On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 03:22:00PM -0600, Monique Y. Mudama wrote: > On 2008-07-24, Kevin Mark penned: > > > > "Our priority is our users" might have originally been "Our priority > > is our male users", not that I think Dev's did it intentionally. So > > any attempt to add a 'wishlist' feature in a way that makes our > > software more inclusive of 'all' of our users, sounds like a great > > suggestion. And anything that does not 'heat the coffee of the > > cabal' aka invoke flamewars is a good approach. I did not mean to > > single-out magicmaze, it was just something that crossed my view and > > sparked the idea. So thanks for the great feedback. > > Warning -- rambling post without concrete answers to follow. > > This is a difficult issue. If games in general provided a greater > variety of protagonists, we probably wouldn't be bothered by the few > that didn't. One game having a male protagonist isn't a big deal; > (almost) all of them having a male protagonist is more problematic. > > Then there is a question of how best to spend development time. If > the game wasn't written to accomodate multiple protagonists, it may be > a large (and potentially tedious) effort to add them. How many users, > potential or current, will benefit from the effort? Can that even be > measured? > > And what does it mean to have female protagonists? Are the behaviors > exactly the same as the male protagonist, just with a different body? > Or do they change, and if so, how? And if they change, will the > resulting changes come across as realistic and correct, or patronizing > and sexist? Different people might have different answers. > > > Could a suggestion to: "make your software more inclusive of > > different users based upon gender, race, etc. when possible" sound > > too forcefull? -Kev > > As a feature request for particular games, I think it's great to > submit feedback that you'd like to have more options -- especially if > you can frame it in terms of people who would actually change their > behavior based on the change. In other words, it may be a bit empty > to suggest that the developers should make changes to their game just > in case some women would be more likely to play, or feel happier > playing a game they already play, or because in a nebulous way having > a female option would make all gamers more aware of gender issues. > Something more concrete, like "my daughter is interested in your game, > but is put off by the lack of a character with whom she can identify"? > Or even better, "I'm a man, but I like to play female characters > sometimes; I find that enhances the replayability of games for > me." I think some number of men might be tempted to submit a feature > request for an attractive female protagonist, in the case of a > non-first person view. > > And of course, you have to be careful what you wish for =) A lot of > female characters are portrayed in ways that make some women wince. > Is the adjustable breast size in Age Of Conan a step forward or > backward in society's perceptions of women? I'm not sure there's a > simple answer. > > So ultimately, while I think the intention of having greater variety > in gaming protagonists is a great idea, I wonder if it's not a more > complicated request than it seems at first blush. And I don't think > it belongs in any Debian developer guide ... > > But, I'm just a random Debian user, not anyone with authority =) >
Thanks for the thoughtful answer. It certainly bringings up more questions. Hopefully one game in Debian can have a female character that is not a bad steriotype. -K -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux == | my web site: | | : :' : The Universal |mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/| | `. `' Operating System | go to counter.li.org and | | `- http://www.debian.org/ | be counted! #238656 | | my keyserver: subkeys.pgp.net | my NPO: cfsg.org | |join the new debian-community.org to help Debian! | |_______ Unless I ask to be CCd, assume I am subscribed _______| -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
