The Counterpoint

[Zhukov]

The reason why DOA girls are all jiggly, wasp-waisted waifs is the same reason why Kratos is 7 feet of steel-reinforced steroid.

No, actually, it really isn't.

The DOA chicks look like that because that's what guys (at least, the guys who play those games) want to look at.

Kratos is the way he is because that's what guys want to look like, and therefor play as.

I wonder who all those guys are that want to look like Kratos. His physique is utterly ridiculous. Then again, I can't stand God of War so perhaps I'm just not in the right demographic to judge such things...

I really don't think it's a stretch to say that a lot of guys like the idea of being powerfully built and physically strong.

I know I certainly do.

Physically fit is one thing. Kratos's muscles are defined to an highly unhealthy level similar to the extremes some bodybuilders go to drop their water weight just before a competition. It's just as bad as women wanting to look like unrealistic airbrushed models.

You are nitpicking on irrelevant points.

My point was that both Kratos and the DOA girls are intended to appeal to guys, but in different ways.

Kratos' visual design is intended to convey an impression of raw physical power and aggression. These are things that appeal to guys. I would say to most guys, at least on some level. Thus Kratos is intended to appeal to a male audience.

The healthiness of his exact body type is irrelevant. Whether or not wanting to be like that is healthy is also irrelevant.

We are dealing with fantasies here. Your analogy of women wanting to look like magazine models is actually very appropriate. It might be bad for them to want that, but they still want to look like that.

 

[Phuturist]

Man, those poor women and all of the female characters in video games that they don't like. I mean every time you go to a comic con, you see almost only Jade, April and Alyx, and no Lara Croft, chun-li or skin tight rubber costume x-men girl! (irony.)

Also fun fact, stars like Rihanna and Britney Spears, you know, the ones that are sexualized everywhere without limits, those stars have a 80% female fan croud. Go to a Rihanna concert, it's just a million 15 year old girls screaming as Rihanna shakes her bikini.

IT'S ALMOST AS IF FEMALES ARE NOT OPPOSED TO THE THOUGHT OF THEM BEING HOT AND ATTRACTIVE for fucks sake

And men agree, therefore we see many scantily clad dressed women.

Females on the other hand seem to be crazy over Ezio, the guy with the most textile on his body in all of gaming history. They just have more taste, that's why you don't see so many half naked men in products made for women. Although Twilight with the Werewolfs sort of changed that.

But yeah, not all games are made for women nor should they.

Deal with it or make games about naked men. I'm fine with that. I would even play it.

 

[Phuturist]

ALSO: the comic is really bad this time, because it implies that the way women are portrayed is a big problem and then says "the ones that disagree are obviously stupid because look at that dangerous problem!"

You could also replace "fire" with "water" and having the girl scream "JESUS CHRIST I AM WET! HELP!" and the two guys say "Yeah? So what! It was raining."

I am not saying nothing the portrayal of women is not a problem, but the argument the comic makes is really weak.

 

[Grahav]

Sure men may be objectified, but they're objectified for men. The main objection that feminists have isn't about objectification itself, but that it caters primarily to men.

After following the links (thanks Grey) I think that the objetification and stereotypes that are done by men for men do damage as well, but in a different way. Since it "desirable" to be an expendable, blank "300" or "Call of Duty" soldier is a male fantasy why fight against it?

I agree that it does damage, but look at the figures provided, the ideal 'manly man' in the USA is generally perceived as a muscled stoic figure.

Yes, and the problem comes if this is the only accetable model of man. Bring in the jerk behavior and steroids for the skinny guys.

 

[MetalMagpie]

Yay, this again.

Men and women both get portrayed with varying degrees of "accuracy" (whatever that means) in the media. How is it even possible to be sure which (if either) side is being portrayed inaccurately more often, and why does it matter? Where are the young men who assume Jessica Rabbit is an accurate portrayal of a woman when they meet real women every day?

1. People are not idiots. Anyone without a serious mental disorder can tell the difference between fiction and reality.

2. Entertainment is meant to be entertaining (to its target audience at least). If it was going to be a flawless reflection of reality, then we might as well just sit on park benches and watch reality instead.

3. Protection from being made fun of is not a human right. Unless you can convince a court that the portrayal of women in a piece of media is causing you serious emotional distress, you're not going to get anywhere.

And let's not forget the Golden Rule of Entertainment: If you don't like it, don't watch it.

