I don’t feel any particular need to play as a female character since video games are usually about immersion for me which can be difficult when your character does not match your gender. Having said that, I don’t mind it though. The most recent Tomb Raider was a great experience for me all the same and that is also true of Mirror’s Edge and the Portal series.
If you think it's that simple then you're quite mistaken. Adding the option of gender is not that easy as you make it out to be since the dialogue and story of the game are written for a particular character with a certain personality, name and gender. People refer to your character by name in AC, they talk about his background, his looks and so on.
It's also not just animations, but armor as well. It's not about costs it's about time. Ubisoft wants these game out at a certain date and so those "few percentages" mean a lot more then you think.
So you've got three options:
a) Write specific gender exclusive dialogue and story reflect your characters gender, name and background. Costliest option.
b) Go Bioware's route of writing the entire story as not taking into account your name, gender and background, the one option that dumbs down the story and also not an option at this point since the story was already written for a specific character.
c) Don't bother with a female protagonist.
That's why I'm on the fence. I accept the argument generally about the VA costs, BUT they're not a low-budget indie developer. I accept that the way they're handling it with each player seeing themselves as the same person maybe wouldn't "work" if they have male and female options BUT the way they handled the controversy sounded like they were just looking for an excuse. (And the "doubling the costs" was pure BS)
Ubisoft never promised they would add a female asassin to Assassin's Creed Unity, so I'm not quite sure what you're talking about.
And what Costin said, creating characters and animations and dialogue for them is costly. It's cheaper to make 1 male model and copy-paste him 3 times and then add small variations to create 4 male characters than to create 3 male characters plus 1 female character, which has to be made from scratch.
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On the other hand, the only gamers that I know who play mobile, facebook and casual card games (and one of them is definitely a player of that Candy Crush game) are all male.
Ah, misogyny, speculation, unfounded data backed up by vague anecdotal experiences galore here! Deeply amusing! The vast majority of humans on the planet? Of all ages? Languages? Are we including "chicks who play Candy Crush" as people? Because it doesn't sound that way - more like some kind of young, edible fowl! Delicious with a nice honey garlic glaze, by the way.
If you play games, are you not....a gamer? Is this the heady scent of SNOBBERY I detect? Or mere classification? I would suppose that most, if not all humans are game-playing machines..but I could be wrong. Data!
Anyone have any fact-based figures on the demand or interest in female protagonists and/or female gamers, other than that 45% figure? Because right now, that's what I see as the only actual evidence provided and it would indicate a strong possibility of demand.
And keep in mind, when making sweeping generalizations about groups of persons, the only reliable information you're offering to readers...is that you like to make sweeping generalizations about people. Not terribly convincing.
If you play games, are you not....a gamer? Is this the heady scent of SNOBBERY I detect? Or mere classification? I would suppose that most, if not all humans are game-playing machines..but I could be wrong. Data!
Anyone have any fact-based figures on the demand or interest in female protagonists and/or female gamers, other than that 45% figure? Because right now, that's what I see as the only actual evidence provided and it would indicate a strong possibility of demand.
And keep in mind, when making sweeping generalizations about groups of persons, the only reliable information you're offering to readers...is that you like to make sweeping generalizations about people. Not terribly convincing.
Lucos and Costin are almost certainly correct that the publicly-available figures on male/female gamers, which don't breakdown by genre of game, give distorted results. A good example of misleading statistics. However, the breakdown is almost certainly available to those who pay for industry data, which will include the bigger developers (and, unfortunately, those publishers who only look at numbers).
But it's no excuse to get into a vicious circle of "Women don't play games, so games needn't consider their needs, so women don't play games...". Casual gaming is an entry point into serious gaming, the number of women playing IS increasing, and the more games that cater to it (WITHOUT damaging the experience for male gamers), the more will start. It's still largely an untapped market, and the publishers should consider taking advantage of that.
Just as long as they don't decide that "encouraging female gamers" means "pink swords and sparkle".
(And I cross-posted this with Sard. I think we're largely in agreement, but if I've accidentally argued with him, I'm sorry. He tends to get his revenge in strange and evil ways when I do that.)
But it's no excuse to get into a vicious circle of "Women don't play games, so games needn't consider their needs, so women don't play games...". Casual gaming is an entry point into serious gaming, the number of women playing IS increasing, and the more games that cater to it (WITHOUT damaging the experience for male gamers), the more will start. It's still largely an untapped market, and the publishers should consider taking advantage of that.
Just as long as they don't decide that "encouraging female gamers" means "pink swords and sparkle".
(And I cross-posted this with Sard. I think we're largely in agreement, but if I've accidentally argued with him, I'm sorry. He tends to get his revenge in strange and evil ways when I do that.)
