Battlefield 1 won´t let you play as a woman during multiplayer sections - So, is it for good or bad?

DICE World War 1 FPS game "Battlefield 1" will not offer any playable female soldiers in the multiplayer mode of the game. And that has made people both upset and disappointed. So this is my (Robin Ek, TGG) and Kenay Peterson´s (TGG) take on the matter.

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

It's neither good nor bad. It's a game

[TGG_overlord]

Yes, I think that´s quite obvious for the most of us. However, to "some" people it´s a question about sexism and so on.

[Mighty Boom]

TGG I'm getting a whif of SJW on you.

[xfiles2099]

You people do know women did not fight in WW1 right This is my opinion is why we can not play as a woman Because they want to be accurate, Man there are morons every where bitching and moaning about the dumbest things.

[Kingthrash360]

What gamer who loves game gives two rat balls about what gender you play as in a faceless shooter?

[Glemt]

@Xfiles2099

Well, accurate? Really? They didn't have automatic weapons in WW1 (yeah, they're using a prototype excuse) and they sure as hell didn't have these chaotic plane/zeppelin battles over small villages every ten minutes. So fuck it : P

[Goldby]

@xfiles

Actually women served in the navy and air force in ww1.
Eugenie Mikhailovna Shakhovskaya was the first female pilot on recon assignment

[UltimateMaster]

Battlefield never let people play as a woman.
I don't see why not, there are a lot of girl gamers who would love to play as a girl.
Then again, if they do include women in the game, the feminazis will find something to complain about...

[KiwiViper85]

A game tried to force me to play as a Female protagonist once...

I've written emails to Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics with no response.

[Glemt]

If they go for realism, sure, leave women out. But now, it's time women just get more attention in such cases. It's not a matter of whether it's fair or not, it's a next step that is needed to become egalitarian.

[Omnisonne]

Why though? Is it that much of a deal to just play as a man with helmet?
I really think people should to be able to leave their race/gender preferences behind when playing a videogame. Though something tells me most gamers indeed do so, and it's PC journalists that often don't

[Mighty Boom]

I reject egalitarianism, root and branch.

[Glemt]

@ Omnisonne
Thanks for your civil reply : ) I completely agree with you on the race/gender preferences, but the fact of the matter is that in media, humans are not used to seeing women taking lead/realistic roles. While this might sound simple, it's actually a huge issue in a world where there are around the same number of women as there are men. It might not seem like it to men (of which I am one :D) but in general are badly represented, if represented at all. Sure, there are female characters in games, and sure, most of the gamers are men, but that doesn't mean we have to cater to gender stereotypes.
Honestly, if I get the choice to play as a male or female in a game, I most often go for male, so here I am not at all leaving my gender preference behind, because I don't flip a coin; I choose to play a male. So it's only logical that women would like to have the same option, and personally I can't see why people feel so threatened when women would like to have the option to play women in games. A lot of men resent the "forced political correctness", I guess, which I understand, but if you just take a breath, try to look at the situation as a whole, you see that this is something that needs to be done to give women (and men!) a more equal situation in society (like men getting the same, or at least more than now, days maternity leave).

There are very interesting studies when it comes to your own personal biases in these matters. Females in society is a very complex one, but you can also find interesting studies on our perceived importance of countries because of the way we portray them on a map (north on top, south on bottom).

[Omnisonne]

Im not sure.. If a certain audience is indeed equally divided regarding sexes im all for it, but I don't think that's the case with online shooters, or atleast hasn't been in my years of playing them.

So it does seem somewhat forced in that case, much like yanking at a beauty/makeup magazine for not including tips for male readers.

I'm not against it, just struggling to understand the flak gaming is getting for these issues

[rainslacker]

If one wants realism just think that it doesn't matter. A soldier in full combat dress is kind of hard to discern the gender of in a chaotic battlefield. Maybe not so much in WWI, although that would still be true, but nowadays, they wear so much body armor that unless you're looking at their face, you probably wouldn't be able to tell, and if you were close enough to tell, you'd probably be dead if they were on the opposing side.

