Massively http://massively.joystiq.com Massively http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Massively http://massively.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Prime World charges women less to play, 'protects' them in mixed groups [Updated]]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/prime-world-charges-women-less-to-play-protects-them-in-mixed/http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/prime-world-charges-women-less-to-play-protects-them-in-mixed/http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/prime-world-charges-women-less-to-play-protects-them-in-mixed/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Prime World
It's ladies night at Prime World, and drinks are on the house. The upcoming MOBA is offering unique incentives to rope in real-world women to play, including discounted heroes and special buffs if girls team up with guys. The game is connected to players' Facebook accounts, so women looking for special treatment need to actually be a member of that gender.

Nival's Creative Producer Larisa Nuretdinova hopes this will expand Prime World's potential audience: "The idea is to introduce the MOBA genre not only to hardcore players who already love it, but to their friends who might be more casual, and of course to their sisters and girlfriends who may not be as hardcore."

To encourage both sexes to group up together, Nival has devised a special defensive buff that is only activated when a woman playing a female character is part of the team. According to Prime World's About page, "this bonus helps encourage beginning female players, who feel more helpful when fighting in a mixed group."

Prime World offers six heroes for free, three of each gender; additional heroes can be purchased with actual money. It's here, too, that real-world women have an advantage, as Nival is offering a discount for the ladies who go shopping in the game.

[Update: Kotaku reports that Nival later clarified that it is offering discounts for both genders purchasing the same gendered character.]

MassivelyPrime World charges women less to play, 'protects' them in mixed groups [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>f2pfemalefemalesfree-to-playgendergender-biasLarisa-Nuretdinovamobanivalprime-worldsexismwhat-is-this-i-cant-evenwomenTue, 03 Apr 2012 09:30:00 EST<![CDATA[The Daily Grind: Are MMO players tired of beefcake?]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/the-daily-grind-are-mmo-players-tired-of-beefcake/http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/the-daily-grind-are-mmo-players-tired-of-beefcake/http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/the-daily-grind-are-mmo-players-tired-of-beefcake/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

In CoH, there's actually a character model called huge, but only for men, of course. A large or fat female superhero might offend male sensibilities.
A few months ago, The Mary Sue published an intriguing article about why men play female characters in MMOs, and the answer might surprise you. While some men surveyed wanted to play lady toons for immersion reasons or eyecandy reasons, many of them had a much simpler motive: They were sick of beefcake. They were willing to play men, but they just couldn't relate to big hulking dudes with huge muscles and tiny heads, and those are often the types of male characters offered in video games. MMOs like Star Wars: The Old Republic and Guild Wars and City of Heroes offer "huge" male characters as options, while World of Warcraft is a serial offender.

We usually focus on gender issues as they pertain to the portrayal of women in MMOs, so today I want to turn the tables and ask you about the portrayal of men. Are you annoyed when male characters MMOs look like they're hitting the steroids a bit too hard, and do you find such characters relatable or offensive? In other words, are you tired of beefcake in MMOs?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

MassivelyThe Daily Grind: Are MMO players tired of beefcake? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>beefcakebrianna-royce-tdgcharactercharacterscity-of-heroescohdaily-grindgenderguild-warshugemenopinionsexismstar-wars-the-old-republicswtortdgthe-daily-grindthe-mary-sueWorld-of-WarcraftwowMon, 26 Mar 2012 08:00:00 EST<![CDATA[The Game Archaeologist spins A Tale in the Desert: The highlights]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/09/13/the-game-archaeologist-spins-a-tale-in-the-desert-the-highlight/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/09/13/the-game-archaeologist-spins-a-tale-in-the-desert-the-highlight/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/09/13/the-game-archaeologist-spins-a-tale-in-the-desert-the-highlight/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

A Tale in the Desert
Readers of the ever-so-humble Game Archaeologist will recall that earlier this year I had the opportunity to exchange informative words with Dr. Richard Bartle, the creator of MUD. Since he was -- and is -- a highly opinionated designer, I asked him what he thought was the most innovative MMO from the last decade. The answer was short and succinct.

"A Tale in the Desert, he replied, then added: "Note that 'innovative' doesn't necessarily mean 'successful.'"

