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[Orayn]

So is Tomb Raider good for having a female lead or bad for pandering to males by following a sexy girl's ass the whole game?

A lot of people have praised Tomb Raider for having a strong female lead who's still a vulnerable person. Her depiction in the game was generally not sexualized at all.

So is TLOU good for having a interesting females in the cast or evil for having another straight white male lead?

Good for having interesting female characters, nobody said that having a straight male white lead was always bad.

 

[SolidSnakex]

A lot of people have praised Tomb Raider for having a strong female lead who's still a vulnerable person. Her depiction in the game was generally not sexualized at all.

It's completely bizarre to me that the reboots Lara received so much more praise than Core's. She was a much stronger character in those games. But people chose to only focus on her appearance.

 

[zeldablue]

I don't think we can take this for granted, just because there haven't been that many earnest, high-profile attempts to try something else, and unsuccessful games with non-white or non-male protagonists didn't necessarily fail for that reason alone. "Remember Me" wouldn't necessarily have been a big hit if it had a white male protag, for example.

For sure.

There are a lot of people who are against the idea of empowering women. But those same people love Ellie and The Boss... Which makes you wonder where the contradiction comes from. (Unless there is no overlap between these two groups which I doubt.)

I think it's the pressure to be more ethical or inclusive that makes people defensive and angry...not the actual outcome of good representation.

 

[Winterfang]

A lot of people have praised Tomb Raider for having a strong female lead who's still a vulnerable person. Her depiction in the game was generally not sexualized at all.



Good for having interesting female characters, nobody said that having a straight male white lead was always bad.

Lara was not sexualized in the story but a little bit on gameplay. The way she climb the rope... Lord had mercy.

I can't way for the new Tomb Raider, I like the reboot so much, specially hearing how the Mercenaries talk to each other and talk about Her.

 

[Kadayi]

TotalBiscuit seems to have the same stance as me.

Given the characters are co-op in AC Unity and that co-op seemingly ties into the main game in some way, my suspicion is that there is a defined narrative relationship between the protagonist and the other assassins that likely dictates why they are all male. I'd hazard a military background is the likely answer. still until the game is released we'll not know.

 

[Vermillion]

So it's daming for white males to not want to play as anyone else, but we should champion minorities for not wanting to play as white males?

Is there an infographic or something I can look at because I can't keep up with which soapbox I'm supposed to be listening to.

To put it simply... Minorities and women play as white males and have been doing so for years. Many white males don't play as women and minorities and haven't been doing so for years. There's certainly an imbalance, but it's not where you think it is.

 

[Shiina]

Hey, I can cherry-pick too

Wasn't the Knack game made by SCEJ?

 

[Red Chocobo]

Wasn't the Knack game made by SCEJ?

Writen and directed by an American though.

 

[Kinyou]

Given the characters are co-op in AC Unity and that co-op seemingly ties into the main game in some way, my suspicion is that there is a defined narrative relationship between the protagonist and the other assassins that likely dictates why they are all male. I'd hazard a military background is the likely answer. still until the game is released we'll not know.

In AC unity everyone will see himself as the protagonist, you can never pick who you want to play. That's what so many people seem to miss. It's similar to watchdogs where everyone sees himself playing as aiden pierce. What that does is help to create a seamless experience where you won't switch characters, modes to play coop instead it just ties in naturally with the campaign. If the protagonist had been a woman you'd only be able to play as that woman.

It's completely bizarre to me that the reboots Lara received so much more praise than Core's. She was a much stronger character in those games. But people chose to only focus on her appearance.

I recall lots of people not liking it here, especially when the whole "rape scene" and "you want to protect her" was going on. I guess some changed their mind over the final product

 

[ishibear]

Thanks for covering that for me Orayn.

It's completely bizarre to me that the reboots Lara received so much more praise than Core's. She was a much stronger character in those games. But people chose to only focus on her appearance.

I agree to an extent. Old Lara was a strong character. But this is why people like newer Lara better - she's more than just a badass with boobs, she's got a story to tell.

---

As someone said earlier, people like when there's more explored within characterization. Just because the main is a white guy doesn't mean more can't be explored. People are tired of playing the same dudebro when there's characters like Lara, Joel, and Lee.

In TLOU, the main character is well received because he isn't perfect and is downright questionable at times. When we are given characters that are different than the usual, we respond better. While old Lara was this all around badass, the new one grew into it. In the newer game, Lara is vulnerable and you grow with her as she goes from being afraid to being the badass we know.

