This Isn't the Year for Female Protagonists

[@hydraslayer8469]

Most of the complaints I personally have heard (ymmv) have been about *ugly* protagonists, who tend to be made by ppl who don't care about gaming and are just chasing whatever can make money easily independent of quality or what the consumer wants, and thus more likely to pander for DEI investors by making the protagonists woke. So they assume if there is an ugly female or non-binary lead that there won't be quality behind the game.

[@AKGN]

I've def heard those too. In all I think the top complaints I've heard to far is female protagonists in general, ugly female protagonists, or wokeness in general. Imo I think that it's awesome to have more of a character that looks like they're going through what they're going through. TBH if you were in space, going through the same types of things, I don't think their would be much "attractiveness" to anyone.. given the circumstances. So I dig reality when it comes to what scenarios are being played out. I wouldn't say it was made by people who don't love gaming, most people go to school for years to learn the art to get into the field they've always wanted to be in. It's too much work for it to be handed to people like that. I will say they def want to go more towards consumerism than authenticity across the board, I would say a mix of wanting to make a profit, and wanting to appease player base. We'll just have to see I guess whether or not any of these games falls into those categories, or other categories like being misunderstood before it happens. I think a whole lot of that has to do with the gender movement. There's a definite line between people who care, and people who hate it.. then you have a majority that just don't care.. and I think given history it's better to not care and join player tests, closed betas, and any kind of game testing you can do to make sure that voice is being heard. "Good games matter. Well thought out stories, matter. Well thought out characters, matter." Along of course with other important things like mechanics. That's what I think will make sure the industry stays unique, fresh, and true to what it should be.

[@OldGameFiction]

I remember the first female protagonist choiceI played in Below the Root, a Commodore 64 game based on a book series by (a woman), Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Quite a fascinating and innovative game with unique sounds and gameplay (the shuba!) I still go back to play it in emulation now and then.

[@AKGN]

Yasssss I LOVE THE COMMODORE 64.. omg talk about funnnn. I do not however know what Below the Root is.. so I know what I'll be emulating soon 😍 that's dope you still go back and play older games. That's a fav hobby of mine.

[@OldGameFiction]

@@AKGN Hope you like it! A neat tidbit, Zilpha considered the game she helped work on a canon extension of her books!

[@blackraptormoses6838]

It comes down to the entitlement of the writers nowadays. They do everything they think makes for a compelling character because its compelling to them, and then get confused as to why only they and their circle of friends seem to like the character. Basically they think making a woman successful means making her strong and capable, without really caring how she succeeds or what motivates her to do so. As long as she wins the story is good.

[@AKGN]

I would say yes and no, does that happen.. absolutely. We get that in all forms of entertainment. However I don't think it happens ALL the time now, with every title. I wouldn't even say a majority of the titles, if you include all games not just AAA. I will also say, it would make it easier on companies if they actually showed their playtests. Whether it be actually showing it in video form, or having someone cover what went down. Because most big companies aren't doing inside playtests like people think they are. They're outsourcing to players, because big name companies don't want a flop. I think it would end a whole lot of arguments if that was to happen.

[@ReviveGuyv]

Okay, yeah. I think the negative reaction to Intergalactic is premature. We've barely seen a GAME yet.

[@AKGN]

So far dude, you are the onlyyyyy person that's on team "It doesn't make sense to jump to conclusions".. and I LOVE IT

[@DmadPs]

That's the problem, naughty dog always has the best trailers And they chose to show us that? Bunch of logos and a kinda overused setting, and then on top of that a visual bland characters that shows no personality on the trailer. Just watch last of us 1 and last of us 2 original trailer.

[@AKGN]

@@DmadPs I mean I tooooootally get only being shown bits and pieces, or more of a flashy feel without giving any real story. But they do that, and so do a whole lot of companies. Now I'm not saying every game trailer is like that, but a whole lot do. It's like movies in that respect imo. I will say now, Naughty Dog also falsely advertised in their trailers for TLoU 2. I can't remember if they did for one, but they def did for 2. And that's bologna, but it happened. And we forget about those little things.

[@KarolZiom]

I remember when I was a kid the first female protagonist that I played as was Lara Croft in Tomb Raider Anniversary and she was so fun. She did got into trouble, but she also was a very skilled person. Like she knew gymnastics, how to use fire arms, archeology and history. And she only got better (I didn't play reboots because gameplay is not for me). I never had problem with playing as a female. I don't care about looks, but only about personality and skills. If character has those two than great, but if she also looks decent/great it is also acceptable. That's why I didn't care about Abby in the last of us because she was insufferable and honestly a bad person. Like she was willing to kill a woman that was pregnant. That kills all of the sympathy for her. TL:DR I think protagonist that is a woman needs to be well written first like any good protagonist not other way around

[@AKGN]

I feel that way def all the way around. Regardless of who I'm playing, I care more that it's a well written story.. Like that matters so much to me, that and I feel like mechanics as well. It's the foundation of what makes a game great, and what might break a game before it even starts.

[@Tamilan40K]

i think they complain because the story and the character made with the female protagonist is crap. I mean i like to see games with female protagonist only if it is well written and have a strong foundation to support the character. For example take warhammer 40k it has adeptus sororitas a chapter of female space marines with strong character and development or laura croft from tomb raider. We need to see female characters with fully fleshed out characteristics like flaws, personality, reasons for their actions but all we get now is a women who has all the things she needs no effort is putted behind to feel like its earned. They even did it with the what if series where captain carter wielded thors hammer, the six infinity stones etc without any issues like iron man died wielding those stones this just makes the sacrifice looks like waste. There was no struggle in controlling such power, no consequences , she is better than everyone and we should just accept it. That is what we hate about the current female protagonist.

[@AKGN]

I mean I can def see that, I was sad Forsaken was sooo bad, it had some serious potential on being a good game. I def agree with you when it comes to making sure the characters are FULLY fleshed out. But it's also just the beginning of the story for some of these characters. We don't really know the whole who, what, why, when, or where of the whole yet.. and I think people are jumping to conclusions by just the tiny bread crumbs we have seen, that it'll be crap. I'm NOT saying it won't be.. we've seen great games do HORRIBLE at launch (cyberpunk), but that doesn't mean that these stories that have been revealed will end up being bad or not worth the play. It's too soon imo.