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Bloomberg Op-Ed: "Video Game Industry Struggles to Shake Sexist Attitudes" (Ties in "sexism" with harassment at companies like Activision)

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CGiRanger

Banned
New Genshin female alt-skin outfits revealed yesterday. I'm sure these will be even skimpier.....
Genshin-Impact-24.jpg


.....what even is "skimpy" anymore.... :messenger_weary:
 

Woggleman

Member
The funny thing is that most women I know have no issue with sexy women. My wife doesn't and neither does my mother or my lesbian cousin. I even know a woman who is a feminist that works at planned parenthood that sees nothing wrong with it so why are these weird men so offended by sexiness. I am a huge fan of HZD but Aloy is just one character and everybody does not need to look like her.
 

Fake

Member
Yeah, I've come think that too. Not in all cases, but the ones where a female character is de-feminized and made adrogynous - those ones, for sure.

In Brazil there are bunch of ladies that go to the beach and there are others ladies that write on twitter/facebook their hate over those women.

Part of the west men behave like that.
who cares, its someone’s opinion.

My problem with whores in video games is that clearly a nerd wrote them. Whores in movies move the plot along and serve a purpose. Whores in video games make me universally cringe. Not all gamers are losers that cant get a gfs.

Games will get there.

I'm scary to ask you your definition of whore in gaming.
 
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laynelane

Member
In Brazil there are bunch of ladies that go to the beach and there are others ladies that write on twitter/facebook their hate over those women.

Part of the west men behave like that.

True, and in the West articles like this get written so the author can feel like he's virtuous and noble (and get them clicks) when, in reality, it's just puritanical and a way to exert control. I didn't know that happened in Brazil. That's so petty and disappointing.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
who cares, its someone’s opinion.

My problem with whores in video games is that clearly a nerd wrote them. Whores in movies move the plot along and serve a purpose. Whores in video games make me universally cringe. Not all gamers are losers that cant get a gfs.

Games will get there.
The “whores”?!? Whaa?

post users GIF



Maybe there is a missing /s somewhere I missed, maybe something else, or maybe we know the author from somewhere else ;):
Dana Carvey Snl GIF by Saturday Night Live
 
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Gamerguy84

Member
who cares, its someone’s opinion.

My problem with whores in video games is that clearly a nerd wrote them. Whores in movies move the plot along and serve a purpose. Whores in video games make me universally cringe. Not all gamers are losers that cant get a gfs.

Games will get there.
 

Fake

Member
I didn't know that happened in Brazil. That's so petty and disappointing.

Women here in Brazil are very very jealous over other women. Is a very cultural thing here. Brazillian women have a huge reputation of being the most pretty over others countries, so they're very conceited and need attention. In this era of social media, women are now after likes/views, mostly from men.
 
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I'm scary to ask you your definition of whore in gaming.
To be honest I havent seen a game where I was embarrassed to play in years. But perhaps Genshin Impact. My gf walked in on me playing the game ( I was trying to get the alloy skin) she was like why is the character dressed like a whore.

The way the characters look and how they act like little kids is super weird. My problem is how characters that are scantily dressed act like innocent kids in video games. Nerds clearly design these, or they are designed for nerds. Anyways its cringe.
 

CZY

Member
There's room in gaming for sexualised and non-sexualised characters, we can have both.

The success of Horizon was definitely good, and showed that games don't need male protagonists to be successful.
Horizon was successful in spite of its boring, ugly, snarky, dimwit protagonist not because of it. And I want to tell these people her gender is fucking irrelevant anyway if you’re not a flag-waving ideologue. So tired of all this omfg already.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
Women like Bayonetta and Lara Croft. Neither one of them are the “put out” types. Even when Lara had big jaggy breasts, she didn’t just give it to anyone she met. Bayonetta, a highly sexualized female, isn’t a slut or whore. She’d probably kill you if you tried assaulting her. I hate these out of context articles and people who look past the purpose of the character’s existence. Make a game character yourself and see if it’s just as successful. Women dress sexy for themselves and they can do it in a video game. Covering the female up is bull sh*t. Victoria Secret has photos of larger women in their panties in their store now. Sex appeal should be a good thing for people.

