A little defense for Ubisoft for the female assassin discussion.

[DoubleU12]

Ok so a lot of people are upset none of the characters in the new Assassin's Creed are female. I don't really get into any big research on this but I kinda see justification in them saying it'd be difficult to make a character female because to me it could make sense. Their stupid budget excuse doesn't but the idea could possibly.

I am designing a game in Rpgmaker in my spare time. Nothing special, just a small project I do when I can and have the interest to work on it versus spend my time doing something elss. However it does make me realistically glimps into the work involved to make another optional main character. The main character in my game is female and while it would be simple enough to make a choice at the beginning of the game to replace her name, sprite ect with a male version it would be quite a taxing chore to change dialog and ect.

Not only that but other characters treat her like a woman, and she has woman mannerisms. She isn't a silent protagonist blank slate. I would have to change entirely dialog and entire cut scenes to place a male main character and re-invent relationships he has with other characters around him.

I've been hearing a lot of grief over Cia in Hyrule Warriors but I really like her and think she'll probably be a cool character. It's obvious Hyrule Warriors is going for a darker, more mature story in this game and Cia's appearance is simply 1 step in that direction which is fine. If all the females looked similar in design or they put a lot of advertisement or unnecessary emphasis on her appearance, then yeah it'd be a problem but both Zelda and Impa have quite nice designs as well, and what I like about all these characters. They all have nice designs that I would believe to be a strong, self respecting warriors without shunning their gender.

I think a character can still be a male or a female character without making them absolutely devoid of gender. Women have very different priorities, wants, needs, concerns and means of dealing with problems than male characters and bringing these details out strengthens a character's design. I don't want the main character in my game to be male, I am telling a story in my game and I chose the genders of each character for specific reasons among everything else about their appearance and personalities.

So I mean, yes I myself would like a female assassin in the upcoming Assassin Creed game but I really wouldn't join a big uproar if there isn't 1 and really if they just make an emotionless genderless female assassin that acts no different and is treated no different by the people around her then who cares what her or any of the other assassin's gender is in the game. Historically I'm sure there were much more male assassins anyway. If Ubisoft doesn't actually care what gender their main characters are then it might make more sense to make them all male.

And maybe they may have wanted to tell a story with all male assassins and a female assassin would change the tone or affect the story in other ways... maybe, personally I actually don't think this will be the case at all. I'm pretty sure they have very little love for the details in their story after 4+ squeals and are more going through the motions at this point.

I'm not saying the game wont be good. I'm sure the game will be fine and the story will be fine, maybe even fantastic, what I'm saying is I also bet it was written very quickly and if something came up where they had to cut an entire character or entire scene in the game they would cut it without a 2nd thought which if you've ever tried to write a story yourself that you care a lot about, would weigh heavily on you because it wouldn't be the story you wanted to tell.

 

[alphamalet]

I think my favorite part of this whole controversy is encapsulated in the initial thread where a screenshot of Jim Sterling's tweet was posted. Everyone in the initial posts of the thread was saying, "Surely this was a joke," only to find out that, no, this (IMO excessive) anger is going to be a very real thing.

This is the ultimatum you are going to be faced with and you are going to have answer for yourself. Implementing an interchangeable male/female protagonist means creating content. I've modeled and programmed for video games and I can tell you that it is no small amount of work. There is concept art, UV mapping, modeling, rigging, mo-cap/animation, voice acting, programming animation triggers, balancing hit-boxes, etc. All of that is content, this isn't something that can be pumped out in two days, and it all takes time and money.

The question you have to ask yourself is this:
When working with a finite budget, would you rather have developers spend some of it on creating a gender option for the player, or would you rather that budget go toward theoretical additional content for the game (such as additional polish, an additional level, increased environmental graphical fidelity, etc.)? That's the question you are going to be faced with, and you will have to determine where your priorities lie.

Personally, I think choosing to spend time working on other features instead of creating a gender option, or choosing to add a gender option are both fine decisions. It's a matter of what developers think they need to focus on in order to execute their artistic vision. And that's what the entire game will end up being; the product of someone's artistic vision. It's not some political comment, it's not a slander toward the female gender, and they have a right to make the game they want. You also have the right to not agree with that decision, and if you don't then vote with your wallet. If enough people do care about this issue then I guarantee you Ubisoft will hear that message loud and clear.

