Brink : No Girls Allowed

[UmbrellaAssassin]

How can you read his post up from ur high horse?
How about you get off and stop hating them for doing the right thing.
It is always a good thing when a company focus more on the core game-play and more important things than being able to have boobies in the game.

Clearly, we'll have to disagree on that. My philosophy on things is "don't do them half way". And leaving an entire gender out is certainly "half way" in my eyes. Bully for the boys who get more options, but I, for one, am tired of the idea that female gamers are only worth catering to "if there is time".

Well you must admit that it a way less of a demographic.
Plus this is a first player game, why does it even matter how you look apart from looking "cool" on the character creation screen.
I understand what you mean but so many games are crap cause developers spent time putting in unnecessary shit instead of ironing out game-play problems.
Are you so insecure with your own gender that you have to shove it in everyones face that your a girl?
We get it your a girl gamer, that's cool and all just don't think its necessary to parade around. (check GURL gamer in attached pic in contrast to the gamer girl)
While I admit playing in your own gender is a cool addition, I wouldn't necessarily throw out an awesome looking games just cause I can't pick dangly parts.
Character creation itself hasn't really been around that long.
People got around fine with games before that, why does now everyone look down on a game if you can't choose the amount and colors of pixels on your screen. The game (you just lost) still plays the same no matter if you have man tits the size of tvs or huge (the only size in video games) gozongas that still somehow manage to fit in power armor.

Sorry if I seem hostile or anything, don't mean to be. Just I always hated people screwing up development process by demanding unnecessary junk.

Types of Gamers
http://www.geekstir.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/gamers.jpg

 

[Chiasm]

Bully for the boys who get more options, but I, for one, am tired of the idea that female gamers are only worth catering to "if there is time".

The sad thing is this idea is becoming some how more common than less. I was sad to see in just the newest version of Mount and Blade, which in the past two games has let your character be female, simply left out that option and with no warning that they did.

I always hate when games advertise,"Make your character, be who you want to be!" then when you pick up the game; you find out there is no female avatar. Games like the first Skate and Saints Row 1 are along the many games like that.

 

[Anarien]

You do realize that perhaps if these features were in there, and many developers/marketers didn't treat shooters like they were for males only, then female players might feel more welcome to actually play these games. It works both ways. If I feel like you're making a quality game, I'll give you my money. If you're treating my desire to play a game and hyping up the incredible ability to customize someone that looks like me, but excludes half the population by making an excuse about "time", then you won't.

Verdicts already out on that. Even genres females do play its nowhere near 1:1 ratio mtf. Nowhere near. If your going to put a feature into a game you want it to be used by the largest percentile. and even my generous figure of 20-30% is pretty low considering the extra effort that would have to be put into make it passable.

3 new animation sets , physics sets, skins for every item, sound bytes. Not to mention that there female character design is still in its infancy in games, so trying to create 3 stylised models would be very difficult. Thats a heck of a lot of hurdles for something that would only ever bother less than 1/3 of the playerbase (probably signifcantly less). They were probably given the actual figures and made a judgement call.

Decisions like this aren't made on a whim.

No, the "verdict" isn't "out" as you're ignoring what I'm saying. I am saying that if female players and those who wish to play female models are made to feel invited and welcomed by both studios and marketers, then their numbers can and just may grow. It's like PAX, for instance, how it seeks to be an inclusive gaming con and so many of the audience members that attend are women. It's not perfect, but when you provide a welcoming environment, people come. Who wouldn't want to increase their numbers?

I fully understand the decisions aren't made on a whim, but at the same time, it's not a minor issue we're talking about here.

Take this recent information about movie audiences, for instance: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/04/26/who-watches-movies/

Over half of movie tickets are bought by women and 40% by people that aren't white. 72% of tickets are bought by adults. So why are women and minorities treated as a niche market when it comes to movies, where marketing logic tends to favor young white males?

There's a correlation here in these terms as well. The time for excuses is long past.

 

[Anarien]

How can you read his post up from ur high horse?
How about you get off and stop hating them for doing the right thing.
It is always a good thing when a company focus more on the core game-play and more important things than being able to have boobies in the game.

Clearly, we'll have to disagree on that. My philosophy on things is "don't do them half way". And leaving an entire gender out is certainly "half way" in my eyes. Bully for the boys who get more options, but I, for one, am tired of the idea that female gamers are only worth catering to "if there is time".

