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The Daily Grind: Do you genderbend in MMOs?
I've complained about genderlocked classes in MMOs before, but the truth is, genderlocking is abnormal for MMOs. Barring anomalies like Prime World, in which you're required to play a character matching your account's declared gender, most MMOs let us choose, and choose we do. Some people prefer to stick to their own gender with their characters, maybe because they feel more comfortable when roleplaying or don't want to confuse potential teammates on voice chat. Others welcome the chance to don different shoes, possibly motivated by a wish to see the world through new eyes (or cast those eyes on a shapely rear-end... ahem). And players of Cube World (shown in the pic) are thinking the question is silly since there's hardly any difference between the genders anyway, and besides, frogmen. So what about you? Do you roll characters as the gender you identify with in the real world, or do you genderswap? Why do you do what you do, and has it ever caused you any problems or provided a new perspective? 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!
Natural Selection 2 introducing female marines
The female TSF Marine will join the battle of Natural Selection 2 in the game's next update, scheduled for August. The character was one of the first announcements made for post-launch content and developer Unknown Worlds revealed the final render of the game's 3D model on its site. "The game industry has a history of depicting female characters inappropriately," wrote Unknown Worlds' Hugh Jeremy as part of the announcement. "Often, they are stylized to such a degree that they become sexual objects: While their male comrades are clothed, armed and armored to fight, the female character is notable for the lack of any clothing at all. When female characters are granted equal protection, that protection often ignores basic laws of physics in favor of offering titillating form." And if you feel good after reading that, don't read the comments found on Unknown World's announcement. Just don't. Don't.
Sony Online Entertainment announces the winner of the sixth G.I.R.L. scholarship
Today's students of game design are tomorrow's designers and developers. Esther Wu is proof of that fact, as she's just received a $10,000 scholarship toward tuition and other educational expenses courtesy of Sony Online Entertainment, as well as a 10-week paid internship at SOE's San Diego headquarters. She's the winner of the sixth annual G.I.R.L. (Gamers in Real Life) scholarship, a program designed to help encourage young women to pursue design and development careers in the game industry. Wu, like all competitors, was tasked with submitting concept art for either EverQuest II or PlanetSide 2 along with an essay about the state of women in the game industry. She currently attends the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. Our congratulations go out to Ms. Wu and her fellow applicants, and we hope that all of those involved pursue careers in the industry in the future.
E3 2013: Prime World tones down gender issues
The MOBA-slash-city builder known as Prime World was an important stop during our grand E3 tour this year. We've been interested in hearing Nival's been preparing this Russian hit for a larger audience since seeing it in action in March. The game is currently in closed beta testing for a North American release. A Nival developer was on hand to give us an overview about what makes Prime World stand out as well as to answer a few questions about the sticky issue of gender choice (or lack thereof). Join us as we stroll through a brightly colored battlefield and consider where we'll set up shop when this title lands in NA.
App Camp for Girls would introduce girls to coding
The App Camp for Girls is a recently unveiled Indiegogo project that's designed to provide support for young girls interested in putting together iPhone and mobile apps. The camp itself is planned for a run in Portland later this year, and will allow girls to go through all of the steps of putting an app together, including brainstorming ideas, building out storyboards and putting the app together in Xcode, and then even pitching their finals apps to a panel of investors. The project is seeking about US$50,000, which isn't cheap, but will provide for all of the hardware, software and (wo)manpower needed to keep the App Camp rolling. TUAW's very own Kelly Guimont is serving as a volunteer organizer on the project, and we're proud, as a site, to serve as a media sponsor. Despite all of the improvements made over the last few years, there is still a major gender imbalance when it comes to app and game development. Projects like this can help young women and girls realize that they can enjoy building apps and code skills, too, and in the end, that will mean more and better options for all of us who enjoy using great software. If you're interested in helping the cause, please do head over to Indiegogo and support the App Camp for Girls.
