360 réponses à ce sujet

[DA_GamerGal]

I have a question for all the male gamers out there:

If Hawke had been created/written and marketed as a female protagonist instead of a male one, would you still have bought and played Dragon Age2?

Would you buy any game of BioWare's (or any other developer) that featured a female protagonist? Or would you pass it by and simply mark the game as a "girl's game" and thus 'unworthy" of playing?

Sadly, I feel that is how most male gamers and most male game developers and writers feel. That somehow if the main character is female and not a male, that it will not be marketable- that it won't make the company enough money.

So is this how male gamers feel? That a female character-driven story in a game is not playable in the same way that a male character is? That the game would somehow be less, if the PC was a female?

Correct me if I am wrong, but don't most gamers- including male gamers- play a game for the storyline, the challenge of combat, and because the characters are rich and well-developed? So if the game is all of these things, and the protagonist just happens to be a female, why wouldn't you play it? Female gamers have had to do this for years. Most of the games I own have only male protagonists.

Maybe this isn't a fair question, since BioWare's RPGs all give us a chance to create either a male or female PC, so it could be argued that it is a moot point.

But I would say, simply because BioWare gives we female gamers an option to play as a female PC, doesn't mean that the game was developed and written with the female PC in mind. For once, I would like to see BioWare develop/center one of their Dragon Age games around a female character- around a female protagonist- and let the male PC be the option. For once, I would like to see an entire marketing campaign centered around the female protagonist, instead of the male one.

Game developers seem to be forgetting that female gamers make up as much as 40% of the overall gamers, and we all don't play Farmville and Simms.

Thoughts? Comments? Answers?

Edit: Removed incorrect word and inserted the correct one. Should probably proof-read before submitting. Thank you so much Cutlass Jack for so graciously pointing out the error.

Modifié par krissyjf, 18 octobre 2011 - 12:25 .

[thats1evildude]

Though I predominantly play male characters, I would probably play an RPG with a female protagonist.

[cJohnOne]

Sure I'd play a game with a Female on the Box. I believe Dungeon Siege I had a female on the box and I got that and I loved that game but I mostly played females at that time ha ha.

[element eater]

krissyjf wrote...

I have a question for all the male gamers out there:

If Hawke had been created/written and marketed as a female protagonist instead of a male one, would you still have bought and played Dragon Age2? 

yes infact i would have preffered it. Female Hawke was superior to her male equivilant in both portrayel and and design imo

Would you buy any game of BioWare's (or any other developer) that featured a female protagonist? Or would you pass it by and simply mark the game as a "girl's game" and thus 'unworthy" of playing?

it would depend on the nature of the game but it would never be the reason why i didnt buy it

Frankly im  a little suprised bioware hasn't used a female character as the iconic character appearance if they want there characters to be easily identifiable then they would do a lot better making an interesting looking female character then a generic beardy fantasy character or a generic shaved headed soldier

[DrFumb1ezX]

(The name is a cruel joke from my sister. I am a guy/dude/male/what-have-you.)

If the canon character for a Bioware game was female, it wouldn't bother me. I like the option to play as both, and I (usually) play a game for the story and characters as much as gameplay. In fact, I think it would be neat to have the protagonist for DA3 to be female canonically.

In fact, isn't the default Jedi-Exile Female? I thought she was...

Anyway, no, I do not mind playing as a female. In fact, my F!Hawke is one of my favorite play-throughs.

[Zanallen]

I predominately play male characters, but I wouldn't turn away from a good RPG with a female protagonist. I would find it kind of odd if the protagonist was only female and you only had male romantic options...

[Zanallen]

soccerchick wrote...

(The name is a cruel joke from my sister. I am a guy/dude/male/what-have-you.)

If the canon character for a Bioware game was female, it wouldn't bother me. I like the option to play as both, and I (usually) play a game for the story and characters as much as gameplay. In fact, I think it would be neat to have the protagonist for DA3 to be female canonically.

In fact, isn't the default Jedi-Exile Female? I thought she was...

