Breaking down borders in video games.
Gender in Casual Games
The Cafe World Avatar Screen
Lately I’ve been playing a fair number of Facebook games – checking out what sort of casual, social games are out there currently. Many of the games have very simple avatar systems, offering just the most basic of clothing for male and female avatars – but a few, such as Cafe World have taken it to an even more simple level and have made their avatars completely androgynous to start out with.
There are several reasons why having a genderless avatar is helpful – only one clothing library to worry about, and only one set of animations to create for that avatar, more variety for the users (Who says men can’t wear skirts?). However, in games with 3d graphics this could pose an interesting problem – you would need to create an avatar mesh which was extremely flexible as far as certain proportions go.
Though I doubt I will anytime soon – I would love to see how this would play out in a more detailed virtual space. I feel like giving users the option to create their avatar’s gender along two scales of masculinity & femininity as opposed to forcing people to choose between two extremes would be a positive experience for many virtual worlds and social games – no longer would it be the large busted tiny waisted ladies vs the muscular manly men.
At times when I visit certain virtual worlds, I feel that I am looking at a woman wearing a woman-costume (as opposed to an actual woman). It’s as though being in that virtual space with encourages users to exaggerate the characteristics which “make” them male or female. In the real world, not all women look like Barbie, and not all men look like GI-Joe. I am honestly unsure of if making androgyny the norm would make this more or less common.
In short – while I recognize this was probably a design choice made because it was easier to implement, not because it was making a statement, I would LOVE to see more virtual spaces put less emphasis on the differences between men and women, and encourage us to see them as just “people”.
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| Print article | This entry was posted by Jessoteric on December 16, 2009 at 8:00 am, and is filed under Casual Games, Social Media, Virtual Worlds. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
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about 7 months ago
“(Who says men can’t wear skirts?).”
Thank you! Along with the how almost all simple and complex avatar creators for games give you two extremes between gender, sometimes with men having an “extra muscular” option. So often I wished my avatar could have clothing and accesories relegated to the other gender (e.g. only men can have cigars, monocles, tuxedos and skirts, short jackets and lipstick for women) with their character design less… typical? (e.g. square jaws and muscles for men, shorter height and curvilinear design)
Always could be nice to start with a colourless, genderless avatar template. Though I’m not too certain in understanding what sort of interesting problems you speak of in a 3D model. I figure they could probably just use sliders concerning that. Even have some pre-set options on the slider for players who don’t want to spend too much time at the moment in desigining their character.
about 7 months ago
The issues I was referring to in a 3d model can somewhat be seen if you try to create a masculine shape in Second Life, while using the Female avatar base. Even with a flat chest, it’s hard to get a terribly butch looking shape. Then again, if the avatar mesh is designed with that in mind, I suppose it’d be less of an issue.
about 7 months ago
Ah *nod nod* gotcha. Haven’t ever got around to Second Life in spite of all the praises for its avatar creator. It might be the only one I ever heard of were a female avatar base can be flat chested too.
about 7 months ago
Yah; the best one can go for is a kind of androgynous look. I too would love to see better customization options.
about 7 months ago
Indeed!
LittleBIGPlanet does the same thing as some of the casual games you mention with its characters; Sackboys and girls both have the same body and their gender is whatever you want it to be, and you can put whatever clothes you like on your avatar.
Fable 2 has a decent compromise: you have to choose your gender, but you’re not limited in what clothes you can wear, though villagers will react a certain way to crossdressing and the like, depending on their personalities.
The idea of a gender slider is really interesting, making me wonder how it would be implemented. Anything that gets away from binary choices is a plus!
about 7 months ago
That’s true! I’ve been playing LBP and I rather like their sackboy/girl/thing system, it’s a nice, refreshing change from over-sexualized avatars in some other games.
I also played Fable 2… I didn’t like that wearing a men’s jacket made people look at me funny, but I suppose that’s a fairly realistic reaction given that it’s what I’d expect in the real world in many parts of the country…
about 7 months ago
Make Human has a gender slider.
about 7 months ago
Also, in Fable 2 as you increase strength the female character can develop some VERY impressive muscles. Unfortunately, that seems to decrease your attractiveness to most people in the game.
about 6 months ago
Another game on Facebook I saw was Pet Society, while it does have gender, I decided to see if I could put this “Rock Girl Dress” on my boy pet. Sure enough he could wear it. Which opened up a lot more possibilities for clothing. I could dress him up as a princess if I wanted.
The only difference between boy and girl I see are the voices, both sexes use the exact same parts. :3