Should Rockstar's Next Game Have a Female Main Protagonist

I would love the next GTA to star a Bonnie and Clyde style couple. I think Idle Thumbs first suggested it a few years back. It could really work well and provide a unique twist and some new scenarios
 
It'd work and Dan Houser already said that in an interview as well.

Dan Houser said:
"In the future, could we do a game with a lead female character? Of course," he added. "We just haven't found the right game for it yet, but it's one of the things that we always think about. It didn't feel natural for this game but definitely for the right game in the future--with the right themes, it could be fantastic. But for GTA V, this was the organic thing that came up, these were the characters what [sic] would display the themes we wanted to think about."
 
However, I do understand the argument of "I'd rather have nothing then something bad." In this case being "I'd rather have no fem protag then a poorly written one."

But I think R* should get a chance at it. No matter what happens, it's probably gonna be better than any Quantic Dream game.
 
That's not what he said.
Twisting words a bit here aren't we? I'd like to think most characters start as a faceless, sexless idea. What the character does and how they function are first. How does this character need to act? How will they handle certain circumstances? After you have that I imagine you run through concept art or tell these ideas to an artist and see what they come up with. Kinda like Nadine in UC4. I don't think anyone says straight up this character has to be male or female.
It's implied. Only female characters (and minorities) are ever held to this kind of standard.

You can always make a white male character "just because", but you shouldn't ever do that with a female/minority, it needs to make sense and be well-written!
 
If they want to, sure. I don't think they're in any way obligated to, however. They can make whatever art they please.
 
This is probably an unpopular opinion but I think the female character should be based on/ similar to Catalina from GTA III. Idk why but I always wanted Rockstar to do a game that would explain Catalina's origin. I wanna learn how the heck she became ruthless and crazy. But it's never going to happen. Lol poor CJ and Claude though.

Anyway, maybe it would be a bad idea to do that now that I think about it.
 
If they want to, sure. I don't think they're in any way obligated to, however. They can make whatever art they please.
In a perfect world this would be correct but in a world where the video game landscape is dominated by white male protagonists a highly regarded company like rockstar imo is (socially, not legally) obliged to push for change in these areas.
 
Rockstar has a very clear demographic they are developing for, and it is not girls, and definitely not boys who want to pretend to be girls.

So this will never happen.
 
It's implied. Only female characters (and minorities) are ever held to this kind of standard.

You can always make a white male character "just because", but you shouldn't ever do that with a female/minority, it needs to make sense and be well-written!

No, it's not implied.

I don't want male characters just for the sake of male characters.
I don't want female characters just for the sake of female characters.
I don't want black characters just for the sake of black characters.
I don't want white characters just for the sake of white characters.

See? I don't imply anything here.

Every character/bulding/mission should be meaningful for the game. Imagine a gta or a red dead with buldings just for the sake of buildings and compare it with a well-constructed world in which every detail expresses the imagination of the creator. The latter is much better than the former.
 
A solely female lead character for the next GTA. The meltdowns and outcry from all the misogyny shitheads out there would be so delicious (who are probably the bulk of potential buyers of GTA games). I don't think that R* or better Take Two will take this risk.
 
Rockstar has a very clear demographic they are developing for, and it is not girls, and definitely not boys who want to pretend to be girls.

So this will never happen.

I was going to argue with you.

But then I remembered my stupid 10 year old self. I'd probably never play a GTA game with a fem protag.
 
I was going to argue with you.

But then I remembered my stupid 10 year old self. I'd probably never play a GTA game with a fem protag.

Were you stupid, or were you just a young boy who preferred to play as a male character? Boys shouldn't be shamed for their preferences any less than young girls who want to play as a female character, imo.
 
No, because I'm not entitled to dictate what creators should make next. It's as simple as that. I want creative people to work on what excites them and whatever it is they're passionate about. I mean, all most all of Scorsese's movies have been about white men. Same goes for Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg. Those men have very specific interests and sensibilities and that's great, it makes their movies so interesting. It doesn't make them any less as filmmakers. Rockstar seems very auteur driven, with the same two writers working on all their games, so I want them to work on the characters, cities and time periods they'd like to work on next. That doesn't mean we can't criticize them for the way they've written women in their previous games though. But there is a big difference between actual criticism of something someone has done and the weird kind of criticism where you criticize someone for what they haven't done (yet). If Rockstar would like to make a game with a female protagonist then that's great! Part of why I loved San Andreas is because I enjoy stories about black experiences and black characters and because I don't often get to play story driven games with a black main character. Still, I want more people excited about telling stories with black, Asian, female and other minority characters to get into game development because I think that's the best way to get more of those kinds of stories. Forcing the people already making games to make exactly what we want them to instead of what they actually want to isn't the right way to go about things imo.
 
The next manhunt should star a female and be patterned after an actual manhunt rather than a snuff film. It could be really cool.
 
No. Not just "because" representation is the hot topic of the moment.

The only reason Rockstars next game should have a female protagonist is if the design team wanted to make a game starring a female.
 
For a new franchise sure.

but not with their current established franchises.

Eh, I think Red Dead could work pretty well with a female protagonist.