 

[DoubleU12]

Post

I agree, I am doing a VERY small project and even I can kinda get a sense of the work involved, plus simply replacing a male character with a female character. Like who cares. If she doesn't have unique personality and unique interactions with characters then who cares what the gender of the character is. They might as well be genderless at that point.

 

[white_wolf]

I'd rather them get rid of stupid mini games like connect the dots or race down the street and over some obstacles, trinket sidequests, or smoke billowing from sewer caps to have a fem hero to play the game as most games don't depend on a male hero beyond the devs said so shooting a gun, being in a mech suit, parkouring, base jumping, dodging anything, flying a plane, driving a car, being violent, starting fires, infiltrating an area stealthily isn't strictly a male thing and never was for instance I'd be upset if ubi yet again uses a male hero in an AC civil war and sights historical accuracy as the cause again because in a real world where a 9 year old can become Sargent and 400 - 1000 women enlisted as men and range in all ranks up to Sargent and do all jobs it makes no sense to use a wrong excuse. All mentioned did the same jobs under the same conditions and guess what? Equal outcomes occurred so it'd be BS to say history, biology, or heck mental comprehension was the reason they kept a fem hero as default hero or a pick your SP hero's gender option out of the game.

When devs make a game concept and maybe bring some art to pitch to finical investors and their boss this concept is where they go girl or guy hero? (hint 95% of the time guy is picked cuz we didn't think about it!) where and when do we want this to take place? What do we want the player to do so you say girl is the hero then you build it from there we've had several games were men where shoehorned into the plot (hi black lotus/Sleeping Dogs) but no one noticed due to the radical change that produced in the end product they were told at pitch you can't have a mafia girl cuz we say so make it a boy and they did we won't ever get the revers of this situation your male is never going to be pulled in the middle or at the 11th hour for insert girl lead now instead they'll just come up with something that is say action packed that stars a girl. this concept is pitched, refined, altered, and then repitched if approved then it goes to the budgeting department then they can actually start working its not common for it to go funding first, work second, pitch third when its a major studio.

I get it they don't think women are playing or have played since the 70's doesn't mean they aren't, they think the men will be scared to death to play as one (MMOs and studies disprove this) I get that its not an conscious thought to think of anyone but guy as default, I get they feel women's place is the voice over their comms or the npcs who only exists to give you great ideas like use the C4 and crawl into bed with you somewhere later in story, or be the hostage as a living flag for MP, or the reason you'll stop to take a nuke to the face but its beyond stale and boring to see the rinse and repeat of tropes done.

Just because they exclude an audience doesn't mean they stop consuming the thing they like its been proven over and over again they vote with their wallet on the current products that exist not on nonexistent products never made when they vote they say, "I like themes, story, and/or the action of this product however I'd like it more if you gave me a hero I could relate to," but they just hear the first part of that sentence and don't care about the other because they got your money they have no real interest of giving you anything more and thats what devs in general say when the girl is the thing to get cut (even if it was their boss/marketing/or investors who told them to do it) or the thing never thought of. They keep reinforcing the myth that no one playing games wants to be a women because why the heck would a women be a hero? How could she possibly be the hero don't muscles, homicidal tendencies, anger issues, and emotional ineptitude make heros? Tons of reasons beyond wish fulfillment can come to mind but the industry has decided for the gamers what they want even if devs and players feel differently that women just aren't on the menu unless they need a PR boost.

When Ubi said its too much work even if it is work (and it is work) what they're really saying is we don't want to and no one wants to be a girl doing assassin stuff in our games anyway even if this game is all Arno all the time they need to be told that's not true! They need to be told now because they've already begun or are already working on the AC6 and AC7 title(s) when told they're wrong they can adjust the budget or the stuff to make sure players who want women in MP get what they say is important to them and their gaming habits and for those who want SP it can get placed on the freaking 8,9s to do game list. Gamers tell companies all the time I want things like, I want more explosions, more guns, destructible buildings and limbs this is the same players who prefer playing as women say we want more women to play as so (maybe) devs in all areas will get it and start doing it next year because devs have stated they already have the concepts, scripts, and pitches women heroines laying around collecting dust min as well start with those.

