GTA V: No female PC; Houser clarifies: "Concept of being masculine was key in story"

Status
Not open for further replies.
Yeah I always figured it was something like that.

Rockstar is the type of developer than would just make a female main character if hey wanted to. I don't think they'd be particularly scared off by shareholders or something. They have a hell of a lot of say over their game.

Having a female main character along side say, Trevor and Franklin instead of Michael would really change the dynamic between them. Like it or not people do act differently around other sexes than they do around their own and they'd have to write to account for that. If they really want to do a good job with this masculinity theme (and I think they will) then three main playable male characters make sense, quite frankly.
 
That's a super narrow concept of masculinity. Are men who aren't strong or aggressive less masculine then? Or are they just masculine in a different way?

They are typically less masculine.

That's just how it is. Not to say that masculinity is superior to anything else.
 
I know that somewhere in the multiverse there is a reality where every videogame has a protagonist who is a black Islamic lesbian wheelchair-bound heavy person, and OtherGAF constantly asks, "Why can't we play as a trim straight white-skinned brown-haired 30-something dude of no discernible religion?!"

I think I covered everything.
 
Apparently this is what "PC version" is starting to mean. Does it have a playable woman? How about minorities? Does each level have proper wheelchair access?
 
Ugh... "concept of being masculine" - and your professional writing team couldn't figure out how to use juxtaposition with an empowered female player-controller protagonist to convey that? I am disappoint Rockstar...
 
Guys and gals are different.

Action games that try to have girls emulate guys in every way usually fail in the character department, like Tomb Raider or Bloodrayne where the character tries really really hard to be all badass and stuff but end up just being a really sexy generic character.

It's better when a female action character is written with feminine characteristics. Like Sarah Connor or Ripley. The alternative is parody like Bayonetta. In this way, you can still write male characters with feminine qualities and female characters with masculine qualities without failing to acknowledge their sex and the nuances of being that sex in the context of the story, unless your story is abstract or takes place in a culture where sex is treated differently (but you would still have to address that in the narrative)
 
Ugh... "concept of being masculine" - and your professional writing team couldn't figure out how to use juxtaposition to use an empowering female player-controller protagonist to convey that? I am disappoint Rockstar...

Wow writing sure is easy. That's all they had to do!
 
So it's a story for guys, which is fine. There's nothing wrong with that.

I think a lot of people just wanted a story that went in a different direction since all of their stories have been stories for guys. Though thematically aiming for 30-54 year old's is pretty bold.

Yes, it's a story for guys; just like GTA:SA was a story for black people.
 
I don't really see the issue here. The story they want to tell is the story they want to tell. Don't force in a female PC if it won't work.

Indeed, it is what it is. Nothing more. Perhaps they could do it in an expansion. That would be very cool and would give a totally fresh perspective as well.
 
So the controversy now isn't that we can have sex with hookers and then murder them, but rather we can't be a woman while doing it?
 
Ugh... "concept of being masculine" - and your professional writing team couldn't figure out how to use juxtaposition with an empowered female player-controller protagonist to convey that? I am disappoint Rockstar...

They didn't have to. I'm assuming that when the concept of three main characters came to them, they had males in mind. It would have taken them extra effort to try to justify a female protagonist. And they didn't deem that necessary.
 
One day it'd be nice where every game isn't pressured to have a female character just because. It'd be nice if we could let them make whatever character they feel fits the story they want to make.

While I think the reason they gave is weird it'd be nice to just have someone respond with "because I didn't fucking want to".

so where exactly is pressure here? "every game" is pressured? only because a handful (of 10.000) of journalists ask the selfevident question: why in 3 playable characters none is female?
 
The next GTA should feature a female protagonist. And be set in Asia.

I would love to play a Rockstar game with a different setting but a GTA game in another country would not be a GTA game. The Americana is at the core of what it means to be a Grand Theft Auto game.
 
Ugh... "concept of being masculine" - and your professional writing team couldn't figure out how to use juxtaposition with an empowered female player-controller protagonist to convey that? I am disappoint Rockstar...

