In Black Desert, the evil gender lock causes unrest. The solution is simple: just play as a girl.
Beast Tamer, Ranger, Sorceress – Only for Girls
Black Desert has 11 classes in Korea now, here in Europe you start with 7. The problem: Except for Wizard/Witch, the classes are gender locked. The Berserker is only available as a giant; Beast Tamer, Ranger, and Sorceress are exclusively female.
The other 6 classes like Warrior/Valkyrie, Blader/Plum, or Ninja and Kunoichi are essentially class pairs. Two variations of the same archetype but with differences in skills.
For a while, it seemed like Daum would change their mind and introduce a female counterpart to every class – like they did with Wizard/Witch – but they have since moved away from that. In Korea, there haven’t been any new heroes or heroines for a while; instead, they are releasing “Awakening Weapons” for the individual classes, providing new ways to play.
Gender Lock is Medieval, they say
We have been reporting on Black Desert for two years, and for two years, the gender lock has been a horror for some of our readers. Now the game is coming to Europe, and the German gaming press looks at the game with horror and exclaims: “Oh God! Gender Lock! Dark Ages!” One cannot identify with the class, and overall it is a complete outrage.
A sensitive topic that many readers engage with. Especially people who have never heard of the game but have a strong opinion are heavily debating below the columns on the subject.
People say it’s somehow sexist. They don’t allow you to play the “great sword-swinging warrior” like Brienne of Tarth, but you have to play a girl in a dress. That is outrageous, how outdated gender roles are being imposed on players. One is pressed into clichés – Oh my God. When real MMORPG players despise clichés so deeply.
South Korea isn’t just a district of Dortmund
That the game was developed for Korea and that on the other side of the world they may not see everything through the “Political Correctness” lens that is obviously distributed in packs of five here, doesn’t play a significant role. Koreans must be like us, only smaller and with a funny language.
But in Korea, they don’t think like us. Where we in the West scream if we could only play Ninja and not Ninjain, it would be no issue in Korea. From that perspective, one simply doesn’t perceive the problem. They see it differently: “Two classes that can do exactly the same? How boring is that? Then let’s rather make two variants of a class that differ in play style. Better 12 instead of just 6 classes – it’s much more exciting.”
Sounds strange to us, but is the normal perspective there.
I want to play something new, but just like I’ve always played
On other sites, you read what you often hear from MMO veterans: I play my games exactly like this. I play these characters with this gender. I have always done it this way. Nothing is going to change. And if I can’t play it that way, then I won’t buy it.
Legitimate view, as far as I’m concerned. But: These are the same people who scream horrified with every new game because there’s nothing new and innovative. Everything has been done before. There’s a lack of innovation. Yet when they accidentally stumble upon a new game, it must still be played the same way they want, just like they have always done.
It’s like going to an Italian restaurant and complaining that the spaghetti doesn’t taste like Maggi as mom always cooked it. You want to see something new from the world and go to the Caribbean. But there should still be the Bild newspaper and a pack of Stuyvesant at the kiosk. And please no too many mosquitoes!
What one must make clear: Black Desert is a Korean game. And Korea is not a funny-sounding district of Dortmund, but a different world.
The MMO world will surely not heal from Western ways
Black Desert is not a blockbuster from EA, Activision, or Ubisoft that is tailored to our taste and aims to please everyone. Black Desert is a niche MMORPG. It is not designed for the mainstream taste of a player base that has been socialized with very different values and games. Anyone who has watched a South Korean film should have noticed that it’s a different world where different aesthetic values prevail.
And besides! As if the solution for MMORPGs was: Make them more European! Because our Western MMORPGs have been doing so well for years, right? The Western market was the third choice for Daum, after Asia and Russia. And it will be the same with the Asia hits like Lost Ark in the future. No “Yes, then let them adapt it to us” measures are expected. They will not do that. Anyone who believes that Asians will now tailor the games to our liking now that our own market is in ruins is deluding themselves.
Just because the currywurst stalls are closing left and right, doesn’t mean the Asian around the corner will switch from sushi to fries with ketchup and mayo. He looks around and says: I’m not crazy and won’t open a fry shop here.
More New Experiences
Black Desert is an exotic with some interesting game concepts, such as the knowledge and node system. It is a new flavor. When approaching such a “foreign product” with one’s own values and tastes, being inflexible and insisting on playing the exotic exactly as one has always played will lead to disappointment. In times when the supply of Western MMORPGs tends towards zero, it is also worth looking beyond one’s own plate and adjusting.
One of the Western values that is often invoked is to open oneself to something new and to stand open and tolerant towards the foreign.
Black Desert is not made for us. That is no reason why we can’t enjoy it. We just play a girl for a change, even if we are not one. It won’t kill us.
