MMOs have the biggest influence in games. In the real world, genders are being removed to where both female and male are one. Some schools even have laws to where you can't even say anything with the word "man" and this is great for the evolution of the "people" (which is what the law has changed the "human" race to).
A good example of frivolous "genders" is in GW2. Why is the plant race (Sylvari) able to be a female or male? Why did they even make that an option? They should neither be female or male since they are a plant. They should be asexual, anything else is just holding back the evolution of people and society. And even "humans" in MMOs and games in general should just be renamed as "people", like schools want students to say instead of "human". That is part of the evolution of people, and progress of society.
I think MMO devs can pave the way for not just gaming but people in general, and do away with females and males and just have one gender for every race or/and class. This also would solve lots of issues, like less money spent on designing armor for both male/female, no one would complain about gender locked classes (which complaining about that is very sexist)
In the future, these archaic terms and definitions will be completely gone from gaming AND people, to where everyone is neither male or female. MMOs can start doing this now, to prepare for the future of people.
What is everyone elses thoughts? Should MMOs be more progressive and be a part of change of society?
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
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One of the biggest colleges and prestiges colleges in the world banned the word "man", many schools and then countries will follow the same path. MMOs should catch on early, instead of late
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=the word man banned at princeton
You can see the story isn't fake, its legit. Princeton progressed society by banning any word with the man in it. Why shouldn't MMOs do the same?
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
- Albert Einstein
Just because it's a change doesn't mean it's a good or healthy change.
You were doing pretty well up until there though
There have also been other MMOs that have changed the industry in their respective game-types...like Leagues of Legends while didn't invent MOBAS, they DID open up a HUGE genre of MOBA style games with tens of millions of players.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
No where has the human race been legally changed to the "people' race. Again, because stupid.
Look genders exist for a reason, and while I am all about equality, males can't have babies, and females can't produce sperm. And if you think plants don't have male and female genitalia, I suggest you take BIO class and learn a few things. Spoiler, they can.
Look games are just that games, they generally are not designed to mimic society, nor should they be. Games should be a diversion from our every day life, and lead to relaxation. They should never be designed to change the world. If you doubt me, just go play a survival game for about ten minutes. After you have been murdered in many imaginative ways come back and tell me you want those types of people deciding societies road map.
Over all your post feels like a knee jerk reaction and not well thought out. You did absolutely no research and most of your idea's are not plausible nor desirable.
On a more personal note, people just need to get the f@$% over it. There are genders for a reason, celebrate that and our differences, respect one another and get on down the road.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
Sounds false to me, but did they also get rid of the words, "Woman" and "Child" or "Boy", and "Girl"
this is stupid. Seriously How many times has "Society" been right? Just because a school wants to remove the word "Man" does not mean suddenly you live in a Androgynous world.
You are 100% wrong here. Plants can in fact be female. Google plant reproductive morphology.
MMOs getting rid of Females and Males isn't progressive. Its regressive and silly.
"The Society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
Currently: Games Audio Engineer, you didn't hear what I heard, you heard what I wanted you to hear.
Let's ban all gender distinctions. No separate cloakrooms, no separate fashions, we could even ban sex and just reproduce in vitro !
When you deny the existence of something that undeniably exists, it leads to all kinds of psychological issues. That's not progressive at all.
But for the topic. I was watching college news this morning and they were talking about the great progress of society by Princeton, and then I kept thinking about it most of the day and posted here.
Maybe it needs more studying and work on the idea, but I still believe female/male is an archaic definition that should be changed. And MMOs+gaming tend to be good for that kind of thing, since they are open to so many people and can change perspectives.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
Games are naturally reflective of life, but they are not beholden to it. What more, the narrative of games can span from realistic historical basis to purely fictional fantasy. Both of these can serve to sometimes mitigate things such as gender and the politics of it, or emphasize it and make it a factor of the gameplay.
To nix something like that outright without regard to the setting and intended narrative is simply a bad idea. It lends itself too much to homogeneity without really benefiting the gameplay (or possibly harming it).
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
The Sylvari genders are not arbitrary. The pale tree modeled the Sylvari after humans. This was in large part because a human (Ronan) was the one who found the cave of seeds, of which the Pale Tree was one. He was the friend of Ventari, the maker of the tablet and inspiration of the Sylvari moral code. Also, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the human form aids the Sylvari in building relations with other races.
Also, the Sylvari are capable of having sexual intercourse and often choose to do so purely for pleasure. Just because they do not produce children does not mean that their parts are useless.
