Folks, doing some research here. The shooter games that I've seen, like the Call of Duty or Battlefield games, have soldier (or mercenary) characters are male. Just checking to see if I'm missing any games with female soldiers. America's Army is all male, right? Even though it seems like a few women play the game.
Michael
Nothing springs to mind.
There is a Korean female Recon expert in SOCOM 4 on the PS3. She is a member of the Korean 707 Special Operations unit and is a main protagonist in the single-player campaign.
Thanks, Jarhead. But otherwise, the protagonists are always male. The same for avatars? Usually it's a male avatar?
Michael
There must have been quite a few over the years. Gears of War 3 springs to mind because I've just finished it; it has two female main protagonists.
Quote from: DicedT on January 24, 2013, 03:45:52 PM
Folks, doing some research here. The shooter games that I've seen, like the Call of Duty or Battlefield games, have soldier (or mercenary) characters are male. Just checking to see if I'm missing any games with female soldiers. America's Army is all male, right? Even though it seems like a few women play the game.
Michael
contact Carrie Lynn Reinhard (http://dom.academia.edu/CarrieLynnReinhard). She's done a lot of research in this area (gender & videogaming)
But Gears of War is sci-fi. I'm thinking of games where the main character is connected with the current U.S. military. Those seems to be male, I think.
Michael
^i'm trying to stay away from sci-fi and fantasy titles. I think the OP is looking for games based on modern combat...he will correct me if i'm wrong.
However, opening the category to fantasy/sci-fi, will indeed make the list larger.
EDIT: There...he beat me to the punch.
There were a bunch in Rainbow 6.
How do they make giant boobie flak jackets?
There are many female characters in fantasy sci-fi games.
As for modern, Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Jagged Alliance comes to mind. Are we only talking about shooters?
What about pilots? We have female pilots in Ace Combat, Medal of Honor.
How do they make combat boots that look cute with camo bikini bottoms?
Dan, I know you're trying to be funny, but DicedT is asking, it's because he's making some serious inquiry in pursuit of info to use in an article for mainstream site on wargaming. And by "mainstream" I'm talking about stuff up to and including Forbes.
Just tapping into the collective wisdom here. It sounds like this group has played every video game ever made!
From what I've seen, and from descriptions of the games that I've read, it seems like games (or at least shooter games?) with a modern warfare theme and characters that have a connection with the military, are overwhelmingly male. The character that the player controls is almost always male. If there are female characters in a Call of Duty-type of game, they're usually non-combat types (scientist, doctor, spy, etc.).
Is that a fair assessment?
Michael
For a long time games have traditionally portrayed females as displayed in the art on games boxes hence my comments.
Recently some female designers have taken the boys to task about these attitudes and with some justification. My daughter is 21 and loves computer
games and many of the Fantasy and SF games allow for fully developed female characters and have been for a while. I do not know so much about
shooters and only a little about the guys who play them. My comments were pointed towards some with a rather sophomoric idea of things should be.
If a game is based on the real world, it would be fairly understandable to have an all-male team just because it is more plausible and realistic. Maybe real-world games in the future will have more female grunts due to the recent thrust of the US armed forces.
Fantasy and Sci-Fi games have no shortage of female characters because they don't need to depict reality.
Do you want to see female soldiers in your WW2 game? Maybe if you are Russian since it is historical. Btw, one medal of honor game lets you play a female French resistance fighter.
Quote from: DicedT on January 25, 2013, 12:37:46 AM
Just tapping into the collective wisdom here. It sounds like this group has played every video game ever made!
From what I've seen, and from descriptions of the games that I've read, it seems like games (or at least shooter games?) with a modern warfare theme and characters that have a connection with the military, are overwhelmingly male. The character that the player controls is almost always male. If there are female characters in a Call of Duty-type of game, they're usually non-combat types (scientist, doctor, spy, etc.).
Is that a fair assessment?
