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[Darth Krytie]

In the past two games, there aren't overly large divergences in the dialogue or way the NPCs react to you based on your gender. (And when I say based on gender, it's usually specifically about a player's femaleness). However, I've noticed that they're predominately negative ones.

 

Like comments on you being a lady warden. Or NPCs making crude comments about you being a lady. I don't actually recall anyone reacting negatively to a male Warden or Hawke for being male.

 

Anyhow, I'd really like if as Inquisitor, I don't encounter any disrespect purely based on the gender of my character. Given the world has a matriarchal religious society and many women in power in various places, it seems odd. And if there must be disrepect to the Inquisitor if she's female, then equalise it and have male Inquisitors face a similar problem in another area.

 

It detracts from the enjoyment of being able to be a kickass woman in a videogame if you encounter disrespect you could avoid by playing as a male.

[Allan Schumacher]

That's pretty much it, it's just a "feel" they're talking about, like how people in period pieces talk in english accents even when the characters didn't or didn't even speak english.

 

This is what I dislike about something like Game of Thrones (despite really enjoying the series).  I see a lot of people look at it and assume "yeah, this is probably how history was like man."

 

They then take these assumptions into history without any sort of validation, and it can become the basis of "historical realism" that people expect.

[Allan Schumacher]

Having fewer gender distinctions is looking more and more appealing.  I love being complimented as much as the next person, but not when it makes my appearance more important than my abilities or actions.  An example is when people meet my children and tell my son he is very clever and tell my daughter she is pretty.  Maybe they have good intentions, but it has ugly implications.

 

 

lol, the big shiny heart was one of the only straight-forward parts of the dialogue wheel!

 

I find this an interesting challenge.  It came up at PAX as well, and I've learned it can be a problem elsewhere in other media when "the male action is considered the powerful one."  But at the same time, having distinctions can be problematic, whether it be "strong woman" issues, or other problems.  And is making the distinction good?

 

Some will say yes, and some will say no (regardless of the actual quality of the distinction).  I can see merits to both and find it pretty interesting.

[Allan Schumacher]

Bingo

 

Based on the situation described, however, I thought it was pretty clear that she was illustrating a situation where a man was raped by a woman.

[Allan Schumacher]

Which i find unlikely when you consider the gender of this series' rapists/sex offenders and serial killers. It's surprising how in game you don't hear cases of abuse from the Chantry sisters.

 

So we've been doing it poorly thus far?  Noted.

 

 

EDIT: To be clear, I think this line you've drawn in the sand is being pretty obtuse.  If it wasn't clear to you that Mes was referring to a woman raping a man, it's been clarified.  If you think the idea of a woman raping a man in Thedas is impossible based upon what we've seen so far in the game, then that is something you'd have to reconcile on your own, since it's irrelevant to the discussion at this point.

[Allan Schumacher]

I also wouldn't mind if we saw any sort of female child who gets inspired by our female inquisitor to go out and become a warrior or something. I'd love something like that.

 
 
A potential problem I see with this, given the distinction between men and women in Dragon Age is less pronounced, is that it could undermine the relative equivalence of men and women if the little girl only responded to a female protagonist.  If men and women are often seen in this type of position, wouldn't it make more sense for the girl to be inspired by the inquisitor, regardless of the Inquisitor's sex?

[Allan Schumacher]

It's a fair point. And I'd rather have few or no differences between male/female Inquisitors than negative ones or even positive ones if it failed to serve the lore properly.

 

However, I know in the real world (I know, bringing it into the DAS) having same gendered role models can be very important because that's when you can truly see yourself in that position when you're older. I've met both males and females in my chosen field, but it wasn't until I was truly inspired by a woman who was really wonderful and inspirational that I thought of it for myself. So, that's sort of where my mind was when I suggested it.

 

 

I understand how you came to think of it.  I think part of the challenge is the nuanced differences between Dragon Age's reality and our own.  I think that the general equality that exists in Dragon Age is a good thing, and as am placing my own biases/ideals in that I think it'd be preferred if a little boy could find inspiration in a female Inquisitor just as well as a little girl could find inspiration in a male Inquisitor (and all other permutations).

 

Though I don't mean to be a buzzkill or a downer by pointing out my reticence.  I more brought it up to kind of illustrate the challenges that come when we're presenting a world that is similar, but has differences, with our own.

[Allan Schumacher]

I grew up, like many boys, with the "girls are gross and uncool" mindset of a young boy.  But Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton helped erase that antiquated notion from my thought process

 

 

(Aside: I had a chance to meet Linda Hamilton at the Calgary Comic Con last year, and basically shared the same story about how the two of them did a pretty excellent job of showing me that women can be pretty badass too! )

[Allan Schumacher]

Not really? If a person has a good point, I'm willing to hear it? That's why this is a discussion? I'm also willing to change my mind if I'm shown to be in error? Or at least short-sighted? This is all just trying to work around a difficult topic...hell, there's not even a lot of good examples for people to cite. We're trying out new ground, here. There's bound to be missteps along the way.

 

As someone who has said things and let my own perspectives skew things along a particular way (sometimes on these very boards), pretty much this.  Was simply a "I don't think that would work as well" complete with a different idea going "ooo, this could be interesting" coming out of it as well.

 

It's a lot like game development really

[Allan Schumacher]

You need to understand that what you say here is very akin to what the media and the politicians like to say when they want to blame video games for violence. You seem to believe in a similar fashion that the existence of sexism and misogyny in game worlds somehow encourages real world discrimination.

 

The counterpoint to the violence being portrayed as okay is that violence is shown as NOT being okay from other areas. There is also potential differences between what is an idea compared to an action, and what influences those have.

 

Also, it's not that it "encourages* discrimination.  I'd argue that most (or at least a lot) of discrimination isn't even conscious.  I grew up in a time when being a gay man was basically "icky" and it was a common pejorative to refer to someone as gay when insulting them (the word then got applied to all sorts of other negative connotations and was problematic in other ways, but I digress).  Though I was taught to not look down upon a gay person, and if I were to ever accidentally say or do something that was disparaging (such as casual use of the word gay, when I meant silly/absurd/stupid), I certainly didn't feel like I was being a bad person and would defend that I wasn't intending to be hurtful.  It didn't stop me from not wanting to be called gay, or being confused and uncomfortable when I learned someone was gay.

 

If it desensitizes discrimination, however, that could be a problematic thing (though we could argue that us discussing it is still a positive, as it helps with awareness).

 

Anecdotally, I know people that think that Game of Thrones is a pretty accurate representation of how things were like in medieval times.  I also know people (including myself, at one point) that hear something like Braveheart's Prima Noctis declaration and, for whatever reason, assume that that could very well have been a thing and therefore probably was (Lets just say I'm pretty skeptical at its prevalence now).  I remember my Mom asking me "why do black people say the f-word all the time?" while watching a movie.  She was taking what she saw in that movie, from those characters, and assuming it was a common cultural thing among all people with that skin colour.  Stuff like this can be problematic, especially if your exposure to people of different races tends to be limited (I grew up in Edmonton, and it's a pretty white city for better or worse).