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Aisha Tyler on Race, Sexism and Video Games (Q&A)

Kwixotik

Member
Is she really going to bring in Gears of War as a positive example of diversity? The black characters in that franchise are black stereotypes incarnate.
 
It’s like, “I was hazed. And now I’m going to haze.”

BqRfLqf.jpg


time for some of you to do some soul searching.

Is she really going to bring in Gears of War as a positive example of diversity? The black characters in that franchise are black stereotypes incarnate.

she referred very specifically to the Latino character.
 

Threi

notag
Aisha is most definitely somebody I will pay attention to, more than most, when discussing topics like this. Very intelligent person.

and very beautiful too <3
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Well, she's right about the hazing thing. Nerds and geeks turn on other nerds and geeks in a heartbeat to kick the next guy down the ladder in the face.

Though I think much of it isn't merely to "pay it forward" as if getting revenge. Sometimes it's geeks trying to appease an audience to fit in. People are dumb like that and will behave horribly if they feel it gains brownie points for their group social standing.
 

Aeana

Member
What about folks who don't want transgender and homosexual characters in there games? Do they have choice to speak and say there peace or they should just accept and go with the flow?

They can stop for a second and come to terms with the fact that it's okay if not every game is catered directly to them. They could also try not being bigots, but we'll take this one step at a time.
 
Well, she's right about the hazing thing. Nerds and geeks turn on other nerds and geeks in a heartbeat to kick the next guy down the ladder in the face.

Though I think much of it isn't merely to "pay it forward" as if getting revenge. Sometimes it's geeks trying to appease an audience to fit in. People are dumb like that and will behave horribly if they feel it gains brownie points for their group social standing.

It's more simple than that. People like feeling "in". Powerful. Like they have something exclusive that you don't or can't have. Doesn't matter what context (games, cars, significant others, houses, boats, schools, designer purses, fraternities), people want to have something that they can ascribe value to and then limit access to. Makes them feel validated. The poor are the most susceptible to this, but it knows no bounds.
 

Jado

Banned
What about folks who don't want transgender and homosexual characters in there games? Do they have choice to speak and say there peace or they should just accept and go with the flow?

Homophobic and transphobic assholes? No one is required to give them a platform to spew their crap. They can speak up on their own soapbox, but they really don't deserve to have anyone consider what they have to say.
 

Daingurse

Member
I like Aisha's responses here, diversity is still something games struggle with, but it is getting better. Character's like Lee, give me fucking hope.

On one hand I don't really want to interfere with the creative process of game design, but on the other hand. . . I also don't think increased representation of minorities in games, is something that will simply happen naturally. I'm not really demanding anything, but I see nothing wrong with asking or requesting for a goddamn thing.

What about folks who don't want transgender and homosexual characters in there games? Do they have choice to speak and say there peace or they should just accept and go with the flow?

Give me a legitimate reason, a person would not want transgendered or homosexual individuals in their games, straight up? Because I sure as hell can't think of one. Sounds like bigotry, which I do not tolerate.
 
It may also be a reaction to the videogame equivalent of car girls that show up at conferences and they’re meant to lure guys in. There’s just a general idea that they hired some actress who doesn’t know what she’s talking about. It’s a knee-jerk reaction

That's a good point. I never thought about that.
 

Toa TAK

Banned
Thanks for posting this OP. Tyler just got cooler to me.

She did mention Ubisoft, and I had a thought on that...

I think Ubisoft is in a funny place with their characters. Despite Watch_Dogs, they still made characters like Altair, Connor, Aveline, and Adewale in just one series. When it comes to diversity, they're still afraid to do a woman as a lead, but compared to the industry overall, I think they've had a pretty good input so far.
 

Zornack

Member
Thanks for posting this OP. Tyler just got cooler to me.

She did mention Ubisoft, and I had a thought on that...