 

[Vault101]

you know I wouldn't even care

oh I mean I think Ubi should pull its head out of their ass and I could explain why Ass Creed is THE prime candidate to give us a female protagonist

but the real issue here was Ubi saying it was "too hard" was essentially a middle finger to female gamers everywhere and everyone else considering the amount of BS they pack into the series

 

[Scarecrow1001]

When Ubi said its too much work even if it is work (and it is work) what they're really saying is we don't want to and no one wants to be a girl doing assassin stuff in our games anyway even if this game is all Arno all the time they need to be told that's not true!

...
What? Can you please clarify what you mean, I am frankly confused. Are you saying that Ubisoft is misogynistic to the level that they think no one wants to play as a female? Or, are you suggesting... what?
Regardless, I will assume that's what you mean. If so, Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation, with a female Assassin at the helm, kind of counteracts your point.

 

[Nimzabaat]

you know I wouldn't even care

oh I mean I think Ubi should pull its head out of their ass and I could explain why Ass Creed is THE prime candidate to give us a female protagonist

but the real issue here was Ubi saying it was "too hard" was essentially a middle finger to female gamers everywhere and everyone else considering the amount of BS they pack into the series

Not too mention female NPC assassins in previous iterations that require almost all of the same animations as the playable character? How hard is it to take an existing model and animations and make it playable? That's the part I don't get.

 

[Eve Charm]

The answer is it's work but it's not hard. you really think you have to worry about hitboxes in assassin's creed one shot and your dead kill animations? Add to the fact they usually have a cloak that can hide most of the figure and model if you wanted to get cheap about making the look.

The end of the day it probably wasn't the answer, you just had "Game journalists" with an attitude grab anyone from ubisoft and scream "Where the females at" till they get whatever answer someone could come up with on the spot. Things like this happen when it doesn't come from the PR team, look at nintendo with tomodachi life.

 

[EvanJO]

I don't understand why people think Ubisoft needs to justify their character creation to anyone. Not having a female character is indicative of nothing, and having a female character is also indicative of nothing.

All this is is volunteer victims playing at offended for...some reason I can't grasp.

 

[gagagaga]

Well, it's not like Ubisoft is part of a conspiracy to Keep Women Down. They just rather innocently filled their game with all white dudes, and then people said "yo that's a lot of white dudes why didn't you mix it up", and then we get into the backtracking and "it's too haaard" BS.

It would be nice to see a female assassin in a main AssCreed game, especially this one, since there were some famous female assassins in the French Revolution, as I understand it, but I'm not about to make a huge fuss about it.

 

[EternallyBored]

you know I wouldn't even care

oh I mean I think Ubi should pull its head out of their ass and I could explain why Ass Creed is THE prime candidate to give us a female protagonist

but the real issue here was Ubi saying it was "too hard" was essentially a middle finger to female gamers everywhere and everyone else considering the amount of BS they pack into the series

Not too mention female NPC assassins in previous iterations that require almost all of the same animations as the playable character? How hard is it to take an existing model and animations and make it playable? That's the part I don't get.

There might actually be a partial answer for this one at least, from what it looks like from previews and interviews, Ubisoft is changing up the parkour system, and implementing a new system for scaling down buildings rather than just hitting the drop button or jumping off and hoping for the best.

If this is true, then they've likely revamped a lot of the animations for climbing, to the point that pulling the female animations from previous games may not be a viable option.

Same with other assets, from what it looks like, this is Ubisoft's first attempt at a PS4, Xbox 1 only game, so it's possible they threw out all their old assets and started from scratch on this one.

It was still a rather dumb thing to say, and it shouldn't have cleared PR, but it's kind of like the tomb raider controversy, people are madder over the dumb thing the developer said rather than the actual game itself.

 

[Fyffer]

I don't understand why people think Ubisoft needs to justify their character creation to anyone. Not having a female character is indicative of nothing, and having a female character is also indicative of nothing.

All this is is volunteer victims playing at offended for...some reason I can't grasp.

Its generally a good idea for businesses to justify their choices to their customers, if they want to keep them as customers anyway. It shows the illusion of them caring at least.

