My wife took one look at Team Fortress 2 when I got it and immediately wanted to play. She took a second look at it, and hasn’t played it… her one complaint, “There are no females.”
Looking out across the FPS landscape, its usually generally a safe bet that my wife won’t want to play them. First off, she doesn’t like PvP in most games. Secondly, the grim and gritty realism that many games try to attain just doesn’t interest her. But when she saw the outlandish graphics of TF2, she was willing to put aside the dislike for PvP (“I think I want to play a Medic.”) and give it a shot. But without being able to play a woman, she lost interest again.
Just this week I was reading Games for Windows magazine’s March issue and perusing the article on the new Battlefield game: Battlefield Heroes. Once again, she saw the stylized graphics and immediately wanted to know more. So I showed her the article and dug around the Internet for more info. Not one single scrap mentions female characters, likely because there aren’t any… no more interest in the game.
I’d really like to play some FPS games with my wife, so, please, could someone put a game with really cool stylized graphics AND have female models in it? Please?
I see both sides here. On the one hand, I can understand wanting to play your own gender if only to identify yourself and possibly identify with your avatar when you’re playing.
On the other hand – and the one I am leaning toward – this isn’t WoW or some other MMO with tons of customizable features. It’s a console multiplayer FPS. If your inability to play a character with tits ruins the game for you, I don’t see how you could enjoy most console games period.
Can’t she pretend she’s playing a really REALLY butch chick?
TF2, while available for console, is really an PC title… you console fanboys just got lucky they decided to port it over. 🙂
I could totally back that position in a game with a story and cut scenes, because you are usually playing a defined single character. But I am talking about games without storylines. So, why not have more customizable characters? Or just at least 1 female…
In FPS games, you are pretty much either a hot chick or a battle hardened tough guy. Would people play Tomb Raider if it was an ugly chick? If had been a guy, odds are he’d have a scar on his face and be a barrel chested muscular monster of a man.
Hey I think that is a great idea. I know a few girls that would like to play in game.
I dont agree with that, because this is a ww2 universe and change the concept for introducing womens to the battle field, will kill the essence and toughnes of this universe, so imagine a match with only womens on the field… this is suposed a ww2 title or what, is disappointing that scene in a game like this… if this game will be a futuristic o actual war title ok, but is old fashioned war title, and change the concept because a women cant pick a female player for play… is like a men said for example “i expect thet the barbie games titles were more masculine because i cant identify myself in the game”
While the comparison to Barbie does have its merits, the fact is Barbie wears its allegance on its sleeve. Barbie is labeled “for girls”. I’ll concede this point for video games when they start labeling them “for boys”. But they won’t, because they realize that women gamers are a growing population of viable consumers and while they may not cater to them, they also don’t want to openly exclude them.
Franco, Battlefield Heroes is ostensibly set in WW2, but it’s so far from realistic it’s not even funny. I understand that females on the battlefield will make it seem less “real”, but so will that plane whizzing by with two guys sitting on the wings, or that tank that is taller than it is long.
Cartoon shooters should give the option for either gender. I’d love to see the female versions of all the Team Fortress two characters. Although the Pyro should look and sound identical for both genders. 🙂
Has the entire world forgot about unreal tournament?
Jicky Unreal tournament did a few things that really made it stand apart many games, but i think they didn’t mention it simply because the game never truly stand out of the others that created a new genre. They simply reinforced a game style that was already introduced.
Team fortress was the first of its kind… Same with Duke Nukem and Castle Wolfenstein 3D.
Its like Weapons factory, it was really good at the time. But again its team fortress that started the style. But they did’nt mention it either.
As for Women character in Battlefield Heroes i say Go for it! The game is for FUN aftherall. Not realism.
Actually, team fortress 2 has one female character. The pyro is a girl. If you look into the lockers of the characters, the pyro’s locker has a purse in it. Don’t believe me, look for yourself.
if barbie is a game labeled “for girls”, what is exactly a game labeled “for boys”???
^^ Hi there ! Actually i play TF2, and i though about a skin i saw recently. OK it’s a skin, not allowing u to play on “pure” servers, but at least, this is the only female skin i found !
http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/screens/39114?img=http://image.hazardstrip.com/ss/srends/31004.jpg
I am quite impressed with BF Franchise going cartoony and think some things like Women Characters are just a matter of time….as the MOD community love to tweak the hell out of things…it will turn up within a few months of realease I would say.
I bet there will be Women versions of the TF2 Chracters as wel one day…they probably already are done and waiting to miraculously appear after an Update.
I was always wanting to see the original Enemy Territory Fortress characters
be ripped from the Original Wolfenstein…The Sex Leather Chick with the Sten…the NAsty Monster dude with the Twin Cannons….all great Character classes built for Multi Play…
Vwalla !!!
Theres not women who fight in WW2. So lets play with Men and keep it like that.
