311 réponses à ce sujet

[drake heath]

Hawke... does not sound like a surname.



Jack Black up there could be the main character, as in pre-set.

[Valmy]

jlb524 wrote...

TeenZombie wrote...

So unless we get word that Hawke is like Shepard, and can be male or female, we can't just assume that we're going to be given the option of a female character this time around.

That would totally suck.

And suicide.  Bioware has tons of female fans I cannot imagine them doing that.

[Gill Kaiser]

I really, really doubt that we won't be able to choose Hawke's sex.

[the_one_54321]

BioWare has confirmed that Dragon Age 2, the sequel to the 2009 RPG of the Year, is in development. Dragon Age 2 progresses the epic saga, as you take on the role of Hawke, a survivor of the Blight and the hero who will change the world forever.

This would be an interesting route. My apologies to the ladies since the guy on the cover is a guy, but it wouldn't bother me much if BioWare tried out a story with a static predetermined lead. Male or female, though. Just that it would be interesting to see them cut the character creation options out and give the writers freedom to write.

[DraCZeQQ]

Valmy wrote...

jlb524 wrote...

TeenZombie wrote...

So unless we get word that Hawke is like Shepard, and can be male or female, we can't just assume that we're going to be given the option of a female character this time around.

That would totally suck.

And suicide.  Bioware has tons of female fans I cannot imagine them doing that.

not only girls plays and prefer female pc ... :-)

[syllogi]

drake heath wrote...

About what you said about ME, if the only reason you bought it was that you learned you can play as a female character what does that show?

Did you not care about the story or the universe? The characters or anything other than the fact that you can play as a female character? Why is that such a big factor in you buying a game?

To be honest, I had wanted a PC RPG, not a console based shooter-RPG hybrid.  Being able to play as a female character has not always been of utmost importance to me, but over time, I've come to realize that being able to role play a character effectively is important to my enjoyment of a game, and being able to play as a female helps with that immensely.

Once I did pick up Mass Effect and play it, I was *very* pleasantly surprised, and ended up being a huge fan of a game that I might have completely passed over, because I thought you could only play as Sheploo. 

I don't think that I'm being prejudiced by knowing what elements of a game are important to me, although obviously other things than just the gender of my character are important.  Being able to develop my own backstory, and feel like I'm taking part in the game, though, are big factors in whether I'll have fun.  There's nothing more frustrating than spending hours on a game you've bought, and realizing that you're not having fun, and the game feels like a chore.

[Chris Priestly]

You can play as a human male or human female character in Dragon Age 2.

Will you only see the human male in the marketing? I am not sure (we have many months to go yet) but I would guess that, yes, we will mostly use the male character for marketing. Why? Well, there are a lot of marketing reasons for this.

It is important to lock a recognizeable image into the mind of consumers. This is why companys create logos and create brand recognition. You see the goldern arches, you know it is McDonalds. The instant recognition that the image represents the product is very important. Changing the image causes confusion in the mind of advertisers, retailers and potential customers.

Another reason is that males are still the largest target audience for our type of video game. It is also proven data that males predominantly play or associate with a male character first. Hence, the male image. This does not mean that female gamers or male gamers who prefer to play female characters are less important, but they are a smaller consumer group. All marketing is always about attracting the largest group available.

There are a bunch of reasons why we do this in marketing and I know that it annoys some of our fans and I am sorry for this, but it likely won't change. I am confidant that our fans, being imo smarter than the average gamers, realize this and begrudgingly accept this. Evey game I do push to release female character images, screens, videos etc as BioWare does greatly value our "female PC first" audience and I plan to keep doing this for DA2.

[Valmy]

Thanks for the straight answer Mr. Priestly.

[the_one_54321]

Well that's that.

[syllogi]

Thanks Chris, I do appreciate the response. I do think that there are plenty of guys who play as female characters, though, who wouldn't mind seeing a female protagonist on the cover of Bioware games. Maybe we have time to go before it happens, but I'll still hope for it.

[DM Veil]

Certainly would be nice to see a female character art on the box. Perhaps a dual sided box with a male on one side and a female on the other with the information that is usually on the back of the box put on a flap. It'd work for the PC version at least.

[Star]

SSH83 wrote...

If they post a kick-ass hot guy in the cover, people complain that it's not a girl.

If they put a kick-ass hot girl in the over, people complain she's too sexual.

