Any good game/general geek sites that dont moan about sexism/racism/homophobia?

Genocidicles

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tilmoph said:
While it definitely is not major by any stretch of the term, I think ChristCenteredGamer might actually fit the bill content wise. Hold on, I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out.

The reviews themselves are focused 99% on the game's content; world building, graphical quality, mechanics, and execution and glitches. The whole christ-centered aspect comes in in 2 forms. First, at the end of the review, the reviewer will have a one paragraph overview covering things like level of mandatory drug-use, how the game treats sins like murder and theft (good, neutral, or evil acts), the kinds of things concerned parents and conservative christian types might care about. Secondly, the reviews have two sideboxes, one, called highlights, has strong points and weak points, which are focused solely on the game, and morality warnings, which are things of specific interest to the prior mentioned groups. The second is the keeping of two separate scores; the first is, again, the game score using a percent score, based on x/50. x Is the total of the subscores; gameplay (rated 0-20) graphics, sound (both 0-10) stability, and controls (0-5). The morality score, which again is separate and has no bearing on the game score, is again percent of x/50, and is made of violence, language, sexual content, occult, and ethical/moral, all having up to ten points.

The reviews themselves are detailed and well-written, and do a good job of conveying the in game experience of the reviewer, which, as noted, and in spite of the name, don't go into conservative/christian moral perspectives until the end "morality paragraph", otherwise being solely focused on the game itself. I think this might be up your alley, regardless of your beliefs, since the site does an impeccable job of separating moral and cultural arguments about a game from discussion and overview of the quality of the game as a game.
That sounds interesting, I'll have to give it a look. The 'morality paragraph' sounds helpful too. If other reviewers could keep their tumblresque complaints to a little avoidable paragraph at the end then I don't think I'd really have that much of a problem.

MarsAtlas said:
Does it though?

Carolyn Petit gave GTA V a 9/10, mentioning feeling uncomfortable as a woman for about 4% of the video review. Would you ever think twice about somebody giving GTA V a score 9/10 if they hadn't said that? Is somebody giving a score of 9/10 to GTA V something that you cannot wrap your mind around in that you must conclude that the score was hurt by this perceived hostility on the part of the reviewer?
Well if the only negative thing mentioned in a review is the sexism then I'd assume that yeah, it got a point docked because of it.

MiracleOfSound said:
This is you right now:

Am I supposed to consider what others might want when looking for things for myself?

renegade7 said:
Part of the process of growing up is realizing that no one is ever going to align perfectly with your beliefs and that your beliefs aren't relevant to every damn thing. Just because a feminist wrote a review does not mean the review drew entirely, or even at all, on feminist ideology. In life, there are going to be people who are religious, or atheists, liberals, conservatives, moon landing deniers, and whatever else including feminists, and you're not going to have a choice about what the people around you believe, and if that's your attitude then you're going to be a miserable and lonely person indeed. People aren't defined solely by what causes they identify with. It's really shallow to think "this person believes differently than me, therefore I can't respect his opinion on anything regardless of its relation to the subject on which we disagree."
I'm not telling people what they can and cannot believe. I know I have no choice over that, but I do have a choice on whether or not I should listen to them... and if they are the kind of person who thinks that sexism is a valid reason to dock points from a game then they are not someone I want to listen to.

Sure, but that wouldn't mean that it's pointless to everyone. If the Escapist was a music-related news site, then there would no doubt be some metal stuff discussed. It might seem trivial to you, but you're not the only person the Escapist serves. Some people actually are interested in the place of video games within society and that means we can't ignore the social influences of games and the social influences that effect how they are made. You don't have to read them if you're not interested, but don't come into such a large platform as the Escapist and then complain that it doesn't cater only to your interests.
I'm... not? I'm asking for somewhere that does cater to my interests. If people want to read about how games promote rape then more power to them, I'm not going to stop them. I just don't want to read that stuff, and would prefer to give my patronage to a place that doesn't consider such discussions important.

Not to say the Escapist is like that. As a whole, the Escapist is pretty much great for me as long as I avoid Movie Bob. I'm inquiring about new sites as the current layoffs from the Escapist has me worried that it might not be around much longer.