 

[franksands]

i'm sorry, I'm already married ;-)

I think the problem we have today is with AAA games. We don't have, at least I haven't seen, this kind of problems with independent games.This should be reason enough for us to encourage good indie games getting as much coverage and attention as possible.

You sir, are a tease... ;p

Well, we first would need to know how many indie games might fit the bill. What I mean is that a good chunk of indie games will never be able to pander, because they employ stylized graphics, or because they are in a genre that doesn't allow such design to get into their characters in the first place (I mean, in a platform game or a strategy game, what are the odds of having an oversexualized character? I am not saying impossible, I have seen a few myself, but I think we can agree that it is unlikely). Also, having a tight budget makes the developer necessarily focus on the core of the game, you have less time for unnecessary pandering. And anyway, a lack of female leads remains true even in the indie world, so, who knows?

That maybe true, but there are some examples of indie games that could have oversexualized characters but preferred not to. Dust: An Elysian tale is a good example. Another is Mark of the Ninja, which, thank god, does not have the "bikini slutty ninja". (I haven't finished the game, but so far so good).

 

[Rainboq]

Sure men may be objectified, but they're objectified for men. The main objection that feminists have isn't about objectification itself, but that it caters primarily to men.

After following the links (thanks Grey) I think that the objetification and stereotypes that are done by men for men do damage as well, but in a different way. Since it "desirable" to be an expendable, blank "300" or "Call of Duty" soldier is a male fantasy why fight against it?

I agree that it does damage, but look at the figures provided, the ideal 'manly man' in the USA is generally perceived as a muscled stoic figure.

Yes, and the problem comes if this is the only acceptable model of man. Bring in the jerk behavior and steroids for the skinny guys.

I think a general problem is the idea of there only being the archetype, and everything else being looked at as inferior.

 

[mdqp]

Yay, this again.

Men and women both get portrayed with varying degrees of "accuracy" (whatever that means) in the media. How is it even possible to be sure which (if either) side is being portrayed inaccurately more often, and why does it matter? Where are the young men who assume Jessica Rabbit is an accurate portrayal of a woman when they meet real women every day?

1. People are not idiots. Anyone without a serious mental disorder can tell the difference between fiction and reality.

2. Entertainment is meant to be entertaining (to its target audience at least). If it was going to be a flawless reflection of reality, then we might as well just sit on park benches and watch reality instead.

3. Protection from being made fun of is not a human right. Unless you can convince a court that the portrayal of women in a piece of media is causing you serious emotional distress, you're not going to get anywhere.

And let's not forget the Golden Rule of Entertainment: If you don't like it, don't watch it.

I don't think this is about how unrealistic portrayal of women in videogames affect the mindset of the general population (I feel that's a "hardcore feminist" point of view), but more like "women in videogames are often poorly represented, and there is a general lack of compelling female characters. I wouldn't mind an improvement" kind of situation.

Of course everyone can tell the difference between fiction and reality, or otherwise we would all die by imitating superman, at one point (I always thought flying was a cool super power, if a bit too common ^_^), I seriously hope no one argued that (although something could be said about forming people's opinions, but videogames have a marginal role even among gamers, I think, as social interactions are our main source of feedback regarding our behaviour).

People are complaining about this because they feel this is getting in their way of having fun. It's not about a single game or a genre, but it's more like this situation pops-up in various games, often with no good reason (I hope that we can agree when I say that often, this adds nothing to the experience).

I don't know if the majority of people want the pandering to disappear, I think they just want more options, and more games with content that doesn't appear silly or unappealing to them. This has nothing to do with hurt feelings, or at least, it shouldn't.

People that complain probably don't play those games to begin with, and are having a hard time finding something that suits them, so they are making sure their complains are heard, in order to have something to watch.

 

[Phuturist]

I don't think this is about how unrealistic portrayal of women in videogames affect the mindset of the general population (I feel that's a "hardcore feminist" point of view), but more like "women in videogames are often poorly represented, and there is a general lack of compelling female characters. I wouldn't mind an improvement" kind of situation.

Would it be unreasonable then to say, "hey female gaming community members, if you want games made for you, how about you make them? Nobody is keeping you!". All I hear nowadays is "those games need to change", "the studios need to change" and "the industry needs to change" and of course, those that like the games and studios are pissed, because I am fine with it.
DoA should not abandon the fans and now make a game that is also made for women in mind, but instead there should be a new fighting game that women are happy with.

 

[mdqp]

Man, those poor women and all of the female characters in video games that they don't like. I mean every time you go to a comic con, you see almost only Jade, April and Alyx, and no Lara Croft, chun-li or skin tight rubber costume x-men girl! (irony.)

