Vergil_The_Blue
Novice
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2013
- Messages
- 1
First, let me start off by saying I think Dragon Age Origins is a masterpiece, one of the finest examples of how to take classical tolkien-esque fantasy archetypes and make them seem fresh through exceptional writing, a fleshed out plot, and steady character development.
This was handled well for the most part except in terms of gender. Predictably selecting a female does result in dialogue changes as well as opening up different romance possibilities, that's fine. However, one has to take a look at the role the Warden played in the events on Thedas to see how flawed Bioware's interpretation of the female warden was.
The numerous blights Thedas has suffered from have all been catastrophic, some so much so they've toppled empires and divided nations. Yet despite these insurmountable odds the people of Thedas prevailed thanks to the leadership of the Wardens who were not only strong but willing to place personal emotions aside for the greater purpose of stopping the blight as we saw when Duncan explained in the Mage origins story how blood mages have been useful.
Take special note of how I mentioned the traits of strength and emotion, two areas where women differ substantially from men. Addressing the former first, I work in the fitness industry and can tell you first hand from both experience and having studied human anatomy that human muscle fibers in women lack as many cross-sectional areas that men do. To better explain that that means that women's muscles on average lack as many contractile proteins called sarcomeres which help contribute to muscular strength. Working in the fitness I see the difference first hand in both trained and untrained female individuals. Let's assume for the sake of argument that the female Warden is equivalent to a trained female.
On the one RM bench press test(meaning what is the maximum weight a person can lift once), an average trained female individual weighing 150 lbs can usually lift anywhere between 85-115 lbs. The difference in lower body strength is not as pronounced but it is still very rare for a trained female to be able to properly squat more than 135 lbs or deadlift more than 150.(for Canadians reading this who use the metric system, remember the kilogram conversation calculation is to divide lbs by 2.2). What's intersting about these numbers is that they're roughly equivalent to the performance of an untrained or intermedietely trained male. With that said, would you guys want an untrained, out of shape male to be leading the fight against the most dangerous threat to the continent, a job that includes fighting dragons, and ogres? I know I wouldn't. So why would we want a female protecting us trained or otherwise? These statistics aren't mine, they come from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning from the NSCA, an organization I'm certified under I should add. There are other sports science details I could get into as well such as males having superior cardio-respiratory endurance, improved rates of recovery but I think I have made my point that males are physically superior to women for fighting the blight.
Now on to the second point, emotions. One could argue that my points would only apply to the rogue and warrior class since mages rely less on physical strength. Now I'm no psychologist but I am well versed in the lore of Dragon Age. It is stated frequently that the demons of the Fade feed off certain potentially negative emotions like pride, desire, sloth etc. Now it has been documented that emotions are driven in part by endocrinological changes in the body such as testosterone and estrogen. Testosterone is beneficial since it contributes to muscular strength and hypertrophy as well as increasing aggression which would help suppress fear in a tense battle. Estrogen on the other hand makes people fit to irrational emotional swings which can rollercoaster from extreme sadness one second, to extreme hostility(rage demon) the next. Women also have a higher body fat percentage(hunger demon), favor materialism(desire), tends to develop megalomaniacal feelings during their menstrual cycle(pride demon) and a large percentage of women also consider being a housewife a career(sloth demon).
So simply put, I don't think women would make good mages either.
Now, before you get the wrong idea let me emphatically state that I do NOT want a female option removed from customization. Rather I think that if we're to play as a woman we should have one as a class that plays to the strength of the female gender rather than it's weaknesses. Thus, I'm hearby suggesting a fourth class be added for females exclusively...
The seductress.
Rather than rely on traits the gender is lacking in the seductress can use her feminine charm and guile to her advantage to seduce her enemies and increase the affections of her male companions. For example, a new "seduction" stat can be added that can be raised through experience as well as the use of sexy new items such as seductive makeup, slinky dresses, fish net stockings, yoga pants, and romantic lingerie. The higher your seduction stats the stronger your male companions will be since they'll be fighting harder to impress you and win your affection thus keeping the game balanced in the face of the player being in a non-combat role.
It could work well in the dialog too. Seductresses can have access to their own unique "seduction" dialogue. Like for example, in Dragon Age:Origins during the Landsmeet the female Warden can win the support of the Banorn by sleeping with it's members.
Another example would be during the Werewolf quest. When Zathrian refuses to break the curse if your persuasion is too low you can use seduction on him and say
"If you're nice to the werewolves then I'll be EXTRA nice to you...I promise."
If your seduction is high enough, it should work. In conclusion, I think gender is a powerful force and to have it belittled as little more than a cosmetic feature makes the whole thing seem trivial. Some of us would like to see how a woman could deal with a job atypical of most women but it should be written in a way which is plausible and has it's own set of boundaries which make such cirumstances believable.