If they put an average, non-hot girl or a realistic low-life female figure in the cover... well... just look at what happened to Beyond Good & Evil and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodline.

It's pretty rare (actually I can't think of even one example atm) to have a game where one can play as either a male or a female protagonist feature either the woman alone or both male and female in cover art/marketing materials and that's the point that I believe Teen is making.  There are plenty of women gamers. According to the Entertainment Software Association:

• The average game player is 35 years old and has been playing games for 12 years.
• The average age of the most frequent game purchaser is 39 years old.
• Forty percent of all game players are women. In fact, women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (34 percent) than boys age 17 or younger (18 percent).
  http://www.theesa.com/facts/index.asp

I'm with those who'd like to see our face on the cover.  Doesn't have to be alone -- I have no objection to sharing with the guy protagonist but I'd like to see the female protagonist, not just the LI

[lothan99]

TeenZombie wrote...

XX55XX wrote...
Hardly a big deal. Plus, it's nice that they give us an option of a female character at all. 

Well, another thread just pointed out this tidbit on the Dragon Age News page:

BioWare has confirmed that Dragon Age 2, the sequel to the 2009 RPG of the Year, is in development. Dragon Age 2 progresses the epic saga, as you take on the role of Hawke, a survivor of the Blight and the hero who will change the world forever. Visit the Official Dragon Age 2 website here:Dragon Age 2 

So unless we get word that Hawke is like Shepard, and can be male or female, we can't just assume that we're going to be given the option of a female character this time around.

Considering we have the option to choose the mage, rogue and fighter in the game, it would make sense we wold be able to select the sex of the main character.

[Kail Ashton]

lol Ahhhhh so it is a male/female thing, nice, nice fully voiced i trust?

[Lakoda]

Right, after being limited to human, I would be surprised if we were not limited to male. This is really starting to sound a lot less interesting to me.

[tmp7704]

Chris Priestly wrote...

It is important to lock a recognizeable image into the mind of consumers. This is why companys create logos and create brand recognition. You see the goldern arches, you know it is McDonalds. The instant recognition that the image represents the product is very important. Changing the image causes confusion in the mind of advertisers, retailers and potential customers.

I wonder though, are the customers determined too dumb to handle "recognizable image" which would feature a male *and* female character together? I mean, even McDonalds has two golden arches. *shrugs*

[Vincentdante]

Star58 wrote...

• Forty percent of all game players are women. In fact, women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (34 percent) than boys age 17 or younger (18 percent).
  http://www.theesa.com/facts/index.asp

I'm with those who'd like to see our face on the cover.  Doesn't have to be alone -- I have no objection to sharing with the guy protagonist but I'd like to see the female protagonist, not just the LI

[*]Sorry but thats because there are physically more women over the age of 18 than boys under the age of 17 simple. And we all know the majority of boys under 17 prefer sports and it doesn't really mention how many women under 17 play games so that data is incomparible.
[*](damn list glitch) I need to point out a flaw with the industry "facts" as well. They didn't ask every american if they play games or for how long, or what kinds of games so the data is straight away misrepresented in every category. They also limited the "facts" to America and not world in general so these "facts" only speak for one nation.

Modifié par Vincentdante, 08 juillet 2010 - 04:34 .

[Promethean 47]

Agree, but understand why it is how it is. Among the sea of developers out there, I think most woudl agree Bioware is very forward thinking in its treatment of gender/sexuality in its games.

[Eludajae]

Chris Priestly wrote...

You can play as a human male or human female character in Dragon Age 2.

Will you only see the human male in the marketing? I am not sure (we have many months to go yet) but I would guess that, yes, we will mostly use the male character for marketing. Why? Well, there are a lot of marketing reasons for this.

It is important to lock a recognizeable image into the mind of consumers. This is why companys create logos and create brand recognition. You see the goldern arches, you know it is McDonalds. The instant recognition that the image represents the product is very important. Changing the image causes confusion in the mind of advertisers, retailers and potential customers.

Another reason is that males are still the largest target audience for our type of video game. It is also proven data that males predominantly play or associate with a male character first. Hence, the male image. This does not mean that female gamers or male gamers who prefer to play female characters are less important, but they are a smaller consumer group. All marketing is always about attracting the largest group available.

