Journalist Tells Industry To Grow Up

[InventiveHero]

I do agree with Heather, that it is a shame that some titles seem to have better storytelling and merit as art over other games pumped out for gratuitous and exploitative money. But my advice for her - get over it.

Sure, some of the developers may get their jollies from abnormal titty bouncing, but the fact remains that those games sell to a demographic that buys 'em. And buy them they do. In the millions! It may be a tough pill to swallow some times, but it's all part of the marvelous world of freedom of speech. That old American chestnut allows them to make "Gun-ga-Saurus Max and the Legend of the Hidden Sweater Puppies III: That's One Ripe Tomato, OF DEATH!!!" and her to speak her mind about a male dominated industry.

If Gun-ga-Saurus Max (and his all nude female Kung-Fu fighters) didn't make money, they would stop making them.

She seems like a woman who has been given the job of telling the world how delicious McDonald's food is. It is delicious, but after you spend every day being yelled at for how unhealthy the food is for 12 years straight - you might also find yourself wanting to yell back at McDonald's for making unhealthy food.

She needs to take a breath and step back. Realize that there will always be negative games on the market. For every Rape Lay, a Twilight Princess. For every Gears of War, a Psychonauts. There's always another side of the coin, and by being consumed by only one side of any issue will only make you look like a ranting jackass.


Also she needs a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese. Them's delicious.

 

[Simriel]

People often forget that games. Unlike films and music, are for FUN not to put a point across. Now i am no sexist. And I like games with a deep, and intellectual approach to things, but most of the time, when playing games, i want to grab my lancer and shoot some Locust. I don't want it to be a philosophy fest. SOME games should be. Others should just stay to what they are at heart. Mindless fun.

 

[Littaly]

I was going to say "take the stick out of your hole" but in a way she's got a point.

Games are shaped from who play them though. If the target audience remains the same then I don't think games are going to change. But really, pointing at onechambera is hitting below the belt.

 

[DJPirtu]

I wonder if in the 1940s there was a huge bunch of not so good movies that burried the name of Citizen Kane under them. Only for their popularity to die and wither away, uncovering the now legendary movie.

 

[Echolocating]

Developers and publishers are too scared to create a big budget game that won't appeal to young kids. It's like adult developers would rather be praised by young teenagers than potentially criticized by their peers. Most games with serious moments are still juvenile at best.

Games don't need to grow up, developers and publishers do.

 

[bjj hero]

She needs to suck it up and get off her post feminist, man hating soapbox.

There is a wide veriety of games out there, Civilization, Fable, guitar hero, pikmin, Mass Effect, Planescape Torment, Littlebigplanet, Sims, etc, etc.

There are thousands of games. Some are the big guns/big tits/big muscles type. ITs no different than any other form of media.

For Every Citizen Kane there a 10 road trip/american pie/commandos. There are heart felt songs with meaning, but then there are just as many about "shorty getting low". Brothers in arms (TV series) was epic story telling but then there are also things like baywatch and hollyoaks.

Shes in the wrong job if she cant see the big picture.

 

[Keane Ng]

I was going to say "take the stick out of your hole" but in a way she's got a point.

Games are shaped from who play them though. If the target audience remains the same then I don't think games are going to change. But really, pointing at onechambera is hitting below the belt.

She didn't say anything about Oneechanbara, though she probably would. I just used the image because it's fitting, and because Oneechanbara is awesome.

 

[FistsOfTinsel]

I, too, agree with her to an extent. But she's only addressing certain companies. There are plenty of successful franchises that don't rely on guns+boobs=$$$. Civilization, just to name one. However, companies like Rockstar need to open an ear to a rant like that.

You haven't played Civilization Revolution, have you? Take a look at the character models for the female leaders and get back to me on whether or not boobs play a role in the game. Or just compare the real-life Catherine the Great ( http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/history/assets/catherine_the_great.jpg ) to the Nastasia Kinski CivRev version ( http://www.civilizationrevolution.com/community/katherine_render.jpg ). The only male leader to even come close would be Alexander, and that would only be if he were to lose his breastplate and be oiled up like a Chippendale's dancer.

