Sure, but you can also ask clarifying questions to seek to understand before assuming that what was done was what you fear it is. I believe they showed 1 female player character and 1 female bandit and several male types. What if they hadn't yet gotten to ANY female models and all they could show were male? Would you then have assumed they were going to have an all-male cast for the game and moved to accusations of that sort?
Here's how I imagine a dev stream should work: Devs agree upon a common goal and negotiate among themselves beforehand what they're going to show and why. They're also going to put at least some consideration into how the public may react to what they're going to show and make sure to do their checks and balances accordingly -
beforehand. It is at this point that they should be asking themselves questions like:
"Hmm, maybe not the best idea to show female player characters yet, since all we've got to show is the sexualized one? We don't want our female players to get the wrong idea and to feel undervalued and creeped out. Yeah, let's only show male player characters today and save the female models for later when we can give a much more balanced overview of the great work we've been doing."
Had this discussion taken place, and had the devs explained very clearly on stream that:
"We've got a whole bunch of cool player characters we'd like to share! Today we'll show you some of the work we've been doing with male player characters and show you the female characters at a later time, as the team is still hard at work getting them just right!"
The result? Eeeeeeeeeeveryone would have been happy and no misunderstandings or misconceptions would have taken place.
You haven't acknowledged the female raider that was shown at all. What did you think of her?
She was frickin' COOL! ALL of the characters were ah-maaaazing!
INCLUDING THE TOMB RAIDER ONE. Yes, you heard right. Including the busty tomb raider! Although I personally think she'd look even sexier if her chest were a bit more natural and the flesh was relaxed a bit so that they don't look like two balloons about to pop. Just a wee bit!
The problem is
not about the fact that there is a sexy character. The point I'm so desperately trying to make is that the dev team don't put any consideration into how female players are going to perceive their status as valid and respected players by devs only showing a busty female player character. They should have saved it for later when they can show the whole set. They should have had the foresight to know what kind of ruckus this is going to cause.
And on that note, the reason the raider has not been mentioned that much is because people are
specifically talking about "player characters", not the NPCs. The emotions we feel about our player characters are on a whole different level than what we think about NPCs. Player characters are represent
ourselves in the game. It's a hugely personal thing. And if all we see beforehand is a busty version for females, it gives an unintended impression.
All I'm saying is that you and others were way too quick to the judgment you made. I know it's the thing to do to just assume the worst in today's cancel culture and for sure the industry as a whole has some work to do to improve but at the very least you could have simply asked a few questions to find out.
I completely understand your position Roland. You know the team. You know they're not bad guys. You know they don't have bad intentions. You see how much they work their butts off to please the players. You've seen it happen again and again, that the team work so very hard to make nice things for us, and all we do is gripe about this and complain about that. It's heartbreaking, because you know that in reality, all they ever wanted to do was make the players happy. I get it. I empathize. I've been a professional game developer since 2006 and I know what it's like to be on your side of the fence. I know how heart-crushing it is to face a bombardment of unappreciative and hugely entitled players. If only they knew how hard and complex it is to make a game!
Since I know how that feels, I don't complain very often and I fully understand that behind every dev decision, there is most likely a very good and sensible reason why that choice was made. However this is the one moment where I felt like I needed to speak up. I'm passionate about 7 days. I want to see it thrive. I want to see female players feeling welcome and respected. I want the community to grow. Ya know, sometimes stuff has to be called out, and this was such a moment. Again it's not only about the female character, it's a
lot of things that show lack of consideration of female players. And if people don't call this kind of thing out, how will they ever know there was a problem to begin with? How will they improve? How will the community grow into a more welcoming place for everyone?
When I looked at the desert girl I just saw an homage to Laura Croft, personally. The other female character shown was completely covered-- even her face was mostly covered. So going only on what was shown it was an even split between a lot of skin and no skin. Let's wait and see what the rest of the female cast looks like before we decide how lecherous the staff is.
Listen, I don't think the team are lecherous. In fact, I'm absolutely sure that the majority of the team are absolute sweetie pies. I just think they're a bit clueless and tone deaf when it comes to how they present the game. It's easy to get carried away when you're bubbling with excitement for a new feature and you just know all the dudes are gonna go nuts when they see it. All I ask is for them to say to one another "Hey guys, let's remember our female players and how they will feel about this. Will this creep them out? Will this make them feel unwelcome?" Etc
I haven't seen the female version yet. I don't think it is done and ready to show. I'm pretty sure he showed the one that was finished.
Right, well in this case then - the diplomatic and considerate thing would have been to wait to show any of the female "player" characters until they can share a broader assortment.