If he can’t play it in front of his family then he may not need to. Why does he need to play those games in front of them? Do women dress sexy for their grandparents or parents? Lara Croft has been toned down and altered to the point where her existence feels like some sorta cover up. She was more of a “game character” back on PS1 and Xbox 360.

I’d love to actually talk to these people who write such articles about this stuff. The only reason they get any attention is because of their platform and their career choice.

Lara Croft and Bayonetta are on two opposite ends of the spectrum on just about every level. Activision has an HR and corporate issue where they didn’t handle issues properly.
 

ANDS

King of Gaslighting
The author of the article's tone is wildly sanctimonious, however -

Nothing like men telling women that wearing clothes that aren't completely covering them is disgusting and scandalous.

Literally linked to an article where a woman asked a valid question at a Blizzard panel and was heckled by the crowd and the panel. Can easily argue that the author of the article conveniently stepped over numerous examples of female character designs that don't match their thesis and are popular (but still "have it goin' on. . ." in the traditional beauty standard sense) but that doesn't mean there AREN'T prevalent examples of this in gaming.
 

CGiRanger

Banned
Women like Bayonetta and Lara Croft. Neither one of them are the “put out” types. Even when Lara had big jaggy breasts, she didn’t just give it to anyone she met. Bayonetta, a highly sexualized female, isn’t a slut or whore. She’d probably kill you if you tried assaulting her. I hate these out of context articles and people who look past the purpose of the character’s existence. Make a game character yourself and see if it’s just as successful. Women dress sexy for themselves and they can do it in a video game. Covering the female up is bull sh*t. Victoria Secret has photos of larger women in their panties in their store now. Sex appeal should be a good thing for people.

If he can’t play it in front of his family then he may not need to. Why does he need to play those games in front of them? Do women dress sexy for their grandparents or parents? Lara Croft has been toned down and altered to the point where her existence feels like some sorta cover up. She was more of a “game character” back on PS1 and Xbox 360.

I’d love to actually talk to these people who write such articles about this stuff. The only reason they get any attention is because of their platform and their career choice.

Lara Croft and Bayonetta are on two opposite ends of the spectrum on just about every level. Activision has an HR and corporate issue where they didn’t handle issues properly.
It's just so very bizarre to put Lara Croft in any kind of "list" on this matter, since her main outfits were never "skimpy" (perhaps she wore some wetsuits or other swimwear at appropriate times), and certainly have been nowhere near so in the last game iterations which encompass about a decade now. Just seems like it (well, like all the other specifics) were just convenient low-hanging fruit to shout out about.
tomb_raider_saga_by_pedro_croft-d7yawbn.png


I think someone else noted that this article almost seems like a camouflaged advertisement for Horizon in a weird way. That certainly makes more sense than any other particular value this has.
 
What gets me is that these virtue-signalling, puritanical-ass pseudo-wannabe journos who claim to be soooo embarrassed seeing virtual VG characters in skimpy outfits and then log off at the end of the day to spend an evening with some lotion and their Pornhub playlist.

As if partially clad women in a videogame or any other entertainment medium is somehow problematic, but the way women are depicted in porn is perfectly ok.

There's nothing problematic about seeing tits and ass. Even if doesn't make sense in the context of the art. If it's there at all, it's for titillation (same as in porn and all the other types of smut consenting adults enjoy). If you have a pathological aversion to seeing sexy women's bodies in games, maybe those fucking games are just not for you.

This myth that the article in the OP and other goons like them, try to project that objectified images of women in games are ubiquitous, is complete utter creamy horseshit. And the fact that he has to cite the new TR as an example, only proves this article writer is uninformed and totally disconnected from the gaming landscape to the extent that they demonstrate themselves simply not qualified to be writing an opinion piece on this subject.
 