Michael
I'm not sure I would call Cate Archer in No One Lives Forever a "non-combat" type of spy. But I think this is borderline sci-fi. Same with Tanya from Command & Conquer: Red Alert (although they make a point of putting her in fatigues and uniform throughout the game and the "liason" mission person was also female and always in uniform).
Kotaku did an article on this a while back (two years ago): http://kotaku.com/5488592/why-modern-video-game-armies-lack-female-troops
Quote from: DicedT on January 25, 2013, 12:37:46 AM
Just tapping into the collective wisdom here. It sounds like this group has played every video game ever made!
From what I've seen, and from descriptions of the games that I've read, it seems like games (or at least shooter games?) with a modern warfare theme and characters that have a connection with the military, are overwhelmingly male. The character that the player controls is almost always male. If there are female characters in a Call of Duty-type of game, they're usually non-combat types (scientist, doctor, spy, etc.).
Is that a fair assessment?
Michael
My memory is not eidetic, but I cannot recall a contemporary FPS that showcased - or even gave a supporting role to - a female protagonist.
RPGs have long been open to either male or female characters, and there are probably some sci-fi/fantasy action/shooters that allow for female characters (Tomb Raider comes to mind).
Someone noted Rainbow Six. I played at least one of those games and don't remember females, but that doesn't mean they weren't there.
Going through the myriad FPS games I've played from WWII to the present I can't remember a female character. The only significant possibility I can think of is a Soviet sniper during WWII.
....
However, for some crazy reason a free-to-play FPS called Combat Arms sprang to mind. I thought it had been developed by an Israeli outfit, but it turns out to be Korean. And it does offer female characters as best I can tell (never played it, I'm looking at screenshots).
That might be a good place to start.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1081.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj349%2Flongblade%2FGrogHeads%2Fimg_screenshots05.jpg&hash=cb2fa36dbe2c67336b9dbe136fc83f2c311e56f2)
http://combatarms.nexon.net/Default.aspx
Rainbow 6 characters.
http://rainbowsix.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Characters
Thanks, Jomni.
Quote from: DicedT on January 25, 2013, 12:37:46 AM
Just tapping into the collective wisdom here. It sounds like this group has played every video game ever made!
From what I've seen, and from descriptions of the games that I've read, it seems like games (or at least shooter games?) with a modern warfare theme and characters that have a connection with the military, are overwhelmingly male. The character that the player controls is almost always male. If there are female characters in a Call of Duty-type of game, they're usually non-combat types (scientist, doctor, spy, etc.).
Is that a fair assessment?
Michael
I find that female characters are often times pilots, in addition to recon/sniper MOS type roles. For instance, Ghost Recon Future Soldier has a female blackhawk pilot.
Many thanks, folks: http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpeck/2013/01/25/are-female-soldiers-coming-to-video-games/
Quote from: DicedT on January 25, 2013, 12:39:14 PM
Many thanks, folks: http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpeck/2013/01/25/are-female-soldiers-coming-to-video-games/
Any time :)
Quote from: DicedT on January 25, 2013, 12:39:14 PM
Many thanks, folks: http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpeck/2013/01/25/are-female-soldiers-coming-to-video-games/
Men will always welcome playing women characters in their games since they can stare at their butts the whole time. But that's another issue (sexism in video games).
Longblade, I consider you the foremost expert on booth babes and video game hotties. You should have your own blog for this.
Quote from: DicedT on January 25, 2013, 07:22:18 PM
Longblade, I consider you the foremost expert on booth babes and video game hotties. You should have your own blog for this.
Heh. That's kinda what I thought I had here. I guess you haven't been granted access to the Lingerie Channel yet. Probably time to fix that ;)
Quote from: DicedT on January 25, 2013, 12:39:14 PM
Many thanks, folks: http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpeck/2013/01/25/are-female-soldiers-coming-to-video-games/
Dude, you write for Forbes? Nicely done!