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Well, I know exactly TWO hard-core female gamers (AAA gaming is a major hobby), and both are philosophy grad students. I guess it is something about philosophy that makes people slightly loose their minds 
. Also I know about a dozen of guys who are hard-core gamers. Well, from my experience, women are in the minority, like in the tiny minority, but who a hell knows for sure?
I wouldn't mind to play even as a diseased rat if the story in a game is good enough. I am one of these who actually liked TR (2013), while did not like old TR titles at all. I sure does not identify myself with Lara Croft, but neither with Nathan Drake. I tend to identify with my char only when I create him from scratch (yep, it is only HIM, and never her). In TW games practically always there are major choices I would have made if it were my story, and not Geralt's, but I can't say I identify with him. It is more of a situation of possession, he is my host, and I am his demon, and from time to time he makes choices I disagree, or can't make a choice I would really want him to make
. Also I know about a dozen of guys who are hard-core gamers. Well, from my experience, women are in the minority, like in the tiny minority, but who a hell knows for sure?I wouldn't mind to play even as a diseased rat if the story in a game is good enough. I am one of these who actually liked TR (2013), while did not like old TR titles at all. I sure does not identify myself with Lara Croft, but neither with Nathan Drake. I tend to identify with my char only when I create him from scratch (yep, it is only HIM, and never her). In TW games practically always there are major choices I would have made if it were my story, and not Geralt's, but I can't say I identify with him. It is more of a situation of possession, he is my host, and I am his demon, and from time to time he makes choices I disagree, or can't make a choice I would really want him to make
That's a load of bilge right there. What special needs to women have in games exactly? As I showed earlier the vast majority of gamers do not give a damn about playing a female character, and also the vast majority of women do not give a damn for skimpy outfits or so called "sexism" in video games because otherwise Japan, which has the largest ratio of "sexist" games would not have the largest female gaming population in the fucking world, along with the largest population of female pro-gamers as well.
So the ridiculous claims that sexism in video games keeps women out of it and by removing it you get more female gamers is a load of bullcrap. The only thing you can do to perhaps appeal to a certain market over the other is a large sustained marketing campaign of several dozen million dollars and then you will get what you want. It's not certainty that a female focused campaign would even work by the way.
But why should publishers spend that much money on a potential market that generally don't bother with hardcore games while the vast majority of hardcore gamers are men? Why should they do not spend money on getting a larger share of the already existing market to play their game?
It makes no sense business wise. If women want games that are marketed and developed for their needs, whatever the fuck that means, then they need to show they are a real market. As long as industry figures that are used by publishers to make their decisions show a lack of interest in playing female characters then we won't have that many of them in games which don't give you a choice on the matter.
EDIT: The reason more and more women are playing video games has nothing to do with female protagonist, better female representation in games or any of that crap. It has everything to do with the fact that gaming as a whole, especially hardcore gaming is becoming more and more socially acceptable.
I am making an argument based on hard data gathered by publishers and developers which they then use to make their business decisions, I do not make an argument based on a half assed survey.
Since women do care a lot more about men about their social status, there's hard studies on these so deny it all you want won't change facts, they've been slower to adopt gaming.
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Don't many casual games feature strong female leads, too? I'm hidden-object adverse, but I've often heard that from people who have played through them. If that's the case, then maybe women are being drawn to genres where they have more representation rather than them having more casual tastes as a whole?
I mean, the idea that someone would be drawn to less hardcore games just because they lack dangly bits seems outwardly stupid to me.
Funny that you mentioned it, but most (at least the ones I played) HOGs have either female protagonists, or gender-neutral and cast a gamer himself/herself in this role. By the way, some of these games are very good (Artifex Mundi games, Daily Magic games, Cateia games, and so on), and I really do not care if I play a female character.
I don't think that females do not find AAA titles appealing. As I know from conversations, they simply do not like PC/console gaming as such and consider it a waste of time. Which probably shows that they are wiser than us, you know.
Misogyny? Are you for real? The only sent of snobbery I detect here is your snobbish tone. You want data? Okay, here ya go:
"According to a survey done in 2004 by the Entertainment Software Association, 25 percent of console players and 39 percent of PC game players were women. According to a survey conducted by EEDAR, 60 percent of female gamers played on mobile devices. The survey also found that 63 percent of these female mobile gamers played online multiplayer mobile games." (http://kylemckinstry.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/women-in-video-games/)
Look, you can cherry pick the words we said all you want, but what we where actually saying or trying to say is that there is a huge difference between people who play games on their consoles or PCs for 8+ hours a week and people who play some Candy Crush on their phone while waiting for the bus. I hope even you would agree with that. I know that this vocal minority that cries for big changes in the videogame industry loves to throw that 45% figure around, but as Dragonbird said, it doesn't give an accurate representation of how many women truly play the games we're talking about here. Obviously companies such as Ubisoft who make Assasin's Creed don't care about the people who just play a bit of Candy Crush on their phone. Ubisoft cares about the people who play Assassin's Creed or games similar to that. Ubisoft cares about people who fit in their target audience, the people who could potentially be interested in buying their games. The average person who just plays a bit of Candy Crush or Farmville isn't that.
