88393 réponses à ce sujet

[Steppenwolf]

Most fans wouldn't boycott the game since they already know you can choose your gender and race and it's not a generic dudebro fantasy. New or potential players however do not know this. If I didn't already know BioWare and how good they are with choices, characters, story, and inclusivity, I would not be interested in the game based on what has been shown so far.(generic white male with stubble protagonist seemingly without personality, focus almost completely on combat, etc...) To the casual observer, it seems like your run of the mill hack and slash fantasy game. I and many others (especially women) are not interested in a game that has a fixed protagonist, especially the tired old straight white male with dark hair and stubble that is in everything. Not many would skip the game out of spite, but MANY will overlook it because it (incorrectly) is portrayed as something they don't like.

You conveniently failed to quote the part of my post that addresses this. BioWare is only obligated to do whatever sells more games. They have a marketing department that is tasked with determining what demographics to appeal to so as to garner more sales. There is no desire to only sell games to one demographic. They would love to sell millions of copies to women. If they're not putting much money and effort into marketing the game specifically to women it's because it's not in their financial interests to do so.

[Hrungr]

Sheryl Chee ‏@SherylChee 

Character theme Friday:

 

[BioFan (Official)]

I'm not sure if anyone's brought this up yet, but we've already heard they're going to use a female and male protagonist in marketing...

 

We will have a female character and a male one that we use in marketing. As to the box, we haven't decided what's on it yet.

- Mark Darrah

 

 

Thank you for settling the 3 page long debate. 

 

[Banxey]

Because I follow the game so closely the marketing, beyond "fun trailers" and the like... is largely irrelevant. If I didn't know the game, I'd certainly would want to be made aware of the highlight features - like m/f multiple races. And since there are so many options, for the box art I agree I'd prefer see some neutral art like the Inquisihelm. But for the rest of the marketing - let us know the options...

 

I agree. For me personally marketing does very little, I'm already sold. But I can't see how showing there is variety in an RPG could ever be a bad thing. I just don't want someone else's Inquisitor on my game cover.

 

I fail to see the point of the person who said the white male protagonist is some sort of dudebro with brown or blond hair, stubble, and highly skilled, either the best or becoming the best in their profession. Congratulations on your use of adjectives and descriptors. Now change white/male/brown hair/ and does that make the character more valuable? They're still the protagonist,so all other tropes apply. I understand that it's overused for a main character, but that doesn't make it necessarily bad

 

It makes them more valuable in terms of creating more variety if that character was not white/male/etc from conception. If a character starts out as a black woman, it will likely force writers to approach the subject matter differently, and possibly take some out of their comfort zones. Variety is supposed to be a good thing. The problem with this is that companies tend to like to take the safe bet. I don't know how it applies to RPGs outside of marketing, but the majority of games which aren't RPGs are full of white males. Some could have benefited from diverting from that formula. 

 

Also, I hate the term dudebro and will now shut up until further tweets come along.

[Hrungr]

Thank you for settling the 3 page long debate. 

 

Settled?

On the BSN?

(or... um, whatever we're calling it now)

Nothing is ever settled!

There is only... the war.

 

[Lorien19]

Sheryl Chee ‏@SherylChee 

Character theme Friday:

 

Oh I Love This song!It's so fun to play in Guitar hero...

[efd731]

I agree. For me personally marketing does very little, I'm already sold. But I can't see how showing there is variety in an RPG could ever be a bad thing. I just don't want someone else's Inquisitor on my game Source:
cover.


It makes them more valuable in terms of creating more variety if that character was not white/male/etc from conception. If a character starts out as a black woman, it will likely force writers to approach the subject matter differently, and possibly take some out of their comfort zones. Variety is supposed to be a good thing. The problem with this is that companies tend to like to take the safe bet. I don't know how it applies to RPGs outside of marketing, but the majority of games which aren't RPGs are full of white males. Some could have benefited from diverting from that formula.

Also, I hate the term dudebro and will now shut up until further tweets come along.

That's something entirely different though. The writers don't go "let's write this scene for the generic white male human inquisitor" they write it for "the inquisitor". They approach the subject the same regardless, unless the dialogue calls for it (ie romances). That works for the other characters because they're set in stone, but for our multifaceted inquisitors the only big dialogue changer is going to be race, not colour or gender.

[BioFan (Official)]

Settled?

On the BSN?

(or... um, whatever we're calling it now)

Nothing is ever settled!

There is only... the war.

 

true facts

 

[Danny Boy 7]

You conveniently failed to quote the part of my post that addresses this. BioWare is only obligated to do whatever sells more games. They have a marketing department that is tasked with determining what demographics to appeal to so as to garner more sales. There is no desire to only sell games to one demographic. They would love to sell millions of copies to women. If they're not putting much money and effort into marketing the game specifically to women it's because it's not in their financial interests to do so.

 

Then wouldn't it be "within their financial interests" to market it towards half of their gamer base. If Mass Effect 3 was any indication than women are there and are recognized to be a market they should be trying to get their games into the hands of. Was the inclusion of Fem!Shep on the cover damaging to the overall sales of Mass Effect 3? If not than is the inclusion of a wider demographic a bad thing?

 

On that note is it a bad thing to make prospective buyers aware that they are in fact being considered in the development of a game they might want to buy?

[Nefla]

You conveniently failed to quote the part of my post that addresses this. BioWare is only obligated to do whatever sells more games. They have a marketing department that is tasked with determining what demographics to appeal to so as to garner more sales. There is no desire to only sell games to one demographic. They would love to sell millions of copies to women. If they're not putting much money and effort into marketing the game specifically to women it's because it's not in their financial interests to do so.

