213 réponses à ce sujet

[wepeel_]

Phaedon wrote...

As for the use of "Slav" in GTA IV, don't you think that that was a bad move by R*?

Actually I don't - do you?
To me that seems like a fairly likely outcome of an eastern European guy getting involved with people of the US criminal underworld. To have everyone in the game refer to each other using neutral and unoffensive monikers or call him "Mr. Bellic" would seem rather strange. Rockstar could have pushed it too far if they'd made his ethnicity a big issue - especially since you never get a chance to talk back or fight back in Rockstar games; all decisions get made for you - but the way they did it was fine, in my opinion. In a game like Mass Effect where you get to tell people to stfu or kick their asses, things like that can be taken further.

In general, I'm of the opinion that games are like art in this regard. They have to dare to step on toes and offend people in order to provide a true impression.

Modifié par wepeel_, 31 mai 2011 - 04:29 .

[stonbw1]

Gatt9 wrote...

As I said before,  Bioware's pretty much at the point where choosing a sex for your character is completely pointless,  there's no difference between the sexes,  DA2 had everyone Bisexual,  so really,  your character is effectively completely sexless.
.

This.  One of the best parts of BW games are the stories and the reason I play Femsheps as well is for the different experience.  I enjoy Hale's take on the subject, so it really begs the question that after I play ME3 with Femshep, what's the point of replaying as maleshep . . .at least storywise.  This was an unfortunate insight as it clearly cuts replayability, which diminishes the value of the game.  Tisk tisk.

[Chewin]

stonbw1 wrote...

Gatt9 wrote...

As I said before,  Bioware's pretty much at the point where choosing a sex for your character is completely pointless,  there's no difference between the sexes,  DA2 had everyone Bisexual,  so really,  your character is effectively completely sexless.
.

This.  One of the best parts of BW games are the stories and the reason I play Femsheps as well is for the different experience.  I enjoy Hale's take on the subject, so it really begs the question that after I play ME3 with Femshep, what's the point of replaying as maleshep . . .at least storywise.  This was an unfortunate insight as it clearly cuts replayability, which diminishes the value of the game.  Tisk tisk.

Credits to jrwalker

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I'm tired of hearing people say this same thing over and over again. You don't know what BW doing with the characters, but you're acting like you already know. And people still keep on comparing DA2 with ME. It's absolutely ridiculous. DA2 characters were written/designed to be pursued by other genders from the start. Why do you insist keeping on saying that DA2 sucks?

Okay, I'm taking up things I shouldn't. I'll stop here. But still *angry look*

[100k]

SalsaDMA wrote...
This isn't a Pegi7 game, right? ME2 has an ESRB rating of 17+ Mature. The series isn't about kindergarten fairytale land... I find it a disturbing thing that things like this is even discussed in earnest. whatever happened to the ART of computer gaming? An oft used description of art is that "Art needs to provoke", yet people seem more and more afraid of touching anything that is even remotely provocative, despite the quite clear labeling of it being a MATURE franchise, indicating that people shouldn't expect kindergarten fairytale stuff...

Exactly. Let's not shy away from uncomfortable subjects because we want to "escape" from the real world. Let's tastefully address them without shoving it in people's face. Bioware and Rockstar are perhaps two of the only major development teams that can do this level of controversy, and still be respected. If they don't, then who will?

[Phaedon]

Mr. MannlyMan wrote...
I honestly don't see what your problem with gender-specific dialogue is, Phaedon.
Do you visualize femShep struggling to move a crate while maleShep
tosses it aside? A krogan belittling femShep for her tiny frame, but not
maleShep? FemShep getting her ass saved by the creaky-legged Joker,
while Joker gets his creaky ass saved by the heroic, masculine maleShep?
Is that your idea of gender acknowledgement?

Gender-specific dialogue =/= Complete Non-Gender-blindness

If you want to somehow make FemShep different than MaleShep, you have to come up with things that are unique to her. 'Ma'am' or 'lady', or perhaps a bit of flirting should cause no trouble, anything else? I am sure it would.

