446 réponses à ce sujet

[Mes]

Hah, well I provided that anecdote.  But it's hardly experimental and it could simply be that I noticed more women because I wasn't expecting them.  Or because many of them were dressed up and as such brought attention to themselves via their costumes.  It also excludes those that are fans but simply didn't swing by the BioWare base for very long.

 

I don't know the breakdown of the players, though telemetry for Mass Effect 3 showed that more games were created with a Male Shepard than a Female Shepard, by a nontrivial amount (3 to 1 or 4 to 1 I think).  But it's hard to definitively isolate the size of each demographic from that information since people may replay the game.  There's also biases that exist in that the default is male (this also may cause bias in terms of who picks up the game in the first place).  That said, I certainly wouldn't say that the female demographic is insignificant by any means.  It's also just looking at characters created, and there's nothing stopping a man from making a FemShep, or a woman from making a MaleShep.  Marketing and other people may have better assessment of this than I do though.

 

I know I grew up in a time where gaming was definitely marketed as "toys for boys" and I'm not far removed from my 20s, so there's still going to be some legacy there.

 

Oh yeah it was you, ha!! That just really stuck with me!

 

I'm not sure if the gender of the created character is a valid statistic to really go on. I played as both genders and ended up preferring male Shepard because I thought the male Shep and Kaidan romance was the greatest thing since sliced bread (and since Alistair, heh). 

 

I've read posts from guys saying they preferred playing as female Shep so they could have a pretty main character to look at. (Can't really fault them for that, I do it as well with male PCs  ). 

 

Lots of other factors involved, I think, so... not really much to go on, I gather.

 

It would be GREAT to somehow get a proper statistic. I'm genuinely curious. I bet it'd be something like 50/50 since there seems to be something for everyone in a Bioware game.

[Mes]

this is probably a strange thing to say but thank you.

 

Well... you're welcome!   A toast to crappy people! *passes you a glass*

[Nightdragon8]

honestly getting data from what gender you pick in game is imo misleading at best, its along the lines of those school surveys that ask you if you are doing drugs or smoking. at least 60% of the data is false either from people who don't care or are purposefully lying its just a waste of time.

 

My gaming history is this. in 80% of MMOs I play as female, and I'm male, in third person games, if I'm going to be stuck watching a character for the next 200+ hours of grinding and doing quests, I want to enjoy what I look at. Which is a female, not male.

 

In my twilight years of WoW, I made only male characters purely based on "what I think the class should be" and when the Wargons came out, werewolf was calling and needed to be male =)

 

Now in StarWars TOR MMO, 95% of my characters are male, and that was mainly due to the male voice, matching more closely to my "inner voice" so for me a voiced protage is important to which gender I pick. The same happened with my ME playthoughs, Had to pick male, and trust me I tried to play a female Shep, I just couldn't do it, it wasn't as fun to me.

 

In Skyrim that one is honestly all over the place, tho I have found that in most of my playthoughs, my females end up going vampire, and males went more toward werewolves. (Tho in all honesty I think that is more related to my D&D days in playing werewolf characters)

 

The main this is that, there is no way you can get gender info from the data they have, because I know guys who only play female playthoughs and some females who only play male playthoughs. so meh

[Grieving Natashina]

is that a skull in your smoothie?

Out of all the points to take out of this thread....

 

You made me laugh pretty good from that.  Here's a shiny +1 for you.  

[Grieving Natashina]

honestly getting data from what gender you pick in game is imo misleading at best, its along the lines of those school surveys that ask you if you are doing drugs or smoking. at least 60% of the data is false either from people who don't care or are purposefully lying its just a waste of time.

 

My gaming history is this. in 80% of MMOs I play as female, and I'm male, in third person games, if I'm going to be stuck watching a character for the next 200+ hours of grinding and doing quests, I want to enjoy what I look at. Which is a female, not male.

 

In my twilight years of WoW, I made only male characters purely based on "what I think the class should be" and when the Wargons came out, werewolf was calling and needed to be male =)

 

Now in StarWars TOR MMO, 95% of my characters are male, and that was mainly due to the male voice, matching more closely to my "inner voice" so for me a voiced protage is important to which gender I pick. The same happened with my ME playthoughs, Had to pick male, and trust me I tried to play a female Shep, I just couldn't do it, it wasn't as fun to me.

 

In Skyrim that one is honestly all over the place, tho I have found that in most of my playthoughs, my females end up going vampire, and males went more toward werewolves. (Tho in all honesty I think that is more related to my D&D days in playing werewolf characters)

 

The main this is that, there is no way you can get gender info from the data they have, because I know guys who only play female playthoughs and some females who only play male playthoughs. so meh

The data they use is the same one that David Gaider, Manveer Heir as well as other developer use at the GDC conference, a conference for game developers by game developers.  This is the one for the US, but I'm happy to find the ones for the UK and Australia as well if you want more sources.  This isn't some "school survey," this is a serious study from data collected every year.  

 

http://www.theesa.co.../gameplayer.asp

 

Er, I'm not sure what you think your antedotal experiences of playing women in games have to do with this thread at all.  I think you misunderstood the tone and intent in here.  This is a request to see more female NPCs in roles such as soldiers, more of an equal representation, and a little less of the mentality of "men=default."

 

Here's the full PDF of that study: http://www.theesa.co...ESA_EF_2013.pdf

[Allan Schumacher]

honestly getting data from what gender you pick in game is imo misleading at best, its along the lines of those school surveys that ask you if you are doing drugs or smoking. at least 60% of the data is false either from people who don't care or are purposefully lying its just a waste of time.

