What's with all of the female units?

[ThunderTitan]

if you want me to stare at the screen for lengthy periods of time, I best enjoy the view.

+1 Sad Points for jeff...

Or why is Black Hole Entertainment catering towards a female audience/female perspective?

Yes, that's totally the reason why games are full of barely dressed females, to appeal to women...

Just like all those muscled men in underwear you see on all those gay clubs/sites are there to attract more heterosexuals...



Oh man, one of the points in those threads posted at the start of the page cracked me up:

Haven: 4/7 units are female, 3/7 male. I count the Griffin as female because it looks female, especially when you compare it to the griffins from past HOMM games.

Brilliant.

[BB Shockwave]

Firstly, the original poster is quite wrong, there were quite a few female units in HOMMIII too. Medusae, Harpies, Nagas, Genies, Pegasus Riders, (arguably) Wraiths, Water/Ice Elementals... Not to mention many female heroes as well.

Secondly, I don't mind there being female units. I welcome them. Yeah, boobs sell, but also it gives diversity to an army. The problem with Heroes 6 is that it seems, the creators just didn't have much imagination when it comes to female units. Some of them are so totally uninspired, it hurts. The two "spirits" in Haven look like simple glowing human women with tatoos. Weak. Then we have the Sanctuary's sprites/water elemental thingies, which look just like the spirits, except without legs and made of water. In HOMMIII-IV the water elementals at least looked quite unique.... Then we have the snow maidens, who are just japanese-clothed humans with white skin. How lame is that?

The problem with Ubi is that instead of taking a guess from real mythology which had plenty of female creatures (just check Titan Quest), it just tries to dress up human women as glorified mythical creatures... They did the same with Heroes V. They really wanted to throw in a female unit for the Orcs, but instead of a female orc or perhaps a female centaur... they put in human shaman women... Who really felt out of place in an army composed only of various orcs, goblins and cyclopes, especially since the heroes were also orcs. KInda hard to believe that scantly-clad women would last long in such an army, even if they had magical powers, you know... realism and such.

As horrible as the Heroes Online game was, it has at least increased the female ratio without really making drastic changes. Gogs and efreeti and all genies are now female, as are the wights and zealots... I had no problem with this.

[MattII]

Firstly, the original poster is quite wrong, there were quite a few female units in HOMMIII too. Medusae, Harpies, Nagas, Genies, Pegasus Riders, (arguably) Wraiths, Water/Ice Elementals... Not to mention many female heroes as well.

You know, I never got the impression that Genies were female, and even if they were 7 creatures out of 62 in vanilla is a lot bloody rarer than 13 of 51, which is what we've got now, if Mother Namtaru is the only female neutral/boss, (~11% vs ~25%).

In HOMMIII-IV the water elementals at least looked quite unique....

Nope, the body of the WE is the same as the Medusa, except for the head, tail, bow/quiver and colour, and those two aren't far off the Naga. Really, the WE, Medusa and Naga are the same basic snake body with different extras stuck on.

[ThunderTitan]

You know, I never got the impression that Genies were female,

Yeah, it's not like they had bras or anything:

even if they were 7 creatures out of 62 in vanilla is a lot bloody rarer than 13 of 51,

Yeah, i love the argument that it's ok for females to be in a certain role as long as there's only very few of them... jeez.

The problem with Heroes 6 is that it seems, the creators just didn't have much imagination when it comes to female units. Some of them are so totally uninspired, it hurts. The two "spirits" in Haven look like simple glowing human women with tatoos. Weak. Then we have the Sanctuary's sprites/water elemental thingies, which look just like the spirits, except without legs and made of water. In HOMMIII-IV the water elementals at least looked quite unique.... Then we have the snow maidens, who are just japanese-clothed humans with white skin. How lame is that?

As pointed out before in many a thread, palette swapping (well, it's 3D equivalent, texture changes are better then the simple colour change of yesteryear) is not limited to the female units, and it's a problem we've noticed a long time ago:

[MattII]

Yeah, it's not like they had bras or anything:

Always seemed more like a short vest to me.

Yeah, i love the argument that it's ok for females to be in a certain role as long as there's only very few of them... jeez.

I'm not against females in fantasy (probably half of every stack of beasts is female), but I am against the fact that Ubihole seems to equate females with breasts, and as such goes and sticks breasts on everything, human or not. More to the point, I'm against making social statements, and there is no way this could be considered not to be making a statement. What's next, the Ghoul, the Lich, the Archer/Crossbowman?

