Alice & Robert

[agile rover]

I'm not entirely sure where to start with this, so I'll start with my first inclination of that the whole thing with those two is just awkward as all hell, and comes across as completely unnecessary. It does nothing for the story, it does not endear me to either one of them, quite the opposite, and it just feels... idk, forced. It got stale, too, fast.

I remember filling out the survey a few months ago and saying something similar. That Alice was an ass hole. Instead of her character having any actual charm, Robert got turned into a chauvinistic ass hole instead, to what, justify her attitude? The whole thing just comes across as weird.

I feel that as it stands now, that whole thing will be a quick and easy way to turn people off from engaging with the story, or the game at all. I wouldn't want to see that happen after 5 years of work from y'all. Personal opinion.

[cinder blade]

nope its funny not stale aspecially alice got spice and spunk to talk to my name venoot becausse he is a a bitnot social enough since he has bin cookced up on the moon for a while

[atomic kiln]

Agreed, this is out of place and needs to be replaced with just normal professional banter. Its incredibly forced.

[frank salmon]

Depends on your idea of "normal professional banter." Sounds like some of the guys who hated female paratroopers because they were smarter and more professional than they were. Just my two cents.

[agile rover]

Essentially, them not being turds to each other right off the bat, or at all. I'll also say that I do not understand your paratrooper reference, but I don't care that Alice is a woman, and that Robert is a man. You could swap their roles and I'd still say the same thing. It feels forced, awkward, and very unprofessional for a corporate setting such as The Crust is set to be portrayed as/in.

[frank salmon]

The reference stems from two things. Working in the corporate world at an accounting firm (technology department) and being the husband and father of two female paratroopers. When Robert started off with his 1950s style sweetheart comment he left himself open to ridicule. Strong women tend towards sarcasm when they perceive males to have less intelligence, especially when they make patronizing remarks. Under normal circumstances you'd be right about it being gender neutral. However, his initial comment set the stage for the confrontation. Even in old fashioned accounting Firms (with a capitol F) these types of conversations did take place. Hopefully, by 2080 we will have learned. (I doubt it.) As you yourself said, you don't care about the gender. Most women do.

[agile rover]

Ok. That makes a little bit more sense. As far as Robert's initial comment, that's kind of my point. I really, really don't remember him spouting off with the "sweetheart" bit in the demo. I'm probably wrong about that, but it still goes back to that whole interaction was written to play out like that. Why? What's the point? Why in the world did they have to be written as confrontational to begin with?

[frank salmon]

I'd guess it's because we live in an era of transition where people are just confrontational. Sadly, it is the world we live in. Even an old boomer like me thinks people just look for an excuse to be confrontational. Take a look at the main gameplay discussion. People being nasty to those who are trying to help them enjoy a game. So, Robert and Alice are just a glimpse into the world we often live in today. Just my two cents.