Portal 2 Controversy?

[Nyaliva]

EDIT 3: BUT, I must say kudos to the father for paying attention to what his children play.

I would commend him but unfortunately, there only seem to be two types of people: parents who don't care what their kids play or don't think it'll affect them at all, or an overbearing nit-picker who won't let their kid play a game because it says crap once. Is there no middle ground???

Or maybe those are the only two types of parents we hear about and most parents are actually pretty good at teaching their kids to take everything with a grain of salt and to make good decisions which will help rather than hinder their future. But then how the hell did we get here?

OT: I'm always surprised but never amazed by these sorts of stories. What I was surprised at was the reporters claims saying it was educational (apparently assumed from the E rating which is a thing in and of itself) and saying it was "unfriendly". Have they actually seen any other parts of the game??? Despite the fact that the game is constantly trying to KILL you (another bullet in the "educational" idea's face) the taunting is heard throughout the entire game and is meant to be humourous and used to bolster your desire to reach the end and destroy GlaDOS.

Perspective is a funny thing. Glass can be see through from one angle and dazzling from another. Try it sometime.

 

[TheRealCJ]

Yes, how dare this man try to spare his daughter's feelings in some small way.

But, kids being kids, this whole episode will probably spell out to more ridicule, teasing and bullying for the girl in the video from her schoolmates.

Yep, he obviously thought that through.

Why does everyone assume that this guy is a rabid anti-gaming advocate? Perhaps he just wanted to point out that some of the dialogue could perhaps hit a little too close to home for some kids and parenta who play it, especially since it IS rated "everyone".

But no, "he said something bad about games raargh he's the next jack Thompson raargh he's obviously a deranged individual who pant allowed an opinion raargh"

Seriously, if I was an impartial judge and this was a debate, this guy would win hands down. Let's look at the arguments shall we?

Him: "this game has dialogue that could be considered offensive to certain parties."

Escapist Commentors: "you're a fucking idiot shut up idiot!!!!!!"

 

[Ilke]

If your daughter is not offended, then move on for frack's sake. What are you, some kind of knight with white shining armor bent on defending the innocent and the orphan from... orphan jokes?

 

[Cap'n Ninja]

Right, well as an adopted child, I feel like I have a unique answer here because- Oh wait. No, I'm not offended, that man is a sensationalist idiot.

I myself am adopted, and didn't find out until I was ten years old. It was pretty hard for me, but as they said, they never made any secret of the fact she wasn't their biological child and she evidently knows. He's putting words in her mouth by saying she "isn't ready to talk about it" when really, it just seems that she didn't hear or doesn't care.

They also managed to remove all context of the remark, as it is delivered as an extremely ineffectual dig from one of the least threatening characters in the game.

In fact, let me ask my dad how he feels about a game called me adopted. Transcript follows:

Spoiler

Hey Dad, a game made fun of me for being adopted, how do you feel about this?

Well that was mean. Are you OK? Im fine with it if u are.

For the purposes of the exercise, I didn't hear but you did.

Right. Did I hear it actually intently making fun of u?

Not really, more making fun of the person trying to make fun of me. Also kind of me, but only as a "Haha adoption is funny" thing that was put in because a character is potentially lying to you about your life.

Im confused, but otherwise, as long as u arent offended, thats fine. was it actually funny?

Yep. Love you.

Love u too, but still confused

And there you have it folks.

 

[Bags159]

Finally, being black, jewish, or adopted isn't a condition.

Maybe you should look into your own herp derp bullshit before you accuse others of it.

Doesn't work out that way, sorry. Glados says "Oh that's right. You're adopted." She is by no stretch making an ironic statement ala "smarty pants". When she says "adopted" she means "you are a foundling". She goes on to say "your birth parents are here." As though meeting them is the dream of every adopted person. Tell me how she has been particularly witty about it.

Okay? You're proving my point; she's trying to demean you. She's trying to get under Chell's skin.

And being adopted is therefor demeaning? Way to prove my point.

Being adopted is not demeaning. Being black is not demeaning. Being jewish is not demeaning.
All three can be used as an insult. All three can be used as a fact. It depends on context.

Way to ignore half my post though.

Yeah, cause games get away with making racial slurs all the time.

Scribblenauts got in deep shit for "Sambo", which was both accidental and really, really ancient. We can't just say Valve can get away with worse behavious because we like them.

This would be fine and dandy if I was treating VALVe differently. I'm a firm supporter of letting companies put whatever the hell they want in a game language wise, as long as it fits. If it's fitting for GLaDOS to call you fat, let her do it. However, it wouldn't be fitting for her to bust out a bunch of racial slurs.

I'm not sure where you're getting this "we" from as I don't let the opinions of the masses change my opinion on issues like this.

 

[dakorok]

I think the biggest problem here is the fact that we live in an idiotic age of "political correctness", and no matter what happens, someone will make up some inane way to be offended by it.
It's frustrating to the point that one would become a hermit and live in the wilds for the rest of one's life.

 

[Harbinger_]

Potential Portal 2 spoilers, if you haven't played yet.

http://kotaku.com/5802908/portal-2-finds-a-way-to-offend

Basically, a father of an adopted kid is angry with Portal 2 for the insults from GLaDOS and Wheatley towards Chell about being adopted. He'd been playing the game with his adopted daughter. Note the daughter doesn't seem to care at all. What are your thoughts? Is the dad overreacting, or does he have a legitimate complaint?

I think he's overreacting. It's just one line clearly meant as a joke, and his daughter doesn't even seem to care about it.

They even say in the game there is NOTHING WRONG with being adopted. Stupid adoptive parent.

 

[sorpaqq]

I think it's really funny that the father is talking about how the game badly affected his daughter while she is shown to be clearly not disturbed by the content in the least.

 

[Cazza]

At least the daughter wasn't fat. The father would have killed someone. Why is this just coming up now. Anyway it's just a joke.