Guaranteed the word “woke” will be thrown around left and right
I don’t understand the hate for women in video games, If the next Doom game comes out with a female protagonist I’d be going “HELL YEAH RIP ITS HEAD OFF!!!” the same way I do in Doom Eternal
Don’t understand the hate. I also prefer sexy characters as I dont prioritize realism in games and am looking for escapism but that isn’t the game. If you want a game with sexy characters, there are plenty.
I often mod games to add that asthetic. I’ll probably wait for this to be on a big sale once there are such mods for that reason.
Don’t like what they’re selling? Don’t play it. Or mod it. Don’t screech on the internet that it’s not fair to you. You didn’t make the thing.
So much rage. It’s like complaining a romantic comedy isn’t an action movie.
I started the Witcher 3 twice. Got bored with it both times. Seeing the trailer for the Witcher 4 is actuslly making me go back to finish the Witcher 3.
Isn’t female witcher technically a witch? 🤔
In general English usage I think you may be right.
In the world of “The Witcher” (which is translated from Polish) there are both male and female mages with inborn abilities. Sometimes they are called sorcerers and sorceresses, sometimes they are called mages, sometimes they are called something related to their specialisation of magic, and sometimes wise women who do magic but didn’t go to the academy are called witches.
Witchers, however, are not mages. They are made from ordinary humans and are gene manipulated and highly trained to be monster hunters. They have some witcher powers that are related to runes, and they make potions that have side effects only they can survive thanks to their manipulated bodies. Witchers at birth do not have special potential. Though a lot of little witcher trainees die, so you could argue they are artificially selected in that way.
Ciri is kind of neither of those, but she has special abilities related to space and time manipulation. In the new trailer it seems she drinks a witcher potion, but from what we know she never underwent the manipulation that witchers did.
I don’t think so.
I think being a Witcher is a distinct moniker In universe for the training/vocation of hunting magical monsters.
The usual male analogues in media for witch are wizards and/or warlocks
that implies that men are witch-er than a female witch? :D
(Lore nerd rant ahead, tl;dr: Ciri being the protag is 100% fine and I expected it but her being a full witcher is weird)
There’s exactly one somewhat valid complaint to be had here, and it’s that Ciri in the books explicitly didn’t go through the Trial of the Grasses (aka one of the main mutation processes that makes you a witcher or, as it often happens, just straight up kills you), so idk how they’ll justify her being able to use witcher potions and stuff now. And (also in the books) she has lost her access to magic at one point, so using witcher signs is strange too.
I can see her wanting to take the plunge and go through with the trials, but I’m also certain that Geralt wouldn’t want that for her bc of how much it fucks you up + most of the secrets of the trials have been lost.
I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and wait and see what explanation they come up with for her being a full witcher, but it better be good.
So, from lore perspective, I have no objections to her being the protag but I don’t love her being a full witcher. I liked what they did with her gameplay sections in W3, I hoped they’d have just expanded on that gameplay idea more.
Just because she does it in the trailer does not mean we start there in the game.
The only people who are triggered are you guys. You’re dealing with trolls who only say that shit to get your goat. They don’t give a shit that they’re playing as Ciri. They’re not even racist for real. They just wanna hear you do your hardest to lash out right back at them for their lazy input.
Yeah they play the loser and we play the woke angel, it’s kind of win-win because they get whatever it is they get, and we get to feel smart and superior.
AI has kind of taken the fun out of it, though… like for real, convincing sounding, dog whistle sprinkled, trollish duck speak is so easy to generate, I struggle to care about interactions on main socials. I mean I don’t go there, but if I did…
Doesn’t Geralt basically retire at the end of 3??? Of course it’s her turn to be the protag, fuck the haters.
You also spend multiple chunks of the game playing as Ciri. Like what are folks expecting?
The kinds of people that claim “wokism” in games tend to also not actually play the games they’re bitching about, so they don’t actually know what to expect.
Guaranteed the word “woke” will be thrown around left and right
More like it will be thrown from the right
I don’t get it, Witcher already has a bunch of female protagonists.
Funny how none of them had a problem with like 10 games about Lara Croft.
I’ve seen more posts complaining about complainers, than I’ve seen complainers.
Really? Can you share them? I saw the post on lemmy complaining about wanting male/female options, but there’s also this article with gems such as below.
