That can be cool, but I bet there is a huge marketing department that crunched the numbers that found out that 13 year old and bros don't like to play as girls.
Grand Theft Auto V
Game » consists of 21 releases. Released Sep 17, 2013
- Xbox 360
- PlayStation 3
- PlayStation Network (PS3)
- Xbox 360 Games Store
- + 5 more
- PlayStation 4
- Xbox One
- PC
- Xbox Series X|S
- PlayStation 5
Rockstar returns to the fictional state of San Andreas with a crew of three criminal protagonists who work together to pull off a series of high-profile heists.
Playing as a female protagonist
@GlenTennis said:
@mosespippy said:
I don't see it happening. They sell too many copies to 13 year olds who wouldn't want to play as a girl.
I don't remember who it was, but I remember seeing a long article interviewing a game developer about this point exactly. You have to remember first and foremost they want a game that sells, then maybe a game that innovates. While the audience of gamers is growing both in gender equality and age, there is a huge audience of people out there who have the mentality that they don't want to play as a girl, whether it be that the majority of males who play games can see themselves as the protagonist better, or straight up sexism. I would love to see it, but I don't think it will happen with a game this major any time soon, though I hope I'm wrong.
That was probably one of the devs on the new True Crime game. They started with a female protagonist and had to change it to male because "the suits" were afraid it won't sell well.
I too played as a female in Saints Row 2 and it was a lot of fun, but I don't see this happening with GTA especially as Rockstar tries to go more realistic. The biggest hurdle is the audience's ability to accept a women in the typical GTA role. After that, too many men can't interpret being a woman, so it creates a barrier between them and the game. Look at FemShepard in Mass Effect. Very popular, yes but still most gamers played through the story as a male. Bioware even released information stating that 18% chose to play as FemShepard while the remaining 82% went XY. Rockstar doesn't need create new impediments for the franchise, so while I would enjoy it, not enough other consumers would.
Rockstar would be the ones who could "get away with it" so to speak but i don't think it's gonna happen nor do i think i'd want to see it.
Because, realistically, if they put a female lead, she'd have to be some type of butch, hard ass, michelle rodriguez type of chick which i would personally find annoying for 20+ hrs. I'm sure there'd be little reason to suggest that this lead would have a softer side that a) most women are known to have and b) that male leads can exhibit and turn off and on when the times calls for it and still be taken seriously.
Outside of Saints row-esque create a character type stuff, i don't see it happening
Honestly, a more interesting turn for the industry would be to have a female protagonist in a military FPS. Not that that's going to happen any sooner mind you
I don't know how many of you have worked retail in an electronics department, but the protagonist is often the least of someone's worries when they're buying a GTA game. Most people I sold them to either wanted to "shoot shit and steal cars" or were getting it "cuz its the new Grand Theft Auto".
As long as you use the GTA logo and an M rating, those things will sell. Its not even like the regular covers make it clear who the protagonist is anyway.
@kingzetta said:
That would be a breath of fresh air, but rockstar does not have the balls to do that.
Rockstar invented balls.
The game is barely announced. It's probably a year from release, if not more.
Can we all take a deep breath and not talk about this until, say june 2012? Please? I mean, it's not like we don't have any big games to discuss that we have actually played to be discussing next holiday season when this one hasn't even started yet.
I like how people pretend anyone would look at Niko and be like, "Yeah, I want to play as this asshole."
Anyway, no, they probably won't. You'll probably get to play as a 90-year-old male Singaporean Mud Farmer transplanted to 1950s Los Angeles (because there are only two cities in the world), and every character will have a thick South-Park-like Asian accent.
@NoelVeiga: True, but it's always fun to speculate. Besides I only mention it because it was brought up on a podcast I listen to and because the trailer is going to be released soon. Although I'm sure it'll be just like the GTA IV first trailer which just showed off the city.
I'd be fine with it as long as they don't try to make her all 'cool' and 'tough' like fucking Jack in ME2. Probably my least favorite character of this generation of video games.Yup, Jack sucked ass.
Nah son. Rockstar may be good story tellers, and they might be able to make a good GTA game with a female protagonist, but they want to sell millions. Teenagers and young boys have no desire to play some chick.
@EpicBenjamin said:
@ajamafalousI'd be fine with it as long as they don't try to make her all 'cool' and 'tough' like fucking Jack in ME2. Probably my least favorite character of this generation of video games.Yup, Jack sucked ass.
