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Changing Link's Gender in Older Games

Joined
May 4, 2014
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California
just because it’s meant for everyone doesn’t mean everyone enjoys it. It’s not a lie to state that more boys play video games than girls. Also the vast majority of characters on that list are pretty debatable as to whether or not they are protagonists or not.


It IS a deliberate lie and one which needs to go away.

The comment that not everyone enjoys it, is true for any recreational activity.

And please tell me which of those are not protagonists in their own games? Because if you think that, then your full of it.
 
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Joined
Mar 15, 2020
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I know many of you aren't, which is why I retracted my statement. My apologies. But unfortunately, there are plenty of mouthy, immature ignoramuses like him, who continue to perpuate that unfortunate negative view by being sexist and rude.
Please show me where I was sexist for acknowledging that a little girl might enjoy playing as a female in a game. I implore you.
 
Joined
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Hey. To be fair, the Shantae series has a fairly sizable fanbase, whether you acknowledge its existence or not. Hyperbole won't help you when you're clearly incorrect. The female gamer demographic is bigger than it's ever been, including females of all ages.
That's true, but it doesn't change the fact that most gamers are still male. I'm not saying that gamers SHOULD mostly be male, but it's just a simple fact that they are. Most game protagonists are male as well. I'm just saying, that list had Samus and Shantae, who are the protagonists of their own franchise. Every single other example was a female side character in a series about a male. If I was wrong, would it be that hard to make a list with more than two examples of child-friendly female protagonists?
 
Joined
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Location
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Let's see...
Samus: For older kids? Sure. Most little children are not going to enjoy any Metroid game
Peach: lol Yeah, Super Princess Peach from fifteen years ago? Sure, that'll keep your kids busy for ages
Dixie Kong: Secondary character who's most prominent role was in a game titled after a male who wasn't even playable
Golden Sun: Secondary characters
Shantae: If you're one of the seven people who give a **** about this franchise, sure.
Skylanders: The game about that male, Spyro? Which, aside from that, is notorious for butchering a classic IP?
Pokemon: Sure
Rydia: Who the ****?
Chun-Li: What universe are you in that Street Fighter is a game for little kids? This is a screenshot from Street Fighter:
mika-620x336.jpg

Little kids have been playing Metroid for years. Some of them have beaten it

Princess Peach has been playable in several Mario games before and after.

You've clearly never played the Donkey Kong or Golden Sun series, to say Dixie, who was a partner and much preferred for her unique moveset in a tagteam/ two player game, is a secondary character.

Nor is Jenna, Mia, Sheba, Sveta or Hime. Considering they're all teammates.

The Skylanders were widely available in stores, save for a few hard to finds here and there and there is a healthy mix of male and female characters to choose from.

Ana and Paula from the Earthbound series are your typical glass cannons, but that's just as true for male mage types.

Street Fighter is not Mortal Kombat.

And saying that chicks only play phone games? Praytell, how do you justify your logic against the girls who grew up playing at the arcades, on consoles, computers and handhelds long before there were cell phones? Your excuses fell apart like paper in the rain. And your only objective here is to antagonize.
 
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thePlinko

What’s the character limit on this? Aksnfiskwjfjsk
ZD Legend
It IS a deliberate and lie and one which needs to go away.

The comment that not everyone enjoys it, is true for any recreational activity.

And please tell me which of those are not protagonists in their own games? Because if you think that, then your full of it.

No, it’s not. The evidence literally doesn’t back you up here. According to statista.com, male gamers outweigh female gamers nearly 3 to 2 in every single year this poll was done. This is literally the first link if you search “male to female gamer ratio.” There is nothing wrong with this statement. It is not sexist to simply state a fact.

Peach is a side character that got a single game well over a decade ago. She’s a protagonist in that single game, sure, but she isn’t exactly known for that.

dixie kong has a single game on the Snes, and she wasn’t even the titular character or the main focus of the story.

golden sun girls are side characters,

skylanders doesn’t really have a protagonist

I have no clue who Rydia is


Is chun Li really the protagonist of street fighter? I’m pretty sure that honor goes to Ryu.

I’ll give you samus, shauntae, pokemon trainers, and even throw in bayonetta and Laura Croft, but no, a lot of those simply aren’t protagonists in the grand sense.
 
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Little kids have been playing Metroid. Some of them have beaten it

Princess Peach has been playable in several Mario games before and after.

You've clearly never played the Donkey Kong or Golden Sun series, to say Dixie, who was a partner and much preferred for her unique moveset in a tagteam/ two player game, is a secondary character. Nor is Jenna, Mia, Sheba, Sveta or Hime. Considering they're all teammates.

The Skylanders were widely available in stores, save for a few hard to finds here and there and there is a healthy mix of male and female characters to choose from.

Ana and Paula from the Earthbound series are your typical glass cannons, but that's just as true for male mage types.

Street Fighter is not Mortal Kombat.

And saying that chicks only play phone games? Praytell, how do you justify your logic against the girls who grew up playing in the arcades, consoles, computers and handhelds long before there were cell phones? Your excuse fell apart like paper in the rain. And your only objective here is to antagonize.

