75 réponses à ce sujet

[Batman90]

A while ago, a BioWare employee responded to a question someone made about how female Shepard was never displayed in the marketing for ME2 or why we're not seeing images of a female Hawke or if a female will be on DA2's cover or something like that. If I remember correctly, the employee gave a reasonable, honest answer; something along the lines of "In order for the gave to be as successful as possible, we have to appeal to males, as they comprise the majority of gamers." Or something like that; can't find the original post. Whatever the case, I felt content with the answer BioWare gave.

But then I started looking at various videogame covers. I see the boxart for Guild Wars, Final Fantasy XIII, and World of Warcraft. I look at the first Dragon Age's boxart. All of these games are successful, and all of them have a female character in a prominent position on the cover. This is why I'm raising the question: does the presence of female characters in marketing truly lower the potential sales of a product? Could Dragon Age 2 still prove to be a very successful game (Especially considering the fact that it's already an established brand name) if it gave equal attention to both sexes in its marketing campaign?

[In Exile]

FFXIII is a special case because the protagonist was a female character. It would make sense for her to be featured.

That being said, the bigger issue is that this game is character driven. They want a marketable figure,and they've chosen male Hawk as they did male Shepard as their Master Chief.

[Batman90]

In Exile wrote...
FFXIII is a special case because the protagonist was a female character. It would make sense for her to be featured.

Yeah, but Hawke is either a male or a female character. Therefore, it doesn't necessarily make more sense for either a male or a female to be featured on DA2's cover (Maybe they could do both?),

That being said, the bigger issue is that this game is character driven. They want a marketable figure,and they've chosen male Hawk as they did male Shepard as their Master Chief.

The problem with that is that it makes femHawke or femShepard seem insignificant/non-canon compared to male Hawke or male Shepard. Other games get away with being marketed with the knowledge that the "protagonist" is fully customizable (Guild Wars/WoW); I think BioWare could get away with it, as well.

Modifié par Batman90, 24 juillet 2010 - 06:34 .

[DiablosShadows]

are u a female batman90?

[Batman90]

DiablosShadows wrote...

are u a female batman90?

Nope.

[Saibh]

Yech...we just had this thread and it did not end well.



The only thing I'll (hopefully) say, is that only Mass Effect has featured a male on the cover more prominent than a female in a BioWare game--and both of those titles still have women on them.

[thegoldfinch]

I don't like it, but I can understand why they did what they did.

What I don't understand is why they didn't, say, have a Lady Hawke and Bro Hawke back to back in all of their advertisements.

This question has been pushed to summarize the essence of the game: Who is the Champion of Kirkwall? Awesome. But if the game is about choice, then it's contradictory to have only one presumably "good" male version of Hawke. It gives people the completely wrong idea.

I think it just makes sense to showcase both because it makes Hawke seem like less of a predefined "canon" character, and gives a potential buyer the impression that they can choose who Hawke is - physically and within the context of the game - which is what I feel the marketing should be trying to accomplish instead.

Modifié par pixieface, 24 juillet 2010 - 06:58 .

[Batman90]

pixieface wrote...
What I don't understand is why they didn't, say, have a Lady Hawke and Bro Hawke back to back in all of their advertisements.

I'd imagine boxart, with a profile shot of femHawke's face and a profile shot of manHawke's face, facing in opposite directions with determined expressions on their faces, with a blood-stained sword placed in the center separating the two faces would be pretty damn cool.

[lv12medic]

Once upon a time, there was a slip cover on the box with a hologram picture. Male Hawke at one angle, Female Hawke at another, and the background stayed the same. It was eye catching, many a game was sold, and the people rejoiced. And gamers lived happily ever after. The end.

[term8]

has the male hawke boxart been confirmed as the final product?... it could just be an early draft no?

hopefully it ends up having lady hawke on the cover.



@OP i'm sure someone out there has been paid some serious coin to figure out which figure markets better on the covers of which games... i would be interested to see what they came up with

[payroo]

Hmm, I actually preferred the DA:O boxart with just the red dragon... I don't much like the idea of a 'default' PC face, though I do see the marketing logic behind that.

[thegoldfinch]

Batman90 wrote...

pixieface wrote...
What I
don't understand is why they didn't, say, have a Lady Hawke and Bro
Hawke back to back in all of their advertisements.

I'd
imagine boxart, with a profile shot of femHawke's face and a profile
shot of manHawke's face, facing in opposite directions with determined
expressions on their faces, with a blood-stained sword placed in the
center separating the two faces would be pretty damn cool.

Exactly! That's awesome! You can appeal to both genders in your pool of potential customers that way, all the while looking badass AND having a "face" for the series like they desired... Or faces, in this case.

I personally know a lot of dudes who prefer to play a girl in games (and vice versa) so showing mister beard, as cool as I think he is, won't attract all men of the playerbase ever. Showing choice and the potential for this game to have great player agency will sell, though. I think I can assume that much.

I can't believe no one thought of this in their marketing department. It's a pretty obvious solution. If they did think of it, I'd be curious for the reason why they didn't go for it. :/

lv12medic wrote...

Once upon a time, there was a slip cover on the box with a hologram picture. Male Hawke at one angle, Female Hawke at another, and the background stayed the same. It was eye catching, many a game was sold, and the people rejoiced. And gamers lived happily ever after. The end.