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Northeastmonk

Gold Member
It's just so very bizarre to put Lara Croft in any kind of "list" on this matter, since her main outfits were never "skimpy" (perhaps she wore some wetsuits or other swimwear at appropriate times), and certainly have been nowhere near so in the last game iterations which encompass about a decade now. Just seems like it (well, like all the other specifics) were just convenient low-hanging fruit to shout out about.
tomb_raider_saga_by_pedro_croft-d7yawbn.png


I think someone else noted that this article almost seems like a camouflaged advertisement for Horizon in a weird way. That certainly makes more sense than any other particular value this has.
I never thought of Lara as a big sex symbol like the media and a lot of people made her out to be. Sure, she was appealing because of her body, but that’s fashion 101. She wasn’t someone to put on the runway. If anything, the media did that to her and people who were aware of her games made more of a fuss about it. I played the games as a kid on PS1 and had a t-shirt of TR3. I played the first two games in the reboot. They’re good games, but they’re basically replacing sex with violence and gory deaths. Overall, I see them as much stronger females just because they’ve survived. They’ve lived to see new entries, they conquer whatever is in their way, and they’re for the most part appealing to watch. People make a big deal about fantasy depicting something outside what they find acceptive and that’s no way to go about expressing creative imagination.

This article is dumb. Where are the people who started gamer gate? I got asked what that was all about not too long ago and none of it made any sense to me while I was attempting to regurgitate it. I felt like I had needed to have known these people to give two flying f****s about their experiences on the internet. Even the greatest game designers on earth didn’t start a public outcry during the worst part of their lives. If anything, the industry falls victim to social media and the measures for anti-bullying or anti-sexism have collapsed on their heads. Instead of the pot smell in the back of the Atari building it’s stories of sexual harassment in the work place. Lara Croft’s boob size and Bayonetta’s body hair powers has nothing to do with it. Gaming has been the perfect house of glass that everyone likes to throws stones at. For the most part, a lot of these things are way too easy to take out of context and people get away with it.
 

nush

Gold Member
Articles like this are written by unattractive people for unattractive people, because they are not attractive and attractive people don't want to fuck them. Those pretty women real or virtual must be punished for their own good to keep them safe from men who find them attractive!
 

MacReady13

Member
These people are either gay or are trying to cop a root by being seen as allies to hardcore radical feminists.

What is wrong with a female showing off skin? Females are the most beautiful creatures on earth. Why do they need to be modestly dressed every fucking time? What is it with these prudes who demand women in video games be covered head to toe?

I’m thinking these morons need to get a life. Stop bitching and moaning you fucking losers.
 
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Coolwhhip

Neophyte
These people are either gay or are trying to cop a root by being seen as allies to hardcore radical feminists.

What is wrong with a female showing off skin? Females are the most beautiful creatures on earth. Why do they need to be modestly dressed every fucking time? What is it with these prudes who demand women in video games be covered head to toe?

I’m thinking these morons need to get a life. Stop bitching and moaning you fucking losers.

As with everything woke, the basis is hatred. Sprinkle in a little bit of virginity and hanging out on Twitter for too long and you get women hating "articles" like this.

Someone in this thread even said the pathetic soul that wrote this ran to Reeee to bask in the glory with his fellow losers.
 

Rykan

Member
You guys are being too judgemental of this guy.

He should totally be able to play his Anime game that ripped off every single one of its mechanics and tied them to an exploitative gambling system marketed towards young people without being judged for it by his family, okay?
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
What gets me is that these virtue-signalling, puritanical-ass pseudo-wannabe journos who claim to be soooo embarrassed seeing virtual VG characters in skimpy outfits and then log off at the end of the day to spend an evening with some lotion and their Pornhub playlist.

As if partially clad women in a videogame or any other entertainment medium is somehow problematic, but the way women are depicted in porn is perfectly ok.

There's nothing problematic about seeing tits and ass. Even if doesn't make sense in the context of the art. If it's there at all, it's for titillation (same as in porn and all the other types of smut consenting adults enjoy). If you have a pathological aversion to seeing sexy women's bodies in games, maybe those fucking games are just not for you.