We are starting to place more importance on characterization than before and this actually can help give gamers an understanding that female, Black, Hispanic, etc characters are more than things just there for the hell of it.

Women are people, POC are people, gays are people. When characterization is given instead of superficial shit, the results are great. You get characters with a story to tell, just like the others.

So, when a woman like Lara is made into a realistic person that people can sympathize with, she becomes more human and less like an object solely for male desire.

This is why more female leads are important. The fact that guys can like a woman for trying to improve and be stronger over the version of her that's sexualized is very telling. Lara is humanized and they like it. There's no reason for devs to keep implying that men think solely with their dicks when they are clearly capable of the opposite.

 

[Manu]

I'm in the opinion that they made an awful job to give Lara some character in the reboot.

I'd rather have her be a badass from the start if they're going to give her such an awful origin story.

The Legend/Anniversary/Underworld trilogy had it right: she was a badass from the start, but there was a traumatic event in her past that haunted her.

 

[Orayn]

I recall lots of people not liking it here, especially when the whole "rape scene" and "you want to protect her" was going on. I guess some changed their mind over the final product

There were still some bad or questionable elements to it, like the game's borderline voyeuristic obsession with Lara being in physical pain. It was a misstep, but my overall impression is still positive.

 

[Squalor]

The same reason there are still so few minorities in starring roles in Hollywood.

 

[daviyoung]

Lara's backstory is no different to a typical superhero origins story. Shallow as a puddle.

 

[beril]

Hey, I can cherry-pick too

most of those characters aren't american. though to be fair neither were all the ones in the original picture. Just annoying when people lump everything that's not from japan together

 

[ishibear]

Lara's backstory is no different to a typical superhero origins story. Shallow as a puddle.

Which is probably why it's well liked? It's not a typical characterization given to females in games.

I'm in the boat that liked badass Lara but I'm not just gonna ignore the good that's come from the reboot.

 

[cafemomo]

Hey, I can cherry-pick too

If anything it shows that the west needs to be blessed by nomrua's artstyle

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

Yeah, the whole "stop giving feedback because you don't know anything about how marketing works" thing doesn't really work with me. Conveniently I've noticed that the people that bring it up tend to ignore the fact that consumers don't need a primer on marketing in order to give feedback to the companies they purchase products from.

A consumer's concern isn't how a company makes profits, only whether what it offers is worth the price of purchase.

There's a reason why many companies have things like community managers, public forums and other avenues for gathering information from their consumer base. Getting feedback is a natural component of the development process and for future projects.

Ever wonder why the franchise that's frequently labeled as the "most dudebro shooter" ever that routinely sells millions (or a lot of money, I haven't looked at the latest release sale figures) added female characters to their multiplayer mode for their latest game? They just didn't decide to throw time, money and resources at a feature that their supposedly white male audience wouldn't use.

This is Activision and Call of Duty that we're talking about here. And yet...

"If I had a billboard chart of requests, this would be near the top of the charts of things we hear from our community," said Eric Hirshberg, president and CEO of Activision Publishing. "It's certainly something I've wanted to do for a while. We have a lot of female players that want to play as female characters."

Full link

Suffice to say, there's nothing wrong with talking about increasing diversity on forums or letting companies know that you'd like to see X, Y, or Z in their next game. And you sure as hell don't need to know anything about marketing to do these things. Companies don't care if you know anything about marketing or not, they just want to collect information concerning their products so that they may potentially alter things going forward.

You can find plenty of examples of feedback affecting what gets included in video games. This is most definitely not the only one.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Hey, I can cherry-pick too

Hahaha, nice. Yeah this whole notion that Japan is the saviour is completely silly.

I'm getting so confused.

Sorry, I know fighting (wo)men of straw is hard!

Is there an infographic or something I can look at because I can't keep up with which soapbox I'm supposed to be listening to.

I suggest you pay attention to what is being said, instead of the imaginary arguments you're spending so much time being confused in trying to address.

Lara's backstory is no different to a typical superhero origins story. Shallow as a puddle.

I agree, it's crap. 2013 Lara isn't an example of a good female character. Not because of the sexism, whatever there is is fairly mild, but because her personality is zero and her backstory is inane and shallow.

