What's up with calling Ubisoft sexist/racist this year?

They handled the question poorly, but it's a lose-lose situation for them. If they said, "We didn't put female assassins in the game because it didn't fit the story we're trying to tell," they would've likely still gotten called sexist despite that being a valid reason.

Also, when a website spits out article titles like "There were more severed heads than women presenters at E3 2014" and "E3 Trailers: White guys rule," it's very difficult for me to take them seriously.

Just blame Polygon...

@exfate: I think the word you're looking for is "tokenism".

It relates to what @kentonclay touched on. Maintaining an appearance of equality so as to stave off accusations of the opposite, rather than actually trying to unravel inequality.

Who are you to say what a huge billion dollar industry should be like. Many enthusiast complain about the amount of shooters, but they continue to make them because they sell. The only diffrence is people can't turn that into a moral crusade. I dont demand they stop making shooter, It's my responsibility look for different experiences. In my case I ended up playing more smaller, indie games.

@w1n5t0n: why does every turn this into "how dare you tell someone else what to do we their stuff"

I'm not saying that.

I'm more of an advocate for diversity as a means to variety.

It's easy to tell others they are overreacting when your a white male who is already well represented (not saying you specifically just speaking generalities)

No one is saying to stop making shooters. But what is stoping them from making a shooter not recycling the same story? Maybe they would make even more fans.

Diversity breeds creativity and the fact that major publishers can't get past brooding white dudes means far less interesting and unique aaa games.

Someone has to be, right?

@darkstalker: Diversity does not nescessarily breeds creativity... well not how you are thinking , because lets think in what would a genre change , say a FPS if you make the main character gay (as an example)? You will still shoot the guys just like any other game in the genre. I think most people forget that videogames are 20% story/presentation and 80% game mechanics (or something along those lines) ... and that the key part mechanics is what needs to change in order for new playing experiences to exist (well real ones anyway) Now Im not saying that having variety on the other part of the games does not do what you say it does , but this is why Im finding myself no longer trusting gaming journalist/media ... because do they know this? It seems to me thay have forgotten and it is strange , also they have access to most games for free so they play too many of them so they are tired , but they assume it is only from the story parts and not the mechanics of the game. Mind you , like I have said many times in other threads , more diversity in main characters etc is a good thing , but lets not forget that games are more than story / presentation.

Developers should just say the truth , at least that would be more "commendable" rather than making up lame excusses (as if they didnt know any better ) , why they want to keep on lying and trying to save face when journos are ready with the forks and torches its beyond me.

Shao Jun still doesn't have her own game. Put two and two together. And then yell "prejudice" at the top of your lungs.

I feel like any answer but "ok we will put a female skin in" would have netted the same results. That's all I will say about this.

@nmc2008: Perhaps, which is why I think the focus in this instance is unfortunate. Ubi's track record, to me, is pretty good where issues of diversity are concerned.

I can speak from a personal angle though and say that when I heard customization, I got excited. Maybe I can make a cool assassin lady? That would rock. This is how my mind works and where it goes, since I usually play games that allow for that level of tinkering with a character. This game doesn't have that. it has a more limited idea of customization where you're just doing variations of one guy. And that is perfectly fair for what they're doing and honestly I can't criticize them for doing a more directed approach with the co-op. Still, I got my hopes up and got let down a bit. It was similar to what happened with Deep Down. I got real excited when I thought it was a more open, customizable experience. Then I learned more, found out it wasn't, and it became way less interesting to me.

But really, did anyone expect Assassin's Creed to suddenly be that customizable? It's always been a single player, linear story experience. The co-op needs to work within that framework.

I think one of the odd things is that female assassins aren't new to Assassin's Creed. Both AC 3 and 4 had female avatars available for multiplayer. Even their last game Far Cry 3 included a female avatar in its co-op. So for them to suddenly say it was just too much work for this new game is rather silly. It's not like it would be something completely new for them to tackle.

Assassin's Creed has already been more customizable than this. Sure you still can't customize the protagonist, but customizing multiplayer and co-op characters has already been a part of Ubisoft games.