I recall a lecture with some army guy I attended. He said your enemy has no gender or age. They are simply something you shoot, or you'll be shot. If one errs on the side of caution, or lets their own beliefs get between them and their trigger, they won't live very long in war.

@Omni

You bring up a good point about equal make up of the players. It's worth noting, that games that offer female avatar options, do tend to be played by more women than games that don't. I don't know if that's skewed due to the nature of those particular games though, as it seemed to be using MMO's as the basis for avatar creation, and most standard MP games, at least when the study was performed, offered female avatar options. MMO's tend to be a different form of game as well from FPS type games, as MMO's are more a social interaction, sometimes with less testosterone flying around the headsets.

I'm sure a more recent study exists somewhere. Might have to look into it if I don't forget after typing this message.

[BattleAxe]

I don't see any reason why we need to bring political correctness into the gaming world. Besides, these are private companies making games with their own creative direction/processes, and they have every right to make the game that they want to make. As a consumer, you can either choose to purchase a game or not to purchase a game based on your own preferences. Vote with your wallet!

If playing as a woman is something that you would prefer, you can play games such as Tomb Raider, Heavenly Sword, ReCore, Mirrors Edge, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Nier, HellBlade, Gravity Rush, Tales of Vesperia, Tales of Berseria, Assassins Creed: Liberation, Assassins Creed Chronicles: China, Until Dawn, The Legend of Korra, Alien Isolation, Bayonetta, Infamous: First Light, Child of Light, Contrast, Beyond Two Souls, Remember Me, LolliPop Chainsaw, Alice Madness, Metroid, WET, Fat Princess, Ms.Pac-Man, Dead or Alive, Portal, Perfect Dark Zero, Beyond Good and Evil, Medal of Honor Underground, and many many others, so many in fact, that this list doesn't scratch the surface.

Also, this doesn't even include games that give you the option of playing as a woman like Mass Effect, Call of Duty, Skyrim, Resident Evil 5, Left 4 Dead, Batman; Arkham City, Halo 5, Gears of War, Uncharted 2, 3, & 4, Rainbow Six Vegas 1&2, Overwatch, Street Fighter, Borderlands, Battleborn and so many others. This is just another instance of people trying to create a problem where there is none. I personally don't have any issues with playing as a woman, which is why I love the Tomb Raider series, and why I loved playing Heavenly Sword, and so many other games with women in them.

I do not however, believe that we need to inject political correctness into everything we do, otherwise creative freedom will become a thing of the past, and we will begin to live in a society where we will march along to a communist style drum beat.

[GrimmyReaper]

I also say it's not bad, but it is kinda stupid
I mean, how hard is it with technology today to allow us to be a female soldier?

Again, not a big issue but having the option would be nice

[Glemt]

I agree completely. Having the option wouldn't hurt anyone. And Dice/EA have already stated it has nothing to do with perceived realism, but it's all about target audience (which will never change like this.. =.=)

[joab777]

I started writing the same thing and saw your post. You are 100% right. If the gaming industry wants to be PC, and socially conscientious, it needs to be real. Mafia 3 is a great example, a protagonist that happens to be a minority because it tells an amazing story.

This would simply be shoving a round peg in a square hole, shouting "look at us!!". Look how much we care.

[Glemt]

The main thing in this game is warfare. Shooting. With guns. They allow themselves to change the guns to something that didn't even exist (as a general product) at the time. So they change a priority to suit a gameplay mechanic, but their doing so has no consequence whatsoever outside of the realm of the game itself (i.e. no one is affected by this in their personal, daily lives).

A secondary thing which is trivial for the game itself (choosing a male or female build for a character) isn't changed, but doing so could have a huge, positive impact on women in our society.

So no, it's not shoving a round peg in a square hole, it would be showing a round peg in a round hole. What's happening here is "Let's shove this round peg in a square hole, like we've been doing for years, and hope no one moans about it", because face it. Women in WW1 setting? Pros: could impact our society for the benefit of half the population of the world. Cons: would destroy realism. People crying about it? You bet. Automatic guns for general used in WW1 setting? Pros: better gameplay? Cons: destroys realism. People crying about it? None.

So please, don't tell me it would be done for "political correctness"; it would be done for correctness.

[sAVAge_bEaST]

Exactly, who cares? Who want's to see Females,. blown to bits?

[Enigma_2099]

@xfiles2099

You're going the historical accuracy route... in a game. Know what else wasn't in WWI? F*****' micro and macro transactions! But guess what?!?!?!

You don't want girls in your games, fine. But don't BS people. Be a man and admit it, Battlefield.

[Themba76]

who cares keep this sjw crap out of battlefield leave it on cod.

[TGG_overlord]

Actually, the post was mainly a response to SJWs who complained. As for COD, I haven´t played COD for years.

[annoyedgamer]

Same here, that says alot. Their attempt to pander, which is clear with the latest entry aint workin.

[Rimeskeem]

It's called historically accurate.

[TGG_overlord]

That would be the point that I was trying to get across...

[Rimeskeem]

I know, I am agreeing with you :)

[Mighty Boom]

If it was historically accurate there wouldn't be a black man on the cover of a WW1 game, and spare me whatever Wikipedia garbage to the contrary you might fish from the toilet.

[TGG_overlord]

There were black soldiers in WW1. However, they were a small minority in comparison to the other divisions and platoons. So EA only did that in-order to win some PC and SJW points.

[Majin-vegeta]

Maybe educate yourself you clueless clown.
http://youtu.be/I5hj5lg1TJQ

[Zer0Flinch]

There were black soldiers in WWI there were even black soldiers in the civil war *gasp*. But racism is ignorant. Also I don't see why the guy on the cover is necessarily black he looks lit blue with a crew cut, could go either way, he could be Native American for all we know.

I accidentally up voted you when trying to reply. :(

[Zombiesfeelpain]

Look up "Harlem Hellfighters" then come back to this post.

[SonyWarrior]

they probably sent the black people to rush the uphills first to make it safe for the real troops

[jony_dols]

American involvement, let alone African-American involvement, was relatively small in comparison to the casualties & financial input of the European war efforts. That's not belittling or racist, just the truth.

TBH, a Muslim Ottoman-Turk is more deserving of the front cover. They punched way above their weight in military terms.

[Mighty Boom]

To all this, I say so what. That doesn't make it historically accurate.

The contribution of blacks in WW1 is so minuscule as to be totally insignificant. A footnote. While it may be tangentially accurate to say blacks saw battle in some tiny role in what was a European civil war, it barley deserves mention, let alone the cover of a video game, outside a black studies course.

Dunderheads.

[Antifan]

Blacks having minimum involvement in the war was due to racial segregation. Many white soldiers were outspokenly against blacks on their platoons. Some politicians were against any kind of enrollment of blacks into the military in fear of a cout or betrayal. The current president didn't listen to their rhetoric and fear mongering. But by that time, the war was nearly over. Hell fighters got a few shoots in at the Germans, that matters.

I hate SJWs, but downplaying the importance of our soldiers of any color, just makes you look stupid.

[CorndogBurglar]

I don't need Wikipedia to know that black soldiers fought in WW1. They may not have been as prominent, but they were certainly there. So a black character on the cover of a WW1 game makes perfect sense.

Or do you not believe that black soldiers fought in WW1? Or are you just a racist?

[Mighty Boom]

Let's just feature one of Steve Job's interns as the face of Apple.

Anti: You have deep SJW tendencies you aren't aware of. Check your premises.

Corndog: Did it give you a full body orgasm to call me a rayciss?

[Glemt]

*cough* automatic weapons *cough*

Seriously though, go to any WW1 exhibition in Europe and you'll see nothing in Battlefield 1 gives you a good feel for world war one.

