My issue isn't with the request for better females in video games. My issue is with the human condition that because something is BAD we have to get rid of it entirely, and that is where this argument is going to end up. The people screaming are going to get themselves into a frenzy and scream until things like the sorceress, moxxi, and scantly clad elven women are not only a thing of the past but a complete taboo, and that's bad.Evan Waters said:The only poorly thought-out discourse I see here are the people bending over backwards to once again make clear that there is no sexism in gaming whatsoever, nosiree Bob! Seriously, the "HOW DARE YOU CALL US SEXIST" reactions to stories like this are always more hysterical and knee-jerk than any of the initial criticisms- fanboys act like the censors are at the door, waiting to take away all their precious boob shots and dismembered torso statuettes and jiggle physics. I have no seen no boycotts of the game or the publisher being organized, merely people pointing out that it's a little... creepy. That's the worst of it.
Look. Cheesecake is fine. I like cheesecake. But I do not insist that cheesecake be served at every meal. I can go without for substantial periods of time. Why is gaming in such a state of arrested adolescence that the slightest suggestion that we forego the GGG breasts and thong underwear for at least this game meet with such hysterical floundering? Does every fantasy RPG need to look like Heavy Metal (which I own)?
Expressions of sex and sexuality have their place, but too often things like this are done without thinking, as a default- "Female character = hot chick with big boobs". We need more female characters who aren't sex goddesses, and criticizing a game for treating its female characters first and foremost as sexual objects is a perfectly legitimate response. It does not mean that Joe Lieberman is going to take away your copies of Tomb Raider. Relax.
I don't want cheesecake all the time, same as you. The problem is what ends up happening is instead of coming up with a better kind of cheesecake, we won't get any cheesecake at all, and what ends up happening is all the people who liked cheesecake now and again start yelling for more cheesecake and the cycle repeats itself. I would rather have cheesecake then no cheesecake and the human condition right now is to simply take cheesecake away if enough people say they don't like it.