Obscure MMORPG outrage!! OMG!!~

[Raedon]

http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,21...tml?tw=rss.TOP

NEW YORK -- Recently, in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game A Tale in the Desert, an uproar erupted after an in-game trader declared that he would not sell to women and then inquired whether one female character was for sale.

After the developers refused to take a stand against the trader, many players were outraged that the game would tolerate such discriminatory and misogynistic behavior. But the trader was actually a non-player character controlled by the developers to intentionally start a controversy in a virtual world they feel is sometimes too polite.

Well then..

[morphx]

Shocking.

[Habeeb Hamusta]

???? Alright so what's going on? An in game character is like that or is it a real person. I didn't understand who was making that statement.

[Emily]

Thaey should have made it more obvious that it was an NPC,

[SoulBlazer]

The DEVELOPERS did that?

If I was playing that game and found that out, and confirmed it, I'd walk out and never looked back. :/

[morphx]

Why games have racist NPCs and all sorts of other things in it too.

Dwarfs that won't sell to trolls. Hell even some games have classes that exclude certain genders...Are we all going to make fantasy mmo's politically correct?

[Daria]

"A Tale in the Desert"

So what time period does this game take place? I don't find it all that offensive. I don't think anyone had heard of women's rights in ancient Egypt. Even if it was a human player, then I'd say more power to him for playing in character.

This isn't a cashier refusing a sale in Wal-Mart. It's a virtual society for pete's sake, and society's less then perfect. I'd like to see more games protray an uglier side of human nature.

I aslo think it's pretty funny the NPC alluded to being a slave trader.

[om3ga]

Probably some bored develeper trying to get a rise out of some people.

And the dorks fell for it.

[Habeeb Hamusta]

Oh ok. Well people just get too offended by everything now. They need to realize that there are people in the world like that and that you have to deal with them. I think that just makes the game a tad bit more interesting. Not everything is going to made to fit the peoples' approval.

[SoulBlazer]

Maybe you misread my post.

I would'nt mind if a PLAYER did that. It's his/her right to decide who they will and won't sell to.

But the DEVELOPER? A MOD? Someone in charge of running the game and running the risk of pissing some PC type people off and HURTING your game?

THAT is what makes me shake my head.

[SegaAges]

wow, that is funny. even in forums, the developer is getting a rise out of people. i honestly never even heard of the game until this post, now it makes me want to play it just so that i can piss people off. if you can do actions in a video game (online or offline) that would actually make people mad in society, that is awesome.

damn the man and his master plan. it is time for a revolution, and we might as well start with games

[Iron Draggon]

Gee, it must be a pretty damn lame game, if the developers themselves are resorting to such tactics just to make it fun. Why would you wanna play it?

[Sylentwulf]

Yeah, that's a pretty lame attempt at "LOOK AT OUR GAME!"

The best experiences I ever had in a MMORPG was back when Ultima online came out, sometimes the developers would create a dragon, take control of it, and go to waste in some newbie dungeon. Tons of people would show up and EVENTUALLY beat the dragon down. And get some sweet friggin loot for everyone.

Just good knowing you're beating up some hyper-level mod guy.

[SoulBlazer]

A dragon would go into dungeons designed for low level charcters?

Man, that's one of those situations where I would cry and scream if I was the poor guy who got wasted but laugh my ass off if I saw it happen.

[Sylentwulf]

A dragon would go into dungeons designed for low level charcters?

Man, that's one of those situations where I would cry and scream if I was the poor guy who got wasted but laugh my ass off if I saw it happen.

He was fairly nice about, I don't think he actually killed any of the newbies on purpose..... he just waited till the stronger chars got there.

[Cmosfm]

Aww man this is bringing back good memories of FFXI, I wish I had the time to put into it, I remember being a low level character and a MMORPG newbie...I thought it would be OK to wander off far into the wilderness.

I was wrong.

I wound up having to run all the way back home, , then spend 25 hours leveling up.

:/

[Promophile]

Your missing the point. This is basically a publicity stunt to get them in the news. There is no bad publicity.

[Ed Oscuro]

Promophile is partially right, but think about this.

We as Americans (well probably other folks do this as well) tend to shove these issues under the rug. I can't comment on how this is being done, but it seems to me that the concept COULD lead to some thought-provoking discourse (of course it won't though).

Unfortunately, though, the fact remains that in this case the developers are literally discriminating against female players - while there might not be a law covering this, the developers would be wise to drop this. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody could tack something together in terms of harassment and emotional distress.

Note that this isn't a true legal opinion, just my two cents. Still, they'd be wise to wrap it up and move on. Frankly, if their world is too nice, they'd be better off thinking up a new sort of monster character that incites players to be racist towards it but which has redeeming qualities...surely something can be done besides this. Ouch.

[Jorpho]

Aren't most female characters in MMORPGs really men anyway?

I had heard that A Tale in the Desert really was a very friendly and communal sort of "game".