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Girls Just Wanna Have Fun... As Well
Trinitarian
Member Posts: 169
http://aoc.warcry.com/news/view/78332
I know Avery is the Age of Conan informant around these parts, so I hope you don't feel that I'm stealing his thunder by posting these, but weezer has done it again with another interesting edition of Mitra's Method, this time addressing last week's Friday Update.
Comments
"Zomg! Someone else than Avery posting!? Diiiie!"
Seriously though, nice find.
Good job. ^^
Nooo problem! Weezer always posts first on the facebook official group or sometimes does!
Good to post because the news team here at mmorpg.com sometimes is a bit slow in posting things, Friday updates come out on Mondays (although last 2 weeks have been good!)
As for the article, great read as always. The women of Hyboria being shown caused quite a ruckus and deservedly warrented an article!
I agree, and from a gameplay perspective, you don't see many other MMOs that offer much difference between the two sexes. WoW and City of Heroes come to mind; there are no differences in stats or ability between male and female characters. In WoW, racial stats/abilities, yes, which is a different kettle of fish all together.
I just want to say that I don't see a problem with giving opposite sexes different levels of attribute and skill bonuses
Male Warrior:
Strength+ Typically More Muscle Mass Generally Creating More Strength
Block+ Higher Chance to Withstand a Stronger Blow to the Shield
Female Warrior:
Vitality+ Women Typically Live Longer Than Men
Dodge+ Smaller Mass Means Less Likely To Be Struck(less of a target whether wide or tall)
Both of those could make for very useful and specific Tanks in groups and raids
I think if someone really wants to find a way to make a more unique game and unique character creation for specific uses and bonuses, they will find a way, without the drama.
"Sometimes, things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. People are basically good. Honor, courage, virtue mean everything. Power and money, money and power mean nothing. Good always triumphs over evil. Love, True Love Never Dies."
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
But let's take your suggestions a bit further.
What about running speed? Generally, men run raster than woman, so should it be said that in-game women should be slower than men? Should that also warrant a slower overall movement speed to women? And in the case that they're running away from something, it would be that the men get away while the women are the ones that get caught and killed.
Also in reality, men tend to act first and ask questions later, so does that mean they should receive a penalty to their Wisdom rating whilst women gain a bonus to it because of their natural intuition? I mean, no one would want to play a big, dumb male, despite their physical strength.
The point is, if you're going to make allowances for differences between the sexes in abilities and stats, then you might as well go further, but that's when it gets complicated and suffice to say it just wouldn't work properly in the MMO setting. As it says in the article, you'd end up with unimaginative builds with the sexes "typecasted" to a specific class, no matter how much you think people might appreciate the so-called "uniqueness" in the character's customisation capabilities. It's a nice idea, but very poor in terms of practicality.
it is quite obvious you are against seperate gender bonuses and hinderances
However, i disagree, I think if a team or even one skilled developer sat down and really thought it out, they could come up with such a unique set of bonuses and negatives that it would make each individual gender/race/class option into a very specifically useful character
like you said, lets take it a bit further, priest classes would use wisdom possibly yes? lets say males had a lower wisdom for the reasons you mentioned, wouldnt that fit? when you think of a male priest as opposed to a female of the clergy or something similar, isnt it the men that are more likely to either make a quick blunt decision whether right or wrong, cast someone away, or show incorrect favor to one over another?
just a thought
"Sometimes, things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. People are basically good. Honor, courage, virtue mean everything. Power and money, money and power mean nothing. Good always triumphs over evil. Love, True Love Never Dies."
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
I'm sorry but your ideas are flawed.
nice find buddy thanx heaps!
Don't forget the 3 day debuff female characters get about every 28 days.
I'm sorry but your ideas are flawed.
I dont think they are. Instead of humans and elves, type males and females. Similar adjustments, human/male stronger, elf/female more agile. When done with different races its ok and when its expanded to gender its not? Its a matter of decision to spend time on it. If you make good adjustments (reasonable, balanced etc),then it adds more flavor and more diversity to the game. if you fail you'll see all female rogues and all male fighters. But to say "it would fail, dont try" i think its wrong. Like the guys at wizards say when making new cards, "to know where the line is you have to cross it sometimes" if you see because of speed all female characters are dying and all male ones living, give stamina to females who could run longer. So when attacked my a cheetah they both get chopped, a bear (which has large aggro bubble) chops the male( because his stamina ended before he broke the aggro), a wolf (which has short aggro bubble) chops the female (because she couldnt outrun).
I need more vespene gas.
Geeze, ya think?!? And so is the author of this editorial for very good reason: it just wouldn't work. Sure, it's a nice idea, but in terms of gameplay, balance, and practicality, it fails, miserably.I'm sorry but your ideas are flawed.
