy it if it did 'cause that'd just be insulting and stupid to the people who love CoD. Likewise, I don't take changing characters that are already established all that well. Its lazy, stupid, and trying to pander to another audience at the expense of existing fans. Get a new character, and make them a female, and make them good. Its more respectful to everyone, and better for everyone.

 

[Pirate Of PC Master race]

Spoiler

Now also picture him up striking outrageous sexy poses.

You have my attention.
Go on.

 

[jklinders]

*Shrug*

it's just a character model and a voice so whatever. I'd be tempted to ask as I do in all gender flip discussions though...why? What is it with this trend of taking established characters and gender flipping them? Can it be about empowerment of the gender flipped to? Is it an attempt to gain more audience for the character? Are they running out of ideas for the character? None of these are terribly convincing arguments to do it. The first could just as easily be done with a new character the second and third reasons are either laziness or desperation.

A lot of the time these days it looks like it's trying to profit off of the outrage machine of the internet. If so, bravo. Doesn't really do much for the medium though.

 

[HybridChangeling]

Like I said the last time and the last time and the last time and the last...

It doesn't matter to me, if it's fun and it's smart then that is it. The gender of the character is probably the least of my worries. A female Master Chief or Krato's wouldn't matter to me, and I would have equal interest in them. I don't need anatomy to connect or hate a character, because a characters main existence is in personality, tone, and writing.

 

[Captain Marvelous_v1legacy]

I'd honestly prefer it if an established female character got her own game. Instead of gender bending Sora, I'd rather play a game with Kairi. I don't mind the idea of gender swapping characters, but all they'd really be is a female version of that character. Would anything really change? Is the new female character just the male character in a female skin, or is she her own character, different from her male counterpart? If it's the latter, why not just make her a unique character and give her a game? If it's the former, then it really isn't all that interesting any more. Is there already a female character in the game? Just use her. *COUGH**HACK*[sub]Sheik[/sub]*COUGH**COUGH*

Gender swapping is much more interesting if it's part of the story. A character once male is suddenly made female because of a curse or something (or vice-versa)! It'd be interesting to see how the many characters we know and love would react to a sudden tool swap. Especially characters that play it cool, like Batman.

 

[Tanis]

Very, very, few series would actually change much if a female character was made male or a male character was made female.

Hell, they did it with Cloud for FF13 and nobody seemed to care.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

In most cases yes, I'd buy it. I wouldn't care. Video games are probably the only medium where this can be done without issues. In most cases anyway. In some cases it just wouldn't make sense and gender swapping in those instances wouldn't serve any purpose other than to serve some socio-political agenda.

 

[Veldel]

I don't understand what the point of these threads are its a game who cares if your male or female if it helps the narrative then fuck the gender

In this modern age, diversity, gender, and representation are all that matter now.
Welcome to this brave new era in gaming.

well if you excuse me i need to go into cryosleep til this retarded era ends.

 

[Paragon Fury]

I honestly don't care, as long as the character fits AND they don't massively change an old character just because.

Halo; A new female lead SPARTAN? Go nuts. Changing the Master Chief for this to happen (or worse, into a girl), nope.

Female version of Geralt in another Witcher? Go for it. Someone like Malfurion/other Night Elf replacing Tyrande or a male mage replacing Jaina? Fine with it. As long it works and make sense.

I mean hell, I play both genders in games like Mass Effect, Skyrim, Fallout etc.

 

[kris40k]

I voted "would not buy." Not that I would not buy, but it would negatively impact my view of the game, possible even to the point of skipping it if it was not already a "must-have."

Now, when given a choice, I play a female character like 99% of the time. MMO's of course, games like Dead Island I'm playing Xian, Borderlands, I'm Lilith and Maya, etc., etc.

With that said, Rule 63 shenanigans is some of the most bullshit, weak-ass writing that has ever been vomited out to disgrace a page. Create new characters. Witcher 4 starring Ciri? Awesome. Female Link? Bullshit.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Very, very, few series would actually change much if a female character was made male or a male character was made female.

Hell, they did it with Cloud for FF13 and nobody seemed to care.

The main problems are when they do it in the same game series, as long as its a new game its fine but if the ffvii reboot was with Claudia as the lead, trust me, people would care.

 

[DOOM GUY]

I wouldn't have a problem with a new character taking over, but just changing the gender of a character for the hell of it is stupid. I mean, maybe you can work a genderbender plot into some stories, but that's kinda iffy.

 

[Eliam_Dar]

In general if the game was good, I would probably get it. However that does not remove the fact that just switching the character gender is a lazy way of attempting to create something.