Poll: Yahtzee changes joke in ZP video

[Dante dynamite]

I think that the joke shouldn't have been changed it was people being oversensitive.

He wasn't implying (or inferring IDK) anything you (those who claimed he was) are.

 

[TwoSidesOneCoin]

Okay so, just to bring everyone up to speed:

In Yahtzee's "Papers, Please and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons" ZP video, he made a joke relating to transsexuals.

A significant number of people took offence to this. So much so, that the comments thread exploded into arguments, and various hostilities.

The joke was:
"'Co-op single player' is like saying 'I'm not gay, I only suck off pre-op transsexuals'"

The video was later edited, and the joke was changed to:
"I'm not gay, I only suck off pantomime dames"

Yahtzee has said in his Extra Punctuation column, that he regrets the original version of the joke.

My question to you is; Should the joke have been changed? Was it offensive enough to be edited?
Did you personally find it offensive?

I'm of the opinion that the joke was fairly harmless. But then I'm not one to get offended at jokes anyway, so I dunno.

I'm interested in hearing what other people think. Particular about the decision to edit the video and change it.

Huh, right off the bat OP said how I feel about jokes. PC culture sucks. I remember something my DS said to another pvt during BCT. He said and I quote: "It's a joke, not a dick, don't take it so hard!"

 

[CriticalMiss]

Will the triple-cunted hookers get justice one day too? What about publishers and developers who he frequently makes fun of? If ZP is going to get rewrites to appease the offended then The Escapist might as well play reruns of Sesame Street every wednesday (unless that offends too many fans of The Muppet Show).

I don't find it the least bit offensive, like I don't find his jokes about child neglect, murder, drugs or prostitution offensive. He's said much worse things and not (to my knowledge) changed anything before. And if he really felt bad about the joke, wouldn't he have changed it whilst he was writing the episode? Or recording the episode? Or editing the episode? Either way it's his video and he can change it if he wishes, it's just a bit obvious that it was changed due to outcry rather than a crushing sense of empathy for the downtrodden underdogs of modern gender identity.

 

[DementedSheep]

It might not necessarily be due to the complaints and PC censorship. It?s not like this is the first time he?s gotten some for offending people.
Maybe he just thought about it more later and decided that he personally didn't like what he was saying and realized he could make the point in a better way? It's his choice to change it.

I say stuff I regret later and wish I could redo better all the time.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I'm glad Yahtzee had enough class to apologize over this, but I don't think editing the video was necessary. Esp. since the editing doesn't sound very good.

Also I'm reminded of something else Yahtzee once said,
"You know what? A society where anyone can make jokes about anyone else and everyone laughs is a truly tolerant society. Political Correctness charged censorship only serves to engender resentment and distance between social groups."

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Eh, I don't think it was entirely necessary as it was clearly non-malicious as he pointed out. And I can't really understand why people got so mad about it.

But it was a one-off joke that doesn't really matter in the long run, and if he feels it was a big of a deal to change it I don't really care.

 

[ThreeName]

Does that mean he now has to go back and change all of the other jokes that could be offensive? All the ones about abortion, or miscarriage, or religion, or race (anyone remember 50 Cent: Blood in the Sand)?

Actually now I say it, that was so much worse than this. Get some thicker skin, fucking hell.

 

[Psychobabble]

I think its a step in the right direction. I feel there has just been too much permissiveness of site content that may inadvertently cause psychological hurt to others. Its good to see someone such as Yahtzee taking steps to rectify this issue.

Off topic but the animated GIF that moderators here use for banned accounts, the Banned, Permabanned one? While I find it quite amusing I fear some individuals might get the wrong impression from it and think The Escapist supports the idea its ok to commit physical violence against children. Perhaps it should be changed.

 

[Marik2]

Oh man this thread is gonna go to hell.....

 

[Lunar Templar]

It's his work, he can make whatever changes he likes or deems necessary.

^^^

this, if he upon a reviewing decided it was in bad taste (even for him) and decides to change it shortly after, that's his right as the creator of said content.

 

[MHR]

(unless that offends too many fans of The Muppet Show).

I'm offended that my tax dollars go to fund that liberally indoctrinating tripe. [/no]

 

[Something Amyss]

Out of all the things Yahtzee has ever said on ZP, I'm surprised that THIS was the thing that people thought crossed the line.

Yeah, it's weird. And it's not even the first time he made a transsexual joke.

Also, changing it to "pantomime woman" seems somehow worse to me.

