Should female in-game characters be treated like male ones?

Cygemai_Hlervu

Hey, guys! It's a wartime in Tamriel, so many of us fight out there. Do all of you feel comfortable cracking female skulls out there in Cyrodiil, the Battlegrounds or in PvE? ESO forces us to do that, we offend female characters all the ways we offend each other there especially if those female characters wield weapons and attack us. Moreover during a massive hack'n'slash in Cyrodiil we do not even distinguish our opponent's features due to external reasons. We don't even muse about there. Pick an option that suits your own views the most (not the ones you might have invented for your in-game characters) and feel free to share your opinion. Thank you!

D0PAMINE

I treat everyone as an enemy.

Elsonso

Huh?

SirAndy

Not sure what you are asking here, are you implying female characters should not be allowed to fight?

VaranisArano

Whelp, this is going to be an interesting comment thread.


From a Lore perspective, female characters are just as able to fight and be fought as male characters. That's true in ESO as well as the singleplayer TES games. The games have largely phased out the stats differences between male and female characters, and in-game there's no push to choose a male or female player character. Its pretty rare that there's a big effect on the storyline, and even TES 3 has only a few quests that change, IIRC.

From a player perspective, I find it disappointing to think of an Elder Scrolls game in which I could not play as a female character with the full range of a male character. Part of playing a TES game means the possibility of losing and dying. It would substantially diminish my enjoyment of the TES series if I could not play as a female character or they were infantalized. Is there any victory if there is no possiblility of losing? For context, my Vestige, Dragonborn, Champion of Cyrodiil, and Dragonborn were all female, and they accomplished their quests by overcoming the same sort of obstacles as a male version of those heroes.

From a game theory perspective, there's something about "Female characters are off limits" because we want to "respect" women that rubs me the wrong way. However good and protective the intentions are, it turns out to effectively mean "Ladies, you can't play characters who look like you." Or "Ladies, you can play characters who look like you, but if you do, you can't get the full game experience." In terms of real, practical effects, that means "Games are for men, Ladies, and you'd better play a male character if you want to fully enjoy this game." Which is an obvious problem in a role-playing game.

So I'm in favor of female characters being treated the same as male characters. Its lore-friendly. And it respects female gamers who want to play female characters and still experience the full version of the game.

BomblePants

Are you just trying to be provocative or do you have a point?

Sylvermynx

Whatever you're smoking, you might want to reconsider any further usage.

redspecter23

I'll treat all pixels the same. Anything else would be anti-pixel discrimination... except for pet sorcs. They can all die in a fire, whether they identify as male pixels, female pixels or anything in between.

SipofMaim

1/10

No doubt somebody will bite, but this is some ultra-low-effort trolling.

ForsakenSin

Its a video game....., fiction....., made up...., pixels..... there is also Khajiit, Argonian, Orcs,.......

Matthew_Galvanus

incredibly low effort troll attempt. #byefelicia

vibeborn

Are female characters being treated differently? I only play with female characters and I know for a fact that if I enter Cyrodiil or Battlegrounds I'm gonna get my body delivered on a silver plate no matter what

I also have no problem killing female enemies, like I have no problem killing male enemies

So? Aren't they already treated the same?

Zacuel

I'm just here for the popcorn.

Raisin

Chicharron

Exercise is good for the brain, it's never too late to start.

Cygemai_Hlervu

Why so aggressive, guys?? It's just a question with no intent to offend you! I was taught it is not polite to offend women and children. We have to take care and protect them. Weren't you taught the same? If not, I understand your aggression and I have no questions. In ESO we always are forced to treat female characters absolutely equally. But Skyrim suprisingly treats children characters properly. If it was irrelevant TES V would have never had that feature. What trolling or other provocative things do you see here? Are that you who smokes something out there to see some trolling? What's wrong with you, guys? Calm down. I won't discuss it cause it's a poll, not a discussion. Press the buttons there and be less agrressive.

logarifmik

As far as I understand, genders in TES don't play the same roles as in our patriarchal world. I mean, not always, it somewhat more complex. Now-now, I'm talking about times before emancipation, rooted in bourgeois revolutions. In our world the reason for emancipation was quite clear -- new brave capitalistic world needs more working hands. And here is the question, why is it so in Nirn? Presence of arcane arts could be one of the main reasons, I suppose. Also, the world of TES is much more harsh compared to ours. There are a lot of menaces of arcane nature in particular, which forces society to mobilize all people available. Could be the second reason.

But who am I trying to fool? It's just modern ideas influence in popular fantasy setting. Though, it could be logically explained.

BigBragg

vibeborn

Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »

Why so aggressive, guys?? It's just a question with no intent to offend you! I was taught it is not polite to offend women and children. We have to take care and protect them. Weren't you taught the same? If not, I understand your aggression and I have no questions. In ESO we always are forced to treat female characters absolutely equally. But Skyrim suprisingly treats children characters properly. If it was irrelevant TES V would have never had that feature. What trolling or other provocative things do you see here? Are that you who smokes something out there to see some trolling? What's wrong with you, guys? Calm down. I won't discuss it cause it's a poll, not a discussion. Press the buttons there and be less agrressive.

But women (game or irl) are not children, so it doesn't make sense to make that comparison. Besides not every female character is a friend (or some are just plain annoying like that Wrothgar woman)

And maybe it's not okay to offend a woman, but if that woman works for the God of Brutality or other bad people, then I'd have no problem bringing her to justice

Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it?

Raisin

Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »

Why so aggressive, guys?? It's just a question with no intent to offend you! I was taught it is not polite to offend women and children. We have to take care and protect them. Weren't you taught the same? If not, I understand your aggression and I have no questions. In ESO we always are forced to treat female characters absolutely equally. But Skyrim suprisingly treats children characters properly. If it was irrelevant TES V would have never had that feature. What trolling or other provocative things do you see here? Are that you who smokes something out there to see some trolling? What's wrong with you, guys? Calm down. I won't discuss it cause it's a poll, not a discussion. Press the buttons there and be less agrressive.

Skyrim did indeed get it right. The reason ESO has no children in it is because of violence issues also. There's laws for that stuff in video games.

That said, ESO really doesn't force you to do anything... you're free to not attack female characters and let them beat you up!

ArchMikem

The only real difference between a Male and a Female, is muscle mass.

Watchdog

Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »

Why so aggressive, guys?? It's just a question with no intent to offend you! I was taught it is not polite to offend women and children. We have to take care and protect them. Weren't you taught the same? If not, I understand your aggression and I have no questions. In ESO we always are forced to treat female characters absolutely equally. But Skyrim suprisingly treats children characters properly. If it was irrelevant TES V would have never had that feature. What trolling or other provocative things do you see here? Are that you who smokes something out there to see some trolling? What's wrong with you, guys? Calm down. I won't discuss it cause it's a poll, not a discussion. Press the buttons there and be less agrressive.

Females and males are equal in the world of Elder Scrolls.

Having said that, I have to add that equality has more than one side. Equal rights come with equal treatment, and equal demands. Armies draft both men and women and when you face them, they will kill you all the same, regardless of what's between their or your legs.

Children are a whole different story here. A game like ESO cannot afford to be dragged through the mud of all major media because it allows the players to intentionally physically hurt kids. That would mean a serious loss of reputation and money for the company. This is the reason why children get special treatment, regardless of being boys or girls.

Araneae6537

Troll poll

MartiniDaniels

I think ESO should have more distinctive features for different genders. As for now it is really hard to say who are you fighting with that amount of flashy effects.. maybe more distinctive pre-death cries, maybe more skirts in outfits or more showy hair. So far I don't know with whom I fighting in 99% of cases, both PVE and PVP.

max_only

The forums tried to warn you about this post. And still you persisted.

Cygemai_Hlervu

vibeborn wrote: »

Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »

Why so aggressive, guys?? It's just a question with no intent to offend you! I was taught it is not polite to offend women and children. We have to take care and protect them. Weren't you taught the same? If not, I understand your aggression and I have no questions. In ESO we always are forced to treat female characters absolutely equally. But Skyrim suprisingly treats children characters properly. If it was irrelevant TES V would have never had that feature. What trolling or other provocative things do you see here? Are that you who smokes something out there to see some trolling? What's wrong with you, guys? Calm down. I won't discuss it cause it's a poll, not a discussion. Press the buttons there and be less agrressive.

But women (game or irl) are not children, so it doesn't make sense to make that comparison. Besides not every female character is a friend (or some are just plain annoying like that Wrothgar woman)

And maybe it's not okay to offend a woman, but if that woman works for the God of Brutality or other bad people, then I'd have no problem bringing her to justice

Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it?

No, you aren't. I mean, yes, those female characters do wield weapons, they attack us and we are forced to retaliate. I'm talking about the moral side the same way TES V depicted it with children characters. They did it perfectly there just forbidding them to fight and be harmed some way. But what happened to that morale regarding female and old men characters? It's a cultural differences, so it is even more interesting what different players think about it based on their cultural basis.

D0PAMINE

ArchMikem wrote: »

The only real difference between a Male and a Female, is muscle mass.

And the hotdog

GeorgeBlack

Dont bring real world things into a video game.
Simple as that. Stop it

Sylvermynx

I'm not interested in a cultural basis poll. I play the game for fun. I play a vast majority of my 44 toons as female (as I am IRL). I play a few males as well. I more than appreciate that women are fully as able in this (and many other) games as males. The day I get locked out of playing the way a male does in a game is the day I quit throwing money at whatever game company chose that asinine option....

Corollary to that: I do NOT play games where the only character option is male. Period.

VaranisArano

So I might be Captain Obvious here, but...

Women aren't children.

Women are adults, many of whom play video games, and many of whom enjoy playing characters who look like them without having those characters infantalized or excluded from PVP games.

There are other games if someone wants a male-only PVP environment where they can safely avoid ever having to fight female characters. (No one mention that there are women who play male characters in those games, okay?)

Cygemai_Hlervu

VaranisArano wrote: »

So I might be Captain Obvious here, but...

Women aren't children.

Women are adults, many of whom play video games, and many of whom enjoy playing characters who look like them without having those characters infantalized or excluded from PVP games.

There are other games if someone wants a male-only PVP environment where they can safely avoid ever having to fight female characters. (No one mention that there are women who play male characters in those games, okay?)

Yeah, they aren't. But you have to know there are some cultures which treat them almost equally. I'm not argueing as you all do here, just watching the poll results.