I don't see anyone playing at being offended. That was a really stupid response that was given. "We don't want to" would have at least been more honest. Not like Ubisoft is short on money.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I think a lot of the anger comes for the way Ubisoft responded to the original question. A giant game company saying it's a lot of work is like a multi-billionaire saying that his taxes are too high. There is no sympathy and it comes off as whining and being completely disconnected from reality. Maybe it is a lot of work, but that's why you have a huge team and are a multi-million dollar studio. You have the resources to make this happen, you just didn't allocate them correctly.

What's weird is that they did have female characters in Assassins Creed III's multiplayer and yet chose not to put it in Unity, a game that is based on mutliplayer. I don't think they'll be making this same mistake again.

 

[Vault101]

I don't understand why people think Ubisoft needs to justify their character creation to anyone. Not having a female character is indicative of nothing, and having a female character is also indicative of nothing.

All this is is volunteer victims playing at offended for...some reason I can't grasp.

saying "its too hard" is basically another way of saying "fuck you"

from a studio that owns a cash cow IP who insisnts on putting random crap in their games, who has had female charachters before,

if they said nothing they only would have got half the outrage

 

[Chemical Alia]

I'm an artist in the game industry, and have done characters. I've seen a project go through from pre-production to shipping. I've been on a project that went super smooth and had great planning, and some that were a bit of mess. I also spent a few years creating playable female models for TF2 as a side mod project, back before I really even knew what I was doing. It was a learning process for me, mistakes were made along the way, but each time I learned valuable things that would benefit my decision-making in terms of character design the next time around.

Based on my experiences with AAA game development at a real life studio (though not with a budget as near as big as AC) and interacting with the gaming community during the production of mod stuff, I'm gonna have to agree with the popular opinion that the reason stated is a pretty gigantic cop-out.

Nobody likes crunch, nobody likes wacky, sudden changes to a production schedule on tight deadlines. Which is why, if adding a female character was something that was considered important, it should be planned from the start, given proper development time and thought, and not shoehorned in as an afterthought and causing a burden to the devs.

With the budget of Ubisoft's games, I'm sure they could hire a few good producers. Making games is hard, but this doesn't have to be rocket science.

I think a character can still be a male or a female character without making them absolutely devoid of gender. Women have very different priorities, wants, needs, concerns and means of dealing with problems than male characters and bringing these details out strengthens a character's design.

Do they really?

 

[Lilani]

Women have very different priorities, wants, needs, concerns and means of dealing with problems than male characters and bringing these details out strengthens a character's design.

The same can be said of every individual under the sun, of every sex, race, and creed. "Men" and "women" are not the homogeneous groups we like to pretend they are. ALL men and women have different needs, wants, concerns, and means of dealing with problems. This shouldn't be a problem when it comes to designing female characters, it should be a problem when it comes to designing any character of any kind.

Also, Ubisoft has already done a playable female character, in Assassin's Creed Liberation. Their statement regarding the lack of female characters in this game said they had no assets for that. So are they trying to say they flushed all those assets down the drain? You can't tell me they're against reusing assets, the way they like to crank these games out in less than a year. Hell the very fact that they've gone such a lazy route in designing the player characters for multiplayer shows they've got no problem with reusing assets in very blatant ways.

Which means they don't really put a lot of thought into the individual character's traits in the first place.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Assassin's Creed also has a 1-year dev cycle here so they really can't just throw in a female character that has lines and all that in the middle of such a short dev cycle. The devs just basically throw shit at the wall (ideas, new mechanics, etc.)and hope something sticks like ship combat in AC3. One of them is bound to be a female assassin, especially now lol.

I like Ubisoft because they are probably the biggest publisher that makes games I actually like (besides Assassin's Creed, it's actually one of the worst series in my opinion); The Division, Far Cry 4, and Rainbow Six all look awesome. I let the games speak for themselves. Hell, I just want good protagonists, which are a rarity in this medium. I was hoping Far Cry 4 would have an interesting protagonist this time around but it's just a lame white guy again. At least the villain looks to be highly entertaining.