I dont think they are. Instead of humans and elves, type males and females. Similar adjustments, human/male stronger, elf/female more agile. When done with different races its ok and when its expanded to gender its not? Its a matter of decision to spend time on it. If you make good adjustments (reasonable, balanced etc),then it adds more flavor and more diversity to the game. if you fail you'll see all female rogues and all male fighters. But to say "it would fail, dont try" i think its wrong. Like the guys at wizards say when making new cards, "to know where the line is you have to cross it sometimes" if you see because of speed all female characters are dying and all male ones living, give stamina to females who could run longer. So when attacked my a cheetah they both get chopped, a bear (which has large aggro bubble) chops the male( because his stamina ended before he broke the aggro), a wolf (which has short aggro bubble) chops the female (because she couldnt outrun).
I never said it was not "okay", I just said it wouldn't work.
No matter how hard you try to ensure there'd be a balance between male and female characters in stats and abilities, balancing number of strengths vs. number of weaknesses, proportionally, you're always going to end up with the one sex stronger or weaker than the other, and this is something that is always going to be dependent on the sort of role you choose for your character.
No character sex (gender) be "type-casted", and that is all you'll up with when you try and diversify statistically the difference between male and female characters in a game like Age of Conan.
Do you see differences between males and female characters in World of Warcraft, City of Heroes, Guild Wars, and so on? No, the only fundamental difference lies in racial abilities in a game like World of Warcraft, but otherwise there is no difference between the sexes. The choice of male or female is purely cosmetic, as it should be, and it should not be a determining factor in selecting what class you will play. Let's face it, if you choose a sex that is inherently more agile and acrobatic, you're going to choose an archetype or class that is suited more towards those traits, e.g. a Rogue class, if you choose a sex that is inherently more intelligent and has more wisdom, a Mage or Priest class, etc., etc. All you're going to end up with is FOTMs and cookie-cutter builds - ironically no diversity at all.
Show me a successful MMORPG that has different stats for male and female characters and I might start to treat the argument a bit more seriously.
Racial stats/abilities are a slightly different story, but as the races in Age of Conan are all human, the point is moot. Besides, we don't even know if there is going to be any difference between the races in the game aside from what archetypes and classes that will be available to them, but I can't imagine then there being much difference if any at all stat-wise.
Show me a game that has been unsuccessful *because of* gender differences and not a more significant failure in concept or implementation.
In the end, race is merely an aesthetic package for a bundle of stats. Why would gender be any different to implement then race? Gender is merely an aesthetic at this point, so you could consider it a half implemented race.
Looking at successful mmo's, let's look at WoW. It is true their is no gender difference, however, if you want to be a horde hunter, you might take a troll as your race due to bonuses to bows. A warrior, you might be an orc for various bonuses they get. So why can't the same apply to races. For example, perhaps a male get's bonuses to the "super giant 2-handed aces of death" where as a female get's a bonus to dual-weild. They are both warriors, but the way they play warrior differs based on their choices in character creation. Does this mean a female couldn't acquire gear or buffs that raise her "super giant 2-handed axe of death" skill to that of a male? no there should definetly be some mechanic that allows someone to minimize the gaps.
I think people are absolutely right in asking what extent the differences should go to, but then I don't think it should be major game changing differences, but minor 'tweaks' that provide some seperation between the two.
That's just my opinion though. Race and Gender, when reduced to aesthetic choices have no real differences and therefore, implementing a gender difference system wouldn't really be any more effort then implementing a race difference system. The same balance concerns will exist and people will still say the other is overpwered :P.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
Show me a game that has been unsuccessful *because of* gender differences and not a more significant failure in concept or implementation.
I'll rephrase my request then, because by definition I was referring to MMORPGs that are succesful in terms of their popularity:
Show me an MMORPG that has statistical differences between the sexes, because I really can't think of any that do have such differences.
I think ArchLord might have, but the gender difference was bundled as a racial difference as well. For example a specific race could only be female. But then, that example is of a game that had greater problems then gender difference.
As far as not being able to think of another game that has done it, I would believe that is more reason to do it. At least in the perspective of the audience of this site. It seems there is no end of dissatisfaction with the crop of WoW clones out there and people are looking for innovation and original thinking. As such, gender differences, while not horribly original, would be a perceptual separation from the masses of games that have few distinguishing features.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
What was the extent of the difference between sexes, if you don't mind me asking? Were males and females statistically different? Did they have exclusive-to-sex abilities?
As I said, the sex difference was rolled in to a racial difference so an attribute differences would just as easily be attributed to the race of the character. That said, I only played for a short time in beta, but got the impression the female race in the game were more geared for magic.
I was merely trying to list off the only game i can think of that had any line between the genders. Someone else, more familiar with Archlord, could probably answer your question more in depth.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence