http://www.vg247.com/2012/03/28/assassins-creed-iiis-setting-a-bit-of-a-pain-for-female-characters/
Really? Really? I JUST went over this, guy, and you're giving me a reason to do it again?
People will believe "assassin in identifiable hood jumps off buildings and lands in hay carts", but they wouldn't believe "woman does things". That's what they're telling me. The white-clad, hooded, weapon-shrouded super-assassin is MORE BELIEVABLE than a woman in the same position.
I'm done. I'm done with everything.
Wait. Didn't they establish in the second game that prostitutes, aka women here, are part of the assassins or at least associated with them?
ReplyDeleteI mean, the "Woman crossdresses to be part of the war/revolution/some kind of (violent) activity" is a cliché, but it WORKS.
But then again, you have to understand that they have a particular demographic in mind: sexist/horny teenage boys (I know it sounds redundant, but it is not)
There were literally female assassins (like not just courtesans working with them, full-fledged female assassins) in Brotherhood and Revelations. So yeah, this is a huge cop-out.
DeleteAssassin's Creed bears about as much resemblance to being an assassin as Saint's Row: the Third does to being a gangster. This is blatant selective-'realism'.
ReplyDeleteIf anything the game could get a lot more realistic, as in 'more like' being an actual assassin in the period, and still (if not better) support a female protagonist. My feeling is a lack of imagination meant they couldn't find a context in which they could fit a woman into the distinctly unlike-an-assassin open warfare and running-about-finding-lost-cats-up-trees rubbish they've filled the series with mechanically.
In a period when women (supposedly) aren't taken seriously, who would believe that a woman was assassinating people? It'd be a great cover, even if she had to crossdress as a man to do the assassin stuff (as mentioned in another comment, and an idea not featured in enough games).
If I am to be my most cynical, then perhaps they couldn't imagine an 'acceptable' context for a woman to be an assassin without the vector for that role being as a sex worker. HOW ELSE DOES A CHICK GET THAT CLOSE TO IMPORTANT MEN AMIRITE? And prostitute player characters don't fly in games because 'reasons' (although I highly doubt that the developer team has the potential to do justice to that player character context).
Assassin's Creed III already irks me with how out of place the Assassin looks in the period to begin with, man or woman. The design is still basically the same as it was in previous games. It doesn't blend in at all.
ReplyDeleteThe way the guy phrased it just makes me laugh. He pretty much said "it's a man's world, women can stick to knitting flags." A woman would be perfectly fine as an assassin considering in these games it's all about athleticism, stealth, and speed, things that women can do just as good as men. A women being lighter and of a smaller constitution is only to her benefit in this case.
Women in games are pretty much there for eyecandy, even the ones that they try to characterize as strong as independent. The few female protagonists there are are mostly the same way. Sad, but unlikely to change.