Diversity should never be imposed on gameworlds, it's just good fun to be able to choose the skin color you want! And it's kind of frustrating when you can't. From another point of view, it's commercially not very savvy not to pay attention to diversity (Asia!). People want to play what they want or they want to see at least some sort of representation of human variety (apart from other 'races'). It's all fiction, so why not.
Originally posted by Elikal I do not want to over dramatize it. I enjoy Star Wars or Lord of the Rings despite the lack of gay characters as much as any bloke. But in sum, if you are white, just imagine EVERY single character in EVERY single movie that was published in the last decades was back; no single white character in any of it. Sure, you might enjoy the good story telling still, but as a whole, would it NOT put you into an odd sort of position?
Considering how few, if any, of the characters ever reference their sex life or sexual orientation. How do you know that there aren't any?
Same goes for ever MMO. Most MMOs don't discuss sex through their NPCs at all, so how can you say an NPC is gay or not. And since in the real world most gay people act the same as straight people you wouldn't be able to get it out of their speach. So unless you are asking that games have the stereotypical tv gay guy who is extremely flamboyant and has a lisp, which would also not be fair to do, then I don't think you can complain that the games don't ever represent gay people.
OMG! You played the race card on a game, which is ludicrous in the extreme to start with, but you played it on a game populated by half-bull-half-humans, elves, gnomes, trolls, dwarves, orcs, goblins, werewolves, and nice demons. I have to question the author's sanity here. Political correctness has absolutely zero relevance in the fantasy online world. Besides, there's a black president in the US white house - you're free to get over your white guilt now.
The reason there are fewer female superheroes in a superhero game is very simple...there are fewer popular female superhero comic book characters than popular male superhero comic book characters. Look at Hollywood blockbuster movies as an example and point out how many successful female comic book heroines have made money at the box office and compare to those of men. It's not a developer bias, it's a consumer bias - the people playing the game desire and expect there to be more super hero men.
...."MMO developers already have enough on their plates. We don't need to saddle them with more when every mmo offering of late seems to offer less."
Have to agree with this part, it seems like developers have quite a lot on their plate to satisfy the masses and we don't need to throw on the complexity of diversity, race and gender. For all we know, that alone could potentially ruin the game. I think there are boundaries to be set between the virtual and the real world and any comparisons is just ignorant and redundant. The developing teams are having a hard enough time pushing out games that are satisfactory these days and it seems like the MMO industry is evolving into something more in terms of gameplay, quality, all sorts of aspects and genres etc. The last thing we need is to throw in things that we cannot even solve in the real world completely to confuse the developing companies even more.
I could not care less about the number of female/male npc's in a game like WoW, it's a game.
Have to agree, I barely notice NPC's, they could be a fence post for all I care, I click on them to get a mission or sell something, but otherwise am totally dismissive.
Player avatars should have as many options as possible of course, and we're seeing more of that lately)
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
The whole reason for this article? The Council of Europe, a very democratic name for the EU monolith that I have the misfortune of living in. Now, courtesy of their wish to be involved in every aspect of our lives they want to tell us what to do when we are online as well.
If you do not live in Europe you are lucky, if you are in a country near Europe watch out, as you may be being eyed up for membership by this political Monster Boss as we speak.
Looking into the background of this article I found the EU had produced this document:
Straight men control the known 'World' and well *drumroll* also the gaming industry!
Just look at the papers, the news, your college/work
Diversity is shunned, 'fake' and a total laugh . To the point where people who might not realllly be exactly the same human beings as them feel inappropriate, angry and withdrawn , and I say this is a transgendered individual with an anxiety disorder. Not to throw it into your face of what and who I am but that I should have every right to say say that it influences me, and maybe not as jolly and positively as someone else
Im not going to blame Blizzard or any company for their ideas about how games and the community should be, because thats how they are and I buy their product; I happen to like their landscapes and sceneries, but I keep my personal ideas about it to myself unless they ask me
Not a very coherent post ( It happens often with me ^^) but anyway
Comments
Diversity should never be imposed on gameworlds, it's just good fun to be able to choose the skin color you want! And it's kind of frustrating when you can't. From another point of view, it's commercially not very savvy not to pay attention to diversity (Asia!). People want to play what they want or they want to see at least some sort of representation of human variety (apart from other 'races'). It's all fiction, so why not.
