plagiarize
Banned
we aren't critiquing the games as pieces of art though, in this case. this isn't a critical appraisal. we are talking about *social* effects... a game doesn't wait to have a social effect on you until you have finished it and summed up every nuance of the story.
a movie trailer can have an effect on me without me watching the whole film.
that's nosense though. would you apply that standard to a TV series? if a character unintentionally comes across as sexist for the first three quarters of the film, the last quarter of the film clearly showing that they weren't sexist doesn't magically mean they didn't come across that way for three quarters of the film. if you intend to do such a reversal, that's different, because then it would be your intent that the character appear that way. when you write, you have to constantly remember that your audience do not know what your intentions are, that they do not know the invented backstories in your head, that they do not know all the extra colour and detail and depth that exists before you try and turn your ideas into words and images. it is absolutely the writers fault if they write a sexist character, even if it wasn't their intent. because they failed to remember the audience doesn't know anything other than what they are told, and didn't stop to look at their work from the outside to see how it might appear to someone without any of that intimate knowledge they have. this is a huge thing to consider when writing and it really cannot be overlooked. good writers do not overlook such things, whatever story they are telling. i see no reason to defend the practices of *bad* writers.
with cinema it is fair to say 'watch the whole thing before forming any opinions' because the whole thing is easily digested in a sitting. even then, you will be forming opinions about the characters the whole time you are watching the film. books, tv shows, video games, etc cannot be digest so easily in these single sittings. you never want the audience to think you meant something you didn't. it never helps you as a writer, and again, it is absolutely your job as the story teller to give people the impressions of your characters that you want them to receive, even if that is to intentionally mislead them for a time.
how is it not the products fault though? how is saying 'can we have a wider variety of female characters' or 'can we have female characters with more depth' or 'maybe she should wear more clothes' asking for anything to be dumbed down?
i do not expect that. i just make the point that it is the responsibility of the person making the game to consider at every step along the way how their product appears to anyone playing it/watching it/whatever. how you introduce a character is fundamentally important. if you have this deep, brilliantly realised female character and you, i don't know, introduce her with a shower scene, that she subsequently turns out to be brilliantly realised doesn't shield the fan service introduction you gave her from criticism.
yes. well, quite. and trust me when i say i am not asking for the *well written* sexy asskickers and damsels in distress to disappear. Anita, i can't speak for, might want them all gone for all i know, and we'd disagree there, but we both agree that there is a problem right now, and most of the examples she's put forwards have been, in my opinion fair examples of whats wrong with gaming.
but lets get rid of shallow eye candy. right? you can still have attractive female characters, but don't put them in unrealistically skimpy outfits and make sure that their cleavage isn't the most interesting thing about them.
