Random Gender

I was thinking about this earlier, having a weighted random gender depending on the role (I assume there would be less female marines). Obviously this isn't a priority to implement, but if Blizzard considers itself to be the best, it would really be an excellent finishing touch to add to the game.

Lore wise it would make sense for the Terrans. This is the Koprulu sector. Terrans don't have time to care about 'gender roles', or women dying on the front lines. I think at the very least, they could make the SCVs 50/50 chance of being male or female, like villagers in AoE.

 

maybe for a trigger or ums map but not for campaigns or skirmishes. It would just lag up the game.

 

not a terrible idea, but it doesnt change the gameplay at all. id rather blizzard spent their time on features that i actually pay attention to when im competing on battlenet, or on another kick ass game.

 

Now this is what I was trying to say, different portraits for each animation. This includes gender, different sayings, and different death animations. I would think BLizzard would have to work their asses off to make this feature.

 

Okay boys and girls time for a little lesson on why as much as this seems like a good idea it isn't really.
Assuming this is meant for Terran mostly. (The Protoss can also have this applied but with different reasoning.)

Terran
The Terran came to the sector on a prison ship meant to colonize the mutants, prisoners, and other ugly's earth did not want. Thus the population of woman is down by a good deal. (Since a good deal of women do not go to jail. At least I like to think that.) Add the fact one of the ships are destroyed and the others are sent through a new race to reach technological dominance. They reach the peak and now have merged and reorganized there worlds. Woman would still be even though it is a large position in the place of jobs were being killed and or devoured or torched or ect were not in question. This is because the Terran wanted to make sure that they survived troops didn't. Thats not to say they're weren't woman in combat though. (Valkyrie and Ghost for example.)

We see the female gender in SC in roles that we can relate to being out of action jobs. (Medic, Dropship, Ghost) The one woman we know to play a substantial role in Sc Sarah Kerrigan was 1. A Telekinetic 2. Had Ghost implants and training. Valkyries are also a role that is not a 100% in your face combat role as they are support fighters to the Terran Air.

So lore wise the Terran could have woman in the positions they have but lore wise we just need to protect them for the survival of the Terran. Although I know that sounds like I'm saying "woman are weak and not equal to men pew pew" I'm not. What I'm saying is that the Terrans depend on there woman for survival and although they can help in the war effort they have many many prisoners and convicts that can be used instead.

Protoss
The Protoss have it a bit different. Since the Protoss were created by the Xel'Naga with the base organisms on Aiur that were tribe like they grew into a more tribal culture. Woman played the role of woman that you would have seen in tribes like we would have seen in prehistoric times. When the Dark Templar broke off it was a step of change as they had Raszagul become there matriarch. The Protoss of Aiur would remain though with the Tribal Hierarchy.

As we do not see a single female Protoss until Raszagul we truly believed that they were all asexual or cloning themselves. Now that is apparently not the case. What is apparent now is that when these societies merged with the destruction of Aiur Protoss Woman gained more control. (Apparent in there now command over the Protoss Mothership) Protoss societies new structure allowed them to now do more. So right now its just a power struggle for the Protoss. Plus the fact that they are dwindling means they will need more female units now as well.

Zerg
Ya I'm not even gonna go there. If you wanna see female Zerg... your sick.

 

All valid points, but the main reason it doesnt need to be implemented is that it doesnt make the game any more fun to play. Id rather blizzard spent all that time making the game more fun.

 

i agree but a male and female ghost in game would still be cool.

 

haha love the Zerg bit ^_^ and protoss cloning (I needed that laugh, some of the other posts were...)

I think part of the Protoss issue was also the same budget/production reasons that the (High) Templar Artanis (they young one or whatever) had the model of a Dark Templar (no nerve tendrils), during the cinematic. Now that Blizzard is rich and powerful, they have more creative leeway. Not knowing much about Protoss Politics & Society 101 (missed that one at my University ), your guess is as good as mine. Even if Blizzard had the resources, and equality in mind, I still think the Protoss would be as you stated.

With the Terran, I was hoping more people would make the arguments that you stated above; they are logical, and not sexist.
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What I would really like to see, would be at least a few Terran units, with randomization. Some of you say that it wouldn't make the game more fun, that is because you are guys, and you are catered to. For girls, it is a nice invitation. Would you have played if Terrans were female only? What about Protoss?

 

Yes yes i would have. I am not sexist, i would just rather see blizzard investing its time in gameplay then aesthetics. Although you make a good point that i am a guy and not a girl, i cannot speak for the other gender of my species but in my opinion if its a well made game i dont care what gender the units are.

 

Me too, I'd like to see random genders for all units! After all, the 2 most famous Ghosts are women (Kerrigan and Nova)

 

That is nice to hear. I know that there are those that would definitely not play the game, as great as it was/is, had the genders been stated as above. I'm an optimist, and would expect the majority to agree with you, on that point.

Your concerns are valid. I like to look at a Cost vs Benefits model.
What does it cost you? What do you gain?

Making a 5-6 more portraits, and hiring 2-3 actresses won't take much time.
As you stated, you won't gain anything. I'd be pleased, but wouldn't gain anything. For women who know of the game, it will make a large difference.
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It is interesting to see how far along our Western society is; if the topic were race instead of gender, the same points used to argue would likely have been seen as barbaric...hmm (this is an observation not an attack against anyone who has posted here!)

