Poll: Female gamers like to shop, play support roles, says developer

[Tigerlily Warrior]

All I care about is if it's a good game with a good plot and well developed characters (or if it's a RPG, clear modivations for the character). I like playing as both men and women. I don't think a company would limit gameplay if it means fewer (women) players buying their product.

Sounds fishy.

 

[Not PvP Flagged]

It strikes me as pretty silly, I'm a guy and I have more fun as a support role or being a ranged attacker than being a meat shield in games.
The only way I think this could even work would be for lore reasons. I mean in WoW I could understand if female night elves were better in melee combat than the male night elves but male night elves were better at spells and stuff, strictly because of the lore. But other than that it seems silly to me.

 

[Chiasm]

I think this is all 100% correct; I know as a girl I am addicted to pink and have a genetic problem that if a object is not pink my feminine mind just can't handle or figure it out. Why I still use my 5" pink Barbie tv from when I was 8. They better hope they have plenty of pink clothes to buy.

Really the worst part is that the character is linked to your gender, So there really is no,"well just pick the heroic Conan male option" your pretty much stuck in your, "gender" role which is a shame for female warriors or male preists

 

[AceAngel]

Again, with the lack of understanding about general idea on WHY game developers do this stuff, let me bring a rundown people, please note if you're going to quote with a remark on me being sexist, I suggest you take a hike and go back to Wordpress and dry about it.

On the subject then: Many developers, don't like having female projection avatars in-games (EI: a character we embody as our trophy and record), have their faces bashed in. The thing it is, it's pretty irksome.

The reason Brink doesn't include female characters is because many on the dev-team didn't want characters bashing girls in the face when they're down, they even said so on an interview with Edge magazine, it would be violent, brutal, and do more damage then good to the games image since you know...a guy will be lashing a downed female. Plus, we have to take into account real-life body functions for each sex...I won't get into this because people will quote me out of context.

Gears of War will be an exception to this formula, but remember, you're fighting monsters, non-translatable entities which in no-way-or-form are human, hence they're isn't a human power struggle on sex or idealogy.

I have no idea on why this game would go in this direction to say the truth, but clearly, they're putting females behind as opposed to the front-lines, because last thing they need, is someone crying foul when a huge male golem rips aparts a female spartan...many Wordpressists will have a field day in that.

 

[razelas]

I think this is all 100% correct; I know as a girl I am addicted to pink and have a genetic problem that if a object is not pink my feminine mind just can't handle or figure it out. Why I still use my 5" pink Barbie tv from when I was 8. They better hope they have plenty of pink clothes to buy.

Really the worst part is that the character is linked to your gender, So there really is no,"well just pick the heroic Conan male option" your pretty much stuck in your, "gender" role which is a shame for female warriors or male preists

You do realize pink was not always considered the "feminine" color? [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-Did-Girls-Start-Wearing-Pink.html?c=y&page=1] This gender-color nonsense started back in the early 20th century.

Associating color with gender is a social construct, i.e. not based on biology or the physical world.

 

[Vivace-Vivian]

My god please let it be a troll.

Support roles? Support my ass, I'm going to put a shotgun in someone's face.

 

[Danceofmasks]

I have no idea on why this game would go in this direction to say the truth, but clearly, they're putting females behind as opposed to the front-lines, because last thing they need, is someone crying foul when a huge male golem rips aparts a female spartan...many Wordpressists will have a field day in that.

Only .. AFAIK, they WILL have females in the front lines.
They just gotta level up a bit to unlock that.

On the flipside, males are apparently going to be expendable, unless they can afford to (spend points) get an education so they can be a doctor.

Personally, I think it's too much typecasting.
I mean really .. that's almost like saying "you're black irl, so you have to start playing a criminal until you level up a bit so you can spend points into being a cop"

 

[PhiMed]

Any gameplay that is based on gender-specific stereotypes is sexist by definition. Including additional options based on gender is good; limiting options based on gender is not.

If you have additional options for one gender or another, aren't you limiting options for the other? I don't really understand the distinction.

Why do you assume that adding to one detracts from the other?

I didn't say it did. I said that if you're adding something to one and not the other, then the one which doesn't receive that addition is limited. It cannot use the options which were added to the other. You're just selectively adding rather than selectively subtracting to arrive at the same number.

The distinction you're making is one of semantic description. It's spin, double talk, newsspeak.

If you say "There are 5 options, but guys can't be 4 and girls can't be 5" (the situation with which you disagree), that's the exact same thing as "There are 3 options, but guys have the additional option of being 5 and girls have the additional option of being 4." (the situation of which you're in favor) It's the same thing.
In both situations, guys have 4 options: 1,2,3, or 5. Girls have 4 options: 1,2,3, or 4.

Same. Thing.

 

[Bon_Clay]

Meh, if you want to play a certain way couldn't you always just choose the other gender?

It doesn't help anything though, if women mostly wanted to play support roles then they would just choose that themselves. I don't really like tank roles myself, but shopping is a boring terrible experience.

 

[razelas]

-snip-

Funny how the article mentioned ABSOLUTELY NOTHING (read: ZILCH, NADA, NIENTE, etc.) on "violence to women."

