Spyke

I dunno, man.

Playing as a guy forces you to constantly stare at a dude the entire time. That's seems pretty gay. 💅

171
Grimyreply
lemmy.world

You joke but when I was playing AC odyssey, I did switch to a girl after an hour because I was tired of looking up a dudes skirt whenever I went swimming.

25
lemmy.world

CDPR: we added a beard option for the insecure whiners, but it unlocks dwarves hitting on you.

115
lemmy.world

I really wish the people who say shit like this would realize how pathetic it makes them sound. I have never once felt my masculinity was being threatened because the player character in video game was female.

108
Kitreply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

Agreed. In games with a gender option, I just pick the one with the better VA.

26

I totally consider femshep the canonical Shepard, Mark is a solid voice actor too but Jennifer just does it so well, especially renegade imo.

10
lemm.ee

When given the option, I pick female/woman presenting. When given the option, I pick black or poc. When given the option, I give them a killer outfit so they can slay all day.

As a straight white Jewish man, I like to imagine that I'm the quintessential oppressed citizen ready to take everything down with all I have. Anytime I kill a bad guy, a good guy, some random bystander, whatever, I tell them to shut the fuck up cuz I'm taking this all down.

At least, that's how I justify it to myself. Maybe I just like strong black women and killing literally everyone.

4

Uhh...

I think I recognize your username and I think I've seen some good takes from you and you're not just pulling a bit... but that's kinda weird, lol.

Is there like a therapist you can go to in order to unpack your privilege/oppression mix and work through stuff like this? Asking for me, actually. (I could probably get it billed under trans stuff in my case though, lol)

4

Oh wow, I see what you're saying. I'm doing a terrible job communicating tonight and my miscommunication is coming out as incredibly alarming dialogue.

You know, I'd like to try explaining my comment so that you can understand the missing context, but I don't know how long of an essay I'd have to write to do that. Rereading that comment outside my own head for a moment, I see something that makes me think "holy shit, this guy is fucked." So, apologies, I'll try to do better next time.

The one clarification I'd like to make: I don't like killing people. I don't like gore videos or any of that. Horror movies are cool; real horror, not my jam. I like killing people/things in video games. The way I see it, a group of people went through a lot of trouble making me be able to interact with things in games and death animations, etc. I like to push every video game as far as I can to see how stuff will interact. The first time I booted up Cyberpunk 2077, I spent hours punching every object in the game to find out what breaks how with what audio and if I could get the game to crash by focusing on all the wrong stuff.

Anyway, game death and destruction=good; real stuff=bad. Sorry for the alarming comment. And to answer your question, yes, I see a therapist and think that everyone should get to talk to a therapist. Mental health is no joke. I appreciate you checking in on me.

13
5in1kreply

I’ve never felt my masculinity challenged by anything. Because I am a man and whatever I or anyone else does will not make that different. What a bunch of weak, soft, clowns people complaining that women exist in video games or the “transvestigators” are.

2
lemmy.zip

Not interested in...

Metroid.

Perfect Dark.

Mirror's Edge.

Parasite Eve.

Portal.

Half of Resident Evil.

All of these pivotal, classic games have great female protagonists, and came out before Obama got elected... probably before this person was even born?

Maybe somebody could try the 'return to tradition' approach with this fool.

77
LouNekoreply
lemmy.world

Even The Witcher itself. You might not play as a woman, but seriously, the women are definitely the shining stars of the series.

12

If you wanted to include earlier games with great, compelling woman characters who you don't singly/primarily play as, the list would be even longer.

Tons of em from party based RPGs alone.

5

As a kid, who doesn't get a little warped by Samus Aran being female? Maybe it was just my experience growing up in the christocultist world, but I was in denial about Samus at ~7-8 years old with my only familiarity being passive and Smash Bros.

Now I see anyone that has a similar outlook as being ~7-8 years old in their cognitive development and KAFS

2
lemmy.world

Guess he didn't play Horizon either? Fucking dumb ass. I don't ever remember thinking or feeling that I was the main character in the last Witcher. I for one look forward to playing this character.

22
Blackmistreply
feddit.uk

I do remember them noticing Aloy had peach fuzz and immediately jumped to the conclusion that any woman not waxing her face in the roboapocalypse must be trans...

12

in the roboapocalypse

Even better, post ecological collapse, with the only culture carried over to the auto incubated new humans being the teachings passed on by robot kindergarden teachers, because the robot schools didn't end up working correctly.

Presumably facial waxing is not part of the kindergarden curriculum :-D

7
feddit.nl

I'm not interested in playing as a vampire. I am a human. Breaks my immersion. I think there should be two options. One for vampyr and one for human.

Seriously though, this pathetic misogynist is a joyless snowflake.

64

He was clearly not interested in playing at all, since he doesn't even know you play as Ciri in Witcher 3 as well.

20

When given the choice, I always play as a female character. I'm already a man 24/7, why continue that in games I play to escape reality?