I think Ubisoft is in a funny place with their characters. Despite Watch_Dogs, they still made characters like Altair, Connor, Aveline, and Adewale in just one series. When it comes to diversity, they're still afraid to do a woman as a lead, but compared to the industry overall, I think they've had a pretty good input so far.

The lead of AC: Vita is a woman. They did also make Beyond Good & Evil.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
This is actually a really interesting response.

It's also very true.

Authority said:
Well I guess you now know Aisha that Ubisoft can go fuck itself, by me at least.

To be fair: They're not necessarily wrong. Modeling women does take some time. I dunno if it takes up huge amounts of time or money like they claim but it is a reasonable response.

Though Ass Creed Brotherhood, Revelations and 3 had female assassins you recruited to use in singleplayer, so it isn't like they can't have women be assassin's in the multiplayer.
 

Amir0x

Banned
oh neat i just asked her about sexism in the other thread and she didn't answer. So this is very illuminating! Fantastic answers!
 

Replicant

Member
What about folks who don't want transgender and homosexual characters in there games? Do they have choice to speak and say there peace or they should just accept and go with the flow?

Then these bigots are free not to purchase those games. But asking developers to exclude minorities due to bigotry is a vile train of thoughts in case you're not aware of it already.
 
I kinda dislike aisha's presentations because to me it always comes off as shes trying to prove that she can game because shes a girl. I get that girls get a lot of crap online when they game etc. At the same time I game with females and they never feel they need to "prove" anything to anyone, they simple just game. Its a shame because I think shes a good presenter but i feel like shes talking to me like im 19 years old drinking mt dew and wearing my 360 headset playing cod. To be honest if it was a guy acting making those jokes onstage about getting wood or some of the "gamer" lingo being thrown around not only would I be just as annoyed but I think more people would be too. Just my 2 cents.
 

Darksol

Member
By her own admission in today's GAF Q&A she only cares about shooters and occasional action RPGs. I don't think less of her because she's a woman gamer, I think less of her because she has a very narrow field of interest when it comes to gaming :p

But in all honesty, to each their own. She's quite talented, very intelligent, and I'm all for people putting gaming in a positive light. So kudos to her ^-^
 

Blackage

Member
What about folks who don't want transgender and homosexual characters in there games? Do they have choice to speak and say there peace or they should just accept and go with the flow?

Nope, but we do get lick the tears off their faces as their reality crashes around them LGBT characters show up in more places idiotic bigots don't like. ^_^
 

Dead Man

Member
Those who have been marginalised often marginalise others. It's human nature, sadly. See also the cycle of child abuse and domestic violence in families.
 
I would extend this to the portrayal of women in games as well. To me, it really appears that they are operating on a level of, "I've never had a woman of my own, so I'll just hypersexualize and objectify them as much as possible." Every woman does not need to have giant breasts and cleavage hanging out in battle.

Aisha Tyler's spot on, but your extension is absolutely terrible and offensive. People like sexuality, therefore they must be lonely virgins? Really?
 
Absolutely true.

I would extend this to the portrayal of women in games as well. To me, it really appears that they are operating on a level of, "I've never had a woman of my own, so I'll just hypersexualize and objectify them as much as possible." Every woman does not need to have giant breasts and cleavage hanging out in battle.

For every Samus we have 5-10 Harley Quinn/Felicia/female MGSV assassins.

This is true, but you can't place the blame squarely on gamers. Movies, comics and even book covers were guilty of this years before gaming became a thing.
 

JDSN

Banned
What about folks who don't want transgender and homosexual characters in there games? Do they have choice to speak and say there peace or they should just accept and go with the flow?

Well, that people can fuck right off.

Play something like CoD where social interaction amounts to little more than bragging and trash talk, and it might appear that it's rife. I'd argue that most of that stuff is just thoughtless and not intended, and born of frustration for the moment rather than malice toward a particular minority, the fact it perpetuates is a issue of course (and I'm not condoning it in any way) but we're discussing intent here. Do these people really have an issue with minorities? I know I don't, and I trash talked like a moron at times in my teenage years while playing with friends (all colours and shapes, my world is a beautiful rainbow).