There are a bunch of reasons why we do this in marketing and I know that it annoys some of our fans and I am sorry for this, but it likely won't change. I am confidant that our fans, being imo smarter than the average gamers, realize this and begrudgingly accept this. Evey game I do push to release female character images, screens, videos etc as BioWare does greatly value our "female PC first" audience and I plan to keep doing this for DA2.

Well that is a great relief I was about to become disappointed if there wasn't a gender selection. Definately would have lost a sale here. But since that is handled I am happier.

I know a lot of people don't like this MEafication of the DA genre, but it does mean its likely to be VO'd and I sort of like people being able to talk to your character in voice and recognize your character in voice. It gives the game a little more realism and personal feel to it.

[Tarante11a]

I confess that one of my first thoughts was "So, do I get to play as a female player character?", followed seconds later by "I bet it'll be a kind of Mass Effect deal with a 'FemHawke' option." 
 
I’m obviously very interested how female gamers are viewed, what percentage of the market we make up, how we’re catered too in game development and game marketing.  I feel much of the discussion is muddied by the fact that we don’t seem to have proper figures on how many women play video games, what they play etc, and the usual close to any debate I’ve had about it seems to be “Well, until more women get into the business of making computer games, the games themselves will always be skewed towards being aimed at men.”  I find this kind of unsatisfying.

And to those people who say ‘who cares if you can play a female character?” – well I care actually.

My gut feeling about the Dragon Age franchise is that it probably has an unusually high female player base.   With
this is mind, maybe it would have been a bold, ground-breaking decision to use a female player character as a main image.  I do understand the business reasons why a guy was chosen but if ever a game was going to break the mould, surely it could have been this one?

Tara
 
P.S. I’m very very excited about the game though! *dances*

Edit: - ARGH formatting horrible-ness - sorry half asleep!

Modifié par Tarante11a, 08 juillet 2010 - 04:23 .

[OD-Nachos]

I understand the concerns posted here, but keep in mind everyone that this game was announced hours ago. If there is one thing BioWare is good at, is releasing a lot of supporting content such as deve. journals regarding their games. Give it a few months until these are release and I'm sure they will talk about character development and how gender selection will play out in that.



With regards to the comments about releasing trailers for male and female protagonists, keep in mind a few things:

1) Releasing alternating trailers (as an example) of male and female protagonists will confuse most of the fan base until several of each are released and there is some form of consistency.

2) Releasing the same trailer each with a male and female proganonist costs money that, let's face it, will not have a huge impact in sales at the end of the day.



Keeping one protangonist on the marketing content and releasing information the right way about character selection is the best bet for BioWare, and they have demonstrated this several times in the past. Given their track record, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt with this.



Also, they show a male protagonist in their marketing for these games as male gamers make up the majority of the market and hey, let's face it, guys are all about visual stimulation. The majority of male gamers are more likely to watch the trailer than read a 'features' page, we just don't give that much attention to detail, in general. Take into account the possibilities for expanded universes such as novels and comics, most of these will be bought by guys. It's purely marketing on their behalf.



I'm sure if the numbers supported a female protagonist being displayed in the marketing materials, they'd do it in a heartbeat.

[Tekwarthewolf]

In thoery if there isn't a selectable gender it could be BECAUSE of the high female player base.

I'm not saying every woman on these fourms read romance books, but romance books are written by women, and steryotypically have rugged or pretty boy character in them (Giving males an akward vision of what women like). Its the same reason they over sexualize female characters. This isn't ment to alienate but instead follow the steryotype of what women want, a 'manly' man.

Just consider this might actually be an attempt to make women enjoy this game more, instead of alienate them. (Obviously if it is...from the vocal side's view...it backfired).

Also this is just 4 pictures people! We dont know how out of date that is, or if its the final box art. I'm just saying...

[exorzist]

To quote James Brown: "This is a man's world" ...

[Revya]

Why is it always a burly plate warring warior on the cover and not a mage?

Because it is, it really does not matter since what is importante is the game itself

[Kohaku]

Revya wrote...

Why is it always a burly plate warring warior on the cover and not a mage?

Because it is, it really does not matter since what is importante is the game itself

I always thought about that. Maybe people think mages are weaker than a sword wielding person. However, we know that's not true because mages tend to kill everything in almost any game you play.

I'd love to see the Female Character in something but I can't complain. I normally only look for cute guys on the covers of games.