To me, this just speaks to it being an oversight with the new game. Which they could easily be honest about and just move on with. Making questionable excuses and then trying to avoid even talking about it is only making things worse. Address it honestly, take the criticism, and move on like a mature developer that has many times committed to finding new ways to improve diversity in their games.

I agree with you on a lot things. I just don't like when people demand games bend to their whims because that's how it should be.

Their were some games announced at E3 that had female players, Project Spark, Mirror's edge, Fable 3, Bayonetta, Zelda (I think), Ubisofts' The Division, That fucking Sherlock Holmes game might have one, Laura Croft, any game with character creation, etc. Lets not forget about all the games with non humanoid characters. I just think it's weird that journalists are afraid to admit maybe not that many women play big gory shooters. I'm not saying they shouldn't, just that they don't.

Do you think there might be aspects of those big gory shooters which make them less accessible to a certain segment of the gaming community?

I know for me personally, I wasn't just born liking or disliking shooters. heh.

I guess the same reason Mostly guys watch wrestling, or action movies, or whatever mostly male genre. Why do you feel that more women should play shooters, why is it a problem that they dont?

@w1n5t0n: I do think it's was lame to say a game is automatically sexist because the cgi trailer showed a male protagonist nor do I think blaming a specific company is the right way (though ubisofts pr was terrible whe questions were asked )

I don't think there is a problem questioning why games are the way they are and what they can change. Sure shooters are probably purchased by mostly males. But why does that mean there can't be strong female characters in the story?

The warrior girl in the project spark trailer had a dress and bare legs. Why is that?

There is some real questions to be asked to help move games forward but just like anything else for every good voice there is a Sean hanity to make that side seem terrible. The best thing to do is to ignore the crazies voices and try to listen to the ones who do have a point and are not being an ass about it

Hey, that we can agree on. If your on a gaming website, you probably spend time criticizing all aspects of gaming, because were passionate about it. It's just easy to get defensive about this aspect, because their so many articles telling me this is wrong and this is how I should feel. I mean Justin McElroy tweeted if you disagree with Polygon then don't go to their site. How do you not get defensive when the people who do this for a living all think the same way and don't wanna hear criticism.

Now there's the issue. We have perceptions of what are and aren't "male" interests. We have set expectations about what men and women -should- like. Many of us still have set definitions of who men and women should be attracted to. These are not things we are born with; they're things we nurture in people, often based on their sex.

While there is a perception that wrestling is a "male genre", over 35% of WWE's viewership is female, and women are often credited for popularizing televised wrestling, as it was the first opportunity for many women to be exposed to wrestling. While many people believe action movies are a male genre, women often make up a significant portion of the viewership; women reportedly made up nearly 40% of the Avengers movie's audience despite being the biggest action movie of the last few years. The makers of Call of Duty, as one of the biggest shooters in the world, announced last year that over a quarter of all COD players were women, and that number continued to grow. That was apparently a major impetus for them to finally include female character models in multiplayer.

So, the reality is, many women do enjoy a wide variety of interests, not just "women's genres", and as society becomes less entrenched in telling men and women what they should and should not enjoy, that variance is continuing to grow. Ultimately, some of the biggest factors involved are not innate differences but societal expectations.

Now there's the issue. We have perceptions of what are and aren't "male" interests. We have set expectations about what men and women -should- like. Many of us still have set definitions of who men and women should be attracted to. These are not things we are born with; they're things we nurture in people, often based on their sex.

While there is a perception that wrestling is a "male genre", over 35% of WWE's viewership is female, and women are often credited for popularizing televised wrestling, as it was the first opportunity for many women to be exposed to wrestling. While many people believe action movies are a male genre, women often make up a significant portion of the viewership; women reportedly made up nearly 40% of the Avengers movie's audience despite being the biggest action movie of the last few years. The makers of Call of Duty, as one of the biggest shooters in the world, announced last year that over a quarter of all COD players were women, and that number continued to grow. That was apparently a major impetus for them to finally include female character models in multiplayer.

So, the reality is, many women do enjoy a wide variety of interests, not just "women's genres", and as society becomes less entrenched in telling men and women what they should and should not enjoy, that variance is continuing to grow. Ultimately, some of the biggest factors involved are not innate differences but societal expectations.

