Ubisoft Claims that having female assasins is too costly

[wingdgundam]

It has been very intresting reading the comments. Some for and against, yet there is a point that may elude some. Ubisoft admits that making a female avatar is costly (ie more money to spend on production of game). For them it was easier and cheaper to just re use animation of the main protagonist. People concentrate on gender/"sexism". Rather than lowering cost of production ( ie money).

[wingdgundam]

JMASTER299. Although I may agree with some items you listed. Alot of what you wrote are generalizations, not 100% accurate. Not sure if that was the point, as in everyone does that. In that case your right, people take what they hear, factual or not, and apply those beliefs in a general way towards groups of people.

[wingdgundam]

Goddamnit you idiots, its not sexism for one to not include female playable characters in a game that one creates, its their creation start to finish, and i wish they gave a better excuse, like "it doesn't fit the narrative" but life goes on, you shouldn't try to water down every game to include parts to keep every single person's feelings from getting hurt, on the otherside people are calling the sexism card on Rainbow Six Seige for including female hostages.

Question for you. Given Ubisoft's history of not optimizing games on pc, promising certain visuals in a game then down grading, do you not feel Ubisoft is more focused on getting money rather than releasing a quality product?

No matter how many times Ubisoft has bugs in thier games, or release an unfinished game, we still hand them over our money.

[samcool55]

It's not because you play with a female character you are unrespectful to woman, i have a lot of respect for girls, and if i play a game and i get the choise of playing with a female character, i choose a female one most of the time. Not because i'm a pedofile or something but if you play a game, you character will be on the screen for, well almost all the time, and it's nice to look at something that's nice and cute If you play with a female character when you are a male, some people call you a maniac or a pedofile, but in every other case, no one cares! you are a male and play with a male? No problem! no one calles you gay, and if a female plays with a female or a male, no one complains! Most of them are even happy that they game, just because they are girls...

Males that play with female characters are most of the time completely normal humans, and not weird-ass sick pedofiles. And don't forget there are girls that play AC, probably not anymore now, thanks ubisoft.

[jmaster299]

JMASTER299. Although I may agree with some items you listed. Alot of what you wrote are generalizations, not 100% accurate. Not sure if that was the point, as in everyone does that. In that case your right, people take what they hear, factual or not, and apply those beliefs in a general way towards groups of people.

They are still claims that people are making in order to try and push agendas on other people.

The DoJ and Labor Department have spent the last 5 years suing companies like Pepsi for conducting criminal background checks as part of their hiring process. The DoJ even admitted that Pepsi, and every other company they have sued, never actually discriminated as they applied the same rules to all applicants, but because of the "disparaging impact" of minorities being more likely to have a criminal background, it is de facto discrimination.

Voter fraud is real, and has been proven over and over again. Some campaign managers from Indiana were just sentenced to prison for voter fraud due to their illegal actions for Obama's 2008 primary campaign. Yet the DoJ is suing every city, county and state that passes any sort of voter ID law. There reason is the same every time, that because minorities are more likely to be poor, it's de facto discrimination to ask them for an ID. Even when the state's have offered to give a free ID to anyone who is poor, the DoJ still says it's discrimination.

Just a couple of months ago, every media outlet was championing the push for "equal pay" for women. Yet it's been proven time and time again that the overall pay gap is due to women choosing to work less and choosing to work in lower paying jobs. There may be isolated cases of discrimination, Obama for example pays his female staffers significantly less than male staffers in the same positions, but the "pay gap" does not exist. There are also multiple laws already on the books that make it a crime to discriminate pay based on gender, yet anyone who doesn't support the passage of even more laws that double down on the same thing are all labeled as sexist.

A recent study was done and labeled the IT industry sexist because of the low representation in the industry. But a quick study of the facts shows that women simply choose to not work in the IT field and that's why so few of them work in the field. Yet people are screaming that IT companies be forced to hire more women for no other reason than it's sexist for there ever to be more men than women.

The FireFox and Chick-fil-A comments should not require and further explanation.