Even in the comments of that article though, is “DEI detected = Purchase rejected”.
So the comments are out there, probably on reddit too, but they are there.
This is Lemmy. You’re looking for reddit.
I haven’t seen a single complaint about Ciri being the protagonist of the next witcher game andI believe it’s because she isn’t a “let’s put a woman here for the quotas” type of character.
Yeah, I honestly haven’t seen an actual complaint.
Is it here, or on the internet as a whole? I have already seen a TON of vitriol in the trailer’s comments on YouTube. They’re loudly skreeeing woke, and DEI, and even the less insane ones are “so disappointed in CDPR.”
EDIT - I spoke too soon, they’re even here in this very post.
so disappointed in CDPR
Did they play the third game? Do they remember how important Ciri was, how special her powers?
I’m wagering most of them haven’t.
They just start frothing at the sight of a powerful woman
We’re a pretty happy bubble here, which is why I’m here
Nothing happy about creating your own boogy man lol.
Why would they do this? Why would a producer produce something they wanted to produce???
I guess they haven’t finished the witcher 3 then🤷♂️ ciri is obv the only way foward by then.
How could anyone hate Ciri :c
I can’t understand hating Ciri as a chracter, but I can understand being kind of a disappointed not having Geralt as a playable character.
If you consider it as an isolated game it doesn’t matter, but when you play three games as one character and then suddenly switch to another character it can feel kind of melancholic, in absence of a better word. Especially since now there’s a non-zero chance that they’ll kill Geralt in the new game.
But anyway, Ciri was an interesting character and those parts in Witcher 3 where you played as her were great.
Geralt got his ending in The Witcher 3. I would much rather play as Ciri.
It’s not sudden at all. In fact there’s no way you can be a fan of these games and not have seen this coming. It was the very obvious Next Step.
and then suddenly switch to another character it can feel kind of melancholic
Its not that sudden, Ciri was playable in Witcher 3 at times and the ending that has to be canon for her to be the W4 Protag leaves Geralt alive and old, and if you count B&W the owner of a vineyard where he can chill with his girl of choice, so they don’t even need to kill him off
“He’s old and hangs out in Toussaint now, he sends Ciri letters” would be easy to do
Well obviously Geralt survives in the end of witcher 3 and most likely will be alive in 4, but what I meant is that they might kill him in the new game like they did with Vesemir in Witcher 3. They don’t need to, and I hope they don’t, but it would be kind of an easy plot device so there’s a chance. But at this point it’s just speculation anyway.
My main point was more in line that some people just don’t like change and that would be enough to make them oppose Ciri as the main character.
Witcher 3 had multiple endings, and he dies in one of them
Someone that did not read the books. There are multiple points where the story shifts to Ciri. In a similar way Ragnarok shifts to Atreaus.
Witcher 3 literally has you play as her on multiple occasions, too
I haven’t even finished it before and I can think of at least 2
So it’d be someone who’s never read the books and has never played 3 (she isn’t mentioned in 1 or 2)
For me it’s not that I hate ciri at all. I completely understand women’s complaint that most games have a male protagonist and they can’t relate to that. I feel the same way, I like to feel at least somewhat immersed and I can never really get that with a female protagonist. It’s not like I don’t try either, I just never end up getting into the games I have tried that are like this.
I know it’s hard when the story is based on an individual, but I just wish more games had an option so everyone could play who they want to. I don’t hate them for this choice, it will just be another game that “isn’t for me” in the same way a hyper competitive PVP game “isn’t for me” which is fine.
I’m sorry, you’re saying you’re unable to get into a game simply because it’s a female protagonist? If it was a male you’d be fine?
“It’s so hard for me to imagine myself as a mutant monster killing master swordsman in a fantasy world if said mutant has a pair of tits”
Lol
Exactly lol, it has nothing to do with some weird gender thing. It’s a role playing game. You’re playing as a role. Even in Skyrim the role you’re playing (even if you choose a white male human) is someone living in Skyrim, a fictional place fighting dragons and draugr. So I think gender is one of the smallest differences.
God forbid you play a different perspective and see what it’s like.
Female V in cyberpunk is one of the best gaming experiences. You feel being catcalled and hit on directly - and you beat the ever loving shit out of them for doing it.
