Sexism in video games.

[Vareiln]

I don't always approve of how some female characters in games are portrayed but its either
A) RPGs like skyrim where the women are just as strong as the men but their bodies are over sexualized
B) weak useless characters
C) Retarded characters who give women a bad name

A) Only the modding community(gamer culture) has made Skyrim oversexualized. Seriously, female Daedric armor. I rest my case. Other RPGs, though...
B and C are pretty much true, sadly.

[Vareiln]

I don't always approve of how some female characters in games are portrayed but its either
A) RPGs like skyrim where the women are just as strong as the men but their bodies are over sexualized
B) weak useless characters
C) Retarded characters who give women a bad name

So... what about the fact that most males in Skyrim are ultra buff and full of muscles. Aint that sexism?

You do know that the weight and muscles in Skyrim are adjustable for both men and women, right?
Also, what Dakini posted.

[Vareiln]

You do know that the weight and muscles in Skyrim are adjustable for both men and women, right?
Also, what Dakini posted.

You know that big tits in Skyrim are adjustable for both women and men right?

W-what? What the fuck did I just read? Have you even played Skyrim?

[Vareiln]

Not if you define "hot" to be tiny with giant tits. That's not in the powerful, competent, ass-kicking way.

Lets compromise, in Skyrim the ladies have giant tits, while still being able to brutally murder you. I think thats a good compromise.

Where are you people getting this idea that the women in Skyrim have giant tits? Have you people ever played the game or do you just look at mods?

[Vareiln]

So hot women cant be consindered as idealization for females?

Strength, individuality and being something other than an object are an idealization for females. Absurdly large tits and dressing impractically sexually aren't.

That is my female character in Skyrim.
I can only hope that more games will come that feature women as such.

[Vareiln]

Ironically, the Imperial scholars actually got it right for all the wrong reasons. Gods in The Elder Scrolls universe are quite peculiar. Just look at Lorkhan. Shezzar is Lorkhan. Shor is Lorkhan. The Underking is Lorkhan. Talos is Lorkhan. Masser and Sedunda are the split halves of Lorkhan's body. And, during all this, Lorkhan is also dead and missing his heart. The cosmology of TES is complex and confusing.

The fuck kind of drugs were the writers on?

Pseudo-Hinduism. That stuff is like crack. I'm pretty sure Michael Kirkbride's the dealer.

[Vareiln]

Well, they would totally die.

Games are played for the enjoyment of escapism. If there were a 100% realistic game, everyone would hate it.

I dunno, I kinda like Arma. And real life.

[Vareiln]

I dunno, I kinda like Arma. And real life.

Good for you then.

Well, you did specify "everyone".
So, I merely provided myself as a negation to your argument.

[Vareiln]

Well, you did specify "everyone".
So, I merely provided myself as a negation to your argument.

I hardly think a single forum-goer out of countless NEETs, gamers, escapists and average-joes has much weight.

There are more people than that who game.
Also, there's about 7 billion people alive right now.

[Vazdania]

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?

Dr Pepper 10: It's not for Women.



Clearly its sexist.

[Verbal Pararhea]

The PTSD issue seems rather complex. Can literally any sensory percept potential become a trigger, or are all triggering stimuli always thematically similar? Could, for example, someone be triggered by something completely innocuous, such as a picture of a building, or seeing someone eat an apple? Or are triggers always associated with sex and/or violence?

[Verbal Pararhea]

Another way to do that is to criticize the existing composition and encourage existing producers to change their products.

Much less effective. Change in markets almost always comes from new entrants, because established institutions are generally more risk averse and are much more interested in protecting current profits than they are in changing their structure (a big risk) for potentially obtaining larger profits. New entrants, with nothing to lose and very little overhead involved in completely redesigning their business model, are much more responsive to small, medium, and even rather large market fluctuations. Large institutions only have an incentive to change when they can no longer sustain reasonable profits doing business as usual.

[Verbal Pararhea]

This is what I assumed would happen if a sufficient number of people got on board with the idea that objectifying costumes ought to be optional or absent. My suggestion is to promote this attitude within the consumer base. Wouldn't that be effective, even hypothetically?

Only if the attitude became so prevalent that they could no longer sell games that feminists dislike. As long as there is still a large market for such games, the fact that there is another market for a different type of game will make little difference in the behavior of already established companies. You would have to get an enormous number of people on board. Really, the faster way to accomplish change would be to make and sell your own feminist-friendly games. If they are good and popular, you will get rich and also make a significant first step toward solving your issue.