 

Yeah thank you for understanding me. Like i said, not a bad idea but i would rather see them invest in the gameplay. Im not going to be upset if they include this in the game tho.

Tschüß

DJ

 

I personally cannot believe this topic has made it 3 pages, I personally believe this is a pointless disscussion, and I wish I could lock it based on my own personal opinions. But since I can't (or at the very least shouldn't) here is why I think this topic is pointless.

Everyone who is currently disscussing this is going to buy whether or not this feature is implemented, the only difference it would make, is it would make a few people slightly happier about the game. As for everyone else, I would wager that nearly everyone whose decision of whether or not to buy something is based strongly in the things gender equality are probably not going to buy SC2 either way just because of its genre and the simple fact that it is video game. Also the game already has a number of women units and even main characters. So this feature really becomes just one of those little things that make a game a little more likable and complete but probably won't affect sales to much, if at all. Those are the kind of features that will make it, if there is enough time, but are going to get ignored in a time crunch, and either way are still relatively unimportant and not really worth this kind of hype.

To everyone who dislikes this idea because of time constraints, Blizzard is going to waste their time however they see fit, and while we may get a say on some things, other things well, we all know the drill......

 

I think this kind of detail enrichs the game... IMO, there are so many RTS games out there, that, to prevail, one must rely not only in playability and balance, but also in this kind of details (genders, realistic movement, faction background and more...) If people think the only important things are balance and feautures "that sell", well, they should be satisified with infantry made of sticks and vehicles and ships that are mer "bricks" because they would be easy to select and spot on the screen.. I think good games need way more than that....

 

The reasons there are women in the army now but there wasn't in the olden days was because women had less rights and a stereotypical role that was already preset for them. They're in the army now because both men and women have equal rights and equal opportunity. There is nothing a man can do in the army that a woman can't, and vice versa.

There are two things wrong with your statement. First of all, no gender is more valuable. Secondly, women aren't solely needed to mate. Apart from women being just as good at everything as men are, mating is mutual. Men are needed just as much as women are.
On top of all that, if there were to be a superior gender (not that I'm saying there is), it would be females. Females are genetically superior to males because they have two X chromosomes, whereas men have an X and Y. There are a lot of diseases, etc, that are caused by this lack of an X chromosome, some examples being Hemophilia, color blindness and Muscular Dystrophy, just to name a few.

Why wouldn't people use the different genders? I remember in WarCraftIII Editor I used to wish that each unit didn't have a specific gender. It doesn't have to be an interactive feature ti be used. Making a female skin wouldn't take the focus away from the game. It takes just as long to design a female unit as it does to design a male unit. There are just as many reasons to make units male as there are to make them female.

What evidence do you have that it's not female at all? There could be a distinct reason why it isn't called the 'Gender-Neutral Member of Royalty' other than it being a crap name. Besides, you seemed to miss the part where I said that Zerg probably reproduce asexually.

After some time the genders would even out again. Say that the Terran are 25% female and 75% male. Seeing as humans mate for life, two third of the male population would die without having kids (assuming everyone is loyal, and I'm pretty sure they would be). That means, that after just one generation, the male to female distribution would have evened out.
Even if the men weren't faithful, all of the second generation would be 50% male and 50% female, so after the initial convicts have died out, and chances are they have by now, then the male to female distribution would have still evened out.

 

Hey guys, the thread's back up again. We're able to pick up where we left off...

I'll just quickly summarize my last post.
Seeing as women are equals to men, there isn't a reason that they'd be excluded from the Terran army.
Women wouldn't be protected because they're needed to mate, because mating is a mutual act.
If the Terran did want the strongest army possible, then they'd choose more female soldiers. Women are genetically superior because of their two X chromosomes. Their extra X chromosome makes it much harder for them to inherit certain genetic problems.
Different genders would be very useful for the Map Editor.
Lastly, even though the Terran may have been predominantly male, after the first generation have all passed on, then the second generation would be about half male, half female.

 

@Ackbar

all game info aside, women do not belong in the kitchen. we have just as many rights as men do, regardless of what you think. Women fight just as hard as their male counterparts whether it be in games such as starcraft or in Real life. Withotu women you wouldn;t exist, and neother would those men fighting long and hard. We have just as much skill, if not moreso, than some men out there. We may have our differences, because men and women are different, but that changes nothing. We can fight, just like men.

 

What evidence do you have that women should remain in the kitchen, AdmirallAkbar?
If Terran wanted the strongest army possible, they wouldn't just use the male half of their population. Women are genetically superior, so aren't effected by as many disorders. Lastly, I've heard that women are able to think logically when emotional, which men have a harder time doing. That would be a good skill to have in the midst of a battle.
I know that, on average, men are stronger than women, but when firing guns while wearing mechanical suits of armor, there wouldn't be a need for natural strength.

 

Looks like he is back....why should women be kept inside the kitchen?

 

In SC, I tihnk the higher male ratio is strongly associated with the fact that there is a higher proportion of hardened criminals that are male- and most of the Terran infantry fall into that category.