| Madword said:
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... |
My main issue with the GTA stripper mini-game is that it felt like someone decided that this was what their target demographic wanted so they included it. Just a complete waste of time and resources imo. The mini game wasn't particularly fun and I doubt anyone was turned on by those blocky pixelated boobs so what was the point? If it was just to add realism as you said then there are several other seedy real world elements they could have included. Would have preferred they went with dance clubs like GTA: SA, but I digress, that is really just going into my issue of how the GTA games ever since IV have been more concerned with "realism" than fun.
What is suprising about sexism in games is that its not just subtle. Some of the sexism is really overt and blatant. As much as I love the God Of War games, the sexism is shockingly blatant. You get a trophy called "I didn't... but I wish I did" for using a half naked woman as a door prop then gazing at her mangled corpse. There was also of course the whole "Bros before hos" trophy. You could make the argument that these are making a statment about kratos, but including trophies and giveng them those names is a bit much. You don't really see this kind of overt racism in games. There are stereotypes but rarely do you see the really over the top racism the way you see blatant sexism in games. You don't see sarcastic trophies being given out for lynching black people, nothing like that. I'm not a woman but I can't blame any woman that is offended by that kind of sexism.
I hear what your saying about peoples political agendas, and when people do try to use this as a way to encourage censorship I'm 100% with you. I think the issue is muddled because sometimes you have knee-jerk claims of sexism and racism (i.e. the recent "controversies" with Assassins Creed and Far Cry 3) that create a "cry-wolf" effect for legitimate claims. But there is sexism in some games and there is no reason to stick our heads in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist. With that said, developers should be allowed to include sexism in their games if they feel that strongly about its importance to the game but at the same time people shouldn't go nuts if they happen to be accused of sexism.
