To speak hypothetically again for a moment, let's assume that because of their superior strength and natural ability to pick a fight anywhere at any time, that male characters are suited better to the Soldier archetype. The poor lad or lass that has rolled a female soldier you can imagine would struggle being picked up by a team because the mindset of the gamers in general would be that male Soldiers are better, and would perhaps leave the player thinking, "Why did I roll a female Soldier and not a male one? What a mistake!" And take competitive gameplay: in a world where min-maxing is gospel, to play anything that is non-optimal and not suited to a given role would be like shooting yourself in the foot, or, in gamer terms, "nerfing" yourself. A player should never feel like they've made an error in judgement in creating their character simply because they did not choose to play the "right" gender.
In terms of gender selection, using a "world-realistic" model in a game like 'Age of Conan' would be substantially difficult for developers to balance and would only encourage a culture of exclusivity in the game's setting, or any other game for that matter. For the sake of gameplay and the player's own personal enjoyment, males and females should be equal in ability as Funcom have made it their aim, and it shouldn't matter whether you pick a male or a female for a particular archetype or class. Essentially, it should only come down to one question when selecting your gender at character creation, "Do I want to play a male or a female character?" and not a matter of, "Judging by their base stats, [insert gender here] are better suited towards [insert archetype or class here], so it would be better if I played that". Okay, so matter of opinion is important too; you are entitled to think that men are better suited to this and women are better suited to that, but no one should feel limited by the game's mechanic and design, and this is the heart of the argument. A player should be given the freedom to play either gender, and be confident in the fact that they are going to be just as able, strong, and effective in their role(s) as they would be playing the opposite.
The more you think about it, "reality" actually screams the fact that men and women are just as well suited to roles in society that are traditionally mantled by their counterparts, but this is mainly thanks to the fact that we have transcended the world that Robert E. Howard himself lived in and the one he creates in his Conan stories. We live in a world of equal rights and equal opportunities, so why shouldn't this also be reflected in the games that we play, namely, the MMOs we log in to? We no longer live in a "man's world" but nor do we live in a "woman's world". No, we live in a people's world where every person is (or at least should be) treated equally in dignity and rights. So on further reflection, and perhaps they've done it unintentionally, Funcom in allowing female characters in 'Age of Conan' to be just as able and strong as their male counterparts, have mirrored that just like in real life, there is no job a man can do that a woman can't do or do just as well.
Whether you be male or female in the Hyborian Age, be prepared to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their... significant others.
Until next fortnight, this is Stephen "weezer" Spiteri,
Out.
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© Stephen Spiteri, October 2007