Sexism, gender stereotypes, and arbitrary social ideals of what a "woman" should be doing have NOTHING to do with limiting women to traditional "support" roles?

Are you fucking serious?

 

[PhiMed]

Meh, if you want to play a certain way couldn't you always just choose the other gender?

It doesn't help anything though, if women mostly wanted to play support roles then they would just choose that themselves. I don't really like tank roles myself, but shopping is a boring terrible experience.

That's part of the actually innovative part of it (it's in the article). This game will have multiple levels of interaction, including a hard-core strategy multiplayer, a minigame buff for teammates, and a social gaming aspect that is linked to social networking accounts. Thus, signing up for the game and linking it to your facebook (or whatever) account will register you as the gender listed there.

 

[AstylahAthrys]

Um, no. Not really. I'm not too fond of either of those things. Well, shopping for sweet equipment to make my character kick ass, maybe, but supportive roles? No thanks. I love getting on the front lines and going for a heads-on assault.

(also, Captcha was Stancy real?. I have no idea. Is Stancy real?)

 

[Farseer Lolotea]

I'm sure it's an attempt to "reach out." The trouble is that it's a half-assed, ill-informed, borderline insulting attempt.

...seriously, shopping? Gimme a damn break. And unless your idea of "support roles" includes ret paladins, feral tank druids, and paragon-riftblades...

 

[PhiMed]

I'm sure it's an attempt to "reach out." The trouble is that it's a half-assed, ill-informed, borderline insulting attempt.

...seriously, shopping? Gimme a damn break.

Well come on, give them a break. I mean, they're Russian

 

[MaxwellEdison]

As a male who loves clothes, I'm offended that I'd be missing out on what sounds like amusing gameplay.

And, come to think of it, if a woman is playing a game which involves combat, one might assume she wants to fight. This doesn't seem like it will please any women who would by their game.

 

[Chiasm]

You do realize pink was not always considered the "feminine" color? [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-Did-Girls-Start-Wearing-Pink.html?c=y&page=1] This gender-color nonsense started back in the early 20th century.

Associating color with gender is a social construct, i.e. not based on biology or the physical world.

Totally agree with you; was hoping to make a joke about gender stereotypes.

P.S Fun fact take a baby wrap it in pink and people look at the baby and say,"She's so cute and she'll become a heart breaker" But if you take that same baby and put it in blue then you hear, "What a strong grip he has and he's going to play football for sure"

Though if you want to go deeper you could say that anything dominate is considered masculine and anything submissive is considered feminine on the sliding gender scale. This is why I still think colors, and clothing is nature as well as nurture as every human society in history has had a gender(or group) that was considered more dominant and one that is more submissive.

 

[PhiMed]

You do realize pink was not always considered the "feminine" color? [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-Did-Girls-Start-Wearing-Pink.html?c=y&page=1] This gender-color nonsense started back in the early 20th century.

Associating color with gender is a social construct, i.e. not based on biology or the physical world.

Totally agree with you; was hoping to make a joke about gender stereotypes.

P.S Fun fact take a baby wrap it in pink and people look at the baby and say,"She's so cute and she'll become a heart breaker" But if you take that same baby and put it in blue then you hear, "What a strong grip he has and he's going to play football for sure"

Though if you want to go deeper you could say that anything dominate is considered masculine and anything submissive is considered feminine on the sliding gender scale. This is why I still think colors, and clothing is nature as well as nurture as every human society in history has had a gender(or group) that was considered more dominant and one that is more submissive.

Good to see we're staying on topic.

Most aspects of human behavior have a genetic (nature) as well as taught (nurture) aspect to them. This includes sexuality and gender identity. I think that the developer is making a game for what they perceive to be gender identities in modern society, which incorporates elements of both.

 

[Danceofmasks]

You do realize pink was not always considered the "feminine" color? [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-Did-Girls-Start-Wearing-Pink.html?c=y&page=1] This gender-color nonsense started back in the early 20th century.

Associating color with gender is a social construct, i.e. not based on biology or the physical world.

Totally agree with you; was hoping to make a joke about gender stereotypes.

P.S Fun fact take a baby wrap it in pink and people look at the baby and say,"She's so cute and she'll become a heart breaker" But if you take that same baby and put it in blue then you hear, "What a strong grip he has and he's going to play football for sure"

Though if you want to go deeper you could say that anything dominate is considered masculine and anything submissive is considered feminine on the sliding gender scale. This is why I still think colors, and clothing is nature as well as nurture as every human society in history has had a gender(or group) that was considered more dominant and one that is more submissive.

The issue here isn't what's "generally true" or "generally considered to be" but letterboxing you into roles from the get go.

My ancestral martial art, for example ... is all about fighting really close to the ground, includes a lot of grapples and power punches (especially to the groin and legs) .. and is all-round a style that emphasizes power.
It was invented by a woman ... 'cos she couldn't stand up straight due to foot binding.

Also, on the subject of Russian and women ... one of the most badass women of all time is Lyudmila Pavlichenko (spelling might be a bit off).
Now you'd think in a game that includes combat you'd want to have among your playerbase women who look up to a freakin' national heroine rather than the floozies going to nightclubs.