Tropes vs Women in Videogames

[RPS]

Straight en are so crazy sometimes. It still boggles me why we even really listen to their opinions. Like no offense to you dudes, but somedays I just think you guys should go back to where you belong - in your doc martins, cutting wood and grunting in a field.

[Colly]

As a straight an I resent that.

[Sousa]

As a straight an I'm attracted to hicks.

[therockbox]

Lets leave Dexter out of this.

[RPS]

You straight dudes just look so dumb and stupid, you are just asking to get mocked. You guys just bring this on yourselves.

[Colly]

Eterophobe.

[Sousa]

EDIT: Never mind, that wasn't funny.

Edited September 25, 2013 by Sous Aldrin

[MDK]

You straight dudes just look so dumb and stupid, you are just asking to get mocked. You guys just bring this on yourselves.

Teach us how to be fabulous!

[RPS]

Whoa whoa whoa, hold on there Mr. Stereotype. Jeez. Come to post about wrestling simulators and I'm getting gay bashed.

(And for the record... if you want to be fabulous - glitter, sequins and leather)

[Sousa]

In that order?

[Crybaby Bunting]

I don't have time for anyone who thinks they can do fabulous without a feather boa.

[Plubby]

I found it exceedingly strange that in Sarkeesian's third video, she mentions some game (I forget the title, I watched it a few days ago) in which the default choice is to be pursuing a lost female character, but you have the option to change it to a male, or even a third option (again, don't recall the third option). She then goes on to say that it is OK for this game to have a male character to pursue, but not OK for it to be a female character. Specifically because the game doesn't promote negative tropes if it's pursuing a male character but does if it's female.

I can't help but feel (and of course i'm in the group that isn't persecuted by these tropes so I don't "get it") that if the game gives you the ability to chose which gender has been distressed and captured, then even if you choose female it can't be promoting a negative trope. What if both the protagonist and distressed character were swappable, and you had a female protagonist chasing a lost female counterpart? That whole part is nonsensical and it struck me that her goal was reversal of the trope, not equality of roles.

[King Ellis]

For what it's worth, that sounds like Spelunky. You can even change the damsel to a dog! They're really breaking down stereotypes now.

Though, I'm not sure if you can choose what gender of dog you're saving. That would have raised some eyebrows out of context. "You saved the bitch!"

[Plubby]

That's what it is!

[Sousa]

I put the dog in a dump truck and, well, you can see where this is going.

[RPS]

I can't help but feel (and of course i'm in the group that isn't persecuted by these tropes so I don't "get it") that if the game gives you the ability to chose which gender has been distressed and captured, then even if you choose female it can't be promoting a negative trope. What if both the protagonist and distressed character were swappable, and you had a female protagonist chasing a lost female counterpart? That whole part is nonsensical and it struck me that her goal was reversal of the trope, not equality of roles.

You are missing the point. I don't think what any logical person is saying is that the trope of somebody saving somebody else should be ditched in general. What the problem is: a) there is a huge difference in the depiction of men and women in media and that women are far often depicted as weak and unable to care for themselves and therefore depictions of men as being weak and to care for themselves don't mean the same thing, b) that it is overused and (the less argued points) lazy and uninspired for a male character to have to save a female character in a video game, c) how those two factors work together. The problem isn't that these critics don't want games where you save characters. It's the combination of how prevalent it is in the game and how that reflects the media's depiction and use of female characters.

Also, I think there was a video about how graphic and concerning some of the imagery is used in relation to these tropes - for example, the sexualization/romanticization of women who are in need of help or an over reliance on over the top violence against women. I think that most people who agree with the videos would say that is probably almost always wrong. And I would guess it would be the same regardless of sex.

EDIT: Also, it's kind of empowering to depict a girl saving a guy in these games. The girl in these games is so often weak and unable to save themselves, that it's empowering to see the inverse happen. While some would argue "well that just means men are being oppressed"... well, not really. It's not in isolation these ideas and concepts interact. The fact that people take issue with the images is related to the culture of portraying women as weak and unable to care for themselves and what that does to women. It's not the same situation for a dude.

[Your Mom]

http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=11377&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

This seemed like as good a place as any to put this article. I might comment on it more later

[Sousa]

putative white cis malestream

I agree with basically all of this but god damn did I laugh at this particular turn of phrase.

no, not all opinions are equally valid merely because they can be expressed. For far too long, we’ve indulged this malformed, pseudo-democratic impulse; far from emancipating anyone or granting voice to the voiceless, it has merely encouraged bullying, prejudice, and anti-intellectual vandalism on a hitherto unknown scale.

That said, the fact that she has a weird wizard name and a "Muggle name" is oh my god turrible.

[apsham]

Ugh. I hate how "white cis" has become the new Florida Man.

[Sousa]

No, White Cis used to tour with Florida Man. Until that incident with the fireworks.