Forums

Topic: "... female explorer Brittany."

Posts 21 to 40 of 57

KAHN

women should be prominent in more games. glad to see Brittany as a new playable character, not sure if adds anything to the game though, but it's sad they have to point it out like that. what happens when Bayonetta 2 comes out?

KAHN

3DS Friend Code: 1032-1301-2772 | Nintendo Network ID: Milkman12

theblackdragon

@moomoo: speaking of 'social norms', it's currently the norm to be presented with a male protagonist to control. that's probably why they didn't bother pointing out either Alph or Charlie as male; it's naturally expected by gamers to be presented with male protagonists by default regardless of their given names. When you're marketing something, you point out what's new and improved about the formula (unless series or product staples are what people are looking for as opposed to innovations). Right now, the 'new and improved' is the fact that we're being given a female option.

and with all due respect, i am a girl. speaking as a female, you're right in that we probably wouldn't complain too much at controlling a male protagonist for the nth time provided the game is interesting enough on its own merits, and even when presented with an option that mirrors our gender, we may not even choose to use it. again, it's nice to have the option, and this sort of option is something we all (male and female gamers alike) should have had available to us long before now.

BEST THREAD EVER
future of NL >:3
[16:43] James: I should learn these site rules more clearly
[16:44] LztheBlehBird: James doesn't know the rules? For shame!!!

3DS Friend Code: 3136-6802-7042 | Nintendo Network ID: gentlemen_cat | Twitter:

Aviator

theblackdragon wrote:

why would they not try to advertise the new direction they're taking?

For me, it comes back to the comments they made about Peach being playable in Super Mario 3D World.

"Mr. Koizumi: And now that Peach has been included, I’m also hoping that people will be able to play the game with their girlfriends. Perhaps some of their girlfriends will find Peach as a more appealing character to play – or your wife, of course."
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/06/nintendo_inclusion_o...

Now they haven't said that the purpose for including Brittany was for the purpose of attracting a wider audience. They could've stopped at "female explorer Brittany". I don't think they needed to go further.

QUEEN OF SASS

It's like, I just love a cowboy
You know
I'm just like, I just, I know, it's bad
But I'm just like
Can I just like, hang off the back of your horse
And can you go a little faster?!

moomoo

@theblackdragon Completely agreed. I just think it could have been worded more gracefully.
I just find it kind of weird, mainly because I don't see guys bothered about character-driven games that only feature a female protagonist. Yes, they can be sexualized (and thus appealing to men rather than women, thus rendering my point moot), but then you have games like Beyond Good & Evil and the Assassin's Creed game on Vita where the character you're playing as isn't sexualized at all, and males don't seem to have a problem with it. So it's hard for me to see it bothering women when it comes to character-driven games. After all, gender is a part of a character. It's just unfortunate there aren't more games out there that have female protagonists, because I like the take.

Personally, I feel like the game industry has gotten better about it, though. You can play as a girl in pretty much every Western RPG I can think of, and female avatars seem to be available in games where gender is made known and it doesn't matter who you're playing as, like playing multiplayer in Halo or Gears of War.

Best thread ever
Feel free to add me on Miiverse or PSN.
Miiverse is Moomoo14, PSN is Moomoo1405390

3DS Friend Code: 4940-5561-6002 | Nintendo Network ID: Moomoo14

theblackdragon

@Aviator: absolutely that was a ridiculous statement to make, but am I going to cut off my own nose to spite my face over it? naah. They made fools of themselves saying it that way, but I'm glad they're making the effort to welcome the girlfriends, the wives, the daughters who've for so long gone totally unnoticed. I'm not about to not support the sort of movement in gaming I've always dreamed of, not when it's finally shown up in its initial stages by a company I've loved since I was a little girl.

A few years of this down the line i might be more pissed to see them still floundering around like this, but here in the beginnings of their efforts to make good with those who want and/or have always wanted a female option, i'm willing to forgive these flubs for now.

@moomoo: We grew up and now live in a gaming world where 'male' has always been the norm. It's been a rarity to have 'female' as an option to choose from in terms of console gaming and main protagonists, which is probably why there's been no ridiculous outcry from male gamers — and again, you're right in that when there's a female main protagonist, there's usually a huge story propelling her character. How many games are out there, though, where you're just female by default for no other reason than the developers feeling a need to pick a gender for the character?

idk, i'm trying to help you guys to see things the way I'm seeing them. I hope I'm making some sort of sense.

BEST THREAD EVER
future of NL >:3
[16:43] James: I should learn these site rules more clearly
[16:44] LztheBlehBird: James doesn't know the rules? For shame!!!

3DS Friend Code: 3136-6802-7042 | Nintendo Network ID: gentlemen_cat | Twitter:

SCRAPPER392

I think girl characters are more common in RPG and anime based games.
I'm buying Bayonetta 2.
I'm pretty sure Lighting in FF13 was a coin flip gender wise, regarding what gender the main character would be.
I don't have much to say, besides that there are still plenty of games with girls in them.
I think maybe they just want to make it clear that the game isn't targeted torwards only one gender, and it doesn't always sound so smooth.