Anyway, no, I do not mind playing as a female. In fact, my F!Hawke is one of my favorite play-throughs.

The canon Exile is female, yes. However, that information wasn't decided until after the game was out and such. LucasArts decided that Revan was a lightside male and the Exile was a lightside female.

[blothulfur]

Don't play as females because i'm not one, don't give a crap who's on the cover or in the usually god awful marketing.

[TEWR]

I would've still bought it, but I still would've played a Male Hawke most of the time since I can't stand FemHawke's VA. She puts no emotion into her lines.

I mean, I can play a FemHawke. But I just don't like how her VA said most of her lines so it's like an "Ugh... this is painful...." thing for me

[xiiFezz]

It doesn't bother me at all, when a game lets you choose your gender i usually make multiple of each gender.

[tmp7704]

krissyjf wrote...

For once, I would like to see BioWare develop/center one of their Dragon Age games around a female character- around a female protagonist- and let the male PC be the option. For once, I would like to see an entire marketing campaign centered around the female protagonist, instead of the male one.

I'd be wary such production would wind up similar to how female Hawke winded up in DA2 -- way overdone.

I realize there's part of the playerbase who likes that, but just not my cup of tea.

[kyles3]

I like having a choice. Adds to replay value. But if the protagonist's gender were to be predefined, I'd much rather it be female than male.

It's a Buffy thing.

Modifié par kyles3, 17 octobre 2011 - 02:14 .

[Hathur]

I'm going assume men probably don't mind too much playing female protagonists, seeing as how the series Lara Croft / Tomb Raider performed over the years... though granted much of the interest in the series was from young boys or young men who were drawn to the sex appeal of the character.

I recall reading an article somewhere in the past year that one of the major publishers (EA or Activision, I forget) said that they found games with protagonists perform poorly / undersell. That would certainly explain why there's so incredibly few games at all featuring a female lead character.

Although I don't really why... if I can play a game perfectly comfortably using a male lead character, why can't guys feel comfortable playing a game using a female lead character? What's the big deal?

Sigh, ah well... not going to hurt my brain any further trying to figure them out.

Modifié par Hathur, 17 octobre 2011 - 02:31 .

[TheCharmedOne]

yeah id still buy/play. Im black and the protagonists are always white, and it doesnt deter me. If the story is good ill buy it.

[seraphymon]

Theres alot of games that have female protagonist that are quite sucessful. Dragon age has only had 2 games, so saying force once asking for a female i think is just a bit premature. At the same time the game makes no difference what gender you are. Especially with DA2. In fact i would also agree that female hawke was better potrayed, but this was due to having a better actress thean male hawke for me. I also predominatley play males being a male myself though,

[DarkSpider88]

If Dragon Age 2 had trailers featuring a female Hawke my reaction would have been still as psyched. I bought a game called Venetica and its' protagonist is female (unfortunately game is buggy as hell to the point where it is unplayable) and I have also played Bayonetta.

Heck most of my DA2 saves are female Hawkes, her voice is better in my opinion.

[Jonathan Seagull]

I generally try to play both, and the ratio of male to female characters I have is becoming more and more balanced. For DA2 I'll probably wind up with 4 male Hawkes and 3 female. I will say that both my canon* Warden and canon Hawke are male, however I'm considering having my canon DA3 character be female.

*I always consider my first playthrough my canon one.

[DrFumb1ezX]

Hathur wrote...

I'm going assume men probably don't mind too much playing female protagonists, seeing as how the series Lara Croft / Tomb Raider performed over the years... though granted much of the interest in the series was from young boys or young men who were drawn to the sex appeal of the character.

I recall reading an article somewhere in the past year that one of the major publishers (EA or Activision, I forget) said that they found games with protagonists perform poorly / undersell. That would certainly explain why there's so incredibly few games at all featuring a female lead character.

Although I don't really why... if I can play a game perfectly comfortably using a male lead character, why can't guys feel comfortable playing a game using a female lead character? What's the big deal?

Sigh, ah well... not going to hurt my brain any further trying to figure them out.