And the
real issue in Patrick's article was about whether people would be put off by gender-specific situations, not necessarily by blatant sexism. For the record, I didn't think that Wrex's comment in ME1 about how he thought that fighting with female soldiers "gave the fight a different flavor" was sexist or misogynistic. Were female players really put off by this?

That is not the type of dialogue I have a problem with.

What if we ran into a cocktail waitress? For femSheps, she could mention how cool it is that the first human Spectre turned out to be a woman; for maleShep, she could just flirt with him. Honestly, I have a couple of good gamer friends who are women, and they've never complained about the way ME1 or ME2 acknowledged genders (except for the "skankwrap" dress Kasumi gives femSheps).

See above, I don't have a problem by the writers including those as they go on, but, hammering them in, yes I do. Picking a gender for your Shepard is not the kind of choice that picking your background is. Wouldn't you have a problem with NPCs treating coloured people, or people with specific hair colour differently? I know I would.

I think Patrick's overthinking what the fans want here... just be relatively sensitive about it, insert some gender-specific dialogue where appropriate (not everywhere, obviously), and move on, dude! Most people, male and female, tend to like it when NPCs react directly to their Shepard's actions or sex; gender is a very non-descriptive trait, yet it greatly adds to the experience. Harkin wasn't a sexist or misogynist; he was just an ass, and you had full control over how you dealt with him (try to ignore him, tell him off?). Moments like that, that are that personal to the main character, that are that up-close and direct, make the characters seem more real. It gives the character credence, reinforces an emotional connection... which is really what the character of Shepard should be about in ME3: not striving to be utterly PC for the sake of sparing some people's feelings, but creating and playing a character that feels as user-defined and personal to the player as possible.

Now that you mention, I did have a problem with there being no way for Harkin to look more of an ass to MaleShep, yes.

where appropriate

Where it fits, not for the sake of unique content.

BickDutt wrote...
Only 50% of women players are women? Damn, I should probably check next time I get a gamer girlfriend!

Joking asides, I highly doubt 50% of ME players are female, Phaedon. Regardless, I don't see why including very real and mature subjects such as sexism and racism should be a problem. The TV series "The Wire", which is regarded by many critics as the greatest series of the last 20 years, has very racially sensitive language. A great work of art doesn't bury its head in the sand in the face of those issues. Sci-Fi has always been about exploring the relation between technology and our humanity. I think the old adage stands, technology might have evolved but we're still the same old humans as were 50 000 years ago. 

Of course, not every product has to be a great work of philosophy or activism, I don't think we'll remember Mass Effect as a great study on postmodernism.

Exactly. The point of the writer, which everyone seems to be ignoring, that it is the players who are treated in a different way, and not a character in a TV series. And as the LiveJournal and Twitter comments seem to show, there is a problem, for some players at least.

For me, it wouldn't make any difference, other than the fact that the writers could appear discriminatory, or that options connected to customization have an impact on the content.

Gatt9 wrote...
You're still assigning your personal beliefs as cultural truths.

There are many societies on earth that are both as advanced as America and Sexist.  Nor is there any indication of that changing anytime soon.

Racism isn't extinct either.  Wars rage across the globe solely because of Race.

Err, thank you?
That's what I said?

Humans will always try to find things that they are different in, to fight for. Be it race, religion, political ideas etc.

Saying that there is as much racism, or that you can talk openly in a discriminatory manner in socially advanced communities today is just...I don't know, naive?

Asari, Humans, Turians and Quarians? Socially advanced societies with no sexism, or so it would appear at least. An 180 degrees turn would be rather weird, in the third chapter don't you agree?

The Salarians and Krogan seem to have independence, regardless of gender, and the rest of the races, have never mentioned anything till now. The vorcha could always be retconned for the sake of gender-unique dialogue, bt which else?