No, thats called "racism", pretending that it deserves a lesser word is myopic and callous.
 

Pennywise

Member
And yet, for the most part, we keep getting generic shooters with white male leads.

Which isn't suprising considering these type of games usual cost alot of money and they're eager to push for the audience they know, that will definetely buy it.
It's the same for gameplay elements, avoiding risks is dictated by the costs.

That doesn't mean those type of games wouldn't work with a different characters, however the research those companies are doing, most likely isn't gonna cover those questions.
 

Oersted

Member
Thanks for posting this OP. Tyler just got cooler to me.

She did mention Ubisoft, and I had a thought on that...

I think Ubisoft is in a funny place with their characters. Despite Watch_Dogs, they still made characters like Altair, Connor, Aveline, and Adewale in just one series. When it comes to diversity, they're still afraid to do a woman as a lead, but compared to the industry overall, I think they've had a pretty good input so far.

The way they used women in Watch Dogs was godawful.
 

Authority

Banned
It's also very true.

To be fair: They're not necessarily wrong. Modeling women does take some time. I dunno if it takes up huge amounts of time or money like they claim but it is a reasonable response.

Though Ass Creed Brotherhood, Revelations and 3 had female assassins you recruited to use in singleplayer, so it isn't like they can't have women be assassin's in the multiplayer.

Let us refresh our memory.

Lucian Soulban (Openly gay Ubisoft Montreal lead writer)

"What do you think the odds are that we’ll get a mid-30s stubbly-bearded brown-haired white guy with a raspy voice who is gay as a lead character in a AAA title?" Richard Dansky, the company's "Central Clancy Writer" (yes, that's a thing) asked Lucien Soulban, an openly gay man who's worked on blockbuster shooter franchises like Far Cry and Rainbow Six.

"Not for a while, I suspect, because of fears that it'll impact sales," Soulban responded. In his view, commercial constraints are the chief barrier to diversifying video game characters and stories. At best, what AAA game developers can do now is relegate LGBT characters to supporting roles, or pull a sort of "bait-and-switch" on players like Nintendo famously did when it revealed that Metroid star Samus Aran was actually a woman underneath her suit of power armor. Either that, or what BioWare has done with its Dragon Age and Mass Effect games—let players decide the sexuality of their characters and chalk the decision up to player choice"

Gary Steinman, a communications manager for Ubisoft, issued a response to the press that Soulban's comments were getting with a statement issued over the weekend. Steinman's statement is buried in the comments section of the original Q&A, so here it is reprinted in full:

Hello, all... We’ve seen several news outlets pick up quotes from this lively interview, with a focus on Lucien’s comment that we might not see a gay protagonist in a triple-A game for a while due to concerns about an impact on sales. We want to clarify that Lucien is speaking from the heart and sharing his own personal perspectives and insights. We’d also like to reiterate that fully committed to exploring characters of all races, creeds and orientations, in both supporting and starring roles. The UbiBlog was built to be a place where the creative minds behind our games can talk directly with you, in an open setting, fostering frank and candid discussions about key issues like this one.

They only thing they are fully committed is about giving fucking stupid answers. And here is why,

They could have said,

"While it was never part of our plans, if there is enough interest we will consider creating a DLC for it".
"It is a possibility we are currently evaluating".

Alternatively, they could have,

Removed one Ass and put a Female Character.

One day you will realize (nothing to do with you) that this whole cost-driven argument coming from a bigAss company is bullshit. Adding a woman or a gay character is a burden for them. Nothing about costs. It is all about maintaining the status quo and hiding behind "costs" unless you think a company like Ubi will go bankrupt with a female lead character. If that is the case they might as well remove all female acting and presence and spam men because female voice acting is more costly.

