Witcher 3 - Play as Triss, Yennefer, or Others

[lackblogger]

To be fair, he never actually called you or your opinion "fake", this seems to be your own invention, and, yes, The Witcher likely has the same body-worship nonsense that Lara Croft endured:

I mean, just look at that codpiece! or any other part of his body… *looks side to side shiftily*

 

[mazur49]

I think (but no I don't have any solid facts for this) most men are okay with playing a male character that is fairly macho and bad-ass or a hot sexy female that they don't mind ogling while they play.

Most probably it's true but I don't see how it validates pretenses and generalizations made by Elel. She tried Witcher and found it not to her taste. I for example can't stand games which have children as protagonists. Not my cup of tea.
This makes me very much surprised by Elel's reaction. I would never go into bashing developers who made games with children as protagonist because I know I am biased. She doesn't like playing male heroes but instead of quietly walking away in search of more suitable game Elel goes into pseudointellectual deconstruction of Geralt persona and building SJW case against CDPR. This difference in attitude provoked my attention and I made an attempt to find if there more to this. So far first impression I got stands unchanged. Special snowflake case.

 

[Aubrielle]

The fact is, to fully enjoy a real RPG, you have to be able to identify as the character you're playing as. Yeah, while there are some RPGs (Skyrim, New Vegas) that allow you to make whatever kind of character you want, there are tons more that don't. The Witcher, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Umbra. All of these feature straight white guys as the protagonists. And the reason straight white guys always get so defensive and wonder why people gripe...the game is perfectly fine, but it's not as easy for a woman to get engrossed in it, because we constantly have to readjust our perception to make up for being forced to see through a straight male lens.

That's why what Wolfgrimdark said is so true...we need a bigger diversity of RPGs with a bigger diversity of main characters so that more people can enjoy them properly. Thankfully, the scene is changing and more varied kinds of RPGs are emerging.

My point is...if you've been forced all your life to see the world through a lens that's not your own (if you want to play a video game), it feels really good when games come along that you can really relate to.

Or, in this case, mods.

 

[Elel]

To be fair, he never actually called you or your opinion "fake", this seems to be your own invention

He implied that I'm so stupid I don't even know that my opinion is untrue. And right, look at his last post. Full of nonsense that he invented. I can't remember ever bashing a company or saying I actively dislike playing as male characters. Preference is not the same as disliking something and wanting to eliminate it. It's a full troll case, unashamed. And pay attention to rude language, I don't want to stoop to a level of conversation like that. Either a troll, or has issues of his own, in that case I don't even want to know. It's sad that on this site I have to feel attacked, I guess that's normal here.

P.S. Geralt is ugly in my opinion, no codpiece could ever fix that But of course tastes differ.

 

[Aubrielle]

Right, look at his last post. Full of nonsense that he invented. I can't remember ever bashing any company or saying I dislike playing as male characters. It's a full troll case, unashamed. And pay attention to rude language, I don't want to stoop to a level of conversation like that. Either a troll, or has issues of his own, in that case I don't even want to know. It's sad that on this site I have to feel attacked, I guess that's normal here.

You're a woman with strong opinions. Nothing makes these threads explode - and brings users with like seven posts out of the woodwork - like an opinionated woman.

 

[mazur49]

I can't remember ever bashing any company or saying I dislike playing as male characters.

Read my post again, please. I never sad you went into bashing developers.

I can't remember … saying I dislike playing as male characters.

I mean, you can't really self-insert if you aren't allowed to even play your own gender. God knows how I'm sick of that and how I want character creator options in the games…

 

[CelticFrost]

The fact is, to fully enjoy a real RPG, you have to be able to identify as the character you're playing as.

This maybe true for yourself, and maybe should written as:

For me, to fully enjoy a real RPG, you have to be able to identify as the character you're playing as.

I have played lots of RPG's that I have fully enjoyed and not identified myself as the character in the game.

Myself I have to enjoy the story for me to fully enjoy the that game.

 

[Aubrielle]

This maybe true for yourself, and maybe should written as:

For me, to fully enjoy a real RPG, you have to be able to identify as the character you're playing as.

I have played lots of RPG's that I have fully enjoyed and not identified myself as the character in the game.

Myself I have to enjoy the story for me to fully enjoy the that game.

Thank you, Celtic, for editing my post! You sifted opinion from fact very nicely.

Would you mind if I did likewise for you in the future? Oh, and may I keep this post to be quoted later too?

 

[Wisdom]

You're a woman with strong opinions. Nothing makes these threads explode - and brings users with like seven posts out of the woodwork - like an opinionated woman.

