Gender Confused

[Cala]

I just had a lovely chat and some tea with Watcher Zaren. Pretty sure (s)he's a least a DD, but seems to prefer masucline pronouns. Quite a character, though.

 

 

 

 

(By this I mean, Zaren's portrait is female, but is treated as male by the writing)

[JonA]

Originally Posted By: Cala

I just had a lovely chat and some tea with Watcher Zaren. Pretty sure (s)he's a least a DD, but seems to prefer masucline pronouns. Quite a character, though.

(By this I mean, Zaren's portrait is female, but is treated as male by the writing)

I noticed the same thing and sent Jeff an email about it just prior to the 1.0.1 release. He said he'd take a look at it. Perhaps it will change in a future release.

[Gerry Quinn]

In that version Zaren will start talking about the difficulties of transition.

[Tcheedchee]

There is quite a lot of Gender confusion going on in Avadon. For instance, the group of warriors, that is going to help you take the Giant Keep is male in name and speech, but his looks are obviously female…

[AaronC]

I laughed pretty hard when it turned out Sev (the blademaster) was black. He looked more radiation-tinted pink to me.

[Cala]

Originally Posted By: Tcheedchee

There is quite a lot of Gender confusion going on in Avadon. For instance, the group of warriors, that is going to help you take the Giant Keep is male in name and speech, but his looks are obviously female…

You're right - in fact, I've noticed that nearly every single commander of a less significant group has a female image, regardless of gender. The funniest one was in Jenell's sidequest, where the leader of the group in the barracks was described as a huge, hulking man, but looked female.

[Tcheedchee]

Yeah.

That's quite similar to what hit me, when the text described a weathered veteran type for the leader of the band of soldiers I mentioned. I got rather distracted by her boobs.

[Superba]

I wonder why Jeff chose so many foes and friends with strong managing and/or combat skills to be females. It is not unusual in his games, same in Avernum, yes, but why so? Is this a phylosophical and/or social choice?

I admit I hesitated more than once to fight some of those ladies and felt somehow uncomfortable when I did.

[Lokiron]

Originally Posted By: Superba

I wonder why Jeff chose so many foes and friends with strong managing and/or combat skills to be females. It is not unusual in his games, same in Avernum, yes, but why so? Is this a phylosophical and/or social choice?
I admit I hesitated more than once to fight some of those ladies and felt somehow uncomfortable when I did.

Dude, not kicking the [censored] out of a chick, the way you would a man, is sexist Equality, all the way!

[Lilith]

Originally Posted By: Superba

I wonder why Jeff chose so many foes and friends with strong managing and/or combat skills to be females. It is not unusual in his games, same in Avernum, yes, but why so? Is this a phylosophical and/or social choice?

Dude has a thing for strong women. He even jokes about it in some text hidden in Exile 3's data files.

[Ceiling Durkheim]

I think there are some pretty interesting sociological discussions bound up in the question of whether fantasy worlds would include as much gender inequality as most cultures in the real world. It seems like the presence of magic would make a difference: one of the reasons cited to explain the rise of patriarchal societies is the fact that warrior classes tend to be among the most powerful in early civilizations, and differences in basic physiology tend to make men better at warrior-ing at that level of technology. Wizards and such tend to be among the most effective fighters in most settings in which they exist, and magical ability rarely varies based on sex. It seems like the effects of this would depend in large part on the prevalence of magi and their importance in society. If one out of every thousand people in a world can cast spells, this doesn't seem like it would have very much social impact, but there are also societies like the Shapers in which nearly everyone in power has magical (shaping) ability.

 

@Cala: just played through that section again on the current playthrough. Was also quite entertained. Perhaps he takes after Robert "His name is Robert Paulsen!" Paulsen from Fight Club?

[Superba]

When it's personal I have nothing to say, I understand personal choices and never ask to justify them, above all when choices come from an artist, that is Lord in his Realm, being that a novel, a game or the two of them together as in Avadon case.

So it is only a "pour parler" matter to me. I believe it is an artificial perspective there "must" be more equality no matter where, when reality is different, where with reality I mean physiological differences between men and women, certainly not social rights and opportunities.

It is true that Fantasy is a good place for strong women with muscles and combat skills. Reality was otherwise much different in past hystorical times, until nowadays, when soldiers mainly fight through technology and nomore with blades.

And I appreciate that Jenell and Nathalie use the power of the Nature and the power of the Mind to fight. I also would love to see a female party member skilled with blades as in Avernum, still the number of female warriors in game is more than a bit non realistic and unusually high in what it is supposed to be Avadon blades and brute force times.

[Cala]

Originally Posted By: FnordCola

@Cala: just played through that section again on the current playthrough. Was also quite entertained. Perhaps he takes after Robert "His name is Robert Paulsen!" Paulsen from Fight Club?

Ahahahaha, that is my favorite movie of all time! Perhaps he does... *shudder*

Not counting the 'women' being described as 'he' in the dialogue, I'm also really enjoying the use of strong women in this game, being female myself. I also think the toughest looking character type is female - the one used by Hand Callan and the Monitor from Goldcrag. As long as they're not wearing chain-mail bikinis, I think strong women in fantasty are fantastic.

[Gerry Quinn]

It is admirable, in its way. Monitor Pelin is no longer young, and the Kva sun has turned his skin to leather. Right now his small band is surrounded by hostile Titans. Nevertheless, in his red wig and falsies, he still can cut a dash. Not for nothing is he known as the Lion.

 

I agree with Cala that he is wise to avoid a chain mail bikini. That would indeed be de trop.

[ĐªгŦĦ Єяŋϊε]

amazingly most pictures of fantasy show the men going off to war in full plate mail, looking like a tank with weapons poking out all over the place while the women go off alongside wearing the aforementioned chainmail bikini and wielding rapiers or shortswords. or alternatively a bow and arrow.