IceForce said:
So, if a game gets 0.5 (or even less) points taken off at the end for something you "don't care" about and view to be "unimportant", you require another reviewer or review site altogether?

How petty are you?
Incredibly petty.

That would be like me saying I don't care about graphics and believe them to be "unimportant", so I refuse to consume any reviews where points are docked because the reviewer didn't like the graphics.
Oh, and I also demand a site/reviewer cater to my specific tastes on graphics.
I'm not demanding for my tastes to be catered to. I'm asking if anyone knows a place where my tastes are already catered to.

Solaire of Astora said:
The issue is not his question, but his tone.
They're just tone policing me :'(
 

Ytomyth

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Advocating tolerance whilst being intolerant of intolerance isn't that funny, or tolerant. xD

OT: Good luck.
 

Genocidicles

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TheKasp said:
*sigh* Wow. This is just amazing.

So, if one doesn't enjoy the story of a game, a quintessential part to make the whole experience enjoyable, and he doesn't continue playing it... he is a candidate for psychiatric help?

Or do you really want to spin it in a way that people claim they are physically not able to play those games?

Fucking joke...
The original point made:

On the contrary, if I'm playing a game and get distracted because of its negative portrayal of women, I won't shoot straight, which will cause me to die a lot and become frustrated in real life, so I'll throw my controller across the room, striking my dog and making him so mad that he fatally mauls a nearby toddler. DIDN'T THINK OF THAT, DID YOU?
To which I replied that if someone really reacted like that to 'problematic' elements, they should seek psychiatric help.
 

Vigormortis

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mecegirl said:
Considering the OP's stance is anyone surprised? I think it's fair to assume that most people play games to have fun. I think we can also agree that (insert ist, ism, or phobia here) are not fun. So for those of us who have to deal with such things in our day to day lives having them pop up in media that we are trying to enjoy puts a dampener on the fun. He may be tired of hearing people's complaints about it, some of us are tired of dealing with it. And he can be tired of hearing it all he wants, but to dismiss others concerns as "pointless bullshit" is pretty self absorbed. The phrase "check your privilege" may be used to death but why avoid using it if the shoe fits? And I don't see how using it is any less dismissive than telling the OP that the world doesn't revolve around him (like a lot of posters are doing in this thread). All in all the meaning of both phrases are the same, one just has the specter of "SJW's" behind it.
Mmmm, I disagree on the phrases being the same.

"Check your privilege" has a lot of nonsensical baggage attached to it that a phrase like "the world doesn't revolve around you" doesn't. Likewise, the former is far more needlessly confrontational and dismissive than the latter.

And again, as I keep saying, I'm not defending the attitude of the OP. I personally disagree with it, in fact. I was just offering a suggestion for a site that tends to avoid political posturing as much as possible.
 

Lieju

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Genocidicles said:
San Martin said:
Maybe if you can give a single good reason why discussions of racism, sexism and homophobia are "pointless bullshit" in the context of videogames,
Because racism, sexism and homophobia have no effect on the gameplay, which is the most important part of a video game.
So you would then also be equally offended by reviews that talk about the cutscenes, story, how alive the word feels, graphics, artstyle etc?
Soundtrack perhaps?

Different people find different things interesting in games, and even same people can find very different things important in different games. There are games I play just for story, while some for the gameplay, for example.

You just need to be able to find reviewers that agree with you or know how to read them. For example if they are bothered by the game's portrayal of women, and you know you won't be, you can still take their opinion on the gameplay for example if you know you have similar taste in that.
 

hermes

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Genocidicles said:
MiracleOfSound said:
This is you right now:
Am I supposed to consider what others might want when looking for things for myself?
It might help if what you are looking for is the opinion of other people...
Reviews, forums, playthroughs, etc, are made by people other than yourself, so yes, you should consider what other people might think when looking at their content...
 

