Like.
Thanks for pointing that out; I had to stop reading rockpapershotgun precisely because of annoyingly political articles like that when I just wanted videogame news.
This is a lot more hilarious now.
Assuming you're actually trying to have a discussion, you're doing a horrible job paraphrasing what I've written, making assumptions about my opinion, and tilting at straw men.
Do you really think I have a problem with videogaming being inclusive? How insulting. Do you think the only correct approach is to align with strident bloviating? How intolerant. You're assuming that just because I share a goal with someone (the Weeping Graysons, for example), I agree with their assessment of how dire the problem is and how to work towards making the situation better. How absurd.
You also suck at quoting Film Crit Hulk. That stuff is supposed to be in all caps.
That's a pretty sad reading of Bioshock Infinite, Neill. The Elizabeth in my game was able to bend reality and even destroy the world. She was furthermore -- spoiler! -- the key to the Booker/Comstock divide, and not just a "tool". She was a smart subversion of the usual Disney princess trope and I find it telling that you want to reduce her to a sidekick, a la Elena Fisher. What a terrible thing to do to the best part of that game (i.e. the story).
But you're a great job of supporting my case. It's encouraging to me that we can have these sorts of conversations about female characters, and that there are different types of interesting, powerful, and noteworthy female characters, even if the finer points of that are lost on some people or a matter of differing interpretations. Not every interesting, powerful, and noteworthy female character is just a counterpart to a tough dude with a gun.
*sigh* One way or another, it seems like someone will always be complaining about caps when you bring Hulk into the conversation.
Anyway, you don't have to align with strident bloviating, but the tone policing/mocking you do here comes across as a snide defense of the status quo.
Especially when some of your examples aren't even progress. Last Light? Really? A game with one female character that turns into a damsel and love interest? That's scraping the bottom of the barrel, and coming up with the same old shit.
What really ticked me off though, is your apparent "both sides are as bad as each other" dismissal. Like somehow bloviating and harrassment campaigns are equally beyond the pale. I thought you only played a member of the Washington press corps on tv, man.
I meant that the post spends a lot of effort parodying language and tone while advancing the opposite view to the original. So when I read it, I take it to mean that the opposite view (apparently your view, Greg) is also ridiculous.
Yes, there is the "nothing is simple" message, but then there is the message that gender discrimination against men is a serious problem. Which is ridiculous. Then there is the point that gender discrimination problems have been solved in videogames because video game developers have daughters. That one is beyond ridiculous. It is a parody of logic, not writing. So I take it as trollbait.
Was she really able to or were you just told she was able to? She may ostensibly be capable of bending reality and destroying the world but what does she spend most of the game actually doing? Hiding in a corner serving the male protagonist, functionally non-existent to the rest of the game. That's a strong female character?
It's interesting that you bring up the subversion of the Disney princess trope because that's at the heart of why she's not really a character in the story. It's not about her as a character, it's about soothing the conscience of the males around her and ultimately the males that will be playing the game. She's a meta statement that we (read: males) are past the princess trope so we (read: males) can all pat ourselves on the back. Problem is that's still means she's a tool to serve men. The men get to explore their agency (read: kill everyone) the women's duty is to provide the post hoc rationale. She is therefor structurally essential to the game but also not be much of a character. All she ever does is function. That's what tools do.
Thanks for this Tom
haha as we can see, women are not at the top yet, if idiots call feminist politics "pms ravings"
I think video games people are mostly muscle free weak nerds who seek a mother figure with the power to protect them. That's why nerd stuff like comics and vidyas are the domain of ultra powerful women.
These guys can't even start imagining an interesting female character without exaggerated super powers*.
They are so disconnected from real women that they see them as mythical creatures with mythical capabilities, think about how childish that is.
1.) People don't like Fox News because it explicitly sells itself as a partisan and biased organization. That, y'know, tends to undermine your credibility as a news source, regardless of your political orientation.
2.) Maybe you should discuss the subject without inflammatory comments regarding liberals (and you know they are). I am real tired of hearing about "leftist agendas" and all that bullshit, especially when it's completely unnecessary in regards to arguing over the topic.
See, how many times have you just casually and derisively trotted out the word "liberal" in this section alone.
Just stop already. And I say that as somebody who shares your criticism and disdain for RPS' writing. Maybe "libtards" dogpile on you not because you threaten their platform, but because you write like an asshole.
And MSNBC doesn't? You know the cable "news" channel that's 85% opinion pieces and 15 % actual news?
Fact of the matter is there's one conservative news station out of all of them, yet that bothers people. Oh nos we can't have our perfect echo chamber!
You can deny their agendas all you want, socialism and destroying the constitution, that doesn't make them any less true.
Well done Tom, Kudos! Glad that someone is aware of that this has been an extraordinary year for female characters and gamers of all genders.
A lot of this does play to a kind of sexism where women aren't afforded a full spectrum of human behaviour (to include stupidity etc and other attributes afforded men) and where the representation of being strong requires adherence to certain arguably sexist construction of 'female' (ideas of nature, vulnerability, emotion, beauty etc).
I'm reasonably sure that the bulk of this 'progress' would be questioned in any kind of serious feminist circles (for instance, possibly suggesting that identity positions can be easily colonised - thus denying any potential for legitimate difference and reducing identity to play without having done the intellectual work required for doing so), so i'd hesitate to engage in acts of self congratulations at how enlightened gaming and gamers are becoming.
With good reason, I'm tired of watching them destroy the US, look at the gun laws now in some cities, they're actively trampling all over the 2nd amendment and very few people are standing up to them. This regime of Authoritarian police state statism needs to be addressed and stamped out pronto. Obama, Feinstine, Bloomberg and their ilk should be tried for treason against the US people.
People need to wake the hell up and start speaking the hell up.
Brilliant. I've been wanting to see this kind of article on my screen for ages.
Whoa, look at all those comments!
Corrections:
"Beyond[:] Two Souls"
"the [women] are competent and perceptive"
"Let['s] do an experiment."
"the main [character] was a dude"
Dude! I'm including this on my spring syllabus! (Uh oh, someone later said something about "university nonsense." I guess you'll join those silly ranks as well.) it's a sr level women in pop culture class. Good stuff here for discussion.,.or what apparently some call "university nonsense."
Not in my universe.