[Timesplitter14]

BF1 isn't historically accurate by any stretch of the imagination, though. It looks like a fantasy comic book WW1. Everything is faster, louder and cooler than it really was at that time, and made to appeal to the youngsters of today

[rainslacker]

It's trying to be a romanticized version of the battlefield. Many liberties were taken in the interest of more varied and interesting game play, which is probably a good thing, because a game that plays like a real battle in WWI would likely end with a mortar shell blowing up your squad, with maybe 3-4 people left over to rush the enemy, only to be shot. Plus, it would also mean the game would require platoons of hundreds of men to actually rush the front, 3/4 of which would probably die in the process, and wouldn't respawn...making it a terribly dull game.

If they hadn't said they were trying to be historically accurate, despite the game not being very accurate at all, and instead just told the truth that they didn't want to expend the resources on making a female avatar available, they probably would have gotten off without much trouble...except for the whining that they should expend the resources to make a female avatar, because as we all know....BF players have been clamoring for female avatars for a long time now, and it's lack of inclusion is hurting the games sales.

People think it's just adding in another character model, but it's really not. There's also the different animations, and while I'm not familiar with BF itself, I'd imagine there are ways to customize one's avatar to suit one's tastes, which means making all the facial generation aspects of it. The developer and publisher probably find that to be superfluous given that it's not really a highly requested feature, and for the most part, most people don't care either way. I'm sure they'd make the money back on the game even spending the 100-250K+ to make a female avatar available, but that's still 100-250K+ they don't have to spend to make money on the game....hence, it's just a business decision, not one borne from them being sexist, or them trying to be historically accurate.

Business truth does hurt some people's feelings though, which is why these companies keep dancing around with all these ridiculous PR comments which don't really hold up to any scrutiny. Some people just can't accept that they aren't important enough to be represented in a game where one's gender is rather meaningless.

[toutmanifik]

Who gives a f**k!! Your only going to see your gun while playing anyway. This modern age thinking is really starting to irritate the hell out of me. End rant/

[TGG_overlord]

True, but I guess that "some" people didn´t think (or care) about that.

[Glemt]

Yes, as yourself, but not others. You do see other, male, players in game.

[immabadguy]

How is that in any way a problem? That will just make the atmosphere feel much more real in game.

[TGG_overlord]

@Rimeskeem
Ah, and I´m glad to hear it ;)

[Lennoxb63]

But wait. Weren't women mainly medics and cooks during both World Wars?

[TGG_overlord]

That would be correct, as most of them had a military support role (non combat). However, there did indeed exist female soldiers on the battlefield (there existed some female combat pilots as well).

[Littil_Devil]

I´m pretty fed up with EA´s gender politics...

[TGG_overlord]

Well, to be fair. I think that´s what most of the Gaming community feels as well.

[annoyedgamer]

Me too, they did opt to keep it out of BF1 this time though, so I might go out and buy the game to support it.

[rainslacker]

EA is one of the more inclusive and progressive companies out there...as a company...and have won numerous awards for how they handle things of that nature.

However, they seem to do a lot of stupid things with it comes to their inclusiveness and progressive ideas in their games though. It's like they really don't understand the distinction between being representative with meaning, and just doing it for the sake of looking progressive. When a company tries to be progressive in it's entertainment works, it usually means they are doing it wrong. Things like that should be natural. Throwing in a gay character with there being no reason for him to be gay, and forcing story on that character which is neither interesting, or helps the character be compelling, isn't making a strong case to show that such things are worthwhile. Having that gay character be compelling, interesting, and worthwhile, while just also happening to be gay, is the more appropriate way to be inclusive, because it makes the character real, and not just some icon to pander with.

[Mighty Boom]

Good. Women shouldn't fight in battle. In meat world or in games.

What type of man or country would send their women into battle?

[TGG_overlord]

I don´t know if you´re serious or just trolling around. As females have been fighting on the battlefield since the dawn of time. Quite a few obviously, since it´s been done throughout our history. Nevertheless, that´s a question that each country (and their government) has to answer for themselves. On a personal level, I would much rather see that there existed no wars at all. However, that´s just wishful thinking on my behalf.

[annoyedgamer]

Suspend the draft and find that no men would show up to fight the war. Its more likely they will bring their legally bought guns and shoot the men trying to start the war. What an ideal society that would be.