 

If it's done with data telemetry, then it's actually tracking the actions people take while in game, so I don't think the survey analogy works.  (To be fair, perhaps the place where I saw that number determined it via a survey)

 

And yes, it's hardly an accurate statistic.  It accurately says "which sex was Shepard most frequently chosen" which doesn't give me any confidence on the person that is making the selection.

 

 

In any case people, it's been a slice.  Have a good night

[Grieving Natashina]

Good night, Allan.

[Zered]

Good night.

 

 

 

 

psssst...

 

we can start a flame war now 

[Mes]

Good night.

 

 

 

 

psssst...

 

we can start a flame war now 

 

Bwahahaha. I would "like" this but I'm out. So I'm quoting this. May I please exchange 1 "quote" for 1 "like", thaaank you.

[They call me a SpaceCowboy]

I'm only on page 4, but I find it strange all the people who are saying DA2 is better, when there is not a single female dwarf in the game.

 

In any case, I'd like to know about this 'limited models' problem. This is really what it comes down to in Bioware games. I find it odd, because other games seem to handle multiple models on screen just fine. I was playing Kingdoms of Amalur and there are often groups of male and female bandits, for example.

[Fredward]

In any case, I'd like to know about this 'limited models' problem. This is really what it comes down to in Bioware games. I find it odd, because other games seem to handle multiple models on screen just fine. I was playing Kingdoms of Amalur and there are often groups of male and female bandits, for example.

 

Shitty/aged engine would be my guess.

[tmp7704]

Good point and its not something I can comment on, since I don't do anything out side the norm for men. Still how does one picture a gender netural nurse .

Well, if I say "a student" do you subconsciously picture yourself someone gender neutral or a guy/girl?

I suspect in situations where there's no "default" gender associated with profession we tend more often to picture a person of our own gender, since we relate easier to people who are more like ourselves. Or a person matching whatever "role model" (from tv show or whatever) or associate we happen to have, who fills that role. So if there were equal odds for a nurse to be a man or a woman, your train of thoughts would likely go along these lines -- not towards the generic stereotype, but rather towards an image shaped by your individual experience.

[tmp7704]

Here's the full PDF of that study: http://www.theesa.co...ESA_EF_2013.pdf

One really interesting little fact that the summary doesn't mention...

"Women 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (31%) than boys age 17 or younger (19%)"

certainly can make one think about the 'good' old "well the developers need to pander to teenage boys who want to see boobs because there's way more of them than women playing video games".

[mousestalker]

The funny thing about pandering to heterosexual young men is that generally involves hyper masculine characters. I would have thought young heterosexual men would prefer female characters. It certainly didn't hurt 'Tomb Raider' sales. Could the surveys be wrong about the actual target audience?

[Legbiter]

That's theoretically true, but just doesn't hold here.

 

It's not the case that there are 45.67% female soldiers and 54.33% male soldiers. It's that there are 95% male soldiers and 5% female.

 

 

Concerned social justice troll is concerned.

[Grieving Natashina]

Wow, thank you for your comment!  Your deep insight and thoughts into this matter haven't been unnoticed.  We now all stand in awe of your elegance and wit, Legbiter.  Thanks for bumping the thread and keeping near the top of page 1.  Much appreciated, now more people can come in and reasonably share their thoughts.  You're a huge help.

[They call me a SpaceCowboy]

One really interesting little fact that the summary doesn't mention...

"Women 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (31%) than boys age 17 or younger (19%)"

certainly can make one think about the 'good' old "well the developers need to pander to teenage boys who want to see boobs because there's way more of them than women playing video games".

 

Yes, but all teh wimmens are playing teh Farmvilles and candy crush sagas

 

(Hopefully it's obvious I'm kidding)

[Grieving Natashina]

Humorously enough, the folks that I know that still play Candy Crush with any sort of regularity are all men.  

[Legbiter]

Strong female warriors are about as fantastical as magic, dragons and darkspawn so it would strain credulity to have a lot of them. Sort of like if every other person in Thedas was a mage. 

[Grieving Natashina]

Aww, you're cute.  The failure to read the thread or even learn history properly is adorable.  

[TheLittleBird]

Strong female warriors are about as fantastical as magic, dragons and darkspawn so it would strain credulity to have a lot of them. Sort of like if every other person in Thedas was a mage. 

.... what.

 

Please stop it. If that's your opinion, fine, but I strongly disagree.

[Dio Demon]

Strong female warriors are about as fantastical as magic, dragons and darkspawn so it would strain credulity to have a lot of them. Sort of like if every other person in Thedas was a mage. 

I can think of two women without trying that could kick my *** and I'm a massive guy.

[TheLittleBird]

I can think of two women without trying that could kick my *** and I'm a massive guy.

 

To be fair, that's what they call an

availability heuristic. Which, at least according to what I've learnt, is not that strong of an argument.

But I agree in that I disagree with the guy.

[Dio Demon]

To be fair, that's what they call an

availability heuristic. Which, at least according to what I've learnt, is not that strong of an argument.

But I agree.

Those sorts of comments aren't worth too much thought though.

[TheLittleBird]

Those sorts of comments aren't worth too much thought though.

 Like.

 

Sure, this whole debate about strong females not existing and such isn't.

 

--------------------------------------------

 

On-topic: I stick with the opinion that that small sentence in the CC was simply BW's way of explaining why a female PC can do almost everything in-game a male PC. can.