But what if I play as a female character and start liking dicks? No way bro the risk is just too high!
I’m convinced that anyone who feels like they need to take steps to avoid liking dicks is actually in denial that they already like dicks.
Ha, one of the first times I saw someone playing as a woman (in third person) I asked why and he joked and said “dude why would I want to stare at a man’s ass for 60 hours?”. Not a bad argument tbh…
I mean how could you ever sympathize with a character that doesn’t look exactly like you*?
*(Or the ideal of yourself, because let’s be honest…)
I think he means he thinks women have trouble identifying to male protagonists as he has trouble identifying to female protagonists. If it was a male it’s ok because he’s a male (he can relate to).
He’s conflating women “can’t get behind a male protagonist” with women “who want more representation” and using it as his excuse. I think most gamers don’t care, and don’t think we should always have the choice. The only people who will hate this choice is people who already wanted to hate on women to begin with.
Which to that I’d say women have been able to “get behind male protagonists” for decades now.
I think choice is fun, for some games, but some games like the Witcher tell a specific narrative, and it makes sense that they are tailored for a specific character, and I think we all know the sort of abuse that Ciri is going to see in the world of the Witcher.
I think of any gender has trouble “identifying” with a character of another gender that’s 100% a them issue, they need to figure out why they have such a problem with it, because that says more about them then it does game makers. (I know not you, the original person).
Seriously all it says to me is that you’re insecure with yourself if you can’t even play a fictional fantasy game as a woman.
Definitely. It is probably in part cultural indoctrination teaching that women are weak & such. And they don’t want to feel weak. Many of my favorite games have women protagonists.
Looking forward to W4.
Many games are just better IMO by choosing the female POV. Femshep >>>> Maleshep
When logic is forsaken, turnabout is fair play.
Pretty much, yeah. Part of it is the whole “power fantasy” thing. I get, as others said, that it’s a fantasy world so how could you expect to be immersed with mutants and whatever, but that’s not the point. I don’t expect it to be a VR experience where I can’t even tell I’m not in the real world, and as others assumed no for fucks sake it has nothing to do with hating women. That’s absurd. It’s just a personal preference thing. I’m not going to write to the devs bitching or make some stupid “woke game” post, I just probably won’t play it.
You really need to look internally and analyze why you feel that way.
Is it really like that for you? Does the same thing happen with books, movies, TV? Should they have an “option”?
I have absolutely no trouble immersing myself into Aloy, Lara Croft, Jesse (Control), Red (Transistor), Bayonetta, Faith (Mirror’s Edge), and others.
Like, the character not being the same gender as me, doesn’t even register as an obstacle for inhabiting them. I’m able to mentally become them in literally the exact same way I do any other protagonist.
Since, it’s not like I need to be the same as someone in order to see the world through their perspective.
The opposite, the less they are like me, the greater the chance I’ll get to experience something from outside my own lived experience. And I like that.
I’m with women in that they should have representation in games (and stories in general), but even just for myself I’m cheering this particular progression on for the sheer variety it brings.
Is it really like that for you? Does the same thing happen with books, movies, TV? Should they have an “option”?
It is like that for me and they don’t need to have that option, that’s unrealistic to expect. You can’t choose anything in a book or movie. It just becomes something that “isn’t for me” which is fine. Not everything has to be my taste. I was simply explaining why it had nothing to do with hating ciri for some people.
I don’t get you at all but fair fucks to you being civil about the matter. You got a lot of hate on here while simply stating a preference that you unfortunately share with a bunch of incel neckbeards.
I’m the other way, interestingly. I like playing a woman as a protagonist. Not because I’ll lust over them or anything, it’s simply more enjoyable.
I appreciate that. I just see it as the typical “people love to attack others online” and I have no desire to try to insult people even if they’re telling me liking chocolate over vanilla is wrong and I’m an asshole for it lol only I know myself, and I know there’s no hatred or misogyny behind my preferences.
One of the best things about art is it can help to share what others experience; it gives us an opportunity to “walk in someone else’s shoes”. I think this can lead to more empathy in a world sorely lacking in it.
Jesse’s an Outlier.
Many Mass Effect players reported that FemShep was the better way to play the game. Many guys play female avatars in games because the cosmetic choices are usually more interesting. This actually came up in a study on MMORPG players many years ago, and I imagine it is still true today.