There have been numerous lawsuits filed against Affirmative Action, and they have all found that Affirmative Action practices are in fact discrimination. Yet we are flooded with the media going on and on about how the courts are all racist and anyone who doesn't support Affirmative Action is racist. The argument extended to the labor force as well. Any company that employs more Whites than minorities is labeled racist and the race baiters call for lawsuits and boycotts. 

Don't get me going on Obama, but the man has committed acts of treason and violated his oath of office on numerous occasions. Yet no one is every allowed to speak out against him without being labeled as racist.

Nothing I said is a generalization and every single thing I mentioned is an actual issue.

[chilicheeseburger]

There was a female model in ac 3 liberation or whatever that was called.

Also there were female guild members in the older games.

But I really don't care about this. The 4 player thing is new to the series so let's see if it's any good in the first place.

[NICKT]

Nice to know that if money gets too tight, they willingly will forgo spending money on human animations and all the characters will just be blobs of shit.

The financial budget would mostly at that point account for the taco bell to give to unfortunate animators so that they could give themselves sufficient reference material for motions as it comes out their rear end.

 

For narrative purposes, I couldn't really care less. I don't pay attention to E3 at all so I initially had no grasp on whatever implementation people were getting shitty over, now, as it appears, there is a four-player co-operation mode that seems to be the source of the controversy, now, I ask of you all, is there customization? I truly can't be arsed to read up on a game I'll never play but I will say, that if you have a chance to customize the male then it's incredibly poor form not to grant a female character option, however if the four characters in the mode are pre-designed and aren't customized by the players, then I wouldn't mind if they made them all male to save on animations and voice acting.

 

Pokemon, even bloody Pokemon gives you the option between male and female. Majority of MMOs have had the choice and any RPG that allows you character customization gives you the choice of gender. Even Halo allows you to change your gender in it's multiplayer mode, so I put forward that if you've created an effort of customization that you allow people to do that in the most basic choice.

 

(Also, Ubisoft wanting to save on expenditure? Fucking really? What is it with big companies attempting to cut corners to save money, you have the money to spend. Why not instead of lining your pockets with all the profit, you put some of it back into your development and deliver a better product in the end. This is probably the most disappointing aspect of CoD, in that they've drawn in so much money and they're still releasing the same bullshit over and over again, makes you wonder where all of it's going..)

 

EDIT:

So, as it turns out, in the four player co-op you essentially all are playing the same character, so, not sexist, just extremely fucking lazy.

While other cooperative multiplayer games give players the chance to create their own characters or choose from a diverse cast of heroes, Assassin's Creed: Unity players each play as the game's main character, Arno, and for now there is no competitive multiplayer mode.

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/06/11/how-assassins-creed-unity-brings-the-brotherhood-into-co-op/

Edited June 25, 2014 by NICKT

[NICKT]

 

A bit of a necro, but I had to post this.

 

So they're telling someone who isn't a developer to develop something then when she can't they'll interject their own reasoning and joke at her expense? Ha, internet, you crack me up.

[Hidden Orange]

Insomniac Games is have a field day with this in Sunset Overdrive.

 

She looks familiar... I wonder why? 

[LOST TALE]

All this long term reputation potential from Ubisoft waste on short term.

Sounds like what many people would love their country to do, good think I'm not in those. Ignorance is deadly, ignorance is many things.

[NICKT]

Insomniac Games is have a field day with this in Sunset Overdrive.

 

She looks familiar... I wonder why? 

This I think is absolutely retarded.

Only because it's taking a quick jab for some extra brownie points from all the people raging at Ubisoft, free publicity, more or less.

But it's more the fact that everyone is raging that there are no females in the game, originally me included, however from what it seems you don't get to create a character at all.

While other cooperative multiplayer games give players the chance to create their own characters or choose from a diverse cast of heroes, Assassin's Creed: Unity players each play as the game's main character, Arno, and for now there is no competitive multiplayer mode.

source: http://www.joystiq.com/2014/06/11/how-assassins-creed-unity-brings-the-brotherhood-into-co-op/

 

So for people to bitch how they don't have females is so fucking ridiculous because the point is, you can't create a character at all, the only thing this whole fiasco reeks off is the dreadful default syndrome that the entertainment industry has in that majority of our main characters are just a boring young-adult white male. If Unity allowed you to create or customize your character and only allowed a male option, THEN IT'S SEXIST, but that's not the case, by far. So, time to go and backhand a couple of Sunset Overdrive developers before pissing in their faces for being stupid cunts.

