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TowerFall adds Anita Sarkeesian skin

Really cool. See, guys, we don't have to be Sarkeesian's cheerleaders to see she makes plenty of good points and apparently some game developers agree with her. This is stuff that isn't hard to see when you don't have the weirdest hate boner for her.
 
Deified Data said:
I don't approve.

Including female characters in games should have greater justification than "they're 50% of the population" or "they can do everything a male video game character can do" or "we just felt like it". Including a character with a different chromosomal make-up than the norm just strikes me as a petty political statement. If you look closely you can see she's not even wearing a dress.
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Poe's law: see post #388.
 
Aquamarine said:
She's supposed to be...a researcher...a media critic...right? So in some ways she's like a scientist.

Reproducing characteristics of her physical likeness in a game is.....I don't know...it misses the point, I guess.


How many times do you focus on physical attributes with scientists / sociologists? It's pretty uncommon to make that the centerpoint.
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There are about a billion times that games want to make a brilliant scientist and so draw inspiration in their character design from Einstein's physical appearance with the crazy hair and everything.

These devs wanted a strong intelligent female character so drew inspiration from some identifying elements Anita is known for.

Einstein is more than his hair and Anita is more than her earrings, but there's no harm in drawing inspiration from them by referencing some well known iconic elements.
 
Not a bad idea if you ask me,
it's their games, they can do what they like after all.
The problem I have with this is that it brings the crazies out of the woodwork and we're forced to bring out the Anita Bingo card :/
 
so what did nsignific and Ombala do to get those bans?

I get that we are all fed up of gamergate and the repetitive arguments. but why not actually combat their shitty points rather than just silencing them?

That being said, Its great to see more developers openly supporting Anita's cause.
 
I've followed the game since OUYA and this game is an absolute blast. Was so glad when it came on PS4. I wonder if I can beat it on hard now.
 
hodgy100 said:
so what did nsignific and Ombala do to get those bans?

I get that we are all fed up of gamergate and the repetitive arguments. but why not actually combat their shitty points rather than just silencing them?

That being said, Its great to see more developers openly supporting Anita's cause.
Click to expand...
Kinda see your point- that said there is a threshold. There's enough in this thread and on the Internet that anyone can get educated, and without commenting on the bans or whatnot, at some point it isn't everyone else's responsibility to break through a wall of ignorance where people don't want to learn.
 
hodgy100 said:
so what did nsignific and Ombala do to get those bans?

I get that we are all fed up of gamergate and the repetitive arguments. but why not actually combat their shitty points rather than just silencing them?

That being said, Its great to see more developers openly supporting Anita's cause.
Click to expand...

They were basically just shitposting. There's low tolerance for it on this topic because of how it always seems to inspire the same zero-thought responses.
 
hodgy100 said:
so what did nsignific and Ombala do to get those bans?

I get that we are all fed up of gamergate and the repetitive arguments. but why not actually combat their shitty points rather than just silencing them?

That being said, Its great to see more developers openly supporting Anita's cause.
Click to expand...

You've been here since 2011 and haven't peeked into any of the major GG threads at all? The combating has been done before. There's zero reason to entertain those viewpoints.
 
hodgy100 said:
so what did nsignific and Ombala do to get those bans?

I get that we are all fed up of gamergate and the repetitive arguments. but why not actually combat their shitty points rather than just silencing them?

That being said, Its great to see more developers openly supporting Anita's cause.
Click to expand...

At this point, there's no reason to discuss their shitty points. The discussion has either informed participants or uninformed voices, and speaking up on a forum without doing due diligence to engage the topic in a reasonable, educated manner is enough reason not to engage.

Basically, know what you're talking about and show restraint about the topic. For the most part, people are banned because they just want to hear themselves shout.
 
hodgy100 said:
so what did nsignific and Ombala do to get those bans.
Click to expand...

nsignific was arguing in blatant bad faith with "I don't know anything about Anita but she's lying!", and Ombala pulled the victim complex "I could tell you the truth but it would get me banned!" thing that will inevitably end in a Thunderfoot video drop or "Anita's not a gamer" or whatever the hell thing that's been debunked over and over and over and over that's popular right now.
 
Mman235 said:
nsignific was arguing in blatant bad faith with "I don't know anything about Anita but she's lying!", and Ombala pulled the victim complex "I could tell you the truth but it would get me banned!" thing that will inevitably end in a Thunderfoot video drop or "Anita's not a gamer" or whatever the hell thing that's been debunked over and over and over and over that's popular right now.
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We should really get to filling in the bingo cards, we could get prizes and stuffs
anitasarkeesianbingocrelo.jpg
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http://abload.de/img/anitasarkeesianbingocrelo.jpg
e:Ok the image is a little huge
Because right now only GGers are playing and the only price is banning.
 
I also quite like the idea that Neogaf is on gamergate's shit list. If you're not on their shit list then it's possible that you're doing something very wrong.
 
hodgy100 said:
so what did nsignific and Ombala do to get those bans?