Also fun fact, stars like Rihanna and Britney Spears, you know, the ones that are sexualized everywhere without limits, those stars have a 80% female fan croud. Go to a Rihanna concert, it's just a million 15 year old girls screaming as Rihanna shakes her bikini.

IT'S ALMOST AS IF FEMALES ARE NOT OPPOSED TO THE THOUGHT OF THEM BEING HOT AND ATTRACTIVE for fucks sake

And men agree, therefore we see many scantily clad dressed women.

Females on the other hand seem to be crazy over Ezio, the guy with the most textile on his body in all of gaming history. They just have more taste, that's why you don't see so many half naked men in products made for women. Although Twilight with the Werewolfs sort of changed that.

But yeah, not all games are made for women nor should they.

Deal with it or make games about naked men. I'm fine with that. I would even play it.

I don't think this about women hurt feelings (if there are any at all), or having no female characters, this is about having quality female characters around (nothing wrong with Chun-li or Lara Croft, I just wouldn't consider them particularly interesting characters, but this is also a matter of personal opinions, I guess).

I am not against female, both in fiction or in real life, being able to be dressed with just a few flimsy clothes, I am saying that an awful lot of characters go around almost naked with no reason at all, and that can be a little off-putting in the long run.

This isn't just about females, I am a male, but I get bored/annoyed too, when I get an ass shot of Miranda in ME2 (who was the most annoying female in the whole series, for me) for the 100th time.

Is there a Ezio female fandome? I didn't knew that! Yeah, Twilight set new standards, I guess. ;p

Not all games should cater to women, but the percentage is awfully small, and a lot of those games seem to be away from the AAA titles.

 

[franksands]

Man, those poor women and all of the female characters in video games that they don't like. I mean every time you go to a comic con, you see almost only Jade, April and Alyx, and no Lara Croft, chun-li or skin tight rubber costume x-men girl! (irony.)

Also fun fact, stars like Rihanna and Britney Spears, you know, the ones that are sexualized everywhere without limits, those stars have a 80% female fan croud. Go to a Rihanna concert, it's just a million 15 year old girls screaming as Rihanna shakes her bikini.

IT'S ALMOST AS IF FEMALES ARE NOT OPPOSED TO THE THOUGHT OF THEM BEING HOT AND ATTRACTIVE for fucks sake

And men agree, therefore we see many scantily clad dressed women.

Females on the other hand seem to be crazy over Ezio, the guy with the most textile on his body in all of gaming history. They just have more taste, that's why you don't see so many half naked men in products made for women. Although Twilight with the Werewolfs sort of changed that.

But yeah, not all games are made for women nor should they.

Deal with it or make games about naked men. I'm fine with that. I would even play it.

First of all, there's nothing wrong with having a female character that is hot, sexy or playing the temptress. The has been done since the beginning of time, with the mermaids in the Greek myths, all the way through to western movies, with classics such as The Maltese Falcon.

Second of all, Lara Croft, Chun-Li and the white queen from X-Men are much more famous and have much more publicity than Jade from Beyond Good & Evil or April from The Longest Journey (which had no publicity at all ASAIK). So, a lot more people know about Lara than some obscure computer adventure protagonist.
The same thing happen with male protagonists: Go to Sci-Fi convention and see how many men dress John Sheridan (from Babylon 5) compared to how many men are dressed as Darth Vader.
That does not mean that there aren't good cosplays of Jade or April. Search the internet for 5 seconds and you'll find them.

And then, we come to the third point where your argument breaks: it's alright to have one or two super hot female characters in a story, but when every single woman has the gravity and physics defying body of DOA girls you have a problem. Why is there that the only way for a woman to draw attention is for her to be in a leather bikini?
Male characters come in all shape, size and age. As Movie Bob said in one of his videos, one of the most famous male video game characters is a short fat italian plumber with an outdated mustache. Can you name 10 famous male characters that appear almost naked all the time? With the camera doing close-up shots of his six-pack or his ass 80% of the time said character appears.

 

[Grahav]

Sure men may be objectified, but they're objectified for men. The main objection that feminists have isn't about objectification itself, but that it caters primarily to men.

After following the links (thanks Grey) I think that the objetification and stereotypes that are done by men for men do damage as well, but in a different way. Since it "desirable" to be an expendable, blank "300" or "Call of Duty" soldier is a male fantasy why fight against it?

