Girls who play Borderlands

[Caenis]

If you are a girl who plays Borderlands (or I guess if you want to pretend you're a girl...because how am I to know?) I'd love to see what you think about the game and about why you play it (If you're on the forum I would assume it isn't only because you play with your boyfriend.)

I love Borderlands. I have a beef with the lack of female enemies (not total lack...just scarcity) and the Barbie-esque, spank bank fantasy proportions of the female characters, and I've given that feedback here. But otherwise it's absolutely my favorite game.

Girls, why do you play?

Edit: Just to clarify, in case it isn't obvious...I am a girl.

[lefort40]

Originally Posted by Caenis

If you are a girl who plays Borderlands (or I guess if you want to pretend you're a girl...because how am I to know?) I'd love to see what you think about the game and about why you play it (If you're on the forum I would assume it isn't only because you play with your boyfriend.)

I love Borderlands. I have a beef with the lack of female enemies (not total lack...just scarcity) and the Barbie-esque, spank bank fantasy proportions of the female characters, and I've given that feedback here. But otherwise it's absolutely my favorite game.

Girls, why do you play?

Pretty sure EVERY games women are going to be made with the barbie features. I dont think male gamers wanna watch a girl with thunder thighs run around. Kinda sucks for the girls themselves I guess, but they dont make games with girls in mind. Im not a girl btw lol, just my 2 cents.

[DragonSin1313]

Because killing things is fun!?

There is a similar post (kind of) going on about this sort of thing:
http://gbxforums.gearboxsoftware.com...d.php?t=100772

I'm unsure why I like BL so much, I'm really not much of a FPS type of gal. I will say though that I still play Perfect Dark on the N64 every once in a while. I enjoy the fact that there's more than 1 character to choose from; unfortunately only one woman though. The sheer vastness of the game amazes me, it's huge, which is great. The enemies are awesome and I always yell back at the TV when one of the bandits calls me an asshole. I also absolutely love the Co-Op, offline or on.

C'mon ladies, throw this man some answers!!!!

P.S. LOL@spank bank

[Caenis]

Originally Posted by lefort40

Pretty sure EVERY games women are going to be made with the barbie features. I dont think male gamers wanna watch a girl with thunder thighs run around. Kinda sucks for the girls themselves I guess, but they dont make games with girls in mind. Im not a girl btw lol, just my 2 cents.

Ah, but you see? There are two problems with what you said there.
1. If the character ISN'T shaped like a Barbie then she must be fat and have thunder thighs, which simply isn't true. There is a great deal of variety, and you can still have pretty without having the frankly unhealthy if not impossible proportions of a Barbie doll.
2. I don't CARE what male gamers want to watch, it should be about what I want to play as a gamer. And they SHOULD make games with girls in mind, given that nearly 40% of gamers are women. And that women, by some estimates, control up to 80% of the money spent in retail stores (which INCLUDES stores where games are sold (and I speak from experience...I work in one of those stores)).

Borderlands is innovative in its style of gameplay. I would just like to see it also be inclusive.

[Madman340]

Like OMG I am totally a girl. I play because the guy characters are totally hawt.


Note: If you really think I'm a girl, you are a *insert descriptive term jabbing at intelligence* *insert name which implies you are a perv*.

[TwistedSpaceman]

Actually, ironically, Game Informer just had a large article on this exact topic.

First off, not a girl.

Second of all, I agree with the above - above post. I mean, as a male, it is visually appealing, but as a gamer, and a realist, I find it not the slightest bit genuine. Never will a woman look like Lilith, her features are virtually impossible to achieve; she IS a barbie doll character. And a girl can have more than just slim or fat, I'm an artist, and have studied anatomy for many years, and women, though not as frequently portrayed as so in video games, can still have appealing figures that don't resemble that of a toothpick's.

Quite frankly, borderlands isn't a very female friendly game. It's amazing and unique, don't get me wrong, but I don't even remember seeing a single female boss or enemy until Knoxx. Lilith herself is really an anti - female, embodying a completely ridiculous stereotype . I mean really, a women that fights off hordes of bandits daily is going to be a lot less dainty and a lot more badass, and she'd have some more muscle than that, I mean c'mon!


However, this lack of feminine orientation in the game design isn't as much of an 'appeasing to consumers' choice, as much as an artist choice. Being an artist myself, and having read the GI article, it does seem harder to create a female character that doesn't appease to stereotypes, just because of the nature of a gruff, violent game like this, and the fact that thin, lithe (not to lilith's extent) women are much more common than any other anatomy type.

On a side note, phasewalking wasn't designed as a 'not to dirty my hands' method just for Lilth, in fact, she was a male earlier on in the game design. She even had this same effect, they only slightly toned her ability when they genderbended her.