I completely disagree. If you romance Jack, you learn a lot about why she puts up those walls around herself. She was one of my favorite new characters in ME2.
@NegativeCero said:
@NoelVeiga: True, but it's always fun to speculate. Besides I only mention it because it was brought up on a podcast I listen to and because the trailer is going to be released soon. Although I'm sure it'll be just like the GTA IV first trailer which just showed off the city.
Yeah, but... looking past you, why was it brought up on a podcast? Everybody jokes when publishers "announce an announcement", but then they go on and a) write a piece about it and b) discuss it feverishly and encourage speculation.
And we come here and do just that. It's all a bit eff'd up, really. Frankly, I'd rather go back to playing Batman and maybe finding a spoilers-enabled thread to discuss what happens in it, or have a talk about whether or not the game's looser structure works to its detriment, or even about the whole Catwoman DLC thing or... well, anything about a game that I can actually *play*, so that when I talk about it, I know what I'm talking about.
That's fun, too, right? And it's less... pointless.
For the record, I don't give a crap who I play as if he/she/it is well written and the game is compelling. I do play a lady when a game lets me have the option, though. I just find it easier to accept that I'm playing as a character and not as myself when there's that barrier to tell us apart. But, really, any fleshed out character beats any shallow character, regardless of anything else.
@NoelVeiga: Fair enough. Talking too much about a game before release just encourages hype, which is good or bad depending on your stance.
@HatKing: It would be interesting to see how the supporting cast is affected by the main protagonists gender. Like for example, I doubt a character like Brucie would talk the same to a Niko Bellic than to a woman. While I doubt this action (if it happens) will clease all games of male bias, I think if done well it can be a tremendous stride in the right direction. I'm hopeful.
@Elerigo said:
Fuck yes!
@msavo said:
Teenagers and young boys have no desire to play some chick.
Then those teenagers deserve to be kicked IN THE FACE!
Also, I kinda liked Michelle in GTA IV. Sure she was a small character, but what if she failed to escape the criminal world after all?
I'd love to see more female leads in games, I'm tired at staring at a dude's butt for hours on end. Also you know... more variety in the characters, and it's always cool to see a tough lady kicking some ass.
That would be a huge breath of fresh air for not only the series but games in general. Strong female leads are few and far in-between, but some of them tend to be my favorite video game characters like Jade in BGE or femshep.
No. I have no interest to play a female lead in a GTA game. Don't ask my reasoning but I'd prefer not too.
I did romance her, on accident. Didn't change my opinion at all.@EpicBenjamin said:
@ajamafalousI'd be fine with it as long as they don't try to make her all 'cool' and 'tough' like fucking Jack in ME2. Probably my least favorite character of this generation of video games.Yup, Jack sucked ass.I completely disagree. If you romance Jack, you learn a lot about why she puts up those walls around herself. She was one of my favorite new characters in ME2.
Well playing Red Dead as Bonnie would have been awesome, and I think they have done some pretty good female characters in the past. That being said, its not what I'm looking for in GTA V. I want a very personal classic mob tale, and I just don't know if they can convey that without delving into sexist topics. I have no problem playing as a women in a video game, but I don't have a lot of faith in Rockstar designing a female character in this particular setting.
@DeeGee said:
I always pick a female character in Saints Row, so the 'oh my gosh' factor of this idea is pretty much lost on me. Been there, done that.
Yeah Saints Row 2 as a girl character instantly made that character a badass tough chick who cuts dude's heads off and bury people alive.
If anyone could do it right, it would be R*. They seem to have found a niche with gritty realistic and interesting characters. Which is kinda one of the few options for a woman character in a video game. Games are largely overblown stereotypes so it hard for a woman character to find relevance over a male character when your shooting shit, and blowing things up. As a general purpose she is supposed to provide contrast to male qualities, hence slutty vixens ends up be over used.
That would be cool but the have been pretty good with their protagonist lately I´d say since CJ he was alright but Niko man I really like his story and the way he stood up for his cousin , he cared for his friends and close ones but man living the life of crime and revenge didn´t pay for him , and he had the saddest conclusion to his arc than all the other protagonist , Jhonny (the one from The Lost and the Damned) was pretty good too. But I don´t know I think they can make a likeable well develop female protagonist but I´d be more interested in multiple lead characters and have their stories interwined with each other like they did in Episodes from liberty city but in a more meaningfull way, hell one of those leads could be a female.
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