I agree that it does damage, but look at the figures provided, the ideal 'manly man' in the USA is generally perceived as a muscled stoic figure.

Yes, and the problem comes if this is the only acceptable model of man. Bring in the jerk behavior and steroids for the skinny guys.

I think a general problem is the idea of there only being the archetype, and everything else being looked at as inferior.

Agreed. And...

Well, I can't just add anything anymore. I wish there was a like button.

 

[mdqp]

Would it be unreasonable then to say, "hey female gaming community members, if you want games made for you, how about you make them? Nobody is keeping you!". All I hear nowadays is "those games need to change", "the studios need to change" and "the industry needs to change" and of course, those that like the games and studios are pissed, because I am fine with it.
DoA should not abandon the fans and now make a game that is also made for women in mind, but instead there should be a new fighting game that women are happy with.

Of course, that's not completely unreasonable, but some say that it is a vicious circle, with the industry producing "male-oriented" games, keeping women uninterested in finding a job in the industry, leaving it without input from female developers.

Also, this is about the severe lack of those characters. Who cares if there is a game like DOA? DOA does what it does, no one is trying to push it into oblivion (I guess/hope), it is pretty honest in what it is, I see no particular problem in its prolonged existance. The problem is the general lack of female characters in other games, too, and a generally poor portrayal of them. You can't simply say that women should make games for women, men should be reasonably capable of making compelling female characters too, they just decide to not do it, in order to appeal to a certain audience. We shouldn't ban those characters, but I feel we should make other characters, too (I mean, female protagonists that don't fall into some idiotic stereotypes remain something rare. Look at King's bounty - Armored Princess: Apparently she has genitals made of steel, because all three available looks/armors for her, end abruptly in that area. The game it's a good game, but why the need of doing that? Even more hilarious, is the fact that, while the magician outfit is the classic almost naked, the other two have relatively covering armors... Until they reach the hips).

 

[RJ 17]

Actually, it's an excellent counterpoint. The entire implied premise of the original assertion (Women are depicted badly in media) is that a gender disparity exists. Pointing out that it also happens to male characters disproves the inequality along gender lines.

This is my stance as well.

I came in here thinking I had a brilliant counterpoint and you guys beat me too it.

To be fair, Fappy, I'm pretty sure everyone that read the comic immediately thought of that argument against it. Really I think Grey might have missed the mark on this one.

Actually, it's an excellent counterpoint. The entire implied premise of the original assertion (Women are depicted badly in media) is that a gender disparity exists. Pointing out that it also happens to male characters disproves the inequality along gender lines.

This is my stance as well.

I came in here thinking I had a brilliant counterpoint and you guys beat me too it.

I personally think there is a problem with women's portrayal in the industry, but that doesn't mean male's being objectified is irrelevant.

There is a difference between being portrayed unrealistically, and being portrayed demeaningly my fellow Y chromosome owners.

You mean like how every man in every commercial you've ever seen is depicted as a clumbsy, stupid, absolutely incompotent donkey who'd get tangled up in the blinds if his brilliant wife weren't there to run every aspect of his life for him?

Captcha: "Cubic Spline".......the fuck?

 

[mdqp]

That maybe true, but there are some examples of indie games that could have oversexualized characters but preferred not to. Dust: An Elysian tale is a good example. Another is Mark of the Ninja, which, thank god, does not have the "bikini slutty ninja". (I haven't finished the game, but so far so good).

Well, I am sure we can name a few exceptions in the AAA industry, too, I just don't think this is only about corporate mindhive at work (which should be the main difference between Indies and "traditional" companies). I think it is mainly picking the easy route, and believing that you can never go wrong with fanservice, which I am not sure is directly linked to the indie or non-indie nature of the developer (having some artistic freedom surely helps, but I don't think the pandering is something that publishers ask like multiplayer, for example).

 

[Phuturist]

And then, we come to the third point where your argument breaks: it's alright to have one or two super hot female characters in a story, but when every single woman has the gravity and physics defying body of DOA girls you have a problem. Why is there that the only way for a woman to draw attention is for her to be in a leather bikini?
Male characters come in all shape, size and age. As Movie Bob said in one of his videos, one of the most famous male video game characters is a short fat italian plumber with an outdated mustache. Can you name 10 famous male characters that appear almost naked all the time? With the camera doing close-up shots of his six-pack or his ass 80% of the time said character appears.

