Sexism in video games.

[Conkerials]

I noticed those... Strange ads. "Roman Orgy!" "Male Gamers Only!"... But Europa Universalis 4 is something to really look at. I love Paradox, and I have seen the trailers and Dev. Logs. I've been seeing the ads around the site, I probably won't pre-order it. I might wait a bit, but I have EU3 and its amazing.... But... Yeah... NO SEXISM IN GAMES. WE NEED MORE FEMALE GAMERS. And go PC gamers!

Hah, I love Paradox, they're not afraid to put in racism, sexism, and homophobia into their games where it was historically there.

I love in EU3. "You trade 76% of the Slaves in the world." "You Produce 92% of the Slaves in the word."

[Conserative Morality]

Anyone else noticing the ad here that says "male gamers only"? With a picture of a sexually objectified woman of course.

Anyway, me, I'm not much of a gamer. Doesn't interest me. But you'd have to be blind not to notice that video games tend toward the sexist side. I've also frequently heard tell that gamer culture is highly misogynistic, from more than a couple of women gamers.

So. Would anyone like to share their opinions or thoughts on this?

The sexism is there, but it's getting better. I wish I had something more positive than that, but that's all I can honestly say.

[Conserative Morality]

Sexism needs to exist so that gender roles dont dissapear

Too late.

[Conserative Morality]

Star Wars: The Old Republic.

In which you can literally shock (This is exclusively for one female character) and beat your companions causing them to cry. It's legitimately terrible.

Done by the same company that you advocate as 'progressive'. They're just a little less bad than most other development companies.

When playing as a Sith Fascist Fuck whose primary function is evil, yes, you can do so.

Would you prefer the Dark Side options be 'Give less than 10% of your income to charity' or 'Refuse to compliment companion's new outfit'?

[Conserative Morality]

wat. How did I miss this while playing it?

The Sith Warrior gets a slave companion. If you're cruel enough, when you get one of your companions, you can refuse to take her slave collar off and shock her whenever she speaks for dark side points. It's pretty sick. One of my friends who was playing a Dark Side character couldn't even do it.

[Conserative Morality]

No, I'd rather my dark side option be "Shoot the bitch out of the airlock in hyperspace."

How on earth is that better?

Because that's actually the stupidly evil thing I expect from BioWare's morality choices. Not torturing a companion that reacts positively to said torture because lol BioWare.

Have you actually played the game, or watched people play it, or do you get all of your information from Tumblr?

[Conserative Morality]

It's more IC.

The Sith never seemed particularly BDSM friendly. And far more "You've failed me for the last time. Die." friendly.

Petty torture seemed quite in line with Sith ideas to me. It was certainly in line with TOR's Sith, at least. (I played your friendly neighborhood Spy/Fascist Secret Police Imperial Agent, so bit of a bias here, but even so)

[Conserative Morality]

It's better because it's the kind of evil that I expect from BioWare lol morality.

It's better because murder is the option you were expecting.

What.

I don't know, you fucking tell me:
(Image)

Images without context mean nothing, but assuming that is your playing record, you should fucking know how the affection system works and what shocking does. Unless you never used Vette. Also, you're talking about how awful Bioware is with this and you're supposedly playing a SUBSCRIBER account? Really? If I thought a company was that unabashedly misogynist and sexist, I'd sure as fuck not be giving them money every month.

[Conserative Morality]

Also the option we were supposed to have, but, you know, budgets.

So this entire temper tantrum is because you can't murder your companions at will.

Wow.

"You know, I'm kinda starting to like it."

Having:

1. Never heard that quote in game.
2. Being unable to find any confirmation of that quote.
3. Uncertain if it's one of Vette's sarcastic comments (As she is full of them).

I'm going to call bullshit.

No, I'm talking about how BioWare isn't this magical progressive company better than other developers. Learn to read my post, holy shit.

Actually, if the other developers you get games from are all about stockholm syndrome/abused lovers being portrayed positively, I might re-examine the developers you get games from.

Also I don't pay my subscription. A fellow raider does because they want me to raid with them and I would have quit ages ago if they didn't pay for me to play.

That's the weakest excuse I've heard all day, and I spent this morning with a seven year old.

[Conserative Morality]

It is in fact one of her sarcastic comments. It's delivered some time after the "I never knew evil was so petty until after I met you." line in the 'I am an awful human being who kept the shock collar on her the entire time' conversations end.

So in other words, she doesn't like it at all, and your entire line of thought here is based on a lie you just admitted.

Because that's actually the stupidly evil thing I expect from BioWare's morality choices. Not torturing a companion that reacts positively to said torture because lol BioWare.

That's where all this started. That quote was the 'proof'. Your reaction here is the end.

[Conserative Morality]

It's the reason I left almost every gaming community I've been in.

Oddly enough, I've never encountered that scenario in my gaming communities. Dumb luck, I guess.

