Support NeoGAF

[Pezking]

By and large girls and women are expected to project themselves onto male characters, but boys and men are not encouraged to project themselves onto or identify with female characters.

I strongly disagree!

I'm a male gamer now for almost 30 years, and whenever given the choice, I almost always prefer to play as a female.

Why?

Because I never project myself onto a protagonist in a game and I simply prefer looking at a female character while gaming. To me, playing a video game is like watching somebody else having his or her adventure of a lifetime and the whole interactivity doesn't change that one bit. In this regard, video games are the same to me as books or movies.

And I'm pretty sure that I share this approach with a lot of other gamers.

 

[Swamped]

Awesome! I was waiting for dime kind of analysis like this. Will comment when i have gone through it.

 

[Galactic Barret]

Ok, read the entire article. I both agree and disagree with it.

I agree more women need to be featured as the exclusive main character in games, that can only be good.

I disagree, wholeheartedly, with "women can't be considered heroes" notion that this article is trying to paint against the industry as a whole. We have had many and plenty of heroines in gaming, even as secondary characters. I was arguing just yesterday in the Tifa thread that Cloud, the MC in a game the article wrote off, would be dead without Tifa. Drowning and poisoned in the Lifestream. THATS equality, in my book. She wasn't a damsel; she was mentally and possibly physically tougher than the person that she called friend and they needed each other. She saved his life, and others, on multiple occasions. She is a true hero. Not even a consideration thrown her way cause men are there, too? Thats not right.

The article seems a bit anti-male in tone, a little endoctrinating. We definitely need more strong, female leads, but don't exclude a great supporting cast because men are there as well, or vice-versa.

Combat, I don't even know if I have an issue with that part of the article. Again, I feel this article is mainly aimed towards women, and are being told about the virtues of non-violent games or something. Yes, we need more and yes, we need more of them that star female protags, both simply for variety's sake, but do women prefer violent games less than men, in a study somewhere? Its not about what I like, but I'm wondering what their audience likes?

Not a bad article by any stretch, it just seemed to have an anti-male tone when it says it wants equality. (I understand that male protags outnumber female protags by a considerable bit, but that doesn't mean all or most males can't/don't sympathize with a female leading lady. That hurts my feeling abit).

Its numbers, and number don't lie, but I also want to here about how they feel about Aloy for example, one of the few new leading women at E3.

 

[mr2t]

The rising number of gender-neutral games is definitely a good thing, almost half is really impressive honestly.

The "more female exclusive" games make sense, though. There's a fair amount of stigma to the idea of males playing as (and identifying with) females. And that's as women, not as gender-neutral-characters-in-female-shaped-bodies.

There is not a huge stigma for males to play as females. Not only from personal anectdote of my friends but according to polygon(lol) -
"Only 39 percent of high-school aged boys surveyed preferred to play as male characters, while 60 percent of high-school aged girls preferred to play as female characters."

http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/5/8153213/the-games-industry-is-wrong-about-kids-gaming-and-gender

 

[DoktorEvil]

I'm getting Jack Thompson flashbacks.

Oranges and Apples.

When Anita Sarkessian begins going on daytime television and begins tying video games to mass shootings, we can talk.

 

[mclem]

She wants more games where you exclusively play as a female. She has stated that. In this thread Dishonored 2 is the common one.

I think the catch-22, for me, is the point where the question shifts from the general case to a specific case. I completely agree that we need more female perspectives in gaming, and more games with exclusively female lead characters; those lead to storylines that are somewhat underrepresented.

But when it switches to a specific example, I disagree; It'll ultimately depend on the story they're looking to tell, so it's hard to make too many assumptions right now, but in principle I don't have a problem with Bethesda making this choice in the best interests of the game they wish to develop.

That's the problem, and I'm struggling to reconcile it satisfactorily. There are more stories out there that should be told that are being neglected, and that's bad. But it doesn't necessarily mean that you should force a story into that mould. In Bethesda's case, it's rather dependent on how well they make Emily a plausible and individual character, rather than Corvo-sans-Blink.

The solution I'd like to say is that companies should continue to make the stories they wish to make, and new developers should spring up to fill those gaps. But that's its own problem when money comes into the fray; can such titles get the funding they need to be viable projects when commercialism becomes a necessary consideration?

It's a tough one. I agree with FF in the general sense, disagree in the specific sense, but in doing so also have to concede that unless there are some specific pushes in that direction, the general sense won't change.

 

[Sophia]

By their very nature, videogames make you incarnate their protagonist. It doesn't mean you magically agree with all his actions or anything, but you "become" the game's main character when you control him.

