The impression I got was that Funcom was actually trying to suggest that "girls" play the game.

---Maybe that will attract more of 13 year old male teens that already inhabits the game. 

 Hey guys the game is So-So...but you might get LUCKY!!!...Maybe ask the girl (who just decapitated you) out on a date! ....Surely that possibility is worth 5 bucks to ya!

Well--I found AoC to be an absolute "Sausage Factory." More so than any other MMO Ive ever played.

blackwell...dang...

.....................

. . . . . . .  

im going back to the other thread, this takes the cake.

Originally posted by Blackwell99

Well--I found AoC to be an absolute "Sausage Factory." More so than any other MMO Ive ever played.

Thats strange because my friend and her two sisters absolutely loved AoC. Very few MMOs offer the type of character customization that AoC had and they actually spent time making the female characters look appealing. Ive seen a lot of comments about underage boys running around as female toons with their boobs hanging out. I think this happened early on because it was something new and different but after the 1st week most of the kids went away as the newness wore off. The women I played with spent more time flashing their boobs than any of the guys I that I knew playing female toons.

Just about every one of AoC's ads is sexist. What do you expect from a game whose one of two selling points is "Female breasts! Lookie!" To be fair, the other selling point, cutting off people's heads, is something we all can enjoy.

But then again, they aren't the only ones with sexist ads, if you just glance at most of them. To be clear, I'm not against "sexy" ads, but double standards are really unacceptable. When the female character is hyper-sexualized and the male is head-to-toe armored, that is sexist. But if they are both fully armored or both wrapped in bondage gear, then it' s okay.

Not to mention it only reinforces the (false) stereotpye that only males enjoy games. While you will find more males playing games, the reasoning for that stems entirely from cultural preconceptions - as in, it's "okay" for guys to play video games as part of accepted culture. Which is why many a young gamer girl has had to steal, borrow, or otherwise bogart the video game console or gaming computer their parents bought for her older brother, who may not be a real gamer and only use it to play Halo and Grand Theft Auto.

And MMORPG.Com is really not shy about being sexist themselves on occassion, nevermind the ads (which, to be fair, if I owned a successful site like this, I'd probably have to run at least some of them). They had a front page link to that "Booth Babes" nonsense awhile back too, as if that is news. I had thought E3 had given up that crap, but apparently the prebuscent male and wasted frat boy demographic is just too tantalizing!

It's just sort of sad. And not in the Old Yeller way.

Originally posted by cyrana

That ad is sexist? I'd personally find it more sexist if I was forced to wear a virtual burka in the game. ;)

/Word

the instance brought up by the OP is most definitely sexist because it communicates gender inequality. this is a fact that cannot be disputed. however, you can argue about whether or not it bothers you. you can also argue whether or not it demeans women. personally, i think it demeans women because it reinforces stereotypical gender roles. in another reply it was mentioned that what if the roles were reversed and it said "This is Jane . . . She got her head cut off by a guy." That actually would in fact empower women, contrary to what the poster asserted. This is because the woman would assume the gender role of expected power. In that case, the woman would in fact be humiliated by an "inferior" male and thus the advertisement would be empowering women, despite the ironic fact that a woman was defeated in that specific case. Furthermore, giving her an identity suggests that the female's identity is important while the male's isn't. So, the actual ad is in fact negatively sexist on multiple levels. It suggests not only that women are collectively physically inferior, but also that a woman's identity is not important even if she achieves something unexpected. And by contrast, a male, even if he is weak and fails, is important enough to identify as an individual.

Perhaps this advertisement is fitting for Age of Conan because Age of Conan is a game that reinforces gender roles and so to have an advertisement that reflects the game's content may be a good idea. It would probably be a bad marketing strategy to promote gender equality and then needlessly alienate a gender sensitive audience once they started playing the game. I can actually agree with the blatant sexism for this reason. Potential players should have an idea of what they're getting into and know from the advertisement if it is a game for him/her. It would be the same with any other mundane feature.