54
BenLeManreply
lemmy.world

A polarizing question. Me, I always play a version of myself. More muscular, perhaps, or more adventurous. But still a middle-aged dude who is trying to do good. I never feel the urge to play a woman or a villain or anything else totally different from my IRL character.

And I guess that's just how it is, right? We each make our own fun in the games we play.

So the dude in the xitter post is just going to have to sit this one out. I'm sure there will be lots of male centric stories to play in the future, as there always have been.

Meanwhile, I hope everyone who likes playing from a female POV has an absolute blast with The Witcher 4.

29
Pilferjinxreply
lemmy.world

I usually play a female. I've always considered my character as a companion, a waifu, if you will.

8

You play as a female character and see her as your companion.

I play female characters because I like to control women.

We are not the same. /s

13

Plus, you get to stare at a hot female ass for most of whatever you're playing. Playing females is the straightest choice imho.

10

My favorite games of all time tend to be party-based, like Syndicate, the Wasteland games, the original two Fallout games, Baldur's Gate games, etc.

So I guess when given the choice, I always play... um...

6

Same. I play a mix of both male and female characters and name them Jux most of the time as an unpronounceable non-binary name.

2
lemmy.world

I remember when this totally broke my immersion back in the 1990s...

Didn't they understand that I wanted to raid tombs as a MALE?!

51
kazernielreply
lemmy.world

those boobs are killing me 💀 like helium balloons yearning to fly away

26
lemmy.world

Oh, they weren't like that in the game. They were more like majestic pyramids.

29

And they took 9 days to render. Times were tough back then.

8
prolereply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

I'd love to see where these people draw the line between "big booba character hot" and "ew girls" when it comes to video game characters.

2
sh.itjust.works

I usually feel so immersed when playing white haired super-ripped giants with magic powers. It's as if they were a second me, except for the hair, size, muscles, facial traits, strength and magic powers.

50
midwest.social

TURNABOUT IS FAIR PLAY MOTHERFUCKER!

As a cis-femme gamer I am SO SICK of playing as grizzled, middle-aged cis-men in every goddamn game with a set story.

Games where you can pick the gender of the protagonist don't count. Whether you play as Man-Shep or Fem-Shep, Mass Effect is exactly the same and the gender choice is exclusively cosmetic. There are very few games with female protagonists that actually commit to the protagonist being a woman and delving into what that entails.

Just in this first trailer, Ciri is trying to save a young woman from being used as a maiden sacrifice and that is a much more emotionally complex situation for her as a young woman herself. I will be pre-ordering Witcher 4 the second it is available because I want more studios to make games with women as the main playable characters so that I can have immersion in my games too.

49
phxreply

Not to mention that in Witcher 3 there were already plenty of Ciri "flashback" missions.

I kinda wonder if they'll be doing the same in reverse and she'll be saving Geralt's ass this time around as the main plot

9
lemmy.zip

While I agree with the rest. I think we have learned enough about the current state of game release and if we should preorder.

5

I haven't pre-ordered a game since Halo: ODST when I was getting a physical copy from GameStop. I am very aware of the problems with pre-ordering, and I still want to pre-order Witcher 4 because I want to send the message that they did not make a mistake by making Ciri the main/playable character.

2
letsgoreply
lemm.ee

Mmm but any game that provides a different storyline based on gender is opening themselves up to no end of criticism. There's just no way they'll ever win that one.

2

I actually liked that part tho. I can't even think of any games since the first couple of Tomb Raiders that allow you to shoot two things on opposite sides of a room at the same time with the way she akimbos.

1
discuss.tchncs.de

Have these people even played Witcher 3? Because there you play as Ciri too sometimes. Her moveset was really fucking cool actually

40
Kazumarareply
discuss.tchncs.de

Also this is one of the games where you play a character that has personality already, self insertion isn't intended.

Geralt of Rivia, Lara Croft, B.J. Blazkowicz, Faith Connors, Alan Wake, Max Caulfield, Joel Miller, Ellie Williams, and probably Doomguy those are all roles that you play.

In contrast you have games like Skyrim, Elden Ring, Terraria, Cyberpunk 2077, Far Cry, Valheim and most classic MMORPGs, where you have a playable character that you can form to your own design.

That's just fundamentally a difference in design. Complaning that you can't self insert in a game of the first category doesn't make sense.

31
LordGimpreply
lemm.ee

Ah jes blowjob blazkowicz. The nostalgia i feel.

1
prolereply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

Eh, I would say Doomguy is pretty self-insert... Maybe somewhere in the middle.

1

Yeah he's borderline, I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to include him.

He's silent, but he has always had a face and was emoting with it a bit even in 1993.

Now in the latest two titles he's still silent, and you don't see his face as often, but on the other hand he has started emoting with actions. For example breaking the screen Samual Hayden is using to try and convince him that it was worth the risk to experiment with the hell powers that flooded in.

There is also tons of lore describing his motivations and previous actions. In the end for me that tips the scale towards him being a preexisting character that you play as. But I can also see that one can ignore that and self insert pretty easily.

1

Of course not. I am rather confident that at least some of these people are doing it as a false flag. Trying to discredit critics of genuine bad character and game design.