I get that we are all fed up of gamergate and the repetitive arguments. but why not actually combat their shitty points rather than just silencing them?

That being said, Its great to see more developers openly supporting Anita's cause.
Click to expand...

Drive by shit posts and concern trolling is always at risk for a ban, not just where gamergate is concerned.

Example: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=989324
 
Objectively Bad Opinion said:
Their statement just reads as if they expected the reference to be immediately recognizable to people.

However, I doubt anyone anywhere ever would have made the connection without being told.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. That's understandable, but that's also maybe the point - doing it quietly with a little fanfare for those who follow the industry (and yet not impacting a general consumer's ability to enjoy) is a sign of a mature genre.

It's similar to how certain directors love shooting from certain angles or paying homages to stories they love.
 
Aquamarine said:
Interesting how they're focusing on Anita *the person* for the tribute when it's really her message and her work that matter here.

I don't know...seems weird.
Click to expand...
But there'd be no message without the person. Why not make a nice little reference to someone whose work you enjoy and learn from?
 
Orayn said:
They were basically just shitposting. There's low tolerance for it on this topic because of how it always seems to inspire the same zero-thought responses.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. The topic really does incite dogpiling with is no good for keeping a thread on track. as is being seen with my post! (sorry!)

Sai-kun said:
You've been here since 2011 and haven't peeked into any of the major GG threads at all? The combating has been done before. There's zero reason to entertain those viewpoints.
Click to expand...

Trust me I have followed the GG threads very closely and I am just as fed up as you. It would just be a shame to throw out the dumb, who may have the chance to learn, with the malicious. But any tolerance has been tested to breaking point and as others have said, there comes a point when you just have to take a hard stance with these things.

Mman235 said:
nsignific was arguing in blatant bad faith with "I don't know anything about Anita but she's lying!", and Ombala pulled the victim complex "I could tell you the truth but it would get me banned!" thing that will inevitably end in a Thunderfoot video drop or "Anita's not a gamer" or whatever the hell thing that's been debunked over and over and over and over that's popular right now.
Click to expand...

Yeah I assumed as much.

Sorry for inciting such a strong response. I totally appreciate the extreme reaction to GG. Its just a shame that things got to this point :/
 
Menome said:
  • She's a woman
  • She critiques video games based on them exhibiting certain ingrained tropes that reflect poorly on women. Says developers could think more about what they're doing.
  • Total shitheads who can't handle any criticism of their hobby are up in arms about it and think she wants these games banned, which she doesn't.
Click to expand...

I would add a very important 4th:
  • She has been getting death and rape threats daily for a couple of years because of all this, and had to leave her house (her address is known and used in the threats) at least once.
Monster Zero said:
To argue point 4, I asked a question in this thread about her history, I don't got a side in this, but I'd rather not be misinformed if the topic came up. Now for point 3, is she asking for permission for the the people she stole the footage from, giving credit doesn't exonerate thievery. And point 1 is really a sketchy defense, that's some shady logic
Click to expand...

As far as I know, she didn't steal footage from anyone: she just recorded her own footage from the games, like every single YouTuber. It seems that GGers have decided that in her case it's "stealing". Please anyone correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Objectively Bad Opinion said:
Their statement just reads as if they expected the reference to be immediately recognizable to people.

However, I doubt anyone anywhere ever would have made the connection without being told.
Click to expand...
I don't think they wanted to make it too obvious, or it would be distracting during the actual game. This way they still have their reference, and they specifically mention the inspiration in case it wasn't clear, while having it look like an organic part of the game world.
 
Weltall Zero said:
As far as I know, she didn't steal footage from anyone: she just recorded her own footage from the games, like every single YouTuber. It seems that GGers have decided that in her case it's "stealing". Please anyone correct me if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

Who care really, if there's copyright infringement it should be the IP owner's copyrghts that are infringed and not the other youtubers.
Even in the case where she's stealing footage, that footage still isn't the property of the uploader anyway in most cases since they probably never asked for permission anyway.
So yeah.
 
Can't say I'm a fan of the vids I've watched of hers, but the character design doesn't look too shabby (even though it is merely inspired by her and doesn't look too much like her); it lends itself well to the art design of the game. The don't know what shocks me more though, some of the attitudes in this thread, or the fact that there is that much explicit content elsewhere on the Internet featuring this character in this short period of time.
 
Deified Data said:
I don't approve.

Including female characters in games should have greater justification than "they're 50% of the population" or "they can do everything a male video game character can do" or "we just felt like it". Including a character with a different chromosomal make-up than the norm just strikes me as a petty political statement. If you look closely you can see she's not even wearing a dress.
Click to expand...
Please tell me this is satire or a joke.
Please?

Did you even read the OP?
 
Galactic Fork said:
Except that statement isn't about sexual dimorphism... Sexual dimorphism in humans doesn't work like that.
Click to expand...

Ok?

Orayn said:
Given the context of the episode, I don't think she was talking strictly about physical strength. The idea that women are inherently weaker necessarily encompasses more than that since it's about gender essentialism rather than statistics.
Click to expand...

