Well, like I said earlier, Aonuma basically led people on. I imagine that probably wouldn't have happened if he didn't.

Which is fine and all. Female characters exist, they're just not as common as they probably should be, and they're usually pretty poorly written.

 

I bet he had fun, actually. This is exactly the sort of response his joking around is intended to get, right?

That's definitely part of it. The other part is that they're frequently little more than sex objects or just kinda...non-entities, or exist purely to motivate male characters. And then you have issues like Assassin's Creed Unity, where you have a co-op mode with four characters and the developers aren't willing to put forth the effort to convince their bosses that having one or two of them be female is a good idea.

E: And for what it's worth, I do think things are getting better.

 

So what you're saying is that instead of developers focusing on making a good game and plot with the characters that they want to use, that they should instead just arbitrarily make X% of them females because reasons? And it's hilarious that you're using Assassins Creed as an example, because they're the ones that kinda already have a game with a female main character, hell in most of their games they've had pretty awesome female side characters as well.

 

I really don't see what the big deal is with people complaining about the state of females in games. If devs feel more comfortable working with male characters or portraying female characters the way they do, then that's their prerogative. If people don't like it, they can choose to not buy their games. If people want more lead females and ones that are better portrayed, then they can go the indie route and make their own damn games with kickass lead females.

It's like complaining about the state of fanfiction in different fandoms. Instead of complaining about how there is nothing good to read or how an author is writing his/her story in a way you don't like, you should instead write your own damn story the way you like it.

 

In the case of Unity, it's probably got something to do with time. AC being annualised and constantly iterated now makes it like EA's sport games.

Most likely, they genuinely ran out of time to get the next gen female Assassin model down, so it missed the Unity cut off date.

No doubt they'll make the next one. Female characters are all over the AC series. Shit, I play as Lady Black in the multiiplayer.

 

Now don't hate me (or do ), I'm not saying there isn't a double standard when it comes to oversexualizing women in pretty much anything, because there certainly is...

BUT

People are wayyyy too butthurt these days. You can't speak a word of critique or tell a joke without offending someone. And yes, while female lead characters get less screentime than male leads if you look at the general state of the gaming industry, saying that nobody cares about them puts any people expressing that belief right up there with the nutjobs who claim that gay sex causes global warming or something.

Biggest gaming franchises of today are packed with female characters. Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Elder Scrolls just to name a few.

Fuck those people throwing stupid hissy fits.

We do need them though - stupid people existing are one of the reasons we notice smart people. Plus, someone has to empty the garbage containers. And no, I'm not dissing garbage people. They keep the streets clean.

 

You pretend as if having a female main character is going to automatically make it harder to write a good story around them and that you can really only have one, either a good game with a good story or a game with female characters.

What kind of extremely dumb argument is that? What, would animating a female protag take so much time that they couldn't possibly write a story around her? That every other character would suffer? That it is sheerly impossible to fit female characters and good writing in the same game?

"Yeah, I had this great game idea, but it is ONLY possible if the protag was male."

As to the AC stuff, oh they already have one handheld console port game with a female character? Oh, wow, they have certainly done their duty. That means now they don't even need to include any female characters in any other AC ever again. She was also a POC, right? That means they don't need one of them again either.

Dunno, man. Seems a bit too close to the "I'm not racist, I have a black friend" kind of thinking. I mean, yeah, it's cool that they have a game with a female character and it is on my "to buy" list, but you have to admit, you can't really compare an AAA+ game that is released on PC and every console with a hand-held B game that was ported to PC.

From what I have read, it also seemed to be the game the least effort went into. Sure, a good start, but, what, does that mean that people have to shut up about seeing a playable female character in a main AC game?

Besides, it's not like people complained since the first AC game. AC has been a hugely popular franchise for a reason, with men and women alike. After 7 or so games, is it really unreasonable to expect a female protag by now? It wasn't even that here, it was about having a playable female character in multiplayer. Surely at least that isn't unreasonable to want? Especially if, as mentioned, prior AC games had that in multiplayer.

@Amoral Philosopher: Of course the gaming industry has the right to make whatever game they want, just as the public has the right to a), do as you said and not buy those games and b) complain about it. Since when is it forbidden to critique ill-made choices?

As to the "make your own game" argument, I find it a bit weird that it is okay to critique pretty much everything but as soon as someone complains about representation, the go to counter-argument is "to make your own game". Odd how it is rarely used anywhere else. As if there was a double-standard.

One can complain about story, graphics, characters, plot and game mechanics all one wants but as soon as it is about this, it's "make your own game".

Also, a bit dishonest comparing making an AAA+ game with writing your own fanfic. Chances are, people who are already complaining about this sort of stuff DO write fanfics about this kind of stuff. Even if they didn't, though, don't see how that makes those critiques any less valid.

@Scott_Press: Has any sentence that started with "Now, I am not X BUT...." really ended by convincing anyone that the person who said it is not X? Because I don't think it has.

 

Devs have the right to make the game they want with the protagonist they want and include fanservice they want. Customers have the right to complain. Both sides have the right to get offended. None of that makes any of them any less butthurt in the particular case of female protagonists in games.

Probably, yes.

 

Would you describe yourself as feeling butthurt right now? If not, at what point does one become butthurt? And how exactly does that impact anything or lessen the validity of ones arguments and feelings?

 

Can you just stop? Make a new thread where you can bemoan and bitch about things that the rest of us don't really give a shit about. This is a thread for video games presented during E3. Can you stick to that? Or are you gonna cry some more?

 

Okay, here's the thing right, generally when big game studios make a game, they usually want to make money for it right? So if making a female main character is such an important thing that some people make it out to be, why aren't more games doing it? The way I see it, just going with a male character is a hell of a lot safer simply because of the fact that if you fuck it up, people will complain for a while about it but move on eventually. But if you fuck up with a female main character, everybody starts going on about how sexist you are and how the writers are all terrible people, why take that risk when you can just do things the easy way and go with a male character.

 

"You can't possibly mean that."

"Can't I? How can you know what I meant by that? Did you read my mind? How? Have you discovered a working form of telepathy? What gives you the right to invade my privacy in such a way? I'm a good person, go read criminals' minds, with that ability you have the responsibility to use it for the good. But be careful, even criminals have a right to privacy."

Yours is the same sort of argument. Taking what was obviously a generalization and treating it literally even though you know it wasn't meant to be.

And my butt is blisfully hurt-free, thanks for asking.

/derail

 

Wtf is going on here? Can we go back to E3 games please...

 

I got into Destiny alpha. Should be able to play everything in the footage we've seen from e3.

6gb download. Can't wait

 

Only 6gb? That's tiny.

 

It's an alpha. Just finished a mission in old Russia, now heading to the 'Tower' (diablo like hub, where you're in 3rd person perspective).

Getting used to playing an fps on console is hard though, lol, especially when being swarmed. Warlocks are fun.

 

From what I've seen the Alpha includes 1 story map, 1 Strike map and 2 multiplayer maps for 1 game mode. It explains the tiny size.