516 réponses à ce sujet

[Brass_Buckles]

Consider this my open letter.

Bioware,

If there is a possibility to make Hawke female, many of your female fans would greatly appreciate it if you did not solely promote the male version.  I am aware that there aren't as many female players as male players overall.  However, Bioware seems to have a large number of female fans, and we tend to feel left out when only male Shepard, and now only male Hawke, is referred to in advertising and interviews.  While I, and I'm sure the other females who play the games, don't demand a "he or she" every time you reference the character, is a little cover art of the default female too much to ask for?  Please?

Many of your Dragon Age fans are unhappy about the decision to disallow choice of race and origin--the very thing that made Dragon Age:  Origins so unique.  By including, at least in some small way, the female version of Hawke during promotion, you might at least make a few of us feel a little better about the series, albeit for an entirely different reason.

As a gaming company, you've done a lot of good for female characters and female gamers.  There have been some instances where I wanted to roll my eyes at what you did with this or that character, but for the most part, you've made it welcoming to female players--at least, when we actually start playing the game.  The problem is that we kind of feel excluded beforehand.  The female storyline is rarely if ever the canon one.  The default female characters don't get added to the box art.  In every interview, the main template character is male.  While I'd very much like to see a main character in some future Bioware game be female and advertised as such (with the secondary gender being male for once)--and not the oversexualized female typical in video games with the aim of attracting hormone-raging male players--I'm not asking for that, or even for the interviews to change from the "boys' only club" stance for protagonists that you seem to have taken.  Just please give a little official acknowledgment to the female storylines.  You may even find that you attract more female gamers that way, and I really doubt that having the male variant of your protagonist share the cover with the female will do any harm to sales.  Most guys, I have found, enjoy looking at pretty girls, even if said pretty girls aren't overly endowed or standing around in skin-tight suits or  their underwear.  We women do not like to feel like the option to be female in a game was tacked on as a mere afterthought.

 Thank you.

[brain_damage]

Oh, go and play KOTOR2. We all know that Bioware are not going to promote a female main character. Ever.

[Brass_Buckles]

brain_damage wrote...

Oh, go and play KOTOR2. We all know that Bioware are not going to promote a female main character. Ever.

If you'd actually read my post, you'd know that basically all I'm asking Bioware to do is include the female version of Hawke in the game cover art.

I don't think that's a tremendous amount to ask; in fact, it's very little to ask for in terms of acknowledging that yes, you can be a girl in this game.

[brain_damage]

Brass_Buckles wrote...

brain_damage wrote...

Oh, go and play KOTOR2. We all know that Bioware are not going to promote a female main character. Ever.

If you'd actually read my post, you'd know that basically all I'm asking Bioware to do is include the female version of Hawke in the game cover art.

I don't think that's a tremendous amount to ask; in fact, it's very little to ask for in terms of acknowledging that yes, you can be a girl in this game.

The cover art has already been done. But go ahead, I'm pretty sure that because you asked nicely, Bioware are going to change it completely.

[Stalky24]

/agree but only if it would include big boobs

[DraCZeQQ]

nah Chris said that the cover art doesnt have to be final version of it ...

[troyk890]

Putting two versions of the MC on the cover would be confusing to people not familiar with the game. And people that are familiar with the game would already know about femhawke. So I don't really see the point.



And when has there ever been a significant difference in storyline for females?

[iTomes]

the cover art is an eye-catcher, so it's supposed to look as cool as possible. if itdoes with a female char on it... well fine. if not, fine too.

[David Gaider]

There's already a thread on this very subject, but I'll respond to it with my thoughts:

I'd love to see a female iconic character. I adore female action heroines-- maybe it's a Ripley fixation from watching Alien/Aliens when I was much younger, I don't know.