This myth that the article in the OP and other goons like them, try to project that objectified images of women in games are ubiquitous, is complete utter creamy horseshit. And the fact that he has to cite the new TR as an example, only proves this article writer is uninformed and totally disconnected from the gaming landscape to the extent that they demonstrate themselves simply not qualified to be writing an opinion piece on this subject.
The author in the article knows all of that which is why he is going for the sexy image —> sexist —> rape culture and abuse by men angle, one thing necessarily leading to the other. Let’s not think about the fact that some women might like the same sexy attributes in other women, but no for articles such as this apparently there are only heterosexual cisgender people :rolleyes:.

They have no problem with women that dress like that by choice IRL, no way… not until they need a new target if they win the online / digital battle and need a new opponent to demonise and then well, I guess it is “part of the problem not of the solution” angle you can throw at such women.
 

Fredrik

Member
Are these people Muslims or something? Why do they want female characters to be covered up so badly?

Lara Croft wears a tank top and shorts cause she’s in a fucking tropical jungle most of the time lmao
Lol it’s gaming don’t force logic into it, she wears a tight tank top and tight shorts because the developers wanted to look at her wearing that, and it’s perfectly okay.

I don’t know what this cancer is about but it’s weird when real life isn’t like this. Where I live women are wearing tighter clothes than ever. Essentially, if you have a butt then you show it with carefully chosen skin tight pants, if you don’t have a butt you go to the gym to get one. You don’t see a woman with nice curves cover up in loose clothes that don’t show the curves. If she have it she’ll proudly show the curves even more. Same thing with men, a fit muscular man usually wear a t-shirt that show off his muscles more. In real life people just love to show off when they have something worth showing.

I think this cover up madness is getting traction simply because developers are scared about drama on social media. I don’t understand it. Japanese devs don’t care. Why are western devs so bothered about it? They can show someone getting his intestines pulled out but a beautiful body needs to be covered up. It’s dumb.
 

kalecsan

Banned
I don't know why some of you take this kind of article so seriously. The sole objective of this type of publications is to create a response, to create a conflict, to create a problem to be resolved; an attractive narrative to sell.
Would you complain to a carpenter that makes furniture? Or a painter that paints? That's their job.
No amount of clever contra arguments are going to change anything.

Only stopping to give attention is going to work in the long run.
 
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Coolwhhip

Neophyte
I don't know why some of you take this kind of article so seriously. The sole objective of this type of publications is to create a response, to create a conflict, to create a problem to be resolved; an attractive narrative to sell.
Would you complain to a carpenter that makes furniture? Or a painter that paints? That's their job.
No amount of clever contra arguments are going to change anything.

Only stopping to give attention is going to work in the long run.

Yep. But we're human. This nonsense makes us angry. Partly because these people that we used to beat up in high school, now actually influence our lives in a way. Because their constant woke nagging makes corporations scared and they change their behaviour because of it.
 

MacReady13

Member
I’m just not understanding what is wrong with females looking sexy? Can only ugly females be smart and adventurous? Can only fat ladies be represented in games today? What is wrong with females looking beautiful? Surely to fuck these guys don’t masterbate to fat, ugly blue haired chicks, do they?
 

Coolwhhip

Neophyte
I’m just not understanding what is wrong with females looking sexy? Can only ugly females be smart and adventurous? Can only fat ladies be represented in games today? What is wrong with females looking beautiful? Surely to fuck these guys don’t masterbate to fat, ugly blue haired chicks, do they?

Give it a few years and Pornhub gets bullied for showing good looking women on there. Better start getting into men with wigs.
 

SSfox

Member
There's room in gaming for sexualised and non-sexualised characters, we can have both.

The success of Horizon was definitely good, and showed that games don't need male protagonists to be successful.
This, also what make a game great is not the gender of the character or whatsoever, is the entire package that make. No matter what type of character it is, it's more of if the character fits or not, a DMC game wouldn't work with female lead, and a TR game wouldn't work with a male lead, and an Okami game won't work as well with a human lead. Thinking that characters like Lara or Dante are only popular because of their looks and outfits only shows how ignorant those lowtier journalists are, those are not gaming fans, those are propaganda fans to fulfill their click and paycheck, in a sens i understand someone need money for living, but there are better ways to earn money without doing propagandas, at least i think so.

In any case, those who make games based on agendas their game can never be a legendary game, an epic game comes from those who make games they want to make and are passionate about the art.
 