[TAK]

Meanwhile, in Africa, real issues take place.

 

The only thing you'll end up with is either;

A: include women in games and get attacked by feminists because apparently female characters are only used for emotional attachment for male players and "sex appeal", no matter how normal the character is, or

B: don't include female characters and get shit for doing so. ("Women are also capable of fighting in wars, be badass, this and that, etc.")

 

It's basically a loss-loss situation. The only winner here are the critics. Developers can only win by ignoring these meddling little fuckwads ruining the industry with their social justice crusade.

 

 

Shhh, don't say that out loud, their tempest in a teacup might lose some steam.

[NICKT]

Shhh, don't say that out loud, their tempest in a teacup might lose some steam.

 

Because wanting fair representation of both genders, all stereotypes and all races is not a valid cause for you?

There's a reason that this picked up really quickly and got really big, along with the whole "Feminest Frequency" bullshit and it's because they actually do somewhat have a point.

 

 

Meanwhile, in Africa, real issues take place.

 

The only thing you'll end up with is either;

A: include women in games and get attacked by feminists because apparently female characters are only used for emotional attachment for male players and "sex appeal", no matter how normal the character is, or

B: don't include female characters and get shit for doing so. ("Women are also capable of fighting in wars, be badass, this and that, etc.")

 

It's basically a loss-loss situation. The only winner here are the critics. Developers can only win by ignoring these meddling little fuckwads ruining the industry with their social justice crusade.

 

Are you an idiot on purpose, or is this just a funny facade you keep up for some quick kicks?

The reason why feminists are upset about women in gaming is because you get shit like this: http://media.vandal.net/master/16749/bayonetta-2-201361116416_3.jpg

I'd love for a female character to not be the whimpy little shy girl, however when any female is introduced to a game the common path seems to be is either make them the shy and innocent type or make them an outgoing slut-bag who dresses like a harlot.

Final Fantasy X, has Lulu in every single shot in game shows off her overly large tits, but has a more reserved, a lot more respectable chacracter with Yuna, who still fits into the whole shy and innocent type, then in the sequel they gave Yuna "character development" and we end up getting this:

Hot pants, fucking hot pants, with an ass-shot on the back cover of the case.

 

This isn't a loss-loss situation, there have been multiple female characters which have drawn no hostility because they don't exist solely to appeal to men, they don't belong to the majority of female characters that are only remembered for their physical assets.

But alas, the entertainment industry is absolutely fucked and is filled with idiots both on the producing side and on the receiving side, so fuck you all. ._.

 

The generic female character in a video game is one who is scantily clad, which speaks poorly for the state of the industry. When a male character is scantily clad, it's an exception to the rule and often gets a lot of focus because it's uncommon, that is definitely a sexist situation. And no, making more male characters who are scantily clad and appeal to women's sexual desires is not the fucking answer, I'm absolutely sick of hearing people(mostly men) always interject and say that that is the best option to take, no, the best option is to stop trying to get your fucking dick hard over a video-game.

[Hidden Orange]

This I think is absolutely retarded.

Only because it's taking a quick jab for some extra brownie points from all the people raging at Ubisoft, free publicity, more or less.

But it's more the fact that everyone is raging that there are no females in the game, originally me included, however from what it seems you don't get to create a character at all.

 

 

source: http://www.joystiq.com/2014/06/11/how-assassins-creed-unity-brings-the-brotherhood-into-co-op/

 

So for people to bitch how they don't have females is so fucking ridiculous because the point is, you can't create a character at all, the only thing this whole fiasco reeks off is the dreadful default syndrome that the entertainment industry has in that majority of our main characters are just a boring young-adult white male. If Unity allowed you to create or customize your character and only allowed a male option, THEN IT'S SEXIST, but that's not the case, by far. So, time to go and backhand a couple of Sunset Overdrive developers before pissing in their faces for being stupid cunts.