What you believe,  and what is real,  are two very different things.  Advanced society does not in any way,  shape,  or form,  imply a lack of sexism.  It's entirely possible to be extremely advanced and extremely sexist.

Which apparently Bioware believes to be true as we can tell from the fact that every planet has a strip club filled with female dancers,  and people of all races watching them.

See above.
I'd like to think that both of us live in societies that discrimination is against the law, and people who are openly discriminatory are frowned upon. Very.

And we in the 2010s, not the 2180s.

Unless you are saying that we haven't socially evolved since the 1840s. 

[Phaedon]

-double post-

Modifié par Phaedon, 31 mai 2011 - 06:18 .

[MinotaurWarrior]

I think it's really quite sad that when someone says, "I want my character's gender to be recognized by the game" what everyone seems to hear is "I want the game to contain several sexist characters."

Personally, one of the things I find most interesting about the mass effect universe (and sci-fi in general) is the interesting ways they can explore some of the central aspects of who a person is, such as instincts, temperment, gender, sex, and development, through the lense of imaginary races who aren't limited by the realities of being human. Before their first contact, no Asari ever had to wonder about how guys think, because there are no Asari guys. Salarians have no sex drives (at least not the way we think of them), which colours nearly everything they do. I think it would be great if more of this would be explored, which would often provide a good oportunity for shepard's gender to come into play. When we visit the Asari homeworld in ME3, it would be interesting if a young, sheltered Asari reflected on how strange mShep looks. On Pavalen, the comparatively huge gender dismorphia among humans (compared to Taurians) could be remarked upon. A Salarian or Krogan could have a hard time getting over how humans seem so calous in wasting precious female lives, because it's difficult for them to get over their gender bias.

I know that I would hate if people started discriminating against my shepard based on sex, ethnicity, height, weight, intelligence, verbal skills, athleticism, religion, nation of origin, or socioeconomic background, unless it was interesting, improved the story, and was significantly detached from reality. Everyone has been mistreated because of who they are. Nobody wants that to carry over into their role playing games. But, that doesn't mean you can't explore gender in your videogames, because there is a whole lot more to being a man or a woman than sexism and stereotypes.

[Whatever42]

I didn't mind the minimal gender pronouns of ME2. Of course, Shepard was not gender-neutral - Shepard was definitely masculine, right down to the animations, as many femsheps have lamented.

There is such a thing as gender. It is important to people. You cannot simply write a mShep and ignore gender pronouns and say that you wrote Shep to be equally a mShep and femshep. Shep was a hard-bitten, very masculine character. That may work for ME, because most superhero marine femsheps are probably hard-bitten characters too, but you can't pull that stunt with every video game.

[Whale]

I enjoyed how gender dynamics were approached in DA:O, with the lore about warrior women and Sten backing down from his sexist bullcrap.

However, I LOVE that gender is a non-issue in ME. It's just so refreshing to be able to play as a kind and sensitive guy, or a vicious woman, without someone complaining that you belong in a different pigeonhole (or even complimenting you - I like that it just does not matter).

I am neutral about the sir/ma'am issue and I see no need to add sexist arses NPCs to drive home that even in a fictional environment, women should be reminded not to feel as valuable as men. Also, you already get different voice acting and LIs, I doubt a couple of extra scenes like Gianna's kiss would affect replayability that much.

[Lady Olivia]

MinotaurWarrior wrote...

I think it's really quite sad that when someone says, "I want my character's gender to be recognized by the game" what everyone seems to hear is "I want the game to contain several sexist characters."

