Online petition demands female characters in Aliens: Colonial Marines multiplayer mode

The revelation regarding the absence of playable female characters in Aliens: Colonial Marines multiplayer has led to the start of an online petition in order to get the option to create female characters in multiplayer mode into the game.

During a live web-chat session last month, the producer of the upcoming title in the Aliens franchise Brian Burleson had revealed that while the female characters will be an integral part of the single-play campaign and thus will be playable, the character customisation in the multiplayer portion of the game will not allow players to opt for a female character.

Gearbox Software and Sega, the developer and publisher of Aliens: Colonial Marines respectively, hardly expected the absence of option to play as a female character in multiplayer portion of the game become a big deal. However, one particular fan of the franchise, Melissa K, was not too happy with the inability to relive the Aliens experience Ripley style.

In reaction to the revelation by Burleson, Melissa started an online petition at the beginning of June to pressurise the developer and publisher into bringing the female players of the game into consideration and giving them an option to play the game as female characters.

The petitioner pointed out that the Aliens franchise is full of dominating female characters such as Ripley, Ferro, Dietrich, Vasquez and The Queen. Therefore, it makes very little sense to find the option of taking on the persona of a female during the multiplayer mode absent.

“There is roughly 5-6 months before the game goes Gold and releases February 12th, 2013. We believe ALIENS is the perfect starting point for developers to start including playable females in more multiplayer shooters,” stated Melissa. “And what better company to start this than Gearbox with the success of Borderlands and the benchmark shooter Brothers in Arms? There are many females that enjoy playing video games and are fans of the films who are tired of playing as a male all the time. Lets let Gearbox Software see how important this is to the ALIENS franchise!”

She requested the developer to incorporate the option of creating a custom female for the game’s multiplayer portion to represent the female players in multiplayer and co-op play.

The original goal of Melissa was to get 1000 signatories. However, the number has gotten way above that, lingering close to 2000.

Gearbox Software and Sega have not yet responded to the petition. While it is hard to say with certainty how the developer and publisher of the game would react to the situation, one possible solution that they may consider is to release the game as it is and later introduce a downloadable content (DLC) that would give players the option to create female characters.

Aliens: Colonial Marines is slated for a February 12, 2013, release on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. The game will also be released for Nintendo Wii U, though the date is not yet confirmed.