But that's the point, there are people on both sides who are incapable of discussing things reasonably. I can think of at least 10 people off of the top of my head on here alone who go into every single sexism thread and make sweeping generalisations about the "other side", and then when they get called out on it, they accuse anybody who disagrees as being a "part of the problem".
Or there are those who try and make valid points, but make them fail by exaggerating to ridiculous degrees, claiming that
all feminists are nit-picking, or that
no games have normal women in them. Their points don't get taken seriously due to their poor wording, and they then play the victim card.
There are also several users who I have never seen post anything aggressive, rude, condescending or otherwise objectionable be lumped in with the same people who are causing the arguments in the first place, either being called misogynists, or femi-nazi's despite clearly being neither. This leads to almost every single thread resulting in the same exact problems.
Then of course there are the people who shoot down any attempt of discussion before it has even started. Go into almost any sexism or gender related thread and you will normally see half a dozen "Inb4 the neckbeard misogynists" or "Oh great, now the femi-nazi's will find something else to complain about" before any actual responses are made.
Or to put it another way, remove the extremists from either side, and a discussion can be had, but that's not going to happen any time soon. Even more so when those extremists seem to have convinced themselves that are not.
Although as you put so well, we can't even discuss what platform people should play their games on without petty insults, so it's not really surprising that things are the way they are.
Toilet said:
I guess I will open a discussion because I am totally ignorant on the subject.
I keep on hearing about how character designs like the Tittymancer in Dragons Crown and other exaggerated designed females are a problem but I have yet to hear why they are a problem. I get a lot of "because sexism" answers but it doesn't answer my question.
The argument is that it objectifies women and reduces them to nothing more than sexual fantasies. There are also those that argue that it affects the perception of women in real life. As well as people who say it makes them uncomfortable that there are not many normal women to play as so they have to play as overly-sexual characters instead.
Personally I think the first one is very much a case-by-case basis. Games where the women are literally nothing more than T+A as far as design is concerned are a problem (Rachel Ninja Gaiden 2), but I don't see the problem when they actually have decent character design as well. If they are good characters as well as being sexy then they are not "reduced" to anything.
The second point I don't think is even worth responding to normally, as I view it as the exact same argument as claiming violent media causes real life violence.
The third one I completely agree with, and I dislike games where the male characters are properly outfitted and proportioned, whereas the women are wearing bikini chainmail for no apparent reason.
Then again, I am also fairly desensitised to this kind of thing, so when I see skimpy outfits I more or less blank them. People kept on talking about Elizabeth's dress in Bioshock Infinite having massive cleavage, but I didn't even notice until somebody mentioned it.