Hawken employees genderflip CEO's sexy lady poster, have a laugh
Hawken publisher Meteor Entertainment has a handle on the gender equality gig, with ladies making up a solid half of its executive branch, according to a female employee's post on The Hawkeye Initiative. "Our gender awareness standards, compared to the industry at large, are top shelf," she writes. "We are talking Amelia Earhart in Atlantis, at a five star resort, getting a mani-pedi from Jensen Ackles. I have it good." But CEO Mark Long (a dude, if that wasn't apparent) had a penchant for the sexy lady poster above (on the left, if that wasn't apparent), and the writer didn't particularly care for it. It was blown up to poster size and placed in his office so that it was the first thing the writer – and all visitors – saw upon entering, and the last thing when leaving. "This little lady's undermeats have been the open- and close-parens to my work world for the last six months," she described. "I loathe this picture." So she did something about it. The writer roped in a co-worker and artist, Sam Kirk, to whip up a gender-swapped version of the poster, which they named Brosie the Riveter. They blew it up to the same poster size, and on April 1, they swapped it with the female one in their CEO's office. When Long saw the poster, he flipped. But then he came up to the writer and said something truly touching: "That was a brilliant prank. You called me on exactly the bullshit I need to be called on. I put up pictures of half-naked girls around the office all the time and I never think about it. I'm taking you and Sam to lunch. And after that, we're going to hang both prints, side by side." And so they did. The end.
Donkey Kong hack gives Pauline the central role, 32 years later (video)
Mario's quest to rescue Pauline in Donkey Kong is one of the most famous in video gaming -- and also a prominent reminder that women in games are often reduced to level objectives. Mike Mika's 3-year-old daughter wasn't happy with this lopsided state of affairs, which led Mike to redress the balance through a customized NES edition of the game. His version swaps the roles completely, giving Pauline full freedom of movement while Mario waits for her to come to his rescue. The tweak is a simple one, but it mends what many would say is a decades-old imbalance while giving Mike more than a few brownie points as a dad. Can we see an official port, please?
The Soapbox: Yes, Virginia, sexism still exists
About two years ago (two decades in internet years), I wrote a piece about sexism as it pertains to MMOs. I didn't write anything about it for a long while afterward because I would just be reiterating points that were stated in the first article, something I'm not fond of doing. But when I wrote another article praising a game for mostly getting equality right, well... I'm not fond of rehashing old points. But I'm also not fond of the idea that people have evolved from saying "it's not sexist" to "oh, there's no sexism here in the first place." As I said two years ago, there's a lot that MMOs get right that gaming in general still gets wrong. But there's also a lot that MMOs get wrong still. So I want to look at the issue, look at some of the common attempts to pretend it's not really an issue, and possibly provide some links of relevant interest. There are a lot of those.
The Daily Grind: Should gender and race matter in MMO character creation?
Camelot Unchained, Mark Jacobs' upcoming RvR-based MMO, is dipping into the old-school well in more ways than one. One design feature that caught my eye is the promise that racial and gender choices will influence character stats. MMO players are pretty used to the ancient RPG idea that some races or species are going to be better at magic or archery or punching people in the face or pressing Will of the Forsaken than others, but non-cosmetic gender differences are something that very few MMOs embrace. Even accidental gender imbalances send players into a tizzy. The implication in CU is that these initial starting stats will be changeable based on what characters actually do, such that an Elf woman who does nothing but swing hammers will bulk up or Viking thug who practices his poetry will see that reflected in his charisma skill (I am making these examples up). But the idea that my character might start at a stereotypical disadvantage still bugs me and makes me wonder how many min-maxers out there will just play to those stereotypes because they feel they must, thereby homogenizing the character makeup of the whole game. What about you guys? Do you think that gender and race/species should matter in MMO character creation as it matters in certain other RPGs? 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!
Halo 4 gets tough on sexist players
343 Industries wants to make it clear: It will brook no further discrimination of any kind in Halo 4. Executive producer Kiki Wolfkill and studio head Bonnie Ross say that sexist discrimination of any kind will be met with a lifetime ban from both the game and the Xbox Live network.Ross says that "most people look at a franchise like Halo, and automatically assume it's run by a guy," but this particular franchise is run by a few ladies, and they're not having any discriminatory nonsense in their latest sequel.We agree with the sentiment, and hope that the harsh penalties make sure that the losers who make sexist and other offensive comments get shown the door for good. The ideal should be to make sure all forms of this offensive discrimination are squashed as far and wide as possible, no matter who's running the show.
