entremet
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Commander Shepard is a woman and Mass Effect sold well.
But the marketing featured Male Shepard almost exclusively?
Beaten by SolidSnakeX
Commander Shepard is a woman and Mass Effect sold well.
ME is a good example of what I was talking about earlier when I said companies that have a gender select will choose to promote the male character as the lead
Where are these big budget games with female protagonists that flopped with comparable male protagonist led games that did well?
I'm not understanding this sense of trepidation.
Good on Guerilla for sticking to their guns. If it was a male protag, I probably wouldn't bat an eye and chuck it up to a generic shooter. That said, it's depressing that game devs and publishers have to second guess themselves on whether or not to follow through with a female protag. This stigma against women in games is so archaic and stupid.
I like the way the female protagonist looks and moves, but it sounded like they had Jennifer Hale voicing her in that stock GI Jane voice she uses in everything.
Really i think that's just a reflection of the market, because i think the exact same thing could be said of (at least American) society at large over the last couple decades.
I think it's more than just women being a larger demographic. I think the fact that executives are willing to admit that female leads make them nervous, whereas you would never hear an exec say "we were nervous about how gamers would react to a black lead" gives an idea in the disparity of progress in representation. At least they now acknowledge that sexism exists, and judging by the amount of pretty good female leads at this E3, it's something that's seeing progress. That's because recognizing a problem is the first step in addressing it.I think that has a lot to do with demographics as well. Women make up 51% of the world's population. What is considered traditional minorities is far less than that percentage by a mile. It is getting there based on percentages of demographics.
There have also been a lot of non white leads. They do not have to be specifically black to fit that narrative. There have been leads from Middle Eastern to Spanish/Latin/Native/Hispanic.
And a lot of games allow for character creation as well. Would I like to see more at a faster rate? I sure would, but again, it is demographics holding the speed of it more so I believe.
When you're putting tens to hundreds of millions of dollars into a game and it bombing could mean you're fired and hundreds to thousands of people underneath you are fired then you're going to go with what's safe. Games starring men have been successful, games staring women less so, and there's no reason to believe that a game starring a woman would make it more successful than if it starred a man. With this line of reasoning, why make the main character a woman over a man?
Dishonored 2 seems to promote the female character as the lead.
What are these points of reference and research data? I can understand not wanting to introduce risk when it can be completely skirted. What I'm more curious about is how we got to this point. Where are the good honest punts that flopped?
Are you for real? "It's sad that companies have to second guess who they want to make as their main character. That being said, if the main character was X then I wouldn't give the game a second thought."
It's called marketing to the greater population. At the end of the day, there are less girls playing games like mass effect and horizon than guys. That's just how it is.ME is a good example of what I was talking about earlier when I said companies that have a gender select will choose to promote the male character as the lead
I like the way the female protagonist looks and moves, but it sounded like they had Jennifer Hale voicing her in that stock GI Jane voice she uses in everything. The voice sounded too old for the character and wrong in terms of accent and cadence for the post-apocalyptic new stone age sort of setting they were going for. Too contemporary and glib. I felt a similar disconnect when they had Nolan North and the female lead in Prince of Persia '08 banter like a couple of '90s sitcom leads in an ancient Persian setting.
But I don't guess they're going to change that because Hale is a popular name (if it really is Hale). Regardless, it just felt like a false step in the characterization based on the tiny bit shown. It feels like they wanted to reduce risk by going with a popular voice actress and worried about fitting in with the setting second.
That's part of why this E3 stuck out. We had quite a few AAA story based games either with a female lead or promoting the female lead option.
Well, you managed to summarize my post, but omitted the very thing that addresses your point - "I'd chuck it up to another generic shooter if it was a male protag." We have plenty of male leads in shooters, a female lead is, to me, considered fresh and, as OP states, risky. So yes, I am for real.
