Para said:
dogstile said:
Para said:
If I had the schooling I'd release a game with nothing but female character and you know what teh offended menz would be up my ass about not having any male playable characters.
http://www.giantbomb.com/female-protagonists/92-2287/games/
Yeah, funnily enough men haven't really complained about these games. You're making females look bad, if you're going to argue against people being sexist, do it in a civil manner. I'm tired of being on the side of female gamers only to have the occasional stupid remark fuck it up for everyone else.
Oh how am I making female gamers look bad? Because I stated my opinion on the matter? I just don't see how it's fair for a legion of men to either 1 not care or find it unnecessary to include women in games or 2 take a misogynistic view on it.
I'm a female gamer as well, and I agree with dogstile. You are being childish and completely missing the point. Men don't make games centered around men because they have this primal need to exclude females from everything, like a bunch of 10 year old boys building a treehouse. They disclude women because they naturally tend to picture men doing everything. And there is nothing wrong with that. Have you ever written a story, or come up with a character, or created a character for yourself? What gender do those stories and characters tend to be centered around? Female, most likely. That's just how we work, and that's just how guys work, too.
Are there a disproportionate number of games with male leads? Yes. Does that automatically make them inherently sexist? No, because if that's your logic, any game with a female lead is sexist against men. Male lead ≠ saying women can't do the job, just as female lead ≠ saying men can't do the job.
Do I wish there were more games with strong female leads? Yes, and you know we are getting there. You can see it with how much Bioware did to make people happy with Femshep, and you can see it with how much they are trying to make Lara Croft a real character in the Tomb Raider game. But the fact of the matter is there are more men in the field than women, just as there are more men in the film industry. So there are going to be a lot more male leads than female, and there are going to be a lot more games which get females wrong. But they are acutely aware of this fact now, and the best thing we female gamers can do is to continue to let them know we're here,
in a civil manner. Don't go picking fights for the wrong reasons, and know a bit about what's going on before jumping into the fray.
If you want people to address your concerns seriously, then you're going to have to present them in a way that will make you take them seriously. And you don't do that by talking about how you're going to make a female-centered game to "piss off teh menz." Lordy. We've made it this far, don't steer yourself into the way of the trolls just yet.
Also, I don't even mind male leads that much, given they are good characters. I have over 600 hours logged in TF2, and not for a moment in that game have I ever been bothered by the fact that all of the 9 classes are male characters. It's because they are good and funny characters, and the dynamic they have works perfectly. In fact, I think throwing a woman in there (like a known woman, not like the ambiguous Pyro) would only mess with that dynamic. Right now, the game sort of reads like a Saturday Morning cartoon, but with blood and swearing. The characters throw around their little comments, the Demoman shouting to the Engineer about his machines "That's a right pretty bra-washer you built, you big ugly girl!" [http://wiki.teamfortress.com/w/images/a/aa/Demoman_dominationengineer03.wav] I think that line is hilarious, but having an
actual girl in the mix would dampen its effectiveness. So it isn't just about gender, it's about quality of characters and dynamics. If the characters aren't good, it doesn't matter if they're male or female. And no story is improved by just throwing a double X-chromosomes into the mix.
Ah, and one more thing. I do agree with you on this--there is no reason for there not to be female characters in the multiplayer of this game, especially when the franchise has a history of appealing to a female audience. But again, if you want to get taken seriously and get support, don't alienate yourself from everybody else by shouting "IT'S ALL THE MEN'S FAULT, YOU SEXIST PIGS!"
