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Maraz · 06-18-2005, 06:08 PM

[quote=Earthmother,June 18 2005,03:23]
I think by modern standards life sucked for the vast majority of people, male and female, for most of history; and in the poorer half of the world still does. I don't think that the problem is so much that women have had it harder (that is a discussion I don't feel qualified to debate); I think for MUDs the problem is that a traditional woman's "role" is one that doesn't make for interesting game play. For example in 1916 I'm pretty sure it's fair to say that being a young man fighting in the trenches of France "sucked", but I bet it would be easier to make a MUD where characters were WW1 soldiers than one where you played the role of a woman living out her life in 1916.

It wouldn't be impossible to create a MUD where gameplay revolved around the role of a woman, although it might be harder. Truth be told though it wouldn't attract much audience. A friend recently told me that women's ambitions to be housemakers and mothers are at their highest since the 1950s. This may well be true, however I'm not sure that the same could be said of MUD players - and besides I don't necessarily want to play a character with the same aspirations as me so why should any woman?

The way I'd look at it is that PCs should be able to be something more than the normal person. Afterall that's what makes the game interesting. Even if you play an ordinary character you'd want them to experience extraordinary circumstances. Why else would you play? Most men spent their lives farming, fishing or some other mundane activity, few spent their lives adventuring. So even if you want historical accuracy your PCs don't have to be the norm.

As for making women not so fast/strong and making up for it in other ways is easy enough. To do that accurately though might be hard in a combat heavy MUD (sniping is the only military activity I know of where women usually match men). However you may not need to make them unequal, I have observed that female characters (and even more so female players) tend to advance more slowly in conventional MUDs. I'd guess this is because they spend more time in social activities and less time sitting and killing things (they seem to make friends faster). That might be enough to create a realistic difference. I like the idea of races where females are stronger than males. I'd be interested to see if female elves would be more popular than female spider-people even if the latter were significantly more powerful.

06-18-2005, 06:08 PM	#15
Maraz New Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 15	[quote=Earthmother,June 18 2005,03:23] I think by modern standards life sucked for the vast majority of people, male and female, for most of history; and in the poorer half of the world still does. I don't think that the problem is so much that women have had it harder (that is a discussion I don't feel qualified to debate); I think for MUDs the problem is that a traditional woman's "role" is one that doesn't make for interesting game play. For example in 1916 I'm pretty sure it's fair to say that being a young man fighting in the trenches of France "sucked", but I bet it would be easier to make a MUD where characters were WW1 soldiers than one where you played the role of a woman living out her life in 1916. It wouldn't be impossible to create a MUD where gameplay revolved around the role of a woman, although it might be harder. Truth be told though it wouldn't attract much audience. A friend recently told me that women's ambitions to be housemakers and mothers are at their highest since the 1950s. This may well be true, however I'm not sure that the same could be said of MUD players - and besides I don't necessarily want to play a character with the same aspirations as me so why should any woman? The way I'd look at it is that PCs should be able to be something more than the normal person. Afterall that's what makes the game interesting. Even if you play an ordinary character you'd want them to experience extraordinary circumstances. Why else would you play? Most men spent their lives farming, fishing or some other mundane activity, few spent their lives adventuring. So even if you want historical accuracy your PCs don't have to be the norm. As for making women not so fast/strong and making up for it in other ways is easy enough. To do that accurately though might be hard in a combat heavy MUD (sniping is the only military activity I know of where women usually match men). However you may not need to make them unequal, I have observed that female characters (and even more so female players) tend to advance more slowly in conventional MUDs. I'd guess this is because they spend more time in social activities and less time sitting and killing things (they seem to make friends faster). That might be enough to create a realistic difference. I like the idea of races where females are stronger than males. I'd be interested to see if female elves would be more popular than female spider-people even if the latter were significantly more powerful.