But not all women are naked and sexualized to hell and back in video games, you are overreacting. Most of the major franchises have none of this. What are the big games nowadays? CoD, Uncharted, Gears of War, Halo, GTA, Assassin's Creed and Red Dead Redemption come to mind. NONE of these games have female characters clearly made as an object of sexual lust for men. None of them. You find these classic bikini warrior females in niche games like Hack & Slash, JRPGs and Fighting Games. Not in the broad mainstream.

And please, be honest, there are not a lot of half naked male characters, but again, my points are that

a) Females don't care a lot about naked male skin --> Ezio fandom (seriously, look it up)
b) Be honest, how many of your female and male friends really play a lot of video games that are more than iOS and free online games?

That's why there are more naked women than men in smaller games.

Oh, and you wanted your list of half-naked /skin tight rubber suit ass camera views men, here you are:
Old Dante
New Dante (2 different characters)
Lucifel (El Shaddai)
Enoch (Also El Shaddai, even has destructable armor until he only wears jeans)
Ryu Hayabusa (And it works)
Kratos (most likely not made for females)
Every MMO nowadays, because there are now more than a few females playing these games (Guild Wars 2, Tera (funny how this game gets used as an example of sexist treatment of females, while the male armors are just as absurdly revealing), etc.)
Snake (even has a naked interactive torture scene, just think of the drama a female character in that situation would cause)
Every male fighting game character ever

And maybe others. But we will see more of this as more females start playing games. It will come naturally and there is no need for developers to stop creating what they like. Everyone happy?

 

[MetalMagpie]

Yay, this again.

Men and women both get portrayed with varying degrees of "accuracy" (whatever that means) in the media. How is it even possible to be sure which (if either) side is being portrayed inaccurately more often, and why does it matter? Where are the young men who assume Jessica Rabbit is an accurate portrayal of a woman when they meet real women every day?

1. People are not idiots. Anyone without a serious mental disorder can tell the difference between fiction and reality.

2. Entertainment is meant to be entertaining (to its target audience at least). If it was going to be a flawless reflection of reality, then we might as well just sit on park benches and watch reality instead.

3. Protection from being made fun of is not a human right. Unless you can convince a court that the portrayal of women in a piece of media is causing you serious emotional distress, you're not going to get anywhere.

And let's not forget the Golden Rule of Entertainment: If you don't like it, don't watch it.

I don't think this is about how unrealistic portrayal of women in videogames affect the mindset of the general population (I feel that's a "hardcore feminist" point of view), but more like "women in videogames are often poorly represented, and there is a general lack of compelling female characters. I wouldn't mind an improvement" kind of situation.

Of course everyone can tell the difference between fiction and reality, or otherwise we would all die by imitating superman, at one point (I always thought flying was a cool super power, if a bit too common ^_^), I seriously hope no one argued that (although something could be said about forming people's opinions, but videogames have a marginal role even among gamers, I think, as social interactions are our main source of feedback regarding our behaviour).

People are complaining about this because they feel this is getting in their way of having fun. It's not about a single game or a genre, but it's more like this situation pops-up in various games, often with no good reason (I hope that we can agree when I say that often, this adds nothing to the experience).

I don't know if the majority of people want the pandering to disappear, I think they just want more options, and more games with content that doesn't appear silly or unappealing to them. This has nothing to do with hurt feelings, or at least, it shouldn't.

People that complain probably don't play those games to begin with, and are having a hard time finding something that suits them, so they are making sure their complains are heard, in order to have something to watch.

Well, if it's just about "I want more content that I like" then why do people drag sexism, feminism, etc. into it? And why does the comic describe it as women being "misrepresented in the media"?

I'd like more steampunk-inspired shooters (decent ones, not that Damnation piece of rubbish). And for more games that allow riding a horse to also allow using the horse as a weapon. And more pet dinosaurs.

There's plenty of video game (and TV, book, film, etc.) content in the world that doesn't appeal to me. And there are plenty of game design decisions that get in the way of my fun that aren't gender related.

But there are enough different video games that there are still plenty that do appeal to me. Maybe I'm just less fussy than most people. *shrug*

 

[Naeras]

The reason why DOA girls are all jiggly, wasp-waisted waifs is the same reason why Kratos is 7 feet of steel-reinforced steroid.

Yup. They're both catering to male fantasies.
..wait a minute, that kind of ruins that point. D:

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

The reason why DOA girls are all jiggly, wasp-waisted waifs is the same reason why Kratos is 7 feet of steel-reinforced steroid.

No, actually, it really isn't.

The DOA chicks look like that because that's what guys (at least, the guys who play those games) want to look at.