That being said, yes women were in the military, but not on the front lines. Military tactics are only as strong as the weakest link..and women will be the weak link. This isnt about being fair, its about being realistic.

[Mighty Boom]

TGG, that imply a trolling attempt on my behalf is all the evidence I need to understand your character. You strain for objectivity, trying hopelessly not to offend anyone. This is the mark of the weak, a lover of deception and lie. You forever live in a gray area where it's safe where you never have to muster the courage to take a stand on anything unless you know it's safe to do so.

Shame on you.

[lipton101]

It's bad! Equal pay for equal work, VOTE FOR HILLARY IM A PC MALE FEMINAZI

[TGG_overlord]

@Mighty Boom
Then you must be both blind and deaf. As I´m the right opposite to the SJW hive mentality.

[Majin-vegeta]

Who cares if these crybabies wanna play as women then they csn go out and purchase COD that will let them live their fantasy world.

[mochachino]

Lol @ Battlefield being realistic.

I for one would welcome being in a squad of killer nurses.

[Sam Fisher]

It makes sense, at this time period.... Whats the big deal. The next modern or future one they make they have to put them in

[immabadguy]

No, they don't have to put them in. Bf3 is set in 2015, and Bf4 is set in 2025, and neither games feature females in multiplayer. This is not a problem, but simply a design choice to create a more realistic atmosphere.

[the_mack_attack3]

It's neither good nor bad, it's accurate

[Glemt]

You can't pretend it's because of historical accuracy and then not care about them using automatic weapons.

[Aenea]

Yup, many people here hide their real reasons for not wanting female soldier in BF1 behind the realism facade. And if they really believe that is their real reason they should wonder why it's okay to have other unrealistic things in the game, but not this...

[the_mack_attack3]

That's for the benefit of the player to enhance the experience. Unless looking at boobs makes Battlefield better?

[BigKev45]

Who cares?

[Twinblade]

Did they even had women soldiers in ww1?

[Omnisonne]

A handful according to some.. though that must be less than 5% of total combatants, if that.

[rainslacker]

The US didn't. I think Russia had a squad of female soldiers, and maybe some other countries. They were exceedingly rare, and AFAIK, they weren't infantry like we commonly see represented in WWI battles in other forms of media.

[escott013]

What the literal f*** do people expect?? Women were NOT combatants in World War One.

[Goldby]

Women of WW1 were normally in non combative positions, nurses and such,m but some were also in the navy and air force

[REDDURT]

No one cares but the overarching media

[SirBradders]

To satisfy the feminists just have a side mission with the woman making munitions and equipment in factories.

You see guys I mean girls that's why I get the big bucks now start that petition.

[Exoil]

I can see the articles if playable women were in the game..

"Battlefield 1 forces you to kill women"
"DICE hates women, here's why"

[cash_longfellow]

Stop! Please for the love of God...trash like this is why the Human race is doomed.

[madpuppy]

This is so stupid, If there was a concerted effort not to have Female characters in games because of some "fantasy misogynist agenda" there might be a point to all this, but, there are female characters in plenty of games.
This reminds me of when Resident Evil 5 came out and "Special interest groups" got all upset because most of the zombies were black...in Africa. Capcom buckled under the pressure and changed the population of Africa to mostly white and Mexican Zombies. (obviously taking assets from the older Resident Evil that took place in Mexico.) Apparently non-existent killer black zombies have more value than non-existent killer white and mexican zombies in the eyes of this particular special interest group.

Like I said before, All these groups believe in complete freedom to do and say what they want But! are the first in line to ban and censor everyone else's freedom to do the same.

[rainslacker]

LOL. I remember the RE5 thing. I thought it defied all logic that people were upset about it, and at least the reasons for it(based in Africa) were enough to believe that the design was based on what would likely be the case for where it was set. I could only shake my head when they changed it. It's not like they were making black people out to be evil...nor was the player supposed to take some thrill out of killing black people. They were making zombies out to be evil, and the player was supposed to take some thrill out of killing hordes of zombies.