If anything it shows that the west needs to be blessed by nomrua's artstyle

 

[v0yce]

I suggest you pay attention to what is being said, instead of the imaginary arguments you're spending so much time being confused in trying to address.

Ok. Got it. Thanks for the clarificaiton.

I agree, it's crap. 2013 Lara isn't an example of a good female character. Not because of the sexism, whatever there is is fairly mild, but because her personality is zero and her backstory is inane and shallow.

Oh no. I know I didn't just imagine someone using new Lara as a positive and then you saying it's a negative in this discussion. Who do I not pay attention to.

Help me. Morrigan Targaryen.

 

[Mr. X]

My guess would be the women on the cover defense or women leads defense that appeared a year or 2 ago with Remember Me and Last of Us.

Something something sells better. Something something catering to their demographic/audience something.

 

[hipsterpants]

Hey, I can cherry-pick too

Not that any form of Japanese media can really be said for having a lot of diversity, but I'm pretty sure a lot of their "white" characters are supposed to be Japanese (like Tidus). Slightly different lol

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Ok. Got it. Thanks for the clarificaiton.

Oh no. I know I didn't just imagine someone using new Lara as a positive and then you saying it's a negative in this discussion. Who do I not pay attention to.

Help me. Morrigan Targaryen.

I don't know. Play the game and form your own opinion, maybe?

 

[SolidSnakex]

I agree to an extent. Old Lara was a strong character. But this is why people like newer Lara better - she's more than just a badass with boobs, she's got a story to tell.

I think Core's Lara was basically like Drake. When we pick up on their story they'r already confident in what they're doing. And those games did try to touch on the inexperienced Lara (The Last Revelation and Chronicles).

The reboot is a 15 hour game but Lara as a character is pretty much fully evolved after an hour.

Spoiler

Once she kills her first deer and first human, you really don't see much change after that. She freaks out over both and then just goes about doing it like it's nothing. And there really isn't much else to her character in terms of development after that.

 

[Puppet Shadow]

So it's daming for white males to not want to play as anyone else, but we should champion minorities for not wanting to play as white males?

Is there an infographic or something I can look at because I can't keep up with which soapbox I'm supposed to be listening to.

Eh, if given the chance I'll always play as a female (I'm a male, btw) as I find it more interesting... but if 90% of playable characters were female, I'd probably jump at the chance to play as a male. I don't think it's that hard to understand.

 

[Oersted]

Wasn't the Knack game made by SCEJ?

Yep. And Angry Birds, Minecraft and Mirrors Edge are swedish. Every Rare IP is obviously british. Pic is a tad dumb.

 

[Oersted]

I'm getting so confused.

is Tomb Raider good for having a female lead or bad for pandering to males by following a sexy girl's ass the whole game?

A female lead is good, and yes, it could have been better.

So is TLOU good for having a interesting females in the cast or evil for having another straight white male lead?

A variety of well written characters is a good thing.

it's daming for white males to not want to play as anyone else, but we should champion minorities for not wanting to play as white males?

Is there an infographic or something I can look at because I can't keep up with which soapbox I'm supposed to be listening to.

Interesting way to miss the point. Everyone is perfectly fine with you, straight white male, playing as a straight white male. Now gamers are asking for even better representation, for even bigger variety. Nasty, I know.

Correct me if I'm wrong:

You used a wrong dichotomy and pushed it too good and evil extremes. Could be it the case that you played dumb on purpose to show off the wrong logic off your opponents, who demand better representation of gamers?

 

[shadowstar]

The same reason there are still so few minorities in starring roles in Hollywood.

Which is also dumb considering how many Latinos go to the movies in the US and how big the overseas market is now. I believe they're making an effort? I don't really know tbh.

 

[v0yce]

Eh, if given the chance I'll always play as a female (I'm a male, btw) as I find it more interesting... but if 90% of playable characters were female, I'd probably jump at the chance to play as a male. I don't think it's that hard to understand.

I'm not sure "because I'm bored of white dudes" is a strong argument for increased diversity in games. Which illustrates my take on this thread pretty well. More representation in games is a good thing. But most of the arguments for that are being given here are pretty weak and not exactly a positive for effort.

 

[zeldablue]

I'm not sure "because I'm bored of white dudes" is a strong argument for increased diversity in games. Which illustrates my take on this thread pretty well. More representation in games is a good thing. But most of the arguments for that are being given here are pretty weak and not exactly a positive for effort.

