Deep Silver Apologizes for Mutilated Dead Island Torso

[AlbertoDeSanta]

I think what could balance this out, is having a Male Variant. Wearing a torn shirt (or no shirt, either way) but still being a Zombie. There wouldn't have been so much sexism percieved if that was the case. My opinion on the statue:
It's ugly, and it does have sexist connotations, I wouldn't buy it.

 

[Lady Larunai]

Its a zombie game, i dont see the issue, you are buying a game about death and killing but cant handle a dismembered statue? Its ok to sell statues of demons raping women yet this is too far?

 

[Strazdas]

wait thier include a real mutilated torso statue?
now i want one...

 

[Xan Krieger]

Is it wrong I think the torso is cute and I want one?
I don't really see a problem with it except maybe people in Britain might get upset that their flag is a bikini.

People from Britain wear union jack bikinis...

Well then I can't see any problem with it. It's a cute torso that fits the theme perfectly.

Imagine it's a dude's disembodied, mutilated, junk. With hips, maybe, but it's clearly showcasing the junk. Let's say it has an erection. Overtly erotic.

Now imagine a girl saying "That's cute and I want one." Imagine the sort of girl who spends money on a gore-spattered wang and then puts it on display.

Are you starting to see the issue here? Are you starting to see how being okay with something like this is kind of implicitly demeaning and threatening to women? Do you understand how girls might not be comfortable with you thinking that?

I swear to God, I know the Escapist is sort of a hotbed of naivete, but the total lack of understanding in this thread of the realities of sexism is giving me chills.

Let's say it is a dude in a speedo, I'm not sexually attracted to that but I wouldn't call it sexist. To me this is just a cute female torso and since I think the product is targeting men I'd say it's perfect. If they were targeting women I'm sure they'd create the male version with a union jack speedo and badly ripped t-shirt.

 

[Slayer_2]

Sometimes I wonder if I don't offended enough. I saw this and thought, "oh yeah, a torso because, y'know, zombies." And then I moved on.

No, bad, be offended! How dare they! The bad taste... people these days don't get offended easily enough!

Seriously though, a silly idea from a studio that took one of the most promising games of.. what was it, 2011? And provided me with something mediocre. Not bad, not great, but could have been.

 

[Arakasi]

If you're going to mutilate a torso, at least stand by that torso.

It may be tasteless (in my opinion) but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that statue, if you're the kind of person who would like one. I'm sick of people backing down, fucking stand by your product you cowards.

 

[nodlimax]

Am I the only one that isn't offended in the slightest bit by this? I actually think this is ok for a ZOMBIE game in which you can cut up the zombies pretty bad.

I wouldn't let kids see something like this, but otherwise I'm not bothered by this.

I think people should chill more...

 

[Smeggs]

I get the feeling if it had a head and was a zombie there wouldn't have been much fuss.

as it stands with the statue, though, it's a violently mutilated woman's corpse. What a stupid fucking idea for a marketing ploy.

 

[mooncalf]

I think their 'Zombie Bait' is a confrontingly stark distillation of Violence and Sex that says "You're the zombie, this is what you look for in a game."

It credits the community to have flamed it down so righteously, I also think there's probably some clever sod at Deep Silver laughing their ass off right now because they knew precisely what they were doing. It's probably the first and foremost epic troll of 2013.

I wholeheartedly agree that this should not be a collectable in a videogame special edition. I think the original belongs in an art gallery.

It is grotesque, polarising, it forces you to think, it reminds us of everything we've debated about sex, women and violence in videogames so vhemenently since 2012 and before.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Ok, I have a question for you folks:

Would you buy this? And if so, would you still buy it if it were a male torso?

I'm not judging anyone, I'm genuinely curious.

Nope it's kind of gross I think it would disturb me just as much if it was some guys sexy abs.

But to be honest the fact that a sexualised dismembered woman is their idea of an ideal collectible offends me a bit. If the torso had been a female and not so 'sexy' I wouldn't have had a problem with it. It's similar to the Hitman trailer violence against women...okay fine....but violence that is sexed up for titillation...leaves me with a kind of queasy feeling.

On a lighter note I like to think this was the same guy who did the coding gaff and he was given a second chance in marketing

 

[_tinned_magpie_]

Ok, I have a question for you folks:

Would you buy this? And if so, would you still buy it if it were a male torso?

I'm not judging anyone, I'm genuinely curious.

Not a chance in hell either way. I mean, yes it's sexist and immature and I'm rolling my eyes at the bikini (could any woman feasibly wear that? Seriously?), but can you imagine trying to explain that thing to your average person? I'm not offended, I just don't see people believing I'm sane after they've seen a gore-spattered torso sitting on my bookshelf. That's the sort of thing they'd bring up in your personality profile after the murders begin.

 

[TheBestPieEver]

Just being a nitpicky bellend over here, but it is a Union Flag. It is only the Union Jack when it flies at sea.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

I have a friend who got married on Halloween, had a skull on every table at the wedding, wore a black dress, and had trouble selling her house because she collected fake shrunken heads. I'm absolutely positive that she would love this thing. You just can't speak on behalf of all women as if they all get offended by the same concepts.

That's besides the point, as Deep Silver won because of this. They had to know about Hitman/Tomb Raider, crossed the line twice, and now a shitload of people know that there's a new Dead Island coming out. Publicity is publicity.

 

[linforcer]

Jesus... butt hurt much? I won't say it's awesome or anything but hardly something to get worked up over.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Ok, I shouldn't have said "can't", rather "don't". It's not the point of the game, any more than filling a room with cheese is the point of Skyrim, although you can do that if you want. Spinning this as "oh, hey, this how people play Dead Island" is a transparent attempt to deflect this clearly bad decision. If they want to apologize, then apologize. And if they don't, then don't. This mewling middle ground is just gross.

I agree with you. It does stink of them trying to shift the blame for something they had the full intent of selling to people as they'd rather not shoulder it themselves for the frankly terrible decision they made. Though I doubt a proper apology for their statement as well as the model won't be quite as forthcoming.

On a separate note, filling rooms with cheese in Skyrim is 10x more fun than playing five minutes of Dead Island. I fully understand why the original wasn't successful after playing it for a couple of days at the beginning of the year. I doubt I've got those brain cells back yet...

You know, I think that's why I'm as upset as I am. I really, really enjoyed the first Dead Island. I'm quite looking forward to the second one. But between this and the "feminist whore" business from the last game...I'm just really wondering how I'm supposed to feel about the folks making these games.

Wait, that stupid file-name game was Dead Island?

Well that puts the whole woman's torso model in a slightly more disturbing light.

 

[Tanis]

So if it was a DUDE, folks wouldn't be up in arms?

Damn sexists!

Is this a pun on her lack of arms? If so, well done. If not, good attempt at deflecting the discussion with the age old "What if it was a dude?!?!?!" question.

Both...okay, yeah.
All I want from people is CONSISTENCY.

If you're gonna be 'outraged' at something, make sure you're outraged at all things like it...
Don't play favorites.

 

[Fuzzed]

They can apologize for the torso all they want, but don't apologize for those tits. Damn they look great.