Main Characters Gender in Videogames and Sales Results

[Doom]

Hi everyone   

I recently read about Life is Strange developers being happy about having Square Enix as publisher, because literally every other publisher to whom they presented their game, wanted them to change the protagonists gender from female to male.

This made me curious about how such a silly notion could still be so firmly rooted in our society 

So I decided to make a poll and see what you, my fellow gamers, think about this matter.

Do you think that a female protagonist would impair sales of a game?
As many of you probably know, the initial sales of the latest Tomb Raider game were considered a failure (while as of now the game sold more than 7 million copies and is considered one of the most remunerative Square Enix games ever).

Or would race be a problem?
As we can see almost all fixed male protagonists are white, with brown to black hair and "ruggedly handsome" features.
And fixed female protagonist, while having a wider array of hair color, are most certainly white and almost always have big boobs or super sexy bodies and ridiculously skimpy clothes.
Would, a black/indian/oriental protagonist be bad for sales?

Please note that we are mostly talking about western games, because oriental games often have different standard/stereotype.

PS
I know that similar threads exists, but I couldn't find a poll, nor a discussion specifically on how the gender could impact sales 

Edited January 15, 2015 by DocDoomII

[MatCauthon]

I sometimes play as female characters in RPGs... not always, but mostly in fantasy RPGs like DA:O or Skyrim. Usually, if I'm a mage, then I pick female. I voted that gender/race do affect sales, not because I think that they should, but because I believe many in society still hold prejudices. 

[EternalChaos72]

I didn't vote, i don't see the point because no gender or race would impact sales. Well i doubt it. 

[Priere]

I honestly don't think the gender or race actually effects the game to make it "good or awesome", the game must earn that itself.

But now, you made me think what gender i usually use...hmmm, i quite like to choose the female point of view in games first to know what i should expect of the other gender of mine and maybe to conjure what the male story going to be like (IF there is changes, if not then it's fine too), and in most games, make another playthrough with the male character, and i'm a male.

 

But seriously, i wonder what games got "good" because of the gender/race of the protagonist.....

And more surprisingly, the people who think gender actually matter in deciding if the game is okay or not....

Edited January 15, 2015 by Luka Luka

[xZoneHunter]

If i can choose my gender, i'll mostly go with female. Altough there are exceptions, like mass effect etc.

[Beyondthegrave07]

Gender doesn't really matter to me, but I do think gender impact sales. Some people won't buy games like Bayonetta, lollipop chainsaw, and even tomb raider because it's too sexualized for them. Though you could blame that on the character's personality or game creators for that.

Also, I am not trying to be dick, but you forgot the r in first

[Quikdrawjoe]

I prefer to make a character that looks like a better version of me (hard as that is )

 

I feel there is a reason these stereotypes exist in games at least in developer's minds which is why they are still maintained.

[Doom]

Also, I am not trying to be dick, but you forgot the r in first

Betrayed by ctrl+c/ctrl+v

I feel there is a reason these stereotypes exist in games at least in developer's minds which is why they are still maintained.

But is it really the developers? The guys behind Life is Strange created their game with female protagonists.

The subject of changing the gender was raised by all the publishers they pitched their game to.

Edited January 15, 2015 by DocDoomII

[Sir_Bee]

I think the problem is that the some of the people making and marketing these games all grew up in the wrong generation.  Many of them came from a time and place (some even still) where women were shunned and second rate, and racism was very prevalent.  I think the coming generations are starting to get away from that, and I think that in time we will see this improve.

 

All of that being said, I really could not care what gender, race, size, or body style the characters have, just as long as they are interesting.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Sir_Bee

[ZeroXOF]

 

1)Do you think that a female protagonist would impair sales of a game?

As many of you probably know, the initial sales of the latest Tomb Raider game were considered a failure (while as of now the game sold more than 7 million copies and is considered one of the most remunerative Square Enix games ever).

2)Or would race be a problem?

3)Would, a black/indian/oriental protagonist be bad for sales?

 

 

1) Square had a high estimate of sales they wanted and that's why they did it a failure. Plus the fact is multi-platform games need a higher number on one platform to balance the lower selling one. No, I could never have a problem with a Female protagonist if done right, stereotypes can put me off females heroes.

 

2.Of course race is a problem in this world but to me personally, no. I loved GTA San Andreas and CJ who was the main was black. I also love Victor Vance in GTA Vice City Stories. Dominate countries are usually going to promote their countries and native people first so it's expected of them. 