I think it was more in line with Sunset Overdrive already having character customization and Insomniac Games wanting to make fun of everything. Just look at almost all the Ratchet & Clank titles: they're all innuendos. I never played Spyro, but I would assume that Insomniac Games added some humor as well. The only serious games I know they made are the Resistance games. It's why I like Insomniac Games; they just make things fun and wacky. I bet that they were thinking of how to introduce character customization and when they saw the "controversy", a giant light bulb of pure jackassery and jabs lit up. If there's one thing about Insomniac Games, it's that they don't like being serious. It's all fun and games to them and all's fair in fun and games. Also, Insomniac Games has at least 2 games where you can play as woman: Fuse and Sunset Overdrive. It's nothing new.

 

As for being serious, it's about the French Revolution. They could have picked anyone of any gender, but it seemed like they wanted to stay in line with societal views back then. That's okay. Now if the new Assassin's Creed took place in Joan of Arc's/Jeanne d'Arc's time and the main character was male, but named Jean d'Arc, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone thought that was stupid and raged everyone since Jeanne d'Arc's a woman as history has written and probably her bones somewhere. Or the lady on Delacroix's painting, Marianne. If this game was supposed to star her, but Ubisoft said, "Nope, too much effort", then I can see why people, especially the French, would take offense to this as Marianne's a symbol of freedom and the French Revolution. She'd make a fine Assassin and she's fictional anyway. To make it even more pointless, Arno is an Austrian name. He could just be some Austrian Assassin hunting Templars who happen to be in France during the French Revolution. Maybe he has nothing to do with the Revolution and it's just a background for an Assassin to abuse and hide in.

[NICKT]

I think it was more in line with Sunset Overdrive already having character customization and Insomniac Games wanting to make fun of everything. Just look at almost all the Ratchet & Clank titles: they're all innuendos. I never played Spyro, but I would assume that Insomniac Games added some humor as well. The only serious games I know they made are the Resistance games. It's why I like Insomniac Games; they just make things fun and wacky. I bet that they were thinking of how to introduce character customization and when they saw the "controversy", a giant light bulb of pure jackassery and jabs lit up. If there's one thing about Insomniac Games, it's that they don't like being serious. It's all fun and games to them and all's fair in fun and games. Also, Insomniac Games has at least 2 games where you can play as woman: Fuse and Sunset Overdrive. It's nothing new.

 

As for being serious, it's about the French Revolution. They could have picked anyone of any gender, but it seemed like they wanted to stay in line with societal views back then. That's okay. Now if the new Assassin's Creed took place in Joan of Arc's/Jeanne d'Arc's time and the main character was male, but named Jean d'Arc, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone thought that was stupid and raged everyone since Jeanne d'Arc's a woman as history has written and probably her bones somewhere. Or the lady on Delacroix's painting, Marianne. If this game was supposed to star her, but Ubisoft said, "Nope, too much effort", then I can see why people, especially the French, would take offense to this as Marianne's a symbol of freedom and the French Revolution. She'd make a fine Assassin and it would easily work as story for a French Revolution Assassin. To make it even more pointless, Arno is an Austrian name. He could just be some Austrian Assassin hunting Templars who happen to be in France during the French Revolution. Maybe he has nothing to do with the Revolution and it's just a background for an Assassin to abuse and hide in.

 

I don't mind people taking the piss out of things, but only when it's at least logical or sensible, here they're making fun of Assassin's Creed not having a female character which isn't the problem despite everything claiming it to be. I suppose in one way or another I can understand them going "hey, you know that one game everyone's pissed about? Well, we have character customization and we also have female assassins", I suppose I'm just a bit pissed over the whole ordeal to be able to appreciate any humour at the incident's expense.

 

And I agree whole-heartedly with your second paragraph, like I said, this whole thing just reeks or laziness more than anything, or like you said that they wanted to stay in line with societal views, though they already went with Connor in number 3 I believe who wasn't a white protagonist. From what I've heard though he wasn't exactly a good character in that he was very bland, or whatever, but still, it's a start. In gaming, there's just a "insert default protagonist" button that every dev pushes when they come up with an interesting game narrative or gameplay mechanic that they'll base a game around, here they went in over-drive and made all four in co-op play as the same boring, white male.

[Albatross]

I could understand if they just didn't think female characters fit this round but "no time" to make female characters? Oh sure Ubisoft, I'm going to believe that.

