Tropes vs. Women in Video Games: Women as Reward

 
SecondClass
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
—Judge Aaron Satie
——Carmen
I like your damage control.

You're just repeating yourself twice over.

They have the same opportunities as men do. They aren't the blacks or something.

inb4Psy
Damage control? What damage is there to control?

And NO, they don't have the same opportunities as men. Educate yourself before you pretend that sexism is dead in this country.


 
Luciana
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And here we see you placing me on the complete opposite end of the spectrum to make your own argument seem more valid.

I just posted about sexism in Verbs little gamer thread. I'm well aware there is such a thing as sexism on all sides for all genders.


 
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
—Judge Aaron Satie
——Carmen
And here we see you placing me on the complete opposite end of the spectrum to make your own argument seem more valid.

I just posted about sexism in Verbs little gamer thread. I'm well aware there is such a thing as sexism on all sides for all genders.
Then you'd know that employment disparity is one of the most widespread forms of it, along with slut shaming. Misrepresentation in the media isn't nearly as prevalent as these two things.


Zizzy | Heroic Unstoppable!
 
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They say you are what you eat, but I don't remember eating mYsELF
Class is like, 19 too (with the mind of a child, mind you)
Aren't you older?
I assume you're talking to me. I'm 19 as well, but I think he was using it more as a general insult.


 
Verbatim
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you fucking bunch of faggots


Turkey | Mythic Inconceivable!
 
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TIL I can ignore well reasoned arguments because Reddit doesn't like the claimant.


maverick | Legendary Invincible!
 
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you fucking bunch of faggots
YOU AINT GOT THE ANSWERS VERB


 
Verbatim
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*takes a deep, deep breath*

Okay.

My main issue with these works are that it presumes upon "male entitlement" as the issue at hand; in general, I'd expand that to just "entitlement". Towards the end, especially, she makes a comment that male entitlement affects how women interact with each other. Quite frankly, it seems she's using men as a scapegoat for issues. If women weren't interested in rewarding skimpiness, films like Magic Mike wouldn't have been a box office hit (and even though its sequel, Magic Mike XXL, did poorly at the box office in comparison, it still made a large profit).
Well, as you (should) know, the existence of films like Magic Mike is, indeed, an insult. Sexual objectification goes both ways, and most feminists will agree with that. You can talk about how Anita doesn't ever talk about the subjugation of males in media all you want--but the fact is, she doesn't have to focus on that. That's not what her series is about. It's about women.

You can also try to argue that her focus on women is disingenuous, because it could make it seem as though the same couldn't said about male portrayal in media. And you might have something going for you. But I would maintain that the objectification of women is still the bigger issue. It just is. And it's due to a number of factors--how our society is run and has been running for the past few centuries, how much easier it is to sexualize women due to their having a greater amount of exploitable assets, and, of course, the fact that the gaming sector is, indeed, dominated by young horny heterosexual males. These are facts.

And because of these facts, you're going to see women sexualized a lot more often than you are with men. So, while it's true that males are sexualized all the time in media, they simply are not sexualized as often as women are. And that's why it's smarter to focus on women. You can disagree, but... I'm sorry, but I don't think you don't have any legs to stand on.

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Another is a comment she makes slightly earlier/later (depending on which section of discussion on male entitlement you predict that I'm speaking of) about "angry public temper tantrums from straight male players have occurred when role-playing games have forced them to interact with gay male characters". The issue with Cortez from Mass Effect 3, and similarly other minorities in Bioware games, is that they are themselves based solely around their "issue"; Cortez is just a gay guy, that's the limit of his development. Anders (Dragon Age II) will react negatively if you refuse him sex after building a significant amount of approval points (a contrast to her issue with reward points in video games, where the player is negatively affected by refusing sex). On the other side, characters who were actually developed past their sexuality are approved of or loved by the gaming community. Dorian (Dragon Age: Inquisition), despite the mixed views towards the game, is generally seen as a good character on his own grounds. Likewise, Arcade Gannon (Fallout: New Vegas) is also a gay character who is beloved and approved of by the gaming community.
Fair enough. That was one of the few parts of the video that I didn't really like. It's not like it was the crux of her argument, though. I can let it slide when she makes smaller misinformed statements like that, personally. Why you can't, I don't know.

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I dislike her views, not because they contrast with my own, but because I find it increasingly apparent that they are used to push an agenda and not to inform for the greater benefit of society. No person can be expected, or for that matter possibly be, unbiased on a subject; but her series reeks of bias, with minimal attempts to try and "straighten the curve" toward radical leftist principles.
I don't see anything wrong with pushing an agenda. Can you tell me? I feel like that's a buzzword a lot of people use to easily shut down someone's viewpoint with no effort. Right now, you are pushing an agenda. Should I use that fact to debase all of your claims? That wouldn't seem fair.