Or maybe they wrote what they wanted instead of bowing to political correctness nonsense? If a story doesn't fit a female role, then it doesn't fit one. Same with men in female roles. You can be a female in GTA Online.
 
Indeed, it is what it is. Nothing more. Perhaps they could do it in an expansion. That would be very cool and would give a totally fresh perspective as well.

I can picture it now: the cries of people questioning why Rockstar think women PCs can only be in expansion packs and why can't they be in the main game.
 
I can see why someone would criticize this, but they should at least play through the game to see if it works before doing so. Until then, I have to defer to their vision of the game.
 
I don't understand this sudden outrage over a form of media having male protagonists. This game's story is modeled similarly to the movie "Heat", and that movie was a bunch of males in a heist crew. Did the movie "Heat" catch a lot of flack for not having a female lead?

Being "outraged" by the lack of a lead female character in this would be stupid. Outrage in response to anything is pretty pointless. People wanting more playable female characters in games seems fine to me, though. To some this just stood out as a good example, given the three main characters and all.

Saying "this didn't have female characters and nobody complained" doesn't really hold any weight as an argument. People are calling for change, giving an example of the current model doesn't really sway the argument.

"I would like a hamburger."

"Yeah, but yesterday you didn't have a hamburger."

"I know, that's why I want one now."
 
I would love to play a Rockstar game with a different setting but a GTA game in another country would not be a GTA game. The Americana is at the core of what it means to be a Grand Theft Auto game.

This is a (small) part of why London 1969 is the worst GTA related thing ever developed.
 
One day it'd be nice where every game isn't pressured to have a female character just because. It'd be nice if we could let them make whatever character they feel fits the story they want to make.

While I think the reason they gave is weird it'd be nice to just have someone respond with "because I didn't fucking want to".
To be fair, a large number of games have moronic stories and paper thin characters so a different gender would only impact how your dumbfuck character looks and sounds.

I'm obviously not saying this is the case here though and the Housers can do whatever they want.

I would cringe if a female character car jacks by pulling a grown man out and throwing him on the ground.
My Saints Row character would eat you for breakfast.
 
That's a super narrow concept of masculinity. Are men who aren't strong or aggressive less masculine then? Or are they just masculine in a different way?

Yes, the concept is super narrow. And yes those features are typically seen as more masculine, unfair as it might be.

Something I'm sure that the game is going to explore.
 
Women commit felonies too!
Consider that all major terror style atrocities are committed by men.

GTA V is a game which allows the character to commit all kinds of terrible deeds.

It is highly unrealistic to expect a woman to wield an assault rifle, rob a bank, and massacre people.
 
So ?

Gives us a masculine butch lesbian =P

Not all females with masculine traits are lesbians though. I hope people don't rage over this. He isn't saying having masculine traits are better, just that they work better for the story they're trying to tell.
 
As mentioned, your fully customizable online world character can be female. That is essentially the 4th character and the online world has it's own story events, in addition to all of the great activities that are in the single player experience.
 
I'd much rather have a game that portrays minorities in a much more complex and interesting light than what GTA did with CJ in SA.

Here's hoping Franklin will be that guy. (I'm honestly tired of the "banger with dreams" archetype.)

Anyway, I don't understand what would be different if a female PC was in this specific game.
 
I can't wait to say that R* can only create Hyper-Masculine characters despite the wide variety of the supporting cast.
 
Huh, it hasn't been that long since the revival of the Dickwolves controversy, do we really need to manufacture another one so soon?
 
"Naturally, it's impossible to judge this remark without playing the game through, but still - what do you think?"

I think you're fishing for hits, OXM.
 
Consider that all major terror style atrocities are committed by men.

GTA V is a game which allows the character to commit all kinds of terrible deeds.

It is highly unrealistic to expect a woman to wield an assault rifle, rob a bank, and massacre people.

So much can be done with this post. I hope someone smarter than me (and with more time on their hands) takes up the cause.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom