Assassin's Creed Unity reveals new female character, but she's not playable

[Echodamus]

You know the funny thing is I bet some feminists will actually be against this... or rather her role and how its portrayed. I say that because they will most likely thing "Of course she has to be saved by a man, and of course she isn't strong enough to rescue herself". Source: Go to a liberal arts college. 

 

But for real, I hope they did it in a natural way, and didn't just force her in just because they were pressured to. 

[TheProfosist]

You know the funny thing is I bet some feminists will actually be against this... or rather her role and how its portrayed. I say that because they will most likely thing "Of course she has to be saved by a man, and of course she isn't strong enough to rescue herself". Source: Go to a liberal arts college. 

 

But for real, I hope they did it in a natural way, and didn't just force her in just because they were pressured to.

this what i was trying to say earlier

[BenD]

love the books the black flag book was so much better then the actual story line in the game or perhaps i'm just an idiot that think it's cool to read

note: in black flag edward was allways thinking about his wife...
ezio had a relationship at the end...

females play a huge part of the game, but more of supporting role but they are allways there.

[ACatWithThumbs]

I don't really get their problem.
First the main character is a french guy so of course it won't be woman they would need rewrite the hole game to make it happen.
Second you only see your self as the main character in Co-op like in Watchdogs and the others see you as a random assassin.
And third they weren't lying when they said they would need to make a complete woman motion capture.
They probably just used male assassins so that they don't need to make motion capture twice which saves them time and money.
And last how can the devs be sexist or racist when the dev team has several woman in lead positions as well as people from all over the world?

 

[EChondo]

If people want women in video games then go and make your own damn game. The world isn't fair, get over it.

[BallGum]

DLC material right there.

 

And suddenly all is clear...

 

 

I understand where feminists are coming from in this regard, but I really think that the bigger problem right now is the objectification of women in many ads and so on, which is a real problem.

 

With games, you're not supposed to shoehorn female characters into a story for the sake of 'diversity', because sometimes gender is pretty important in terms of character development, ( although, here it's about coop so it's this point is less relevant). 

 

tldr: I think it's a bit of a mountain out of a molehill for the most part.

[Yoinkerman]

The short answer is male privilege and enforcing gender roles. Surprise surprise you end up rescuing the girl, because girls are weak and need to be rescued. This is arguably worse than before.

I don't understand why feminists can't just accept that the game was made with the intention of a male protagonist.

[Heisenbleurgh]

I know most people here are mocking the whole feminist movement and saying how irrelevant this is, but the thing about representation is that it plays a role in humans and how they see themselves. Sure, a game about being an assassin isn't the best example, but did you know Mae Jemison, the first black female in space, has said she was inspired to become an astronaut because of Nichelle Nichols' black female character in Star Trek?

You might think it doesn't matter at all but the thing is so many games objectify women as if though they were in-game achievements. This not only leads to women feeling they're nothing more than an object to be won and men feeling that their purpose is to win them over and not doing so is a failure in their side.

 

Last thing: I take no offense from people who make fun of the more extremist hateful feminists the same way I don't take offense from people that make fun of 12 year old call of duty players, however, assuming all feminists are that stereotype is like saying all gamers are that annoying-immature-cursing stereotype. I won't mind, as it's not me, but generalizing helps no one.

[Nexus]

The time period that the historical aspects of the Assassins Creed are set, were not particularly known for the gender equality. Assassins Creed has always strived - at least to some extent - to represent the time period that the games were set.

In the modern story line there have been several important female characters anyway. Its not like they are intentionally being sexist. How many crazy sword wielding women can you name from history and how many can you name that were in fact men. The balance of probability means that any assassin is more likely to be male.

[Mindtrickz]

Now we wait for the feminists to completely overreact.

 

 

I don't understand why feminists can't just accept that the game was made with the intention of a male protagonist.

 

 

Feminist rage inbound, duck and cover.

 

 

Feminists have a hard time accepting things like facts, especially when it speaks against them, its like its only facts if they accept that it is.

 

You lot are morons. This entire "controversy" was about Ubisoft's excuse for the lack of female protagonist in Unity and Far Cry 4, rather than the lack off. Ubisoft's excuse was that it was "too much work to animate" females. Which was nonsense. Other MALE developers called them out on it. Ubisoft came up with a absurd excuse, and that spawned the trending hastag #womenaretoohardtoanimate.

 

The reason people care so much has more to do with Ubisoft's excuse for not having female protagonist. They claimed that putting in just one playable female character would “double the work”. Something which puzzled even other game developers. The excuse seemed even more dubious when one considers that Ubisoft already had a female assassin protagonist in (Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation) and had been stuffing the multiplayer component of last few core releases with playable females assassins. Another reason being that women played such a big role in the French revolution, and the most famous assassin of that time being a woman known as the Angel of Assassination.

 

Take a look at Rockstar. When they were asked about the lack of female protagonist in GTA 5, they said "the concept of being masculine was so key to this story", and no one doubted them.