TheMigrantSoldier

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Often, in game review sites, you have a cast of different reviewers. Maybe Destructoid? I found some of their reviews, strictly gameplay speaking, questionable (Dark Souls) but not the way you'd see it. If you don't mind video-based channels, I'd also recommend Classic Game Room for even more recent titles. Its reviews consist of context (makers, date made, yada), mostly gameplay elements and little bits of plot, characters and graphics. There are no final review scores so you'll have to listen for details.

Or you could find an independent reviewer with preferences similar to yours? Heck, he/she could be on this site, even.

MarsAtlas said:
I think we all should go back to political correctness. As least I never saw any neo-nazis flagrantly using that phrase.
You'd be surprised. I've seen suspicious accusations of "PC" on similar topics.
 

BytByte

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Nods Respectfully Towards You said:
I can legitimately see an argument for calling it shit. Personally, I can see some arguments for sexism/racism/homophobia in games but like 95% of it is complete an utter garbage that's so out of tune with the actual game it makes me wonder if the person saying it actually played the same game as I did.
Again, this comes back to different readings of the game. You can totally have the opinion that there are little or no discriminatory aspects in a game while someone can look at the same game and, because they are not you and different from you, find those very same aspects discriminatory. You can both have those opinions and debate them, but when you call a different viewpoint shit, it projects an aura of arrogance and condescension on your part.

I think there are 2 main things that cause people to get upset when there games are criticized in this manner. First, it's the assumption that if a reviewer notes something sexist or racist or whatever, then they believe the entire game is that. It's not. And people who disagree know its not, but it is used to simplify someone's review so that they can ignore/hate on it. Games are now massive in scope most of the time, so if someone talks about something for a paragraph or a few sentences in a review, they are not condemning the entire game.

Secondly, and more importantly, is the often misunderstood affect of any -ism. Most games are not intentionally trying to be racist or homophobic or sexist. Some games like Hatred are stated to be purely offensive, but something like God of War's ridiculous sex mini-games are still sexist, but in a completely different. The developers thought it would be fun to put those in as a joke or bonus or whatever. They probably didn't think it was sexist, not because they're misogynist pigs or whatever, but because our culture has said that stuff like that is normal. That's what Feminism and LGBT rights are all about. These discriminatory beliefs are intrinsic beliefs because of the past, so recognizing them in muted forms is hard, and changing them is even harder.

No one hates you
 

FieryTrainwreck

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YouTubers. Most major gaming sites are hopelessly, irretrievably poisoned by identity politics.

I'm sure the rise of YouTubers and the steady tumble of traditional games media have nothing to do with this, by the way. You're obviously in the minority for requesting gaming journalism that doesn't constantly pander to manufactured controversy and radical, irrational ideologies. That's why such bastions of honesty and integrity are barely scraping by while those filthy YouTube peasants swallow ever-more market and mind share.
 

Gorrath

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thaluikhain said:
A good site that caters solely to straight white guys?

Huh...
Eh? I presume you're being facetious, yes? You're not actually asserting that the only way those issues aren't important to you is if you're straight and white and male, right? I mean, I am all of those things and these issues do matter to me. It strains credulity to think that not wanting political/social discussions in your game reviews is dependent on the factors you mention. Choosing to write a review that does not address those points of topic doesn't inherently mean you are catering to a specific demographic, right?

Again, I presume you're being hyperbolic here, just want to make sure before I challenge you on it. Cheers!
 

CrystalShadow

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good greif. So... Because reviews contain information that is irrelevant to you personally, those reviews should not be allowed to exist?

I... Don't even know where to begin with this.

Maybe you'd get the signifigance of some of this stuff if it actually affected you personally, but of course you probably live in some weird bubble that makes it seem perfectly justified for the consideration of anyone else's needs other than your own to be so unimportant that you must actively have all such information scrubbed from anything you read...

I don't like saying it, but... 'entitlement' comes to mind...

Anyway, good luck with that. Maybe you can find someone as myopic about what they consider important as you are... Though I doubt it, because even if such people exist, chances are what they consider important would be different to what you do.

Ugh. Seriously... >_<
 

Roxas1359

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CandideWolf said:
Secondly, and more importantly, is the often misunderstood affect of any -ism....
That's what Feminism and LGBT rights are all about. These discriminatory beliefs are intrinsic beliefs because of the past, so recognizing them in muted forms is hard, and changing them is even harder.