Can't wait for Dragon Age III! Good luck to the Bioware staff!
This was handled well for the most part except in terms of gender. Predictably selecting a female does result in dialogue changes as well as opening up different romance possibilities, that's fine. However, one has to take a look at the role the Warden played in the events on Thedas to see how flawed Bioware's interpretation of the female warden was.
The numerous blights Thedas has suffered from have all been catastrophic, some so much so they've toppled empires and divided nations. Yet despite these insurmountable odds the people of Thedas prevailed thanks to the leadership of the Wardens who were not only strong but willing to place personal emotions aside for the greater purpose of stopping the blight as we saw when Duncan explained in the Mage origins story how blood mages have been useful.
Take special note of how I mentioned the traits of strength and emotion, two areas where women differ substantially from men. Addressing the former first, I work in the fitness industry and can tell you first hand from both experience and having studied human anatomy that human muscle fibers in women lack as many cross-sectional areas that men do. To better explain that that means that women's muscles on average lack as many contractile proteins called sarcomeres which help contribute to muscular strength. Working in the fitness I see the difference first hand in both trained and untrained female individuals. Let's assume for the sake of argument that the female Warden is equivalent to a trained female.
On the one RM bench press test(meaning what is the maximum weight a person can lift once), an average trained female individual weighing 150 lbs can usually lift anywhere between 85-115 lbs. The difference in lower body strength is not as pronounced but it is still very rare for a trained female to be able to properly squat more than 135 lbs or deadlift more than 150.(for Canadians reading this who use the metric system, remember the kilogram conversation calculation is to divide lbs by 2.2). What's intersting about these numbers is that they're roughly equivalent to the performance of an untrained or intermedietely trained male. With that said, would you guys want an untrained, out of shape male to be leading the fight against the most dangerous threat to the continent, a job that includes fighting dragons, and ogres? I know I wouldn't. So why would we want a female protecting us trained or otherwise? These statistics aren't mine, they come from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning from the NSCA, an organization I'm certified under I should add. There are other sports science details I could get into as well such as males having superior cardio-respiratory endurance, improved rates of recovery but I think I have made my point that males are physically superior to women for fighting the blight.
Now on to the second point, emotions. One could argue that my points would only apply to the rogue and warrior class since mages rely less on physical strength. Now I'm no psychologist but I am well versed in the lore of Dragon Age. It is stated frequently that the demons of the Fade feed off certain potentially negative emotions like pride, desire, sloth etc. Now it has been documented that emotions are driven in part by endocrinological changes in the body such as testosterone and estrogen. Testosterone is beneficial since it contributes to muscular strength and hypertrophy as well as increasing aggression which would help suppress fear in a tense battle. Estrogen on the other hand makes people fit to irrational emotional swings which can rollercoaster from extreme sadness one second, to extreme hostility(rage demon) the next. Women also have a higher body fat percentage(hunger demon), favor materialism(desire), tends to develop megalomaniacal feelings during their menstrual cycle(pride demon) and a large percentage of women also consider being a housewife a career(sloth demon).
So simply put, I don't think women would make good mages either.
Now, before you get the wrong idea let me emphatically state that I do NOT want a female option removed from customization. Rather I think that if we're to play as a woman we should have one as a class that plays to the strength of the female gender rather than it's weaknesses. Thus, I'm hearby suggesting a fourth class be added for females exclusively...
The seductress.
Rather than rely on traits the gender is lacking in the seductress can use her feminine charm and guile to her advantage to seduce her enemies and increase the affections of her male companions. For example, a new "seduction" stat can be added that can be raised through experience as well as the use of sexy new items such as seductive makeup, slinky dresses, fish net stockings, yoga pants, and romantic lingerie. The higher your seduction stats the stronger your male companions will be since they'll be fighting harder to impress you and win your affection thus keeping the game balanced in the face of the player being in a non-combat role.
It could work well in the dialog too. Seductresses can have access to their own unique "seduction" dialogue. Like for example, in Dragon Age:Origins during the Landsmeet the female Warden can win the support of the Banorn by sleeping with it's members.
Another example would be during the Werewolf quest. When Zathrian refuses to break the curse if your persuasion is too low you can use seduction on him and say
"If you're nice to the werewolves then I'll be EXTRA nice to you...I promise."
If your seduction is high enough, it should work. In conclusion, I think gender is a powerful force and to have it belittled as little more than a cosmetic feature makes the whole thing seem trivial. Some of us would like to see how a woman could deal with a job atypical of most women but it should be written in a way which is plausible and has it's own set of boundaries which make such cirumstances believable.
Can't wait for Dragon Age III! Good luck to the Bioware staff!