You mean, besides the back problems and one-week-a-month random bleeding? (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Yeah, I have no idea why guys would mind playing a female character in a game. You get your own boobs to stare at, can put them in lesbian situations, and, hopefully, make them smoking hot. What gives?

[KilrB]

If the game could only be played as a female character ... no.

Tried it, didn't like it, couldn't finish the game.

If the game could be played as either/or, but featured a female character on the box cover?

That wouldn't bother me in the least.

I think any rpg worthy of being called an rpg should offer that choice.

I think your point is a valid one though.

That even those games that give us the choice of gender seem to be male-centric.

If the game you describe were well made and interesting I would give it a try, as long as I had the choice of playing as a male.

[Phobiac]

I'm a guy who exclusively plays female characters in Bioware games. Well, that's not entirely accurate; they comprise 100% of my "canon characters", with male characters serving as very rare alternates. Conversely, I exclusively play male characters in the Elder Scrolls games with females coming up very infrequently.

Like, I already know my canon DA3 character will be female. But if either of the Mass Effect or Dragon Age games had been marketed with a female Shepard/Warden/Hawke...I think I can honestly say I wouldn't have been drawn in quite so easily. It's not that a female character would've turned me off from the game (on the contrary!), it's that I wouldn't be able to go with a preconceived notion of "oh, Bioware's canon must include a male Hawke, so I'll switch it up and make a girl and see how it plays out!" which is part of the appeal for me. Namely, it's to see how a female character works within a story that was marketed with a male lead (on purpose or due to demographics), which has so far had surprisingly great results.

Yes, I would certainly buy a game marketed with a female lead. I'll always play a female first, either way. The only consequence is that it won't feel as "special" when I do it, there won't be that contrast that I always look for. My DAII experience as a female Hawke was totally different than my experience so far with a male Hawke, mainly because of the contrast between their genders. Same for Mass Effect, really.

[hitorihanzo]

I'm gonna get in a lot of trouble for saying this, but I usually pass on games with female only protagonists because game developers, like movie studios, have a hard time developing female protagonists that I don't want to murder. Even in action games where there is no story, like Beyonetta (they gave her "hair powers"... GTFO with that) the female leads are a mishmash of cliches: the strong, sexy female with a wicked sense of humor and fabulous fashion sense. It threatens the alpha male in me lol.

[TheJediSaint]

I generally play male protagonists when given the choice, and this runs true in both computer and PnP games. However, playing a female character is by no means a deal breaker for me.

Now I think that Dragon Age 2 actually had a pretty large number of women writing for it, so I think they do take female gamers into consideration when they were writing the game. In fact, I could go so far as to say that Bioware tries as hard as they can to make there games as gender neutral as possible. Certainly more so than most developers. How well they succeed in that is a matter of debate, I suppose.

I think in the end of the day, if a game has a good story and good gameplay, what gender the player character is does not matter. The most recent example to come to mind is the Portal series, which featured both a female protagonist(Chell) and antagonist (GLADOS). Did I find either Portal games particularly "girly"? Not in the slightest, I was too busy trying to solve the puzzles and not get killed.

So to concluded, developers can do more the take female gamers into consideration. However, I think Bioware is one of the few developers that makes a serious effort keep women in mind when making there games. And I don't think most mature male gamers are going to get bent out of shape if game are given more of a "woman's touch".

Modifié par TheJediSaint, 17 octobre 2011 - 03:16 .

[Cutlass Jack]

As long as the player has complete gender choice its a moot point as to who they show on the box. And for games without that choice, having a Female lead is almost never indicative of a more feminine viewpoint. Quite the opposite. Its about having a 'hot chick' on the box to help sell games. Sad but all too often true.

Regardless, packaging aside, Bioware's games are remarkably female friendly. And having female writers on the team helps quite a bit with that. So not seeing the issue really.

[RagingCyclone]

For me it makes little difference. I tend to try both genders and the varying LI's at least once. My canon warden is male, but my canon Hawke is female. I like there to be a choice, but the marketing aspect I really don't care who is on the cover.