PixlBit

Where all my PixlPeeps at?!

Heard - and I agree.  It's good to have civilized discourse on important matters like this.  And it warms my heard that the community here is actually talking about this stuff and not reducing themselves to the savagery that often accompanies these subjects on other sites.

While I have issues with Sarkeesian’s approach and a lot of the things she says, I would like to address item #1.  The fundamental issue is that these characters that are “sexist towards men” point of view, is that all of these characters are created by men.  This isn’t sexism, it’s the hero fantasy.  It’s a projection of how we view ourselves as a sex.  It’s a power fantasy.  The brutish man ends up with the pretty lady – who happens to be useless without the man around to protect her.

You may not like Marcus and the game from Gears of War, but that’s a man’s interpretation of another man. 

Now, if women were creating these characters all the time it would be one thing.  But a woman isn’t objectifying Kratos or Marcus.  They didn’t create those avatars – we did.  If anyone is “sexist” against men, it’s other men.

Men hate the sexism in games question because it rings true.  We hate to admit that there is a problem in this industry, because that would mean to admit there is a problem would mean that we would have to admit that there is something wrong with what we love.  Men also come from a position of power – games are created based on the 18-34 white male demographic for the most part.  Addressing this issue would also mean that we would no longer be the focus, and who doesn’t want to be the focus?

I’m not saying that anyone here is sexist – but we have to admit there is a problem and stop grasping for straws to prove there isn’t an issue.  Sure, anyone can point to a few exceptions, but women have practically the entire industry to point out as their example.

And to show that I’m not piling on, I will say that I agree with some of your points.  Picking apart Mario’s “save the princess” theme doesn’t really say much – there just isn’t any real substance there.  Other M is a better example – as much as you may not want to talk about – because it makes an otherwise empowered woman, subservient to a man for no real good reason.

Sarkeesian may be full of it - but that doesn’t make her completely wrong.  We can’t ignore the issue, we must explore it.  And we can’t keep getting defensive about it either.  Some of what we find will hurt, but those are just growing pains.  If we want videogames to be taken seriously, we need to take down the “no girls allowed” signs and grow the hell up.   

My name is Jesse and this is my favorite comment on this thread.

Phantasy Star IV is one of my all time favorite games.  Everyone should play this game. 

I've been a fan of both the Shadowrun video games along with the table top source RPG, so naturally I backed this as soon as I heard about it.  Really looking forward to this one getting released, and the progress looks fantastic.

lol touche on that point.  But they'll have it worked out for the inevitable "Game of the Year" edition that will hit sometime this year.

I miss expansions.  Back in the day, DLC wasn't broken down to the minutia that it is today.  When companies wanted to expand upon the original, they would release a module that offered a substantial enhancement to almost all elements of the game.  There would be a new quest, a totally new feature, etc...

In this fashion, I think Borderlands is a game that does DLC right.  Completely new characters enable me to play through the game again - if I want to - and their DLC releases are usually rather robust; adding completely new maps, missions, characters and story points.  It's good stuff that keeps the game relevant.

The microtransaction stuff is what kills me.  From a business standpoint I get it, but from a creative standpoint it's no good.  Executives push for low hanging fruit - create some horse armor or some hats - perhaps components for crafting, etc....  These take little to no time to develop and can be marked up to make a profit practically right away.

That and DLC comes out too quickly now.  I've been conditioned to wait until later to pick certain games up, because I know a complete edition will be coming.  Skyrim, Borderlands, etc...  These games will have "complete" editions before too long and they'll cost me a lot less.

I'll stop there - but I could go on.  Perhaps in an editorial...

i am for this.

One hit kills - slaps only.  Fantastic.