Latest figures show that the majority of RPG players are female.
While the majority of FPS gamers are male.
http://www.vg247.com/2014/10/28/fps-rpg-men-women-research-pc/
Thoughts on this? I personally hope it will change the way people view gaming culture in general. I sure as hell hope it leads to more female protagonists, a matter on which telltale has been near-appalling, historically, with 17 male protagonists and a measly 3 female protagonists so far (didn't include Jurassic park in either as I can't find concrete evidence about who you play as and whether this swtiched trhoughout the story).
Considering most peoples arguments for the majority of characters being white heterosexual males is because the majority of those playing the games are white heterosexual males, do you feel that this approach needs an upgrade or reevaluation?
Comments
RPGs are like fantasy books. Girls like fantasy books.
Do they now? Because I just asked my friend and she doesn't.
I'm sure some girls do, in the same way some guys like cricket, but you wouldn't say 'guys like cricket' as an absolute statement.
Also, they're really not like fantasy books. RPGs allow customisation of character and choices in a way almost every single book in existance doesnt.
Honestly shocking to me, because honestly you don't see alot of girl gamers and i thought RPGS catered more to males. As for FPS....yeah that didn't shock me lol.
Statistics are always false.
That's because girl gamers hide because of the sexist nature of the industry.
Case in point: all of my close female friends play multiplayer games, but they refuse to use headsets as when they do they get bombarded with people saying they want to fuck them or that they should, quote, 'put down the controller and let your boyfriend handle things, princess'.
RPGs DO cater to males, for silly reasons. But girls still play them. Imagine what might happen if they were to treat both genders equally.
One person isn't enough to make an opposite statement, either. Also, I'm pretty sure the guy didn't mean that absolutely every girl in observable universe likes fantasy books, but simply that girls in general like fantasy books... which is funny, because I personally never heard of that before. Still, this begs the question - was there a need to correct him, after all?
And yet RPG settings draw ideas and inspiration from many different fantasy books. That's, however, not true when RPG is in Sci-Fi setting, but, in this case, they draw from appropriate science fiction material. So, customization and choices are fine and dandy, but there's still a background required for the aforementioned customization and choices to take place in. Unless, of course, you're allowed to customize and choose literally everything within an RPG setting.
But I'm not making an opposite statement.
I'm not saying 'girls don't read fantasy books'. I'm saying they don't ALL read fantasy books at all.
There was a need to correct him because he was generalising people based on their sex, which is the definition of sexism.
....and how is them drawing inspiration from fantasy books relevant?
Fantasy books borrow writing elements from earlier epic which in turn borrows from Ancient Greek epic and tragic narrative. There is no requirement of knowledge of the origins of concepts and themes to enjoy a specific item of entertainment.
And there isn't background knowledge required for RPGs at all. You can go into Dragon Age having no idea what a dwarf is, and it explains it.
The background required to make the choices is created by the same game itself.
That there sounds like a false statistic.
100.1 percent? There is a larger population than the full population?
Good to know my words bring you pleasure, Viva-La-Lee.
Rounding up and down from far more complicated numbers often leads to the 100% mark being off by 0.1% or so.
Seriously laughing right now
Your message didn't get through.
Pleasure through comedy. Thank you.
Pleasing SRWs is not really my prerogative, but an unwanted consequence. But at least my views are making people happy on both sides, as opposed to theirs.
So, saying that your friend doesn't like fantasy books isn't an opposite statement towards "Girls like fantasy books"? I must have been mistaken, then.
Did I accuse you of saying that? Because, the last time I checked, I didn't. Also, no need to emphasize a point I already understand as if I'm some dim-witted fool.
What a misogynistic pig he is. I just can't understand how he isn't arrested yet.
IMO, it is relevant, since RPGs aren't simply about customization and choices. Many RPGs based on well-known fantasy settings rely on their background, too.
And yet it is often a requirement for the writer. A customer/consumer doesn't need to be acquainted with the previously existing works of literature or art to be entertained, but the writer of RPG should. Though, then again, this point can be a matter of debate.
I wasn't really talking about background knowledge, but rather a setting that sets that background. If an RPG is based on an existing setting, it is required, at least for the writers, to know it beforehand, on basic level, at least. A user doesn't need to know it, but a writer, if his work is going to expand upon a pre-existing lore, does.
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No, it isn't an opposite statement.
An opposite statement would be 'my friend doesn't read them, therefore no girls read them'. That is not what I was saying. The point you took offense to was subsidiary and expansionary to that point.
When did I call him a misogynistic pig and call for his arrest? I'm not saying either of those things. There are really bad forms of sexism, and forms of sexism which are only slightly bad, as with racism, as with homophobia. That doesn't mean we shouldn't combat little instances of them.
I disagree that they rely on them that much, largely due to the fact that a) the vast majority of RPGs aren't based on existing settings and b) said rpgs which ARE based on preexisting settings, such as the Witcher, require little to no knowledge of the background in order to play them, again such as the case of the Witcher.
..I don't doubt that a writer writing a story set in someone else's universe would require knowledge, but I don't see why you focus on the writer and discount the player when we're talking about women PLAYING RPGs.
He was saying he isn't surprised that women play RPGs because they read fantasy books.
Stick to the unintentional humour of your first post rather than the hackish attempt of role reversal you have going on now.
Cya round.
Your rudeness is completely unnecessary.
You raised the question of why the statistics add up to 100.1%. I explained it.
At no point was my answer boastful of my own knowledge. It was a factual statement.
I've definitely had my share of this. I get why a lot of females use androgynous handles and male avatars, but that's not for me, so I just don't play multiplayer games anymore at all because of it.
