516 réponses à ce sujet

[Mystranna Kelteel]

If you're dead-set on promoting one specific character, fine. But at least give us stuff for the other options.



It's truly ridiculous how femShep gets no attention at all from BioWare. Don't make the same mistake you did with Shepard. If you think you need a cliched icon, fine, but don't flat-out ignore the other gender like you have before.

[LPPrince]

I'd love the cover if it was the New Blood Dragon, put in front of white so you could see the outline of the 16-20 people, and then with Mike Hawke in front.

[Onyx Jaguar]

The commercials should just be ground pans of bodies and screaming then it fades to black with "Dragon Age" popping up on screen.

[David Gaider]

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

I imagine it's considered beneficial to have a "face" for the game that is identifiable, part of the branding in the same way that a logo would be. The people who come here certainly don't need any help identifying what Dragon Age is-- naturally-- but then again they don't particularly need marketing in the first place. All you guys want is information.

[MuseMajora]

Onyx Jaguar wrote...

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

Honestly, at the end of the day; it's all about what the target audience likes. The majority of consumers in video game sales are casual gamers, who do not follow up a game prior to release. Many of a games sales are just from people strolling the store and looking around. When they see a neat looking cover art with a picture of a cool character, it attracts their attention and they're more likely to check it out. 

This applies to all video games, not just Dragon Age. It's all about the target audience.

[LPPrince]

David Gaider wrote...

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

I imagine it's considered beneficial to have a "face" for the game that is identifiable, part of the branding in the same way that a logo would be. The people who come here certainly don't need any help identifying what Dragon Age is-- naturally-- but then again they don't particularly need marketing in the first place. All you guys want is information.

See, that makes sense. Lets just hope you guys give us a better cover than the Standard version of ME2. *shudders*

Actually, make the standard one suck. Then everyone will go get the Collector's Edition.

Which means-

*More stuff for us
*More money for you, which indirectly means-
*Bigger budget for future games

WOOT.

[Eternal Dust]

troyk890 wrote...

DAO didn't have a set character.

That's exactly my point. So why is Male Hawke suddenly one for DA2? DAO already proves that you don't need an iconic character to make the game successful.

troyk890 wrote...
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.

I'm not saying that it will. I'm just sick of futile marketing tactics that alienate nearly half the fanbase.

[Calculatrice]

brain_damage wrote...

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

Kotor 2 still gives me nightmares. A decent attempt, but a horrid result.

As for DA2, I'm stoked for it's release, but am a bit disappointed as this means we can't follow the romance story lines from the first game.

[orpheus333]

wHowever does marketing will always target the majority demographic. In this case its obviously for me. Big, beardy, brute in the foreground stabbing things. Curvy dragon chick in the background.

All you need is a chainmail bikini and we're back in the 90s.

Modifié par andyr1986, 09 juillet 2010 - 01:23 .

[LPPrince]

octoberfire wrote...

troyk890 wrote...

DAO didn't have a set character.

That's exactly my point. So why is Male Hawke suddenly one for DA2? DAO already proves that you don't need an iconic character to make the game successful.

troyk890 wrote...
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.

I'm not saying that it will. I'm just sick of futile marketing tactics that alienate nearly half the fanbase.

And putting the main character on the cover will alienate half the fanbase......how?

[Mystranna Kelteel]

LPPrince wrote...

And putting the main character on the cover will alienate half the fanbase......how?

Ignoring the female option completely is what alienates the fanbase.

[Brass_Buckles]

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!

Oh I understand, and I'll buy the game regardless because with you guys behind it, it'll be awesome.  My concern is only that a lot of us female members of the community do feel a little left out.  Just a little inclusion, just letting people know that there's a female option--that's all I want, and a lot of other female players would probably be satisfied with that too.  Whether it's a reasonably clear screenshot of LadyHawke (oh yes I went there) on the back, a mention of the ability to choose gender on the blurb on the back, or hey, even a few nice screenshots or a bit of concept art of the female default on the website before the game releases, it's at least that much.  Especially when there's a choice, it does seem like male characters are more popular in marketing, but I think it won't hurt sales for people to know they can still at least choose their gender if not their race in DA2.  This goes beyond video games and into movies--even children's animated movies are predominated by male characters when it's about anything action-oriented.