Well you must admit that it a way less of a demographic.
Plus this is a first player game, why does it even matter how you look apart from looking "cool" on the character creation screen.
I understand what you mean but so many games are crap cause developers spent time putting in unnecessary shit instead of ironing out game-play problems.
Are you so insecure with your own gender that you have to shove it in everyones face that your a girl?
We get it your a girl gamer, that's cool and all just don't think its necessary to parade around. (check GURL gamer in attached pic in contrast to the gamer girl)
While I admit playing in your own gender is a cool addition, I wouldn't necessarily throw out an awesome looking games just cause I can't pick dangly parts.
Character creation itself hasn't really been around that long.
People got around fine with games before that, why does now everyone look down on a game if you can't choose the amount and colors of pixels on your screen. The game (you just lost) still plays the same no matter if you have man tits the size of tvs or huge (the only size in video games) gozongas that still somehow manage to fit in power armor.

Sorry if I seem hostile or anything, don't mean to be. Just I always hated people screwing up development process by demanding unnecessary junk.

The thing is, it isn't "unnecessary junk". I suggest reading up on the concept of privilege. I see a lot of it all over the responses in this thread and others like it. Try to look at things from a different perspective. It's way too long to copy here, but check out the list here:

http://www.amptoons.com/blog/the-male-privilege-checklist/

 

[Wicky_42]

Just thought you'd like to think a bit more on the issue, Jumbo Palace.

Well when I thought of the "heavy" category I wasn't thinking fat. I was imagining tall, wide, and muscle-bound. Qualities few women want or can even achieve if the desire is present. It makes far more sense for a male character model to be a large imposing figure than a female.

I'm not a sexist, and I fully advocate for the inclusion of proper female characters in games, but in this circumstance it doesn't seem to fit. Unless female characters were limited to small and medium builds, which would then cause concern from people like yourself since heavy wasn't included. It's a lose lose.

I can maybe see why you might say that, but to be honest that would only be due to a lack of imagination. The face that instantly popped into my mind for female heavy was Dot Jones:

She's played as a rugby coach in Glee and as a bad-tempered feminist meatpacker in Boondock Saints. She's tall but strongly built, looks built to brawl and suits a no-nonsense angry attitude. She's perfect for a TF2-style heavy character, not least because she doesn't look too pretty to be fighting, and is about as far from your average video-game human female as you can get.

Not every woman has to be beautiful, just as not all men are tall, dark-haired, rough-shaven and gravelly-voiced... oh wait lol. But still, within the stylised Brink universe such a character could easily fit, and would enrich it more than detract. Same with any other female class equivalents; not every woman has to be a slight, skinny piece of nothing. Some can be bullish, adequately muscled, sinewy, etc etc with as much variety as any man. Just takes a little bit of exposure to the variety of life and imagination.

 

[Treblaine]

Just thought you'd like to think a bit more on the issue, Jumbo Palace.

Well when I thought of the "heavy" category I wasn't thinking fat. I was imagining tall, wide, and muscle-bound. Qualities few women want or can even achieve if the desire is present. It makes far more sense for a male character model to be a large imposing figure than a female.

I'm not a sexist, and I fully advocate for the inclusion of proper female characters in games, but in this circumstance it doesn't seem to fit. Unless female characters were limited to small and medium builds, which would then cause concern from people like yourself since heavy wasn't included. It's a lose lose.

Well in games where you can rocket jump 20 feet up in the air, is it really so "unfitting" for a woman to be of muscular build? In an entirely fictional world you can do anything and make anyone look like anything and do anything. And a good artist can make it work.

How is it "lose lose"? It's worse to arbitrarily exclude women than include them?

 

[Azaraxzealot]

Did Halo have female charecters in IT'S multiplayer? What about Section 8? I don't know why Brink is the upset. Of course, it is a little more jaring since there isn't power armor for everyone. Despite Spartans in Multiplayer looking male, it doesn't take much to imigine one as a girl.

The last one did have females, didn't it? Or was that just the campaign?

the last one AND halo 3 both had female options for multiplayer.
so anyways, i won't be getting brink anyways because i don't like shooters, but damn, usually i play futuristic sci-fi games as my female character

 

[Kuroji]

Brink has not really been on the list of games to buy, and this just keeps it there. If it had added women, I probably would have taken a much closer look at it (and known this sooner).

I do see the argument for wanting one very well developed system, over two half-done ones.. But I'd personally rather have less options for a charater I would prefer to play, than a ton for a character that I don't. That might seem silly to some, but I am fed up of being ignored or overlooked simply because I'm not a guy.