Holograms...? Holograms!!! Yes!

You are a genius and I love you and have my babies.

[General Balls]

I'd prefer that the companion characters drive the game, to a point. Almost by definition companions are going to cover the entire range of classes, a good portion of them are going to be human (or close enough) to be able to advertise just how varied you can make your character look (face-wise and equipment-wise), and it's interesting to see someone marketed that you're going to 'meet' in-game. The only restriction I'd want on it would be to not reveal anywhere near as many companions as Bioware did for Mass Effect 2.

There's a big opening to showcase females in DA2's marketing if they went with that route.

Modifié par General Balls, 24 juillet 2010 - 07:18 .

[Surango]

Batman90 wrote...

pixieface wrote...
What I don't understand is why they didn't, say, have a Lady Hawke and Bro Hawke back to back in all of their advertisements.

I'd imagine boxart, with a profile shot of femHawke's face and a profile shot of manHawke's face, facing in opposite directions with determined expressions on their faces, with a blood-stained sword placed in the center separating the two faces would be pretty damn cool.

If someone looks at the back cover and reads something about a brother and sister Hawke they're going to assume the female drenched in blood is the sister and not femHawke. The hologram idea seems pretty sound, it's just a matter of...if they bother using it.

[asaiasai]

For ****s and giggles how about making some boxes have fems and some males in a random assortment kind of way. When you go to a local retailer and see the game on the shelf would be the only time to get a specific one, other than that you get what ever is dropped in the shipping box. Same for the collectors editions as well, i know some of you OCDers out there will just have to buy 2 copies to have the complete collection thereby selling more copies even if it takes advantage of someone's illness. Wow am i an evil bastard or what?



Asai

[Behindyounow]

Don't Guild Wars and Wow feature women in chainmail bikinis on the front though? I think that'd ****** off the female fans even more if DA:2 followed suit.

[Rubbish Hero]

Edit: If you have nothing to contribute but spam, then it's better not to post at all. Thanks.

Modifié par Seagloom, 24 juillet 2010 - 11:30 .

[Querne]

It´s quite funny, I had to think about our discussion here, because accidently I realized yesterday for the first time, that I could play as female in Divinity:Ego Draconis.

No advertisment and no reviewer has mentioned it with a word.

Of course I haven´t bought it because of this.



And back to Jade Empire: I´m sure it was a couple of things:

Not necessary the females, but also not really archetypal looking men and the asian scenery.

I´m afraid it was too much for Blupp the Buyer.

[Xalena]

Batman90 wrote...

A while ago, a BioWare employee responded to a question someone made about how female Shepard was never displayed in the marketing for ME2 or why we're not seeing images of a female Hawke or if a female will be on DA2's cover or something like that. If I remember correctly, the employee gave a reasonable, honest answer; something along the lines of "In order for the gave to be as successful as possible, we have to appeal to males, as they comprise the majority of gamers."

lol That is not reasonable answer at all...it is an utter bull**** and that employee need slap and get fired in my opinion. It shows disrespect to female fans who buy their games and support them aswell and I would say that there is equally gamers females nowadays as much as males. Any reasonable answer would be good than this **** what this pardon me, idiot said. I hope that he slaps his face for saying this atm.
Happened that I almost didn't buy Dragon Age and Mass Effect because I thought that I can play only as male. I didn't like that thought and I had to check on internet if it is true. It is so misleading. And it is possible to advertise females for games in tastefull way. Example

Modifié par Xalena, 24 juillet 2010 - 09:52 .

[Behindyounow]

[quote]Xalena wrote...

[quote]Batman90 wrote...

A while ago, a BioWare employee responded to a question someone made about how female Shepard was never displayed in the marketing for ME2 or why we're not seeing images of a female Hawke or if a female will be on DA2's cover or something like that. If I remember correctly, the employee gave a reasonable, honest answer; something along the lines of "In order for the gave to be as successful as possible, we have to appeal to males, as they comprise the majority of gamers."

lol That is not reasonable answer at all...it is an utter bull**** and that employee need slap and get fired in my opinion. It shows disrespect to female fans who buy their games and support them aswell and I would say that there is equally gamers females nowadays as much as males. Any reasonable answer would be good than this **** what this pardon me, idiot said. I hope that he slaps his face for saying this atm.
Happened that I almost didn't buy Dragon Age and Mass Effect because I thought that I can play only as male. I didn't like that thought and I had to check on internet if it is true. It is so misleading. And it is possible to advertise females for game in tastefull way. Example




[/quote]

Well you would be wrong. Around 40% of Gamers are female. You're getting closer, but you're still not equal in numbers.

[Maverick827]

Whenever you feature a female character, some women always complain about how unrealistic she is and how she sets a bad example for young girls.

When you make a badass looking dude, guys go "wow, he looks badass" and nobody complains.

[Querne]

That´s not true, I have seen lots of complaints here because some males thought the guy on the cover looks like Bruce Willis for the poor.

[GodWood]

Maverick827 wrote...
Whenever you feature a female character, some women always complain about how unrealistic she is and how she sets a bad example for young girls.
When you make a badass looking dude, guys go "wow, he looks badass" and nobody complains.

This doesn't explain the existence of Sheploo.