Oi, sorry, this one came out longer than I intended it to... I was writing for an hour and a half! Holy shit... I'm going to bed now.
This is a problem I have with
extreme feminism/feminists. It's way to strict about implying "what women want/need." There are many women out there who do love the classic "
big strong man" (and they seem to get looked down upon for it), just as there are many who love sensitive pipe cleaner armed guy who sit in front of computers at 4:50 AM drinking flat Diet Pepsi and listening to Pantera while they write incredibly long winded rant-like posts about sex/sex appeal in video games and try to pass it off as something witty and intelligent...
...I'm not talking about
me.
Shut the Hell up.
James, on 16 May 2014 - 01:47 AM, said:
Social justice warrior - basically people getting offended on behalf of other minorities whom they might not necessarily belong to. Sticking up for someone getting trod on is a good thing to do, but getting offended on their behalf is not a good or healthy thing to do. Somewhere deep in the bullshit is a genuinely noble person who wants everyone to get a fair shake, but the idea was co-opted by people who just shout and scream and act obnoxiously.
Ah. Another group to add to the
Assholes tab.
James, on 16 May 2014 - 01:47 AM, said:
I get what you're saying but..did they actually do that though? As in outright say "we're changing it for feminists"? I think they wanted to go for a much more grounded storyline and tried changing her to resemble a real human more. She's still like a 10/10 beauty who is literally a super soldier though, so they didn't really accomplish that well. She had a few token "woe is me moments" than went to kill hundreds of dudes whilst taking injuries that would cripple the strongest man for months if not for life (Vidya logic I know, but this is why realistic reboots don't mesh well with having an actual videogame to play)
Of course they never came out right and said it. That's not how that kind of thing works generally. It's no secret that Lara was a big issue with women's rights groups because of her overly proportioned design. There were inferences to how past Lara wasn't exactly respectful of women. All of it was harkening back to and recalling many articles I had read on the subject. They toned the gratuity way down, tried to bring up the realism, then tripped over their own shoelaces with a really really uncomfortable implied rape-but-not-really-rape scene. Yeeeaahhh... Just let her jump out of her robe with her guns akimbo and start blasting the wild-life and monsters
please. It saves me the trouble of having to sit through the animation demo reel, and dramatic quick time events.
In my view, the moment you want to design such a radically different character, you should just go and make
a new one. I have no problem with, say, Alan Wake, but if he were to suddenly transform into a slapstick comedy guy, it wouldn't make sense. Lara Croft will always be the girl who smirked behind her round glasses before kicking off on amazing adventures with never a doubt in her mind. Imagine, just
imagine if they had tried to do the same thing to Duke Nukem with DNF. Ho-lee shit. It just wouldn't fit. The soft sensitive man behind the shades, guns, and strippers. Deep down inside he's really a teary eyed poet who just wants to settle down with a nice Christian girl and have a refreshing cup of tea with his daddy... FFF...!
James, on 16 May 2014 - 01:47 AM, said:
I would say that's more marketing being shitheads than PC business, but that movie was going to be a turd anyway
No I do agree, I have no objection changing a character's race depending on the actor behind it, but only if it's a genuine desire for quality rather than appealing to demographics. I'd have no problem with the next James Bond being black (everybody keeps saying Idris Elba, well he'd be good I think) as long as they chose an actually decent actor for it.
I think he'd make an amazing Bond. I've only seen him in a few films, but he's done a fantastic job, even if the scripts weren't necessarily giving him a lot to work with.
X-Vector, on 16 May 2014 - 01:27 AM, said:
None of this is intended as a personal attack, Vector, I just apparently had a lot to text to puke out... Sorry again, folks.
They start to lose me the moment "male privilege
" comes out. I know, that's pretty damn fast, but that phrase alone just sets off my bullshit alarms for a number of reasons. Yes, no denying there are a lot of assholes out there, and they deserve to be tarred for it. In fact I've had to take a few of my friends aside and ask them to tone it down on occasion when we entered a coed gaming situation with women who were either married or not interested in anything but playing games and having a good time. That's reality, though. By that I mean there's a big difference between a titillating female character, and sexual harassment. That's one thing that pisses me off more than anything, when i'm passing out pixelated Benjamins to hookers it is not the same thing as going up to a woman in real-life and staring down at her boobs, grabbing her ass, or making lewd remarks.
