Sentox6 said:
cobra_ky said:
But I do think it's dangerous to pretend that incidents like these aren't a problem for the future of the industry.
That strikes me as a little dramatic. If something like this is a genuine problem for the gaming industry, then the music industry should be six feet under by now [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2ieT7PJFSU].
It would be if the music industry didn't already have a broad spectrum of female voices in it, from rap to country. If "Get Low" was the only depiction of women in the music industry, then yes, they would have a problem.
It's also not necessarily a lethal problem for the game industry; it's managed to get by just fine, so far. But it's something that will limit the industry's growth in future if they are unable to reach out to female consumers.
AndyFromMonday said:
cobra_ky said:
It's offensive to many female players because the writers didn't bother to write better dialogue about the female characters.
The dialogue in general is quite shit and what you're saying is bullshit. "*****" is not used in the context of describing the female characters in the game. It's an insult and is in no way actual dialogue. If you want actual dialogue, listen to the other female characters in the game. Hell, one is a fucking doctor. Why the hell would the writers portray a female character as a doctor if they were so inherently misogynistic?
Dialogue in this case referring to all the voice acting in the game. I get the sense that we're not really speaking the same language here.
I'm not going to address the obvious red herring here. My argument is that the writers were negligent in this one regarding the female characters, and that constitutes unintentional sexism. I never made any claims about misogyny.
AndyFromMonday said:
cobra_ky said:
It's unrealistic for them all to use the exact same insult to the exclusion of all others. As plenty of others have pointed out, there's a number of alternatives, both gendered and non-gendered. "Freak", "Scum", "Piece of Shit" all would have worked. Or if you really want the thugs to come off as misogynist, there are alternatives like "hussy" that you can use and still keep your teen rating. Imagine this was an "E"-rated game and instead of "*****" they all used the word "meanie". That's what's so unrealistic about it.
So basically, what you're saying is that you have a problem with the writing and not the insults themselves. Good. I'm glad you pulled your head out of your ass.
Considering that's been my position the entire time, i'm not sure why you think my head was ever up there in the first place.
AndyFromMonday said:
cobra_ky said:
It's lazy writing that applies only to the female characters. When it came to the female characters they got lazy.
Batman is also insulted quite often, most of the times with the word "freak" and even ***** sometimes. This isn't misogyny, it's just lazy writing.
Again, I didn't say misogyny. It's lazy writing that disparately affects the female characters. Batman gets a wider variety of insults.
AndyFromMonday said:
cobra_ky said:
Nope, profanity is perfectly fuckin' fine with me. I know exactly what the thugs are saying, thank you and i'm perfectly OK with that, too. What offends me are the writers' insulting my intelligence and doing it in a (probably unintentionally) sexist way.
How do they insult your intelligence again?
By expecting me to find crappy writing acceptable.
AndyFromMonday said:
cobra_ky said:
Seriously, find me one reputable source that claims the word "*****" is now gender neutral and no one thinks of it as a misogynist slur anymore.
Xbox Live.
Oh sure, that's a representative sample of society as whole. Xbox live consists primarily of young men being assholes because they're anonymous on the internet and they can be. It's probably the last place i'd recommend anybody wanting to learn about the English language.
AndyFromMonday said:
cobra_ky said:
Why is Batman only referred to as a ***** once or twice in passing, while Catwoman and the other female characters are referred to as bitches almost constantly?
Laziness.
So we can agree that when it came to writing insults for the female characters, the writers got lazy?