Fredrik

Member
I don't know why some of you take this kind of article so seriously. The sole objective of this type of publications is to create a response, to create a conflict, to create a problem to be resolved; an attractive narrative to sell.
Would you complain to a carpenter that makes furniture? Or a painter that paints? That's their job.
No amount of clever contra arguments are going to change anything.

Only stopping to give attention is going to work in the long run.
The movement is too big and widespread, if nobody talk about how ridiculous it is it’ll soon be the norm. In western gaming it already kinda is. I just hope japanese devs keep on don’t giving a shit. If DOA7 comes out with covered up characters it’s game over.
 

jigglet

Banned
I really hate how sexual harassment is perpetrated predominantly by men. I'd love for some ladies to actually hound my sorry ass. Would be fucking sweet.
 

Kenpachii

Member
Surprisingly not by Jason Schrier, but another moron: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/a...e-sexist-attitudes?srnd=premium&sref=cSRHqDay
Archive in case paywalled: https://archive.fo/e1tGm

Tries to tie in harassment scandals due to "sexism" from female character "objectification":

After a few paragraphs of literally pimping Aloy from Horizon Dawn as if she was the first example of a non "objectified" female character, he complains about other games and being "embarrassed to play them" due to the "depictions" (seriously? How can you call current Lara Croft designs "objectified" and/or "skimpy"???):

Ends on a note of how current female characters depictions are outrageous, and again ties that into the industry harassment issues:


Again his examples of "Objectified" female characters are utterly ridiculous. Tomb Raider currently features a Lara who's the most modest she's ever been. Bayonetta's outfits are purposefully designed in a way to be empowering (and overall don't show off much skin which is of course the worst to these people). Genshin Impact of all things is a Gacha game that wants to make money, so of course it has to have attractive characters to market and sell them (and that's why MiHoYo is doing the "it prints money!" thing now), but guess what, they do the same thing to the males too, especially the current Banner:
Genshin-Impact-2.3-Leaks-Itto-Gorou-Kit-Leaked-Skills-Materials-Talents.jpg

I'm gonna guess this guy isn't to "embarrassed" by these though.

I think it has more to do with getting older as a guy.

When u are 15 years old u want any tits and ass u can find, the skimpier the better.
When u are 25 years old u already got that ass, and u are fine whatever gets fed.
When u hit 35 years old, u probably start to have kids or already have kids and if you got a daughter suddently 12 year old half naked super sexualized chick is no longer that funny. U get disgusting by it.

I think also that's why we see such a huge influx of people in the game segment that are relative young going against displaying girls as sex symbols because they are simple getting older.

I can relate towards it myself because as 25 year old playing genshi impact or whatever its called would not have been a issue for me, 35 years old, i simple don't touch it because of the characters in it. i feel socially awkward at this point in stage if i do, so its a big no.

Now do i go around and lecture people on what i like or don't like? no not really. But i can see that older people start to get issue's with oversexualized girls in games that are relative young.
 
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Coolwhhip

Neophyte
I think it has more to do with getting older as a guy.

When u are 15 years old u want any tits and ass u can find, the skimpier the better.
When u are 25 years old u already got that ass, and u are fine whatever gets fed.
When u hit 35 years old, u probably start to have kids or already have kids and if you got a daughter suddently 12 year old half naked super sexualized chick is no longer that funny. U get disgusting by it.

I think also that's why we see such a huge influx of people in the game segment that are relative young going against displaying girls as sex symbols because they are simple getting older.

I can relate towards it myself because as 25 year old playing genshi impact or whatever its called would not have been a issue for me, 35 years old, i simple don't touch it because of the character. i feel socially awkward at this point in stage if i do, so its a big no.

Now do i go around and lecture people on what i like or don't like? no not really. But i can see that older people start to get issue's with oversexualized girls in games that are relative young.

Uhh, most here are probably in their 30s. You don't suddenly stop enjoying hot chicks. In your 30s you finally become an 'adult' and you realize life isn't all that serious.

And at what age do you start to have an issue with the mass murder in every video game?
 