[Verbal Pararhea]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trauma_trigger
Second sentence.

Then all the complexity that I thought was there really is there. Are there more common and less common triggers? I would imagine so, just as there are more common and less common fears.

[Verbal Pararhea]

Or, maybe, men play more games because game companies cater to them? :V

Establishing cause and effect is damn near impossible at the sociological level, so it's hard to say if either one is true.

[Verbal Pararhea]

But one is left to wonder which direction the arrow ought to be pointing:

Consumer Interest in Non-Sexist Games ---------> Production and Sale of Non-Sexist Games
Consumer Interest in Non-Sexist Games <-------- Production and Sale of Non-Sexist Games

See, if the quality of non-sexist games is absolutely phenomenal but there's no consumer interest in them, then new market entrants won't have anyone to buy their products. That's why marketing strives to steer consumers' interests and attitudes toward the products. Consumer groups aimed at promoting attitudes such as I have described would supplement those new entrants' marketing efforts, and as a consequence their efforts are non-negligible.

Perhaps, but my cynicism leads me to believe that such activism almost never works and that money is the principle driving force behind most systemic decisions.

[Verbal Pararhea]

A few women and men here and there being used as a tease for people playing the game is okay because there is nothing wrong with pandering to people's sexual fantasies in and of itself. There is no underlying trend to it. When the overwhelming majority of female characters in video games serve only as eye candy or to serve male characters, then there is a trend. That is sexist, not because women are being objectified, but because it demonstrates and perpetuates the belief that women are nothing but objects both by its treatment of women characters and by its disregard for the women in the audience.

His argument is valid, but only if more takes a categorical view of morality. Most people have some inconsistent combination of virtue ethics and utilitarianism, so his argument tends to fall on deaf ears.

[Verbal Pararhea]

And I can understand that cynicism. Profit motive is certainly the primary driver of economic decisions made by rational actors in the context of a for-profit system, my only contention is that since consumers hold the cash until such time as they purchase the producers' goods, their attitudes determine the direction of the winds for profit motive. That makes their attitudes very important, and when one is trying to make some sort of substantive change in an existing market or to breach the ice into a new market, any and all help one can get is...well...helpful.

My skepticism of activism is also killed by the failure of pretty much all recent protests to accomplish any change at all, compared with the influence of financial contributions to policy.

[Verbal Pararhea]

Things this poster has complained about on NSG today alone, based on a very cursory search:

- The Pope's tweets.
- People asking stupid questions on the internet.
- "E-sports."
- Preschools in Denmark theoretically banning pork.

Funny how "life isn't fair so stop complaining about things" is so often used to mean "life isn't fair so stop complaining about things unless I, personally, care about them."

I'm fine with complaining, provided the complainer isn't under the delusion that their complaints will fix anything.

[Verbal Pararhea]

The damsel in distress trope isn't sexist?

Not inherently. It's sexist if it is too prevalent as a representation of the proper place of women, though what level of prevalence is necessary is a matter of debate. Female characters in need of rescue is not simply wrong by definition.

[Verbal Pararhea]

Japan is the fucking worst. Oh my god just the Asian gaming market holy fuck. People that deny sexism still exist just need to be pointed in Asia's general direction.

There's some degree of irony in this post.

Complains about sexism using national/racial stereotypes and generalizations about Asian cultures.

[Verbal Pararhea]

All the fucking time? When the male character never is?

The male characters never being in trouble would be a good indication of sexism, far more clear-cut than the prevalence of the gender parity swap. So yes, this is likely sexist.

[Verbal Pararhea]

Yeah...uh, I'm not going deny certain countries are far encouraging toward sexism. Shouldn't take you too long to think of a few in the Middle East.

The way it was phrased, however, seemed to basically label Asians as misogynists.

[Verbal Pararhea]

So because its a woman they are saving its sexist?
w

No, you're using a Kantian argument. We're being utilitarian. The nature of the action and it's intentions matter to you. Consequences matter to us.

[Verbal Pararhea]

Just so all of you know, there are places that talk about legitimate issues that men face without simply hating on feminists.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/hetpat

This guy sometimes disagrees with feminists who are being unreasonable, but he's not a misogynist.