It was pretty annoying that after this broke Polygon wasted time in every interview to ask developers how long it takes to animate a female avatar. Why didn't anybody ask about the skill trees in Dragon Age? Can we replace just one diversity advocate with a skill tree advocate? Just one?

My favorite genre is first person shooters, followed by western RPGs. People have this idea of what certain groups play and it's not necessarily true. I remember playing Wolfenatein 3D at a sleep over when I was 12ish. It was me and six other girls, all crowded around a PC, taking turns controlling BJ. I remember us getting to the final boss of the first episode and we literally all screamed and ran away from the computer. It was hilarious. We did go back and try to beat him, but I don't recall if we managed to or not. Later, my boyfriend (now husband) gave me Quake II with all of it's expansions as a gift. I now play Halo and Borderlands 2. I really love customizing my spartan in Halo and making her look fabulous is bright magenta armor, and I played as Lilith in BL and Maya in BL2. These developers will continue to get my money because they get that sometimes having even a cosmetic choice matters to a portion of their audience. I am a loyal customer with lots of disposable income and I always try to impress upon people in these threads that I'm not the only one out there. There is a growing audience that will vote with their wallets and buy games that allow for more options in character creation, story choices, etc.

@truthtellah: Woa woa ... nature man ... if men didnt like women the perpetuation of the species would´ve never happened , as easy as that , you can twit it all you like but nature is wiser. The fact that we can go against it is a different matter but please , it is a falacy that it is 100% social construct and nature/instinc has nothing to do with it. Now on the other hand , yeah we all can go and see play stuff directed at other genders , yet this is the stuff , we dont demand them changing because we suddenly and unexpectibly became fans of it. If in the future however a new project does take us into consideration , well cool and awesome, (I hope Im being clear in what I mean)

Did your parents know!?

I don't know what else you expected from Polygon. If there's a perceived gender politics issue with a particular game or company, that's all they'll write about for the next century.

@video_game_king: ok I deserve that! I should have written that sentence more carefully but it's almost 2 am here and I'm pooped. :)

My parents did let me rent the Snes version of Doom and play MK with my brothers so I think they were cool with my gaming proclivities, even if they were of a more hyper violent nature.

uhhh It does make sense that many are attracted to the opposite sex, but that doesn't have to do with liking videogames, movies, or anything else. The point was that human society has built up and perpetuated gender identities which often influence who prefers what, and that liking certain kinds of genres isn't restricted by sex.

A woman who likes a shooter isn't a woman enjoying a male genre; it's a woman enjoying a shooter. Her voice should be as valid as any male voice in discussing what they would like to see in shooters or any other kind of game.

@crysack said:

I was really just visiting them for some extra e3 coverage, so while I'm familiar with their reputation I'm not so familiar with their actual content. However this week really confirmed what people say. They intentionally let their agenda intrude on their coverage of the conference. I found it pretty disgraceful. (Though other than that, I enjoyed what I saw.)

I didn't see those CoD stats but that seems to be a great example that things will change not by angry journalists demanding it out of some self righteousness but because companies try to sell to people that will buy their product. Ubisoft has marketers, if half their audience for assassin's creed was female we'd probably see some pandering to that market. I just don't get why some people are acting so shocked and appalled like it's some crime against humanity.

Yeah but unfortunately you have to have some perspective. It would be silly if I get outraged romance movies don't have more dude's killing people because I don't make up a large part of their audience. Now after a while if more guys think like that, then we might have the birth of the romance-action movie. Criticizing is different from demanding something because your opinion is it should be this way. And no I'm not implying that all women like romance movies.

I don't think that people asking about and desiring more representation and options within games is quite the same thing as demanding that a genre completely change what it is.

As I noted earlier in this thread, having female avatars for multiplayer wouldn't even be new for the series; which is why it's so odd for it to no longer be an option. Their then making up bad excuses for it is worse than them simply being honest that it wasn't a big priority. For a developer which has said in the past(and even this week) that greater representation of women in games is good, it only makes sense for people to ask them about the same aspirations they themselves have set for their games.