Trolls drive Anita Sarkeesian out of her house...

[Hoodieninja]

wilco said:

Madword said:

wilco said:

Madword said:

The question would be is how would people suggest that games companies tackle such a story while still making the story in such a way. i.e sex slavery is happening, how would they cover such a story differently... would love to know.

I mean Watch_dogs seems to go into just about as much depth on the subject of women for sale as Taken (movie) does. 

You can cover it from the perspective of the female who has been enslaved (Several movies actually have done this). That would be a much more effective way to tackle the subject if you were really trying to tackle it. In watch dogs its a side plot, and in taken it is just an excuse for Liam Neeson to f dudes up.

There isn't anything inherently wrong with doing it from the male perspective and having the male be the hero, the issue that some feminist have is how often the trope is overused. In isolation, I don't think there is anything wrong with what watch dogs did. 

But that's my point, there isnt anything inherently wrong with doing it. Sure perhaps people dont think its written well enough, but as the main character is a man and this is a subplot, there is nothing wrong with that...the whole game isnt about that one particular issue (I dont believe cause i havent played more than 1 hour of WD yet)...but yet it's the thing that is being focussed on.

The reason why most games have the male as the hero is two fold, firstly most people who buy AAA games are male, secondly female character leads dont on the whole sell as well. Now if that is the case, do we expect companies to invest $50m+ dollars on a game that is more inclusive for a small market and on a product which will sell less. They just wont. Of course they can do more to make games seem more interesting and better written, but that is a different argument...

On Anita..she is a woman that has an opinion, I dont necessarily agree, I do agree gaming still hasnt grown up or is able to necessarily write good stories, but I dont agree there is anything wrong with gaming. It's all down to a matter of taste in the end, and one persons opinion should not be in any way used as *this is the only right opinion*. Unfortunately for me, there is a bit to much positive descrimination right now, certainly in some elements of the press seem to be pushing with an agenda. It feels like a battle for control of what and how games get made, and on the terms of the gaming press, which is very scary indeed.

PS - I do agree that threats to someone's life for having an opinion is a total disgrace and should be stopped.

I agree. I don't think anyone is saying that games like watch dogs shouldn't exist or they simply should stop doing that kind of story. I think Anita is just observing patterns and commenting on the possible causes and effects of those patterns. She is commenting on that specific section because it supports her thesis. I know some people think that is a bad thing but it is usually necessary to have a narrow focus for things like this. In any debate you are going to need to stick to the points that support your argument or run the risk of weakening your argument. There is more to watch dogs than that one aspect but that one aspect was relevant to her argument and she wasn't off the mark.

And yes there is a lot of "positive discrimination". I also find the over eagerness of some modern progressivism to be over the top. I think some of that has led to the equally over the top backlash. For me Sarkeesian videos aren't really some kind of call to arms for people to stop playing or making those games (maybe that is her intention but it is not how I digest them). There are things that I never realized how common they were until I watched her videos, I find them interesting and there is nothing wrong with being more aware.  I also think that there are assumptions being made by developers on what their male target audience wants to see. For example, the strip club in gta. The strip club on its own is fine but then they added a creepy mini game where you grope a stripper. I can understand why a feminist seeing this would think that there is something wrong with the gaming industry. Its just a pointless addition that adds nothing to the actual game other than providing feminists with more fuel. Its things like that that puzzle me about some of the choices made by the game industry.

No sorry again, she misrepresents Data, yes all she is technically doing is Shaming the video game industry to prove her Sexist Agenda.

Sarkeesian videos aren't really some call to arms? LOL, right.