Unless your reply was a joke that went over my head. Still, I consider this a funny topic (albeit pointless in our specific community).
Don't take my words seriously, I'm just kidding.
From the gameplay point of view, sex of monsters almost does not matter in ADOM, only sex of PC matters (Ch vs Ap, frog's quest, ring of wedding is kinda an exception though). So monsters could be all androgynes and it would not change 99% of games. Therefore this sex issue is highly subjective and not really constructive. You can express any opinion here and there will be people that agree and there will be people who does not.
For me, current distribution of male/female mosters is okay (because I do not notice it). Maybe more female named NPCs would be good.
And I do wonder if this sort of thing makes it harder for females to get into ADOM.
As a female roguelike fan, I'd say no - it's something that you do notice, but I don't think it's a deal-breaker or anything. I've never thought of this from this angle, but if anything, I'd say Adom is pretty good in that gender or sexualisation of NPCs is not really an issue. I've tried to get my friends to play Adom for almost 20 years soon, and I've had about equal success (or lack of it) with both genders: 2 converts, one male and one female.
I voted against the suggestion, because as a joke it just doesn't work very well, and theoretically it could be perceived as sexist, I guess - especially if the reference was lost and people took it as a quest to kill female spellcasters.
You know, in the spirit of Monty Python - I actually like this idea.
Me too. I like both ideas, mine and his. I especially like mine. His too though. I think both are easter-eggs that will elude most of those who haven't been spoiled, and met with delight for those who figure it out on their own. Just like finding a real easter egg.
I always felt sorry about it and was thinking about submitting a couple of RFE.
Other roguelikes (sorry, again DF) were able to solve the wording problem by giving to both creatures specific male and female titles: boar / sow, hunter / huntress, etc.
Going even farther from the OP, I don't many girls who like playing video games and I don't know myself even one who likes roguelike genre. So probably it is cruel but justified.
Fantastic idea. I'm actually thinking the same thing, and am going to submit an RFE for it shortly. I'll link it below.
I'm a long-term female fan of ADOM and roguelikes and know at least three others. I might actually suggest that one of the reasons there are fewer fans of the genre could well be -because- aspects like this haven't progressed since its heyday the 80's, and end up feeling like these games haven't been designed for us. Or it may be the exact reverse and because there are fewer female players little niggles like this tend to persist in the genre.
Originally Posted by paivi
As a female roguelike fan, I'd say no - it's something that you do notice, but I don't think it's a deal-breaker or anything. I've never thought of this from this angle, but if anything, I'd say Adom is pretty good in that gender or sexualisation of NPCs is not really an issue.
I completely agree that it's handled sensitively and fairly for the most part and that's probably the reason why, although the noticeable gendering DID irk me significantly when I first saw it, I was happy to continue playing the game. It probably helped that this was in 2002, I was 14 or 15, and almost all the games I enjoyed had similar representational problems that as a female gamer I just had to deal with in order to enjoy my hobby. Having gone through that experience once however I'm very eager to prevent it happening to anyone else now that the world is a bit more enlightened. Feel free to comment with your own experience on my RFE, though - please!