Further Developments In The Feminist/SJW Invasion Of Video Gaming

pocketknifeMT · 2013-11-25T14:27:32+00:00

Context:

[PR motions that time is running low]

RPS: You have some interesting alternate outfits for heroes. Roller Derby Nova, especially, caught my eye. On its own, that’s totally fine – just a silly, goofy thing. A one-off. But it got me thinking about how often MOBAs tend to hyper-sexualize female characters to a generally preposterous degree – that is to say, make it the norm, not a one-off at all – and StarCraft’s own, um, interesting focus choices as of late. How are you planning to approach all of that in Heroes?

Browder: Well, I mean, some of these characters, I would argue, are already hyper-sexualized in a sense. I mean, Kerrigan is wearing heels, right? We’re not sending a message to anybody. We’re just making characters who look cool. Our sensibilities are more comic book than anything else. That’s sort of where we’re at. But I’ll take the feedback. I think it’s very fair feedback.

RPS: I have to add, though, that comics might not be the best point of reference for this sort of thing. I mean, it’s a medium that’s notorious – often in a not-good way – for sexing up female characters and putting them in some fairly gross situations.

Browder: We’re not running for President. We’re not sending a message. No one should look to our game for that.

RPS: But it’s not even about a message. The goal is to let people have fun in an environment where they can feel awesome without being weirded out or even objectified. This is a genre about empowerment. Why shouldn’t everyone feel empowered? That’s what it’s about at the end of the day: letting everyone have a fair chance to feel awesome.

Browder: Uh-huh. Cool. Totally.

[PR says we've run over, tells me I have to leave]

RPS: Thank you for your time.

NOTE: This interview, quite obviously, ended in an uncomfortable place, and I decided to break that down at length in a separate opinion piece. It will be live soon, and I’ll link it here when it’s been posted.

YetAnotherCommenter · 2013-11-25T14:44:01+00:00

This is confusing to me ... blizzard games have a lot of strong female characters. Jana, Kerrigan, Nova , that crazy one eyed chick who was apparently Matts wife in SC2. LOL characters are excessive because that is the style, dudes with huge muscles and chisled jaws and chicks with curves and tits. Its less sexual marketing and more an artistic expression

YetAnotherCommenter · 2013-11-25T10:56:05+00:00

Eurogamer reports on the story here: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-11-25-blizzard-dev-apologises-for-poorresponse-to-female-character-design-question

Volksgrenadier · 2013-11-25T17:58:34+00:00

Good old RPS, making issues out of pointless bullshit in a desperate bid for pageclicks.

CosmicKeys · 2013-11-25T10:26:24+00:00

The goal is to let people have fun in an environment where they can feel awesome without being weirded out or even objectified. This is a genre about empowerment. Why shouldn’t everyone feel empowered?

What the hell kind of a question is that? No, MOBA's are not about empowerment or some anti-sex agenda.

I understand that women playing games want better characters, fair enough. Hell, it's not that different from hardcore gamers railing about brown space marines. But that is such a pathetic way of framing the problem, the Queen is the most powerful character and yet you don't see women flooding to chess. These kinds of people should take a look at the spending habits of women before they criticize male fantasy.

YetAnotherCommenter · 2013-11-25T09:32:23+00:00

As to why this is a "men's rights" issue...

1) The comments have quite a bit of MRA bashing and oppression olympics claiming that women have it SO MUCH WORSE regarding idealized character design

2) Hobbyist video gaming, as in playing a wide variety of deep video games on an habitual basis for amusement, is an historically male pasttime which only recently has become a target for female invasion (whereas it used to be, and often still is, a target for female ridicule). This habit of many women is arguably an outgrowth of various feminine imperatives mandated by traditional gender roles - possessive femininity, seeking status/security via mating rather than agency, etc.

3) Apparently, the fact that a video game clearly targeted towards the hobbyist gamer market is designed to appeal to gynophilic men (via fanservicey female characters) is automatically misogynist. By the same logic, Harlequin Romance's entire output is automatically misandrist for having male characters that are designed to appeal to androphilic women.

4) The solution to this problem is simple: provide an inclusive variety of fanservice for all objects of desire. But of course, instead of "why not give Jim Raynor a shirtless alternate costume so the girls can drool too?", we're basically having Burqa Feminists come in and try to take fanservice away from gynophilic men (and gynophilic women too, for those actual lesbians (i.e. not "political" lesbians) who like the badass-femme-woman type).

EDIT: Point 4 suggested shirtless Jim Raynor would be a good way to make fanservice androphilic-female-inclusive. Given the tastes of the average androphilic-female (judging by romance novels etc.), perhaps Matt Horner would be a better subject for a shirtless costume. Of course, nothing says there cannot be shirtless alternate costumes for both characters.

Title	Further Developments In The Feminist/SJW Invasion Of Video Gaming
Author	YetAnotherCommenter
Upvotes	14
Comments	65
Date	November 25, 2013 9:23 AM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1repov/further_developments_in_the_feministsjw_invasion/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/further-developments-in-the-feministsjw-invasion.1157872 https://theredarchive.com/post/1157872

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