Nielsen says game consoles get men to use TV more: hurray, we think
We're not sure if we should always cheer figures that reflect sedentary behavior. Still, chalk one up for greater (if superficial) gender equality. Nielsen finds that, as of this past March, men who owned a modern game console like the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 or Wii were using their TVs almost as much as women: while males in the broader population typically spend 37 fewer minutes in front of the big screen every day than females, that gap shrank to a negligible 11 minutes when console use came into play. Unfortunately, the agency doesn't say just what's getting men to tune in for that much longer. Gaming is the most likely culprit, but a raft of streaming video options could have some of those refined couch potatoes watching Hulu or Netflix instead of playing one more round of Gears of War. If consoles have people of all genders spending more time together, we're in favor of it; given that men still spend over twice as much time on consoles as women, though, it's clear there's still a bridge to cross if we want more of a balance in the kinds of TV activity we enjoy.
Notch: Minecraft occupies a genderless world, even for that guy
Minecraft mastermind Markus Persson, better known by the sexually ambiguous alias "Notch," has cleared up the matter of gender in Minecraft's boxy world with a blog post. Simply put, there is no gender in the game, even for Steve, the default character. "He" got "his" title when Notch jokingly answered a question regarding the main avatar's name with "Steve?""The human model is intended to represent a Human Being. Not a male Human Being or a female Human Being, but simply a Human Being," Notch writes."The blocky shape gives it a bit of a traditional masculine look, but adding a separate female mesh would just make it worse by having one specific model for female Human Beings and male ones. That would force players to make a decisions about gender in a game where gender doesn't even exist."Notch touched on this subject at GDC, during his fireside chat with SpyParty's Chris Hecker. Making a female character model wouldn't only be strange-looking, as Notch said then, but it would be completely unnecessary in a genderless world. Even the animals are neutral (rather than neutered)."Cows have horns and udders (even if I've later learned that there are some cows where the females do have horns), and the chicken/duck/whatevers have heads that look like roosters, but still lay eggs," Notch writes. "For breeding, any animal can breed with any other animal of the same species."Notch notes that this particular post serves only to provide official clarification on gender questions in Minecraft. Oh, also: "As a fun side fact, it means every character and animal in Minecraft is homosexual because there's only one gender to choose from. Take THAT, homophobes!"
Choose My Adventure: Preparing for TERA
The initial Choose My Adventure poll always goes to the game that gets its community moving. This time around, it was TERA, and that means that I'll be spending the next six weeks knee-deep in huge monsters and active combat. And per tradition, this week will be an overview of the game for those who know nothing about it; the polls to determine how I start out. Fun for all! I'm hard-pressed to think of a game that I've had a more back-and-forth relationship with than TERA. When I first heard about the game, it didn't make an impression on me. Then I started seeing the screenshots, and I was interested. Then I saw more, and I was suddenly less interested... and then I started hearing about the game's actual gameplay, and I swung back around in the other direction. It's a polarizing game for a lot of people, but it's a game that deserves a little more love past those elements.
Drama Mamas: The consequences of lying about your gender
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. Sometimes commenters will suggest that we have received a fake letter. I hope this week's is, although that's actually irrelevant. This kind of thing does happen, unfortunately. Dear Drama Mamas, I am writing to you today in need of your coveted wisdom and advice. First just let me inform you that I am a gay man of age 16 in real, and that this type of situation has happened before, but in different variations. Here's my problem.. It all began with an innocent night outside the gates out Stormwind city. I was sat on the grass opposite a guy. He began talking to me very nicely, I replied, and we got on well. We were talking about random topics for around 10 minutes and became instantaneous friends. He was kind, polite and had top notch spelling and grammar (Which I loved). He went on to ask me personal questions. Such as age, place of residence etc. I had asked these questions first so I thought it would be fair to answer his.
Ji Firepaw's beta dialog gets a rewrite
Folks closely following the Mists of Pandaria beta may recall that Ji Firepaw had some problematic interactions with player characters. Without getting too deep into the controversy, Ji praised male characters for their strength but praised female characters for their appearance. Sharp-eyed Alewen reports that interaction has been changed. Ji now simply greets characters by saying, "You seem poised and ready. I can tell we are going to be good friends." This means Ji is no longer concerned about physical attractiveness; Ji remarks only on all characters' readiness for battle.