Of course, I'm sure that you, as a social justice warrior, care more about identity politics than good writing, but, fortunately, game developers have a little more sense.
I will also say that it is ironic that you call Guild Wars 2 out as an example of what is wrong with gender representation. Most of Guild Wars 2's iconic characters are women. 3/5 of Destiny's Edge (Eir, Caithe, and Zojja), and 2/3rd of Dragon's Watch (Marjory, Kasmeer, Taimi, and Rox) are female. Of the male characters that are in the spotlight, we have Logan, who is made out to be a coward and is almost universally hated by the community, Trahearne, who is similarly loathed by the community and wasn't even given a funeral, and Rytlock, who is pretty much the only respected male main character in the entire game. And that isn't even accounting for the fact that it has two prominent lesbian relationships (Marjory x Kasmeer and Caithe x Faolain). Is there a single prominent heterosexual romance in the game? Considering we don't even know if Queen Jennah has feelings for Logan, the answer is no. Guild Wars 2 is perhaps the most progressive MMO on the market. That's not a bad thing, but it is just a delicious irony that you called this game out by name.
The key to bringing about a perfect world, is stop being assholes to each other. It really is that simple.
Progressive???? Removing a gender (race, nationality or whatnot) in a game is not progressive. It is fanatical bordering on at least censorship.
Let's party like it is 1863!
Otherwise, no.
BTW: the Ivy League has been beholden to PC doublethink for a while now. You can't trust them on anything except the hard sciences anymore.
As for real life, however, the universe is what it is and does not care if you believe it. X and Y chromosomes were there before humans discovered DNA and will not cease to exist if it becomes trendy to pretend that they don't.
The concept of male and female is not some aberrant idea that needs to be abolished like these liberal people keep pushing. Instead celebrate the differences and things that make each special and different to begin with. By celebrating the differences and feats able to be accomplished by both you make the world a better place overall. There are differences in male and female muscle mass, bone structure, and plain genetic makeup. None of these things means that one is better than the other, just that some things may be easier for one over the other.
We are one thing that is the human race, but within that race are many different and wonderful things. Stop trying to take the things that make the differences wonderful and make them into something that needs to be removed.
Sure There are plenty of mmo's I play as female characters, that does not mean i want to F**kin BE ONE, or that i want to flaunt around. Frankly the people who do that also have mental insecurities and you should not promote that in any way.
I guess we should also ban the song "sweet caroline" because it was banned at Penn State.
http://www.sbnation.com/2012/8/27/3271946/penn-state-sweet-caroline-songhttp://
I guess we should ban the use of red pens too! No red text in our MMO's allowed.
http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/comment/7039571/Hundreds%20of%20schools%20in%20the%20U.S.,%20the%20U.K.,%20and%20Australia%20have%20outlawed%20the%20use%20of%20red%20ink
Hey, maybe we should ban MMO's since other games like soccer, touch football and tag have been deemed as too dangerous.
http://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/2012/06/25/10-surprising-things-banned-in-schools-today/
Guess we should take the chat and other social functions out of MMO's too!
"School administrators often ban access to social networks because they believe they open kids up to cyber predators and bullying and because they believe students will use the networks inappropriately" http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/comment/7039571/School%20administrators%20often%20ban%20access%20to%20social%20networks%20because%20they%20believe%20they%20open%20kids%20up%20to%20cyber%20predators%20and%20bullying%20and%20because%20they%20believe%20students%20will%20use%20the%20networks%20inappropriately
In short, just because some over-educated, pompous, rear end with little actual real world experience thinks something is a good idea, does not make it so...
I feel the opposite, I feel that mmo's are still playing catch up with their single player counterparts. In fact in most cases the only thing that mmo's offer is the ability to play with your friends. As far as gameplay, AI, story and environmental interaction, mmo's for the most part are greatly lacking.
If you were for example to play ESO and try to compare it to Skyrim or Oblivion or even Morrowind, it wouldn't stand up to any of them. Which if I remember correctly was one of the hot topics when ESO launched, it's not enough like Skyrim. Mostly what makes ESO fun (aside from it being a solid mmorpg) is being able to go through Tamriel with your friends. Same goes for SWTOR next to KOTOR I & II.
This is my opinion and I retain the right to change it at any time.
Less is not always more, but if it feeds a narrative then I say go for it. Good stories never start unless there is a creative mind behind them.
Telling someone they should not create circle and a banana...only flat line is not good for anyone.
In short...leave artists to do what they do.