Personally, one of the things I find most interesting about the mass effect universe (and sci-fi in general) is the interesting ways they can explore some of the central aspects of who a person is, such as instincts, temperment, gender, sex, and development, through the lense of imaginary races who aren't limited by the realities of being human. Before their first contact, no Asari ever had to wonder about how guys think, because there are no Asari guys. Salarians have no sex drives (at least not the way we think of them), which colours nearly everything they do. I think it would be great if more of this would be explored, which would often provide a good oportunity for shepard's gender to come into play. When we visit the Asari homeworld in ME3, it would be interesting if a young, sheltered Asari reflected on how strange mShep looks. On Pavalen, the comparatively huge gender dismorphia among humans (compared to Taurians) could be remarked upon. A Salarian or Krogan could have a hard time getting over how humans seem so calous in wasting precious female lives, because it's difficult for them to get over their gender bias.

I know that I would hate if people started discriminating against my shepard based on sex, ethnicity, height, weight, intelligence, verbal skills, athleticism, religion, nation of origin, or socioeconomic background, unless it was interesting, improved the story, and was significantly detached from reality. Everyone has been mistreated because of who they are. Nobody wants that to carry over into their role playing games. But, that doesn't mean you can't explore gender in your videogames, because there is a whole lot more to being a man or a woman than sexism and stereotypes.

Hats off. An excellent post. The direction this thread has taken is rather morbid. I'm guessing it's a prime example of why the devs sometimes prefer to avoid such... slippery subjects.

[Ghost Warrior]

MinotaurWarrior wrote...

I think it's really quite sad that when someone says, "I want my character's gender to be recognized by the game" what everyone seems to hear is "I want the game to contain several sexist characters."

Personally, one of the things I find most interesting about the mass effect universe (and sci-fi in general) is the interesting ways they can explore some of the central aspects of who a person is, such as instincts, temperment, gender, sex, and development, through the lense of imaginary races who aren't limited by the realities of being human. Before their first contact, no Asari ever had to wonder about how guys think, because there are no Asari guys. Salarians have no sex drives (at least not the way we think of them), which colours nearly everything they do. I think it would be great if more of this would be explored, which would often provide a good oportunity for shepard's gender to come into play. When we visit the Asari homeworld in ME3, it would be interesting if a young, sheltered Asari reflected on how strange mShep looks. On Pavalen, the comparatively huge gender dismorphia among humans (compared to Taurians) could be remarked upon. A Salarian or Krogan could have a hard time getting over how humans seem so calous in wasting precious female lives, because it's difficult for them to get over their gender bias.

I know that I would hate if people started discriminating against my shepard based on sex, ethnicity, height, weight, intelligence, verbal skills, athleticism, religion, nation of origin, or socioeconomic background, unless it was interesting, improved the story, and was significantly detached from reality. Everyone has been mistreated because of who they are. Nobody wants that to carry over into their role playing games. But, that doesn't mean you can't explore gender in your videogames, because there is a whole lot more to being a man or a woman than sexism and stereotypes.

Well said.

[Ryzaki]

Alright then for everyone who does want non gender blindness.

Exactly what is it that you want to see in game?

As for the person who said DA2 gender didn't make a difference all I have to say is "did you actually *play* DA2 as both genders?" Everyone being bisexual =/= everyone treating Dude Hawke and FemHawke exactly the same.

[Zulmoka531]

Ryzaki wrote...

Alright then for everyone who does want non gender blindness.

Exactly what is it that you want to see in game?

As for the person who said DA2 gender didn't make a difference all I have to say is "did you actually *play* DA2 as both genders?" Everyone being bisexual =/= everyone treating Dude Hawke and FemHawke exactly the same.

Ironically? The only time I ever truly noticed a difference in my Hawke's gender was in afew of the lines with potential romance characters, or with Bethany/Carver and even then, they were subtle. DA2 had many many good things going for it, especially chracter interaction, but an entire cast of Bi Lis wasn't in my honest opinion.

Not trying to derail this thread or stir up a hornets nest. But I'd like some recognition that my current avatar is male or female and those tid bits from DA:O,DA2 and in the Mass Effects were kinda nice, I don't think it really NEEDS to go in depth with such things, but a few remakrs here and there aren't going to hurt.

