Brink No Girls Allowed!!!!

[GiantRaven]

SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE. I mean your picking on one dev for doing WHAT ALL FPS GAMES DO. Females are in NONE of the big titles, its taken gears of war 3 tries to put them in, the COD series still doesn't have a big female protagonist or enemy, bulletstorm doesnt, hell the last shooter i remember which does was timesplitters and that was on the ps2 so excuse me for giving BRINK a little leighway.

HELL the company even said they would like to put it in in the future as either dlc, an expansion or in a sequel. So just calm the hell down. Stupid to focus on one company for this considering how widespread it is.

If this was a thread about other developers/games, I would be focusing on them. This thread, however, is about Brink, so I think it apt to focus solely on them.

You are correct though, this is a problem that reaches far wider than just a single game, genre or even medium.

 

[notevenhere]

In response to the OP, when we're discussing whether or not something is going to sell to a market which (in Brink's case specifically) is predominately teenage males, one needs to recognize that there is significantly more of an opportunity for success in having characters that are:
-Not ruined in comparison by having features the others don't
-Equally given development time

There are two things I feel worthy of discussion about class-based shooters:
-They are all in comparison to the one and only Team Fortress 2, which offers male characters who are a great deal more defined by their personality than their body. This is something that sets an example for all other games trying to jump onto the market, and it's a pretty big risk to try something unique that can quite easily lead to class imbalance, gender-specific arguing and discrimination~

-Monday Night Combat already tried gender differentiation, and it's a bit screwed.
The Assassin is abused and played incorrectly, and it can be seen in the things that the fanbase produces that people's approach to a game really shifts when there are breasts involved. It would be untrue for me to say that the market which I've mentioned isn't entirely swayable by their newly realized thought center.

Food for thought I guess, considering that most of these devs aren't going to change for the individuals. tl;dr on the article itself, lol

 

[Lunaras13]

I care a LITTLE bit about gender selection options when there is customization invloved. In Mass Effect 1 and 2, my Shepherd is male because I am male. I try to place myself in his shoes...I pretend it's me doing these things, not an avatar.

LIES! you do it because it feels awkward when Kaidan starts flirting with u



if this were a "go kill evil emperor" "save the kingdom" or anything like that i might care, but it's a pseudo realistic war game, and females have never served in equal number in any military ever as far as i know (last i heard the amazons were just a myth). You don't complain about it in call of duty because nobody ever leaked that there was a possibility of there being female characters, and if they never said they were dropping that choice for Brink, nobody would have imagined that it was ever there to begin with.

 

[notevenhere]

Females are in NONE of the big titles,

If you want something so unique then why not look away from the big titles? The industry isn't going to shift to the niche market, that's generally the act of small business in order to stay afloat (indie developers, for example).

 

[GiantRaven]

If you want something so unique then why not look away from the big titles? The industry isn't going to shift to the niche market, that's generally the act of small business in order to stay afloat (indie developers, for example).

The fact that female characters could be considered 'niche market' is incredibly depressing to think about.

 

[Shoelip]

SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE. I mean your picking on one dev for doing WHAT ALL FPS GAMES DO. Females are in NONE of the big titles, its taken gears of war 3 tries to put them in, the COD series still doesn't have a big female protagonist or enemy, bulletstorm doesnt, hell the last shooter i remember which does was timesplitters and that was on the ps2 so excuse me for giving BRINK a little leighway.

HELL the company even said they would like to put it in in the future as either dlc, an expansion or in a sequel. So just calm the hell down. Stupid to focus on one company for this considering how widespread it is.

*edit*
also note how much extra work that would require, it would make the customisation feel tacked on. They had finite development time and they chose the feature everyone loves and more power to them, thats how to run a business. They don't have the time or money benefits to fret away on this sort of thing given this is a new and untested IP.

GO moan at activision for no females in call Of duty, once you have done that for about a year then i will listen. And before you go "oh its not the same". Yes it is, its online multiplayer with customisable (if only slightly) avatars, and they could also waste a lot of money making female avatars (where did that 200 million go?).

The main difference is that CoD MW is about modern day warfare. Weapon are not allowed to be "combat soldiers" in most modern militaries. Certainly not the ones represented in the games. Since most of the time the games are about macho power fantasy in an action-movie-realistic warfare setting it makes sense that you play frontline troops or spec ops.