That's a very absurd use of the term "projection" and is dishonest to well written stories that have a male protagonist. If that is what she means by it, I don't agree with it at all.

 

[Kinyou]

that's interesting, why do you feel so?

Well, how exactly does it relate to feminism? I thought that's what they're focused on. I think it muddles the message a bit. Or in other words, I think that the violent games are in the majority is a much lesser problem than missing gender equality.

 

[Zakalwe]

Only if you ignore developers would have been having these conversations three to four years ago without Anita's voice involved, and the results are a net positive.

Talks in private are not the same as a person calling out in public and gaining a lot of attention.

She is calling attention to the cause, you can dislike her and or her approach as much as you want but you cannot deny this.

The "Anita stands alone, for all women!" angle is why I find a lot of it sensationalist garbage. If the points she was making were backed up with extensive industry knowledge and a scientific approach, the findings would stand. Already however they're crumbling and so the message is being moved to the next supposed enemy that needs defeating.

She may be a little off every now and then with her research or the way she presents her findings, but her cause is a good one and she does draw attention to a problem that needs addressing.

 

[Lalalandia]

All seems fairly reasonable to be honest and as a campaigning group were folks really expecting them to say 'everything's cool' now that we have a few more female characters?

I was fascinated by the focus on violence though, it's the thing that really marks out games from cinema today for me. If you don't like violent movies there is still a vast array of cinema available to you both AAA and indie movies but if you don't like violence you are in for a hard time in the world of AAA games.

As for the focus on 'exclusive' female led games that probably comes from the slightly awkward way plot and dialogue are handled in games that allow for customised characters. In games that have them it's very rare for this to be reflected back to the character by other NPCs. Often times it's as if in racial/gender terms the PC is separate and only the odd line of dialogue even bothers to reference it stymieing any chance of offering the player a nuanced look at the experience of being 'other' in the game world. Games focusing on a gendered protagonist can bring in gendered themes in a much more natural way and can weave them throughout rather than in side missions or such (Joel as father figure in TLoU, Jade and Pey'j in BG&E).

 

[Krauser Kat]

Only if you ignore developers would have been having these conversations three to four years ago without Anita's voice involved, and the results are a net positive.

The "Anita stands alone, for all women!" angle is why I find a lot of it sensationalist garbage. If the points she was making were backed up with extensive industry knowledge and a scientific approach, the findings would stand. Already however they're crumbling and so the message is being moved to the next supposed enemy that needs defeating.

This is bullshit.

You are literally saying because she isnt using science and is entrenched in the industry her opinions dont count and are wrong because she doesnt meet your stringent criteria.

Anitas opinion count and have weight to them regardless of where she comes from and what information she uses, its her opinion and thousands of people watch her videos and it is making videogaming a more progressive hobby.

 

[tuxfool]

I think we're counting games that were announced/shown at this year's E3.

Everyone is stating FF7R and this isn't known, so everyones basis is a 18 year old game.

 

[Druz]

There is still a large imbalance in the exclusive games.

and then there's shitposts like this. As if there is a balance to strike when there isn't. What constitutes balance? What's the balanced number? Ratio to male::female potential buyers or is it just the ratio that would be okay with interchanging protagonists? Where is the inclusion of transexual heroes? Where's that balance? When are we going to start making games for the Tumblr Animal/Robot/Sonic-kin genders?

Or maybe the market will flow in its natural direction. If there is an outpouring for a female protagonist then the first publisher/developer to catch on will be printing money.
Actually, these games already exist and they do alright. The bark of this "issue" is worse than the bite.

I don't think the issue here is that games with female protagonists don't sell. It's more, developers don't even try to create games with exclusively female protagonists regardless of whether they'll sell or not.

Hate to say it but focus testing does serve some purpose.

 

[stufte]

Except, like, the part where Thompson tried to legally ban violent videogames for everybody. I might be mistaken, but I don't think his personal opinion on games was what was the problematic part with Thompson.

Without his personal opinion on the subject there wouldn't have been the Jack Thompson that I celebrated getting disbarred by making this lovely cake:

His personal opinion is exactly why he did what he did.

 

[HariKari]

When Anita Sarkessian begins going on daytime television and begins tying video games to mass shootings, we can talk.

Still, why does DOOM need to be involved in the conversation? Why can't it exist as its own thing, for its own audience?

 

[Deleted member 126221]

That's a very absurd use of the term "projection" and is dishonest to well written stories that have a male protagonist. If that is what she means by it, I don't agree with it at all.

I'm sorry but what's so absurd about it? English is not my first language so I might be mis-understanding what "projection" means (even though the word exists in french and have the same meaning as far as I know).

