JUST PLAY GAMES AND ENJOY THEM WHY DOES ALL THIS BULLSHIT MATTER
FUCK
FUCK
Random Video Game Crap
- Thread starter Frank
- Start date
GasBandit
Staff member
So any time a woman is taken captive, it's automatic damseling? What's the solution, that no woman can ever be taken hostage or kidnapped? Isn't that a little too PC even for you?
The guy's a villain - seeing a person as "something to be taken" from an enemy is pretty villainous regardless of the person's gender. And, as TB said, the game is full of helpless people of both genders.
It matters because people are trying to extort changes in video game development for the sake of politics and personal enrichment.
And yet, some publishers will still refuse to publish a game unless the main character is made male.
GasBandit
Staff member
That doesn't say how many or which other producers were the problem ones. The insinuation is that all of video game publishing refuses to traffic in anything other than male power fantasies... when for all we know, the only other publisher they might have approached could have been "Duke's house of video game publishing and chicken and waffles." I bet if they had published on steam, Valve wouldn't have given a rat's ass about the gender of the protagonist.
Regardless, I'm not a fan of publishers meddling with development. Good thing it has also never been easier to self-publish a game, at least for PC. Console peasantry has its own problems in this area though, I understand, still being tethered to obsolete distribution models (physical media).
Insert flippant Jennifer Lawrence gif here.
GasBandit
Staff member
Not only are you wrong, but you're lazy
Video games ARE getting better about being inclusive and female friendly. But just in the last few months we had a major developer refuse to include female characters in multiplayer in a AAA franchise title, when they had done so in previous installments, because "female models are too hard to animate", which is bullshit. Now, granted, that turns out to be the LEAST of that title's problems, but the fact that a major studio just writes off 50% of it's potential audience is problematic.
Then you have the blame game: not long ago, there was a game "Remember Me", which featured a female protagonist. The game didn't do exceptionally well. This was because compared to a lot of games of it's type, it was linear, the combat wasn't quite as fluid as it was supposed to be, and the central conceit of the game - hacking people's memories - was only used a couple times per area, as essential a QTE to advance the plot. Those are all valid enough reasons to not like a game. But a lot of the blame for it not selling well, at least online, was considered to be that the protagonist was a Euro-African woman, rather than a caucasian male.
And that's a problem, no matter who you are.
Then you have the blame game: not long ago, there was a game "Remember Me", which featured a female protagonist. The game didn't do exceptionally well. This was because compared to a lot of games of it's type, it was linear, the combat wasn't quite as fluid as it was supposed to be, and the central conceit of the game - hacking people's memories - was only used a couple times per area, as essential a QTE to advance the plot. Those are all valid enough reasons to not like a game. But a lot of the blame for it not selling well, at least online, was considered to be that the protagonist was a Euro-African woman, rather than a caucasian male.
And that's a problem, no matter who you are.
True, we don't know how many publishers had a problem with a female lead - and it sounds like once Squeenix came in & were willing to accept the game as is Dontnod stopped looking for other publishers so we also don't know how many publishers wouldn't have had a problem with a female lead.
But your earlier post implied "It's better than it used to be, therefore it's now fine, therefore we don't need to worry about it anymore", which is just as wrong as Anita Sarkeesian's "We still don't have complete gender equality in games, so gaming must still be just as bad and sexist as it's ever been"
Gaming has got better, it is continuing to get better, but there is still a hell of a lot of room for improvement.
GasBandit
Staff member
It's really yet to be shown that the level of sexism in video game development is any worse than the general background radiation of sexism in any industry or social setting (in fact, I'd assert it's improving faster than in movies, tv, and many job industries). The response, however, has been disproportionate and intellectually dishonest, as well as coming from questionable motivation.
But here's my usual caveat again about how internet anonymity makes manchildren less self-censoring - but that's not an issue with game development.
BACK TO IMPORTANT THINGS:
FYE opened wave 4 Amiibo pre-orders.
15 hours later, they cancelled them all because of people ordering 50 of each and then closed future pre-orders. So yay.
FYE opened wave 4 Amiibo pre-orders.
15 hours later, they cancelled them all because of people ordering 50 of each and then closed future pre-orders. So yay.
GasBandit
Staff member
I am not sure why these outlets can't understand the concept of "maximum (x) per customer)."
I don't know why Nintendo themselves hasn't just started selling them direct at this point. What are the retailers going to do, stop carrying the games and systems?
Hmm, I wonder if that has to do with the big publishers / developers refusal to accept that there is room for non AAA titles on the marketplace. Which means that they haven't tried to develop chick-gaming to go alongside chick-lit & chick-flicks, so if they want women to spend money on games, they have to attract them to the AAA titles rather than try to wall them off in their own little ghetto the way other parts of the entertainment industry have tried (and failed) to do.
figmentPez
Staff member
Reminder that Nintendo killed the Player's Choice line of titles, because they didn't like the idea of their games ever going down in price.
Yes. Because if you animate them with no motion, you get dinged for being unrealistic.
But if you animate them with too much motion, you get dinged for being unrealistic.
There is no middle ground.
--Patrick
And yet nowadays they have digital sales every few months.
Nintendo, y u no make sense?
figmentPez
Staff member
It makes a certain amount of sense. With the Player's Choice line, Nintendo was afraid that if people knew that the price would drop, they'd just wait until the cheap version came out. With digital sales, the price drop isn't a permanent thing, nor is it predictable. I don't think their reasoning is correct, for numerous reasons, but I can understand where their fear is coming from.
And even in cases where the price drop IS predictable, such as during a Steam Sale, it's usually during a time when you'd want people to buy stuff anyway.
Dorkly has a new comic up that's funny but sadly accurate:
It's time for me to start kissing girls to get better at video games.
http://kotaku.com/only-one-lgbtq-person-allowed-per-team-in-league-of-leg-1683515948
http://kotaku.com/only-one-lgbtq-person-allowed-per-team-in-league-of-leg-1683515948
GasBandit
Staff member
The logic goes like this.None of these sanctions make any sense at all.
Boys are better than girls at video games (like they are at everything).
Transexuals are REALLY boys, we're just humoring them because we don't want to get yelled at. But we draw the line at there being more than one in the all-girl tournament in the interest of fairness.
Ok, you know what? The same REALLY goes for lesbians, because let's be honest - they're basically boys without penises. They didn't grow up playing with dolls and teacups, they're into man stuff (like sleeping with women), so there's probably a performance edge there, too, because their brains think they are men. So we need to limit them, too.
Might as well throw in the bisexuals, too, because really, that's just diet gay.
TADAAAAA
I assume the organizers just finished watching Juwanna Mann.None of these sanctions make any sense at all.