Qwest

3DS Friend Code: 4253-3737-8064 | Nintendo Network ID: Children

Kyloctopus

Nintendo needs to make more female characters.
Its sad to see that there are only 4 female confirmed characters, and 31 male confirmed characters in Super Smash Bros. 2 of which kept their femininity as a secret/gimmick (Sheik, Samus). Another could have simply been male if the creators wanted to (Fit Trainer).
It also seems Brittany is using her gender as a gimmick in this, unless it has some sort of use in the game, or some sort of reason Brittiny had to be female besides the fact that Nintendo needs more. And if thats their only fact, it somewhat defeats the purpose of having her in the first place, advertising her as "female".

Edited on by Kyloctopus

Kyloctopus

3DS Friend Code: 4897-5952-1236 | Nintendo Network ID: Kyloctopus | Twitter:

ClockworkMario

Kyloctopus wrote:

Nintendo needs to make more female characters.
Its sad to see that there are only 4 female confirmed characters, and 31 male confirmed characters in Super Smash Bros. 2 of which kept their femininity as a secret/gimmick (Sheik, Samus). Another could have simply been male if the creators wanted to (Fit Trainer).
It also seems Brittany is using her gender as a gimmick in this, unless it has some sort of use in the game, or some sort of reason Brittiny had to be female besides the fact that Nintendo needs more. And if thats their only fact, it somewhat defeats the purpose of having her in the first place, advertising her as "female".

I don't understand why her existence needs some sort of deeper reason. Ninty needed three playable characters; about half of population is females (assuming the same laws apply in planet Koppai) = it makes sense one or more of the three are females.

I think folks maybe bit overanalysing that statement. They only wanted to highlight a new feature – something that's been missing from the series at hand before. Nothing wrong with that IMO.

Currently on the plate:
Mount and Blade: Warband – Napoleonic Wars
Chivalry
Super Mario 3D World – Finishing the last few levels.
Mario Kart 8

3DS Friend Code: 4425-1586-9129

Magikarp3

Imo, the problem isn't that there aren't enough female characters in videogames, but that there's an assumption that most video game players are male. And so there's some pandering to the male audience at the expense of the female audience. Pointing out the fact that you can play as a female character seems really silly, but I'd like to believe it's just a growing pain in the industry's acceptance that it's not only men who play games.

Edited on by Magikarp3

http://backloggery.com/oiiopo

always thought I'd change to Gyarados after I turned 20 but hey, this is more fitting I guess. (also somebody registered under the original Magikarp name and I can't get back to it anymore orz)

3DS Friend Code: 3952-7233-0245

Snagrio

Not sure if this adds to the conversation at all, but apparently Brittany's personality (based on what we know so far), is that she eats the most out of the three explorers, and the fact that she is the scientist of the group. At least she isn't the typical dumb chick unlike a certain other Nintendo character...

Snagrio

3DS Friend Code: 4081-5821-0404 | Nintendo Network ID: WingedFish64

moomoo

Mellowkarp wrote:

Imo, the problem isn't that there aren't enough female characters in videogames, but that there's an assumption that most video game players are male. And so there's some pandering to the male audience at the expense of the female audience. Pointing out the fact that you can play as a female character seems really silly, but I'd like to believe it's just a growing pain in the industry's acceptance that it's not only men who play games.

Well, for what it's worth, statistics show that most video game players are male, at least in the console space. Granted, those numbers have been growing since, well, forever, but until that gender margin is 50-50 for console gamers, most of them will be male.

Here's some statistics from 2009: http://videogames.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=003627
And Here's some statistics from 2012: http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/esa_ef_2012.pdf

Now, there's obviously some room for error in those, but there are two things that jump out at me. One: that gender gap is narrowing. Two: males play video games more often. Even though this is more attributed to the 2009 data, it's made pretty clear that males play more than females (at least when it comes to middle school. I wish this was more comprehensive). Game makers need to know their audience, and gender is a part of that. I know this is kind of unfair, but I'll use Mass Effect 3 as an example.
Untitled
Not even 20% of players used FemShep. Now, there's obviously room for error, but considering that most people just choose the gender according to their own, that's kind of telling.

Best thread ever
Feel free to add me on Miiverse or PSN.
Miiverse is Moomoo14, PSN is Moomoo1405390

3DS Friend Code: 4940-5561-6002 | Nintendo Network ID: Moomoo14

theblackdragon

@moomoo: "Now, there's obviously room for error, but considering that most people just choose the gender according to their own, that's kind of telling."
Sorry, but I call BS on that one. Given the option, we as gamers have a new freedom to choose which gender we'd like to play. We are under no obligation to choose our own gender whatsoever, male or female, but we are made richer as a userbase just by having it there, and with the option being there with more regularity, perhaps we'll see in the future that sort of percentage also become narrower.

BEST THREAD EVER
future of NL >:3
[16:43] James: I should learn these site rules more clearly
[16:44] LztheBlehBird: James doesn't know the rules? For shame!!!

