New user Campaign - Heiress to the Throne

[turin]

[rant] stuff [/rant]

Catholic ahoy.

Heh. True.

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WINR, but shouldn't Wesnoth reflect reality when there is no reason not to have it reflect reality?

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BTW, I'm going to try not to turn this into a flamewar. But if other people want one... *shrug*

[Dave]

WINR, but shouldn't Wesnoth reflect reality when there is no reason not to have it reflect reality?

Sure, but in this case there is a reason to have it not reflect reality. Different/more interesting storylines can be written with a mix of male and female characters. People like having female characters (clearly evidenced). In particular, female players of the game like having female characters.

I can understand that these may not be compelling reasons for you, but they are compelling reasons for many people. Including me -- among other things, I enjoy an occasional game of Wesnoth with my wife, and she liks being a female character.

David

[irrevenant]

WINR, but shouldn't Wesnoth reflect reality when there is no reason not to have it reflect reality?

Good answer from Dave.

In addition to that, like I answered last time; Wesnoth is a fantasy setting. What's realistic in that fantasy world is determined by how that fantasy world is constructed. And how that world is constructed is the choice of the developers.

For example, Mediaeval Europe was dominated by a religion with low regard for women. If Wesnoth did not share that religion, then its attitude towards women could easily be quite different.

[Dave]

Mediaeval Europe

I would just like to comment that personally, it was never my intent for Wesnoth to resemble Medieval Europe. Rather, like Lord of the Rings, it was meant to be a society with a pre-renaissance technology level, and varying customs and culture.

Of course, most cultures historically have used far more men in the military than women. However, as stated, we have a strong preference for things that are desired by our players than any kind of 'realism'.

I think we also take a rather balanced approach at the moment -- we do recognize men and women are different in the game, and so some units are never female, and some are never male. In particular, strong melee units are usually not female.

David

[Jetrel]

In campaigns which feature a major female character who joins up with a male character; it's nice to have levels where said female character has to act with complete autonomy - with the male character not even present.

A mark of good writing would be if, in HttT, it was unclear who amongst Konrad, Li'sar, Kalenz, and Delfador, was the main character. If they were all equally central, and all equally spotlighted.


If you take, say, Romeo and Juliet; which of those two is the main character? Vis a vis for "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Is Puck the main character? Not ... really. No one is.

[Zhukov]

'Spreading the spotlight' would, I suspect, be made harder by the fact that the game requires that one character/unit has to be labelled as leader.

Although that could be worked around. Perhaps having the main characters split up, with the game following each through a seperate (though related) story arc.

Or, perhaps a campaign where, when the protagonists are together, the player controls them as two (or more) different sides in each scenario! Each could have their own recruit/recall lists and so on.
In fact, is that actually possible? If so, it's something I would like to use if I ever (...hahaha...) make a campaign.

[Taurus]

Or, perhaps a campaign where, when the protagonists are together, the player controls them as two (or more) different sides in each scenario! Each could have their own recruit/recall lists and so on.
In fact, is that actually possible? If so, it's something I would like to use if I ever (...hahaha...) make a campaign.

It is possible - and in fact, it happens in the later scenarios of Northern Rebirth - assuming of course you don't piss off the Princess early on.