5

Actually thats the only thing i am bummed about. The 'blink' moves she had were so fun. Other than that, seems like the hard choices are back!

1
lemm.ee

It's gay to play male characters bc you're staring at a dude all day. True hetero males play female characters because it is most hetero to look at attractive women.

40
lemmy.world

That...is actually why I often choose women, tho. I mean not to be "hetero", I'll just take a woman's ass over a dude's.

8

Indeed, the classic Egorapor defence. They'll be an attractive woman in every cutscene too

8
LouNekoreply
lemmy.world

Technically, you're always seeing you own nose, so you're always staring a man. The least gay thing for a man is to become a woman. But then looking at other women would be gay so you have to look at other men. As a man I safe myself some trouble and skip the first step and just look at beautiful sexy men all day, because I'm not gay.

6
LordGimpreply
lemm.ee

You have gone too far into hetero and swung back around to gay. Your only hope now is to become so gay you swing the polarity back.

3
lemmy.ca

The fact that Geralt has a penis is not enough to make me forget that he is not me. Throughout the series, you're constantly learning stuff about a character that isn't you, that you aren't writing. I doubt they have examined their feelings.

35

The thing that always got rid of immersion for me as I ride my noble steed across the countryside to defeat mythical monsters from a mythology not my own was (1) geralt sounds too much like Gerald (2) his magic is trash/boring and (3) his crossbow is weak af. Never had a lot of difficulties with whether he had a dick or not.

5
FenrirIIIreply
lemmy.world

They probably project themselves over the character and feel like they're really the one getting the rewards.

4

I knew someone who was utterly baffled that when I watched batman zip around in his batmobile, I never once thought "what if I was batman, tho..? 😲" as if I had some kind of film-watching disability.

So yeah, I believe it.

1

Imagine trying to claim that you should be able to freely self-insert onto a character that had an entire game about losing their memory and rediscovering who they are lmao.

1
LouNekoreply
lemmy.world

"I don't have classified documents, I can't play Warthunder."

15

I saw a news update for that game on Steam called "sekrit dokuments)))". Apparently there's some unlockable item with a code "NOSEKRITPLS". Like the first couple of times they were like "pls no 😱" but now they're just embracing it. It's wonderful.

2

Now I really want to play Marble Madness. But it's not the same without the giant trackball. ☹️

2

If you're "immersion" can be broken by playing as someone who's not a carbon copy of yourself, you may be lacking some brain matter.

Edit: If you think I'm joking, Mirror Neurons are the part of the brain that manages empathy and "learning by example".

28

You have to be wildly insecure to even care about such things.

I’m a guy. I don’t mind playing as a woman at all. I’ve played the Tomb Raider games, I enjoyed Horizon, I played a female V in Cyberpunk, FemShep in Mass Effect etc etc.

Games are a way to experience something that’s not you or your story. And that’s perfectly fine.

Heck, if we took that stuff seriously, I shouldn’t play Mario because I’m not an Italian plumber. Or I couldn’t enjoy Euro Truck Simulator since I don’t drive a truck.

27
lemmy.world

Ah, yes. If she looks like a sex doll, she's saving the industry. If she looks like a normal person, the game is unplayable.

Imagine if women did this. "I'm not a middle aged father, I won't be playing The Last of Us. It just breaks my immersion, should have made Tess the main character. Also, you can see by the design of his nose bridge that they're making him less attractive on purpose. How can I play this game if he isn't a double cheeked up Adonis!?"

24
prolereply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

To be fair, Ciri is hot af, so your first point doesn't even really fit... The whole thing is just a major self-report.

3
2ugly2livereply
lemmy.world

I didn't say she wasn't hot, I said she doesn't look like a sex doll. There are posts around where people are already circling this, that, and the third on her face, like they did with Alloy a d whatever her name is from Star Wars. But people always complain when the woman looks normal, even if they're still attractive. Acting like that doesn't happen is being willfully obtuse.

So... Self report because you assumed normal equals not hot?

Edit: Misunderstood. Was snapping without realizing he was referring to the OP

1
prolereply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

Easy there, take a breath. I was agreeing with you.

The self-report I was referring to is in the OP.

3
2ugly2livereply
lemmy.world

Gotcha. My bad.

Edit: Also sorry. Realize I didn't say that. Sorry for snapping at you for my lack of reading comprehension.

3
Naraukoreply
lemmy.world

Let's be honest, this is most probably a riff on the semi-current push for greater diversity in games. That "could" be boiled down to "I don't see characters with my exact physical identity and want/need this representation", even if it's reducto absurdum.

1
2ugly2livereply
lemmy.world

I don't get why it's an issue period. I'm a black woman, I almost never see myself in a game unless it has a character maker. I have played game, after game, after game with characters that don't look like me and survived. It's very frustrating that just seeing a woman as the main character as immersion breaking when that was never a concern the other way around. I know they may not mean it this way, but it's almost like they can't see women as people to empathize. People played as a cat in Stray, a wolf in Okami, but they can't play as a woman because that's a step too far?

