Plot beats, characters, and setting in a recreation’s narrative may be as vital, if no more so, than the gameplay relying on the style. Nobody can say that Drakengard was a enjoyable recreation to play. However the story greater than made up for its clunky controls and repetitive missions. As a result of a lot of a gacha recreation’s financial pull comes from its characters, as both items in battle or characters to take pleasure in following, corporations naturally need to make it possible for it makes its female and male characters as interesting as potential. To make issues less complicated, there are video games which are cater for individuals who take pleasure in seeing a specific gender. However there are video games which are like a family-friendly movie, in that they’re marketed for a reasonably normal viewers. But regardless of their premise, as time goes on, some corporations begin to shift the steadiness of characters provided.
Gacha video games are a reasonably contentious type of gaming, contemplating its complete mannequin makes use of the identical tips and allures as real-life playing. Whereas there are many gacha video games nowadays with legitimately good tales or characters, the corporate’s final purpose continues to be to make as a lot cash as potential and the way it does that’s to make it possible for it may possibly tempt gamers into opening up their wallets. There are some things that can undoubtedly catch folks’s consideration when advertising and marketing sure merchandise and a type of issues is: intercourse.
Intercourse enchantment is a good way to hook in a possible buyer. This may be by means of implications that you just’ll get some hottie with a physique in the event you use X product or that you just’ll be the hottie with a physique in the event you use Y fragrance. Stuff like that. That’s really another excuse why some folks look down on gacha video games or gacha gamers. The thought of spending real-life cash on a JPEG or 3D mannequin of a good-looking man or a reasonably girl, simply because they’re attractive, is ridiculous to some.
Hey, I’m on the facet of the folks being judged. I’ve talked about up to now that I spent over $2000 on a single banner alone in Honkai: Star Rail for Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae. Conveniently, the sport that prompted me to jot down this up really is Honkai: Star Rail! HoYoVerse launched the drip advertising and marketing for Sunday on October 8, 2024. A couple of week afterward October 16, 2024, Reddit person “Thhaki” famous that Sunday has turn out to be the drip advertising and marketing with probably the most likes on Instagram. On the time of this Reddit submit, Sunday had 264,000 likes versus Firefly’s 263,000.
That is very important. Firefly is your defacto mecha girlfriend in Honkai: Star Rail. It doesn’t matter what your private emotions are about this woman, she is going to all the time have plenty of ship teasing along with your protagonist. It doesn’t matter in the event you play as Caelus or Stelle. Firefly can also be a really cute woman by way of her design. However there’s simply one thing a couple of tortured soul who’s an extremist with good intentions, I suppose. Folks ended up consuming Sunday up.
The recognition of Sunday proves one thing although. And no, this isn’t a joke about how folks love the weekend. It reveals that male characters usually are not an automated flop relating to participant curiosity in gacha video games. Honkai: Star Rail has been fairly good on this regard amongst different gacha video games, in that it seems like there’s a reasonably even division of recent female and male characters we get. Genshin Influence—from the identical firm, so it’s simpler to match—was sort of an equal break up. But when we take a look at the characters who debuted between Model 4.0 and Model 5.1, we’ve got 7 male characters and 14 feminine characters. Fairly actually double the quantity. Round 57% of these male characters are 5-stars (this makes them simpler to get, paradoxically sufficient, in addition to make them extra fascinating). In the meantime, a whopping 71% of these feminine characters are 5-stars.
There are some video games which are clearly geared in the direction of a sure viewers. Since we had been speaking about HoYoVerse, I’ll use Tears of Themis for instance. It’s for the otome crowd. So it could be sort of foolish to ask HoYoVerse so as to add in a lady. Take a look at Goddess of Victory: Nikke. That’s for individuals who wish to see ladies’ belongings. Additionally, Shift Up’s accuracy relating to the weapons is superb so I assume firearms nerds like it too. However I digress. Because it’s for people who find themselves into feminine characters, it’d be foolish to play Nikke after which complain concerning the lack of fellows. For those who’re adamant on getting male characters, why play the gacha recreation advertising and marketing itself with ladies exhibiting off their belongings in skin-tight clothes?
Totally different strokes for various people. Totally different video games for various goals. However what about video games that builders marketplace for a extra normal crowd, both by means of the story or advertising and marketing or character choices?
Shifting away from Chinese language and South Korean builders, let’s take a look at Destiny/Grand Order. Even if you wish to argue that Destiny/Grand Order is a spin-off of former eroge Destiny/keep evening, Grand Order has developed into its personal separate beast at this level. Regardless of the recognition of characters like Merlin or Oberon (for each unit and character causes), there’s nonetheless way more feminine characters within the recreation than male ones. This wouldn’t be too unhealthy by itself. However whereas feminine characters get alternate variations for Christmas and summer season yearly, male Servants solely get a dressing up for summer season. Karna was the one male Santa. Really, that may say extra about Karna than it does the builders.
