Capcom Addresses Deep Down Sexism Controversy

[omega 616]

I wouldn't say this is sexism, there are loads of games where you just play as a guy.

I think it is more sexist to have a female side kick that is nothing but a fan service love interest, than to just be a sausage fest.

I think Dragons crown is a much bigger offender of sexism than this and people gloss over Dragons crown sexism like it's nothing. Although I seem to be in the minority when opinions on what is and isn't sexism ... I think Bayonnetta and lollipop chainsaw are offenders but loads of people think they are empowering.

FOr the last time Dragon's Crown was parody. All the characters were tropes. It was deliberately done.

And you can say that strippers with massive implants are just parodies but when it's all said and done they are still ridiculously dressed with abnormally large features that appease men folk.

If it looks like a horse and acts like a horse, don't call it a zebra.

 

[Fasckira]

Personally I found The Hobbit sexist because there wasn't a female hobbit accompanying Bilbo. I demand a re-write.

 

[Something Amyss]

Sounds like it was the result of a communication derp, nothing else. Frankly I say we just move on from this one.

It'd be nice if companies would stop saying stupid things.

Barring that, there's not much else to say, though.

 

[Something Amyss]

FOr the last time Dragon's Crown was parody. All the characters were tropes. It was deliberately done.

So it was intentionally sexist instead of unintentionally.

I wish apologists would make up their minds as to whether it's sexist because it's a parody or an homage.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

It'd be nice if companies would stop saying stupid things.

And I would like to be able to do this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWvIu7s-vIM but that won't ever happen either

 

[Ninonybox_v1legacy]

If this game is sexist, so is TF2, and I hate America, because I am a Socialist.

Nonsense. As a girl, I get to play as this beautiful beast:

Well that's just a theory, A GAME THEO...*gets shot*

 

[scw55]

Communication derp occured.

On the subject of "Is it sexist to write a game around a male protagonist?"

No it isn't. But there's an awful lot of games written around a male protagonist.
So it's just, generic.

 

[shadowmagus]

tl;dr- everyone needs to calm their actual tits.

 

[Morti]

So what do you guys think? Is it "sexist" to not include a female playable character because of the game's plot?

Yes, slightly. Just enough to warrent a disappointed sigh, but not much more.

If we lived in an equal world, then it wouldn't be, but we don't. We live in a world where a list of characters is a sausagefest and what women are there are usually wearing a chainmail bikini (metaphorical if not literal). Any time a company chooses a plot centred around a man, it contributes to perpetuate that sausagefest and is therefore sexist.

I also have a hard time believing that a plot MUST have a male character. 90% of a plot is going to have no relation to the characters gender, the vast majority of any reworking would just be the personality of the main character to avoid them being just a "guy with breasts". Romance is not an excuse, unless you consider homophobia to be a valid reason.

 

[Callate]

No. It's not sexist. It's the writer creating the story the writer wanted to create, centered upon the character around which that writer wanted to center that story.

It would have been fine if the writer wanted to create a story centered around a female character. It might well have been a different story, and that's okay, too.

 

[Robert Marrs]

Wow. So radical feminism is starting to take hold in video games now? A trash article filled with hypocritical intolerance and snark all ending with a "I do not want you to discuss this because I know how reactionary and ridiculous this is and I don't want other people to see the guaranteed discourse" right at the bottom in bold. Honestly this is the kind of stuff I would fire people for if I ran a website.

NOT having female characters is not sexist by itself. Not having them because of the plot is even less so. What if we find out literally all other people, including women, in the game are dead aside from this one group? Its too early to call sexism regardless. As far as the writer of this article goes pretty much everything I could think to say has been said here so enjoy. http://www.vg247.com/forum/topic/dont-antagonize-people-and-disallow-comments/

 

[Ruisu]

Game Journalist/blogger - "Hey I see you are design the main character."

Game Creator - "Yeah, he is this guy from near future who get send in a medieval period as a medieval knight by this really cool machine and all. I'm also writing a story for his conflict against this other guy who also goes back in time with another machine, and there is this power play between the two, like two oposites and all. Really like this kind of stories."

"I see... and who is the female lead?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Can't we play as a woman?"

"Well, I did not actually consider-"

"Oh, you sexist moron!"

------

Sure,there are games created with the sole purpose of pandering to male audiences only, but that doesn't make it right to just jump to the necks of every freaking game that lacks a female playable character.

 

[Blinkmage]

No. It's not sexist. It's the writer creating the story the writer wanted to create, centered upon the character around which that writer wanted to center that story.

It would have been fine if the writer wanted to create a story centered around a female character. It might well have been a different story, and that's okay, too.

My thoughts exactly. Even if it was twelve characters and they were all male because of the story, that would still be fine. And before anyone says 'well there's no possible reason a story should have all male characters', if you were writing a piece of historical fiction there are quite a few settings where having a female character would not make sense. A game about a group of knights, if it's being historically accurate, probably isn't going to have a female knight playable.

I'm not saying there isn't sexism in the games industry, because there is, but this really is a case of calling it where it isn't there. It's okay for a game to have an all male playable cast, just like it's okay for game to have an all female playable cast. As long as it fits the story, and the rest of the game isn't some crazy rant about how females are evil and that's why they aren't in it, it's not sexist.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

wait wait wait... since when is Deep Down free to play? That's news to me!

 

[Pink Apocalypse]

There sure is an awful lot of "scare quotes" here. Kicked off by the article, no less.

 

[Mister Chippy]

Complete sexism for skullgirls not to feature any playable male characters, guys.

Umm, Big Band is almost complete and after Eliza we're gonna get Beowolf. That's 2 dudes right there.

 

[Lyri]

So what do you guys think? Is it "sexist" to not include a female playable character because of the game's plot?

Where does it say that games have to include any sex? Does every game have to relate to every person?

Can game devs get a win without someone swinging around a blanket statement like a dead cat?

If the game was an all female cast we would have some moron come along decrying the lack of male presence or that being all female panders too much to the male goon squad.
This whole debate & the games industry has become a total farce that every game has to have a rainbow coalition of genders & sexualities before the game can be publicly approved.

I honestly feel like the debate has become more of a mockery than something to be taken seriously. I care for good stories in my games, not an appropriate of amount of both genitals.

 

[Lightknight]

So it's now officially sexist to not make a game with female knights in it? Interesting.

 

[Mister Chippy]

Well, having one playable male character isn't exactly what I'd call sexist. Having 12 main characters with absolutely none of them being female because of "plot" does sound really stupid to me, if only because I can't think of any other game that was such a complete sausage fest. However I know jack shit about the game, so I'm not gonna assume that their game is actually that lacking in women until I see it for myself.

Also, nice to see that people here are being so mature about gender issues. Stay classy people...

 

[1337mokro]

So not having female characters in a medieval fantasy setting be playable is sexist?

I guess that makes 99% of all games sexist. Especially the game Chivalry where all you have is a bunch of male knights fighting other male knights oh wait! Medieval times = women as property. So yeah let's reserve the actual sexism cries for the REAL games that would be sexist. Like the games that would treat women like they were treated back then, as portable wombs that could also knit clothes.

It's also funny that the only game with a female lead released in recent memory was Remember Me. Also by CapCom, so CapCom is so sexist that rather than shoehorn in female knights, an oxymoron, they'd rather just release the game the developer wanted to make and also sexist enough to release a game about a female with the female as the lead character that every other publisher turned down because of the female lead...

Feminist logic. Also an oxymoron.