Prime World charges women less to play, 'protects' them in mixed groups [Updated]
It's ladies night at Prime World, and drinks are on the house. The upcoming MOBA is offering unique incentives to rope in real-world women to play, including discounted heroes and special buffs if girls team up with guys. The game is connected to players' Facebook accounts, so women looking for special treatment need to actually be a member of that gender. Nival's Creative Producer Larisa Nuretdinova hopes this will expand Prime World's potential audience: "The idea is to introduce the MOBA genre not only to hardcore players who already love it, but to their friends who might be more casual, and of course to their sisters and girlfriends who may not be as hardcore." To encourage both sexes to group up together, Nival has devised a special defensive buff that is only activated when a woman playing a female character is part of the team. According to Prime World's About page, "this bonus helps encourage beginning female players, who feel more helpful when fighting in a mixed group." Prime World offers six heroes for free, three of each gender; additional heroes can be purchased with actual money. It's here, too, that real-world women have an advantage, as Nival is offering a discount for the ladies who go shopping in the game. [Update: Kotaku reports that Nival later clarified that it is offering discounts for both genders purchasing the same gendered character.]
The Daily Grind: Are MMO players tired of beefcake?
A few months ago, The Mary Sue published an intriguing article about why men play female characters in MMOs, and the answer might surprise you. While some men surveyed wanted to play lady toons for immersion reasons or eyecandy reasons, many of them had a much simpler motive: They were sick of beefcake. They were willing to play men, but they just couldn't relate to big hulking dudes with huge muscles and tiny heads, and those are often the types of male characters offered in video games. MMOs like Star Wars: The Old Republic and Guild Wars and City of Heroes offer "huge" male characters as options, while World of Warcraft is a serial offender. We usually focus on gender issues as they pertain to the portrayal of women in MMOs, so today I want to turn the tables and ask you about the portrayal of men. Are you annoyed when male characters MMOs look like they're hitting the steroids a bit too hard, and do you find such characters relatable or offensive? In other words, are you tired of beefcake in MMOs? 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!
Does gender matter when designing your user interface?
Each week, WoW Insider and Mathew McCurley bring you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which spotlights the latest user interface addons. Have a screenshot of your own UI that you'd like to submit? Send your screenshots along with info on what mods you're using to readerui@wowinsider.com, and follow Mathew on Twitter. Our interface today comes from lady gamer Rinjichan. I would not be so inclined to point out that Rinjichan is a woman if Rinjichan herself did not make it a subject of conversation. Why, you would ask, would a discussion of gender be relevant to a discussion about user interfaces? Plenty of reasons, actually. Do genders approach user interfaces differently? Do men and women identify different elements of the UI as important or relevant? Go beyond the stereotypical pink bottom bar and look at the placement of addons, the structure of the buttons, and the overall layout. These are the things that interest me, as well as whether or not a user interface can have gender ascribed to it.
Leaderboard: Playing same gender vs. opposite gender
It amazes me that I still get weird looks/comments in 2012 whenever I mention that I typically play a female character even though I live and breathe pure testosterone. My wife used to rib me about it, but then she rolled a male Sith Warrior in SWTOR, decked him out with tattoos, and said, "This? Here? Is a REAL MAN. And now I'm going to spend 300 hours with him." This will probably come up in our marriage counseling sessions at some point in the future. In any case, I thought we were past the era when rolling a character of the opposite gender was an oddity, but these discussions over whether or not this is appropriate or weird roll through the community more regularly than the tide. Some people simply identify more with an avatar of the same gender, but some enjoy roleplaying into a different sex entirely. So today's Leaderboard is real simple-like, see? Are you compelled to roll your gender in (almost) every game, or do you more often than not take walks on the wild side of the bathroom stalls? Let's hear it for the boys! Or girls!
Face-recognizing billboard ad identifies gender: no boys allowed (video)
A new face recognition ad will only reveal its full contents to women. It uses a "high-definition" camera to scan people's faces, detecting their gender with an apparent 90 percent success rate. The charity, Plan UK, is looking to raise funds to sponsor education for girls living in developing countries; the outdoor display will run the full advert for female viewers, while men will get a brief glimpse followed by directions to the charity's website. It's aiming to demonstrate the limits put on young women in some countries -- and is a pretty admirable use of facial recognition technology. Well, it's not withholding pudding from minors. Check the bus display in action on the streets of London right after the break.