It doesn't really matter to me, but that was probably what the person you quoted was referencing.
 
-tetsuo- said:
It doesn't really matter to me, but that was clearly what the person you quoted was referencing.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. I appreciate you finding the specific snippet in the video, I just think the person who brought it up misunderstood what was actually being said.
 
Cybit said:
Not particularly; the opening scene of the game is her saving you from being eaten by zombies. You end up going to have to rescue her later on, but
you end up being too little too late; as she is bitten and succumbs to zombieification - forcing you to fight her and kill her - so you never actually get to save her. This is similar to earlier in the game, where Jade's brother is similarly bitten and you are forced to have to kill him as well.
It's one of those things where on first glance it appears like "Damsel in Distress", and thus the lazy conclusion was made and moved forward with. Don't think the criticism was malicious; just someone being lazy and/or incompetent.

On the skin itself; well done to her!
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I think you're oversimplifying here. The thing Anita Sarkeesian was responding to was the fact that
she was captured by the main bad guy in order to specifically piss off the main character, saying something like "you took something of mine, so I took something of yours." This is a common thing in damsels. A woman being taken as a trophy to piss off the main character.

-tetsuo- said:
Ok?
Click to expand...
They asked to deliver of her denying sexual dimorphism... What you delivered wasn't that.
 
I don't think it looks much like her, but I love the design, and love the reasons for putting her in the game. Towerfall is also a lot of fun.

EDIT: Didn't realize it was a character skin costume swap. Still awesome.
 
Makes me really sad that we can't have a single Anita thread without people jumping in with stupid GG shit like "Anita is totally ruining gaming!!!11" and causing the whole topic to deteriorate to another Gamergate thread.

I like Anita for the general message she stands for even if I can't say her Tropes series is flawless, but overall to me this tribute doesn't have to be about agenda or statements or anything even if it might as well could. It doesn't matter as much as the action of including her because the developers want to pay tribute to her for inspiring them to make sure everyone felt included, which is a very positive thing, and how nice it is that is of them to show that gratitude. I think we should leave it at that.
 
Character looks nothing like her and you'd never know it if they didn't mention it, so it's hard not to see this as them piggy-backing off her name.

Ignoring that element, I think the design looks good.
 
Takuan said:
Character looks nothing like her and you'd never know it if they didn't mention it, so it's hard not to see this as them piggy-backing off her name.

Ignoring that element, I think the design looks good.
Click to expand...
Kind of hard when they clearly state their reasoning
 
Takuan said:
Character looks nothing like her and you'd never know it if they didn't mention it, so it's hard not to see this as them piggy-backing off her name.

Ignoring that element, I think the design looks good.
Click to expand...

It's not "piggy backing", it's just a more subtle reference. The scarf resembles the patterns Anita has worn in some of her videos, and the earrings also reference the kind that she seems to often wear. Regardless, the developers can call it whatever kind of reference or tribute that they want even if it looked less like her.

I actually like that it doesn't look exactly like her, a direct cameo could mess up the cohesiveness of their art style. This way everything still fits together.
 
Galactic Fork said:
I think you're oversimplifying here. The thing Anita Sarkeesian was responding to was the fact that
she was captured by the main bad guy in order to specifically piss off the main character, saying something like "you took something of mine, so I took something of yours." This is a common thing in damsels. A woman being taken as a trophy to piss off the main character.


They asked to deliver of her denying sexual dimorphism... What you delivered wasn't that.
Click to expand...

Did you not read the rest of my post you quoted?
 
-tetsuo- said:
Did you not read the rest of my post you quoted?
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the part where
you fight and kill her? That's covered in Anita's series. She's got a seemingly endless series of clips where the protagonist is forced to fight the woman they were tasked with saving because they were possessed, infected, etc. At some point it may have been a novel approach to the idea, but it’s just as worn and demeaning of a trope as the damseling in the first place.

It's frustrating seeing the damsel trope. It's even more frustrating seeing a strong, independent woman suddenly becoming a damsel. Even more frustrating still is when they sacrifice her as a method of creating emotional attachment or to create an edgy narrative.
 
Atuin said:
Let this be a troll, let this be a troll...

In case you're not, oh boy. I'm all for equality between genders, but seriously? "It's embarassing that some people don't think like me?"Also, making comparisons to KKK is like pulling the nazi card, your agenda instantly loses credibility. I'm neutral about the whole GG thingie (so much conflicting information on the internet so I just said "fuck it, doesn't affect my life anyway), but if someone defended spherical Earth with those arguments I'd start listening to Flat Earth society.
Click to expand...

How can you be neutral about misogyny, harassment, death threats, doxxing, SWATting and rape jokes?
 
Oersted said:
Edit nvm, was satire. You really can't tell anymore.
Click to expand...
That's one of the annoying side-effects about this whole #GG thing. Their comments and ideas are so asinine and ridiculous that it's practically impossible to distinguish between a joke and "Oh my god, they actually believe that" when I come into one of these related threads
 
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