Originally posted by todayisblue

the instance brought up by the OP is most definitely sexist because it communicates gender inequality. this is a fact that cannot be disputed. however, you can argue about whether or not it bothers you. you can also argue whether or not it demeans women. personally, i think it demeans women because it reinforces stereotypical gender roles. in another reply it was mentioned that what if the roles were reversed and it said "This is Jane . . . She got her head cut off by a guy." That actually would in fact empower women, contrary to what the poster asserted. This is because the woman would assume the gender role of expected power. In that case, the woman would in fact be humiliated by an "inferior" male and thus the advertisement would be empowering women, despite the ironic fact that a woman was defeated in that specific case. Furthermore, giving her an identity suggests that the female's identity is important while the male's isn't. So, the actual ad is in fact negatively sexist on multiple levels. It suggests not only that women are collectively physically inferior, but also that a woman's identity is not important even if she achieves something unexpected. And by contrast, a male, even if he is weak and fails, is important enough to identify as an individual.

Perhaps this advertisement is fitting for Age of Conan because Age of Conan is a game that reinforces gender roles and so to have an advertisement that reflects the game's content may be a good idea. It would probably be a bad marketing strategy to promote gender equality and then needlessly alienate a gender sensitive audience once they started playing the game. I can actually agree with the blatant sexism for this reason. Potential players should have an idea of what they're getting into and know from the advertisement if it is a game for him/her. It would be the same with any other mundane feature.

okay, now im interested how it will end..

im going to see if i can jack AOC's advertisement, and reverse the rolls just to see how many people would follow it in that manner.

Originally posted by Ozreth

Just saw the AoC banner at the bottom of the forums page. The ad reads (one line at a time, to add emphasis)

"This is mark

Mark just got his head lopped off

By a girl"

 

Seriously? So blatantly sexist. What female would want to pay money for shit like this?

I'm trying not to be rude, but you really need to get a life, i truly hope your not like this is real life for ur own sake.

Originally posted by Ozreth

"This is mark

Mark just got his head lopped off

By a girl" 

Bleh. I believed this kind of shitty ads was gone with the wind.

To illustrate how bad this kind of  doing is I would like to give you guys two example: 

"You suck at gaming."  and

"you suck at gaming cuse you are a girl."

No freaking way I will support a company that is so rude to my friends.

OP, shut up and get me a sandwich pronto!

---

Originally posted by myrrdinirl
OP, shut up and get me a sandwich pronto!

---

http://www.ndentstudios.com/Img/asdreverse.swf

roll reversal....

I don't think it is that sexist rather quite amusing.

I like this ad I saw the other day:

Originally posted by Ozreth

Just saw the AoC banner at the bottom of the forums page. The ad reads (one line at a time, to add emphasis)

"This is mark

Mark just got his head lopped off

By a girl"

 

Seriously? So blatantly sexist. What female would want to pay money for shit like this?

Seriously stop making threads like this. It ain't sexist its funny.

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

I don't think it is that sexist rather quite amusing.

I like this ad I saw the other day:

Lets see - The caster guy in the picture is... hmm Spellweaving(?  While the Melee guy is executing a combo?
And the dialogue hints at the mature orientation of the game?
Yes. Not bad at all - Even highlights the "Massive 2-player" feeling.

No seriously: IMO This ad sucks!

Sorry to see that the hard work from the dev team is still being marketed by a bunch of condescending PR-amateurs.

The only sexist thing here is the OP suggesting women are smarter then men by not buying into crap like this

Halandir, wether you like the ad or not is completely irrelevant from a marketeers perspective. The only relevance is if it gives their product more attention and if it increases sales. 

If this ad, which of course has some messages that are debateable, works very well because it captures the attention of the target. Wether it increases sales or not remains to bee seen. 

Since we are debating this ad right now and we can safely say that it has caught our attention, you should know that other companies with similar product will now start to use similar messages (ie debateable) in the near future. Funcom has led the way, like it or not.

Originally posted by Aceundor

Funcom has led the way, like it or not.

 

Oh..

That's Rich.

Originally posted by Aceundor

Halandir, wether you like the ad or not is completely irrelevant from a marketeers perspective. The only relevance is if it gives their product more attention and if it increases sales.  

Oh I agree, but that does not prevent me from thinking that the ad sucks.

Going after the lowest common denominator is a well known strategy in marketing, when you have limited room for experiment or simply lack imagination.

You are probably right that we may see more MMO companies doing that if there is a sudden population explosion in AoC.

One thing is interesting though: It seems Funcom is now taking a step away from another of their original marketing ideas.
It would be funny to hear Funcom proclaim: "We are targeting a mature audience - BIATCH!"