For You, But Not For You: Dragon Age

Wade's apprentice just called me a "him".

Undercook just called me a "sir", and my character was the only one in the party.

I am going to assume this one was "ser" as they like to use.

For You But Not For You: Dragon Age

Branka called me "an errand boy". My lady mage is unamused.

For You, But Not For You - Fallout New Vegas

The King just called me "a man of your word"

For You, But Not For You - Fallout New Vegas

Spencer: Yo

robyn: Boone attacking supermutants with a machete as they run away is one of the best things ever

Spencer: hahahaha

Spencer: I'd run away

Spencer: it's his game

robyn: haha

robyn: fair enough

Spencer: I got called a She in one encounter btw

Spencer: it was quite funny

Spencer: oh obsidian, your quality control is awful

robyn: LOL

robyn: what?!

robyn: What encounter?

robyn: that is HILARIOUS to me

Spencer: was in some random dungeon

Spencer: don't remember the name

robyn: oh man.

robyn: i am posting that on the blog.

Spencer: had to of been a glitch

For You, But Not For You - Puzzle Quest 2

All of the icons to indicate your character, if a weapon is single or two-handed, your 'character' screen, are illustrated by a big hulking dude.

For You, But Not For You - Fallout New Vegas - 2

James Garret just called me a guy.

The card dealer told me to "pull up a chair, buddy".

For You, But Not For You - Fallout New Vegas

A lot of the text in the game that isnt dynamic like Challenges and SPECIAL descriptors refer to dudes -- The Challenge for achieving speech success is called "Sir Talks-a-lot", and the descriptions of the SPECIAL skills refer to "cowboy".

The Rifleman - kill with a rifle-grip gun...

Lord of Death - kill X baddies

All clothes in the game, when they are sitting in the ground look like men's clothing -- except the sexy sleepwear and bonnet.

All the perks have images of vaultboy, unless they are specific to women, then they have vaultgirl.

The more I look, the more there are :(((

No one has actually referred to my female character as a dude yet, so that is a win.

For one of the missions, in voice only, not text, my character was referred to as "he". (the ghoul rocket-ship quest).

For You, But Not For You - Mass Effect 2: Shadow Broker

In Cpt David Anderson's dossier / Military Correspondence: "The matter of Commander Shepard and his involvement in the attack on the Citadel"

huge sadface.

Seems to be an oversight, as in Hackett's correspondence "her" appears.

For You, But Not For You - Mass Effect 2: Shadow Broker

I love Mass Effect 2, this is no secret - however, if you play the Shadow Broker, you will see a piece of Shepard's old armor - if you are a lady, this piece of armor is far too big to be yours, it's MaleShep's. :(

For You But Not For You: FFXII

In Final Fantasy XII, after you defeat Deathgaze (which i did as Ashe), there is a cut-scene in which you are addressed as "lad", eventho the leader of your party (again, in this case, Ashe, a woman) is displayed as the only player character on screen.

every day with this. kitten netbook accessory!

For You, But Not For You - Modnation Racers

This one is kind of nitpicky of me. But there you go, this is my blog!

When playing Modnation Racers, in the career mode, even when you are using your own character, the game assumes you are "Tag" (eventho your PSN name is used to show your standings), and your coach calls you things like "cowboy" and "rainbow cheeks" (what does that even mean?). It seems to me they could have left off referring to the player.

For You, But Not For You - Puzzle Kingdoms

Again, you are given the choice of an avatar, but whenever you are addressed, the game refers to you as King. Which, is sort of alright, but it comes off like they only wrote one set of dialogue.

Update: the game's antagonist refers to you as "him".

For You, But Not For You.

So, i started playing Morrowind - i had heard great things. But, it, like Fallout 3, falls into the category of 'for you but not for you'.

You see, the game is treating me like a man. "You will be a free man", the guard tells me, etc. It makes me sad.

I changed the URL for my blog to scarlettwyst.blogspot.com

Tho you probably already know that if you found the site again.

Player Actions, Good vs Evil.

in which i ramble a bit about some games.


I was listening to Anthony Burch's GDC talk, which discussed many issues, including player agency, and immersion.

I started thinking about the times I play myself in games, and the times I play a character.

This made me think about how I played Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2/Fable II.
Whenever I am faced with a GOOD or an EVIL option, I tend to choose the GOOD. Even if I really want to be bad.
When I play me, I am good. I think I am a good person, even if I tend to threaten violence as a joke.
Anthony discussed how in a game like Uncharted 2, you play/help out Nathan Drake. And if you have a problem with snapping a guy's neck, and cracking a joke, you will be uncomfortable. It was fun. It was fun to kill guys and crack jokes, and run around like the hero. I wouldn't do that if it were actually me. I wouldn't kill dudes and crack jokes, even if I would fantasize about it in my head. Which is why playing Nathan Drake, playing the dude from Prototype is important to games. Sometimes established characters help the player PLAY. I really enjoy karate kicking planes and slicing people to bits in Prototype. Because Alex (that's his name, I remember it now!) would do those things, and is in a position to do those things. He has been pushed far passed the breaking point, and this is his life, not mine.

Back to the good or bad thing. I think, if in Mass Effect 2, I knew a renegade action would be non-lethal, I would use it. I shied away from using these actions after accidentally (?) killing a guy. I felt really bad about it, and almost reloaded, but then thought No. Shepard needs to learn this lesson. And I did. I didn't use renegade actions again after that, because that isn't what *I* would do. I would however, punch him, sabotage him, delay him in some way - but I didn't like the killing.
It would have been more fun to take some of those renegade actions. But I am not that character. Shepard-me wouldn't do that.

I think both ideas are important to gaming, the taking on of another persona and putting yourself in the situation. I don't think the pinnacle of gaming is the Star Trek holodeck. I want to be Nathan Drake. I want to be me. I want to be Shepard.

For @PaulTobin

I asked: do you have to like star wars to like KOTOR 1 and 2? i say no.

Replies:
pkollar @Twyst Definitely not!
pkollar @Twyst (That's also what will likely put The Old Republic above Star Trek Online.)
fyreball13 @Twyst No, it just really helps, but since they happen before the movies, no knowledge is required either.
@Twyst @fyreball13 @PaulTobin and Kreia! Revan! Awesome story!
fyreball13 @Twyst @PaulTobin That is two games! We are trying to sell him on the first right now, save Kreia talk for later!
R_Glass @Twyst I liked KOTOR 1 way more than I liked most of the films. But you DO have to like lightsabers.
kateri_t @Twyst Hell no, I can't really be doing with Star Wars, had to be dragged to KOTOR by word of mouth, but I love both games.
JKeverne @Twyst Nope. I'm not entirely sure @chrisavellone liked Star Wars going by some parts of KoTOR 2.
no_oneimportant @Twyst I liked KOTOR and I've never even SEEN Star Wars.

(as of 7:26pm)

Wonder Woman

I wrote a thing about Wonder Woman over at hour42.