[Conserative Morality]

*snip legitimate grievances*

and that's only when you can choose to be female. many games don't even include the option, and are always narrated by some heteronormative white man. Fuck that. If I wanted that kind of angst, i'd just go read mainstream news. Seriously, give me a black woman's narrative, or someone's who's LGBTAQ or someone who's got a disability, or any kind of diversity PLEASE.

*snip legitimate grievances*

basically this is why i never play games/watch tv/participate in popular culture and this is why. but sexism doesn't exist

Shit, I thought I had tumblr open in my other tab.

[Conserative Morality]

This is one of the things that I use to determine whether or not I'll actually play the game.
I make a female character and try some armor, if it looks like chainmail bikini I uninstall the game.

That implies that you've already bought the game, though.

I always run a quick google search before buying a game I suspect of such things.

[Conserative Morality]

Buy? I don't BUY MMO's. Not worth it.
Except for Guild Wars, no monthly fees.

Ah. I don't play MMOs.

[Conserative Morality]

Exactly. And why the fuck is that? And why do women have to have cartoonish proportions to be sexy? Why can't being a person be sexy?

I remember having a discussion with one of my friends about the new Tomb Raider that was something to that effect. We both had gotten it because we were excited that Lara Croft was being portrayed as something other than an oversexualized pair of talking tits.

[Conserative Morality]

I'd like to play Planetside 2 though, my CPU can't handle it.

I played it for a bit. It was alright. The idea was more interesting than the implementation.

[Conserative Morality]

Well, you won't find many women capable of casting magic missile and hacking the head off of a troll with their +10 sword of slaying.

It's common knowledge that level 30 templars are much sexier than regular people. Regular people certainly CAN be sexy, but people with the capability of instantly healing wounds or summoning a lightning storm are much sexier just by default.

Eh, I prefer mundane heroes. Just people who get by through determination, skill, and wit.

That's why I'm always a Fighter when I'm not DMing.

[Conserative Morality]

She is? In the new one? This is intriguing.

Yep. Her characterization takes a huge departure from the other continuities, starting with "having one" and ending with "being pretty decent". They neglected most of the side characters, and the plot isn't anything special, but I think the feeling of Lara's individual struggle and development makes up for it.

[Conserative Morality]

It's not up to you to decide what grievances are legitimate or not. Or else I'll be forced to make a remark about privilege. And we don't want me to go full SJW.

Actually, as a thinking human being, it is up to me to decide what grievances are legitimate or not. Those who claim that one cannot make such decisions are little more than automaton following a set pattern of acceptable behavior without examining the deeper ramifications for the moral system imposed upon them by their culture or subculture.

In other words, that shit is for the birds; if you can think, it's up to you to make value judgments - not anyone else. So buck up and take a little responsibility for your own views.

[Conserative Morality]

Hooo lord, because people fight in ornate armour...

People lead in it, and video game armor usually resembles such parade and tourney armor more than practical armor.

Not that I'm a fan of the boob plates, mind you. They're awfully stupid.

[Conserative Morality]

Sorry I dozed off during your diatribe. Violence sells. Sexism sells. So they sell violence and sexism.

By selling sexism, they are encouraging sexism. It's like pushing drugs - sure, you can say heroin sells, but by selling heroin, you are furthering the cycle of heroin addiction and consumption.

[Conserative Morality]

I take full responsibility for them, but I deny that your judgement has any more merit than my own, or that your own judgement has any more relevancy to the issue at hand than my own. And nice sheeple dig, real good argumentation.

Actually, you're claiming that your judgement has more merit and relevancy than my own, seeing as you told me that it isn't up to me to decide what grievances are legitimate or not. By making that claim, you either are saying that you are inherently superior in your ability to discern the 'true' value of things (Unlikely from Tumblr types like you), or else saying that value judgments do not come from the individual.

The third option is that you didn't think your objection through, but I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt.

[Conserative Morality]

I support the legalization of heroin.

It is not the personal responsibility of every individual to promote good values.

Actually, it is, although I suppose that's not really what we're discussing in this thread. The point is that by 'selling' sexism, so to speak, they're creating a demand for sexism that they can sell. Whether or not it's the duty of the media to promote good values is irrelevant - when they are effectively destroying good values through their actions, one should place the guilt with the guilty, whether or not one thinks that they should be punished for it.

[Conserative Morality]

They're selling what sells, you can't expect them to do anything more or less than that.

I can, actually, and I do. They're creating a market for sales that does nothing but replace a less reprehensible market of not only the exact same size, but the exact same audience, and encourages the perpetuation of such shitty values for no real increase in anything except shitty values.

[Conserative Morality]

Value judgements come from the individual. I; however, have no obligation to regard your opinion as higher than my own. And this is getting pretty tangential...

If you think that I'm saying that my opinion is higher than yours, you clearly didn't read the post. I accused you of either: getting your morals from a third party, thinking of your opinion as inherently higher than mine, or not thinking your objection through.