TTG political correct! What about women though?

Isterio

TTG deserves respect for building an emotional and dramatic story around an Afro American main character. In the gaming industry the PC is usually white and very stereotypical. Good job in presenting a great story with interesting characters of different origins.


Here are my thoughts about the PC in season 2:

- I think I've read somewhere that no character from 400 days will actually be a main character in Season 2. I personally wouldn't mind seeing Sheel as the main character in the second Season. I liked playing her.
- Sure, in the "horror/action/survival" genre there might be more male gamers and they might prefer male characters, but I would like to experience the second season out of the view of a female character. You know, with feelings and stuff.
- I think this would open new interesting topics in the post apocalyptic environment. For example: are women becoming something like a good/posession for groups because of the "rule of the strongest"? Are they seen as valuable because of their ability to get children to repopulate the world? Are they being held as slaves to forfill certain desires?
- Making the player experience such issues with a female PC might be quite intense.

RoboSheriff

In all honesty i still have my hopes up for some "create your survivor" for season 2 just to give the players some sort of creativity on who they want to play as, but if that doesn't happen i'd say i would want to play as a male character because:

You don't need to be a female to see this

- I think this would open new interesting topics in the post apocalyptic environment. For example: are women becoming something like a good/posession for groups because of the "rule of the strongest"? Are they seen as valuable because of their ability to get children to repopulate the world? Are they being held as slaves to forfill certain desires?

BlankCanvasDJ

Isterio wrote: »

- Sure, in the "horror/action/survival" genre there might be more male gamers and they might prefer male characters, but I would like to experience the second season out of the view of a female character. You know, with feelings and stuff.

I don't know, I've been hearing this complaint a lot lately - especially in a slew of articles that have come out about The Last of Us being "just not progressive enough" despite having very strong and important female characters - but I'm just not seeing it.

Just looking up at the shelve in front of me, I see games as varied as Heavy Rain, Mirror's Edge, Tomb Raider, Beyond Good & Evil, Portal, Perfect Dark, not to mention a slew of games that offer a choice of gender like Dragon Age, Fable and Mass Effect (and can we all agree that FemShep is clearly the better choice there?), all of which offer great and, usually, complex female player characters. I have a much easier time being able to name blockbuster games with female main characters than I do, say, blockbuster films.

I'm not saying there isn't a huge gulf between the number of games that star men and the number that star women - there is and that sucks. But it's less than in most other media and, most importantly, I think it's an issue with the creators and the executives, not the audience. The audience has shown time and time again that they have no problem playing a female character in a good game.

MickH

RoboSheriff wrote: »

In all honesty i still have my hopes up for some "create your survivor" for season 2 just to give the players some sort of creativity on who they want to play as, but if that doesn't happen i'd say i would want to play as a male character because:

You don't need to be a female to see this

- I think this would open new interesting topics in the post apocalyptic environment. For example: are women becoming something like a good/posession for groups because of the "rule of the strongest"? Are they seen as valuable because of their ability to get children to repopulate the world? Are they being held as slaves to forfill certain desires?

Wouldn't bother me if it was a male of female protagonist really, as long as it was a well written character. Regarding the 'create your survivor' that brings all kinds of issues where you may end up with no name and get referred to as him or her, which can break immersion.

TTG did a great job in season 1 with male / female characters and they don't really need to pro-discriminate here on the side of females.

Personally seeing how powerful PC's, and the new consoles are/will be now i'm suprised that games just aren't branching out from the type of games we keep getting fed and becoming more really. At Least TTG are trying which is good.

Brock Samson

BlankCanvasDJ wrote: »

I don't know, I've been hearing this complaint a lot lately - especially in a slew of articles that have come out about The Last of Us being "just not progressive enough" despite having very strong and important female characters - but I'm just not seeing it.

That is just a ridiculous argument for them to make. It shouldn't matter what color, gender, or sexual orientation a character is. The entire point of the post apocalyptic genre since it was brought back by George Stewart's Earth Abides was to talk about the human condition when it is stripped away of the comforts and failings of civilization.

I'm tired of hearing people push 2013 political problems into a story. A good post apocalypse story is about what makes humanity what we are. Because post apocalypse stories tear down everything about society, even society norms that a real or perceived. You shouldn't need to make a game built around "the multi culture squad" before someone "approves" it. It SHOULD allow you to feel an emotional connection to the main characters without worrying if they are "like you". That's the entire point of the damn genre!