Hell, a loading tip in ME2 even offers you "Create a new commander Shepard of the opposite gender/backround for a whole new game expereince" or something along those lines.

People seem very senstitive and PC on these forums lately.

Modifié par Zulmoka531, 01 juin 2011 - 12:19 .

[Iakus]

Ryzaki wrote...

Alright then for everyone who does want non gender blindness.

Exactly what is it that you want to see in game?

As for the person who said DA2 gender didn't make a difference all I have to say is "did you actually *play* DA2 as both genders?" Everyone being bisexual =/= everyone treating Dude Hawke and FemHawke exactly the same.

Well. 90% of the  issue could probably be solved pretty simply:

Having characters acknowledge that Shepard is male/female.  SImple things like "sir", "ma'am" "he" "she", etc.

Different walking and sitting animations, but I think people would ask for that anyway  after ME2 

the other 10 %?

A little trickier, but somewhat different responses from NPCs, or possibly Shepard in regards to certain situations. Not sexist or insulting situations necessarily but situations where gender could possibly provide a different perspective.

[D.Kain]

I will have to say that the presence of gender awareness is highly doubtful in the far future, as such people with sexist views would be almost impossible to find. I can see how it could work with aliens, but those aliens would have to have some really huge biological differences between male and female in their species.

So yeah I think gender-blindness is not laziness but a realistic touch. It would be even more realistic if hairstyles and clothes weren't gender specific, which requires more models, and that is laziness/not enough time/money.

That said recognizing sex is still necessary for romance reasons. But SEX not GENDER.

Modifié par D.Kain, 01 juin 2011 - 01:37 .

[100k]

D.Kain wrote...

I will have to say that the presence of gender awareness is highly doubtful in the far future, as such people with sexist views would be almost impossible to find. I can see how it could work with aliens, but those aliens would have to have some really huge biological differences between male and female in their species.

So yeah I think gender-blindness is not laziness but a realistic touch. It would be even more realistic if hairstyles and clothes weren't gender specific, which requires more models, and that is laziness/not enough time/money.

That said recognizing sex is still necessary for romance reasons. But SEX not GENDER.

I'd say that lack of sexism, even in 115 years, is pure wishful thinking. Sexism exists because of the undeniable differences between men and women. Those differences are NOT going away in a few decades. I'd say, best case scenario, women (who are already on their way to being more successful, happy, and hard working then men--in western cultures) end up discriminating/degrading equally against men. 

[Ryzaki]

Zulmoka531 wrote...
Ironically? The only time I ever truly noticed a difference in my Hawke's gender was in afew of the lines with potential romance characters, or with Bethany/Carver and even then, they were subtle. DA2 had many many good things going for it, especially chracter interaction, but an entire cast of Bi Lis wasn't in my honest opinion.

Not trying to derail this thread or stir up a hornets nest. But I'd like some recognition that my current avatar is male or female and those tid bits from DA:O,DA2 and in the Mass Effects were kinda nice, I don't think it really NEEDS to go in depth with such things, but a few remakrs here and there aren't going to hurt.

Hell, a loading tip in ME2 even offers you "Create a new commander Shepard of the opposite gender/backround for a whole new game expereince" or something along those lines.

People seem very senstitive and PC on these forums lately.

Edit: Calmed down. Nevermind what was here previously. 

As for ME2's loading tip. Yeah that shouldn't have been in there. Only way to get a whole new game would be if I could tell Cerberus to kick rocks. <_<

Modifié par Ryzaki, 01 juin 2011 - 04:04 .

[Ryzaki]

iakus wrote...
Well. 90% of the  issue could probably be solved pretty simply:

Having characters acknowledge that Shepard is male/female.  SImple things like "sir", "ma'am" "he" "she", etc.

Different walking and sitting animations, but I think people would ask for that anyway  after ME2 

the other 10 %?

A little trickier, but somewhat different responses from NPCs, or possibly Shepard in regards to certain situations. Not sexist or insulting situations necessarily but situations where gender could possibly provide a different perspective.