 

[GodzillaGuy92]

Not only that but other characters treat her like a woman, and she has woman mannerisms. She isn't a silent protagonist blank slate. I would have to change entirely dialog and entire cut scenes to place a male main character and re-invent relationships he has with other characters around him.

So I mean, yes I myself would like a female assassin in the upcoming Assassin Creed game but I really wouldn't join a big uproar if there isn't 1 and really if they just make an emotionless genderless female assassin that acts no different and is treated no different by the people around her then who cares what her or any of the other assassin's gender is in the game.

That right there is why there ought to be female assassins. If the assassin's character was individualized to the point that their gender might factor into their characterization, change the nature of the game's story, and force the developer to make a lot of alternate, gender-specific content that anyone playing as a male won't see, then go ahead and keep it limited to male assassins. But we're talking about the player's appearance specifically in the co-op mode, where none of this applies and your character, for the duration of the co-op mission, is no longer main character Arno Dorian but instead switches to a no-name assassin helping out another player's Arno. At that point, excluding female assassins is just restrictive. Not that Ubisoft has an obligation to include them this late in the development cycle, because that could easily negatively impact the quality of the final product in other ways, but the fact that female characters weren't considered a priority from the start is worthy of at least some criticism.

Perfect example of what I mean: Metroid Prime. Anger at Ridley for having murdered her parents notwithstanding, Samus is otherwise mostly a blank cipher for the player to project themselves upon. And since, being such a blank slate, the issue of her femininity never comes up, her gender doesn't interfere one way or the other with the extent to which the player is able to put themself in her Space Jump Boots (sorry). At the same time, as an added bonus, the fact that no big deal is made about her being a woman reinforces the ideal that one's gender shouldn't affect, positively or negatively, their status as the galaxy's greatest bounty hunter/the hero Gotham deserves/Dovahkiin/whatever. Given a hypothetical future where just as many female protagonists exist as male ones and no one finds it unusual anymore, someone from that time who goes back to play Metroid Prime will find it much more narratively accessible than a game that makes the protagonist's gender a big issue - like, say, Metroid: Other M. Although given the quality of Other M's story even if you removed all the gender politics from it, the same could also be said of a bowl of potato salad.

 

[Nimzabaat]

Women have very different priorities, wants, needs, concerns and means of dealing with problems than male characters and bringing these details out strengthens a character's design.

The same can be said of every individual under the sun, of every sex, race, and creed. "Men" and "women" are not the homogeneous groups we like to pretend they are. ALL men and women have different needs, wants, concerns, and means of dealing with problems. This shouldn't be a problem when it comes to designing female characters, it should be a problem when it comes to designing any character of any kind.

Also, Ubisoft has already done a playable female character, in Assassin's Creed Liberation. Their statement regarding the lack of female characters in this game said they had no assets for that. So are they trying to say they flushed all those assets down the drain? You can't tell me they're against reusing assets, the way they like to crank these games out in less than a year. Hell the very fact that they've gone such a lazy route in designing the player characters for multiplayer shows they've got no problem with reusing assets in very blatant ways.

Which means they don't really put a lot of thought into the individual character's traits in the first place.

Agreed. And as for having to write the character differently, wasn't there a character in Final Fantasy XIII (?) that was originally written as male and then they decided to change the character to female and it turned out fine? (Oerba I think, could be wrong as to the name) Not to mention that the multi-player aspect has no real bearing on the story anyways as far as I can tell.

 

[white_wolf]

When Ubi said its too much work even if it is work (and it is work) what they're really saying is we don't want to and no one wants to be a girl doing assassin stuff in our games anyway even if this game is all Arno all the time they need to be told that's not true!

...
What? Can you please clarify what you mean, I am frankly confused. Are you saying that Ubisoft is misogynistic to the level that they think no one wants to play as a female? Or, are you suggesting... what?
Regardless, I will assume that's what you mean. If so, Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation, with a female Assassin at the helm, kind of counteracts your point.

Misogynistic? No, messages are being sent on every game, every commercial, and every article its not just what they're physically saying but how its being said, sounds, or looks and how the viewer aka your audience interprets these items. The subconscious is constantly interpreting the underlying messages sent to it from ads, commercials, articles, ect how else can you get told by a kid or an adult point blank girls can't be heros and they sure aren't gamers? (And yes I've been told this.) These aren't people just being douches they're receiving these underlying messages sent by constantly having very few fem heros,MP adds, and fem npcs that exist first of their own acords wants and goals outside of the heros weather us the gamers or the devs like it or not. Its the cause and effect of the basic model of how gamings been done for years and not challenged often.