I mean, we can all agree that the player incarnate the player character when he plays a videogame, right? The degree to which he agrees with him and his actions is another subject entirely I think.

 

[civilstrife]

I'm getting Jack Thompson flashbacks.

Do you seriously think Jack Thompson would ever say anything like this:

The medium has near-limitless potential, and in games like Tacoma, Firewatch and Beyond Eyes, we get a glimpse of what’s possible when games approach human experience through a lens of empathy rather than one of violence. Games have only begun to scratch the surface of what can be done, the stories that can be told and the experiences that can be illuminated when combat isn’t employed as a lynchpin of game design. Fully realizing this potential requires that game creators continue exploring the possibilities, investing in innovative mechanics and storytelling techniques to push the medium forward.

I guess people are really buying the Gamergate bullshit that Anita is trying to censor games when they can't recognise the above as thoughtful critique of an artform as opposed to a call to ban the sales of violent games.

 

[Mesoian]

Hmm. I guess it would be. But allow me to say this. When I'm playing monster hunter 4 ultimate I do have the choice of choosing a man or woman to play the game. I typically chose a female avatar because that's just how I roll. Anyway, I notice that the game even when playing as a female treats my character as a male regardless. All of the interactions done with other characters in the game are conducted under the assumption that my character is a male despite existing in that world as a female. This strikes me as odd. If Fem Freq is trying to make the point that "game worlds can teach it's players how to empathize with other points of view" then I don't see how monster hunter 4 would be in support of that despite technically allowing me to play as something other than male

And that is a call for better writing and world building in video games, one that I fully agree needs to happen. But that is less of a gendered issue opposed to the ideals of actual character individuality being less of a development thought point than things like art direction or combat flow.

When people start putting narrative structure and characterization on the forefront opposed to how it is now where you never learn much more about a character than a name and a mission, then we should start getting stories that take gender into focus. But we do that so rarely now because most games are made to have the biggest shootbangs and fuck everything else because who cares.

In Monster Hunter, even though there are a pretty colorful cast of supporting characters in your caravan, they are never important. They are artistic flare and their roles could be filled by having you buy materials from computers. THAT needs to change because if that doesn't change, then whether your male, female, cat, dog, dinosaur, whathaveyou, it's all the same because the focus of the game is about hunting and little else.

MoHun is kind of a tough example too because up until recently, if you were playing that game alone, you were doing it wrong. The flavor text you're supposed to eek out of that game was supposed to come from the people you're playing it with, not the game itself, which, again, is a failing on the game's part, but a failing that is is fairly standard in the industry.

 

[TimmiT]

Why?

Are you male? Do you read books written by female authors, or watch films directed by female directors?

Being able to experience things from other perspectives than our own is an essential thing.

I'd rather have more games that allow you to choose. If it isn't, the gender should be what would best fit the character (EDIT: or really just whatever the creators want the gender to be). I disagree with having more exclusively female protagonists just for the sake of having more though.

 

[mclem]

I swear I've read somewhere that you can choose your gender in Forza Motorsport 6.

My perception of gender in Forza is "Car".

 

[Pie and Beans]

When Anita Sarkessian begins going on daytime television and begins tying video games to mass shootings, we can talk.

Theres more nuance there, but that appears to be the stance, yes.

 

[WhiskeyKnight]

Yeah, I'm in the weird position where I find the work Anita puts out to be almost uniformly shallow and intellectually deficient but find the results of her (and others') advocacy for greater gender representation to be a wonderful result for the games industry, as well as for me personally as a player. It's a strange feeling.

Basically, I can't stand to read her but I'm delighted she exists.

God, I feel the exact same way.

I think it might be because she and her partner Jon McIntosh are unapologetic extremists. They're bomb throwers. They're liberal versions of right wing wackos like Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter. For ideological extremists, facts are pliable things -- if reality gets in the way of the narrative, it is either downplayed or ignored. Confirmation bias personified.

For people with a more moderate inclination, extremists can be very grating. Their refusal to engage in meaningful debate, their rejection of countervailing evidence, their air of superiority and condescension -- all of these combine to make them...annoying.

But these qualities are precisely what makes them excellent advocates. The sheer volume with which they project their arguments means that we have no choice but to sit up and take notice. So for liberals like myself, Feminist Frequency and other online social justice advocates are a mixed bag -- while we agree broadly with their goals, their methods are questionable at best.

Thus the strange feeling you, I and so many others share.

 

[MUnited83]

Jesus hell, people here that think that female-protagonist exclusive games are not needed or positive are dense as fuck.