 

IMO, Ubisoft missed a chance with Assassin's Creed: Unity. Women played a big role in the 1700's French Revolution. We could have seen or played as Marie Antoinette, Charlotte Corday(single most famous assassin of the time. She was a noblewoman nicknamed the Angel of Assassination, and she took out one of the radical Jacobin leaders.), Marat. It's a shame, IMO, since 48% of gamers are female.

 

Here are male developers weighing. FYI, Jonathan Cooper works for Naughty Dog, and was Animation Director on Assassin's Creed III, Lead on Mass Effect 1, 2 & more. Manveer Heir works Bioware.

 

[Jobbe03]

-

You should probably have read some of the later posts pal...

[BenD]

If people want women in video games then go and make your own damn game. The world isn't fair, get over it.

or play tomb raider problem solved!

[Mindtrickz]

You should probably have read some of the later posts pal...

 

I did. You something nonsensical about Bill Burr and in your last post something about you not caring if the avatar was a pig or not. Either case you completely missed the issue entirely. If Ubisoft had given a good enough reason then no one would have batted an eye, but they didn't. They instead said that female avatars were "too much work" to animate. That too was nonsensical.

 

The time period that the historical aspects of the Assassins Creed are set, were not particularly known for the gender equality. Assassins Creed has always strived - at least to some extent - to represent the time period that the games were set.

In the modern story line there have been several important female characters anyway. Its not like they are intentionally being sexist. How many crazy sword wielding women can you name from history and how many can you name that were in fact men. The balance of probability means that any assassin is more likely to be male.

 

As I mentioned in my post, "Women played a big role in the 1700's French Revolution. We could have seen or played as Marie Antoinette, Charlotte Corday (single most famous assassin of the time. She was a noblewoman nicknamed the Angel of Assassination, and she took out one of the radical Jacobin leaders.), Marat."

[Mindtrickz]

I know most people here are mocking the whole feminist movement and saying how irrelevant this is, but the thing about representation is that it plays a role in humans and how they see themselves. Sure, a game about being an assassin isn't the best example, but did you know Mae Jemison, the first black female in space, has said she was inspired to become an astronaut because of Nichelle Nichols' black female character in Star Trek?

You might think it doesn't matter at all but the thing is so many games objectify women as if though they were in-game achievements. This not only leads to women feeling they're nothing more than an object to be won and men feeling that their purpose is to win them over and not doing so is a failure in their side.

 

Last thing: I take no offense from people who make fun of the more extremist hateful feminists the same way I don't take offense from people that make fun of 12 year old call of duty players, however, assuming all feminists are that stereotype is like saying all gamers are that annoying-immature-cursing stereotype. I won't mind, as it's not me, but generalizing helps no one.

 

Well said.

[Nexus]

As I mentioned in my post, "Women played a big role in the 1700's French Revolution. We could have seen or played as Marie Antoinette, Charlotte Corday (single most famous assassin of the time. She was a noblewoman nicknamed the Angel of Assassination, and she took out one of the radical Jacobin leaders.), Marat."

First of, we never play as a historical character in Assassins Creed. We do regularly interact as them, so we cant really say if Charlotte Corday or Marie Antoinette will make an appearance or not.

Yes women did play an important role in the French Revolution but again in the balance of probability we are more likely to have a male protagonist. I know that it may seem unfair or sexist on Ubisofts part but its really not.

All that has happened here is a bunch of attention grabbing feminists have seen an opportunity to make them look like an oppressed group, which they are certainly not in today's world (at least not where i live).

 

I think when you hit the point where you have high ranking government officials who are female the argument about oppressed women really begins to loose all weight.

[Mindtrickz]

First of, we never play as a historical character in Assassins Creed. We do regularly interact as them, so we cant really say if Charlotte Corday or Marie Antoinette will make an appearance or not.

Yes women did play an important role in the French Revolution but again in the balance of probability we are more likely to have a male protagonist. I know that it may seem unfair or sexist on Ubisofts part but its really not.

All that has happened here is a bunch of attention grabbing feminists have seen an opportunity to make them look like an oppressed group, which they are certainly not in today's world (at least not where i live).

 

I think when you hit the point where you have high ranking government officials who are female the argument about oppressed women really begins to loose all weight.

 

But if the most famous assassin of that time was a woman, Charlotte Corday, then surely there would be could be no excuse against why the protagonist could not indeed be a female, as many other women were during that time. Now you could go the Rockstar route and simply say that the story for whatever reason required the protagonist to be male, and that would be completely fine, but Ubisoft did not go down that route. They instead said that women were too difficult to animate and would require "double the work". Something which quite clearly was not the case. That's where the controversy stems from. Ubisoft putting a foot in their mouth.

 

And no, this did not happen because a 'bunch of attention grabbing feminists', and there is absolutely nothing wrong with women, who make up 42% of gamers, wanting to be included or representation other than in the form of a love interest or damsel in distress.

[Nexus]

But if the most famous assassin of that time was a woman, Charlotte Corday, then surely there would be could be no excuse against why the protagonist could not indeed be a female, as many other women were during that time. Now you could go the Rockstar route and simply say that the story for whatever reason required the protagonist to be male, and that would be completely fine, but Ubisoft did not go down that route. They instead said that women were too difficult to animate and would require "double the work". Something which quite clearly was not the case. That's where the controversy stems from. Ubisoft putting a foot in their mouth.