[Caenis]

Originally Posted by TwistedSpaceman

Actually, ironically, Game Informer just had a large article on this exact topic.

First off, not a girl.

Second of all, I agree with the above - above post. I mean, as a male, it is visually appealing, but as a gamer, and a realist, I find it not the slightest bit genuine. Never will a woman look like Lilith, her features are virtually impossible to achieve; she IS a barbie doll character. And a girl can have more than just slim or fat, I'm an artist, and have studied anatomy for many years, and women, though not as frequently portrayed as so in video games, can still have appealing figures that don't resemble that of a toothpick's.

Quite frankly, borderlands isn't a very female friendly game. It's amazing and unique, don't get me wrong, but I don't even remember seeing a single female boss or enemy until Knoxx. Lilith herself is really an anti - female, embodying a completely ridiculous stereotype . I mean really, a women that fights off hordes of bandits daily is going to be a lot less dainty and a lot more badass, and she'd have some more muscle than that, I mean c'mon!


However, this lack of feminine orientation in the game design isn't as much of an 'appeasing to consumers' choice, as much as an artist choice. Being an artist myself, and having read the GI article, it does seem harder to create a female character that doesn't appease to stereotypes, just because of the nature of a gruff, violent game like this, and the fact that thin, lithe (not to lilith's extent) women are much more common than any other anatomy type.

On a side note, phasewalking wasn't designed as a 'not to dirty my hands' method just for Lilth, in fact, she was a male earlier on in the game design. She even had this same effect, they only slightly toned her ability when they genderbended her.

I wouldn't say that Borderlands isn't female friendly. I think that depends on which females are looking at it as an option to play, and what their prerequisites are for choosing a game. I know there are alot of women who play casual games (Diner Dash, etc.), and Borderlands probably isn't going to appeal to those women. But I play MW2, played RE5, will be playing Bad Company 2, etc. I like shooting stuff. The game is friendly to me in the sense that it's fun, it's very broad and open ended (if you want to keep killing stuff even after the story is done). But I WOULD like to play a female character and still be able to choose my class rather than being stuck with one class only if I choose female.

And I'm 5'2", 120lbs. I'm petite and proportionate and (not to stroke my own ego, but because it's relevant to the conversation) I'm also hot. But I'm not shaped like Lillith.

I play Mordecai because he's sarcastic. I don't snipe much. I do alot of running and gunning. I chose the character based on the personality, and play him to suit my tastes.

I'd love a link to the Game Informer article, if you have one.

[lefort40]

Originally Posted by Caenis

Ah, but you see? There are two problems with what you said there.
1. If the character ISN'T shaped like a Barbie then she must be fat and have thunder thighs, which simply isn't true. There is a great deal of variety, and you can still have pretty without having the frankly unhealthy if not impossible proportions of a Barbie doll.
2. I don't CARE what male gamers want to watch, it should be about what I want to play as a gamer. And they SHOULD make games with girls in mind, given that nearly 40% of gamers are women. And that women, by some estimates, control up to 80% of the money spent in retail stores (which INCLUDES stores where games are sold (and I speak from experience...I work in one of those stores)).

Borderlands is innovative in its style of gameplay. I would just like to see it also be inclusive.

Well of course theres a difference between barbie and thunderthighs, but I was making a point. Even if 40% of gamers ARE women, I think games will always make their women look as barbie like as possible. Its just what they do. Tomb raider, uncharted, you name it, and the women are PERFECT constructs. Kinda like modded guns.

[Gauge41]

Originally Posted by Caenis

Ah, but you see? There are two problems with what you said there.
1. If the character ISN'T shaped like a Barbie then she must be fat and have thunder thighs, which simply isn't true.

[RodHull]

Being a guy I honestly don't understand the oft trotted out excuse of most male gamers saying 'we don't want to look at fat/ugly/whatever women in games'

Personally I have progressed beyond puberty and I don't use games to get my jollies, I find it actually insulting that game developers consistently assume that all men love gigantic boobs, tiny wastes which can barely support said boobs and frankly monstrous looking legs which are so long they border on alienlike (see recent title Bayonetta for reference)

I think it'd be cool to have some gigantic muscle women characters, or fat girls, or - shock horror - maybe just some average looking girls. They could easily just add these into the main game the same as bandits/brutes/psychos...

However in defence of BL two of the main characters are relatively normal looking (if memory serves) Tannis and the one who runs New Haven.

The gaming industry has come along way in terms of catering more to female gamers but its still deeply embedded with a geeky obsession with comic book style gender confused young girl characters with giant tits sadly.