Actually, I do make games, and they have gender balance, gender equity, gender neutrality, etc. as the norm, unless I'm particularly trying to emphasize something. It's not a serious design problem. It's not a serious overhead problem. Those people are just making excuses for their male chauvinist laziness.
I couldn't disagree with you more. If their goal is to #1 - Make money (and it is, even if the actual designers want to tell a story, the financiers #1 goal is that income > expense) then they're going to perform a cost benefit analysis.
They cater to a demographic in a way that is designed to achieve their ultimate goal. I think MTV should stop with reality shows and instead just play music, but people eat that crap up, so they keep making reality shows.
If you were throwing stones at merely the author, that would be fine. Your game making and their game making aren't even remotely the same in terms of scale and expense.
What's with DICE anyway? It's not fair that Faith is a girl and I have no choice in the matter. You don't even see her except in the cutscenes.
Your market driven argument requires evidence because in at least one nearby case, it's dead wrong. Every single year, the American public polls that it wants more, better, more serious news coverage and it will pay a premium for it. And every year, the news media gets dumber, constantly rehashing the same old same old. Serious market research data shows that profitability is not the driving force behind our news media. I've seen no reason to believe that's the case in video games either.
The video game market is seeing a definite trend towards including women in strong antagonist or protagonist roles. I can cite many examples, as I am well educated in the subject matter (I would conjecture moreso than you)
I don't think it is a coincidence that this is a trailing indicator on the percentage of "hardcore" female gamers.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-06 05:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-06 06:24 pm (UTC)They cater to a demographic in a way that is designed to achieve their ultimate goal. I think MTV should stop with reality shows and instead just play music, but people eat that crap up, so they keep making reality shows.
If you were throwing stones at merely the author, that would be fine. Your game making and their game making aren't even remotely the same in terms of scale and expense.
What's with DICE anyway? It's not fair that Faith is a girl and I have no choice in the matter. You don't even see her except in the cutscenes.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-06 06:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-06 06:35 pm (UTC)I don't think it is a coincidence that this is a trailing indicator on the percentage of "hardcore" female gamers.