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hemo memo

Gold Member
Here

We

Go

Again
Game “journalism” is becoming the work of the people without work. The entry level is pretty much anyone. Such nonsense and low effort articles so bad some random threads in forums put more effort in writing than this.
 

nush

Gold Member
Game “journalism” is becoming the work of the people without work. The entry level is pretty much anyone.

Thing is since the early 2000's almost every single one of them is just using that job hoping they can use it as a springboard to go ant write about anything with more credibility. Be that movie, music or celebrities with parties on yachts and red carpet events or even getting a job at their favorite game developer.

That's why gaming Youtubers came in and absolutely ate their fucking lunch, because they actually care about the subject matter, and if they are good make fucking bank.
 

Fredrik

Member
I think it has more to do with getting older as a guy.

When u are 15 years old u want any tits and ass u can find, the skimpier the better.
When u are 25 years old u already got that ass, and u are fine whatever gets fed.
When u hit 35 years old, u probably start to have kids or already have kids and if you got a daughter suddently 12 year old half naked super sexualized chick is no longer that funny. U get disgusting by it.

I think also that's why we see such a huge influx of people in the game segment that are relative young going against displaying girls as sex symbols because they are simple getting older.

I can relate towards it myself because as 25 year old playing genshi impact or whatever its called would not have been a issue for me, 35 years old, i simple don't touch it because of the characters in it. i feel socially awkward at this point in stage if i do, so its a big no.

Now do i go around and lecture people on what i like or don't like? no not really. But i can see that older people start to get issue's with oversexualized girls in games that are relative young.
You’re just talking about kiddy anime characters. I’m 45 with a bunch of kids and I would not be even a tiny bit bothered by Lara Croft looking hot, or Joanna Dark, or Aloy, or Selene, or Kait, etc. Only thing this movement is currently doing is making western female characters less feminine, japanese devs don’t give a shit about this nonsense.
 

Kenpachii

Member
Uhh, most here are probably in their 30s. You don't suddenly stop enjoying hot chicks. In your 30s you finally become an 'adult' and you realize life isn't all that serious.

And at what age do you start to have an issue with the mass murder in every video game?

It's not about you or me, it's that u look at your daughter and think about her.

For example, if you are 20 and u are making a game for a game studio that is something like whore tycoon, u are probably have some mighty fun getting that shit going and are even proud on it because all your buddy's find it cool.

However when u are 35 years old, and u got a daughter and she comes to work u start to feel a bit awkward to the point, u probably want to do something else. Because u can already imagine when she asks why are all those females naked dad. yea gg.

This is why u even see heavy story driven games like god of war or tlou all become dad simulators where anything sexual is taken out and its more centered around the kid that the old guy ( you as player ) is guiding.

Now personally i don't care people can make whatever they want, but u have people that do care and will demand change because its there way or the high way mentality. U always have those.
 
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Coolwhhip

Neophyte
It's not about you or me, it's that u look at your daughter and think about her.

For example, if you are 20 and u are making a game for a game studio that is something like whore tycoon, u are probably have some mighty fun getting that shit going and are even proud on it because all your buddy's find it cool.

However when u are 35 years old, and u got a daughter and she comes to work u start to feel a bit awkward to the point, u probably want to do something else. Because u can already imagine when she asks why are all those females naked dad. yea gg.

This is why u even see heavy story driven games like god of war or tlou all become dad simulators where anything sexual is taken out and its more centered around the kid that the old guy ( you as player ) is guiding.

Now personally i don't care people can make whatever they want, but u have people that do care and will demand change because its there way or the high way mentality. U always have those.

I heard that before, so what if your kid asks why daddy is murdering everything on the screen? It's a video game, it's not real. Should buff dudes disappear in video games too so your chubby son doesn't feel inadequate? Most of the games we're talking about here you shouldn't play in front of your kids anyway.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
I heard that before, so what if your kid asks why daddy is murdering everything on the screen? It's a video game, it's not real. Should buff dudes disappear in video games too so your chubby son doesn't feel inadequate? Most of the games we're talking about here you shouldn't play in front of your kids anyway.

Murder, violence, war, etc… are fine. Sexuality is nasty, get with the program ;).
 
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