Age of Conan

Not sexy, sexism, as in racism.

Now I am not against sexyness in game - nor against a certain dose of gore for that matter - but it came to me that AoC seems rather sexistic (is that the Engish word?) to me.

We have Demonologists, but they only can summone female sexy-demons. No matter what gender or preferrence, there is always this women to safe in the beginning. There are only FEMALE prostitutes, and most important: why do female chars look good but male all like they fell head on into a lawn-mower? I mean the males have only 2 kind of faces: abysmally ugly, and just so far ok than you dont have to puke looking at them.

Oh and did they ever head the difference between a haircutter and a barber?

And dont even get me started about the male clothing! Why does even the cheapest harbour harlot wear golden silk and men wear all stuff looking like pulling on a potatoe sack?

I mean, seriously, the Conan world is not Armani male models-world, but why does it make such a difference between male and female characters? Is the only "good male" when he has a square body in sack-cloth and a face like punched too many times? I rly bemoan a BIT more diversity in all this. Its all QUITE old fashioned stereotypical and quite un-adult in that, I must admit. More like what I'd imagine a teenagers male dream world.

Largely it's marketshare. There's not enough people in the world that are attracted to males, let alone attracted to males of any degree to warrant such the extra effort. Is it sexist on FC's part? I would say no, because of the economics of MMOs and games in general still favor heterosexual men, thus it will be shaped by that above all. As gamers change, so will the details of such games.

-- Brede

Sexist the word you are looking for:)

Originally posted by Elikal

Now I am not against sexyness in game - nor against a certain dose of gore for that matter - but it came to me that AoC seems rather sexistic (is that the Engish word?) to me.

The word your looking for is sexist and yes, the Conan world is very sexist. It mainly appeals to male audience as do most video games imo.

think about the time period. think about the setting.

think about the source material that the game is trying to stay true to.

Of COURSE it's sexist.

There's also slavery, prostitution, cannibalism, and worse injustices in this game. It's not a nice place.

I love it.

Well it sounds just like Conan's world/lore to the tee to me. They must have done a good displaying the IP  for you to notice so quickly how immature the world/lore of Conan is.

I mean really, what did you expect?

What does it matter?  According to half the folks here the games too buggy to play anyway. 

yes, the game is sexist and racist. It is based off of the original books. If you've read the original books they are indeed sexist and racist. That is a big reason why this is rated "M", but also for marketting.

What people have been saying, yes, this is good for marketting. But it is all in the lore of the game, too. The devs have been stating from the beginning that they've been aiming to make the game look and feel like it was from the original comics, novels, and just the various stories in general of Hyboria and it's neighboring kingdoms. It's doing that pretty accurately.

But like I've said, some things are half marketting and half lore. The things such as the looks (although this is part of lore, they can use this as an advantage) of the female characters is for marketting. Others such as the gore, the various racism against the other cultures in the game, and the ruggedness of the males is for the lore.

Then again if you try really hard you can make any game look sexist and racist. I'll use WoW as an example simply because we can assume anyone who's been on this site has attempted the trial and has at least a tiny understanding of the game. WoW uses succubus' too, and the different races of the game can be considered racist as well (if you REALLY want to try and make it appear as cynical as possible).

You can make an airplane look like a UFO. It all just depends on the way you look at it.

Originally posted by salamander13

Well it sounds just like Conan's world/lore to the tee to me. They must have done a good displaying the IP  for you to notice so quickly how immature the world/lore of Conan is.

I mean really, what did you expect?

Well the world has gore and evil and is dark, thats all nice and fine.

Also granted, the main target audience is straight males. Insofar I am not the audience, also granted. But arent there more and more women gaming? I mean I am sure they dont ALL prefer plushy worlds? I mean, wouldnt have been able to transport the world a WEE bit into the 21st century?

Take, for example Lord of the Rings. No the MOVIE, not so much the game. What did Peter Jackson do? He made Arwen a more active person, just like females in general, thus taking away a bit the very old fashioned notion Professor Tolkien had in his world, dusting it off a little without turning it around altogether.  As it is those peeople are caricatures, not people, and I feel its an overdose of stereotypes, EVEN for a Conan-setting.

Some misread me. I dont have something against the sexy women, or against the in-game "racism", I just wish I could play other males than sack-cloth square-faced ugly-types. Oh and a lust-boy for me pls, lol. ;) The you can have an entire continent with whores. I am quite sure some female players may have enough of only seeing sexy female chars as well, and they ARE 50% of humanity AND a growing part of the market. And maybe even some straight males DONT prefer to look like Conan's beat-up twin brother *gasp*??