If every game starred a woman, people would say "I'm sick of white chicks." If every game starred a black person, people would say "I'm sick of black dudes."

If every game starred a furry creature we'd say "I'm sick of furries/mascots." Same goes for anime characters and pixel people.

It's too much of the same thing and displays the industry's fear of diversity and their obsession with imitation. (Not just in character design but also in gameplay)

There's a demand for diversification.

 

[Oersted]

I'm not sure "because I'm bored of white dudes" is a strong argument for increased diversity in games. Which illustrates my take on this thread pretty well. More representation in games is a good thing. But most of the arguments for that are being given here are pretty weak and not exactly a positive for effort.

If you came to the obvious result that better representation is better, what are you actually asking for?

 

[Tellaerin]

I think OP would've gotten a more universally positive response if the topic had been, "Why are there still so few minorities in video games?" The title as it stands now seems to carry this connotation of "white male characters = bad", that they're something that needs to be eliminated from games (or at least drastically reduced in number).

I know from a practical standpoint there's not much difference (increasing representation across the board means that you'll have a smaller percentage of white male protags in games), but in terms of attitude, there's a big difference between "Let's be more inclusive" and "Let's get rid of all those white guys". One comes across a lot more contentious than the other.

And yes, I'd like to see greater racial and gender representation in games too, FWIW. : )

 

[Deleted member 20920]

Skimmed through the thread and there they are again. The eternal "go do it yourself if you don't like it or have a complaint" argument. It's really one of the most asinine response one could give to someone who has a complaint or critique about a situation. Do people seriously think properly when they ask someone to go make your own game/movie/music/whatever when they hear complaints. You better not complain about anything that you're not working as then.

And it is certainly ironic that people keep touting the "we're just what the demographics want us to be!". There are reasons why women and maybe other races play less games. Geez I wonder could it be due to the fact that less women and people of colour appear in them? Well I guess I could just go on making games the same way as I do, targeting one single demographic. Because they like playing as white men (being white men themselves because surely they are the majority) and not any other race due to them wanting characters to relate to themselves. I guess women and people who don't fit into the white man category possess special abilities to not feel left out. Either suck it and buy our games or play something else!

Also, when people say that the industry needs to focus more on making games featuring women, no one is claiming that the devs hate women. We just want more diversity and not literally one to one representations. We're not asking anyone to pull out the population chart and design characters according to what the exact population census says. We just want improvements towards better representations.

 

[Romars202129]

Well, according to the KKK, Italians are not considered aryan there.... eh? Mario, Ezio, those characters from Mafia games. See, the video game industry is not as racist as you thought! And we all have finicky racists to thank for it.

 

[Dr. Kaos]

Videogames need more non-white and non-male protagonists. This is a fact. I don't give a fuck about target demographics and nobody should either. Good game is good game and will sell.

And how about some fat and ugly protagonists while we're at it? Gimme a fat, balding, hooked-nosed dude with less than white teeth I say!

Thank you for listening.

 

[Sinoox]

Because white adult males play those games

Bingo, people want to play as the characters they can relate best to. Since the average game is a male in their 30s that's what you're going to see in games widespread.

 

[Lime]

I'm not sure "because I'm bored of white dudes" is a strong argument for increased diversity in games. Which illustrates my take on this thread pretty well. More representation in games is a good thing. But most of the arguments for that are being given here are pretty weak and not exactly a positive for effort.

Read up on Stuart Hall or Nancy Fraser's concept of cultural imperialism.

Or the many suggestions on why representation matters made in this very thread.

 

[Mandoric]

So is TLOU good for having a interesting females in the cast or evil for having another straight white male lead?

Why can't there be one group of people more concerned with how fleshed-out sub-characters are, and one group of people more concerned with how accessible the player characters are? The well-written women will impress the first greatly, but Joel's conservative suburban dad mindset and actions, including his straight-up triumphal dramatic fall to the staple parable of the greedy survivor and his lie to one of those well-written women about it, make him an interesting character study but his predetermined arc less broadly appealing than that of an investigator like Frank West or a refugee like the L4D casts.

 

[v0yce]

If you came to the obvious result that better representation is better, what are you actually asking for?

Well I think there IS a lot of diversity in games. Recently I've played games as a dudebro, a woman, a native american, a luchadore, a raccoon, a pink blob, and a flower petal.