They cannot hide behind this forever. One day, one Ubisoft employee's tongue will slip and I hope they get the shitstorm they deserve.
 

Madness

Member
Absolutely true.

I would extend this to the portrayal of women in games as well. To me, it really appears that they are operating on a level of, "I've never had a woman of my own, so I'll just hypersexualize and objectify them as much as possible." Every woman does not need to have giant breasts and cleavage hanging out in battle.

For every Samus we have 5-10 Harley Quinn/Felicia/female MGSV assassins.

That's more along the lines of sex sells and portraying sexuality. It's actually quite fascinating because in an interactive medium, having attractive characters also leads to the "waifu" mentality. It's why even in movies like Avatar you see a beautiful Na'Vi modeled after Zoe Saldana. This isn't new by any means. Marketers and researchers have long found this to be the case. Especially for companion characters. So if you know teen boys are going to be a large segment of the population, you'll have this attractive, character that people will remember long after the game is off. Characters people create fan fiction of, develop a strong "relationship" with as funny as that sounds.

I agree more realistic portrayals are needed, less bouncy bosoms and paper thin waists and more muscular or "real" curves, but it's not abiut I never had a woman of my own or objectifying them in a sense.
 
Just gonna state that it is not 4 different characters, everyone plays as Arno, and appears as a random assassin to the rest of the players. There should be a female assassin MC again, but it is not a make one of the four a female, because everyone is Arno, and everyone else is just a random. They could put in females in the random pool though.
 

Replicant

Member
I kinda dislike aisha's presentations because to me it always comes off as shes trying to prove that she can game because shes a girl. I get that girls get a lot of crap online when they game etc. At the same time I game with females and they never feel they need to "prove" anything to anyone, they simple just game. Its a shame because I think shes a good presenter but i feel like shes talking to me like im 19 years old drinking mt dew and wearing my 360 headset playing cod. To be honest if it was a guy acting making those jokes onstage about getting wood or some of the "gamer" lingo being thrown around not only would I be just as annoyed but I think more people would be too. Just my 2 cents.

Stop this BS. It's disgusting how every single time women or minorities bring up the issue about their lack of portrayal in video games, someone always whinge how they're just trying to show off or shove the issues in our faces.

Guess what? If there have been decent representation of women and minorities in the first place maybe they didn't have to bring it up in the first place.

Maybe if you're not trying to dismiss their concerns with the usual round of pathetic "I have (insert female or minorities) friends and they never feel the need to bring this up/prove anything" vitriol, then they would not feel ignored in the first place.
 
Stop this BS. It's disgusting how every single time women or minorities bring up the issue about their lack of portrayal in video games, someone always whinge how they're just trying to show off or shove the issues in our faces.

Guess what? If there have been decent representation of women and minorities in the first place maybe they didn't have to bring it up in the first place.

Maybe if you're not trying to dismiss their concerns with the usual round of pathetic "I have (insert female or minorities) friends and they never feel the need to bring this up/prove anything" vitriol, then they would not feel ignored in the first place.

I never said anything about what she said off stage now did I? I'm merely commenting on her stage performance. Did I actively point out and discuss what she said regarding female representation in the gaming community?
 

Jado

Banned
I actually think blankempathy meant that Aisha comes off as forced and dudebro-ish in her delivery during live presentations, not that he's tired of her complaining about sexism or lack of representation in games.

I don't agree (think she has a great personality on stage), but yeah, not getting any ill will from his post.

edit: To clarify, a lot of the men on stage at E3 over the years are horrifically awful on stage and the words coming out of their mouths feel very forced and unnatural. Either from over-rehearsing, poorly rehearsing, bad scripts and underestimating viewership's sophistication and pandering to a perceived simplistic/dumb gamer.
 
