gender-lock

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  • TERA's Korean incarnation is getting a new class this month

    by 
    Eliot Lefebvre
    Eliot Lefebvre
    12.11.2014

    Have you ever been playing TERA and thought that what the game really needed was more guns? Because the upcoming additional class (tentatively translated as Arcane Gunner) brings exactly that to the game. More guns. All of the guns, in fact. There's no space for any more guns because the ladies of this class are hauling around cannons as big as they are. Yes, ladies; much like the Elin-only Reaper, the new class is limited to High Elf and Castanic women. Aside from the aforementioned huge gun, the new class will also be able to summon sentry drones and robot helpers whilst it blows everything away. There will even be new hairstyles available. No word on when the class will arrive in the game's local incarnation, although based on the last added class, it'll be four or five months. You can wait on gunplay until April, right?

  • The Daily Grind: Are genderlocked classes anathema to MMOs?

    by 
    Bree Royce
    Bree Royce
    08.11.2012

    In my recent foray into Path of Exile, an upcoming online Roguelike, I was startled to realize that the game's classes are wholly genderlocked. Like Diablo II, Path of Exile locks each class to a given gender. If you want to play a Ranger, you're playing a female toon. If you prefer the Templar, you're playing a dude. And while there are hints that the game might sell more customization in the future cash shop, the current alpha-test gender count stands at four men to two women. I was startled because even Diablo III shed this model. I assumed that a game's survival in an MMO space, especially a borderline MMO, depends heavily on how much players identify with their characters. And it seems particularly jarring that a game with such an impressively deep skill system would limit character customization and gender so dramatically. So what do you think -- are genderlocked classes anathema to MMOs? Would you play a class in spite of its gender, or have you ever picked a class specifically because you prefer to play a certain gender? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!