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chauvinism?

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DeletedUser2029

I'm not sure if this was ever addressed and I apologise if I'm posting in the wrong section, but...

This game doesn't require of players to reveal their gender (or any other personal information) but it gives us that opportunity and in some cases that gets a bit confusing

Screenshot.jpg

some might say that I'm only whining because I got beat up by a girl, but from the evidence I submitted it's not that obvious...
 

DeletedUser3157

This is kinda funny(or not, idk) since when I joined, first obvious thing I did was choose the avatar with the hottest chick picture. I mean what else was I supposed to do, take some ugly old man? Yeah right. Anyways little later I learned that some ppl actually think those avatars are gender based and thought I was a girl. Intially this didn't even cross my mind that people could think so, but after seeing some people do, I thought about a few minutes and decided fair enough: girls in MMPORG nerd world are rather rare and usually get more "speicial" treatement. So perhaps more polish/less plunders on me I figured if they think I'm a chick. After having done my strategic decision to keep the hot chick avatar, I managed to completely forgot about it for months until 2 days ago, when I was msged with an offer to create an "all female guild". Perhaps I should do it?

Edit: Although this might explain why at times some of my guildmates(those who prolly haven't talked with me much) address me as the "boss lady". I should really pay more attenstion to such details.
 
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Surge

Brigadier-General
Common misconception of the "superior gender." As this is a forum, and on a game discussion thread, I will hold off my entire argument about this, but what I will say is that every person is equal, male or female. If they enter a game suited to city construction and a pinch of PvP, that is their decision and are subject to community interaction and conflicts. If the females get all the benefits of "full polish, no plunder," this creates a myriad of conflicts that I classify as advantageous over others. Sure, they are female, but it literally has no difference when they join an entire community of people that are playing by the rules. This idea would be very concerning in a game like Tribal Wars: leave a girl/woman to build up an empire, never attack her because it's a SHE. If anyone says otherwise, it's basically saying that "A physically capable male should be left unplundered over a young individual, because otherwise, that man will visit your house and put you in your place." Same gender, different capabilities. Although I do say you can't simply go to someone's house... hehehe...

Hint, I do understand what you written. Don't take the entire paragraph onto yourself.

As for the topic, yes this is male chauvinism, which is the idea of male superiority. I do agree with Bloodwyn to slightly modify that little line.

I don't want to get deeper in this topic. This would veer the topic to the wilderness a mile away from the road, and it wouldn't make sense debating about chauvinism on a game forum. Best leave this argument contained before someone unlocks the cages.
 

DeletedUser276

When the game was introduced they were looking at naming genders and having you select when you created your account. Upon further reflection that would lead to some pretty inappropriate messages floating around. 'he' is a generic term mostly used on games nowadays. You cant have a she without a he as thats 2/3's of a she.

Basically to make a gender base as well would require to double the code or to comb through thousands of lines of text to find where to make things good. They gave it up..... its tons of work for little reward. Though if your seriously insulted by the term he on a game base then 99% of games out there really arnt for you.
 

DeletedUser

Just out of sheer curiousity: Why make a game gender specific in the first place? o_O

When I reply here in the forums I try hard not to use the word "you" unless I'm actually addressing someone specific. I like to use the word "one" for addressing, well... "everyone" :p, as it's more "indirect". Guess that's what happens when one speaks a language where one has to differ between the direct "you" and some other "formal subject"... :rolleyes:

Must be some weird coincidence that Innogames derives from a country where such a language is spoken... (Or should I say that exact language I was referring to. :D)
So why can't they just keep things "formal" and "indirect" from the beginning / non gender specific...?

Cheers,
Bloodwyn
 

DeletedUser4089

If you look at most games, they have a male lead character (except the lovely Lara of course). It's difficult to give a choice for which you are and include it in the games, so games company go with 'he'. It's very simple and very common thing to do.

I think it's reading much to far into it to say it's chauvinistic though, I'd go with the term 'Simplistic'

While it may not be too hard to change things to gender-neutral in English, I'm not sure how easy it is to have that translated through all the language servers through all of the code.
 

DeletedUser2029

While it may not be too hard to change things to gender-neutral in English, I'm not sure how easy it is to have that translated through all the language servers through all of the code.

this just makes me sad.

the sentence Bloodwyn suggested can be translated in basically any language on this planet to sound gender-neutral. and this is the only sentence in the game where the issue of gender pops up.

so sad...
 

DeletedUser4089

My issue was nothing to do about what is possible in different languages, but the time and effort to do this for 20 or so different languages and finding every place in the code where the changes would be needed. Please think carefully about the big picture before trying to criticise my posts. There are much more pressing matters than making the game gender-neutral.
 

DeletedUser2029

My issue was nothing to do about what is possible in different languages, but the time and effort to do this for 20 or so different languages and finding every place in the code where the changes would be needed. Please think carefully about the big picture before trying to criticise my posts. There are much more pressing matters than making the game gender-neutral.

I'm sorry, but did the things change? Are the moderators now somehow privileged to access the source code of this game or is that just you?
My very limited (virtually non-existent to be honest) knowledge of coding tells me that only one sentence needs to be changed, and it's not even a function, just plain text. Or are there some more gender-related stink-bombs no one has stumbled upon yet?
 

DeletedUser

tthe sentence Bloodwyn suggested can be translated in basically any language on this planet to sound gender-neutral.

No, it can't. Now, I'm not a linguist, but I know that it can't be translated into Arabic while keeping its gender neutrality, because "you" (and its derivatives, such as "your") in Arabic (and, I guess, in other Semitic languages as well as in some others) is NOT gender neutral.

That said, the wording has already been changed in English and we will try to fix it in the other language versins as well.

Regards,

Anwar
 

DeletedUser

Or are there some more gender-related stink-bombs no one has stumbled upon yet?

How should we know, seeing as "no one has stumbled upon them yet"? However, should you stumble upon them, please do report.

Regarding allegations of chauvinism: That particular sentence was written by a programmer. Please realize that programmers are:
- Not trained text writers
- Generally not known to be particularly sensitive to such issues
- Generally work in a 90%+ male work environment.

I really don't see the need to get all angry about such a small (and easily fixed) oversight.

Thanks for your attention,

Anwar
 

DeletedUser2029

The wording has already been changed in English and we will try to fix it in the other language versions as well.

Glad to hear it.

As for the wording of the title, my intention was to provoke a reaction, a bit "rough around the edges" method, hence the question mark at the end.
If I wanted to insult and/ or accuse I would have put three exclamations.
So, no hard feelings... and as a bonus, I'll spare you the grammar lesson
 
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DeletedUser

It doesn't require changing much into a simple english line:

.... attacked your city and unfortunately was able to breach your defences

Now this doesn't imply gender one way or the other, as only the users interpretation will decide.
 

DeletedUser276

mountain meet mole hill.... mole hill meet mountain.

This has been blown a little harder than really is needed. Anwar has corrected the English for this. The other admins have the same access. I would have changed it however I am under and so are the other admins a cease fire on the language for the next week or two as we have translations that are happening now for whats upcoming. Please try to have a little patience and understanding and realize that the world does not rise nor fall on a single mistake. Now can we hold hands and sing kumbaya for a few rounds :)
 

Maladicta

Private
It is chauvinism because it implies that the human playing the game is by default male and being female is considered as an anomaly.
It's annoying and I hope it'll change one day, but it's really not worth worrying about.
 

DeletedUser7719

This is pretty funny seeing how many post we need just to say change "he" to "your" :p
 
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