Yes. Let's make this about gender. Strong opinions are what make threads explode. I should know, I've been the cause of many. But my gender has nothing to do with it. Aside from one person, the forum doesn't don't know if I'm yellow black red or white. Male female or confused. Straight, gay, asexual. The gender issue only seems to arise when its convienient.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

Eh, this is getting out of hand...and NO, that was a joke, not my actual character( one from HHR actually, eh, but who is surprised? ).
Seriously people, this is only entertainment and only certain truth is that Predator will always be better than Star Wars and that Kratos can beat any JRPG protagonist to Oblivion.

 

[Wisdom]

Eh, this is getting out of hand…and NO, that was a joke, not my actual character( one from HHR actually, eh, but who is surprised? ).
Seriously people, this is only entertainment and only certain truth is that Predator will always be better than Star Wars and that Kratos can beat any JRPG protagonist to Oblivion.

Ugh.. kratos.. there is a one dimensional character.

 

[lackblogger]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, every single cRPG I've played has allowed a male/female choice at character creation*, it's one of the defining features of RPGs. *I could make an exception for King's Bounty: The Legend, but then the sequel gave you an unoptional female. Planescape: Torment is also an exception, but that guy's more alien/monster/thing than "here's a man".

If, as a woman, you're exasperated at the sheer quantity of RPGs which give only male leads as options then I'm at a loss as to what RPGs you're playing. I've no doubt there's a very valid point there for the general gaming world, but the topic of sexism on an RPG board is not something that's really that relevant. If an RPG lacks gender choices then it's a weak RPG and there are undeniably better options for you in the RPG marketplace.

This board is likely filled to the brim with people who'd love to prove me wrong about all sorts of things, mainly because I don't prejudice my contrariness to any specific sub-culture (other than that of non-classical cRPGs), and I can honestly say that, as a practicing (mass) debater, I find claims of sexism as an excuse for bad debating skills, on an RPG site (other than the codex), to be highly triggering.

This new guy might well be a misogynistic patriarchal wife-beating woman-hater, but after a few short posts, which to me appear like rational points of contrary, I would say it's waaaay to early to be throwing that kind of language around willy nilly

 

[Aubrielle]

It always does get out of hand, Bobo. And you better brace yourself…there's definitely more nasty posts where all this came from!

My prediction is that this thread will be on fire for about thirty six more hours.

 

[mazur49]

Yes. Let's make this about gender.

I believe it was intention of our ladies all along if you had a chance to carefully read this thread. Making claims, going into full denial, making new claims against skeptics, appealing to mods. Standard operating protocol.

 

[Silver]

I think that the genders in role playing games should diverge more in terms of role playing content. ie quests, story and npc interactions should all play out differently ideally. But there is the reality of time, money and scope constraints. The new Torment game is aiming for a lot of reactivity but as a result it will be a short rpg in terms of time to completion.

 

[Aubrielle]

 

[Aubrielle]

I think that the genders in role playing games should diverge more in terms of role playing content. ie quests, story and npc interactions should all play out differently ideally. But there is the reality of time, money and scope constraints. The new Torment game is aiming for a lot of reactivity but as a result it will be a short rpg in terms of time to completion.

Some big studios definitely have the money to do this, though...easily.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

Ugh.. kratos.. there is a one dimensional character.

Show me any one dimensional character out there, that is better at pounding things to death. With subtlety, too!

 

[Silver]

Some big studios definitely have the money to do this, though…easily.

There is the general problem that rpg games are expected to have a lot of content. Imagine the Witcher 3 had a female protagonist from the get go that you could play. To do it right would require voice acting, combat skill trees, reactivity etc. The Witcher 3 would be half the size it is, which I would be okay with personally as it would make replaying more interesting.

Lots of whats made today goes back to audience expectations about size of the world, amount of content available, high fidelity graphics etc. More interesting reactivity is something that AAA games have been moving away from for some time because it is costly which is why most of my time is spent with indie rpgs.

Personally I think most of them just churn out games and have no passion for the industry at all.

 

[Wisdom]

Some big studios definitely have the money to do this, though…easily.

Are we talking about the same studios that...
Frontload content because only x# of people make it to the halfway mark.
Make increasingly shorter games because in game reporting stats show that only 20% see end game.
Cut content to sell as dlc. Season pass. Preorder scams.
Develop games to least common demominator for console or pc to attract the biggest audience?
They can tell based on stats how many times Quest A featuring a rabid dog was completed. If % complete isnt worth development time.. it wont be repeated.

In reality its all about money. The fortune they pay analysts to determine maximum profit would boggle your mind. If the market was there, the games would follow. If a developer wont even develop for Linux or Mac based on cost, you can sure bet they arent going to cater a massive budget to a relatively small group that will.. in all honesty.. buy their AAA title anyway!