[MUD-Dev] The Price of Being Male

[Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes]

Mon, Jun 30, 2003 at 09:29:04AM -0700 in
<001101c33f24$b915ebe0$6425a8c0 at gambit>, Rayzam
<rayzam at travellingbard.com> spake:
> From: "Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes" <kamikaze at kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu>
>> Sun, Jun 29, 2003 at 02:13:47PM -0700 in
>> <C12079793797A84CA92DF1A6805676F202800994 at e2k1.fullerton.edu>,
>> Castronova, Edward <ecastronova at Exchange.FULLERTON.EDU> spake:

>>> Anyway, when I conceived of the paper, I thought it was going to
>>> show how body-switching made the sexes equal in treatment.

>> Humans are a sexually active species, and sexuality is the
>> primary element of our psychology.  Nothing will ever make gender
>> irrelevant as long as that's true.

> Caveat to the above: as long as there are others around to
> interact with and options. The success of Tomb Raider as a series
> has shown that men and boys do not mind playing the female. The
> same is true of Metroid Prime. In these instances, again, the
> gender of the avatar has no effect on gameplay.  The key
> difference with a multiplayer game is the reactions of other
> players to the options you've chosen.

I'd say that gender and sexuality is very relevant in Tomb Raider;
you're sitting there watching Lara Croft's butt, and sometimes her
increasingly improbable chest, for hours on end.  I can't help but
think that's helped the sales of this game, and the movie.  Igor
certainly thinks so:

  http://www.gamespy.com/comics/october00/dork4/

In Metroid, you only see Samas in the power armor in gameplay; many
players weren't even aware that she's female (I've only played the
original Metroid, so maybe it's more obvious in the newer ones).

But as you note, those aren't multiplayer, and they're not
roleplaying games.  There's no identification with the character,
and they're not representing you in a social situation.  If you had
a Tomb Raider MMORPG, far fewer guys would be playing scantily-clad
well-endowed archaeologist/assassins like Lara.

--
 <a href="http://kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu/~kamikaze/"> Mark Hughes </a>
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