There's plenty of diversity. Just not in a lot of highest selling, mega popular games. But the fact that those mega popular games are in fact liked by so many, I don't know if I feel comfortable saying those should change without a solid reason. Especially when there's already alternatives. And I'm just not seeing many good reasons being stated here.

 

[Authority]

TotalBiscuit seems to have the same stance as me.

https://soundcloud.com/totalbiscuit/the-discussion
13 min long

https://twitter.com/Totalbiscuit/status/477944960810242049
Here's the tweet.

Thanks for the info. And here is right - it is one of the lowest points of video game history that in 2014 we are discussing about whether or not we should or we should not include women, whether or not women do buy or play games or whether or not men, white men do want to play women.

Anyhow,

Bioware's David Gaider

Indeed.

The argument I most often hear regarding those CSA figures is that they’re for the entire audience and not for a specific game or type of game. It’s true. The percentage may be less for some types of games and more for others. That does, however, still mean half the entire current gaming audience consists of women who are playing a game of some kind.

The leap from being someone who plays a videogame to someone who plays a hardcore videogame (such as the kind BioWare makes, let’s face it) is far shorter than the leap from non-gamer to the same.

So the question, if one looks at it from a purely business perspective, and particularly for an industry where costs are rising dramatically and the number of units of a AAA game required to ship just to stay afloat increases every year, shouldn’t be “how do we better fight for a larger share of our traditional audience?” but rather “how do we better entice a larger portion of the entire gamer audience to play our game?”

That’s the question with which the whole industry (and, yes, that includes us at BioWare) is struggling. Also note the pertinent part of the question is how to do it better. Simply making a good game is not in and of itself enough. Oh sure, that’s part of it—if you make a crap game, you’re not going to get an audience no matter who you pitch it to—but there are already good and bad games out there for every genre and type of videogame. What you have to ask yourself, if the suggestion is “women don’t even buy those games,” is, “why not?”

Hint: the answer may require more self-examination than you are, strictly speaking, comfortable with.

Aisha Tayloer

At E3, Critics Renew Calls For More Diverse Video Game Characters

Ask a Dev

Why are so many people demanding AAA titles to be all feminist and stuff when women don't even buy those games?

The long and the short of it is… because they do. Let’s explore that thought a bit with some actual research, hm?

According to the Entertainment Software Association’s 2013 survey, game players are 52% male, 48% female. Frequent game purchasers are split right down the middle - 50% male, 50% female. The average gamer is 31 years old. It’s worth noting that they specifically point out “women age 18 or greater represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population than boys age 18 or younger” - more than double.

The average adult gaming woman has spent 13 years playing games - that’s significantly longer than social or mobile gaming have been a thing for those counting. So what have they all been playing for all those extra years?

Let’s take a look at the top 20 selling console games of 2013.

• GTA V
• CoD: Ghosts
• Madden 25
• Battlefield 4
• AssCreed 4: Black Flag
• NBA 2k14
• CoD: BLOPS II
• Just Dance 2014
• Minecraft
• Disney Infinity
• FIFA 14
• Injustice: Gods Among Us
• Skylanders Swap Force
• Pokemon X
• The Last of Us
• Pokemon Y
• NBA 2k13
• Bioshock Infinite
• Lego Marvel Super Heroes
• Batman: Arkham Origins

So it looks like a bunch of games that mostly cater to men, right? But if you look a little further…

• Call of Duty: Ghosts added playable female characters in Multiplayer. This actually prompted Battlefield developers to respond.
• Ubisoft was praised for their portrayal of Mary Read and Anne Bonny in AC4: Black Flag.

Looking at the rest of the games, I’m sure you can see how games like Just Dance, Pokemon, the Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite, Skylanders, and Lego games tend to be inclusive - they are either playable by everybody or have female characters that are well-developed and human rather than objects of desire. And that’s what I understand most feminist gamers actually want - they don’t want games to be all about women, they want games that treat women as people instead of objects, and for games to give them the option to play as women. Representation tends to be important for those who don’t have it and taken for granted by those who do.

For people who own console devices, you’re looking at $2.5 billion spent annually on digital content in 2013, and the digital space is going through some massive growth - 26% from 2012 to 2013. This includes digital game downloads, DLC, microtransactions, subscriptions, etc. spread out over about 214 million players. 63% of these money-spending players were male, 37% were female, and the number of women is growing. It seems to be the height of foolishness to purposely ignore or offend 80 million potential customers when you don’t have to - especially when there’s always another AAA game waiting in the wings to take those customers that could have been yours. That’s a lot of money to be left on the table.

