Author Topic: Tropes vs Woman: Your Opinion  (Read 5944 times)

Offline Nameless 24

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Tropes vs Woman: Your Opinion
« on: March 27, 2013, 06:20:14 am »
I was once friends with a feminist (fell out for different reasons then opinions), and I recall her giving me a video like this to potray what her general views were (Anita is a gamer she looks up to).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6p5AZp7r_Q

Anyway, I somewhat disagree with her views (Anita and my ex-friend) that any game that has Damsel in Distress tropes is considered to be an unfair portrayal of woman.

I agree that more male characters should be put into that position for the sake of being different, but some of the views of Anita (and my ex-friend) are too surreal to take in.

They forget that the main audience for most games (not all) are catered to male gamers of all ages.

The trend is of course changing, and I know of female gamers who LOVE the Yakuza series but absolutely hate Grand Theft Auto. (apparently to my ex-friend, SEGA only makes games for the core Adult Male graphic, and considered Super Monkey Ball as one because there is a model in the Japanese Version of Banana Splitz....and I thought they were against sexism)

When I mention examples of SEGA's games that cater to females in equal measure to males (Space Channel 5, Sonic and possibly Billy Hatcher...give or take) I was told that Ulala was "made for the males as she is sexy", but this is where I started to think that she was arguing that Ulala is considered a sex object rather then a character with personality.

As for Anita...some of her logic is pretty out there, not necessarily that she's wrong, but she's seeing things where everyone else has no problem with the portrayals because the plot isn't relevant, the game was made to have fun and the Japanese are somewhat less sensitive to certain aspects of female rights then we are.

Overall, I think she has a point to point these out, but in this day and age, it's becoming less and less relevant, especially when I see more and more female characters with more clothes on then I did years ago.

What do you guys think?
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Currently playing Yakuza 0.

Offline Randroid

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Re: Tropes vs Woman: Your Opinion
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2013, 10:42:36 am »
It's an interesting topic and one that shows that Sega was already ahead of the curve a long time ago, Phantasy Star.

I agree with about 90% of what Anita was saying in that video. I for one, love female protagonists. They just seem more interesting than your typical males ones.

And while Sega is definitely guilty of occasionally pandering to male fan-service, they definitely have a healthy balance of realistic female empowerment. Take Virtua Fighter for instance. All the female characters are represented in reasonable proportions. To this day they look like fighters and they kick ass. Monster World 4  has another kick ass protagonist. Princess Crown, Alisa Dragoon, so on and so on.


Offline mylifewithsega

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Re: Tropes vs Woman: Your Opinion
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2013, 11:36:01 am »
Heterosexual males aren't the only ones that like to look at hot chicks though. Thanks to attending shows like MAGfest and Intervention Con, I've met lesbian players that enjoy this aspect as well.

Does that make 'em sexist?
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Offline crackdude

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Re: Tropes vs Woman: Your Opinion
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2013, 06:59:38 pm »
I thought SegaBits was the last place on the internet clean of that bitch's garbage. Not anymore I guess.

Anita is wrong. I won't even bother explaining why, just take a look at some of the more popular video responses she gets.

On the whole sexuality view of gaming though, games are obviously made for heterosexual males (since it's by far the largest demographic) but that doesn't mean there can't be games for everyone. In fact, there are so many games out there for so many different types of people that this discussion nearly crumbles on it's own.

One of the most usually discussed characters is Lara Croft. She is often mentioned as a "objectification of women by mean men" and the fact that most of Lara's fans are women is completely ignored.

Feminists criticize any portrayal of sexy women as objectification because women can't be sexy(?) I really don't get their point. And the fact that they believe they are on the same level as women's rights activists is repulsive.

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Offline DJaw

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Re: Tropes vs Woman: Your Opinion
« Reply #4 on: March 31, 2013, 04:12:09 pm »
I think anita sarkeesian need to stfu. Other than that I think she cute. Not in way of goodlooks, but as in literal. I'd tickle her neck

Offline semmie

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Re: Tropes vs Woman: Your Opinion
« Reply #5 on: March 31, 2013, 05:05:50 pm »
that girl looks good fo sure

Offline Nameless 24

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Re: Tropes vs Woman: Your Opinion
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2013, 06:23:59 am »
I thought SegaBits was the last place on the internet clean of that bitch's garbage. Not anymore I guess.

I apologise, lol.

I love female characters, hell...Frimelda Lotice is one of a few strong Female characters that show a lot of character and is not sexualised! (she is shown first as a zombie, and you help cure her disease, and you realise the hardships when you discover that her lover set her up to kill her!)

I think all Japanese companies pander to straight males, but I think SEGA also show the least examples of sexualised female characters, Alis Lansdale, Alicia, Amy Rose (even though she can appear annoying, she's no DiD), Fei Yen....SEGA embrace the strong female types more then they show them in a negative light.
Big fan of Claymore, Miria in particular.

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Offline crackdude

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Re: Tropes vs Woman: Your Opinion
« Reply #7 on: April 03, 2013, 07:14:11 pm »
I really enjoy strong female characters. And since when do people prefer playing as ugly characters rathen then fit and sexy. This bugs me beyond belief. I hardly have abs but sure as hell I love playing as 120kg pure muscle sexyman murder machine, it's like playing pretend. I don't think it's being sexist at all
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Offline Nameless 24

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Re: Tropes vs Woman: Your Opinion
« Reply #8 on: April 04, 2013, 05:07:13 am »
I really enjoy strong female characters. And since when do people prefer playing as ugly characters rathen then fit and sexy. This bugs me beyond belief. I hardly have abs but sure as hell I love playing as 120kg pure muscle sexyman murder machine, it's like playing pretend. I don't think it's being sexist at all

They have a problem with Duke Nukem and Anya from Gears of War.
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Offline crackdude

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Re: Tropes vs Woman: Your Opinion
« Reply #9 on: April 08, 2013, 03:34:25 am »
They have a problem with Duke Nukem and Anya from Gears of War.
Never played GoW but what's wrong with Duke Nukem? He likes the babes. If anything, his ridiculousness makes you NOT want to be like him.
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Offline Nameless 24

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Re: Tropes vs Woman: Your Opinion
« Reply #10 on: April 09, 2013, 01:38:35 pm »
Never played GoW but what's wrong with Duke Nukem? He likes the babes. If anything, his ridiculousness makes you NOT want to be like him.

It was a joke about how Duke Nukam has his way with woman, lol.

Anya was more because she represents "tough" females who don't mind getting stuck in.
Big fan of Claymore, Miria in particular.

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Offline Chaosmaster8753

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Re: Tropes vs Woman: Your Opinion
« Reply #11 on: April 09, 2013, 05:05:19 pm »
One thing about the Star Fox Adventures/Dinosaur Planet point is that she forgot to mention that there was going to be a male protagonist along with Krystal:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2001/01/27/dinosaur-planet

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You get a pair of new heroes, Sabre and Krystal

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Sabre
A twenty-year-old warrior and son of the great wizard Randorn. When Sabre's older brother was killed on the battlefield, his father was grief-stricken and disappeared without a word into the wilderness. Now, after many years of torment, Sabre is determined to track him down.