[ThunderTitan]

Always seemed more like a short vest to me.

Yeah, sure... but if you have any male friends that wear that type of shirt... well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0lFGBYRtU

What's next, the Ghoul, the Lich, the Archer/Crossbowman?

Ahem:

Notice those nice bumps on their chest?

More to the point, I'm against making social statements, and there is no way this could be considered not to be making a statement.

Compared to what, the S&M Dungeon from H5? (the Minotaur had nipple rings for crying out loud).

And relax, this isn't social commentary, it's simple fan service... now the reaction some of you had to it... now that's a comment on society and our little subculture if i ever saw one.

[Mlai]

Wait, you guys don't know that girls love HoMM games???

[Kalah]

Yes, we do.

[ThunderTitan]

Wait, you guys don't know that girls love HoMM games???

Sure, but i was assuming most of them aren't lesbians...

[Gaidal Cain]

... girls love HoMM games???

Yes, we do.

Aha!

[Kalah]

[Pol]

There, there +23.


I for one love to play with women. And thinking about the sexes in such a game is a bit ironical. The important thing is a good gameplay, not sexes distribution. Furthermore, the argument about 'intimidating' is a bit laughable. You would soon find that A beautiful Sorcerer is more intimidating than a bunch of Cyclopes. (HIV.)

Also many units are sex neutral or sex swingers like in nature. (Golems, Genies HIII.)

So, for what all that fuss?

[MattII]

Yeah, sure... but if you have any male friends that wear that type of shirt... well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0lFGBYRtU

Sound card's broken at the moment, so I can't do much with that, but, looking at the heroes, you maybe right, all of the 'female' genies do have an obvious 'pigtail', while the 'males' wear hats.

Ahem:

Notice those nice bumps on their chest?

Yeah, but that looks more like an elf than a human to me anyway...

Compared to what, the S&M Dungeon from H5? (the Minotaur had nipple rings for crying out loud).

Well I didn't like the H5 dungeon either, too many elves (and I'd have preferred faceless anyway). Also, nipples =/= boobs, most mammals have nipples, but only humans have boobs. I see your point though, because at least the Medusa and Harpy are at least traditionally female, not some thoughtless after-market addition, though the harpy is not always shown with boobs (that's a more modern interpretation, which I suspect picked up some bits from the siren).

So, for what all that fuss?

Well for me it's the thoughtless way they're sticking boobs on everything.

[ThunderTitan]

Sound card's broken at the moment, so I can't do much with that

You haven't seen the 1st Scary Movie yet? While it started a bad trend it was actually funny...

Yeah, but that looks more like an elf than a human to me anyway...

Yeah, it's not like Humans have blonde hair, or the elf is actually in another town (and is actually not very nordic):

Also, nipples =/= boobs, most mammals have nipples, but only humans have boobs.

The rest of the primates say HI!

[Kalah]

Reference to more nipples in today's POTD...

[MattII]

Yeah, it's not like Humans have blonde hair, or the elf is actually in another town (and is actually not very nordic):

Oh look, a Spanish elf.

The rest of the primates say HI!

Well I don't know about you, but I've never seen a chimpanzee that needed to wear a bra.

[XEL II]

This thread is funny.

[mr.hackcrag]

I for one love to play with women.

I would like to hear more about this.

[ThunderTitan]

Oh look, a Spanish elf.

Only if it has moorish ancestry.

Well I don't know about you, but I've never seen a chimpanzee that needed to wear a bra.

That's just because they're not as self conscious about any droopiness... they still technically have them.

And because you couldn't abstain, have something to creep you out while proving you wrong: http://pubpages.unh.edu/~jel/images/bonobo_mom_baby.jpg

[MattII]

Only if it has moorish ancestry.

Brown skin and black hair, could be Indian I suppose, or half-African. Regardless, the Archer still looks more 'elfy' than the actual elf.

That's just because they're not as self conscious about any droopiness... they still technically have them.

And because you couldn't abstain, have something to creep you out while proving you wrong: http://pubpages.unh.edu/~jel/images/bonobo_mom_baby.jpg

Now have a look at some female bonobos who aren't nursing. That, BTW is why I used the term 'boobs' rather than 'breasts', to my mind 'breasts' can refer to the mammaries of apes, which don't usually show when they aren't nursing, whereas 'boobs' refer to human/humanoid mammaries that stick around all the time.