Jokes apart, I’m undecided why that is nonetheless occurring 9 years into the sport. It’s true that you just’re assured to obtain a dressing up supplied that you just full the in-game quests. Even when your luck is within the gutter with the gacha, you’ll be able to most likely stroll away from a summer season occasion with at the least one male swimsuit as a memento. The factor with a separate Servant is that they get new animations and ascension arts, in addition to a library of recent voice strains. When evaluating a dressing up versus a whole new Servant, it may possibly really feel like we’re being cheated. Among the woman’s outfits aren’t even swimsuits, for crying out loud.
As a disclaimer, I don’t robotically dislike feminine characters in stuff. I play as a feminine character at any time when I get the possibility, and I really like dolling up my gals in video games like The Sims. I’m simply undecided if I need to shell out cash for feminine characters on a regular basis once I’m extra focused on male characters. And I don’t imagine I’m the one one. In Honkai: Star Rail historical past alone, we not solely have Sunday beating out Firefly by way of Instagram likes, however we even have Jing Yuan actually breaking the HoYoVerse top-up website in China as a result of so many individuals wished to whale for the person. It’s one factor to count on a disproportionate quantity of a specific gender in a recreation that’s marketed for a selected viewers. It’s one other to see it occur in a recreation that looks like it’s extra for a normal viewers.
You may’ve heard the previous adage of “Women don’t play video video games,” very like the ye olde “Women don’t watch [insert show that companies market to boys].” In 2024, that saying actually doesn’t maintain up contemplating the prevalence of female-presenting streamers and YouTubers who make a residing off of video video games. Exterior of that anecdotal (and maybe inaccurate proof), a examine from 2022 confirmed that just about 50% of gamers worldwide are feminine. They’re paying cash too. Love and Deepspace, which could be very a lot a recreation for the otome followers, really made extra month-to-month income than Genshin Influence, Honkai: Star Rail, and Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle. So the concept corporations don’t must market to or contemplate what feminine gamers may need when making video games for as many gamers as potential is fairly outdated.
Some incel avid gamers can get fairly loopy although. At finest, they straight up boycott a gacha recreation if there’s even a whiff of playable male characters. To not maintain utilizing HoYoVerse as examples, however some Chinese language netizens dedicated precise real-life crimes out of sheer hatred in the direction of Scaramouche after Genshin Influence Model 3.3. A minimum of two folks killed cats (as a result of “Scarameow” design, Scaramouche has an affiliation with cats) and shared movies of the deed. They tried to doxx HoYoVerse staff too. These are probably the most excessive incidents. To be truthful, feminine gamers aren’t all taken with Scaramouche both. He’s simply sort of a polarizing character for a myriad of causes.
From a much less severe angle, some gamers appear to deal with the introduction of playable male characters as a private affront or a declaration of conflict on their ideology. And yeah, as I discussed a short time in the past, they boycott the sport. So I get it from a company angle. Even when it’s a disappointment to regular gamers, each female and male, I can perceive why corporations may select to err on the facet of warning.
As long as a recreation is enjoyable, then the gender divide of characters shouldn’t matter. Whereas doing this text, I observed for the primary time that solely about 24% of the characters in Identification V are feminine. It’s fascinating I by no means caught that whereas enjoying the sport contemplating for a 12 months and a half, I performed 4 hours minimal each single day. A personality’s look is even a deciding think about whether or not I study them or not. On the subject of gacha video games that additionally embody a narrative and characters as a promoting level although, there’s not as many components to distract you from this type of stuff. It’s a bit of unlucky that the individuals who want male characters have much less potential “husbandos” to ogle over whereas individuals who like feminine characters get to benefit from the certainty of realizing they’ll see a brand new potential waifu someday quickly.
I can’t bear in mind if I noticed this as a response on Reddit or Twitter or YouTube. However I noticed somebody argue towards complaints about female-character-preferring-fans getting preferential remedy by saying that there are otome video games for a motive. That if folks need male characters, they need to simply go play these. The factor is that we’re speaking about video games that corporations are advertising and marketing in the direction of everybody, and do individuals who like male characters not rely as “everybody”? Why should we be those to maneuver after we’re additionally doing our half in shelling out cash or taking part within the fandom?
Sadly, with the poisonous corners of fanbases, it’s most likely unimaginable for sure gacha video games to take care of a 50:50 gender divide even when the businesses need to. Like we’re not speaking about harm emotions or failed expectations right here. Some individuals are so nuts they’re keen to commit precise bodily hurt over these things. Appeasement could have been a reason behind WW2 however on this case, appeasement actually is likely to be the most suitable choice these corporations can take.
Sunday, the Honkai: Star Rail man who sparked this within the first place, will seem in Model 2.7.