I think women do need more representation in this kind of media (games and action film) in general, but I also accept that change takes time.  I can't express to you how glad I am I can actually choose to be female at all in Bioware games because of the number of RPGs where I've been forced to play a guy or not at all.  It's true that more female gamers would buy them if they knew they could play a female character (and that she'll be treated as such in-game; I've bought a game from another company where there is a choice of a female, but all of the dialogue--including flirting and gender-related commentary--is exactly the same as for the male version!  And no, it wasn't Fable 2.).

And yes, I would one day like to see a female be the primary character marketed, but I get the feeling it'll be another decade before that happens with any frequency.

I know you guys don't hate us.  You give us too much great stuff for that!

[Layn]

here, i fixed it, feel free to use it bioware. but i warn you, i got bored and rushed it





i'm sure you've got the dragon somewhere without the guy... in a way better version than this

[Onyx Jaguar]

Do it like KOTOR



Remember KOTOR's cover?



It had the Villain on it.



Like Awakening for that matter.



Commercials?



I don'[t remember KOTOR's commercials hmm

[MuseMajora]

Brass_Buckles wrote...
And yes, I would one day like to see a female be the primary character marketed, but I get the feeling it'll be another decade before that happens with any frequency.

Only way that'll happen is if females are the leading consumer on sales. And we ALL know that's not gonna happen...right?

Modifié par MuseMajora, 09 juillet 2010 - 01:25 .

[syllogi]

It's not about being represented on the cover art.



It's not about being represented "equally" in advertising.



It's about being represented AT ALL.



It is entirely possible to create a marketing campaign that includes FemHawke, even if the main "poster boy" for DA2 is BeardHawke.



For those who seem to be dismissive of the idea of advertising featuring a female player character...how would a few trailers or screenshots harm your experience? Because it would enrich mine, generate good will with many fans, and pique the interest of others.



It's SO not about the cover art.

[troyk890]

octoberfire wrote...

troyk890 wrote...

DAO didn't have a set character.

That's exactly my point. So why is Male Hawke suddenly one for DA2? DAO already proves that you don't need an iconic character to make the game successful.

troyk890 wrote...
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.

I'm not saying that it will. I'm just sick of futile marketing tactics that alienate nearly half the fanbase.

One of DAO's main draws was the origin system, which made it immpossible to pick an iconic character because of having so many different possiblities. DA2 has a shepard style protagonist. Which makes it easier.

And the marketing attempt clearly isn't futile, or the team of marketing professionals that made the descicion wouldn't have decided on it.

It doesn't alienate you, you get all the same options in-game, does the cover(which isn't final btw) really make you feel alienated?

[night0205]

There is no possible way they could make a story passed purely around Hawke, then on top of that have the story also based around the 6 origins from the first game. That's just extremely unlikely... If not impossible...

[orpheus333]

Onyx Jaguar wrote...

Do it like KOTOR

Remember KOTOR's cover?

It had the Villain on it.

Technically it also had the protagonist on it as well.

[troyk890]

TeenZombie wrote...



For those who seem to be dismissive of the idea of advertising featuring a female player character...how would a few trailers or screenshots harm your experience? Because it would enrich mine, generate good will with many fans, and pique the interest of others.

It wouldn't harm my experience. I'm not arguing against showing femhawke. I"m just saying desicions should be made to maximize sales, and they will be. Many of the fans that a femhawke ad would generate good will with, will buy the game regardless.

[Kreid]

TeenZombie wrote...
For those who seem to be dismissive of the idea of advertising featuring a female player character...how would a few trailers or screenshots harm your experience? Because it would enrich mine, generate good will with many fans, and pique the interest of others.

It's SO not about the cover art.

Ok, I'm not trying to be antagonistic here, but screenshots and trailers only reach internet audience like us which is generally already aware that the game can be played as both male and female, making trailers and screenshots isn't really a big deal but...it's only for your personal satisfaction, nothing more.
I understand that the female fanbase wants recognition but I personally wouldn't blame Bioware if they decide to take the ME route in marketing.

[Layn]

TeenZombie wrote...

It's SO not about the cover art.

no, but yet it is. They want to put BeardHawke on the cover. By putting him on the cover, they have to put him in all the other media and stuff. If not one specific Hawke is on the cover, the media can cover a lot more types of Hawke

Modifié par Crrash, 09 juillet 2010 - 01:43 .