Maybe I'M biased, but I didn't detect an excessive amount of bias in her video--you're gonna need to provide more examples, if you would please.
Last Edit: August 31, 2015, 05:32:24 PM by Verbatim


Girl of Mystery | Mythic Unfrigginbelievable!
 
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A flower which blooms on the battlefield
Class is like, 19 too (with the mind of a child, mind you)
Aren't you older?
I assume you're talking to me. I'm 19 as well, but I think he was using it more as a general insult.


Zizzy | Heroic Unstoppable!
 
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They say you are what you eat, but I don't remember eating mYsELF
Class is like, 19 too (with the mind of a child, mind you)
Aren't you older?
I assume you're talking to me. I'm 19 as well, but I think he was using it more as a general insult.


 
Luciana
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stop talking about me in such a light


 
Verbatim
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Thank you for actually watching the video/reading the transcript, by the way. And tackling the arguments being made, instead of just assaulting her character.


 
Verbatim
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Okay, but how does it harm women?
Some feminists would argue that the way women are treated in media profoundly influences ways how women are treated in real life (ie. sexist game -> more sexist people), albeit subconsciously.

I don't really know about that, myself.
Personally, I treat it as though it's any other type of game flaw.

For example--I hate bad controls. They tend to ruin the experience for me. Does having bad controls harm anyone? No, it doesn't. Does that take away my ability to complain about it and say, "Hey, this really fucking sucks. It would be great if it was different, or just better."

That's what I'm doing with sexualization. I don't think that's unreasonable.
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What are the wider sociocultural repercussions of treating women as 'objects'?
I really don't think I need to teach you about the ethical repercussions of treating people as objects. I really don't.

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Does it affect men too seeing as how objectification of men is almost as prevalent?
Yes.

But no, it is not "almost" as prevalent. It's prevalent, but objectification of women is ubiquitous.

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What exactly are your solutions to this alleged problem?
Stop sexualizing men & women in media. The only way we can really do that is by communicating our displeasure with it, and... boycotts, I guess.
Last Edit: August 31, 2015, 04:03:49 PM by Verbatim


 
Luciana
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I think TV commercials piss me off more than games, because of the audience it reaches. Like, I think they made a Coke for men, and made the other seem too girly or something.

It was so retarded.


 
Luciana
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What are the wider sociocultural repercussions of treating women as 'objects'?
I really don't think I need to teach you about the ethical repercussions of treating people as objects. I really don't.
I think he was talking about modern day times.


Girl of Mystery | Mythic Unfrigginbelievable!
 
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A flower which blooms on the battlefield
Class is like, 19 too (with the mind of a child, mind you)
Aren't you older?
I assume you're talking to me. I'm 19 as well, but I think he was using it more as a general insult.
my post was directly under luci's, whose comment was about class calling her a kid


 
Verbatim
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Someone brought up that the whole "big boobs are bad" argument is as well. As in, people who says female characters having big breasts is bad because it sexualizes women, so they need to bring it down.

Well apparently people fail to understand there are women who have a pretty big breast size.
I don't find large breasts problematic in and of themselves. It's how they are displayed, and what this large-breasted character's role is in the story. Not their primary role--ALL of their roles. And if one of their roles is "the cocktease," that's a problem.

The hard thing--and we just discussed this the other day--it's very difficult to gauge intent. It's hard for me to think to myself, "Oh, well, this female character just happens to have large, nearly exposed breasts. That doesn't mean she's being sexualized--that's just how she dresses!"

I can't do that. If it's in a piece of art, chances are, it's done intentionally. Take those cutscenes from that new Fire Emblem game--there's a LOT of breast gags in that game, apparently. Clearly, they're intentionally doing that. But, frankly, I can't think of a SINGLE big-breasted female character in a game that wasn't overtly designed to be sexually tantalizing in some way. They're all cockteases. Please, please name me some, if you're so sure of yourself.

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How are they supposed to feel when people instantly say "THATS WRONG!!!" when it's thrown in any form of media? Someone brought that up with Tifa and the remake of FF7, and it does bring up a point (because the girl, who happened to have big breasts, actually felt ashamed because of what I said).
That's a valid point, and Tifa is an interesting example, but I ain't ever played Final Fantasy, so I can't really gauge whether or not she was overtly sexualized or not. Forgive me if I don't take your word for it--even if there's a single scene where she does something goofy with her funbags, or some other fanservice-y shit like that, then... she fails the "test", as it were.