My role reversal is not intended to be humerous.
Captain obvious- a sarcastic name for someone who states the obvious.
A rhetorical question- is a figure of speech in the form of a question that is asked in order to make a point, rather than to elicit an answer.
"My dear Viva-La-Lee. I see that you have favoured my most recent forum post with your own particular brand of...
'Wit'.
While I appreciate the no doubt colossal amount of effort you must have expended to come up with such witty comments as the above, I nevertheless worry you must have hurt yourself.
If your wits are exhausted, who shall entertain the Spambots, small children and republicans who look to your remarks for guidance!
Indeed, I fear for your future should your flagging wits fail you. Fate is fickle my dear, and you may soon find yourself replaced in people's affections by a 'confirmed for season 3' meme!
And who would even notice.
A word of advice: for a trader of arguments, you deal in them far too loosely...better hold onto them, lest they lose all value.
You only cheapen yourself my dear.
Kiss kiss.
Flog"
Just don't bother, if someone doesn't understand a simple concept like rounding-off error then don't waste your time with such a person
Well, anyway, what I meant by my statement is this - your friend saying she doesn't like fantasy books doesn't necessarily negate his point. Also, I didn't take offense to that.
I know you didn't. I can't say whether he meant it to be sexist or not, so maybe it's too quick to accuse him of sexism without knowing whether that was his intention. Unless, of course, intentions don't matter anymore, and his statement is sexist regardless of whether he even meant it to be that way.
That wasn't even my point originally, believe it or not. What I meant was this - the RPG not only allows to have customization and allows to make choices, but it also has a story and a plot, which revolves within a setting, and therefore, the latter is what likens the RPG to a fantasy book. The player, as you said, has no need to know the background beforehand.
But their ignorance and judgemental attitude are just so hilarious my love.
And that is incredibly sad for the industry.
Thankfully, however gradually, change is happening.
It does negate his point as it shows 'Girls like fantasy novels' to not be wholly true.
Whether someone means a statement to be sexist or not is irrelevant. Most homophobes I've encountered say that they aren't homophobic.
Ah, NOW I see what you were attempting to convery. You think that RPG games are novels with more added. Yes, I agree, but that is also true of any game with plot, such as FPS and point and click games.
Don't you know that 70 percent of all statistics are made up?!
Maybe, but giving just one example is not enough to make a statement just yet. However, I won't argue here, since this statement is likely to be correct.
I see. I can't say he is a sexist just due to one statement, though.
It may not be the most accurate representation of my view on RPGs, but, yeah, it's pretty close. I can't really make a point about plot in FPS and point'n'click games due to two reasons:
1. I'm not acquainted with either genre much.
2. The FPS I am acquainted with are either:
a) Call of Duty, which usually had a story worthy of Hollywood, and it went both ways, good or bad.
b) Games like Counter-Strike or Battlefield, who are reliant on their Multiplayer more than anything (CS doesn't even have any kind of story mode, even).
Maybe they are the same, but, most of the time, IMO, they are barely on par with RPGs, for that matter.
79% of statistics are actually hippos dressed as statistics.
Thats three different stats right there so this one article isnt all that reliable but anyway. Also many games let you pick your gender unless their is major voiceacting (some like mass effect with major voice acting)
Where do you get things like this from? You literally stick words in peoples mouths, no one i've seen has said this?
What the exact list of this exactly, because if your including the dog and the rabbit I'm not really buying it. Oh and in jurrassic park it was 3 men, 3 women. Furthermore the fact that there are plenty of strong female characters in their series show the company isnt sexist or whatever.
Especially as protaganists as a whole are improving, male or female there becoming more layered etc.
Finally just because a protaganist is male doesnt mean its overdone or its bad unless they actually make them a dull "dudebro" unironicaly and unitentionaally. It often depends if the game cares about its characters or not as well.
wow so this shit went out of proportion because someone took my post way too literally.
I agree that I kinda generalized there but I really wasn't paying attention because I was focused on Telltale's sudden autism in its new game announcement but still, someone took my post too literally and now we have this wall of text of 2 people trying to correct each other.
Regarding the whole "girls like fantasy books" this is 100% true for me from personal experience. Maybe it's the place I live in? but literally every single girl i've met is reading something and they're always recommending GRRM this Abercrombie that, etc.
About the sexism... well that's just laughable and I won't even bother with such a stupid accusation
Hahaha how do you people misinterpret the English language in such tragic form?
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False assumption this was strenuous? Interesting... and perhaps a basis for ones own lack of wit? If my arguments cheapen themselves then it doesn't matter, for I'm already a rich man. What do a few remaining cents mean to one who owns a castle?
...you agree that you generalised people based on their sex and you dont see how sexism interrelated with that?
Uh, right.
A man rich in all but wit and logic you might be, but said things are perhaps more valuable than all else.
Then it's worthless in all regards.
They're three entirely seperate statistics mate.
From the bioware forum when I asked why there are more white heterosexual males than any other group, and from here when my request last year for inclusion of homosexual characters was slammed because most people are straight.
WIthout the dog and rabbit it is 15 to 3. With jurassic park its 18 to 6. Three times as many males as women.
That implies that sexism is based on how you show female characters, not to what extent you show them. If a game includes 1000 white males, and one black male, who is presented normally, that is still pretty biased.
Gender shouldn't matter. That is why it is odd that Telltale favours male protagonists: if they thought gender doesnt matter, would they not be more equal?
What do you mean men and women will never be exactly the same? Obviously there're biological differences, but there are no absolute mental differences.
Can you please quote me where I said male protagonists are automatically bad? Thanks.