That said, I can kind of get why we might choose an iconic male character. For an RPG we're talking about putting forward a character that you'd like to be... and as much as a female player says that they can't identify with a male iconic character, if that's true it would also be true in reverse with a female iconic character for a much larger portion of the fanbase, no? You can't have it both ways and say that male players will enjoy looking at a female player character and don't need to identify with her.

I also suspect that if we did put forward a female iconic character (a la Aribeth) the response could easily be that we made her too sexy. A bit of "damned if you do, damned if you don't", perhaps. Hard to say, but we're going to always have to pick one, and the idea is to be eye-catching and sexy-- as opposed to politically correct. I'm no marketing guy, but that seems to be pretty much a given.

That said, I hope you enjoy the character and the game for what it is, rather than dwelling on what you perceive it might have been. You do get to play a female character, and as always we make plenty of options to accomodate female players in the game.

Hope that helps. Cheers!

Modifié par David Gaider, 09 juillet 2010 - 12:46 .

[Stexns]

I think that we should be able choose between Hawke and the character we created in DAO , BioWare should be able to fit the story quite nicely for both possibilities. That way everyone is happy

Modifié par Stexns, 09 juillet 2010 - 12:49 .

[David Gaider]

Stexns wrote...
BioWare should be able to fit the story quite nicely for both possibilities.

A TOGGLE! THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION TO ALL DESIGN ISSUES!

[Aetheria]

It's the same reason children's and young adult fiction features male protagonists more often than female protagonists - in general, girls will read stories about either male or female characters, but boys don't want to read stories about female protagonists.



So if you're a female gamer, just sit back and enjoy the feeling of superiority.



Anyway, the "iconic" Hawke looks like a pretty awesome character and I wouldn't mind playing as him, even given the choice.

[LPPrince]

David Gaider wrote...

Stexns wrote...
BioWare should be able to fit the story quite nicely for both possibilities.

A TOGGLE! THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION TO ALL DESIGN ISSUES!

Yes, a toggle. *COUGHHELMETTOGGLE*

Whoops, wrong game. lol My bad! DAO did helmets right.

[Layn]

David Gaider wrote...

That said, I can kind of get why we might choose an iconic male character. For an RPG we're talking about putting forward a character that you'd like to be... and as much as a female player says that they can't identify with a male iconic character, if that's true it would also be true in reverse with a female iconic character for a much larger portion of the fanbase, no? You can't have it both ways and say that male players will enjoy looking at a female player character and don't need to identify with her.

why put any character forward at all?
just put no specific main character on the cover as it has been so far with dragon age, and use a random character when you are showing the game.
The complaints really are how incredibly fixated for example Mass Effect is on the default male shepard, that it turns people away from it. And that theres a huge media and information blackout on female characters

Modifié par Crrash, 09 juillet 2010 - 12:55 .

[DraCZeQQ]

well the slight problem is that if the guy make it to the posters and its decided to create a movie ... who gonna play the main role? oh yea .. the dude from the poster ...

[Gambient]

I don't think its a big deal, really--the guys who demo these games play as males because they are males and are more comfortable. And as stated many times already, the only reason why BioWare's pushing a male protagonist forward is because the demographic, which is mostly male players. It would be unwise to appeal to the majority. I get what you're saying though about females being generally hyper sexualized--BioWare doesn't seem to do this often though.

[Eternal Dust]

David Gaider wrote...

There's already a thread on this very subject, but I'll respond to it with my thoughts:

I'd love to see a female iconic character. I adore female action heroines-- maybe it's a Ripley fixation from watching Alien/Aliens when I was much younger, I don't know.

That said, I can kind of get why we might choose an iconic male character. For an RPG we're talking about putting forward a character that you'd like to be... and as much as a female player says that they can't identify with a male iconic character, if that's true it would also be true in reverse with a female iconic character for a much larger portion of the fanbase, no? You can't have it both ways and say that male players will enjoy looking at a female player character and don't need to identify with her.