Wish creative people could remain creative. I mean, I know considering inclusion in some form isn't really a bad thing on the part of the creative mind, but at the same time, it gets to be a pain in the ass trying to create and trying to make sure you don't offend anyone....despite whatever being done was likely not done to be offensive, nor should it even be seen as offensive by any rational person.

I'm going to instantly love the dev which actually does just say, "That's the way I made it because I felt it was right. If you don't like it, then that's your problem, but my intention wasn't to upset you(maybe with reasons why he felt it to be right). Now, kindly F*K off". or something to that effect.

[domford1981]

I don't even think feminism knows if it's good or bad but I'm sure they'll have something to say about it either way

[Glemt]

Of course it does. Feminism strives for women and men to have equality, so they would call themselves good. To be honest, I think any sane, learned person would call feminists good.
If you don't agree with feminism because you fall in the trap of seeing only extremists as feminists, sure, but that would be the same as thinking all gays are flamboyant, all soldiers are idiots, all Muslims are terrorists or the like. Ignorance never helped anyone.

[domford1981]

Oh dear

[rainslacker]

My fiancee is a feminist. A real one that actually works for real women's equality. She's a lawyer, and works cases that involve discrimination or domestic abuse.

Even she can't see real feminism anymore in places it matters among the masses. All the real feminism is drowned out by these extremists who seek superiority over equality. Real feminists, which I actually have had the pleasure to have some interesting conversations with due to my relationship with my fiancee, can't stand these self-righteous ego-driven women who seek to be victims instead of fighting for things that will actually make a different to real women's lives. The real feminists I've met do not strike down dissenting opinions, nor run away when faced with confrontation, nor seek out support from the masses through melodramatic contrivances. They stand up for themselves, and can directly answer any question or criticism which can be lobbed at them, either from someone simply inquisitive or misinformed, or from someone with intentions of malice. The one's I've met don't get angry when faced with questions or criticism, nor do they automatically start to cry misogyny and oppression when confronted. They all, almost without fail, will calmly and with great intelligence explain to the person questioning or criticizing their own side of the argument, and more often than the extremist, that argument will actually make sense and not be filled with meaningless hyperbole.

These extremists have warped the view of feminism in the media so much, that it's hard to take feminism seriously, and because of that, it makes those women out there that bust their ass every day for little to no pay have to work all the harder to achieve something, because they get lumped into the SJW internet do-gooder brand of feminism which lost track of reality a long time ago. This isn't even a gaming issue with Sarkeesian and her ilk, but a real issue that is causing a set back of feminism, making women into victims, not empowered equals.

I would call good feminists, that know the right things to fight for good. And any intelligent person, sane or not, would look at whether or not a self proclaimed, or outside titled feminists is actually effective in their stance of bringing equality between the genders, or simply using feminism as a springboard to gain attention or serve their own desires.

No sane, or intelligent person, should agree or disagree with anything across the board, no matter how it's labeled, just because it means other people will think they're ignorant or biggotted. Within any movement, there are going to be things that people can get behind, and things they will not agree with at all. Some of their reasoning may be bigotted or ignorant, but at least they aren't following blindly, and instead using their own experience and knowledge to form an opinion. For instance, I'm all for equal rights for black people and equal opportunity employment laws, but I am 100% against affirmative action. That's how a sane and intelligent person thinks.

That is the mark of an intelligent person. not just following something because it's supposed to be good, and others say it's good. It has nothing to do with sanity, just one's personal beliefs on if what we're supposed to agree with as good is actually good or the proper way things need to be done....and I can say that the extremist really are not the proper way to get things done, because all they're doing is setting feminism back by putting the male gender on the defensive, and making women into less than they were before the 60's, all while claiming they are somehow empowering women to take the oppressive abuse they say exist, and that these same extremists are these same victimized women only recourse for breaking free of that oppression.

[Sinexx]

To be fair women were not out battling on the front lines. They were mostly used in medical roles, I believe, just another thing for people to try and complain about.