I don't care, anyway. If he wants to change it, let him change it. But this seems like a dumb breaking point.

Kudos to Yahtzee. I don't understand why it's an insane idea that you should take the slightest bit of effort to think about what you're going to say and prevent offending already oppressed groups. It's so easy to take pot shots at the groups that already have it the hardest.

And he'll make four or five gay jokes next week. I mean, you do know who you're talking about, right?

It's not even the pot shots he really seems to be apologising for. I doubt it's the end of them, because it's his thing.

As a member of the oppressed group in question, I'm not bothered. Now, I can't speak for everyone, because that would be dumb, but it also seems dumb to go into Zero Punctuation expecting to be sacrosanct.

Yahtzee was never politically correct.

and he still isn't.

As long as it was his choice to change it and he was happy to do it then it doesn't particularly matter. It's his video after all. Not that I found the original joke or it's new version that funny, it's not my kind of humour.

I do not think he should have been put in a position where he felt it was necessary to change it though. I am getting rather tired of overly sensitive people who actively look to be offended by innocuous jokes and comments. Yahtzee has made countless jokes that were as equally "bad" as the one in the last video, but people have been fine with them. It's only when the joke is made about their particular group that all of a sudden people give a damn. People don't seem to mind when the joke is about somebody else.

Hell, he made Nazi jokes in the same video but nobody seemed to mind that. I'd say making a joke based around a concentration camp where millions of people lost their lives is "worse" than suggesting somebody giving oral sex to a pre-op transsexual makes them homosexual.

But I am strange like that.

The Escapist is weird. Nazi jokes are fine, but don't you dare, don't you DARE say anything bad about Nintendo. Especially Zelda, apparently.

It's not just transsexuals. This community has really strange standards, even by the standards of the web communities I've followed.

 

[Something Amyss]

Oh man this thread is gonna go to hell.....

As will any thread of any remotely substantial issue.

And I do mean "remotely."

 

[Nexxis]

Since I'm not part of the crowd that the joke addresses, I don't really care if it was changed or not. However, if he changed it because a group got offended, that was his choice and I'm cool with it. As far as I know, he wasn't forced to change it.

 

[KOMega]

I didn't think the original joke was offensive. But I suppose some people would still have been offended.
That being said Yahtzee swears enough that it just seems strange to be offended by something that wasn't a direct attack.

Well, whatever is the right course of action the deed is done and yahtzee, being the content-creator, does/should have control over it.

If he didn't care about offending people about using an aborted fetus as a yo-yo, why should he back down now?

Fetuses are scary looking, man.

 

[Hero of Lime]

He can do what he wants, and whether or not that joke stays or not isn't a big deal. Though it's not like it's the first time Yatzee's made a crude shocking joke, why should this time be different? Again, I really don't care that the joke was changed, I didn't even remember it in the first place.

However, if I was in the position of being a popular comedian like Yatzee, I would choose to either offend no one, or offend anyone. Usually he goes for the latter, I personally would probably do the former if I was in his position.

 

[Muspelheim]

Well, I didn't find it offensive, and since I am the central protagonist of Human Life: The Movie, it is my standard that is the true standard! It displeases me!

*Something about skin, thickness thereof and a horrid global PC conspiracy to remove the male population's balls*

Oh man this thread is gonna go to hell.....

As will any thread of any remotely substantial issue.

And I do mean "remotely."

Thankfully, everyone chiming in to say how many times they've discussed that particular issue and how tired they are of it and how they can't go anywhere without it being shoved down their throats (which is basically what seeing it amounts to on the internet) and how they just wish it'd be done with...

Well, that sulphuric hellpit fills up quick, and the saliva from the ranting puts all stray embers out rather well.

 

[anthony87]

People keep saying that he can do what he wants. That's all well and good but I can't help but think that it's less of a "want" and more of a "I'd better go and change that so people stop fucking moaning".

 

[freaper]

It wasn't too bad, but when I heard it, I did give a little sigh.

I'm glad it was changed, and I'm even more glad it was Yahtzee himself who deemed it worthy of being changed.

Yep, I agree with you there. The new version is funnier too, imo.

 

[Abomination]

People keep saying that he can do what he wants. That's all well and good but I can't help but think that it's less of a "want" and more of a "I'd better go and change that so people stop fucking moaning".

Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

Not saying that he might not feel genuinely apologetic but my money is still on this being damage-control rather than legitimate admission of wrongdoing... and you know what? That's okay. There's nothing to be sorry about here.