I also suspect that if we did put forward a female iconic character (a la Aribeth) the response could easily be that we made her too sexy. A bit of "damned if you do, damned if you don't", perhaps. Hard to say, but we're going to always have to pick one, and the idea is to be eye-catching and sexy-- as opposed to politically correct. I'm no marketing guy, but that seems to be pretty much a given.

That said, I hope you enjoy the character and the game for what it is, rather than dwelling on what you perceive it might have been. You do get to play a female character, and as always we make plenty of options to accomodate female players in the game.

Hope that helps. Cheers!

You did fine with DAO's blood spatter dragon shape. Why have an iconic character at all on the cover, then?

[Onyx Jaguar]

Why would promoting the main character be necessary to begin with. Promote the world.

[Helena Tylena]

Hmmm...



I remember when WoW launched, the default cover art would feature Alliance characters (a night elf and a dwarf), however there was also a limited-edition Horde version, featuring an orc and a tauren. Perhaps Bioware could do something like this? Bring out the same game in two possible covers, one featuring a male Hawke and one a female?



Just an idea, though. I personally don't mind all that much -in an I'm-used-to-it-by-now kind of way- and at least this standard Hawke guy is bearable to look at for longer than a few seconds, as opposed to Vanderloo.

[Helena Tylena]

octoberfire wrote...

You did fine with DAO's blood spatter dragon shape. Why have an iconic character at all on the cover, then?

This is also true, though I suppose there's only so much you can do. Dragons will always be dragons, and when blood is anything else but red, it's not really considered healthy. I can see how that might be confusing.

[MuseMajora]

It's marketing for the larger target audience. Bioware and EA do not make these rules, the marketing world does.

Modifié par MuseMajora, 09 juillet 2010 - 01:06 .

[Paromlin]

It's kind of silly to ridicule those who yearn for more options (the toggle thing).

He could have stated he wants his warden and noone else (noone!!). Would that have provoked the ridiculing reaction? Probably not.
Actually, it's altruistic to ask for an alternative (a toggle), minding about other players' preferences even if he wouldn't play anything else but his warden.

Having an option to toggle something on and off is always a good thing. But often developers think they're onto THE thing so everything else is unnecessary.

I know asking to be able to toggle in a warden is a bit unrealistic, but there are other examples where bioware would vastly improve the game with a toggle option.

[troyk890]

octoberfire wrote...

David Gaider wrote...

There's already a thread on this very subject, but I'll respond to it with my thoughts:

I'd love to see a female iconic character. I adore female action heroines-- maybe it's a Ripley fixation from watching Alien/Aliens when I was much younger, I don't know.

That said, I can kind of get why we might choose an iconic male character. For an RPG we're talking about putting forward a character that you'd like to be... and as much as a female player says that they can't identify with a male iconic character, if that's true it would also be true in reverse with a female iconic character for a much larger portion of the fanbase, no? You can't have it both ways and say that male players will enjoy looking at a female player character and don't need to identify with her.

I also suspect that if we did put forward a female iconic character (a la Aribeth) the response could easily be that we made her too sexy. A bit of "damned if you do, damned if you don't", perhaps. Hard to say, but we're going to always have to pick one, and the idea is to be eye-catching and sexy-- as opposed to politically correct. I'm no marketing guy, but that seems to be pretty much a given.

That said, I hope you enjoy the character and the game for what it is, rather than dwelling on what you perceive it might have been. You do get to play a female character, and as always we make plenty of options to accomodate female players in the game.

Hope that helps. Cheers!

You did fine with DAO's blood spatter dragon shape. Why have an iconic character at all on the cover, then?

DAO didn't have a set character.

Also, the cover art shouldn't affect your ability to enjoy the game. It should be tailored for maximum sales and there's no reason for it to affect the quality of the actual game.

[Onyx Jaguar]

Not really, you can still get that segment without marketing a main character.



Its not a brand like Mario



Look at Starcraft



Look at it

LOOK AT STARCRAFT