I kinda dislike aisha's presentations because to me it always comes off as shes trying to prove that she can game because shes a girl. I get that girls get a lot of crap online when they game etc. At the same time I game with females and they never feel they need to "prove" anything to anyone, they simple just game. Its a shame because I think shes a good presenter but i feel like shes talking to me like im 19 years old drinking mt dew and wearing my 360 headset playing cod. To be honest if it was a guy acting making those jokes onstage about getting wood or some of the "gamer" lingo being thrown around not only would I be just as annoyed but I think more people would be too. Just my 2 cents.

It's like "I was hazed. And now I'm going to haze too.


This entire post is exactly what she talking about. She made a joke. She wasn't trying to be hardcore. She wasn't trying to prove herself as a " gamer ".

She was just being her nerdy self.

The fact that a man can do this and never be doubted nor not look as if he was trying to "prove" himself but for a women, it has to always be about proving herself, is entirely ridiculous. Her stage presence is no different than anyone who goes up there and talks.
 
This entire post is exactly what she talking about. She made a joke. She wasn't trying to be hardcore. She wasn't trying to prove herself as a " gamer ".

She was just being her nerdy self.

The fact that a man can do this and never be doubted nor not look as if he was trying to "prove" himself but for a women, it has to always be about proving yourself, is entirely ridiculous.

Actually I said id be annoyed if someone was presenting on stage and did that too even if he was a man. Really don't care to hear about someone getting wood when they're presenting games on stage, man or woman. Though im glad she didn't bring that up this year. fyi none of this is about me dismissing her claims or dismissing women representation in the gaming community. I swear I can't say anything negative about a woman in the gaming community because then I'm being dismissive of the real issues going on.
 

Replicant

Member
I never said anything about what she said off stage now did I? I'm merely commenting on her stage performance. Did I actively point out and discuss what she said regarding female representation in the gaming community?

You basically said she tried too hard. For what? You don't even know her. Maybe that's her personality. And why did you bring up your female friends and how they don't feel the need to prove themselves? What does that got to do wih Aisha? Do all female have to act/behave the same to you to be acceptable?
 

DOWN

Banned
Great interview. She sounds very competent. Glad she has become an industry success as a gamer.
 

jbw

Banned
Really with the fake puzzled reaction? Why did you bother posting then?

No I was truly puzzled... And still am... At just why you posted. o_O

I don't know, I just thought she might be someone of relevancy. Turns out she's not.
 

bedlamite

Member
No I was truly puzzled... And still am... At just why you posted. o_O

I don't know, I just thought she might be someone of relevancy. Turns out she's not.
Looks like you should have just refrained from posting if you didn't know who she was.
 
You basically said she tried too hard. For what? You don't even know her. Maybe that's her personality. And why did you bring up your female friends and how they don't feel the need to prove themselves? What does that got to do wih Aisha? Do all female have to act/behave the same to you to be acceptable?

Personality or not like I said her hosting style isn't for me. I'm nearly 30 I dont find weed references funny sorry. And yea I said she tries too hard. Guess thats my opinion huh? Like I said before if it were a guy on stage making jokes about weed and boners I'd be annoyed too. You know its funny. People want to support minorities and women in gaming and think they should be more represented which I agree with. Then at the same time some of those same people want to make everything about that too including against people who might have a negative opinion against a minority or female. You know I shouldn't have brought up my female friends but im sorry certain types of people I just find annoying including "grrl gamers". Not saying that Aisha is one of those types though. Anyways I'm criticizing Aisha the e3 host. Not Aisha the person. When you do something public expect critisim just like I expect getting critiszed on this forum if I post something I dont like. At the same time im not harassing her on twitter saying she sucks etc. Merely making a comment on a forum board.
 

jbw

Banned
Keeping it classy.

Forgive me for not fawning over... What exactly is she again?

I mean, ohhh, stop the presses... Aisha Tyler got something to say. Who gives a rat's ass.

Aisha mother effin' Tyler. Raise your scope people, expand your horizons beyond People magazine. SMH.
 
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