I personally think it'd be both extremely atmospheric and an awesome idea in general to have a female protagonist whose supply convoy gets ambushed. Finally representing the fact that female soldiers actually exist would go a long way towards making the CoD series actually worth it's own existence in my eyes.

Brink however is a sci fi game that focuses heavily on character customization. So really there's no good excuse to not allow female characters.

In the end they are just saying that they couldn't be bothered to take an entire sex into account because they didn't think it would be worth enough money.

 

[notevenhere]

The fact that female characters could be considered 'niche market' is incredibly depressing to think about.

Lol, and again:
Video games, specifically these genres, are aimed at a predominately teenage boys market. It is a niche intent to try and get sales from female customers.

What you've said more or less equates to finding it sad that make-up needs to be marketed differently at boys, which it does. Gender differences are significant, but not necessarily something to be frowned upon, yo!

 

[ZombieGenesis]

Still better than so many games where you don't even get to CHOOSE what your gruff, unshaven white man looks like...

 

[notevenhere]

I dont care (About playing as them or not). My point is if your going to throw a big hissy about this game( a fresh IP which has a lot to lose) because of this then you shouldnt play like 80% of whats available (this wasn't directed at you, more the people choosing to aim at BRINK with their hate machine.)

[/quote]

I'm confused by what you're trying to get across here. Weren't you the one throwing a 'hissy'?
Expand in simple terms, I am trying to read through the thread but I remain lazy~

Is the '80%' available supposed to be games without a female protag/option to be a female protag? It's oddly more defined at something like 35% male specific and 65% female appearances, due to your opinion being of the 'big titles'. (This is my opinion, we're not really going to achieve any such statistics~)

 

[Daveeo]

I actually dont care about this, sure it would be neat to be able to play as female. But it does not bother me that much.

 

[GiantRaven]

Lol, and again:
Video games, specifically these genres, are aimed at a predominately teenage boys market. It is a niche intent to try and get sales from female customers.

What you've said more or less equates to finding it sad that make-up needs to be marketed differently at boys, which it does. Gender differences are significant, but not necessarily something to be frowned upon, yo!

Seriously? You actually think that? That any male thinks that female characters are 'girly' and only for girls?

I think the lack of female characters in games is definitely something to be frowned upon. Just as the lack of different races and sexualities should also be frowned upon. Diversity is a good thing, even if it doesn't sell (which is what I find depressing).

Videogames shouldn't just be aimed at the teenage boy market, even if they are the biggest audience, if they even are. I've read in multiple places that the average age of 'gamers' is much, much higher. To think that all videogames should be aimed towards that market is stupid.

 

[Tenky]

Hah! I'm a male-to-female transgender, and even I give 'em the thumbs up!

I'm tired of seeing games accomodating gender, races, species and germs all over just for the sake of being politicly correct... This is entertainment, not a government sponsored after-school special!

 

[GiantRaven]

Hah! I'm a male-to-female transgender, and even I give 'em the thumbs up!

I'm tired of seeing games accomodating gender, races, species and germs all over just for the sake of being politicly correct... This is entertainment, not a government sponsored after-school special!

Is it really being politically correct? Or is it merely having a wider variety of characters, which most likely makes each individual character more distinctive and interesting?

 

[Tenky]

Hah! I'm a male-to-female transgender, and even I give 'em the thumbs up!

I'm tired of seeing games accomodating gender, races, species and germs all over just for the sake of being politicly correct... This is entertainment, not a government sponsored after-school special!

Is it really being politically correct? Or is it merely having a wider variety of characters, which most likely makes each individual character more distinctive and interesting?

Look, I'd rather play Duke Nukem with an open mind, rather than have equality shoved up my throat because some angry mobs of non-gamers will call heresy for them being non-inclusive of every fucking minority.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

The fact that female characters could be considered 'niche market' is incredibly depressing to think about.

To be honest, the fact that some people care so much that there aren't playable female characters in this game is even more depressing.

As I said in an earlier post, why does it matter? Why does it matter at all?

I am all ears (or eyes, in this case) to consider a good reason to care, but thus far, despite the many pro female character related threads and arguements I've seen I still haven't seen one which makes me care.