So again, I'm not saying it's bad to have large breasts in games--maybe SOME people are saying that, but I'm not--what I'm saying is that it's generally pretty obvious that whenever there's a character with large breasts, the only reason they are is because it makes men's dicks hard--and that, to me, has no place in video games.

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She's popular because not only can she look good, but she's a good person while doing it.
That was actually pretty clever. I like that. Did you come up with it yourself?


 
Verbatim
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There's a lot of sexism in our society, and while I'd consider this bad, of course, it's not nearly as important as things like employment discrimination and the gender pay gap.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_of_relative_privation

I'm glad you can at least see where I'm coming from.


 
SecondClass
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
—Judge Aaron Satie
——Carmen
There's a lot of sexism in our society, and while I'd consider this bad, of course, it's not nearly as important as things like employment discrimination and the gender pay gap.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_of_relative_privation

I'm glad you can at least see where I'm coming from.
No, I definitely agree that sexism in video games is an important issue, but I just don't know why that's the thing that you choose to post a lot about. I mean, over-sexualization of women affects how society in the real world treats them, but I feel like there's an odd contrast there when you put it beside slut shaming. We love seeing nearly naked women in our shows and games, but in real life, we hate women who are sexually active. It makes no sense.

Obviously, you and I differ when it comes to how much of a bad thing being promiscuous is, but I think we can both agree that the double standard (of men who have a lot of sex being looked up to, while women are shamed for it) is ridiculous.


 
Verbatim
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I'm not defending it (most of that stuff makes me uncomfortable while playing), I just don't believe it translates into real life.
Neither do I, mostly. Anita might disagree, of course, but I don't think video games make you sexist either.

But that doesn't mean it's okay to CATER to sexist endeavors. I'm not a sexist, so I won't play sexist games

So when I see a series I like (like Street Fighter) go down that road of sexual objectification, it upsets me, because this once-great series is resorting to such disgustingly exploitative and juvenile methods of getting kids to play their game. It's disgraceful.


 
Verbatim
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Although I do agree with most of the examples she gave, I don't think that it is a problem provided that it fits with the story, such as love scenes. They aren't necessary to the plot, but they can ad dept to the game by more intimately including the player into the life of the character.
When it comes to sex scenes, I hate pretty much all of them. To me, it's no different than showing a character using the toilet. I don't need to see it, I don't want to see it, and no one really wants to see it except for depraved nerds. So, in my opinion, we should either do without them, or if two characters having sex is somehow important to the story, then have the sex be implied but not actually shown.


 
Verbatim
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TIL I can ignore well reasoned arguments because Reddit doesn't like the claimant.
Not sure who you're referring to here.


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[Cherry-picking and intention misinterpreting intensifies]


 
Verbatim
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I think TV commercials piss me off more than games, because of the audience it reaches. Like, I think they made a Coke for men, and made the other seem too girly or something.

It was so retarded.
I agree. Commercials are mind-numbingly sexist these days. But commercials are, well, commercials. There's no point in trying to make them less sexist, because they're always going to be toxic anyway. You know what I mean?

No one actually watches commercials, so I don't really... It just seems like a lost cause to me.

I think he was talking about modern day times.
Maybe.

PHEW.
now i'm all caught up, I think
Last Edit: August 31, 2015, 04:31:15 PM by Verbatim


 
Luciana
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Spoiler
Someone brought up that the whole "big boobs are bad" argument is as well. As in, people who says female characters having big breasts is bad because it sexualizes women, so they need to bring it down.

Well apparently people fail to understand there are women who have a pretty big breast size.
I don't find large breasts problematic in and of themselves. It's how they are displayed, and what this large-breasted character's role is in the story. Not their primary role--ALL of their roles. And if one of their roles is "the cocktease," that's a problem.

The hard thing--and we just discussed this the other day--it's very difficult to gauge intent. It's hard for me to think to myself, "Oh, well, this female character just happens to have large, nearly exposed breasts. That doesn't mean she's being sexualized--that's just how she dresses!"

I can't do that. If it's in a piece of art, chances are, it's done intentionally. Take those cutscenes from that new Fire Emblem game--there's a LOT of breast gags in that game, apparently. Clearly, they're intentionally doing that. But, frankly, I can't think of a SINGLE big-breasted female character in a game that wasn't overtly designed to be sexually tantalizing in some way. They're all cockteases. Please, please name me some, if you're so sure of yourself.

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How are they supposed to feel when people instantly say "THATS WRONG!!!" when it's thrown in any form of media? Someone brought that up with Tifa and the remake of FF7, and it does bring up a point (because the girl, who happened to have big breasts, actually felt ashamed because of what I said).
That's a valid point, and Tifa is an interesting example, but I ain't ever played Final Fantasy, so I can't really gauge whether or not she was overtly sexualized or not. Forgive me if I don't take your word for it--even if there's a single scene where she does something goofy with her funbags, or some other fanservice-y shit like that, then... she fails the "test", as it were.