In any case, she has a point, and she doesn't. People can mention plenty of non-sexist games, but other than sports titles, they don't sell well, or don't incorporate people as part of the game mechanic, e.g., Popcap games, kid games, action titles like Halo or Metroid (where you're mostly blasting aliens nonstop and your character is basically sexless under all the armor). There's definitely a huge chunk of developers that make embarrassingly juvenile T&A fests, but we're slowly moving out of that zone. Mirror's Edge didn't seem very cheesecakey to me, and there will be others once someone makes a good game that shows it can be done.

 

[Limos]

I don't see why we have to grow up. She should calm the fuck down.

Games are an entertainment medium. There are just as many movies about overblown machismo and barely dressed babes as there are games. Sex and violence sells. Just because we are selling it very successfully doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the industry. We play games for fun, I don't want my game giving me moral lessons or trying to make a statement about a real world problem. That's not what I bought the game for. I bought the game to enjoy myself and no have to think about the real world for a bit.

 

[Tennyson]

Tell her to get her butt to the kitchen and play some Cooking Mama.

 

[soniccaraway]

Very unfair what she is saying. Even in the movie industry you have things that are just about women(any direct to home video American Pie like movie) or destruction(most action films) with little to no story behind them. Also, like with the movies, there are games that have some substance to their storytelling although not many have recently.
If it makes her feel any better, BMX XXX did not sell well. Also, most scantily clad women in games are in games from Japan and fighting games.

 

[Hedberger]

I interpreted it as if she's against the fact that most games features a good dose of violence which i find odd. Even Bioshock had loads of violence and it's still a good game. As a matter of fact i would argue that Bioshock IS the gaming equivilent to Citizen Kane but she refuses to acknowledge it because the player still murders people on a regular basis.

The problem is that if you cut that out you also cut out the gameplay and leaves nothing but a player walking from cutscene to cutscene. Maybe if there was some other stuff to do in between the cutscenes that are fun it could be a fun game. The whole shooting people may have been overdone but there isn't much to replace it with.

I haven't played the Longest Journey but i assume that you mostly go from to place solve puzzles and talk to people and that's fun for a while but it get's boring in the long run. For me games are a mix of a good plot and a fun sport and arguing that you should cut out the sport element because it's immature is to me like arguing that it's more mature to get into our pro-athletes personal life than see them running or jumping.

I can't say that i've found loads of games that features tits for the sake of tits either but that could be i'm not actively searching for it. If you see those types of games as the modern cinema eqiuvilent of an actionflick i'd say that the videogames industry is far more mature.

 

[CymTyr]

I agree with her on certain points, and I would say what has already been said in this thread; if it weren't for people/kids buying certain types of games, those types of games wouldn't be so prevalent.

There is a market for thought-provoking games; there is a market for story-rich games; there is simply a bigger market of people who want to flex their e-peens, though.

The industry isn't going to stop making something that's guaranteed to sell. The problem we've been experiencing the past several years is whether it's from publisher pressure, or the devs wanting to go for guaranteed sales, games more often than not are rehashes of other games. The companies are using formulas that have sold in the past, and most aren't willing to take a risk of doing "new stuff" whatever you want that to mean.

The industry won't grow until more companies take more chances; no one wants to fail, but without taking a chance how will we know what might work?

Look, I'm like a lot of you, I enjoy games to escape from reality a lot of the time. But even when I'm escaping I still enjoy thought stimulation, so I like a little more than just meat and potatoes if you will. I loved Duke Nukem back in the 90's, but I hate Gears of War.

I don't know if it's me getting older, but forking out 50 bucks for a game that is a near-exact copy of a game I played 10 years ago is getting old. (With fancy new graphics added in). Actually, a lot of games from 10 years ago had more story than current games because to the lack of tech polish available...

Sorry for the rant
-Cym

 

[Echolocating]

I don't see why we have to grow up. She should calm the fuck down.

She's telling the developers and publishers to grow up, not the customers. Unless you are someone in the industry?

Sex and violence sells. Just because we are selling it very successfully doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the industry. We play games for fun, I don't want my game giving me moral lessons or trying to make a statement about a real world problem. That's not what I bought the game for. I bought the game to enjoy myself and no have to think about the real world for a bit.