Velociraptorius

I don't know. I wouldn't mind a female character if this game didn't have roleplaying elements. In regular action/adventure games with a story you can't influence, I never care whether I'm playing as a male or female, but if the game allows me to roleplay, I, being a male myself, always go with male. I find that I can't immerse myself quite as much if trying to roleplay a female. So yeah, may be coming across as not progressive here, but I'd rather the next protagonist was male.

thestalkinghead

Velociraptorius wrote: »

I don't know. I wouldn't mind a female character if this game didn't have roleplaying elements. In regular action/adventure games with a story you can't influence, I never care whether I'm playing as a male or female, but if the game allows me to roleplay, I, being a male myself, always go with male. I find that I can't immerse myself quite as much if trying to roleplay a female. So yeah, may be coming across as not progressive here, but I'd rather the next protagonist was male.

i would prefer a male as well, it's not like Lee being a man was brought up all the time, but it makes a difference to me as to how i would play them, like if i was a woman should i try and act like a woman would act or should i just play it as a man in a womans body????

there is a reason most heroes in games are 'generic man with stubble' and that is because they are so generic they are basically a blank slate, so they become easy to imprint your own personality on them, but controlling Boobies McGreatass can be distracting (telltale wouldn't make such a character)

if women would prefer to play as women for similar reasons that is fine, but i don't think i would have connected with Lee as well if he were a woman

Bioshock Infinite WD

I highly doubt that Telltale, if they made the main character in season 2 female, would make her as you say Boobies McGreatass, they would be more like Carley.

thestalkinghead

Bioshock Infinite WD wrote: »

I highly doubt that Telltale, if they made the main character in season 2 female, would make her as you say Boobies McGreatass, they would be more like Carley.

yeah, Shel and Bonnie were people first women second (like Lee but as women) Shell could have been a man and i don't think anything but the name would need to change, i think Bonnie was a bit more gender specific but not much, but i didn't play them long enough for my decision making to be altered because i was playing a woman

Elistra

I'm female, but used to playing male protagonists in game. It would be nice to have a female protagonist, but I will say that if there's a female lead, I would prefer the flirts, etc. be kept down to a dull roar, and only with male npcs who aren't weirdos. Ideally, at least some degree of trust should exist between the survivors in a group, and little says, "I'M A CREEPY DOUCHEBAG WHO DOESN'T EVEN SEE YOU AS HUMAN, DO NOT TRUST ME UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!" quite like some asshole who habitually thinks with the wrong head and won't take the hint that you're not interested.

RainbowKitten

I don't mind playing as a male character but when given the choice, I generally choose female because I am female.

I'm hoping Clem will be the new protagonist. She's the first confirmed character for season 2, already has the fans and why else would she remember everything Lee told her? Got to be for a reason. Also hoping the 400 days survivors (plus Omid + Crista) will make up her group.

Bioshock Infinite WD

I can play as ether gender and not have problems, I am a male but sometimes the experience is just plan better if you play as a female, case in point I played through all three Mass Effect games as a female, not because I am some kind of a pervert, but because the voice acting was so much better if you pick female, and after 100 hours I did not give a shit that I just chose to play as a female, so I can deal with playing a woman in season 2 without complaining.

Clemmy1

The OP makes a very very interesting debate about how women would be viewed in a ZA,Season one sort of glanced over the idea with Jolene...,i think this would happen too,that women/girls would be looked on as prizes /assets for renegade groups,if you know what i mean lol but it's murky water for controversy if TT went down this route,also you mention having a black lead character,i like this aspect because its in keeping with tradition of Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead,so it's all good.

Bioshock Infinite WD

And I think Lee is every bit as good as the lead from both Dawn of the Dead and Night of the Living Dead, ironic since the name of the main character in Night of the Living Dead shares the same name as the infamous dumbass of are game.

Sick Octopus

Bioshock Infinite WD wrote: »

And I think Lee is every bit as good as the lead from both Dawn of the Dead and Night of the Living Dead, ironic since the name of the main character in Night of the Living Dead shares the same name as the infamous dumbass of are game.

Absolutely to the first. Peter and Ben are awesome.

Lol to the second.


If you are game and haven't yet seen it, try the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead. Tom Savini, makeup/special effects artist for the original Dawn of the Dead does a good job directing it. It had Romero's "blessing" too. It was nice to see Barbara get an upgrade from the perpetual damsel in distress (and state of shock) act that was in the original.