So again, I'm not saying it's bad to have large breasts in games--maybe SOME people are saying that, but I'm not--what I'm saying is that it's generally pretty obvious that whenever there's a character with large breasts, the only reason they are is because it makes men's dicks hard--and that, to me, has no place in video games.

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She's popular because not only can she look good, but she's a good person while doing it.
That was actually pretty clever. I like that. Did you come up with it yourself?
Good points on all you said. Yeah it's a very fine line I believe. Like... Quiet in MGS V? Yeah, even THAT is a bit much for me. It's just so out there.

And yes, I did come up with it by myself, thank you c:

Edit: Actually, Verb, even in new games with Tifa in it, they made her clothes more conservative than originally. Lemme get you links.
Last Edit: August 31, 2015, 04:32:18 PM by Luciana


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They say you are what you eat, but I don't remember eating mYsELF
Class is like, 19 too (with the mind of a child, mind you)
Aren't you older?
I assume you're talking to me. I'm 19 as well, but I think he was using it more as a general insult.
my post was directly under luci's, whose comment was about class calling her a kid
Whose comment was about Class calling ME a kid, actually.


Mordo | Mythic Invincible!
 
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emigrate or degenerate. the choice is yours
Some feminists would argue that the way women are treated in media profoundly influences ways how women are treated in real life
But as I illustrated in my previous post with an academic study, the basis for that argument is tenuous at best. All evidence points towards the contrary, that is, if you're referring to videogames.
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(ie. sexist game -> more sexist people), albeit subconsciously.
And your empirical evidence for this is, what? A 30 minute video from a mendacious figurehead in the SJW community that never establishes a causal link between sexism in games and sexism in reality?
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I don't really know about that, myself.
So why comment about it?
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For example--I hate bad controls. They tend to ruin the experience for me. Does having bad controls harm anyone?
Horrendous analogy. Having bad controls impacts the game's quality, and thus would be a problem. You've yet to provide an answer as to why 'sexism' in videogames translates into an issue in real life.
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No, it doesn't. Does that take away my ability to complain about it and say, "Hey, this really fucking sucks. It would be great if it was different, or just better."
This sounds more like an internalized issue you personally withhold, rather than an actual problem facing women.
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That's what I'm doing with sexualization. I don't think that's unreasonable.
It's not unreasonable to dissociate yourself from these types of games if you personally find it affronting, which I think most of your arguments stem from. It is unreasonable to bemoan, libel and 'boycott' (as you put it later on) towards games that you intrinsically find uncomfortable.

I feel like a lot of your contentions could just be solved by not giving a shit, but since it's you, I know that's a shot in the dark.
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I really don't think I need to teach you about the ethical repercussions of treating people as objects. I really don't.
1) I meant contemporary objectification

2) Enslaving an entire race and objectifying someone are two colossally different things

3) You're a retard of the highest calibre by trying to conflate the two.
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Yes.

But no, it is not "almost" as prevalent. It's prevalent, but objectification of women is ubiquitous.
I agree, but again, please provide a viable dilemma this poses to women in the real world that isn't something you just find personally icky.
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Stop sexualizing men & women in media.
Good luck trying to stop sexual beings from sexualizing other sexual beings.
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The only way we can really do that is by communicating our displeasure with it, and... boycotts, I guess.
And how wonderful that's worked out for you, hasn't it?


 
Luciana
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Zizzy is right... I think. Yeah I was laughing at Class saying "kid" in general. The only one who can say that and sound funny and amazing about it is Bazuso.


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TIL I can ignore well reasoned arguments because Reddit doesn't like the claimant.
Not sure who you're referring to here.

Several people on this first page ignoring the transcript because of Anita Sarkeesian.


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If I'm not here, I'm doing photography. Or I'm asleep. Or in lockdown. One of those three, anyway.

The current titlebar/avatar setup is just normal.
...but that doesn't mean it's okay to CATER to sexist endeavors. I'm not a sexist, so I won't play sexist games.

I agree with that sentiment. At least if there's something overdone in that regard in a game, I try and avoid it or if it's unavoidable, get it over with as fast as possible.

Oh, and I found a female character that has massive breasts that isn't for the purpose of objectification - or for any reason at all, actually:

Ellie from Borderlands 2


She does get some rather revealing stuff in DLC as part of a mission, but the quest itself corrects it.
Last Edit: August 31, 2015, 04:42:46 PM by SuperIrish