 

And no, this did not happen because a 'bunch of attention grabbing feminists', and there is absolutely nothing wrong with women, who make up 42% of gamers, wanting to be included or representation other than in the form of a love interest or damsel in distress.

Firstly, yes you are correct. The protagonist could have been female. But that does not mean that the protagonist has to be female. 

As for the "double the work" quote. The full quote goes like this

 

"It would have doubled the work on those things. And I mean it's something the team really wanted, but we had to make a decision... It's unfortunate, but it's a reality of game development."

 

This is in relation to the animation and costumes. Is it really hard to believe that adding a female character would have added to the workload. We also have to consider how long the game has been in development. Chances are the story line would have been written very early on, changing to a female lead or indeed having the option for a female lead would have consequences on the story. No rational thinking person would make the decision to reverse all this work. It would have been a waste of resources to redo or out would be costly and delay the game should the decide to add.

 

Its also not like Ubisoft have never had a female protagonist in an AC game.

 

There is nothing wrong with women, i never said there was nor did i say that there is anything wrong with female representation in games. There are many games in which you can play as a female character - some allow you to choose between male or female others are female only.

 

Its too early to assume that she was a "damsel in distress" as such. Yes we saw the rescue but we do not know what caused the original capture. It could have been deliberate as part of plan or it could have been due to actions of the main character. We do not at this point know the plot of the game. One should never assume.

 

Sources:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2014-ubisoft-explains-why-assassin-s-creed-unity-lacks-female-leads/1100-6420359/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin's_Creed_III:_Liberation

[Derangel]

Firstly, yes you are correct. The protagonist could have been female. But that does not mean that the protagonist has to be female. 

As for the "double the work" quote. The full quote goes like this

 

"It would have doubled the work on those things. And I mean it's something the team really wanted, but we had to make a decision... It's unfortunate, but it's a reality of game development."

 

This is in relation to the animation and costumes. Is it really hard to believe that adding a female character would have added to the workload. We also have to consider how long the game has been in development. Chances are the story line would have been written very early on, changing to a female lead or indeed having the option for a female lead would have consequences on the story. No rational thinking person would make the decision to reverse all this work. It would have been a waste of resources to redo or out would be costly and delay the game should the decide to add.

 

Its also not like Ubisoft have never had a female protagonist in an AC game.

 

There is nothing wrong with women, i never said there was nor did i say that there is anything wrong with female representation in games. There are many games in which you can play as a female character - some allow you to choose between male or female others are female only.

 

Its too early to assume that she was a "damsel in distress" as such. Yes we saw the rescue but we do not know what caused the original capture. It could have been deliberate as part of plan or it could have been due to actions of the main character. We do not at this point know the plot of the game. One should never assume.

 

Sources:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2014-ubisoft-explains-why-assassin-s-creed-unity-lacks-female-leads/1100-6420359/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin's_Creed_III:_Liberation

 

There is one major problem with that quote: It's crap. Devs have spoken up about the excuse and denied that it "doubles their work" to add woman to their games. Unless Ubi's development process is beyond royally fucked it's a crap excuse.

[DeViLzzz]

Don't give Ubisoft your money.  They are interested in making money only at the expense of making games run worse and look worse.  I don't give a damn about anything they are doing.  Female character not playable?  Oh well.  Ubisoft is doing worse things that we have to worry about.

[Nexus]

There is one major problem with that quote: It's crap. Devs have spoken up about the excuse and denied that it "doubles their work" to add woman to their games. Unless Ubi's development process is beyond royally fucked it's a crap excuse.

After a quick Google search i cant find any source for this - could you please link (not saying you are lying or anything, just curious)

 

Also at this point its fair to say that anything they do say publicly is just PR damage control. After everything blew up in their face for a simple statement that holds some weight, they are going to do anything they can to reverse the bad PR.

[Derangel]

After a quick Google search i cant find any source for this - could you please link (not saying you are lying or anything, just curious)

 

Also at this point its fair to say that anything they do say publicly is just PR damage control. After everything blew up in their face for a simple statement that holds some weight, they are going to do anything they can to reverse the bad PR.

 

I found some quotes. There might be more as I seem to recall someone from Zombie Studios (the Blacklight folks) talking about it as well. Either way these come from Jonathan Cooper the animation director on AC3 as well as lead animator for the Mass Effect series, and now an animator at Naughty Dog:

 

 

In my educated opinion, I would estimate this to be a day or two's work. Not a replacement of 8000 animations.

 

 

Man, if I had a dollar for every time someone at Ubisoft tried to bullshit me on animation tech ;-)

 

 

 

Fun fact #2: Aveline de Grandpré shares more of Connor Kenway's animations than Edward Kenway does.

 

Sources:

https://twitter.com/GameAnim/statuses/476638349097058304

https://twitter.com/GameAnim/statuses/476731764929343488

https://twitter.com/GameAnim/statuses/476749073928560640