Right there is the crux of ATITD's unique position in the MMO industry. Instead of storming down a path well-traveled, it took a machete and made its own trail -- a trail down which few have followed. As Jef recently noted in Some Assembly Required, it is an "odd duck" of a game, skewing as far away from combat as possible to focus on two often-neglected aspects of MMOs: crafting and politics. Even though its population has pegged it as an eternally niche game, it's proven that constant fighting isn't the only thing that can draw an online community together.

This week we're going to look at some of the more unique features of this innovative yet diminutive MMO, which began telling its tale back in 2003.

Continue reading The Game Archaeologist spins A Tale in the Desert: The highlights

MassivelyThe Game Archaeologist spins A Tale in the Desert: The highlights originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>a-tale-in-the-desertandrew-tepperatitdcivilizationcraftingdemi-pharaohegenesisegyptfeaturedgrieferlawlegal-systemmentorpharaohpolitical-systemrichard-bartlesandboxsexismsnide-impact-dirtbagssociologysome-assembly-requiredstrangertellingthe-game-archaeologistTue, 13 Sep 2011 19:00:00 EST<![CDATA[The Guild Counsel: A color-blind world]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/18/the-guild-counsel-a-color-blind-world/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/18/the-guild-counsel-a-color-blind-world/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/18/the-guild-counsel-a-color-blind-world/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

EverQuest II guild
A couple of interesting points came out of last week's review of The Raid, and I'm going to use them as a springboard for this week's column. There were two topics that dominated the discussion: one was Edward Castronova's analogy of raiding as sport and the downing of the Lich King as a World Cup Championship victory. The other was about the use of inappropriate language in game, including some racist and sexist remarks.

In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look at soccer and sexism, and we'll see why Castronova was worth hearing out and why there's a big difference between what players say and what they do.

Continue reading The Guild Counsel: A color-blind world

MassivelyThe Guild Counsel: A color-blind world originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>double-dragonsedward-castronovafeaturedguildguild-counselguildskaren-bryannick-yeeopinionracismsexismthe-raidThu, 18 Aug 2011 14:00:00 EST<![CDATA[The Soapbox: The unfairer sex]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/22/the-soapbox-the-unfairer-sex/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/22/the-soapbox-the-unfairer-sex/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/22/the-soapbox-the-unfairer-sex/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column.

Talking about the representation of women in video games is usually an exercise in depression. You don't have to search very hard for negative examples; consider The Witcher, in which sleeping with women is treated essentially as some sort of ersatz Pokémon variant. Or take a look at Grand Theft Auto III, hailed as a groundbreaking game, which featured a grand total of three female characters in the story, all of whom were painted as some combination of promiscuous, stupid, or untrustworthy.

Comparatively speaking, MMOs deserve a medal for being remarkably open to both players and characters of both genders. And yet that's damning with faint praise in the worst way. MMOs still leave a lot to be desired when it comes to how they handle women, in ways both subtle and searingly obvious. Female characters are generally expected to be in a state of perpetual undress, more often than not without a significant role in the storyline -- and precisely because the genre is so far ahead of its contemporaries, complaints are often met with eye-rolling and derision.

Continue reading The Soapbox: The unfairer sex

MassivelyThe Soapbox: The unfairer sex originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>classyclothingcolumndressfeaturedgendergender-balancegender-issuesmaturityobjectifyingopinionsexismsexysoapboxthe-soapboxTue, 22 Mar 2011 09:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Are female characters really penalized in Age of Conan?]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/06/11/are-female-characters-really-penalized-in-age-of-conan/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/06/11/are-female-characters-really-penalized-in-age-of-conan/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/06/11/are-female-characters-really-penalized-in-age-of-conan/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

There's an unpleasant rumor gathering strength in the Age of Conan community. It seems to have begun with this eight-page review, which (despite delivering a relatively healthy overall score of 76) is uncompromising in its criticism of those parts of the game that, in the reviewer's opinion, fall very short of what was advertised.

The bombshell comes on page 7, where the reviewer states outright that '... Age of Conan's weapon swing time depends on the duration of the visual swing animation, and female characters swing their weapons about 25% slower than males - so every female melee character does 25% less damage over time!'

Continue reading Are female characters really penalized in Age of Conan?

MassivelyAre female characters really penalized in Age of Conan? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>age-of-conanaocattack-speedbugsfeaturedfemale-charactersfuncomissuessexismsexistWed, 11 Jun 2008 09:30:00 EST