Support NeoGAF

[Advent1s]

Satire, it's not at all bad for Rockstar to make a joke about the reality of culture, no matter how people think the world should be.

I do of course wish Rockstar would make a female main character as i would find that interesting from the company.

 

[The English Conquistador]

Aren't we all feminists? Men and women?

The title of the video doesn't really make much sense, since most normal human beings are feminists.

 

[Phocks]

That video is a waste of time.

 

[SolidSnakex]

I agree that a main female character would mostly come from a genuine creative interest on the part of R* to create such a character, but I do think there's a part of them finds excitement in pushing the envelope, especially on the story side of things. Going female (or even gay) for the player character seems like a progression that they'll get to at some point.

They already have templates for female leads in GTA with characters like Asuka from GTA3 and Elizabeta from GTAIV. Both would fit right into the lead without issue. Asuka could even make Trevor seem lightweight in some areas since she actually enjoyed torturing people and didn't just do it as an order like Trevor.

I gotta wonder though if this was because of actual progress among the audience ("hey, you know, maybe it's not an issue to play as a difference race and I shouldn't be so close-minded?"), or them just wanting to play the game and not really learning anything from this. I actually wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people came out of it taking the stereotypes to heart, and using it to further their own racist beliefs.

It's probably a bit of both. But it did disprove the theory some had that the game would sell poorly because the lead was black. I don't think gamers really care about which gender or race a character is in the long run. At least not in the sense that they wouldn't buy a game unless the lead was white and male.

 

[Gorger]

What's next Buzzfeed?

Peta members play GTA 5 and you hand them a rifle having them hunt for animals?

Video was stupid and doesn't represent GTA 5 at all. It's an amazingly huge game with an incredible detailed world to explore. They were presented those two aspects in the hope for a negative response.

 

[freeofgreed]

Lol I honestly don't get the hate for the video. It seemed like they were just having fun with it and a lot of their comments were very innocuous. It seems that most people saw the title and got defensive over claims the women in the video didn't even make.

 

[twobear]

'this would be appealing to someone that's never spoken to a human woman'

lmao, drag a bit

 

[creatchee]

Aren't we all feminists? Men and women?

The title of the video doesn't really make much sense, since most normal human beings are feminists.

The problem isn't "normal" human beings - it's the extremely vocal and exceedingly irrational non-normal ones that spoil the broth.

 

[DavidDesu]

This is the grossest shit. This doesn't provide any new meaningful insight on GTA from a feminist perspective. It's literally the most transparent effort from Buzzfeed to capitalize on the drama in the video game community for clicks.

To be honest it could have been much worse. It was a mixed bag of opinions, although they were clearly directed to the most controversial aspects of the game and not much else. The one women who basically said that this summed up games and was why she hated them was a bit sad, just that she has no other view of games than being predominantly misogynistic catering for infantile male players. It's sad cos it's largely true of course, but sad nonetheless that this seems to be her sole experience of games and she won't see what else is out there. This Is a problem the industry MUST proactively try to counter.

I think GTA gets away with what it does as it IS a satire on American culture and American culture can be rather crass, it's just holding up a mirror. Certainly though GTA has to include key playable female characters in the next game, it just needs to. It's 2015 and there's no reason why female characters are not in this. They do not need to be sympathetic female characters, none of the other characters are particularly sympathetic (they;re all arseholes), but they need to include female characters with depth that are well written. They could do so much and take the story to new places if they did.

 

[MDave]

The video was terrible. The youtube comments by feminist gamers that like GTA are great. They get it, and glad to see their comments at the top. But if it wasn't for the video, it wouldn't of brought these people out here to talk about it so I guess it's done a good thing!

 

[Mango The Magician]

To be honest it could have been much worse. It was a mixed bag of opinions, although they were clearly directed to the most controversial aspects of the game and not much else. The one women who basically said that this summed up games and was why she hated them was a bit sad, just that she has no other view of games than being predominantly misogynistic catering for infantile male players. It's sad cos it's largely true of course, but sad nonetheless that this seems to be her sole experience of games and she won't see what else is out there. This Is a problem the industry MUST proactively try to counter.

I think GTA gets away with what it does as it IS a satire on American culture and American culture can be rather crass, it's just holding up a mirror. Certainly though GTA has to include key playable female characters in the next game, it just needs to. It's 2015 and there's no reason why female characters are not in this. They do not need to be sympathetic female characters, none of the other characters are particularly sympathetic (they;re all arseholes), but they need to include female characters with depth that are well written. They could do so much and take the story to new places if they did.

Ehh forget it, my point was that, while the gaming industry ins't perfect, I don't think "misogynistic" or "infantile male players" are words I'd use as they're more harmful than productive, and while I know that you weren't saying that specifically, just saying you agree with the girl in the video, I still feel that the words are way too harsh to describe the issue in gaming, which is merely bad representation of women, not misogyny.

Sorry if I sounded like I was trying to pick a fight or anything, I just wanted to explain why I think that description isn't accurate.

 

[Puaru1]

To be honest it could have been much worse. It was a mixed bag of opinions, although they were clearly directed to the most controversial aspects of the game and not much else. The one women who basically said that this summed up games and was why she hated them was a bit sad, just that she has no other view of games than being predominantly misogynistic catering for infantile male players. It's sad cos it's largely true of course, but sad nonetheless that this seems to be her sole experience of games and she won't see what else is out there. This Is a problem the industry MUST proactively try to counter.