That lack of data is probably the most frustrating thing. Makes it impossible to argue anything on a factual, non-anecdotal basis without sounding like you're generalizing about a group, especially when you're not a part of that group. Which I'm not, barring extensive surgery.
Thanks for the recommendations. I've only tried a few HOGs before and didn't really see the point, but they may have just been some of the lesser ones. Might give one of those a go at some point to see what the good ones are like.
How much of that comes down to culture, though? I don't know what it's like in other countries, but commercials for/involving games here in the US make gaming look like a bro-centric waste of time. Jerky commercials with dudebros playing Xbox, beer commercials with dudebros playing Playstation... lots and lots of dudebros playing Dubstep Faceshooter 4000, basically. If I hadn't played some of the console classics back when gaming was just gaming and not some male bonding experience for marketing to capitalize on, I could totally see myself ignoring games altogether, and that's speaking as the target demographic.As I know from conversations, they simply do not like PC/console gaming as such and consider it a waste of time. Which probably shows that they are wiser than us, you know.
What I think it comes down to is writing. A well-written character of either sex will interest everyone, period, and I don't think it's necessary to demand that games cater to females so much as demanding that they feature better writing for both sexes in general, as well as more originality. I'd like to see more female PCs, myself, but just having better writing for NPCs in general would make games that much more enjoyable and appealing for everyone.
Actual figures, how nice. Still full of sweeping statements like, "the average person who plays a bit of Candy Crush"..which average person is this? Percentage of which population?
There is a lack of data out there, because it's tough to get it. Calling female gamers chicks and suggesting that they are, generally, less hardcore (which is a term I find deeply amusing, as there is very little "hard" about playing a lot of videogames), than males is a sweeping suggestion, and I don't see a lot of data to back it up. One or two surveys, from a decade ago, no less, is hardly convincing. I honestly have no idea if you're correct - I used to agree with you, back in the day, saw how popular the Sims got and remain surprised how little I knew.
There is also the question of why more women aren't playing a lot of console games, if they aren't. Is it the makeup of said games? They are, often, awfully....murdery.
I can tell you Ubisoft cares very much about mobile gamers - if there are lots of them, Ubisoft wants them. We all want to expand our markets - it's much the point of running a business.
This huge difference you speak of is a huge difference how? Because mobile part-time gamers can't be both? How do you know they aren't both? Can you demonstrate that conclusively?
Again, I don't know. And I didn't come here knowing, either. I just haven't seen any data convincing me that there are or aren't millions of women gamers that would make a great potential market. Hell, they're more than half the planet's population - get them interested, if they aren't already!
There is a lack of data out there, because it's tough to get it. Calling female gamers chicks and suggesting that they are, generally, less hardcore (which is a term I find deeply amusing, as there is very little "hard" about playing a lot of videogames), than males is a sweeping suggestion, and I don't see a lot of data to back it up. One or two surveys, from a decade ago, no less, is hardly convincing. I honestly have no idea if you're correct - I used to agree with you, back in the day, saw how popular the Sims got and remain surprised how little I knew.
There is also the question of why more women aren't playing a lot of console games, if they aren't. Is it the makeup of said games? They are, often, awfully....murdery.
I can tell you Ubisoft cares very much about mobile gamers - if there are lots of them, Ubisoft wants them. We all want to expand our markets - it's much the point of running a business.
This huge difference you speak of is a huge difference how? Because mobile part-time gamers can't be both? How do you know they aren't both? Can you demonstrate that conclusively?
Again, I don't know. And I didn't come here knowing, either. I just haven't seen any data convincing me that there are or aren't millions of women gamers that would make a great potential market. Hell, they're more than half the planet's population - get them interested, if they aren't already!
The Longest Journey has pretty solid writing, as do Torment, Arcanum, Max Payne 1 and 2, Transistor, and a number of other games. Not perfect, no, but there's definitely a wide enough gap between classic titles and AAA modern titles with huge advertising budgets that we should be able and willing to demand more from the writing side of things.
Well written games are the exception, not the norm and a lot of those titles display very inherent problems with the medium such as pacing(ex. hours of mundane acts like moving around and killing things or Geralt dicking around with dice poker) and story vs gameplay conflicts.