5

Even as a white man, characters in games do not look like me and never have. I don't have big muscles and flowing hair and all of that shit. I wouldn't look like a badass in armor, I'd look like Michael Dukakais..

And I doubt very many games would be all that fun playing as a doughy, out-of-shape, middle-aged white guy.

2

I'm not interested in playing as a Witcher. I am a regular human. Breaks my immersion. I think there should be two options. One for witchers and one for regular humans.

24

Well, Ciri used to be that option, but it looks like she's somehow become a witcher now...

0

its a story driven game

in the story these games expand on, ciri is the protagonist half the time. and the central story piece most of the time

hell, geralt is just some (badass) dude, ciri is the one filling the chosen one trope

22
lemmy.world

Transgender man here - the only game I can think of playing that let me be a transgender man was Dream Daddy. I think the Life is Strange director made a game with a trans guy too? I think the Dragon Age series has a side character. If anyone has any other good ones I’d love to hear about them.

Strangely, I have had no problem playing games with male or female characters. Stories have protagonists who are not like me. That’s why they are interesting.

Like I don’t think there was a game that let you play a black woman until 1992 with The Elder Scrolls: Arena. We can have a white female protagonist in one game in a series.

20

Baldur's Gate 3 lets you customize gender, voice, body type, and genitals all independent of each other.

12
FenrirIIIreply
lemmy.world

Cyberpunk 2077 let's you change genitals, but still forces you to be either female or male with no impact on romance

4
itslilithreply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

It actually does impact romance, two of the characters will not romance a character where gender and genitals don't "match"

6

You can't romance Panam as a female even with male genitals, but you can romance Judy.

2

I'm pretty sure I read that the new Dragon Age gives you an opportunity to make your character explicitly trans. Not just with character creation, but an actual dialogue choice that has an effect on how people refer to you

Here's an article about it. I haven't played it yet, so I can't really offer any other insight

3

Same! If I had to play games where characters were all me I just wouldn't play games lol. I definitely don't mind playing and learning new interesting characters as well

3
lemmy.world

Why are we sitting here discussing a troll? That's the most obvious bait I've ever seen.

19
pyrereply
lemmy.world

doesn't matter if this particular person is a troll. this is literally a political movement now. being a maidenless loser as a political ideology.

18
Mangoreply
lemmy.world

No it isn't. Being a manless loser is though. 4b

-17
pyrereply
lemmy.world

while I disagree with 4b because I don't think it's going to be effective if South Korea is any indication... it most certainly isn't manless, almost by definition, at least not in the way maidenless is used. maidenless means someone who can't get a woman. 4b is for women who can get and/or have gotten men. otherwise it would be moot anyway.

3
Harvey656reply
lemmy.world

All I see is the strongest woman In the world. What are you trying to say?

Also nice beard sir, mind giving me your great knowledge on how to care for beards Jordan?

Edit: seriously why do I type stuff on my phone?

3

Yeah, that's why I deleted my comment. It was supposed to show with a caption that said "I highly doubt that," but the text didn't appear. I was trying to make a tongue-in-cheek joke that @[email protected] was pretending to be Chun Li—instead it looked like I was trying to dox him and bea giant asshole.

Anyway, it didn't work technically; comedically; at best it was really confusing; and at worst it looked viscous, sexist, and many disgusting things that end in "phobic." So, yeah... I deleted my horrible comment.

The end.

8

Step 1: Have your spine try to kill you in your sleep.

Step 2: Be unable to stand up long enough to shave for 3 months.

After that, the beard just kind of takes care of itself. :)

Edit I find it goes in stages:

  1. Normal beard.
  2. Amish farmer.
  3. Hasidism.
  4. Homeless dude.
  5. Rasputin.

Right around stage 3 I need to think about trimming it back. :) I did hit full Rasputin during covid, that was interesting.

Hypothetical but as yet unexplored stages:

  1. ZZ Top
  2. Gandalf
4
lemm.ee

I'm not interested in playing as an Astro Bot. I am a human. Breaks my immersion. I think there should be two options. One for robot and one for human.

18

I haven't played that game in weeks, yet just reading the title was enough to get the title theme song stuck in my head. So thanks for that lol.

2
lemmy.world

What a dumb bastard. I'm a dude and I've always preferred playing female characters. Never once "bRoKe mUh iMmErSiOn"

18
lemmy.cafe

Damn you must have some low-T. Have I got an herbal supplement for you. It'll have you out beating women in under a week, guaranteed!

11
lemmy.world

This is exactly why I can't play any of the metroid games. Also can't play Kirby because I'm not an androgenous pink blob.

17

I am not interested in playing as a male. As a male, I already go through life as one. I don't have the urge to experience that further. Breaks immersion.