Mark Serrels

Dear people who make video games,

I am straight. I’m pretty damn straight.

I am married to a woman. I’ve only ever had sex with women. I don’t mind too much, but on the whole I’d rather not look at another man’s penis. If I had the choice to look at a man’s penis or not look at a man’s penis, 90% of the time I’m going to go with option b.

I am overwhelmingly white. I might actually be the whitest person I know.

The last time I went to the beach I did a quick survey. Yep. I was the palest, whitest person within three square kilometres. Then I went home. I was sunburnt. I’d been topless in the sun for roughly 45 minutes.

I am a man. In a lot of ways, you might even categorise me as a ‘bro’.

Here is a list of things I like: video games, sports, exercise, eating meat. I could probably grow a beard if I wanted to. If I was single and in my early 20s, you might even catch me in the gym getting ‘ripped for Stereo’. The only strike is my inability to consume alcohol, but this in negated by the cold hard facts: I am in possession of a penis.

Just checked. Yep. I definitely have a penis.

My favourite film of 2013 was Frozen. Frozen is a Disney movie about two sisters who are women. It is a movie that subverts previous Disney tropes about romantic love in a number of interesting ways. It is a movie that celebrates sisterhood and the power of sisterly love. It made $1.25 billion at the box office.

Here is a list of video games that I have recently played and enjoyed: Tomb Raider, Mass Effect, Child of Light, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. These are also, coincidentally, video games that either exclusively asked you to play as a woman or provided players with the option to play as a woman.

Here’s a thing that happened about a month ago: I was playing Dark Souls II. In the game I accidentally stumbled upon a coffin and the game allowed me to enter that coffin. Turns out that coffin was the harbinger of a strange curse that allowed my character to change sex. It transformed my male character into a female character. The game allowed me to change back if I wanted to.

But I didn’t, because who gives a shit? My precious stats remained precisely the same, and I enjoy playing video games with female protagonists. I went on my merry way and completed the rest of Dark Souls II as a female.

Here’s another thing that happened.

During its E3 presentation Nintendo showed its latest Zelda game for the first time. I noticed that Link, the game’s protagonist, looked more feminine than usual. After the conference people began to speculate: is Link, the perennially male main character of the Zelda series a female?

Here’s what I didn’t do: I didn’t vomit blood, I didn’t brutalise a nearby wall in fit of pure masculine vengeance. I didn’t even get angry. Here was my legitimate reaction: I got excited. ‘Wow,’ I thought. ‘How incredible would that be. What a refreshing change of pace! Wouldn’t it be great to play a Zelda game where the protagonist was female?

‘Nah, that’ll never happen,’ I sighed.

Here’s one more thing that happened.

During E3 news broke that Ubisoft, during the development of its latest Assassin’s Creed, had been considering adding a female assassin to its roster to compliment the game’s latest 4 player co-operative mode, but quickly scrapped it because the “reality of production” would have made their inclusion too costly.

“It was really a lot of extra production work,” explained creative director Alex Amancio.

Here’s what I didn’t do.

I didn’t nod my head and say, ‘well, that’s the reality of video game production’. I didn’t laugh and say, ‘take that feminism!’ I didn’t twirl my non-existent moustache and cackle, ‘another one in the can for the straight white man.’

My first reaction was disappointment; because I often enjoy playing as a female character in video games.

So here’s what I’m going to do. I am going to exercise the rights and power that my privilege as a straight white man has bestowed upon me: I am going to inform you that, when it’s reasonably fair, I expect to be able to choose between a male and female character. As a straight white man I’m going to demand that. Alongside the other bullet points on the back of box — alongside hundreds of multiplayer maps, side missions, guns, blood, explosions, whatever — I’m going to demand the ability to play as a woman, because I am your main demographic. I am the type of person you care about, and this is what I want. This will help inform the purchasing choices I make in the future.

I am a straight, white man with disposable income. I want to play as a woman in your video games. Please give this thing to me.