[Glemt]

Neither were automatic weapons, but no one seems to care about that. So why is having women in the game such a huge deal?

[immabadguy]

Are you seriously comparing automatic weapons and women in the battlefield? There's a serious difference there in terms of realism.

[wraith4912]

Let there be females in MP but force matchmaking for them to 1 female per team and they are a medic class that heal/buff perk revive. A new twist on a worn out genre and respect for their contribution to the war effort. Problem solved. Maybe they can make sammich's too.

[Aenea]

Game developers should include what they think is best for their game.

I don't like it when a small group is trying to influence game developers with rather innocent decisions like these.

However, as per a previous article, DICE wanted to include women soldiers in MP but because a small group of male gamers didn't like the idea for whatever reason DICE decided against it.

This is something I don't like, if DICE wanted to include them, they should have done so and not let themselves be influenced by anyone.

[rainslacker]

Do you have a link to that article?

If that's the case, then I find that equally stupid on the other side for things to complain about.

It's getting rather annoying that so many devs nowadays are trying to pander to small groups of people on the internet who raise the most fuss about something. I knew long before I got into game development that you can't please everyone, and that in any creative medium meant for consumption, you were going to get criticism that was not worth listening to, and didn't represent what most people thought.

i can't believe that DICE really believed that this small group of male players somehow represented the a significant enough portion of their fan base, or potential customers, that they would decide against including something so trivial as a gender selection. It really makes no sense, because all common sense, and any actual study of consumer groups, would dictate that the vast majority of people don't give a sh*t. EA at one point even said that the vocal minority is far from representative of the majority view, and that more often than not they aren't worth listening to because no matter what you decide, you're always going to have a vocal minority speak up.[paraphrased of course].

I was more under the impression...or assumption, that they just didn't want to expend the resources on the feature for the same reason that most people don't really care.

[Aenea]

https://www.vg247.com/2016/...

http://www.pcgamesn.com/bat...

Those articles seem to use the same Tweets as this current one though and it's from an ex-coder so you can wonder how accurate it is...

[rainslacker]

Kind of find those tweets questionable, not because it's from a former employee, but because of the way she says the original pitch was supposed to be. That has to be the stupidest pitch for a game I've ever heard, even if it was paraphrased in some way. Why would adding in female soldiers be such a big deal for a BF1 pitch? It really wouldn't, unless you were actually trying to get funding from some feminist or hellbent SJW investor.

EA, while oddly overdoing their inclusion stuff, isn't so dumb to fall for something so trivial in a game pitch.

I wouldn't be going to a game pitch presentation with EA and saying something along the lines of "It's like GTA, but with a female lead." The gender of the main character is pretty irrelevant for the most part, although it can be part of the overall game design if the company inquires further on a decent sales pitch. At best I can see the people from EA asking...."why female"....and that's never good, because it means they care more about that, than the actual game itself, and likely aren't going to fund it.

[AlbinoBob]

It's an fps so it really doesn't matter who you're playing as.

[Aenea]

And now for some of the remarks here about historical accuracy.

Women fought in WW1, not many, but some did (and no not just medical), it's the same deal basically as African Americans or Americans in general, they were there too. Then the weapons and vehicles, those aren't exactly historically accurate in the amount they are being used in this game.

Therefor to say that women shouldn't be included due to accuracy is a rather bogus reason to exclude them when there are many other historical inaccuracies.

It's okay if you don't want it but don't hide behind historical accuracy!

[Aenea]

Ok, anyone care to explain why they disagree with this?

-----
LOL, apparently not, they just disagree with this post too!

[WellyUK]

why is this suddenly a problem...

[EjWarrior]

next one is gonna be you cant play as a Homosexual on BF1, pleas stoped only men where fighting in WW1

[Antboy2cold]

Its WW1 like who is surprised???

[Goldby]

maybe the family of Hélène Dutrieu who was a military pilot, or the relatives of Princess Eugenie M. Shakovskaya who was recon

[immabadguy]

Erm, how about the families of the men that died, who made up over 99% of fatalities in the war? I'm sure they're incredibly suprised as well.

