Poll: Would you play Deus Ex Human Revolution if it started Adriana Jensen instead of Adam Jensen?

[Terminal Blue]

I actually think it's one of the few cases when a direct port of the character as a female would have been entirely acceptable to a mainstream audience.

I mean, the whole point about the Deus Ex series is always a discussion on transhumanism, but transhumanism is also, to a certain extent, transgendered. Adam Jensen's augmentations are not male or female, they're just augmentations.

Those of us who are seriously committed to the truest meaning of the world gender equality always face a constant argument, that the social roles of men and women - the way they behave and the way they are gendered, are based around physical capability and the generalization that men are physically stronger. I'm not going to actually get into that argument now, but suffice to say if there was a way you could use technology to equalize that difference, I think it would potentially have a big impact on how people behave.

For example, reading back over the comments about seeking revenge not really being a female trait. Well, why not? Is it because women have traditionally been taught to rely on men to fight their battles for them, and if so, surely having metal fuckin' hands might change that. Do we imagine that a woman who has received life threatening injuries and whose partner has been murdered would not be angry about it, or would not want answers or to see someone pay?

This is why I actually think it's kind of weird that Deus Ex has never really gone there, even visually. The female bad guys (except Billie) tend to be pretty stereotypical leather-clad ninja-vixens (though I'll confess having a soft spot for Anna because unless most female villains she's not just "damaged" or "misunderstood", she just really likes her job a bit too much).

The one downside is that we would have missed out on Elias Toufexis' badass voice.

 

[krazykidd]

Do you really think people would say no ? We are on a site with a lot of "hollier than thou" people , who would condemn anyone who says no to not wanting to play a game due to the protagonist being single .

It's one of those questions where people who would will say yes and those who wouldn't would say yes just to not get flammed .

Honestly i wouldn't , i don't care how much i get flammed for this . Adam jensen was boring as a characer and a female version of him would only be worst . The majority of protagonists in videogames are male , and we still can't make them interesting after all these years . I have this feelin that having a female protagonist , something that people are suddenly all riled up about , would be bad . Not because shes female, but because video game writters are terrible at writting good female characters . And before you quote me and list all your favorite female characters , remember that those are the exception not the rule .

 

[hiei82]

I never asked for this, but I would have.

Also:

Spoiler: It's a time of great innovation

Or at least great Google image searches

I voted "No" because if it wasn't Adam then the game would lose the narrative cohesion and symbolism behind the name Adam.

Spoiler

(The whole Biblical Adam ---> JC (Jesus Christ)

So if it was "Adriana" then, for the Deus Ex series, it wouldn't be as artistic.

Could rename her "Eve Jensen". It would make the symbolism somewhat more obvious, and slightly less fitting, but for the purpose of the discussion it would still work.

 

[Shadowstar38]

Aside from the voice, I didnt get the feeling that anything about Adam was overly masculine. In this instant it's easy to pull off.

Eh, a lot of the character defining moments in the game are (relatively) masculine. If nothing else, the primary motivation of Adam in the plot is a widely considered masculine trait; specifically, the need to make up/get revenge for failure.

Not to say that women can't do that, just that it's generally more of a male thing.

And I prefer this approach to the designer having female traits in their head, then ending up with Beyonetta without the satire.

This I absolutely agree with. Like I said, that approach isn't terrible, but if you're going to make a female character, you may as well do it right. The primary difference isn't even in actions or desires, to be perfectly honest, but in motivations and reactions. Once you've got those hammered out, most of the rest is pretty interchangeable.

But what is an example of this done well? What traits do someone like Alex from Half Life 2 or Samus from Metroid have that are distintly female in nature?

 

[Vegosiux]

A new Deus Ex game with a female protagonist?

Yes.

A redo of Deus Ex Human Revolution with a female protagonist?

No.

Yeah I pretty much feel the same way. But in order to drive the point home I will state it more clearly.

A redo of Deus Ex Human Revolution with a female or a different male protagonist?

No.

No, not because "I wouldn't want a female protagonist", but because DX HR would feel wrong with any protagonist that isn't Adam Jensen himself.

 

[Arina Love]

Yes and i would love game more than with male protagonist. Because eff cookie cutter white male protagonists.

 

[TeletubbiesGolfGun]

Why not?

Boob augmentation!

fembot's come to mind...

OT: yes i would, could be fun

given in a coin flip toss with a gun to my head, i'm going to choose to play as a male, most of the time, but if the female works in the scenario/good voice acting or personality, then heck yeah i'd play, this whole emphasis on gender lately for protagonists is getting ridiculous, i didn't realize dev's had to give a defense everytime they picked male/female for a npc/protagonist.

 

[TeletubbiesGolfGun]

Yup.

It would be cool if you could augment her to have guns in her breasts. Adam also needed a dick laser.

dick laser?

but then how do you fa-...

nevermind. not sure if i want to know what you have in mind.

 

[Hazy]

It certainly would justify my use of the women's bathroom.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Would this woman still need fucking batteries to punch?

She would?

Well my opinion is unchanged: Fuck that game.

After most of a page of people saying how they would still play it because of how awesome it is, finally someone I agree with. I would still not play the game because I still wouldn't like it, but it would have nothing to do with any of the characters or their sexes or genders. I still would've bought it on sale if it had a female protagonist, and I still would've enjoyed the plot/story/characters, and I still would've gotten sick of the actual gameplay and quit and uninstalled it ten hours in.

Seriously, who needs batteries to punch people?

 

[snekadid]

Why not?

Female security specialist forearm-blading people to death while sneaking through complexes?

Bring it on!

..... Now I don't like the idea because you just reminded me of bloodrayne and now I hate you.

 

[Agayek]

But what is an example of this done well? What traits do someone like Alex from Half Life 2 or Samus from Metroid have that are distintly female in nature?

It's less "what traits do they have" and more "how do they think/react/feel" that answers this question. I have no idea on Samus, as I've never played a Metroid game, but Alyx Vance is a pretty good example.

She's competent and driven, and has a number of various traits, and could just as easily be a man. The difference is how she expresses herself and how she reacts to/feels about things. That's the key difference between the genders in real life, mostly due to biological differences but there's a lot of cultural impact there too.

Men tend to be more... focused (not the right word, but it's close) emotionally, with more of a build up towards a given emotion and less likely to sway from it, and internalization. Women, on the other hand, tend towards a more mercurial emotional state, and externalizing their feelings.

Alyx is an excellent example of the latter. Her interactions with Dog, Eli and even Freeman show it quite well.

Plus, she's driven primarily by a sense of family, a traditionally female drive.

 

[Rick Oortwijn]

Why not?

Boob augmentation!

You are my hero for the day!

on topic: I found nothing wrong with Adam Jensen and quite liked him, so I don't know if I could relate as much with a female protagonist whose sole occupation was becoming a cyborg and killing faceless soldiers all day (not all my playthroughs were like that though). But I would play a different game with a female character if she was portraited interessting and if the story was good.

 

[Korten12]

Wouldn't mind, Jenson is sort of a blank slate (to an extent), so him being replaced by a female version of him wouldn't make much of a difference.

 

[Acier]

Uh, yeah. But the whole Adam/Eve(Megan) allegory wouldn't work as well. It would weaken the narrative, but not destroy it. I wouldn't want it to change, but it's still a good game without the biblical stuff

 

[DirgeNovak]

Of course I would. And her name would have had to be Eve for the reference to hold.