I'd like to see more intellectual games. It's sad that you can practically count on your fingers the number of games that attempted and achieved anything of serious nature.

There will always be room for fun games, but there's a weird fear of creating adult games. I don't mean games with adult content, but games that really wouldn't appeal at all to kids. I think this is where she is coming from and I have to agree with her.

I'm happy for you that you are enjoying what is being offered at the moment, but it represents the majority of what's out there. Either you enjoy adolescent fun or you're on the fringes of gaming consumption.

Either video games are just for kids or something is wrong here... so which is it?

 

[KDR_11k]

Oh come on, Oneechanbara is a B-movie game just like Earth Defense Force, complaining that those lack artistic merit is like complaining that a lorry doesn't outrun a Formula 1 car.

Pointing at Citizen Kane will trigger the wrong associations. Too many people think games must become high art or like movies, the problem is that the game medium is not the movie medium and should not be treated as such. A game is not about introspection or cultural experiences, it's first and foremost about providing the player with an enjoyable interactive experience. Your average person won't even know about stuff like Ico or Rez, much less care. What matters is what Shamus said, games more people want to PLAY. Only by playing can they experience what videogames really are, obviously an interactive medium won't be conveyed to someone who doesn't interact with it. Talking about introspection and other story related stuff makes people think they need to stuff even more story into a medium that is not suitable for conventional storytelling. The game medium is defined by its interactivity, not by its ability to glue conventional media to it that elevate it to art in the moments between repetitive monster bashing. As such I posit that Tetris is closer to art than Metal Gear Solid.

Besides, aren't we seeing gaming grow up with games that aren't about space marines and whatnot but about fitness or dogs or whatever? They are certainly reaching people the core games didn't and I don't think that that's only because of the subject matter. If you made Final Fantasy to have fitness exercises in its cutscenes instead of a C grade anime story you'd still not reach these people. A game is and will always be first and foremost a GAME. Its interactivity is its primary purpose and the thing that defines it. For games to "grow up" they have to adjust their interactivity to be grown up, not their graphics or story. And it seems that at the moment that consists of going back to the arcade ideals of gaming.

You could argue that the switch from those genres has started with casual games, but the crossover isn't that major and the more mainstream games are still dominated by the "guy games."

"More mainstream"? Last I checked the "casual" gamers ARE the mainstream.

I think she should shut up and not play games with scantily clad women and alien killing if she doesn't like them

She's talking about the perception other people have of gaming, she can't just decide what games they should be exposed to.

 

[Cptn_Squishy]

That was very courageous of that journalist to say that about a bunch of people who arent going to do more than tell him to go screw himself. Its kind of like how Bill O'Reilly applauds himself for courageously someone who couldnt possibly be able to do anything about his $10m a year contract to piss off.

 

[Iron Mal]

I believe that it is somewhat unreasonable to expect mature, intellectual content from a game (a contraption designed for the amusement and entertainment of all).

I have had a good time with deep and complex games and films but I've also had good times with films and games that can only be described as 'mindless fun'.

Just because it isn't reeking of 'brainy fellas only' doesn't mean it's somewhat lower or unworthy as entertainment.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Gears is still a franchise that's primarily about big guns blasting big monsters.

I see her point but it would've been a much more valid argument 5-10 years ago. With the wii we've seen quite a few games that don't OD on testosterone. But even before the Wii we still had the Sims (a living, customizable dollhouse), Puzzle games, and things like Katamari which appeal to a wide range of people.

Sure, most of the big budget titles are manly BFG games but we may see that changing now.

However, you have to look at the history of all games; most of the big ones over the eons have been about fighting/hunting: chess, darts, tiddly winks... okay maybe not tiddly winks... maybe.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

What Ms. Chaplin is glossing over in her comparison between games in movies is that before there was Citizen Kane there was Birth of a Nation, the first feature-length film, IIRC, and one of the first to put a real story up on the screen. Pity that it's also a fluff piece for the KKK...

(She's also glossing over the current crop of shoot-em-up and exploitation films, as well as all the games that don't pander to the boobs-and-bombs crowd.)

-- Steve