Kratos is the way he is because that's what guys want to look like, and therefor play as.

I wonder who all those guys are that want to look like Kratos. His physique is utterly ridiculous. Then again, I can't stand God of War so perhaps I'm just not in the right demographic to judge such things...

Individual tastes notwithstanding, I'm sure there are more guys who want to be Kratos than there are girls who want to fuck Kratos.

As I said in another gender inequalities thread, using the Kratos example has always puzzled me. The man is (especially by the end of God of War 3) an irredeemable, murdering bastard, who slaughters is own wife and child and then destroys the entire world in pursuit of his own personal revenge. Yeah, I'm sure those are the exact qualities a woman looks for in a man, and that's without even going into his physical appearance.

May I remind you that Joran van der Sloot (murderer of one woman and suspected of killing Natalie Holloway) has been confirmed to have gotten a woman pregnant while in jail during an unsupervised visit? Or that time where Ted Bundy (not the shoe salesman) was being tried and women were giving him love letters and fucking WEDDING PROPOSALS?

*ahem*

Snarky comment aside, there are only three basic differences between men and women that I give any relevance to. In ALL other aspects, men and women are equal. Here are the three that I've seen:

1) Women are generally built tougher while men are generally built stronger. Both have scientific data backing them and the former was a myth tested, and confirmed, by the Mythbusters. Side comment: no one is generally built intelligent.

2) "Women are crazy, men are stupid; and one of the main reasons women are crazy is because men are stupid. It's not the only reason, but it's a big one." - George Carlin. We have had intelligence and sanity from both genders in this regard; however, when it comes to general basics, I've always found this little observation by one of the world's best social critics to have a ring of truth to it.

3) Reproduction. Men contribute anywheres between 9 seconds and 2 hours to this process, women contribute roughly 9 months or more. I'd like to see the average male on this planet take anywhere between a seven and nine pound dump in one turd and NOT scream or show any signs of pain during that process. If successful, I'd love to hear their views on pregnancy shortly after their experience.

I hope I never have to repeat this (but I'm guessing I will, more than once): anyone who uses difference to prove ANYTHING is either profiting from it and/or using it to improve their own self-esteem.

 

[mdqp]

Well, if it's just about "I want more content that I like" then why do people drag sexism, feminism, etc. into it? And why does the comic describe it as women being "misrepresented in the media"?

I'd like more steampunk-inspired shooters (decent ones, not that Damnation piece of rubbish). And for more games that allow riding a horse to also allow using the horse as a weapon. And more pet dinosaurs.

There's plenty of video game (and TV, book, film, etc.) content in the world that doesn't appeal to me. And there are plenty of game design decisions that get in the way of my fun that aren't gender related.

But there are enough different video games that there are still plenty that do appeal to me. Maybe I'm just less fussy than most people. *shrug*

I think the comic is mainly talking about the most used counterpoint to this particular issue people sometimes bring up (I feel women are poorly represented and I don't like it vs. Men are misrepresented too, so suck it up). Not necessarily those who raise the point of female characters not fulfilling their potential in videogames see it as sexism or feminism, but those who use that counterpoint seem to perceive that, and take men vs. women attitutde toward the whole debate. That isn't to say that there aren't people that have an agenda and try to snuck it in every possible debate (pointing finger at everything to yell feminism, sexism, etc) but I don't think that the two are so tightly connected as some would want them to be (and I think we both agree this isn't so).

I think your idea for a game is awesome, can we start a petition?
People are simply trying to put some pressure to the industry in order to change something they feel are a common trait of too many games and that they feel it's detrimental to the quality of the games. I don't think that's wrong, and corporations are slow to adapt, so it's always a good idea to let them know as soon as possible of your desires, or it will take them forever to change their direction.

Perfectly true, many issues around the world on many things, we are just discussing one in particular, that people seem to feel strongly about (I am annoyed by it because I feel it's too widespread, and because it's often tied with poor writing, since those characters tend to be shallow and offer almost nothing to the narrative).

Feeling that you already have enough choices is a valid point of view, but if other people want more, they should say so, it's not like anyone will be hurt by their asking for it. For example, I was disappointed in the lack of turn-based RPGs in recent years, so I am happy to hear about games that are being funded through kickstarter that seem to cater to my taste. You might feel this is a relatively small issue in the economy of the game industry, but to it has started to feel like they are weakening games in various areas, just to show something I don't care about, and that is already present in a lot of games, so why not discuss the issue, at least?