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[Keebbles]

While playing BvS I noticed a flash animation out of the corner of my eye that kept making me wince reflexively for some reason.

I pan the screen over and I see it's a FPS shooter game and they have a female sniper/girl gamer playing and the crosshairs slide over the target, down the body to the crotch and BOOM. Crit Hit and animation and shame...virtual pain...
No male player who's experienced life and its foibles outside of the basement or gaming room can help but wince.
Then the screen flashes to a woman w/headset on rubbing it in and in another of the same add (longer) she has her GF's plaing with her and there are men down all over clutching their groins.

  XXXXX Game...NOW WITH CROTCH SHOTS!   -   that's their hook, that's our virtual pain.

  So is a .50 cal shot to the junk gonna hook more women into playing this FPS shooter or not? Or is it just gonna make more juvies try for crotch shots so they can crow on ventrillo and laugh at each other? 

 Thoughts? (and yes I left the name of the game out on purpose-threads about the add mostly nad(oh freudian typo?) AND  psychology of advertising. Who does this game attract and what would be a better hook to get more women into FPS games?

[Dimmukane]

Probably not.  Violence against males committed by women is not going to do shit to attract a female crowd.  Sure, there'll be a few psycho-feminists or grrrl gamers that get a kick out of it, but by and large women do not care much about violence in video games.  I'm betting this game had the spy in a tight black suit or something similar?  It'll attract all the dudes who play female toons in WoW, that's for sure.  If you're gonna try and get women into FPSes, then the shooting part probably shouldn't be the hook.  Characters that the player can get attached to (something that is almost NEVER seen in an FPS) or worlds that the player has an effect on other than destruction is a better bet, but if the primary mode of gameplay revolves around guns and killing the other guy it is probably not going to get many women interested in playing. 

[MrBridge]

Probably not.  Violence against males committed by women is not going to do shit to attract a female crowd.  Sure, there'll be a few psycho-feminists or grrrl gamers that get a kick out of it, but by and large women do not care much about violence in video games.  I'm betting this game had the spy in a tight black suit or something similar?  It'll attract all the dudes who play female toons in WoW, that's for sure.  If you're gonna try and get women into FPSes, then the shooting part probably shouldn't be the hook.  Characters that the player can get attached to (something that is almost NEVER seen in an FPS) or worlds that the player has an effect on other than destruction is a better bet, but if the primary mode of gameplay revolves around guns and killing the other guy it is probably not going to get many women interested in playing. 

Doc-tor...Freeeman....I realise this moment might not be the best..for a heart to heart....

was a crow..bar coming at them down a steel corridor

[JD]

The game you are talking about is Combat Arms. I've played it, got bored pretty quickly. This nut shot thing is a gimmick, plain and simple. It would only entertain preteens, at most.

[Dimmukane]

Gordon Freeman?  Are you kidding me?  He's a lifeless shell who doesn't say anything and only exists as a narrative device.  You're supposed to get attached to Alyx Vance and the idea that you are the only person who can change things.  Anyways, the point was that it's extremely rare for shooters to have characters that players get attached to.  You can probably count them on one hand. 

[Melodic]

You're not supposed to get attached to a first-person character, as this perspective forces the player to act as the protagonist, instead of merely controlling him. Whatever hero you're playing as is simply a shell with which you fill up.

[LTK]

I don't know about you, but I was unable to take the evil path in Fallout 3 because of my sense of morality, which is rarely active with me in a video game. I thought that was quite an accomplishment. But yeah, most conventional games don't often have an overly sympathetic character. The Half-Life series is absolutely great, but Gordon Freeman as a person is really a nobody. And even some of the unconventional games, those that do have semi-developed player-protagonists, still don't make you sympathetic for them. Example: Zeno Clash.

[SirJuggles]

To be fair, I play the game in question fairly regularly. From my understanding, the nut-shot thing was added in with the April patch as an "April-fool's joke" of sorts. I am praying for the day it gets removed, because it's a terrible gameplay mechanic.

[MrBridge]

Gordon Freeman?  Are you kidding me?  He's a lifeless shell who doesn't say anything and only exists as a narrative device.  You're supposed to get attached to Alyx Vance and the idea that you are the only person who can change things.  Anyways, the point was that it's extremely rare for shooters to have characters that players get attached to.  You can probably count them on one hand. 

Yet there are a plethora of interpretations and fan-based creations out there, such as Freeman's Mind.  So while your statement is somewhat true, the fact that Freeman is 'just a shell' engenders more attachment.

[Melodic]

Freeman is a powerful character not because of his actions but because his actions are a projection of the player; when this dynamic is altered or removed (forced actions that the player isn't responsible for or doesn't agree with), the player loses this tangible relationship with the character and becomes more obviously static as a developing persona.

Video games in particular have an easier time with making characters the viewer can relate to simply because, by the very nature of the media, the viewer is responsible for a large part of what occurs. Movies and books do not have this luxury, and so must create dynamic characters that can connect with the viewer emotionally without this crux.

[satsugaikaze]

My friend is nuts about Combat Arms and loves to talk about getting crotch-shots. Apparently they one-hit-kill and when you fire a rocket into the crotch the entire thing just disappears and doesn't blow up the player like it usually does.

Yeah it's pretty juvenile

[Blyss]

Seen it - promptly ignored it.

[DonInKansas]

Combat Arms was fun when it first came out.  Now that the hackers nearly outnumber the straight up players, it's fairly worthless.

[SirJuggles]

I don't know, I've found that finding a room with a good Elite Moderator can do wonders to bring down the hacker infestation.