| Jaicee said: Alright, let me try and go through this: 1. Most of the games you listed here do not have female-only leads, i.e. allow you the option to use a male avatar, if I can point that out. If my point about wildly disproportionate representation needs to be made any more clear, all one needs do is click on the VG Chartz button at the top of this page and check out this week's top 10 best-sellers list. Fully half the games on it use only male leads and none use female-only leads. That's typical. It's not simply a reflection of what sells and what doesn't, but of what gets made in the first place and what doesn't. 2. Games for other players have to be made in the first place before they can sell or fail. The point here isn't that most gamers are male (that's obvious), but WHY that is so. If developers and publishers make more effort to appeal to different audiences, perhaps gamer demographics will change over time. (I'm also not a big fan of capitalism. 3. That's a very small list. And it's also a list consisting mostly of games that ALSO allow for straight romance arcs as well. The point is that the vast majority of video games compel me to pretend that I am not only male, but also a straight male, and you know it. Your list also doesn't include a lot of games that precede the current decade either, it's worth noting. 4. Whatever. Why am I "looking for equality in a comedy"? What I'm looking for is humor I can relate to better than the kind you might, not political correctness as such. Ghostbusters is hardly the funniest film franchise that comes to my mind in that connection, but it's one that was brought up in the OP, so that's why I responded about it. |
)1/3) Well it's true quite a few of these game do allow a female lead. The point remains if you want to play the game as a female you can play the entire game as a female (except for until Dawn). You do it to relate better with a character, I usually like female voice actresses better than their male counterparts especially in Mass Effect.
Same with the games I listed and romances it's your story if you want to play it as a black female lesbian nobody is stopping you. So I really can't see the problem that you can also play as a straight white male. I really don't see it as a discount of diversity that you can also choose to play as a straight white person but let's agree to disagree on that standpoint.
As for succes Horizon Zero Dawn sold 7.8 million units in a year so that's pretty good. Uncharted Lost Legacy probably moved more than a few units. And in May Detroit will release which also has one lead character that identifies as a woman (Kara). Or at least I guess. Androids are things and things are genderless whether they self aware or not.
I would say take success where you can. There are plenty of good games which you can at least play as a female and which where succesful.
I think the male vs female representation is actually pretty much equal to the amount male and female AAA gamers. I don't see a need for that too change and apparently neither do the companies. That said I don't mind seeing more female leads, I simply don't give a damn about the lack of them in generic shooters or footies. But I don't think the gaming audience will change let alone grow if 50% of the games would have a female lead.
2) Well gamers in generally where seen as Nerds back in the day. So since men are more socially retarded than women they where more willing to associate themselves with gaming. The second reason is tech, woman where and are less present in the tech sector and usually men are more likely to be tech enthousiasts. So games where primary targeted at men.
As for LBQT people that's simply a market to small to cater so I doubt LBQT people in games will get represented often. But at least one will star in the biggest Sony exclusive on PS4 so that's something. Unless a white tomboy lesbian is enough of a stereotype for it not to count. Also I rely doubt if more LBQT leads will cater more LBQT gamers.
Please excuse my (probally) poor grammar