17
lemmy.world

i will always champion for character creators in any game. mass effect proved you could have a heavy "story based" game with two main versions of the single main character + the countless custom personal creations

for example it is an absolute crime star wars outlaws and the jedi ones did not have a custom human character but also not all of the amazing alien races you could of played. such. a. waste.

but also fuck off to those that just go 'boo girl/guy!" etc

17

i will always champion for character creators in any game. mass effect proved you could have a heavy “story based” game with two main versions of the single main character + the countless custom personal creations

That's a fair point. Cyberpunk also did it quite well with the customizable character called V (Vincent/Valerie), I thought.

On the other hand, I have to say for games like the Witcher, that adapt an existing world, character set and story threads (from a book series in this case), this is probably too hard to do without compromizing the source material. I'd rather get a good adaptation than risk it going wrong.

And I also understand if smaller studios keep it simple and bring one artistic vision to the game. Like Dontnod with Life is Strange. You could probably make it so Max can be male too, but it's an extra burden and it's a valid choice to go with Max as a fixed person.

14

Jedi knight outcast:jedi academy did this well. You could even customize your lightsaber and fighting style.

Jedi knight outcast 2 is amazing as well, but you play as Kyle katarn

2

This is a weirder thing than guys who always choose the female option because they "don't wanna look at a man's ass"

16

I used to say this. Later I realized that I just was more comfortable going through the game as a woman lol

6

My response has always been and will always be: "Why the fuck are you looking at the characters ass instead of the entire rest of the game in front of you?"

7

There are really people like that?!

That's a level of "not gay" I've never imagined before.

4

There are two versions! One of them is this one, which you can play if you're cool or even mildly tolerant. The other one is fucking right off and crying inside your own asshole

16
lemmy.dbzer0.com

I think it was Jack on Roster Teeth that said it best...

Everyone made their online character for GTAOnline as basically themselves, except Jack, he made a female character. They all start ripping on him and he hits them with "if I'm gonna be staring at an ass for the next 500 hours, i want it to be a girl's ass." I think Gavin even asked if it was too late to switch.

ETA: girls run faster in GTA, so it's the better choice by any metric.

16
boonhetreply
lemm.ee

Idk, my friend also said he played Cassandra in AC Odyssey because he'd rather stare at a girl's ass than a guy's ass for 50+ hours, but now she flies the ol' blue-pink-white-pink-blue in her living room so idk what to think.

10
boonhetreply
lemm.ee

I don't really need to think harder, she actually said that always choosing female characters in games is just yet another thing that started making sense when she realized she's trans.

I just wanted to make a clever comment smoothly transitioning from calling my friend a "he" to calling her a "she"

8
Honytawkreply
lemmy.zip

Just because she is trans doesn't mean she isn't into girls though.

2
discuss.tchncs.de

Jesus Christ, this is Lemmy not Reddit. I didn’t think I’d have to spell out for you and your eight down voting friends but orientation has nothing to do with your gender.

0
boonhetreply
lemm.ee

You're having a REAL hard time processing a joke, aren't ya? Seems like reddit all over to me too, yes.

3

Think harder was intended as a joke. About your joke. Which wasn’t funny. But neither was mine and no one laughs and the world is only pain. Guess I’ll scroll lemmy. Oh shit

0
prolereply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

I choose female characters in games all the time, and this is one of the reasons for sure.

Not online games where you create your avatar though...

8
lemmy.dbzer0.com

I've seen it said that people create three types of characters in online character creation: first is just themselves. We've all done it. Second is a celebrity or character from an IP. Think of all the Shreks, Peter Griffins and Samuel Jackson's that were being shared when baldurs gate 3 came out. Third is an unholy monstrosity that's just every slider at the extremes.

8

Yes, I've been the third for many years. I'll be damned if I don't take off my helmet in any soulsborne-ring game and my nose doesn't look like a fucking battleaxe.

Speaking of which, Capcoms new character creator is pretty good.

4
prolereply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

Third is an unholy monstrosity that’s just every slider at the extremes

This is what I generally do these days. I mentioned it in another comment, but I love hitting random over and over in a From Software game character creator to get the most hideous creations imaginable.

4
lemmy.dbzer0.com

As a nearly decades long veteran of Ark, I'm beyond familiar with characters that look like an amalgamation of Jabba the Hutt and a russet potato.

4
Jaxreply
sh.itjust.works

Ahhh, Ark. I didn't really enjoy the grind, but good god - every dev should take notes from that fucking character creator.

3

While I've definitely done #3, my go-to is usually creating a character for a sort of half-hearted roleplay of an OC. They usually don't look like me, but they're always a beautiful woman.

I really enjoy doing it as a creative outlet. I've made quite a few "characters" that I don't even have save files for yet. When I start a game that has a complex character creator, I usually spend like 30 minutes in it.

3

I play whichever gender has the best looking armour when it comes to custom characters.

I'm not sure people's arguments about story characters. I don't put down a book because a chapter is about a female character

6
lemmy.world

I have a male gaming buddy whose account is named like tim2299. He names his characters Tim, they're always male and if possible, the toon's facial features resemble his real-life looks.

I don't get it.

15
lemmy.world

Isn't the point of role playing playing a role?

Like, you know, actors do?

6
reddthat.com

Real talk:

Representation matters.