 

Imagine if the multiplayer were full of girls and they said this about adding one male character. The stink would be huge from the shitstorm that would come.

 

Meanwhile, in Africa, real issues take place.

 

The only thing you'll end up with is either;

A: include women in games and get attacked by feminists because apparently female characters are only used for emotional attachment for male players and "sex appeal", no matter how normal the character is, or

B: don't include female characters and get shit for doing so. ("Women are also capable of fighting in wars, be badass, this and that, etc.")

 

It's basically a loss-loss situation. The only winner here are the critics. Developers can only win by ignoring these meddling little fuckwads ruining the industry with their social justice crusade.

 

Feminists. It is sad because that bit is true. They will get worked up over the smallest of things. :rolleyes:

 

Though I personally wish to see a female character represented without having to be a sex object or a sexual clutch for another character (oh yea, she's there, but she's just the bouncing boobies guys). But I guess that is too difficult for people to do. 

 

 

Jiggle physics are expensive...

 

That seems more likely. :lol:

[TAK]

Because wanting fair representation of both genders, all stereotypes and all races is not a valid cause for you?

There's a reason that this picked up really quickly and got really big, along with the whole "Feminest Frequency" bullshit and it's because they actually do somewhat have a point.

 

It's a game, don't like it, don't buy it. Simple.

 

Don't try to dictate to artists what they should and shouldn't include in their art. And yes, computer games are art.

 

You don't go around telling movie directors to include all races, sexes and minorities in all their films either, right? RIGHT?

[Hidden Orange]

I don't mind people taking the piss out of things, but only when it's at least logical or sensible, here they're making fun of Assassin's Creed not having a female character which isn't the problem despite everything claiming it to be. I suppose in one way or another I can understand them going "hey, you know that one game everyone's pissed about? Well, we have character customization and we also have female assassins", I suppose I'm just a bit pissed over the whole ordeal to be able to appreciate any humour at the incident's expense.

 

And I agree whole-heartedly with your second paragraph, like I said, this whole thing just reeks or laziness more than anything, or like you said that they wanted to stay in line with societal views, though they already went with Connor in number 3 I believe who wasn't a white protagonist. From what I've heard though he wasn't exactly a good character in that he was very bland, or whatever, but still, it's a start. In gaming, there's just a "insert default protagonist" button that every dev pushes when they come up with an interesting game narrative or gameplay mechanic that they'll base a game around, here they went in over-drive and made all four in co-op play as the same boring, white male.

If you have a PS3, I suggest you try the Ratchet & Clank games. This quote applies to Insomniac Games as a whole: "And remember, the universe has a wonderful sense of humor. The trick is learning how to take a joke." It's a stab - no pun intended - on an issue that's not that big of deal since it doesn't mean that all Assassin's Creed games will be male-only. If you count the multiplayer characters, then Assassin's Creed has tons of playable female characters.

 

It actually began with Altair who's Middle Eastern, specifically Syrian. Technically, Ezio would count too, since he has a Middle Eastern heritage. Connor's Mohawk/English and Aveline is African/French while also being the first singleplayer female Assassin. Edward is pretty much the "whitest" playable character along with Haytham, but they along with Desmond and his ancestors are - this is harsh - mutts, which is what humanity is as a whole, but genes became isolated and we have them showing prominently in isolated areas that continue today like India, China, Europe, Africa, etc.

 

As for female protagonists that don't look sexualized. We still have Faith. 

 

And these games are about a female "James Bond" who is surrounded by sexists except for the main villain.

 

 

Not a main character, per se, but Impa's appearance in Hyrule Warriors is complete badass.

 

Even Zelda looks like a battle-ready princess.

 

And Lara Croft (reboot) seems to have gone from desperate and traumatized survivor to a badass, hardened, but traumatized adventurer. No shorts yet with her.

 

[Guest Generallee]

It's not the female character itself

 

It's the boobs

 

too many polygons the best quadro can't even handle

[LOST TALE]

Feminists? You mean Femi-nazis.

[LOST TALE]

It's a game, don't like it, don't buy it. Play it. Simple.

Gamer's syndicate = best syndicate worldwide.