GTA is a little tougher, or at least I have a hard time imagining it. It's always been such a "male fantasy" series, lol.
 
Why does a character being female need justification?

Which part of my post even suggested that a female lead needed justification? If they can pull off a female character well then it is okay. If they can pull off a male character well, then that is okay as well. What is this us versus them mentality? No really, what are you talking about?

This is what I wrote:

If they can write a good story with a female protagonist then great. But don't write in a female character just for the sake of having female characters.

Now point out what is wrong with my english. All I said is if they can't pull off a female lead well, don't do it just for the sake of doing it. What part of that is controversial? Jeez.
 
In a perfect world this would be correct but in a world where the video game landscape is dominated by white male protagonists a highly regarded company like rockstar imo is (socially, not legally) obliged to push for change in these areas.
I'm probably walking a thin line here by saying this, but no company is obligated to shoehorn female protagonists into their games if they don't want to. Now if they feel they can come up with a great character arc and a compelling reason to do so, then I'm sure they will, otherwise they will stick with the tried and move and nobody should blame them for it. Other games provide that option eitherway.
 
"but don't write a female character just for the sake of writing female characters" suggests that to me. Why should they not write a female character for the heck of it?

Becuase people are afraid they'll fuck up and make a bunch of creepy rape scenarios for no reason.
 
Only if she can have sex with prostitues to score more points.

Rockstar should work on making a good, focused game first. Their games are too broad,hard to find the fun, and their stories aren't good so...pare everything down. Mske good designed fun to play levels and missions, back to basics. Man woman child or dog I don't care who the protagonist is.
 
They should at least give people the choice of which sex to play as.

I just hope they go back to 1 playable character, the 3 playable characters of V's campaign weren't my cup of tea.

Either way the game will still sell ten's of millions of copies so I guess it doesn't even matter to Rockstar
 
Honestly, they can only do this if it's not GTA. I can't see a GTA happening where the female isn't portrayed as a sex object in some degree, or is treated as a sex object by supporting characters. It's just a game of super stereotypes.

In GTAV, Amanda and Tracey were sluts, Tracey was also a ditz and bimbo, and Molly was oogled by Trevor the whole time. Compare that to a non-GTA game like RDR were Bonnie was really good.

But, hey, maybe they'll go that way anyways because who cares about that stuff in GTA games.
 
1. Will it be a great game?
2. Will it have the same amount of marketing just like GTAV?

If answer to both are yes, they yeah, it will sell very well.
I'm game for Red Dead or GTA with female character.
Or maybe Agent!
 
Because that's a huge cost to make happen. Rockstar characters are top notch. They're not Female Shepard where you don't even do a single thing that's feminine.

Am sure there can fit it in with there 200 million dollar budget or there 2 million dollar worth of sales. Personally I could not care if the protagonist was male or female. As long as the character is done well am happy.
 
If they have a 3 characters structure like V, i can see it happen.
Otherwise, it's not going to.

I think R* has had good female characters before, so i'd be down for it, but i can't see them basing their whole game around one female protagonist, given their usual style and stubbornness.
 
That suggestion only exists in your own mind. Don't put words in my mouth.

I do want to ask you though - people saying "don't write female characters for the sake of having female characters" is a pretty common sentiment.

People absolutely never say "just don't write male characters for the sake of having male characters".

Why do female characters have a higher 'boundary' that they need to clear to justify their existence over the male ones?
 
The sex of the character has zero impact on whether I buy a game, so i don't care either way. Saying that, the only time I would probably care is anything that goes against historical accuracy, like a WW2 shooter, I'd expect a female Russian snper, or French resistance fighter, I wouldn't expect a female GI storming the beach at Utah, for instance.
 
Am sure there can fit it in with there 200 million dollar budget or there 2 million dollar worth of sales. Personally I could not care if the protagonist was male or female. As long as the character is done well am happy.

Being able to choose between male and female, take that 200 million budget and make it 300 million. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but remaking the entire game for an entirely new character is insanely costly for something that players won't even play half of it.

No game company spends all that money so that half of the game is locked away from a male or female character selection. It's a huge waste of investment.

The only company that's crazy enough to do it is CD Projekt, since they had an entire storyline, city, and map locked away depending on your faction choice in Witcher 2.
 
Honestly, they can only do this if it's not GTA. I can't see a GTA happening where the female isn't portrayed as a sex object in some degree, or is treated as a sex object by supporting characters. It's just a game of super stereotypes.

In GTAV, Amanda and Tracey were sluts, Tracey was also a ditz and bimbo, and Molly was oogled by Trevor the whole time. Compare that to a non-GTA game like RDR were Bonnie was really good.

But, hey, maybe they'll go that way anyways because who cares about that stuff in GTA games.

I think they can pull this off in a GTA game. Catalina from GTA 3 and SA was done pretty well, she was always the dominant partner with CJ and Claude. Elizabeta and Michelle from GTA 4 were also pretty well done imo.

If it's a multi-protagonist game again, I just hope they don't shaft a potential female character like they did with Franklin, whose story pretty much just got kicked to the curb once Trevor showed up.
 
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