As far as Im concerned BF Heros is a work of fiction set in a world war 2 environment and not actualy based on any real WW 2 history so why can’t a female soldier be in the game, after all G.I. Joe has the Baroness who (to me at least) looks like a WW 2 nazi, and didn’t they do a WW 2 era comic with giant tranforming robots a while back. I think even scarlet was in that one. I’m not saying they should put women in the game or even robots for that matter (heaven forbid) but is just a game and a fictional one too. Besides this game reminds me of the Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher comic and there is at least two girls in that one, one short cute american and one very exaggerated Nazi chick. There is even an animated short go check it out.
Interesting thought: would gamers go for a “women optional” atmosphere? That is, some servers allow female models, others are guys-only. Not sure how this approach would be received.
From what I know of WWII, integration (both with females and black people) was a touchy issue, but tackled earnestly. Everyone knows about “Rosie the Riveter”, Mata Hari, Anne Frank, and those all-black platoons (such as the Tuskeegee Airmen).
The only problem I see with female personas in Battlefield is that there still are a lot of immature people, and they most undoubtedly outnumber the rest of us. The only teabagging I laughed at was with a walker on 2142. Are we ready for simulated sex and molestation?
You can always trot that out as a possible issue… but other games already have male and female models, and I haven’t seen a huge outcry over sexism.
well, at least no one’s brought up politics yet..then this would really turn into an argument..
hey jason, will your wife play SW battlefront? the snipers in that game are girls =P
well…for the rebels anyway..
by-the-way, you probably won’t see me on this site again, mostly since i don’t feel like adding it to favorites or memorizing the address.
its not setin WW2! thats a common misconseption. so stop saying its in WW2
Actually, Valve keep hinting that the Pyro might actually be a woman. So it’s very well possible that there is a woman character in TF2.
I say that if they have to hint that a character might be a woman, then it misses the point…
So maybe women in a “WW2” environment isn’t realistic, which is the argument most use, but it’s obvious the game isn’t shooting for realism when customization options allow for skull face paint, the Indiana Jones look, or trucker hats.
I’ve also read about a ‘time’ issue, where it would take more effort and time to add female models and their emotes and whatnot, but with the game being delayed so much, what the hell else are they doing? Adding female characters is a must-do nowadays, unless there is a storyline to follow, and even then, a lot of games alter the story for the female counterpart if need be.
Choosing and creating a female character is purely aesthetic; the content of the game is what should matter, right? But aren’t all those options to customize your MALE character purely aesthetic as well? They’re to set us apart. The inability to have a character with “tits” does not completely ruin the game for me; I’ll still play if it’s a good game. But if the men can wear trucker hats and capes and monocles, then why the hell can’t I have my breasts? And I’m not talking huge-breasted curvy women that adhere to the feminine stereotype, just something to set us apart.
I’ve made my argument. Hopefully they realize soon enough that the female gaming group is growing astonishingly quick, and they’ll make the necessary adjustments.
Just try out Perfect Dark Zero on XBox 360. It’s one of the best shooters and the hero is a very good looking girl.
Play medal of honor allied assualt and call of duty finest hour if you like the idea of women in war titels
MGS4 Online lets you play as a female soldier.
Give that a try!
So what are some of you guys saying, that women shouldn’t matter to this game? Just play in a male skin and deal with it? How many of you guys would still be looking forward to this release if all they had were female skins and you were just told to “deal with it?” It doesn’t matter, does it?
Women make up THE MAJORITY OF THE WORLD POPULATION. As guys love to point out, women love to shop. If you’re going to build a game that relies on advertising, why would you try to alienate the very people that do the shopping? The developers had the time and creativity to create a dozen unique male characters, but not a single female one? Are you serious? Do we not matter?
I’ve been an active FPS player for near 10 years, and I know of many women who would jump on this game if we were recognized, or boycott the game if it marginalizes our very existence. I know girls that won’t play Call of Duty 4 for this exact reason.
I run 15 active game servers for one women’s gaming community, and ALL of our served games are FPS. We do game and we do compete, and no we DON’T want to play Barbie or build pink communities or create colorful furry animals or whatever other misguided crap the current game manufacturers THINK we want. For the game manufacturers to smite us at a time when they’re trying to grow the number of female gamers would be an extremely foolish move. If EA doesn’t want to cater to the women player, maybe I should replace my EA game servers with games from manufacturers that DO care. Don’t think we have the numbers to make a difference? I know of women’s gaming clans that have hundreds, even thousands of female members. Should we test the boycott theory? Is it even worth the potential negative publicity? This is the internet and hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
I put up with the “male only” characters in Call of Duty 4, but I refuse to do it again in Call of Duty World at War, and like the first posters wife, I won’t do it for Battlefield Heroes. You may not want to game with the girls, but if everyone thought that way, I question why 70% of the people registering in my women’s gaming forum are male.
Some try to justify exclusion because it’s a WWII type theme, but wake up and realize that this is a game, not reality. Can you not tell that from looking at the animation?