Sexism in video games.

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They literally stated in one game that Peach is kidnapped so frequently, her subjects stopped noticing.

That's just sad.

I give the Mario series a pass because it clearly realizes how ridiculous the situation is and even makes fun of itself all the time. Peach has the ability to use powerful healing magic and reasonably powerful forms of other kinds of magic, she's quite athletic, and many of the games show here capable of similar feats of acrobatics and/or melee combat skills as Mario, Luigi, Bowser, etc.. The fact that she gets kidnapped all the time is absurd, and that's part of the joke.

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Pointing out that your games are sexist doesn't actually eliminate the sexism, just like how hanging a shade on a lamp doesn't make the lamp nonexistent.

No, but the self-awareness does change the nature of the received message.

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Do people really try to identify with fictional characters in media? I hear it all the time, so I guess they do. I must be strange.

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Yeah. It changes the received message from "We're sexist." to "We're sexist, and we think sexism is a joke."

That's not the message I get, but nonetheless, I will agree that Other M was a pile of bullshit.

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Not just a fat bearded guy. A fat bearded prince of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Bears aren't as popular as twinks.

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So do you guys still play these games? How could you enjoy something if you thought it was sexist and that sexism is bad? Wouldn't that thought constantly invade your thoughts as you're playing and prevent you from enjoying the experience?

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Fuck, much of the great literature of Western civilization is sexist.

I would have a hard time enjoying something like that. How do you manage? I always imagined that social justice warriors would hate life and not be able to enjoy anything, because I can't enjoy something if I don't like the message it promotes.

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I know that feel. I know it strongly.

It's why I can't watch Fox News, not even for the lulz.

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It's possible to enjoy things even if they're problematic. Indeed, if we limited ourselves to media which weren't sexist/racist/homophobic/transphobic/etc then there probably wouldn't be much media to consume at all.

It's entirely possible to consume (and enjoy) problematic media while thinking about the broader implications in a thoughtful way. This seems to be something that a lot of people do not understand, since many here seem to be under the impression that thinking critically about something means that one is out to destroy everything and omgz!

I usually do limit myself to stuff that I don't see as promoting messages I disagree with. My urge to argue with the game would prevent me from enjoying it at all.

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Then don't play video games?

No one here is holding a gun to your head and saying, "AND YOU WILL PLAY THIS GAME AND ENJOY IT. LET ME SEE THAT SMILE ON YOUR FACE!"

It's more that I just gave up on giving a shit. I'm too much of a perfectionist to simultaneously remain sane and also care about how fucked up the world is. I'm basically a recluse.

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It's the same thing. (Dragon Age is guilty of this too) They're afraid to write gay characters so they make every romance option bisexual.

Somehow, I can't find myself offended by this.

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Why not.

Because I don't consider sexuality important and I wish other people thought the same. I hate identity politics in general. Hell, I hate belonging to things in general.

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Gameplay wise, you are literally a god in human form as well as the single most powerful person that ever lived.

[nitpick]No, Tiber Septim is the most powerful person that ever lived.[/nitpick]

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You've misread my complaint. The issue isn't the PC's sexuality. It's that no romance option has a defined sexuality. All of their sexualities change to fit the PC's.

What's really wrong with that? The game is basically allowing the player to decide how characters are through their actions. In some incarnations, this character might be gay or straight, or bisexual, asexual, whatever. The character of "Western" RPG's has always been to give the player character as much power over the world and its narrative as possible.

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My Morrowind Character is a nigh-invincible flying behemoth who can cross Tamriel in a second and kill anything in the world with one hit. Potion glitches sure are fun.

But you aren't one of the nine eight divines.

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Also, Alduin is Akatosh, so you literally kill a god during the game.

Alduin is the first born of Akatosh.

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Don't give a fuck. I'll sail up to Aetherius and kick their asses. Because Badass MacBadass the Badass doesn't give a fuck about your problems.

You'll still never kill Sheogorath. He'll just teleport you so high above the ground that even you power won't save you from the fall damage.

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You must be a Skyrim-only heathen who's never heard of Feather. For shame.

1. This is a Shivering Isles reference.

2. The "Levitation Act of 421" makes flying and similar actions illegal and somehow retroactively impossible.

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It's nine

Shh, the Thalmor are listening!

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The fuck kind of drugs were the writers on?

Skooma and some tainted Cyrodilic Brandy.

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Its all well and good that Bethesda isn't sexist. Now that they've achieved their goal of being progressive, they should focus on making games that aren't embarrassingly buggy and mind meltingly boring.

Finding out all the ways to break the game is half the fun. The mythology and gameplay are the other half, FYI.

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Notice how that's more acceptable than portraying Sambo in a video game.

Probably because there's nothing inherently wrong with women dressing in a sexually provocative manner, but Sambo is basically an extremely racist portrayal of African people.

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and they're fun to play with.

That's a matter of opinion.

[Volco]

I've always hated armor in games that show off the player's/character's tits and ass. It gets annoying. But as I'm going puberty, I really like it at the same time...

[Wamitoria]

Those shock statements tend to be creepy in the first place. That's why they're so shocking in the first place.

So I'm guessing male gamers suffer a lot or similar sexual harassment?

We get called "fag" a lot by 10 year olds. That's pretty much it.

So, to answer your question, no.