You have got to be kidding me. Do people really have nothing better to do then count how many guards are male and how many are female in a video game?
Considering how few, if any, of the characters ever reference their sex life or sexual orientation. How do you know that there aren't any?
Same goes for ever MMO. Most MMOs don't discuss sex through their NPCs at all, so how can you say an NPC is gay or not. And since in the real world most gay people act the same as straight people you wouldn't be able to get it out of their speach. So unless you are asking that games have the stereotypical tv gay guy who is extremely flamboyant and has a lisp, which would also not be fair to do, then I don't think you can complain that the games don't ever represent gay people.
OMG! You played the race card on a game, which is ludicrous in the extreme to start with, but you played it on a game populated by half-bull-half-humans, elves, gnomes, trolls, dwarves, orcs, goblins, werewolves, and nice demons. I have to question the author's sanity here. Political correctness has absolutely zero relevance in the fantasy online world. Besides, there's a black president in the US white house - you're free to get over your white guilt now.
The reason there are fewer female superheroes in a superhero game is very simple...there are fewer popular female superhero comic book characters than popular male superhero comic book characters. Look at Hollywood blockbuster movies as an example and point out how many successful female comic book heroines have made money at the box office and compare to those of men. It's not a developer bias, it's a consumer bias - the people playing the game desire and expect there to be more super hero men.
Have to agree with this part, it seems like developers have quite a lot on their plate to satisfy the masses and we don't need to throw on the complexity of diversity, race and gender. For all we know, that alone could potentially ruin the game. I think there are boundaries to be set between the virtual and the real world and any comparisons is just ignorant and redundant. The developing teams are having a hard enough time pushing out games that are satisfactory these days and it seems like the MMO industry is evolving into something more in terms of gameplay, quality, all sorts of aspects and genres etc. The last thing we need is to throw in things that we cannot even solve in the real world completely to confuse the developing companies even more.
I could not care less about the number of female/male npc's in a game like WoW, it's a game.
Good read, thanks for posting.
I agree, we don't need games to tell us about diversity, and we don't need diversity to tell us about games.
Have to agree, I barely notice NPC's, they could be a fence post for all I care, I click on them to get a mission or sell something, but otherwise am totally dismissive.
Player avatars should have as many options as possible of course, and we're seeing more of that lately)
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
The whole reason for this article? The Council of Europe, a very democratic name for the EU monolith that I have the misfortune of living in. Now, courtesy of their wish to be involved in every aspect of our lives they want to tell us what to do when we are online as well.
If you do not live in Europe you are lucky, if you are in a country near Europe watch out, as you may be being eyed up for membership by this political Monster Boss as we speak.
Looking into the background of this article I found the EU had produced this document:
http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/media/Doc/H-Inf(2008)008_en.pdf
They really don’t have anything more worthwhile to do than this? Sack the lot of them.
Straight men control the known 'World' and well *drumroll* also the gaming industry!
Just look at the papers, the news, your college/work
Diversity is shunned, 'fake' and a total laugh . To the point where people who might not realllly be exactly the same human beings as them feel inappropriate, angry and withdrawn , and I say this is a transgendered individual with an anxiety disorder. Not to throw it into your face of what and who I am but that I should have every right to say say that it influences me, and maybe not as jolly and positively as someone else
Im not going to blame Blizzard or any company for their ideas about how games and the community should be, because thats how they are and I buy their product; I happen to like their landscapes and sceneries, but I keep my personal ideas about it to myself unless they ask me
Not a very coherent post ( It happens often with me ^^) but anyway