No one hates you
See, I agree and I know where the misunderstanding comes from: so many people are completely condescending when it comes to this that in all honesty it sounds like they are actually in fact calling developers, or the people that enjoy the games, misogynists, racists, etc. It's to the point in which I don't even post anymore because I fear I'll get jumped all over because I don't agree with the 100% black and white that both sides have painted, and in all honesty there are many on the site who feel the same way.

Note, I'm not defending the OP for being rather rude, but being rude back just makes things worse in the end. I too personally would love to have a place where it's not so damn political with everything, as the reason I stopped following politics and current social issues in the first place is due to my mental health. Sometimes I just wanna talk about a game, and not the "underlying political message" it sends out. People can talk about it just fine, but for me on this site it gets harder and harder to stay the hell out of it when it's so prominent everywhere.
 

Fappy

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Neronium said:
CandideWolf said:
Secondly, and more importantly, is the often misunderstood affect of any -ism....
That's what Feminism and LGBT rights are all about. These discriminatory beliefs are intrinsic beliefs because of the past, so recognizing them in muted forms is hard, and changing them is even harder.

No one hates you
See, I agree and I know where the misunderstanding comes from: so many people are completely condescending when it comes to this that in all honesty it sounds like they are actually in fact calling developers, or the people that enjoy the games, misogynists, racists, etc. It's to the point in which I don't even post anymore because I fear I'll get jumped all over because I don't agree with the 100% black and white that both sides have painted, and in all honesty there are many on the site who feel the same way.

Note, I'm not defending the OP for being rather rude, but being rude back just makes things worse in the end. I too personally would love to have a place where it's not so damn political with everything, as the reason I stopped following politics and current social issues in the first place is due to my mental health. Sometimes I just wanna talk about a game, and not the "underlying political message" it sends out. People can talk about it just fine, but for me on this site it gets harder and harder to stay the hell out of it when it's so prominent everywhere.
People here can be very overzealous sometimes, but it was the OP that set the dismissive tone in the first place.

I agree though, I really wish we could spend more time talking about other aspects of gaming. And it doesn't even have to be just about the games themselves! There are so many things that inform a game during its development: culture, history, technology, etc. Why can't we broaden the discussion every now and then? Gaming is a human creation, but the current dialogue encompasses so few aspects of humanity.

I guess when people like Thunderf00t and Brianna Woo are constantly shouting in your ear it's hard to focus on anything else.
 

NeutralStasis

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This thread represents EVERYTHING I dislike about gaming culture currently. Nothing that the more "social aware" members of this discussion will be able to say that will impact the OT thinks or feels. The OT may have not approached it in the best possible manner, but people on here took serious offence to this person not wanting any social agenda to be a part of his game review process.

On top of that, those that questioned everyone being a dick to the OT and provided some locations that this person might find what they are looking for are immediately told how they are WRONG. It is this kind of shit that makes a bad name for those who genuinely want to see more diversity and inclusion in gaming. Using catchphrases like, "check your privilege" does much more to put people on the defensive than trying to perhaps understand our point of view. But no, we use catchy phrases and attacking language and images to get our "correct" viewpoint across. I mean, after all, we are right. We should be able to say what ever we want to those that disagree...right?!?

Having the "moral high ground" does not make us right in all things. The argument "the OT started it" is the same thing my 4 year old says when she is trying to justify her poor decisions. We are better than that. Why not just help this person find the outlet they are looking for and hope that at some point someone will be able to better articulate why having some open discussion of the portrayal of minorities in games is important. This will not be accomplished over a thread. It honestly feels that we need to attack those that do not agree with us to justify our point of view. That sucks.

OT, I hope you find what you are looking for in a game review site or channel. I hope that someday you might revisit why you feel that discussions about how media of all kinds portray different people is unimportant, because it is indeed very important. Clearly that is not what you are currently seeking, so I simply wish you well.
 