 

Nowhere did I say they should market ONLY to women and show ONLY female characters, simply mirroring the trend of marketing only to men and showing only male PCs. They should market to both. How does it make any sense to market to only half the potential customers when you could market to all of them quite easily? 50% of potential sales is not selling "more games." Show things men like, but also show the things women like because all of those things are present in the game and not just the male-centric ones. Show female AND male PCs, show customization, don't trick people into thinking there is a set generic focus test male because it's supposedly "safe." Don't use generic focus test male in every trailer, poster, and big promotion and leave any hint of other gender/races tucked away in the concept art that most customers will not see.

[Steppenwolf]

Then wouldn't it be "within their financial interests" to market it towards half of their gamer base. If Mass Effect 3 was any indication than women are there and are recognized to be a market they should be trying to get their games into the hands of. Was the inclusion of Fem!Shep on the cover damaging to the overall sales of Mass Effect 3? If not than is the inclusion of a wider demographic a bad thing?
 
On that note is it a bad thing to make prospective buyers aware that they are in fact being considered in the development of a game they might want to buy?

You have official numbers showing that half of BioWare's customers are women? And I'm not saying that they shouldn't market to women. I'm saying they have NO obligation to do so unless it makes financial sense for them.

Nowhere did I say they should market ONLY to women and show ONLY female characters, simply mirroring the trend of marketing only to men and showing only male PCs. They should market to both. How does it make any sense to market to only half the potential customers when you could market to all of them quite easily? 50% of potential sales is not selling "more games." Show things men like, but also show the things women like because all of those things are present in the game and not just the male-centric ones. Show female AND male PCs, show customization, don't trick people into thinking there is a set generic focus test male because it's supposedly "safe." Don't use generic focus test male in every trailer, poster, and big promotion and leave any hint of other gender/races tucked away in the concept art that most customers will not see.

Nowhere did I say you said they should only market to women or only show female characters. You're trying to put words in my mouth.
And we seriously need to drop this notion half of gamers are women. Those numbers are misleading because they treat mobile games like Flappy Bird the same as Dragon Age and for our purposes that's ridiculous. Most console gamers are still men by a sizable margin and most PC gamers are men by a huge margin. Women don't actually make up half of Inquisition's potential customers. I wish more women were playing "hardcore" games since it probably reduce the likelihood of homophobic slurs being bandied about on XBox but alas, that is simply not the case.

[goat_fab]

I have a hard time respecting someone who relies on the main protagonist's sex as a deciding factor. When I see a game that I think looks good, I read the description for the game. I look at the features, read up a review or two. Then I buy the game based on actual gameplay and story. Who gives a **** what/who the protagonist is? As long as they're a believable, reliable, personable protagonist, then what's it matter?

[Dio Demon]

Do... do we have to have this discussion in this thread? You're only going to attract the ire of the mods.

[Banxey]

That's something entirely different though. The writers don't go "let's write this scene for the generic white male human inquisitor" they write it for "the inquisitor". They approach the subject the same regardless, unless the dialogue calls for it (ie romances). That works for the other characters because they're set in stone, but for our multifaceted inquisitors the only big dialogue changer is going to be race, not colour or gender.

Sorry. When you said "the white male protagonist" I thought you were talking about the trope, not the Inquisitor.

I'm still shutting up, just wanted to apologise.

[Hanako Ikezawa]

Do... do we have to have this discussion in this thread? You're only going to attract the ire of the mods.

And so close to 1,000 pages too.

[BioFan (Official)]

And so close to 1,000 pages too.

 

 

SO CLOSE

[FarDareisMai]

I'm having a hard time understanding what constitutes as a "hardcore" game. I've always found when someone says a game isn't "hardcore" or says someone isn't a gamer or a "hardcore" gamer because they don't play "hardcore" games its a bit snobbish. I love games of all different types, as long as I'm entertained. I play games like Dragon Age and Skyrim because they are entertaining and I get to step into the shoes of character. I began playing Bioware games because a friend introduced me to Neverwinter Nights years ago. When people say that not enough women play console games or "hardcore" games, it makes me wonder why they don't try introducing their female friends to those games.

Now can we all get back to the topic of this thread, please?

[Allan Schumacher]

It'd probably be best if people took the woman protagonist/marketing to the thread that discusses it, here: http://forum.bioware...ady-inquisitor/

[BioFan (Official)]

so this Friday we may get a character kit? 

 

anything else this week?

[Iron Star]

Seems like the trend is to release a character kit every two weeks, so we won't be seeing the next one until next week, if they stick to the trend, sadly.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I realised you were talking about the upcoming friday, which should release a new kit.

 

Don't think we've heard about anything else; dev diaries are still a work in progress, and although they said that the female qunari was ready to be shown like a month and a half ago we haven't heard squeak about it since. Maybe they'll start showing off the races soon though, since the character creator seems to be working as intended now!

[Ananka]

I'm more curious about the companions than the inquisitor at this point, so I'm quite looking forward to the character kits. I'm hoping to see BaldElf and Cullen soon.

[ladyofpayne]

Two weeks Realy? I'ven't noticed it, thanks.

[Rolling Flame]

I'd say Baldilocks will be up next.

[ImperatorMortis]

Whats this about a new trailer? Unless its a gameplay trailer I'm not interested.