I've played many an online game where a woman will enter the server and one of two things happens: Lots of ass kissing and contrived 'flirtation' in her direction, or outright malicious remarks about her. Those are assholes, and they deserve to have their nuts flame roasted. However, and again, let's get some context and separate the two elements here
. That is an entirely different aspect of the discussion from any given female character being sexualised, or a sexual/sexualised fantasy in a video game. I hate to go this extreme, but do you blame pornography or exploitation movies for domestic violence and rape? Personally, I don't. Nothing supports that conclusion anymore than violent video games begets violence. People who behave that way are deranged, or they were brought up not understanding how to treat other people. Either way they should be chemically castrated and handed over to Bubba for "rehabilitation."
The gaming industry has been a male-dominated one for a long time, there's no denying that, but that has been changing over time. Not because there was some heroic crusade. It certainly wasn't because girl's weren't allowed as some kind of de-facto rule, contrary to what a small minority of aforementioned assholes would like to claim(that girls are not allowed). Indeed some of the earliest unsung pioneers in the software industry were women. it was simply that for a long time it was mostly young men between the ages of 13 and 35 that were buying and playing games. Women in more recent years have become more and more involved in gaming and game development as it has garnered a broader reach and appeal. It has nothing to do with male privilege. If some jerk off harasses someone in public: He's an asshole. However, if you don't like a video game box with big boobed girl number 34758, then don't play it. Don't buy it. Tell your friends not to buy it if you must. Rant about it on a forum with like minded people. That's all good, and I can even respect the reasons why women might not like it. Just like a number of women don't like pornography or prostitution for the same exact reasons. That doesn't mean they're right in trying to abolish those practices. They are, in fact, not. Dick jokes and boobitude will endure no matter how many people cry "THATS IMMATURE! Haven't we grown past this?" No, and thank God we haven't. Life already has enough serious drama in it.
Indeed, i've been witness to women cooing and gasping over young boys and going on and on, and I wasn't particularly enthused by that, but I know right away that freaking Twilight wasn't a book or film franchise made for me. Right? I don't expect them to stop showing boys without their shirts, or excise the teen drama, or change anything because I was put off by it. That's common sense. That's where a big issue lies. There's a difference between sexual harassment, and the personal freedom to enjoy the kind of entertainment we want free of the malice directed at innocent gamers who did nothing to anyone but mind their own business. Right? Right.
..This always teeters in a dangerous spot, though. Many of the extreme elements in these groups would have gleefully pulled Duke Nukem 3D from the shelves for allowing you to "murder hapless strippers." Here's where those kind of people, and people who support those ideas get their asses stomped out. You don't get to tell me that I can't have it, or that I should be ashamed. Which they do. The very fact that some women's groups tried to get Duke3D lifted from shelves is an undeniable fact and proof that this goes into fascist territory. I'd love to see the hard-drives of some of those who decry the average male gamer little more than a degenerate pervert. I'm sure they've got their own little secrets, as we all do, that they'd absolutely hate having someone know about.
I know, i'm gonna be labeled the hater here by some, but absolutely nothing is stopping women from developing games. Certainly not anymore. Whatever they want to do. Whatever represents their interests, views, or just them, they can do in this industry. Indeed, many already have done so with incredible success, and will continue to do so. As they should.
Shocker, but men like looking at sexy women, even in pixel or polygonal form. In fact I used to get some confused looks from my mother when I played any RPG's as a woman, and I had to explain to her that i'd rather look at a female avatar than a male one. She was concerned I was having some kind of sexual identity crisis until I explained to her that it's just a game, a fantasy, and i'd rather look at the sexy female-warrior-woman in the leotard than the buff male-warrior-man in the leotard. The same for my sister, she will often play a male instead of a female, because she likes to look at her male avatar. Hell, shocker, some women even enjoy looking at sexy video game women! I know, right? Look out! I've even dated a couple. There is nothing wrong with that until it spills over into the way people treat each other in real life. But the two things are separate issues.