We have moved from the myth of "Women do not exist in video games" to "Women do not play video games" to "Technical limits are responsible for exclusion of women" to "It costs too much to include women" to "Not enough women buy video games" to "Not enough women play video games". Generation of being in denial and secretly hating women. And I thought we were better at this but it seems to me sexism is alive and kicking. It is amazing what type of shit women had to endure and still do to play a fucking video game. You should be ashamed but to be ashamed it means knowing what shame is but keep discussing it with lengthly bullshit posts about the dominant white male group as if it is a subject on an intellectual level that needs philosophy.

But don't worry women because the business practice of "DLCs" will do you a great favor to "feature" you so congratulations of being reconsidered as an aftermath.

And this is the ice of the cake,

Well I think there IS a lot of diversity in games. Recently I've played games as a dudebro, a woman, a native american, a luchadore, a raccoon, a pink blob, and a flower petal.

There's plenty of diversity. Just not in a lot of highest selling, mega popular games. But the fact that those mega popular games are in fact liked by so many, I don't know if I feel comfortable saying those should change without a solid reason. Especially when there's already alternatives. And I'm just not seeing many good reasons being stated here.

Who would have thought that women and white men alike wanting to play as a female character would not be a solid reason for that poster.

You women are not a solid reason.

Got it?

 

[Wiktor]

I'm fairly happy with the seemingly increased representation of women in games at this E3, even if a lot of it falls under Nintendo. Rather than shaming Ubisoft and EA, why don't we celebrate what Nintendo and some others are doing? Until female protagonists that aren't named Lara Croft succeed in a big way, Ubisoft and others don't have any monetary reason to change what they're doing. No amount of shaming will change their minds if they are looking at data that says an ethnic/female protagonist equals less sales.

EA? What's wrong with them? They've shown Mirror's Edge and Dragon Age/Mass Effect 4 (where you will be able to play as female character). Are we going to complain now that they had a male lead in Hardline ? Is it prohibited now to have a game that stars a man? Because it really stars to feel that way.

 

[Kinsei]

EA? What's wrong with them? They've shown Mirror's Edge and Dragon Age/Mass Effect 4 (where you will be able to play as female character). Are we going to complain now that they had any male lead in Hardline ? Is it prohibited now to have a game that stars a man? Because it really stars to feel that way.

I haven't kept up with Hardline news, but can you be a woman in the multiplayer? If not that is pretty shitty. Every game with multiplayer should let you be a woman.

 

[v0yce]

I haven't kept up with Hardline news, but can you be a woman in the multiplayer? If not that is pretty shitty. Every game with multiplayer should let you be a woman.

Better let the Madden devs know?

 

[Ranger X]

I am still wondering why people are asking themselves those questions. Its pretty simple. There's that many white man because there's that many white man making games. As simple as that.

If most games were made in africa most games would have an african as the main hero. Its perfectly normal and correct that way.

You want more women in videogames? You women should thrive to become a game designer, etc.

 

[nephilimdj]

I haven't kept up with Hardline news, but can you be a woman in the multiplayer? If not that is pretty shitty. Every game with multiplayer should let you be a woman.

EA added a Black person to the Russia side in BF3 (Only white in the beta), they are pretty political correct crazy

Russians were actually complaining about it on the official forums for months.

 

[Lime]

I am still wondering why people are asking themselves those questions. Its pretty simple. There's that many white man because there's that many white man making games. As simple as that.

If most games were made in africa most games would have an african as the main hero. Its perfectly normal and correct that way.

You want more women in videogames? You women should thrive to become a game designer, etc.

Round and round we go

 

[Wiktor]

I haven't kept up with Hardline news, but can you be a woman in the multiplayer? If not that is pretty shitty. Every game with multiplayer should let you be a woman.

Every game? I would love to see the outrage if EA would allow you to play as a man punching women in the faces in UFC

With Hardline I'm not sure, I don;'t think we know yet

 

[Kinsei]

Better let the Madden devs know?

.... I figured games starring real people would be an obvious exception.

 

[SenorArdilla]

Hey, I can cherry-pick too

Jokes on you. Leo's a girl. Anyways, a little diversity wouldn't hurt anyone. The problem is how to get there.

 

[SliceSabre]

Because the vast majority of games are made by white males and marketing departments probably feel that a lot of white people don't want to play as blacks, women, etc.

As a black man myself I've become almost blind to this, I simply do not care anymore. I'm used to seeing very little representation of my people as the main character in books, tv, movies and video games and have long since stopped caring. I hardly even care they we're stereotyped as gang members #00001-#594590.

Racial representation is not something I actively care about in my video games or even think about.