Peach has been playable in a few Mario games, but not for a vast majority of them. If a girl was playing Mario and wanted to play as Peach? Cool. If she has the option, go for it. If the option is not there and she or someone else has the ability to mod it in, then more power to them. When I was a little boy, I would definitely prefer to play as male characters over female. As an adult I don't give a **** if the character is the same gender as me or relatable to me at all, but you have to think about this from the viewpoint of a kid. If a little girl has no problem playing as a male Link, great. If she'd prefer to play as a female, then who in their right mind would have a problem with that? What kind of pathetic person would you have to be to be upset that a child enjoyed a hack of Mario 64 that let you play as Peach?

Donkey Kong is the main character of the Donkey Kong series. Hard to believe that needs explaining, but it's true. Dixie Kong was introduced as the sidekick in DKC2. She was the main star in DKC3, which is one game from over two decades ago.

Isaac is the main character of Golden Sun. Simple as that.

Ninten is the main character of Mother, Ness of Mother 2/Earthbound, and Lucas of Mother 3. Girls join the party, but are side characters.

Street Fighter doesn't need Mortal Kombat's gore to be inappropriate for children. If you're fine with giving your small child media to consume featuring nearly naked women with huge tits bending over then smacking their asses, that's on you but you probably shouldn't have kids.

And I never said "chicks only play mobile games." I said the statistics that claim women play games more than men only say so because they factor in mobile time wasters like Candy Crush or Words With Friends. If I read a Peanuts strip this week, that puts me in the same category as literary enthusiasts, right? You're welcome to prove to me that there are more women playing Zelda, Dark Souls, or any other popular non-mobile video games, but you won't because you can't because they don't. Are there women who have played games since the 80's? Sure. Are there men who have done the same? Yes. Tell me, which number do you think is bigger? Don't even pretend you think it's the former.
 
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Yeah no. Girls have been playing since the 70s. And gamers of both genders have enjoyed everything from arcade games, platformers, rpgs, shooters, adventures, racing games, sims, sandbox games and everything else all throughout these years. To say otherwise is just being plain old antagonistic. Why people like you have a problem with this and feel the need to act the way you do is beyond me?


Back on topic. Its a mod hack. People do that. There was someone who modded Samus Aran into BotW.
 
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thePlinko

What’s the character limit on this? Aksnfiskwjfjsk
ZD Legend
Yeah no. Girls have been playing since the 70s. And gamers of both genders have enjoyed everything from arcade games, platformers, rpgs, shooters, adventures, racing games, sims, sandbox games and everything else all throughout these years. To say otherwise is just be plain old antagonistic. Why people like you have a problem with this beyond me?
Literally nobody is saying girls don’t enjoy games, nor do we have a problem with girls playing games. I have no idea how you possibly could’ve come up with the idea that we thought otherwise.
 
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Yeah no. Girls have been playing since the 70s. And gamers of both genders have enjoyed everything from arcade games, platformers, rpgs, shooters, adventures, racing games, sims, sandbox games and everything else all throughout these years. To say otherwise is just be plain old antagonistic. Why people like you have a problem with this and feel the need to act like this is beyond me?

I've never denied that women like video games too. But can you truly tell me that you think it's an even 50/50 split? Today there are more women into games than ever, which is great, but I defy you to find me any gaming community which is predominately female. I have no issue with women playing games, and I don't understand why you think I do. I feel like you're taking me claiming more men play games than women as some personal attack on women who like games. Again, where is it I've communicated that I have some problem with women liking games?

The main point is this: Dad made a Zelda mod which lets his daughter play as a girl, and I think that's really cool. Would you have a problem if a mother modded Horizon to let her small son play as a man? This kid is likely under 10. If they were a teenager, then sure, they should be able to appreciate media without having to share blatant qualities with the protagonist. If a little girl prefers to play as a female, what is the problem with that?
 

twilitfalchion

and thus comes the end of an era
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The main point is this: Dad made a Zelda mod which lets his daughter play as a girl, and I think that's really cool. Would you have a problem if a mother modded Horizon to let her small son play as a man? This kid is likely under 10. If they were a teenager, then sure, they should be able to appreciate media without having to share blatant qualities with the protagonist. If a little girl prefers to play as a female, what is the problem with that?
There is nothing wrong with that at all. It’s actually sweet to see a father invest that much time into making his daughter enjoy her gaming experience as much as possible.
 
Joined
Jun 26, 2020
I'm reminded of a story, which I will leave generic: for a new product, there was a question about the lead character. The writers wanted a female lead, but corporate wasn't sure it would be marketable to little boys (a core demographic). They used test audiences of both boys and girls to attempt to figure out if the female lead would be viable. Sure enough, she tested very well: girls liked having a girl in the leading role to identify with, and boys still liked her in general because she kicked ass.

I do wonder if the reverse testing of a well-written male character would have gotten gender-association from the boys and association with the actions or persona from the girls...

There are as many reasons to like or not like thing as there are people.
 

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