[2pacalypsenow]

who cares

[senorfartcushion]

For bad

You actually play as a woman in the story mode.

[bednet]

Screw realism, add women, I don't care. It won't be realistic anyways, unless the game is all about waiting for weeks for the assault, running out of the trench like an idiot hoping to not get shot and blindly firing on anything that remotely resembles a human...in the hope of gaining a few feet. That is if the Spanish flu didn't get you first.

[Goldby]

WW1 wasn't just trench runs... learn some history man

[FunkyBoy]

Alot of women didn't fight in WW1 soo..
I often see that the people that complain don't even buy the game anyway so fuck off SJWs

[showtimefolks]

It's who the heck cares

Dealwithit

Not every game needs females as characters

[Cussing]

Who cares? And if you do perhaps you should get a life.

[Greyfoxdbz]

It's a first person perspective game. the gender of a character has zero relevance in multiplayer. jeez

[NeverEver]

At this point with how much actual history EA/DICE are ignoring from WWI why not just allow women to be playable? Hell the entire French army is excluded from the game.

[Trekster_Gamer]

Stupid argument keeps coming up...

[ReLLiK]

So is it better if they put a woman (women) in the game because they felt like they had to? This shit is getting so old.

There doesn't always have to be a thing. Like just because there aren't playable women characters doesn't mean they're sexist. Just because watchdogs 2 has a black protagonist doesn't mean they're racist. People just need to stop with this petty bullshit and just play fucking games. They are the ones who need to look in the mirror because they're the ones perpetuating this shit.

[StormLegend]

Almost every game has someone complaning about why we can't pick a female character. It gets really annoying and they should play what the Developers created. If it wasn't meant to be any females, then don't expect any.

[immabadguy]

Jesus christ, you know feminism is growing when there's more complaining about women in a ww1 game in 2016 then there was for bf4 in 2014.

[ITPython]

I wonder how long until we see a news article about how a gay person from the LBGTQTYUIXPL community will be sueing a publisher/developer for "discrimination" by not having playable gay characters in all their games?

I say within the year. And it will likely be aimed at one of the big yearly release type games (COD/Assassins Creed).

[47]

It's neither good nor bad. It's perfectly acceptable. It's WW1. Women weren't fighting on the frontlines regardless of how bad current SJWs wish they were.

[Silly gameAr]

I know one thing for certain. It's not a big deal.

[icerob]

women should only be in cooking games.

[DaigotheKing]

Why does it matter? Literally what would it change in a mp game where you appearance is entirely irrelevant, you dont even see your character. You play as a female in the campaign in a pretty big battle, something that actually has story significance.

If we're talking about a SP game with a character you see with opinions and beliefs and what have you then people might have a point here, but thats not what we're talking about. This is a shooter where you mow down droves of people with no thought as to their sex or appearance.

It literally does not matter in this game.

[jc12]

who cares?

[AwesomeKiddo]

Women weren't in WWI

[ScorpiusX]

Am okay with their decision , besides they must have their reasons .

[DialgaMarine]

Look up in any historical reference of World War 1, and tell me exactly how many women served in combat within any country's military... Seriously, there were barely even any blacks serving in that war. People need to give this politically correct crap a rest; its really just pathetic and stupid at this point.

[DarthZoolu]

It's neither.

[NecoTehSergal]

No one should care. Forced-diversity isn't diversity, just shoehorning faux-'equality' for the sake of quelling as many whining cucks as possible isn't healthy.

[Ristul]

Wait, so feminists WANT women inserted in WW1 so we can blow them to bits, in an environtment they should not even be in historically. Am I the only one who see the irony in this? I mean, just imagine the headlines: "Male developers promote violence against women by making them fight in WW1."

[NickAwesome]

Of course you can't play as a woman, it's freaking world war 1, are you insane?

[PaleMoonDeath]

There wasn't any female soldiers during WW1 I believe.

SJW's will wanna change history, burn em' all.

[coreyweb]

It's good.