 

3)For me, never but for the majority of the world, yeah. While race is mostly societal it's the race that's at the top of society which is considered most important and will dominate sales.

[Quikdrawjoe]

Betrayed by ctrl+c/ctrl+v

But is it really the developers? The guys behind Life is Strange created their game with female protagonists.

The subject of changing the gender was raised by all the publishers they pitched their game to.

 

Sorry should have said publishers also.

[Redgrave]

I don't really have a preference so long as the character is interesting. In RPG's I tend to make male characters though.

[funboy1246]

i dont think gender or race matter in the sales of a game. if the game is good. it will sell. there are plenty of great games out there with female leads or leads that aren't white. GTA5 has Franklin, there bayonetta, parasite eve, tomb raider, etc etc.

[siuilarun]

I'm a male and it depends.

 

I'm a male and I think race/gender directly impacts sales... I'm not advocating it, just acknowledging that on some small level it exists. I have a friend who didn't play TellTale's The Walking Dead because Lee is black... These things exist. I've never heard anyone openly reject a game based on the gender of the player character, but I've heard enough internet demagogues make this claim to not assume it doesn't exist without researching for myself (which I will not), again on some small level, at least. I could see publishers trying to homogenize a game to lure out more of the Madden/Battelfield high-fiving frat-douches by marketing the comfortably familiar, burly, white alphas towards them.

[Neputyunu]

Im "sexual-confused" and find this offensive! ò_ó

 

 

 

.... just kidding.

I prefer petite females or childs.... but sometimes, a "normal" human female looks really heroic, so I pick them too sometimes

I mean, in WoW eg... better a sweet little bloodelf than a screenblocking xxl-taurensteak. But a human female Paladin or Warrior with a long cape, onehand sword and shield looks heroic. I like that.

Males have often to much muscles. Seriously, think about it... you are on a battleground and there comes a male priest for your support, but he looks like he is going to tear you, with his mega-bodybuilderbody. ..... SCARY!  There are even Tauren Priests... wtf

Or Mage ... I mean, a physically weak class like a mage cannot have that much muscles... wtf.... so, Im going for female and get nice looking robes too.

Imagine He-Men in a robe ... oh my goddess.... MY EYES! MY POOR EYES!

Edited January 15, 2015 by Neptune2

[CasaDeBen]

I like strong female leads. I like strong male leads. Give me a character I can care about and were good. In games where i make a character I can go eother way depending on how I feel.

[DEMON]

I'm Female and I don't have a preference. It depends on the game/situation/other.

 

It really does depend with me, sometimes I like the male characters better, other times I like the female characters better, I'm female in GW2 since I found the males to be quite beefy in that (yes, I know, such a weird choice to not like a gender in a game).. while in FFXIV I think I definitely prefer the males in that.  It does depend on the race though, some races the females look better, especially the roe.

 

I'm Female and I think that the protagonist just needs to be interesting/charismatic.

 

I don't care what gender the character is, if they are your standard main character personality, I'm probably not going to like them.  Personally I like the characters that have a lot of development.  I even liked Hope from FFXIII since he was probably the only one that had any sort of character development, he went from being a whiny little brat to actually being able to look past the fact all the shit that happened to him and help save Cocoon.  But characters like Vanille who remained annoying all throughout the game are ones I really hate.. even her character development made me hate her even more.

Edited January 15, 2015 by DEMON

[XIII-Order-Xion]

Does Gender affect sales?- Idk Maybe?- But more like a 75% No 25% Yes Maybe.

 

As said it prob does exsist people out there who won't touch a game because of a characters race, gender etc.

 

But overall as said again I think it comes down to how the Character acts in game, develops and overall what kind of game you are playing.

 

Something Silly like Lolipop Chainsaw- I think worked well with how the character looked-kinda sexy, bubbly and with Valley Girlish humor.

 

It worked well.

 

As with any game if you had a bubbly woman playing Laras adventure it would be too out there- Lol what I'm getting at is the gender and race doesn't and shouldn't matter.

 

As long as they fit their adventure and story I think it's up to the people to say this kind of story interest me, Hey I would love to see a story from this Characters P.O.V.

 

If the story is good gamers will play if it's kinda too hard to think about or just too out there-Most of the time many people will just steer clear.

