| wilco said:
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. |
Well GTAV was a game I was nearly typing in an earlier comment before I deleted it all. :) -
The following is not directed at you, but at the general issue as i see it.
The stripper in GTA was just a digital computer graphic doing something on screen that quite a few people do in real life (I havent I may add for reference :). GTA has always been about following real life, and in GTA's world it's acceptable. I think if you were playing Peggle and it appeared, then that would be a problem.. it would be there for the sake of it, but GTA is all about copying the seedy real life element. You play a criminal in all of them, theres drugs, prostitution... it is being sarcastic about the world. So it definately has context. Strip clubs are not illegal, and many people go to them, is it wrong that a digital product has them..I think in the context of GTA definately not. I could easily find worse content in about 5 seconds using an internet browser.
Now will there be some people who find this unacceptable... yep I am sure. Are some people being prudish..perhaps. The stripper mini game could be called crass by some... I found it funny, so did my wife... and that's partly my point. Some people will have no issues with it, while some will. Are we to stop making such things because some people don't like it. Certainly in USA from what I read/see, American culture has more issues with Sex than they do violence.
Gaming is in some ways is still considered a product for kids, and I think thats partly the issue...people are still not getting the fact that gaming is for adults...and material can be positioned in a way for them.... ok I do agree that some games might want to add tittilation into the game just to appease the male market and that may not be part of the story or would seem crass, but I certainly dont want to get on the morale high ground.
There are certainly worse things in life than a digital female character being portrayed as a stripper/prositute in a game...especially considering the world we live in. But I do get the fact that some people will not like it...and I have no issue with that. But...I wish some sites would stop using adult content in games to push their own agendas.
It's very much what TV/VHS video went through in the 80's in the UK with a character called Mary Whitehouse, they were not happy about content on TV - even very lite stuff. It's what gaming is going through...
Making an indie game : Dead of Day!