3DS Friend Code: 3136-6802-7042 | Nintendo Network ID: gentlemen_cat | Twitter:

Midnight3DS

43,7% choose soldier? The most boring class in the game! Only 4% completed it on insanity? That is shockingly low to me.

Sorry, back to you guys.

3DS Friend Code: 5129-0855-7142 ID = Midnight

AC:NL Mayor Jambo, town of Hamneggs

The_Fox

Well since we're temporarily off topic I can say that I've noticed that Kaiden was both the least popular party member and had the lowest survival rate of all of the characters. That made me quite happy until i noticed that some people chose to kill Mordin. Now I'm depressed again.

"The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

-President John Adams

Treaty of Tripoly, article 11

moomoo

theblackdragon wrote:

@moomoo: "Now, there's obviously room for error, but considering that most people just choose the gender according to their own, that's kind of telling."
Sorry, but I call BS on that one. Given the option, we as gamers have a new freedom to choose which gender we'd like to play. We are under no obligation to choose our own gender whatsoever, male or female, but we are made richer as a userbase just by having it there, and with the option being there with more regularity, perhaps we'll see in the future that sort of percentage also become narrower.

I know and agree with you. Heck, I prefer to play as female Shepard in the Mass Effect games. Generally speaking, people tend to like Jennifer Hale's portrayal of Shepard more so than her male counterpart, at least from where I've been in the Mass Effect forums.

The thing is, there's plenty of people that just want to play through the game. If there's a WRPG that gives the option, people tend to just go with whatever gender they are, at least based off of all of my video game playing friends. All of my guy friends that played Mass Effect played as a guy, except for one of them (and myself, of course. Granted, I've played through 1 and 2 many times with different genders, so there's that too). I would give female examples, but I don't personally know of any girls that play Mass Effect. I do know some that played Skyrim, though, and they all chose to play as a female.

Now, I agree that we're under no obligation to choose which gender we play as. But it's pretty evident, at least to me, that people tend to go and play as someone their own gender when the option is given.

@The_Fox Yeah, it makes me really sad that anyone would choose to kill Mordin. It's amazing how quickly you don't find him annoying in Mass Effect 2. Such a good character.

Best thread ever
Feel free to add me on Miiverse or PSN.
Miiverse is Moomoo14, PSN is Moomoo1405390

3DS Friend Code: 4940-5561-6002 | Nintendo Network ID: Moomoo14

theblackdragon

@moomoo: ... so we've jumped from 'here are some statistics regarding players who beat the game and their chosen Shep gender' to 'almost all my guy friends chose to play as male Shepard' to 'i don't know any females IRL who chose to play Mass Effect, but the ones who played Skyrim all chose female avatars'? I don't really like where that seems to be going, especially in conjunction with "Game makers need to know their audience, and gender is a part of that.". I absolutely agree with that line, but not when you're attempting to use it along with anecdotal evidence to justify why there aren't female options available in the average video game. It strikes me as silly and shortsighted. the female gamer is someone to be embraced, not merely part of a percentage to be ignored until it hits some magical number of majority.

We're here. We're not going anywhere, and we're hungry for change. I'm excited to see what Nintendo has to offer, especially after the taste we got in Fire Emblem: Awakening, and no amount of anecdotal evidence from anyone or poor wording by inexperienced bigwigs is going to change my mind with regards to considering this A Good Thing.

BEST THREAD EVER
future of NL >:3
[16:43] James: I should learn these site rules more clearly
[16:44] LztheBlehBird: James doesn't know the rules? For shame!!!

3DS Friend Code: 3136-6802-7042 | Nintendo Network ID: gentlemen_cat | Twitter:

moomoo

@theblackdragon When did I ever say it wasn't a good thing? I agree with you on pretty much every point. All I'm saying is that males still make up the majority of the gaming space, and that margin is changing, and that times are changing. And we both see that as a good thing.
What I'm saying is "here's why it's been this way in the past" and also "here's why it's changing," nothing more. I look forward to seeing more stuff, too. Especially since by having you choose your gender in Fire Emblem they basically doubled the play content there.

Best thread ever
Feel free to add me on Miiverse or PSN.
Miiverse is Moomoo14, PSN is Moomoo1405390

3DS Friend Code: 4940-5561-6002 | Nintendo Network ID: Moomoo14

LordJumpMad

Until Nintendo makes a Birdo game, this will never be ok!

For you, the day LordJumpMad graced your threads, was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday.
[url=http://www.backloggery.com/jumpmad]Unive...

3DS Friend Code: 4167-4592-9402 | Twitter:

AlexSays

Let developers do what they want. We don't need a quota.

Besides, certain games can't realistically have both options. Especially games with a ton of voice acting from the main character. Imagine The Last of Us being remade with a female replacing Joel, would have been an unnecessary waste of time. Same goes for Bioshock Infinite (ironically same guy lol) in that having a female option would have changed the game and required a lot more effort.

Ask for more female protagonists, that's fine. I like looking at women, video games or not. But asking every developer to have that option is unrealistic.

AlexSays

This topic has been archived, no further posts can be added.