Bioshock Infinite WD

Savini, mister blood and guts himself, I heard of it, maybe it will be next on the list, I mean this year along I have seen Shawn of the Dead, 28 Day's later, and soon both Dawn of the Deads.

Sick Octopus

Bioshock Infinite WD wrote: »

Savini, mister blood and guts himself, I heard of it, maybe it will be next on the list, I mean this year along I have seen Shawn of the Dead, 28 Day's later, and soon both Dawn of the Deads.

Deaded out.

It's a good thing


As, for the OP, I agree. I really do.

kirby18

I cant in all honesty say I would like to play as a female character. I feel like it would be much less emotional and attaching for me. What I said a while ago and I still think is an awesome idea would be to play as each character in 400 days through the 5 episodes in season 2. This way you can play as 2 female characters. But if we are playing as the same character through the whole season which we most likely are, Id like a guy pc

HelloCthulhu

It seems to me that people are forgetting that Lee was a False Protagonist. Clementine was the real protagonist of Season 1; the player was just there to help her along. Can anyone deny that Clementine was a stronge female protagonist by the end? I also would like to point out that the reason that most stories in video games are written from a man's perspective is because most of the writers are GASP men. It's difficult to write a believable story from a female perspective without the first hand experience. What we usually end up getting is either something out of a feminist propaganda pamphlet, or something completely sexist. The fact that the characters in this game have dodged both those pitfalls (although some of them were pretty two-dimensionally annoying and bitchy) is a miracle to say the least. I think it would be nice to find a realistic female protagonist as the main character, but I'm not holding my breathe.

Clemmy1

ALSO @BioShock and @SickOctopus did you know that there is a 30th anniversary edition of NOTLD with added scenes shot and added in black and white? some are pretty cool while some are not but the most amazing thing for me was that the original graveyard zombie returned to his iconic role WOW i thought he was dead LOL

Sick Octopus

Clemmy1 wrote: »

ALSO @BioShock and @SickOctopus did you know that there is a 30th anniversary edition of NOTLD with added scenes shot and added in black and white? some are pretty cool while some are not but the most amazing thing for me was that the original graveyard zombie returned to his iconic role WOW i thought he was dead LOL

:eek:

Do want!

I'm checking out the additional scenes on YouTube now. Thank you

Bioshock Infinite WD

They did? Is it for the original or the remake, ether way I getting it along with both Dawn of the Deads, thanks.

Clemmy1

No problem it's the original film(1968) but with added music replacing some of the original which i hate and added scenes like seeing where the original graveyard zombie came from before attacking Barbara and Johnny.

KCohere

If I have a choice to play as a woman, I usually do but it doesnt make much difference to me either way as long as the gender doesnt make any difference to the context of the story. It would be interesting if we could choose our gender in the next season but I dont know how difficult that would be to design.

Rock114

I don't care what race, gender, height, weight, or whatever else the character I play as is, so long as they are well written and interesting.

Bioshock Infinite WD

Now there's a statement I can get behind.

Vladisimo

Christ, not this shit again. Dude if the majority of gamers are male then a male protagonist would make the majority feel more comfortable and thus they will have a better experience with the game. Actually, why won't TT let us choose the gender of the character if "so many" people like you want to play a female protagonist in Season 2.

CyborgRabbit

Personally I don't care. I play lots of point and click adventure games and a lot of those games have female leads, at least more than is common for action/shooter games. It never really made a difference for me. I mean who decides not to play a game based on the gender or race of the main character?

Sick Octopus

Vladisimo wrote: »

Christ, not this shit again. Dude if the majority of gamers are male then a male protagonist would make the majority feel more comfortable and thus they will have a better experience with the game. Actually, why won't TT let us choose the gender of the character if "so many" people like you want to play a female protagonist in Season 2.

Hardly an overwhelming fucking majority at around 53% though.

Sick Octopus

CyborgRabbit wrote: »

Personally I don't care. I play lots of point and click adventure games and a lot of those games have female leads, at least more than is common for action/shooter games. It never really made a difference for me. I mean who decides not to play a game based on the gender or race of the main character?

Some, perhaps even many, if other video game forums are anything to go by. Grain of salt and all that though.

I don't fricking get it either.

Harpadarpa

Rock114 wrote: »

I don't care what race, gender, height, weight, or whatever else the character I play as is, so long as they are well written and interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYW_AnJLJ10