Female Characters in ET:QW

(minkee) #1

Dear Quake Wars team,

Firstly, I’d like to congratulate you on your game - it really is quite good. Secondly, I’d like to ask you a simple question:

Why are there no female characters in your game?

I think you’re missing out on a serious potential market here - one that does not like to be ignored. One that also doesn’t think that ‘We couldn’t be bothered’ is a good enough excuse. Do you think if the GDF engineer were female, suddenly no boys would want to play as her? Or your game? I don’t, but I do think that it would make me - and I’m sure I’m not the only one - feel more inclined to play. Better yet, give a ‘female’ or ‘male’ option, and have one of each for every class on both sides. I realise this is all too late now, and may seem immaterial compared to some other issues, but I hope that you can take these thoughts into consideration when starting future projects.

As always - girls play games too, and we want to be included.

-minkee.

(Gringo) #2

I see ur point but tbh women are not really involved in front line fighting! I’ll not jokingly be sexiest cuz the last time i was nail took a hissy fit :stuck_out_tongue: :wink: :stuck_out_tongue: :wink:

(.Chris.) #3

http://www.splashdamage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16373&start=0

Read discussion on the topic there.

(Ifurita) #4

I think the realities are that even adding a single female model, even if it’s the same size so that hit boxes don’t change, which might look wierd in and of itself, would require:

Additional models (or course)
Additonal skins
New rigging and animations
A full set of female vsays
Sex in the game to present appropriate messages
Potentially new hand models for guns

All of which need to be loaded on the client

It would be cool, but clearly not as simple as slapping a “female” skin on an existing model

(minkee) #5

Thanks for that. However, I actually failed to find any replies in there that answer why the dev team decided to refrain. I’d like to clarify also that I don’t see ‘it’d be lots of effort’ as a valid reason - making any ingame character would be ‘a lot of effort’, male or female.

I will reiterate, though, that I hope the need for inclusion of strong feminine characters has been made apparent, and will be considered more favourably for the future.

(.Chris.) #6

Well it depends on whether your talking about a female class you can pick or a female model depending on the player’s sex for all classes and teams, the latter would be quite troublesome for the reasons Ifurita pointed out but as for a Female class then I haven’t a clue but even that would require unique voice overs for people using that class.

(Sauron|EFG) #7

Maybe the women all look like men in 2060?

Maybe the strogg models are all female?

(FishStix) #8

english much? :lol:

(Dazzamac) #9

All the women are busy in the weapons factories. If it was good enough for them in the forties it’ll do them in the sixties.

(Gringo) #10

english much? :lol:[/quote]

What???

(Nail) #11

Strogg are female, problem solved

(minkee) #12

There’s a difference here, I’m sure you’ll agree.

(gloowa) #13

oh? did i missed some part of stroggification process form Q4? :slight_smile:

(evilsock) #14

jsyk, there are female characters in Quake 2 MP :slight_smile:

(RoXxOrS) #15

:lol:

(bobjones) #16

I think you’re missing out on a serious potential market here - one that does not like to be ignored

‘serious potential market’…stop kidding yourself :roll:
of the few women (compared to men) that are thinking about playing QW, i doubt the deciding factor is female player models.

but if it is, perhaps you would find the sims a more enjoyable experience.

(Nail) #17

as you can’t see your own player model, who are you trying to impress ?

(minkee) #18

As much as some people appear to ignore the fact, female players do exist. If some people want to cover their eyes and pretend it isn’t happening, there isn’t much I can do about that. I do, however, sincerely hope our entire community isn’t so ignorant.

As someone mentioned earlier, The Sims is a game that has catered for both male and female gamers, and is hugely popular. MMOs welcome male and female players with open arms, and are rewarded with healthy communities. We all know this to be true. And we all know that neither of these game types have the thrills or excitement involved in FPS games.

Women and girls do play FPS games, despite the fact there is zero marketing towards them. If FPS games can attract female gamers at such odds, an FPS that makes even the slightest acknowledgement to their female audience would make the current female players able to have a more satisfying experience, it would also make fps seem more approachable to those who women that haven’t yet found the courage to brave the hyper-masculine waters of current FPS games. Imagine the difference it could make if an FPS game went even further and actually welcomed and included women players.

I appreciate, some of you may find it hard to understand what all the fuss is. Being male, playing a game made by men, for men, with other men, in male characters, this is all pretty much the norm. Playing in that environment as a girl, you’re constantly being told ‘This isn’t for you.’ - sometimes explicitly, as you can see in some of the responses to this thread. Clearly, there are many of us that see past this, and are quite capable of enjoying a game for its merits, but that doesn’t make it okay.

I don’t want everyone to turn around and go ‘HAY LOOK GUYZ A GIRL.’ I don’t even want to be noticed. I don’t want to impress anyone. I don’t want there to be a big to-do every time some girls make a clan. I don’t want to have to hide behind masculine aliases, and masculine avatars anymore. I want multiplayer FPS games to acknowledge that I exist, and say ‘That’s okay too.’

Most of all, I want an answer to the opening question of this thread. Why aren’t there any? If I - and I’m sure there’s others that want to know too - can know the reasons why I’m being excluded, well, that’s when I can go about fixing it.

I’m all ears* SD!

*eyes

(Dazzamac) #19

Its not so much that the games are by men for men. In fact I have yet to see a trailer or ad for QW that implies who it is or isn’t made for. Its a simple fact that in armies around the world there are more men. This is partly down to sexism in the forces, less so in developed countries but other factors such as physical fitness and capacity to improve are different. I’m not being sexist in the slightest, many studies have been done on this subject. The exclusion of female characters shouldn’t discourage girls from playing, its just a matter of statistics. There are more men in the armed forces, and more men are attracted to the genre of first person combat. If a girl wants to play a fps, they will, its shouldn’t matter what gender the character they’re playing as is. You can’t see your own character anyway so if you jump on a server full of blokes with your female avatar on, all your gonna see is men anyway. To be honest, I can’t see how putting in extra hours on modelling and voice acting can improve the game in any way gameplay wise, and thats all that matters. Does it play well?
Heres some nice reading material for you.
http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/A9925990-82C2-420F-AB04-7003768CEC02/0/womenaf_fullreport.pdf
http://www.jrsm.org/cgi/reprint/95/1/23.pdf

(Ifurita) #20

Personally, I think it’s more a matter of asset and resource overhead. If I run a male/female option, that’s extra vsay’s that have to be recorded and loaded, extra models to create and load, skins.

TBH, I can’t think of any non-deathmatch type game that has female models (BF2, BF2142, etc) only have male models.

Would it be nice to have the option? Sure, I’d like it.