Nearly 1K developers sign letter to end intolerance in the games community

By +Frank B.
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Grand Master

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You were the one talking about developers being shamed by feminists. It was a general statement, one that stands on its own - if developers are producing sexist games?which they are?then they should be shamed. Where are the male prostitutes in GTA? Why are all the characters in Dead Or Alive hyper-sexualised? Why are the female characters in League Of Legends scantily dressed and in sexual poses? How many first-person shooters have female protagonists?

 

Publishers need to stop playing it safe and start pushing the boundaries, as is the case in other forms of media (music, films, television, etc). Those that perpetuate outdated, misleading or offensive stereotypes should be exposed and face criticism. What I don't understand is why you think feminists are in the wrong for pointing out the problems with the video games industry.

 

GTA - not a sexist game. Omission of male prostitutes does not make it sexist. If all the female characters in the game were prostitutes, then maybe you'd have a point. But how many male prostitutes do you see out there?

Dead Or Alive - Japanese subcultures.

League of Legends - never played it.

First person shooters with female protagonists - does a game really need to have a female protagonist to make it acceptable? What does this accomplish? It's a first person shooter... When I played Metroid Prime, I didn't think "oh wow, this character is a woman" nor did that game sell especially well to women, even though it was a "non-sexist" game (a good game too) with a female protagonist. I don't think the sex of the main character really makes much difference one way or the other.

 

These feminists just want to ruin a good thing. If they wanted to fix problems in the video game industry, they'd fight all these microtransactions... the games themselves (PC/Console at least) are fine. Would like to have sales figures on real games (non mobile/Angry Birds type of games) to see gender breakdown of who is actually buying. That's what I like about capitalism... you can vote with your wallet. If these feminists don't like the games, they don't need to buy them.

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Setnom

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What I don't understand is why you think feminists are in the wrong for pointing out the problems with the video games industry.

 

They're not in the wrong. But in the case of Anita Sarkeesian, it's the wrong way to do it. She is taking scenes out of context, making stuff up and trying to connect fictional, virtual and/or scripted behaviors with reality. Basically, she says that by considering women as objects in a game, you are more likely to do the same in real life. Which is totally not true. I would even say its totally the opposite.

 

This last one is especially gruesome to me because by doing so she is agreeing will all those so-called "experts" that say "videogames are the cause of problem X in society". 

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Athernar

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You were the one talking about developers being shamed by feminists. It was a general statement, one that stands on its own - if developers are producing sexist games?which they are?then they should be shamed. Where are the male prostitutes in GTA? Why are all the characters in Dead Or Alive hyper-sexualised? Why are the female characters in League Of Legends scantily dressed and in sexual poses? How many first-person shooters have female protagonists?

 

Publishers need to stop playing it safe and start pushing the boundaries, as is the case in other forms of media (music, films, television, etc). Those that perpetuate outdated, misleading or offensive stereotypes should be exposed and face criticism. What I don't understand is why you think feminists are in the wrong for pointing out the problems with the video games industry.

 

Why should big business have to foot the bill and take the risk, just because of some loudmouth slacktivists?

 

Considering most of these so-called "feminists" are indie artist?s, why don't they set the example? Because all I see right now is a couple of abusers co-opting feminism, attempting to cover up their corruption and cronyism, and a "feminist critic" that lied about her background in gaming, expressed total disinterest in the medium, and posts factually incorrect analyses that use 3rd-party footage instead of her own.

 

Oh, oddly enough that "feminist critic" also seems to be connected back to one of the two abusers and her little cronyist PR firm.

 

These people are worse than TERFs, who at least actually believe in their disgusting ideology.

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Brendeth

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I personally don't believe that Anita does a great job of her argument, and I dislike her way of presenting the topic - but it's still very much a valid topic that is worth discussing. People would just like better representation in video games, be it gender, sexuality or race. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

 

People here are crying out against those 'feminists' and those pesky people who are easily offended (kind of a pot meet kettle situation with that here) - yes there may be a more pleasing way to ask for this representation, but it's not an unreasonable request in the slightest. Having a more inclusive industry, means more inclusive games - which means a wider audience and more money for our beloved hobby. Where is the problem here?