 

All in all does gender etc affect game sales?- Maybe but not really.

 

Does The Games Story affect sales- I think alot yes.

[TheVader66]

I am Male, and I don't care what kind of gender I am in games, in fact the most relatable character to me is actually 5pb who is a girl because she is socially awkward to new people just like me sadly. All I want in a main character is to have a well made personality and to be interesting in their actions not just some person who is aiming at just finishing a job.

 

Sadly though I do think gender/race does have an effect on sales, four days ago while I was watching a youtuber named Dashie play South Park: the stick of truth, my younger sister (17) who is two years younger than me, saw the game and she saw it with me for a while and she liked the game even saying she is going to buy it until she found out you can only play as a boy, then she said nevermind, I don't want it anymore. This actually suprised me, she never showed that kind response before, she plays Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto and both games she is a dude except in GTA online. So I say again, that gender/race does have an effect on sales but I don't know how much though.

[Neputyunu]

Sadly though I do think gender/race does have an effect on sales, four days ago while I was watching a youtuber named Dashie play South Park: the stick of truth, my younger sister (17) who is two years younger than me, saw the game and she saw it with me for a while and she liked the game even saying she is going to buy it until she found out you can only play as a boy, then she said nevermind, I don't want it anymore.

 

I noticed that too... So I created the character and nobody asked for my sex.

But... you can use female hairstyles, you can use makeup and dress female clothes.... looks female, I mean, without hair and clothes SoutPark-childens are looking genderneutral anyway...

I was a gothgirl

Edited January 16, 2015 by Neptune2

[TheVader66]

I noticed that too... So I created the character and nobody asked for my sex.

But... you can use female hairstyles, you can use makeup and dress female clothes.... looks female, I mean, without hair and clothes SoutPark-childens are looking genderneutral anyway...

I was a gothgirl

This is good to know, I will tell me sister, hopefully that convince her to get the game again. Thank you

Edited January 16, 2015 by TheVader66

[Ric]

I'm male and for me personally I don't care what the protagonist is. Male, female, genderless as long as the story is good and the character is well written.
 
I do think that the appearance of a protagonist could impact sales (not always, but sometimes). I doubt race will have a big impact on sales, but gender actually might do a little bit. Games like X-Blades may have sold a few extra copies to a certain target audience. For me personally (for question 2) I think the character needs to be interesting, but I do think it could impact sales so I answered that one.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2015 by Ric

[-Dark Mark-]

I'm a male and have no preference. Although I usually select male just by default, but I often find female characters more interesting in games where you have dialogue.

I DO think that race/gender has an effect on sales, but that doesn't mean I agree with it. These things really shouldn't matter, but everyone knows that they do to some people. Whether it's a male not wanting to be a female or vice versa. Same with race.

This is good to know, I will tell me sister, hopefully that convince her to get the game again. Thank you

Hell, just tell her about all the humor she's missing out on.

[Kittet3]

Have I ever not played a game because I didn't like the gender of the main character? No. Do I even really notice the gender? No. It's just like a book; some are written with a girl main character and some are written by a boys. As you play the game, you identify with the character no matter how different they may seem from you. 

 

When playing games where the storyline is based on gender, I will usually pick male. I discovered this while playing Fallout that the game usually feels more natural that way. I'm not sure if that's because most game's main characters are male, or if that's the gender the game was originally designed for. Right or wrong, it really doesn't matter since there's no real difference.

 

Of course, in games where gender is just an appearance affect (and doesn't affect dialog, gameplay, or any other aspect) I choice female. Why? Because, unlike roleplaying games where you are assuming a role, in these games you are playing as 'yourself' and, thus, I pick a character to represent 'me'. I don't make them to look like me or anything, but I pick the correct gender just so it better represents who I am.

 

Of course, as a gaming community we do have to discuss the role of women as main characters. Video games always use to be portrayed as a 'male activity' and if you were a female participating, it still felt like a 'male activity'. Nowadays, it's becoming more as a gender-neutral activity, and it's important that our video games reflect that. Thinking back, not that many main characters are female. But, I never realize this until we started talking about it. Does it really matter? I really doubt so.

[Doom]

Another thing I sometimes hear is that even when we do have women protagonists, they are doing male action hero stuff anyway, so it makes no difference.

 

I really don't understand this point. What kind of action should women do in an action video game if not jumping/shooting/climbing?