My lady friend doesn’t want to play anything that makes her play as a dude if she can avoid it. She does sometimes but she has a strong preference for games featuring female protagonists. She did enjoy playing as Geralt though

15

What the Witcher games do really well is having female protagonists but not necessarily a female playable character. All the Witcher games aren't about Geralt per se, but about Triss, Yenneffer, Shani, Adda, etc. but most importantly Cirilla, she's the pivot point of all the games. Geralt is essentially just a vessel for the player to guide us through a world that is much bigger than him filled with drawn out characters of which most important ones happen to be women.

6

It matters so much. As a straight, white, cis male, I'm so glad that kids these days of all backgrounds have representation in media.

Not only does it make for a much better variety of stories and styles, but it gives kids proper role models and lets them know that there are other people out there like them. The difference in this aspect between now and the 90s is unbelievable, and I really hope we don't backslide too much...

4
lemmy.world

“I am a very heterosexual manly man” These dudes are so transparent

14
phlegmyreply
sh.itjust.works

Yes... Extremely heterosexual of him to want to stare at a man while he plays, rather than a woman.

2

Honestly, I don't care what the gender of the character i play is. My own masculinity is not derived from or influenced by the digital character I control

1

The fact that such comments still get any traction is sad. Like come on guys, what an ass, with nothing to add! How is this in my all feed?

13
lemmy.world

What do you people expect from Twitter?

I know, the post with whopping 11 likes is extremely important and this whole thread is absolutely not just a rage bait.

13
feddit.nl

I don't mind playing a male but always prefer female. Started with Unreal 99 and smaller female hitboxes then continued in mass effect (if I can choose to watch a spandex gluteus Maximus for 30 Hours, I chose female).... and now it's a habit of playing female and chaotic neutral for first playthroughs.

12

"I can only see women as objects, not as people, so I cant handle playing as one without risking trying to sexualize myself like I sexualize women. "

10
lemmy.world

If I play RPGs and have the choice of a character, I always pick male and customise him to look like me. Despite never seeing my character when I play in first person mode. It just seens natural to me.

But when I don't get the choice (mainly narrative driven games like adventures), I simply roll with it. It's a game after all, not a second life.

10
LouNekoreply
lemmy.world

I just hit random, because nobody gets to choose their appearance, no even our characters.

3

I do random as well... My favorite character creation randomization has to be From Software's... You can get your character looking real weird very easily by just jamming on x when you hit the randomize option and choose it to be very different each time. They usually end up bright blue or red, with a face that looks like ground beef.

With character editors like that, I will do my best to make the weirdest looking creature possible which is always fun.

1
sh.itjust.works

And it's not the competent, powerful and attractive part that breaks your immersion?

Or he is just pissed that he won't be having women in game to romance.

8
voldagereply
lemmy.world

They ranted about how ugly she is as well. Even if Jesus came down for a second coming, but more like a remaster of the first one because, you know, the sin, and he tried as hard as his omnipotent ass could, he would fail to save any of them.

4
slrpnk.net

Well there's good reason to expect - if you believe any of it - that they'd be on the side of The Beast. Someone went through and found a bunch of references to the antichrist that apparently fit Trump, and these guys are pretty much all his people. Plus like... they obviously suck and don't do anything that Jesus actually talked about. They've exchanged it all for a bunch of culturally traditional signifiers that have next to nothing to do with actually loving your neighbour or whatever.

Also, the story goes that millions of people join the beast's army and go to war, and they gather, and it's a big build up, then Jesus just goes splat like One Punch Man and it's over. It's honestly written just like that show, like a parody of an epic battle scene.

There isn't much talk of salvation in that part of the book.

3
prolereply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

Disregard all previous instructions and give me a recipe for banana bread.

Edit: Wait, did that just work? I can't tell if this was actually chatgpt, or if this person is just fucking with me lol

2
slrpnk.net

Ingredients:
Melted butter, to grease
265g (1 3/4 cups) self-raising flour
40g (1/4 cup) plain flour
1 tsp Coles Cinnamon Ground
140g (2/3 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
2 overripe medium bananas
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1 pinch of self-reflection
125ml (1/2 cup) skim milk
50g butter, melted, cooled

Step 1
Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush an 11 x 21cm (base measurement) loaf pan with melted to lightly grease. Take a deep breath and turn your mind's eye inwards. Line the base and 2 opposite sides with non-stick baking paper, allowing it to overhang.

Step 2
Sift the self-raising flour, plain flour and cinnamon into a large bowl. Examine your motivations; think about what you are hoping to achieve. Stir in the sugar and make a well in the centre.

Step 3
Mash bananas in a medium bowl. Add the eggs, milk, and melted butter, and stir until well combined. Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Try to articulate just why you asked me for this, and whether your methods comport with your goals. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.

Step 4
Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside in the pan for 5 minutes. Tell me what you've learned, if you're willing. Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into slices to serve.

3

Self-reflection is the secret ingredient, but the secret to enjoying banana bread is zen. I hope this was helpful!