 

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Grand Master

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I think the obvious hasnt been mentioned, and some people's views are missing the obvious.

When a company makes a product, they decide who the main target market is.  Demographics are considered, and then analyzed and ways to capitalize on these stats are implemented into the game.

For the most part, the largest demographic of gamers, is teen boys to mid 20s -  that is a huge chunck of the market.  And what is one of the most important things to males @ that age ?  girls/women/sex

So, any company who wants to maximize ROI (profits) will encapsulate those things into their product. - Business 101.


If certain people/groups dont like it -- then dont buy the game - speak with your dollar-votes.  But, people arent happy with that idea.  They want to make a sweeping change which will affect everyone.  They want to see policy implemented that will project their views onto everyone else, but get outraged if someone attempts to do the same to them.
The offended party wants everything changed to suit them (in this case feminists)

Instead of simply saying, "Hey, we dont like this and will not buy it, nor support it in any way" - they want the product to be changed to what they think is appropriate - their beliefs are more important than others.... not right.

 

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Vandalsquad

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You were the one talking about developers being shamed by feminists. It was a general statement, one that stands on its own - if developers are producing sexist games?which they are?then they should be shamed. Where are the male prostitutes in GTA? Why are all the characters in Dead Or Alive hyper-sexualised? Why are the female characters in League Of Legends scantily dressed and in sexual poses? How many first-person shooters have female protagonists?

 

Publishers need to stop playing it safe and start pushing the boundaries, as is the case in other forms of media (music, films, television, etc). Those that perpetuate outdated, misleading or offensive stereotypes should be exposed and face criticism. What I don't understand is why you think feminists are in the wrong for pointing out the problems with the video games industry.

 

Why not have male prostitutes, I don't think one bloke on here right now would care in the slightest and start campaigning against Rockstar for it to be excluded or is arguing that point. I would say the reasoning behind not having gay prostitutes is how the gay community would react. Positive or Negative. It's rockstar's image and money they don't want to risk.

 

DoA? Are you kidding? Why is every bloke in that game ripped with a 6 pack and 6"+ foot tall? Why don't they have any 'average joes' My feelings are hurt because I don't look like the character :cry:  FPS's? These games are targeted at their major demographic. Which happens to be males. I've never once heard my partner complain about why isn't the lead female when playing. Or any other girls I know that play video games complain about this issue at all. The same reason I don't complain when the latest Disney movie has a female lead roll. Because that's who its targeted at and I don't even notice. I don't believe any females that actually play and enjoy CoD or BF4 even notice so why are the ones who don't complaining for?

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Eclipse77

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This woman has no grasp on reality. It's really simple: men like looking at woman; woman like looking at woman. Men do not like looking at other men, and even a lot of straight woman are grossed out by men  :rofl: . So yeah, of course that's going to result in a lot more scantily clad women than men in the media because that's what the majority of people like to look at!

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Grand Master

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men like looking at woman; woman like looking at woman. Men do not like looking at other men, and even a lot of straight woman are grossed out by men

 

I don't care if I'm looking at a Man or a Woman so long as they're blowing things up. I think my Wife would probably prefer to look at Men. She also thinks (young) Arnold Swarznndnaownoegger is hot too, so, she's obviously going to enjoy the "big strong man" protagonist.

 

 

Also, I don't know any straight Woman grossed out by looking at Men... That, to me, sounds like the opposite of straight lol.

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Grand Master

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...

Also, I don't know any straight Woman grossed out by looking at Men... That, to me, sounds like the opposite of straight lol.

Nah, it's a well known fact that straight women don't like men, and instead like other women.

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taim

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I'm sorry, would you like a cookie and a trophy in compensation?

I'll take the cookie.

 

Also for the first person shooter genre, if the game takes place during World War or other wars that don't have any female soldiers would feminist be upset that the game doesn't have any female soldiers?

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