 

[Kiytan]

While it would be nice for their to be females included, it is an inanely high amount of extra work, new textures, new models, new animations, new hitboxs, new voices

 

[Hazy]

Welp, I'm a male, so this really doesn't affect me. Not trying to sound like a dick, just being honest.

What does affect me, however, will be wiping out the sub-human resistance scum that will try their hardest to run my Ark into the ground.

Stay strong. Stay proud. Stay security.

Fight the good fight.​

 

[Duskflamer]

Just for the record, I am a guy and I tend to enjoy playing female characters in games. The segment of the audience that would enjoy having the option to play as a female character is not limited to female gamers. You can throw around all the statistics you like about how males are the target audience not females, but I'm fairly certain that I'm not alone in enjoying being able to play as the opposite gender, and that's a statistic that has to be taken into account as well.

Let's just hope that if Brink does end up being successful and a Brink 2 starts production, they'll think to include female characters for that one.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Just thought you'd like to think a bit more on the issue, Jumbo Palace.

Well when I thought of the "heavy" category I wasn't thinking fat. I was imagining tall, wide, and muscle-bound. Qualities few women want or can even achieve if the desire is present. It makes far more sense for a male character model to be a large imposing figure than a female.

I'm not a sexist, and I fully advocate for the inclusion of proper female characters in games, but in this circumstance it doesn't seem to fit. Unless female characters were limited to small and medium builds, which would then cause concern from people like yourself since heavy wasn't included. It's a lose lose.

I can maybe see why you might say that, but to be honest that would only be due to a lack of imagination. The face that instantly popped into my mind for female heavy was Dot Jones:

She's played as a rugby coach in Glee and as a bad-tempered feminist meatpacker in Boondock Saints. She's tall but strongly built, looks built to brawl and suits a no-nonsense angry attitude. She's perfect for a TF2-style heavy character, not least because she doesn't look too pretty to be fighting, and is about as far from your average video-game human female as you can get.

Not every woman has to be beautiful, just as not all men are tall, dark-haired, rough-shaven and gravelly-voiced... oh wait lol. But still, within the stylised Brink universe such a character could easily fit, and would enrich it more than detract. Same with any other female class equivalents; not every woman has to be a slight, skinny piece of nothing. Some can be bullish, adequately muscled, sinewy, etc etc with as much variety as any man. Just takes a little bit of exposure to the variety of life and imagination.

Hey bud, you did an excellent job arguing your point and I thank you for keeping it civil with me. this is the internet after all

Anyway, you're right, it is just a game. I'm not sure why I got so hung up on realism, but I can't argue with you. I know there are women in the world who could adequately fit into a "heavy's" boots and they shouldn't be stopped from doing so. I'm not upset that there are no female characters in Brink, but I'm not happy they're excluded either.

 

[Aris Khandr]

Money talks. Can you guess which gender has historically been and continues to be the biggest market for game developers? Despite the fact that males continue to be treated better worldwide, females would be considered "default" in games if the majority of gamers were female. But that's not the case. They're the minority by far. Developers are in it to make money like any other business. That's more an issue with capitalism than it is with any particular design choice.

Of course money talks. That's why I make it a point to let them know that my money says "If you don't care enough about me to include my entire gender in your game, I don't care enough about you to play it."

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

Did Halo have female charecters in IT'S multiplayer? What about Section 8? I don't know why Brink is the upset. Of course, it is a little more jaring since there isn't power armor for everyone. Despite Spartans in Multiplayer looking male, it doesn't take much to imigine one as a girl.

Actually, as far back as Halo 3 your spartan could be female, and there have been female spartans since BEFORE CE even came out.

 

[Captain Epic]

I don't really get how this is such a big deal. I personally couldn't care less.

 

[Blobpie]

You have to take into account to body sizes
Heavys: The big strong tough guys
Medium: They're medium, nuff said
Light: Fast and agile.

I can see medium and light female characters, but i just don't see a female heavy.

Besides whole the men are killing each other, the women are probably trying to solve this democratically! Probably... maybe...

 

[Duskflamer]

You have to take into account to body sizes
Heavys: The big strong tough guys
Medium: They're medium, nuff said
Light: Fast and agile.

I can see medium and light female characters, but i just don't see a female heavy.

Besides whole the men are killing each other, the women are probably trying to solve this democratically! Probably... maybe...

This post is so sexist I'm not even sure how to respond to it. All I'll say is, female bodybuilders and women in the military.