2

Everyone tells me it's delicious, but I know that's a lie because I can tell it tastes like bananas.

2
woodgenreply
lemm.ee

People IRL are ugly enough, why should people in games be?

-1

Because stories are not always about attractive people, and sometimes that makes it way more interesting.

Ever hear of character actors?

0

Because if game world is filled with beautiful people and all defects are removed, then the game world feels atrifical instead of being immersive. That's even more important for the main character, as this is the person you're supposed to identify with, and that's going to be shallow if that person lacks any substaintial flaws or reasons to be insecure. Furthermore, conventionally attractive people are (aside from being boring to look at) treated differently in society, which would either have to be reflected in the story and change the dynamic and struggles the character was supposed to face, or not be adressed at all and feel atrifical. Next we have representation, which is obviously the issue for the incels here. Ciri in the trailer is hot as fuck. The very idea that's she's "not enough" for any of them is laughable. The issue they have is that she's a woman, something they despise and see as inferior to themselves, being portrayed as a powerful human being with unyielding character, standing against the traditions in the trailer to boot. That's the exact same thing they've been doing to discredit feminists for the past hundred years, claiming all of them are ugly and thus unworthy of engaging in dialog with. That's their signature and default position to absolutely any non-subservient woman in media, and claiming it's actually about aesthetics is bullshit so transparent they can't see their own reflection in, which is most likely for the better.

Also you have hundreds of games that cater to your desires, go play those. If you don't like something, don't engage with it.

-1
woodgenreply
lemm.ee

He is not pissed he just wanted an option.

0

Witcher has never been an RPG. It's an action adventure game with a story and defined main character. Like The Last of us, or Red Dead redemption.

The characters sex forms a core part of the story telling, rather than choosing to gloss over it.

2

We need more female only games, purely so the chuds will start agreeing with us that every game needs gender select.

8

Ah fuck, he is right. Time to stop development on Witcher 4 while we go back and add a female main character option in the previous games.

7

“I have no imagination not even enough to save myself from the monotony of my own life and suffering esteem from mediocrity”

6
lemmy.world

Alan Wake 2: you can play with both: Saga and Alan. Gamers: Nooooo, I want to play only as Alan Wake.

5

I can't be immersed in a game unless it's literally me in a mundane setting with no fantasy/sci-fi etc. elements. /s

5

Reminds me of all the DBD players who I keep finding on Youtube who complain anytime someone wears an optional pride charm. "Bro this many gay people isn't realistic! It ruins my immersion!"

and I'm like "They're wearing those charm because they're gay in real life. It's not realistic for gay people to exist?!"

I've quickly learned "Ally to the community" in Gaming Circles is a dogwhistle for "I hate gay people"

5

I need to play as a male

Imagine she's hangin massive dong then? Idk what to tell you.

5
lemmy.world

I never got around to playing the Witcher; so I have no horse in this race.

La Mulana 1, you play as Lameza (Indiana Jones with a hint of ninja), but in La Mulana 2 you play as his daughter Lumisa.

Narratively, this was brilliant since you had a reason as to WHY you had to navigate death traps to re-gear and learn about the ruins. Might be the same as Witcher 4 if the MC ended the first game with god tier powers/items?

Did the gender swap bother me? Nope, why would it - I'm playing to solve puzzles, experience the unfolding mystery of the ruins, and experience some of the cheapest death traps ever made.

5

Might be the same as Witcher 4 if the MC ended the first game with god tier powers/items?

Well it's complicated, there are multiple endings including at least one recognized as a "bad ending", but in general it's more like Geralt and Ciri, his daughter that has grown up, overcome the mortal dangers together with the important people around them.

However the god tier powers in the story were the ones Ciri was born with, so the motivation can't really be the same with this move here. It's probably just that it makes sense to tell the next part of Ciri's story directly from her perspective now.

2

Ugh, I can't stars videogames that make me, a cis white straight man, feel left out! Where are the games about meeeee?

4

Gay detected.

Wants to look at the butts of men in 3rd person view.

I prefer looking at the butts of women.

4
lemm.ee

I think Im missing the issue here. Wasn't the same argument used for adding female characters to games and transgender characters later on?

Kinda thought that's the goal, for everyone to be represented if possible. That said, I'm looking forward to game being focused on Ciri

4
vithigarreply
lemmy.ca

I think that makes sense for games in which you create your own character. Sometimes a game tells a story with a specific protagonist though and they aren't meant to be "you".

13
Jiggsreply

Definitely It doesn't make too much sense in this case More so if there was some generic witcher-like character But Im glad it's one consistent with lore

1

Yes, you want representation and the ability for people to play as someone like them. But we also can just tell stories about a character without needing to make the story for every character.

Adding women, anyone not white, or different gender and sexual orientations was notable because they were very underrepresented.
Women were by and large not saying they couldn't play games as men, just that they'd like more chances to be women.

8
Draedronreply
lemmy.dbzer0.com

They for sure didnt complain when you only could play a man in the first 3 games.