I think GTA gets away with what it does as it IS a satire on American culture and American culture can be rather crass, it's just holding up a mirror. Certainly though GTA has to include key playable female characters in the next game, it just needs to. It's 2015 and there's no reason why female characters are not in this. They do not need to be sympathetic female characters, none of the other characters are particularly sympathetic (they;re all arseholes), but they need to include female characters with depth that are well written. They could do so much and take the story to new places if they did.

Why are people trying to find something positive with this by saying it could of been worse? No one says "Yeah Chris Brown beat Rihanna, but it at least he didn't stab her."

And the woman you seem to be defending is willfully ignorant, it's no the industry's fault that she "hates all video games".

 

[BlastProcessing]

I totally get that

But I wonder if the main character was a woman and could solicit male prostitutes and go to a strip club where all the dancers are male, would that change these womans opinion?

The fact that this is a 100% hypothetical question highlights the whole issue. We don't know how people would react to more balanced gender portrayals in GTA because it hasn't happened yet.

 

[RawNuts]

What's next Buzzfeed?

Peta members play GTA 5 and you hand them a rifle having them hunt for animals?

I'm looking more forward to "cats react to water."

"You see, the idea is that cats generally dislike being bathed, so what happens when we bathe cats in water for their first time? You won't believe their responses!"

 

[Oersted]

The problem isn't "normal" human beings - it's the extremely vocal and exceedingly irrational non-normal ones that spoil the broth.

Huh?

These videos are so dumb

Buzz feed is dumb

Why care about stupid video game junk when so much horrible shit happens to woman in places like Africa and the Middle East

So do something about that before you cry over GTA

Can't tell anymore what is parody and what is not.

 

[creatchee]

Huh?

MRA's and radical feminists (not regular feminists, but * radical* ones) are not representative of the general population, yet they scream the loudest and cause the most problems on topics such as these.

 

[Dreavus]

Huh?


Can't tell anymore what is parody and what is not.

Poe's Law in full effect.

Their reactions were as expected from reasonable humans, and I don't know what Buzzfeed is trying to say with this video. There are some shitty things in GTA and I don't think you have to be a stereotypical "feminist" (chosen and named as such by the fine folks at Buzzfeed – they were probably foaming at the mouth when she mentioned her blog because it plays straight into the narrative they're building with this clip) to see that at all.

Gotta get them clickz.

 

[SprachBrooks]

The fact that this is a 100% hypothetical question highlights the whole issue. We don't know how people would react to more balanced gender portrayals in GTA because it hasn't happened yet.

You don't need to have it happen to understand the fundamental principle associated with the supposed misogyny in GTA –– that is, any instance where one is offering a commodity through the sale of their body, only to be killed then have the money taken away is plain wrong. That's it, no gender equality or whatever bullshit quota you're trying to fill makes it any more acceptable, it is wrong and criminal.

It's not progressive to just enable the female to exact revenge by doing the same thing to males because it just undermines the point of the initial criticism. The fact of the matter simply becomes, this game is not for me and i do not enjoy what it represents therefore i will not play it and encourage them to make something different, not the same but with a woman running around doing the same shit.

 

[toastyToast]

I don't know who fantasises about the very reasonable prospect of visiting a strip club and/or banging whores. You don't need to be pretty or rich to do either.

 

[Xun]

"It's a game where terrible things happen to women"

Last time I checked it's a game where terrible things happen to everyone.

That said they raise some valid points.

 

[Akiyama_AE]

Well tits in a strip club is not out of this world lol..

 

[mackattk]

I laughed at the girl saying if this is what you are going through during your formative years... and talking about visiting a strip club.

I am uh, pretty sure the internet has FAR worse things.

Other than that, everything was just as expected. Fortunately, there wasn't much of the crazy tumblr feminists I see on imgur and all that. One of the girls at the end was kind of getting there, explaining that "this is why I hate video games, it plays to the male stereotypes, etc.".

On a side note, I played through GTA V on the PS4 and didn't even realize prostitutes were still part of the game.

 

[Sushigod7]

The whole thing is sad and a misrepresentation of feminist and GTA. Most people in general wouldn't like those activities in the game feminist or not. GTA controversy is about 10yrs to late Jack Thompson is done.

 

[HighResTomato]

Aren't we all feminists? Men and women?

The title of the video doesn't really make much sense, since most normal human beings are feminists.

What is a normal human being?

 

[16BitNova]

SMH. It's a video game, just sit down and enjoy.

 

[MrHoot]

I'm looking more forward to "cats react to water."

"You see, the idea is that cats generally dislike being bathed, so what happens when we bathe cats in water for their first time? You won't believe their responses!"

I would watch that

All 90 episodes of this

And then my cat would know who's boss

 

[Nuke Soda]

Ever since I watched this video the youbtube homepage has been filled with anti feminist stuff. My favorite is a video called Retarded feminist rants about videogames and then for the thumbnail is the ladies picture with HUMORLESS CUNT in huge letters.

Thanks youtube for thinking I might like that dudes video, just thanks.

 

[udivision]

Aren't we all feminists? Men and women?

The title of the video doesn't really make much sense, since most normal human beings are feminists.

Generally, wouldn't you want ethics in all kinds of journalism? Who exactly wants shadier or worse quality journalism?

That doesn't mean you'd associate yourself with GG.

 

[Oersted]

MRA's and radical feminists (not regular feminists, but * radical* ones) are not representative of the general population, yet they scream the loudest and cause the most problems on topics such as these.

Which radical feminists and what have they done?

 

[hurricanes]

Generally, wouldn't you want ethics in all kinds of journalism? Who exactly wants shadier or worse quality journalism?

That doesn't mean you'd associate yourself with GG.

Like GG is actually about "ethics in gaming journalism".