 

I have no issues with this. 

I just don't want it reduced to "Oh you're a female so you shouldn't do X." Or "you're a male so you should want to do X." thing. Or people touching my Shepard because since he's a male he *must* be interested in a female. NO thanks. 

As long as I have the option to ignore or have my Shepard tell them where to shove it I don't mind. 

[Zulmoka531]

[quote]Ryzaki wrote...
<snip>[quote]


I don't think my post came out the way I had meant it to. I really didn't mean to get you riled up, believe me I'm more of a pacifist than anything else lol.

I just wanted to point out that I think gender recognization is something that should be included in games, but not in a negative light. Perhaps I should re-read my post and edit it as such as I feel I may have misrepresented my meaning.

It adds..flavor I guess and doesn't need to be a big deal. Just a few things here and there, small little comments like Sten from DA:O.

Modifié par Zulmoka531, 01 juin 2011 - 03:27 .

[Zulmoka531]

Oh..damn these forums and the quoting stuff "Sigh"

[Ryzaki]

Zulmoka531 wrote...
I don't think my post came out the way I had meant it to. I really didn't mean to get you riled up, believe me I'm more of a pacifist than anything else lol.

I just wanted to point out that I think gender recognization is something that should be included in games, but not in a negative light. Perhaps I should re-read my post and edit it as such as I feel I may have misrepresented my meaning.

It adds..flavor I guess and doesn't need to be a big deal. Just a few things here and there, small little comments like Sten from DA:O.

 

Ah I have no issue with that. Though Sten's comment did make me wanna kick him in the face. I enjoyed that along with the conversation with Teagan. What I *didn't* enjoy was my dude Hawke grinning like an idiot when Shiala flirted with him or non-reacting to Parsini's kiss. So if such gender differences have  to be in game I'd prefer being able to choose how my Shep reacts. 

I just go beserk when someone tries to say "Oh DA2 had all bi romances and your gender didn't make a single difference neeneer neeneer!" (Not saying YOU were saying that. Gatt was.) 

My bad. 

Modifié par Ryzaki, 01 juin 2011 - 03:33 .

[Iakus]

Ryzaki wrote...


Ah I have no issue with that. Though Sten's comment did make me wanna kick him in the face. I enjoyed that along with the conversation with Teagan. What I *didn't* enjoy was my dude Hawke grinning like an idiot when Shiala flirted with him or non-reacting to Parsini's kiss. So if such gender differences have  to be in game I'd prefer being able to choose how my Shep reacts. 

Well, truth be told, that's something that can affect both genders.  I hardly think it would go over any better if femShep were to meet Samesh Bhatia and have him give her a kiss.  Or if Eddie Lang hit on her, even if it was just a little flirting.  The problem there is lack of a player's ability to respond to it, not the actions themselves.

[ThatDancingTurian]

Ryzaki wrote...

What I *didn't* enjoy was my dude Hawke grinning like an idiot when Shiala flirted with him

This wasn't a gender thing. I was quite annoyed when my FemShep did this, since I reeeeally dislike the asari. I guess not even Shepard is immune to the 'everyone loves the asari' clause. Bleh.

[Youknow]

If a game was created not being gender blind, that doesn't mean that there has to be sexism. Whether I want it or not depends on the degree of it: If you have stuff like say "FemShep can duck inside crates because MaleShep is too big to fit in them, or FemShep's flexibility makes her capable of evading better than MaleShep," yeah, I have a problem with that. Especially if it's not done in an at least "balanced on paper" method. 