The games being sold into the market, ads, poor word choices like ubi just fell into and more keep perpetuating the industry wide unsaid near mantra of no one wants to be a girl only men are heros see all the games about them? And to prove that look at all the failed fem hero games! Trust us men is where its at did you see our awesome ads? These are several reasons why without being told male gamers, male nongamers , women nongamers, and children first grade up assume games are for boys its their toys clear signals are sent even if they're not physically voiced by any one person. However when you get physical words like the ever so popular, "It doesn't suit the story" or it was a man's time in this fictional world setting, or the reason no (unhot) fem npcs exist is because they're trapped on their planet for reasons, or theres a reason she dresses in underwear compared to her the male characters in game there are messages being sent and all that translates into various degrees of women aren't heros, women never where or could be, or they're toys for boys amongst others in short terrible audience and outsider translations are being made because of what and how things are produced, said, and marketed and less fem leads, cut fem MP or leads, and troupe or sexulized npcs, side kicks, and squadmates add to this message.

One message ubi sent out when they used the girls in MP are too much work was hey player we didn't value your like of a fem playable character enough to keep this feature! Another common interpretation We're lazy! As threads are abound you can see multiple people have translated that simple to much work statement into so many more things. But at this point a simple fix for ubi is AC5 say hey we heard you guys MP has a choice of gender! And like I said before ubi can put higher on the next game's to do list (sooner rather then later) a SP fem hero which fans have also said since AC2 they wanted it being the Shao girl or someone else really is up to ubi but actually make one and maybe you know drop hints about you're actually doing it rather then carrot dangling you might do it. But it is being said now that fans want it back or want it for the future so they can make those adjustments to have it happen not just for Ubi other companies are watching.

I'm perfectly aware of Liberation with little advertising for the port it min as well not existed they didn't feel like any mention at all was needed beyond a few internet articles heck I looked and looked for days on my xbox360's home page advertising as the day drew closer to its release and nothing but you bet AC4 was front and center nothing to tell players who weren't already looking for it or knew of it that its coming to the consoles. This is adding to why the game failed not enough people knew about the port over great job ubi...a case could be made well they didn't want to confuse people when AC4 was coming out but there were things that could've been done well in advance like change the release date as they already knew when BF was due also there is not confusion when you say its coming for this specified console. Now I'm not going to to tell ubi their job is done they can go home and make the real games because right now thats the message they send lets see 7 male heros to 1 fem hero the comet dlc is rumored to be a GUY shocker! What does this say? It says several things and more but a few would be she's the exception girl, the PR stunt girl not a real hero, ubi doesn't combat this message as her existence as a main title canon hero was downplayed by ubi so the girl can do as you just pointed out get some good will a notch to our diversity belt a spotlight on her if you will but defiantly not too big cuz its a girl. They got trapped on how to potray her focusing on girl first assassin later some home scenes sure progress the story, others could've been dropped there is a big difference to how they treat Ezio the son and assassin vs Ave the daughter and assassin and the message wasn't a sweet one. Also she was "the point hero" ever heard the argument a girl must have a point in order to be the lead of a game or movie? Yeah she couldn't just be like Laura or Samus (as in she was there and cool things happened) she has to have some point some reason for even being allowed to have a story its not to be confused with the male point of hero because he's the chosen one, its more like 1st hand me your resume lets see what thing you can tackle then we'll see if you can fill the boot size of chosen one. Ada has a similar fate but he was given this point hero second not first and it was handled differently then her his was advertised as an extension where in the cannon game he exists organically.

Ubi however can change this perception for their own company at least by making more games with fem leads that are organic like the males are simply organic not she had to be justified first before she got the role. If ubi doesn't leave her as the token fem hero then it can start to ease up on this perception by saying hey all gamers look we're making and plan to make 2 or 3 more fem leads for our main lines as it stands right now thats one of many view points and non-verbal probably even unintended translation her title is sending to the market.