Easy Mode

Recently my attention was called to an article I had seen. That article has since then stuck in my mind. Straight White Male: The lowest difficulty setting there is. All in all, it's an interesting read. There are bits I agree with, bits I don't, but overall I feel the metaphor is very useful (including the sad fact that he had to banhammer many, many of the 800 comments responding to that. There is a reason they are CLOSED.)

There is actually a good reason I bring this up. Recently I picked up a game that well... it fit in really well with this. The game? Shepherd's Crossing 2. In essence it's a sort of harvest moon like farming sim, but much more open ended. While it is more open ended, it is also a lot more in depth. It also focuses a lot less on social interactions. Harvest Moon, while a farming sim, has a large focus on the social aspects of life.

Anyway, when you first start a game of Shepherd's Crossing 2, you choose your gender. Alright then. Now as I tend to attempt to represent myself in these games, the first time through I decided "Hey I'll play as a female character!". Turns out, for a first time player? HUGE MISTAKE.

You see, the way Shepherd's Crossing 2 works is that in a way, it sets its difficulty by what gender you choose. Not by lesser capabilities or anything like that, but by how much it holds your hand and what requirements you must fulfill. An almost depressing mirror for life, really. To give an example: one of the key factors of gameplay is you must keep a stock on hand of firewood, food, and a side dish. If you run out of any, it's an instant game over. At least it is if you're playing a girl. IF you're playing a boy, you get at least 4 chances to run out of things, and besides doing that is the only way to marry one of the marriage candidates.

Oh yeah I did mention one of the objects of this game was to get married, right?

Speaking of marriage, marriage requirements are another case where the difficulty comes in. For a boy to get married, you need to have several sheep and... that's it. A girl? You need the sheep, need to sheer the sheep, wash the wool, spin the wool, knit it into cloth, make the cloth into bed coverings.

I see a slight discrepancy here. I don't mind there being a difficulty level. I in fact really like the idea. What I MIND is that it is tied to gender. IT is a whole giant world of unfortunate implications and mirrors to reality in western societies. I know at least of many instances where women I've known have had to work three times as hard as men for the same respect. But it doesn't even get INTO the paranoia it spawns. The paranoia that you're not doing good enough. The paranoia that if you aren't working three times as hard as everyone around you, that you're just not working hard enough.

Maybe that bit's just me.