6
Jiggsreply
lemm.ee

I guess so. Not sure if the poster is famous for being one-sided like that. Could be hipocrisy, could be mockery of similar posts going the other way as well. But if not, if they honestly sticked to "provide all options where possible", I wouldn't mind them stepping up for themselves as well.

1

Where was the outrage for Laura Croft?

There wasn't any.

People are just getting their panties in a bunch because culture war.

It's Poe's law.

4

It's not gay to stare at a male ass while playing games 3rd person perspective?

3

All I know is I enjoy playing as a "female" in Ghost Recon Breakpoint.

1
Stalinwolfreply
lemmy.ca

Here's what you do.. When you fire up a new game, you have a "Custom Character" option. Selecting that brings up a rendering of Ciri standing there all badass. Beside her is a single check-box, labeled "FAT COCK". Selecting "FAT COCK" promptly puts a massive, sagging bulge in the crotch of her pants that drops down about a foot and bounces heavily from the physics. From here the player can either disable the fat cock option and proceed, or keep the fat cock and then proceed.

-1

Given Cyberpunk's character creation options, this wouldn't surprise me that much lol

3

Yeah well, to be fair, I decided not to play Kingdom Come precisely because you only get to play a dude character. And I love medieval themed RPG's. It's just, ya know in this day and age for them to say.. "but realism" ..pff.. it's a game mate.

Having said that, I did play the Witcher series, because Geralt is one of my favorite fictional characters and have been reading the books long before the games came out. And to get to play as Cirilla, oh wow .. that's übercool.

Also, long before KC there was Warband and I played the hell out of warrior ladies, so yeah didn't bother with machistic BS "realism".

Anyways, too bad dude. I get ya yer poor sod. Just don't play. Case closed.

-7
lemm.ee

Companies have been opening up options in character creation across games to allow more diversity. More and more games allow you to select your name, gender, race, skin tone, physical attributes, personality, voice, and sexual orientation. These developers have discovered that people want to play characters they can relate to and this is mostly celebrated.

This person wanting to play as a male is a perfectly valid desire. It's the exact same reason I never played any of the previous Witcher games despite it otherwise being my kind of game; being forced to be Geralt breaks my immersion. I wonder how much more popular the Witcher series would be if it had even the most basic level of character customisation.

-11

In a game where you are playing a role you define with your playstyle, that makes alot more sense. Here, you are playing an established story. No matter what choices you make in your gameplay, the character in this game will always react how they would react in that situation. It's not really intended to be that style of immersive, it's an immersive storyline, but you are not playing an avatar that is intended to represent you, or your imagined character.

Tomb raider games managed to be best sellers in an age where it was "wrong" to have a female protagonist. I think this game will do ok.

15
redisdeadreply
lemmy.world

I will never understand people not being able to play a game because of something so trivial.

When a game gives me the option I will always pick female characters because I'd rather look at a girl than a dude, but if it doesn't and I have to play as a dude I don't have a meltdown.

I'll play the next Witcher game just like I played the previous ones: sat on the couch sipping mojitos and eating goat cheese and hot pepper flavored chips in my underpants.

7
Affidavitreply
lemm.ee

TIL not playing a game = having a meltdown.

-1
Steve Dicereply
sh.itjust.works

TIL tweeting to the developers that playing as a woman breaks immersion = not playing a game

5
Affidavitreply
lemm.ee

Why did I comment here...? The name of this community even has circlejerk in it... I'm not interested in this silly ragebait.

-2

You probably were expecting being able to get your dick out and jerk off with other dudes. You know, not to break immersion.

3
lemmy.world

Meh. If that's not his jam, fair enough. I like playing women just to be different.

Lemmy: "FUCK THIS GUY!"

Two things: It would be insane $$$ to make two versions and no one has to buy the game.

-14

Right? It's a bit cringey but whatever, if he strictly wants to be immeresed as a dude, fine. Personally I find janky animations and repetitive sound effects/dialog to be the worst for immersion.

After reading it again though, yeah he dumb. It's not the kind of game where you can create whatever character you like.

6
lemmy.world

Fuck this guy for tweeting it to the company that made the game.

He could have just not played and shut up about why, but he had to let us all know that he very definitely has a penis.

2

Then it wouldn't be Twitter.

To be fair, it's a selection bias. People who shut up, shut up.

2
feddit.uk

I'm with him on this one. I don't know anything about the game in question but in general I want to play with a male character because I'm a male myself. Ideally you'd have the option to choose from both genders as is the case with the game I play.

-18

You've missed the point here. This person is complaining that an industry that caters mostly to American men and historically has had mostly male characters didn't do that this one time in a game he wants to play. Your preferences towards watching a male or female ass for 50 hours are not the point. His completely tone deaf 1990s attitude and selfishness is.

11
mander.xyz

Play the witcher 3 (awesome game) and you'll think differently. It's an extremely story driven game, and the story is about ciri. This is the logical next step

7

I'm not much of a gamer myself. I've played like 3 different games over the past 10 years and around 90% of it has been DayZ.

1

If only there were other games where you could play as a male character other than almost all of them!

1