For instance, in Final Fantasy Tactics, I loved the fact that males had higher PA, and females had higher magic. Does that mean that every male is a physical attacker and a female is a mage? No! Some of the physical classes could be arguably better with a female, and a male could do arguably better as a caster. And then there was a gender unique class that rewarded the player for being a physical female or a magical oriented male. And obviously because the game encourages a more balanced party ideally, you would want an army of males and female to join. The fact that there were actually differences in the genders encouraged you to use both. It literally has no effect on the story, it's just a gameplay mechanic here. And since Mass Effect is a RPG, having some noticeable differences in people's reaction to your appearance would be nice. It does lend some credence to the world your in and does assist in immersion when people react to your gender accordingly. 

And to be honest, I don't think anyone is expecting Sheperd to change as a result of their gender outside of the obvious physical appearance. But some actual nods to Sheperd being another gender would be nice at moments. And I don't just mean "random Batarian dude thinks you're a stripper." I mean actually inciteful methods that could happen as a result of your PC being the opposite gender. To expand on my point, let's use someone like Miranda: 

Miranda was designed to be the perfect woman, and she sees someone like Male Sheperd. She believes that he is the perfect man, and she develops a sort of lustful attraction to him, because she seems him as an equal. As her equal. She talks about how she may not be perfect, but Male Sheperd is still there to encourage her that she is in fact, perfect, at least in his eyes. This is enough for Miranda to open up to you as a Male. And I'm not just saying this because it involves romance probably, but because Miranda's character feels this attraction to your Sheperd because it is male. However, if Sheperd refuses to respond to Miranda's advances or even opts to romance someone else, Miranda wonders if there truly is no such thing as the "perfect woman," and Sheperd has the option to encourage her that there truly isn't one, tell her to quit mopping, or tell her that there is a perfect woman, it's just not her. Thus, you could end up being Miranda's best male friend-- and maybe the first one that saw past all of her quirks and met the true her. Or you could just be someone that she feels intimidated by, or she just considers a friend but nothing special. 

As a female, it could be completely different how Miranda's character reacts. Miranda was designed as a perfect woman, and she sees someone like Female Sheperd. She doesn't know what to think considering that this woman, Sheperd, far exceeds anything she has ever done, yet, despite all of Miranda's genetic engineering, Sheperd still comes out as what would be the "perfect woman." Miranda begins to doubt herself and her abilities. Even possibly comes to feel uncomfortable and cold towards Sheperd. Miranda finds herself upset over the fact that her life has been rather crummy (or so she believes) as a result of being engineered as the perfect woman, and out comes Female Sheperd who is not only younger, but even better than her, and probably lived a better life as well. After numerous talks with Miranda, depending on how Sheperd behaves towards Miranda (supportive in Miranda's struggles. indifferent. or upset at Miranda's bluntness), Miranda either ends up absoluting hating Sheperd,  developing a rivalry with one another, or  thinking of her as her new best friend. 

Or I could see someone like Jacob feeling more comfortable talking about his problems with another man (like saying what happened with Miranda and him), instead of a woman as well. Small touches like that aren't blantently smacking the players upside the head saying "HEY YOU ARE A MALE/FEMALE SO WE SHOULD HAVE PEOPLE ACKNOWLEDGE IT," but are ever present regardless. It would definitely add for more unique playing experiences between the genders without acknowledgement. 

I know the examples might be a bit garbage like, because I'm not a particularly talented writer, but the point stands that gender awareness can enhance a game rather than be an inhibitor. And that's the biggest problem I see in a lot of games. There really isn't much of a reason to play as both genders, because the end result is the same with the characters a lot of the time outside who you can romance. 

Ugh long post... I should just get a blog at this point.

Modifié par Youknow, 01 juin 2011 - 04:27 .

[Fhaileas]

Personally I don't think this affects the male Shephard as much as it does the female Shephard, considering that the role is contextually perceived as male oriented anyway. Ironically though this actually makes FemShep a more worthwhile and "strong" atypical female character since she is not seen as catering to the standard sexually titillating kick-ass male wet dream trope that exists in popular culture. In fact I would go as far as to say that of either Shephard gender, the female is by far portrayed as being more gender neutral.

Modifié par Fhaileas, 01 juin 2011 - 04:28 .