I freaking love their female protagonist and think it was one of the best things about Horizon that they showed. Her look and anatomy just fits and I <3 me some dreads! Aloy is fucking awesome.
I even remember when watching the live conference demo and just thinking how glad I was that she is the main protagonist and they didn't give in to the usual male dominated bullshit cuz of fear of sales. She animated beautifully and that put a big ass smile on my face.
I'm hyped for this. Finally a female protagonist that isn't all sexually dolled up and can kick ass. Dinobots! Plus I love red heads and bows lol. GG made this game for me.
Why would you be scared of having a female protagonist? It is not a stretch to say half the male player base plays as a female character in FFXIV.
Unless this falls under a demographic thing I'm not seeing.
But then how can you find it depressing that they have to second guess the main character? They're just normally do it in the opposite direction from you. A certain portion of the audience will write off any action games with a generic male lead. A separate portion will write off any action game with a female lead. It just seems weird to me that you lament scenario 2 while being part of scenario 1.
I think it's more than just women being a larger demographic. I think the fact that executives are willing to admit that female leads make them nervous, whereas you would never hear an exec say "we were nervous about how gamers would react to a black lead" gives an idea in the disparity of progress in representation. At least they now acknowledge that sexism exists, and judging by the amount of pretty good female leads at this E3, it's something that's seeing progress. That's because recognizing a problem is the first step in addressing it.
Meanwhile, there is no recognition of racism in gaming culture, and as far as i can tell no real efforts to increase minority representation by any publisher or developer. And like i said, i think it's a reflection of society as a whole. You see the same thing in Hollywood, politics, etc., where gender inequality and sexism may finally be gaining some recognition and traction in the cultural consciousness, but people are still hesitant to acknowledge racial inequality, since i feel like more people want to view racism on a societal level as a relic of the past that was settled decades ago when it's clearly not.
Anyway, Aloy is one if the best designed female leads I've seen, and i hope horizon is successful because it's my game of the show.
Hmm, interesting analysis of my post, but I understand how you arrived to that. Still, I feel my original post coherently addresses your question though. That being, I find it depressing that game devs are being swayed to change a female protag to male because it is "too risky" for profit and sales. Hense my comment on the stigma against having females as protag is saddening. I hope I clarified myself.
How well did Remember Me and Life is Strange do in terms of sales?
Lol in what world is this an ugly person?
That's part of why this E3 stuck out. We had quite a few AAA story based games either with a female lead or promoting the female lead option.
That's part of why this E3 stuck out. We had quite a few AAA story based games either with a female lead or promoting the female lead option.
Sure, and just to be clear I don't find your fatigue of male leads as being illegitimate. We can only play as so many grizzled middle aged men with beards, short hair and a deep voice before they all start to blend together into one. I just don't like the idea of dismissing a game simply because of it's protagonist, be they male or female, though I am the type of person who will take gameplay over setting/story/characters/etc. nine times out of ten, which I realize isn't how everybody feels.
As someone who certainly isn't against female protagonists it is definitely refreshing and interesting to see a female lead in a genre where, unless I'm mistaken, there has never been one before, at least not recently.
Yup. Dishonored doesn't interest me, but it was pretty neat seeing her character.
Ubisoft also stuck out to me. One trailer they had Jacob or w/e his name is, and the other trailer they showed had his sister. But...the huge difference was that the trailer with jacob, the focus was just on him. Whilst the trailer with his sister was Jacob narrating about her, instead of you know..having her talk about herself. So in a backhanded way it all revolved around Jacob.
Syndicate is a bit of a different case since Evie only appears in 20-25% of the game if the original rumors hold true, which makes me suspect that's actually a case of them seeing the response they got last year and adding her in mid-production.
It will probably become apparent while playing the game if all the important story beats also do not include her.
That's the worst kind of thing that can happen. if she was really added in mid production of the game, then they're basically pandering and her character might suffer for it if she was literally just written in.
I suspect she was in the game, but that she wasn't playable, a la Elise.