Roxas1359

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Fappy said:
People here can be very overzealous sometimes, but it was the OP that set the dismissive tone in the first place.
Oh I know, but it wasn't helped with some of the replies as well. I'm not defending the OP's dismissive tone at all. And I've seen it caused by a lot of other people, to the point in which I actually started putting people on my ignore list, and I never do that.

[qoute]I agree though, I really wish we could spend more time talking about other aspects of gaming. And it doesn't even have to be just about the game's themselves. There are so many things that inform a game during its development: culture, history, technology, etc. Why can't we broaden the discussion every now and then?[/quote]
Not enough politics, 0/10, not able to make enough condescending snarky comments. XD

I guess when people like Thunderf00t and Brianna Woo are constantly shouting in your ear it's hard to focus on anything else.
Hell I actually avoided everything for 2 years, but nowadays it's gotten so loud that the conversations about games themselves tend to get buried fast. It's honestly been very hard for me to stay on this site in general because of how bad it's gotten. Really the only reason I'm still here is probably because of a few small groups of people on the site. :3
 

BloatedGuppy

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Vigormortis said:
"Check your privilege" has a lot of nonsensical baggage attached to it that a phrase like "the world doesn't revolve around you" doesn't. Likewise, the former is far more needlessly confrontational and dismissive than the latter.
"Check your privilege" does indeed seem to have a lot of nonsensical baggage attached to it, as determined by the Great Twitter Wars of 2010-Present, but in terms of messaging, "The world does not revolve around you" is significantly more confrontational and judgmental. It implies the person in question literally believes they are the center that all of creation spins around. It insinuates profound degrees of selfishness, ignorance, and delusion.

"Check your privilege", as loathsomely buzz-wordy as it is, means "review the ways in which the innate advantages you enjoy in life due to race/class/place of birth might blind you to issues encountered by those less fortunate". It's not nearly as hostile. We're just knee-jerk about it because it's become a calling card for buzzword activism.

You could almost say people are TRIGGERED by it hurr hurr hurr.

NeutralStasis said:
Nothing that the more "social aware" members of this discussion will be able to say that will impact the OT thinks or feels.
1) Implying the OP is incapable of reflecting on their posting style is rather a dire condemnation of the OP. It's probably one of the nastiest things anyone has said about them in this thread. Expect the OP to challenge you to a duel, post haste.

2) I could give less of a shit what the OP thinks of social causes, I don't live with or date the OP so they are welcome to whatever views they want. If OP is incapable of phrasing said views in a non-confrontational fashion, OP starts little flame wars that shit up the forum. Hence the feedback about tone.

And OP is hardly fresh to these debates, and I think you can bet with a fairly high chance of success that OP was perfectly aware of their tone and chose it deliberately. Thread was half "Anyone know of good sites" and half "Fuck yo social justice".
 

Fappy

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BloatedGuppy said:
Vigormortis said:
"Check your privilege" has a lot of nonsensical baggage attached to it that a phrase like "the world doesn't revolve around you" doesn't. Likewise, the former is far more needlessly confrontational and dismissive than the latter.
"Check your privilege" does indeed seem to have a lot of nonsensical baggage attached to it, as determined by the Great Twitter Wars of 2010-Present, but in terms of messaging, "The world does not revolve around you" is significantly more confrontational and judgmental. It implies the person in question literally believes they are the center that all of creation spins around. It insinuates profound degrees of selfishness, ignorance, and delusion.

"Check your privilege", as loathsomely buzz-wordy as it is, means "review the ways in which the innate advantages you enjoy in life due to race/class/place of birth might blind you to issues encountered by those less fortunate". It's not nearly as hostile. We're just knee-jerk about it because it's become a calling card for buzzword activism.

You could almost say people are TRIGGERED by it hurr hurr hurr.
Buzzwords do nothing but poison the discussion. It's a shame :/

As someone who self identifies as a feminist, a lot of the language used by modern feminists makes me cringe. Some of them abuse these buzzwords (and phrases) to actively antagonize the people they should be trying to win over! There's no point pandering to your ideological peers; it just makes you look like a smug jerk.

Sorry, went off on a tangent there lol