Spoiler

I do find hilarious that these people spout at the same time that they"don't see race, religion or gender" while saying "female-protagonist exclusive games are against equality!MISANDRY11!!!!!" For fuck's sake, get the head outta your ass and think rationally for a second.

 

[Infinite]

Well, how exactly does it relate to feminism? I thought that's what they're focused on. I think it muddles the message a bit.

Well through watching her tropes vs women videos it doesn't seem like the only issue she's tackling is female representation in games. Criticism of violence seems to have always been a big part of her content even before tropes vs women. Furthermore she's talking about it from a feminist perspective which is concern with toxic masculinity and violence against women which naturally comes with that territory one would think

 

[Sylverstone14]

There is still a large imbalance in the exclusive games.

Ah, right. Well, I have faith in developers to overturn that in due time.

 

[Deleted member 126221]

Without his personal opinion on the subject there wouldn't have been the Jack Thompson that I celebrated getting disbarred by making this lovely cake:

What I meant is people hated him because he tried to ban violent games by any means necessary. I doubt he'd so hated if he was just some dude who said "I don't like violent games" on the internet. I mean, I don't particularly like violent games and I doubt you'll make a game to celebrate if something bad happens to me...!

That's why I think the comparison between Sarkeesian and Thompson is silly (but it's still revelatory in the sense that it shows people are genuinely afraid of a feminist critic because they think she will prevent them in some way from enjoying the games they like).

 

[Auctopus]

46% of games with the option for both genders is a solid number to hold onto.

Character creation is the new big thing nowadays.

But this irked me:

That is far from true and she should not present that as a fact.

Driveclub and Hunie Pop is officially a more progressive game than TLOU.

 

[narton]

Oranges and Apples.

When Anita Sarkessian begins going on daytime television and begins tying video games to mass shootings, we can talk.

Well around the Newtown shooting she did blame masculinity on shootings on her Twitter. And since most of her prominent research is on video games, I think lines can be connected she is doing that.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Well through watching her tropes vs women videos it doesn't seem like the only issue she's tackling is female representation in games. Criticism of violence seems to have always been a big part of her content even before tropes vs women. Furthermore she's talking about it from a feminist perspective which is concern with toxic masculinity and violence against women which naturally comes with that territory one would think

Violence against women is an odd one to bring up when most games don't even feature female enemies. Like games actively avoid even going anywhere near something that would get them accused of violence against women.

 

[Griss]

God, I feel the exact same way.

I think it might be because she and her partner Jon McIntosh are unapologetic extremists. They're bomb throwers. They're liberal versions of right wing wackos like Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter. For ideological extremists, facts are pliable things -- if reality gets in the way of the narrative, it is either downplayed or ignored. Confirmation bias personified.

For people with a more moderate inclination, extremists can be very grating. Their refusal to engage in meaningful debate, their rejection of countervailing evidence, their air of superiority and condescension -- all of these combine to make them...annoying.

But these qualities are precisely what makes them excellent advocates. The sheer volume with which they project their arguments means that we have no choice but to sit up and take notice. So for liberals like myself, Feminist Frequency and other online social justice advocates are a mixed bag -- while we agree broadly with their goals, their methods are questionable at best.

Thus the strange feeling you, I and so many others share.

Let me echo you here regarding your post... "God, I feel the exact same way."

The bolded in particular is what drives me crazy.

 

[SliceSabre]

But when they are made they don't sell. This is especially true with new IP's. And that's why you don't see as many. Particularly in the current climate of games where development costs are so high that if a game bombs, then that could mean a studio is going to be closed. The question that no one really knows the answer to is whether those lack of sales are actually due to it being a female lead or other factors. Whether that be the gameplay being unappealing, a lack of marketing or something else. Those are the things that we really don't know.

And that's always going to be the biggest issue.

More women protagonists is a good thing. But then the other issue they face is the game has to actually be good and sell well. A female protagonist in a bad game that nobody likes isn't really helping the issue.

 

[Corronchilejano]

I'm getting Jack Thompson flashbacks.

Care to point the courthouse where Sarkeesian is pushing a legal agenda?

I'm a male gamer now for almost 30 years, and whenever given the choice, I almost always prefer to play as a female.

I think its meant more for character driven games.

 

[Leafhopper]

By their very nature, videogames make you incarnate their protagonist. It doesn't mean you magically agree with all his actions or anything, but you "become" the game's main character when you control him.

That's a very unique way of using the word project.

I think the catch-22, for me, is the point where the question shifts from the general case to a specific case. I completely agree that we need more female perspectives in gaming, and more games with exclusively female lead characters; those lead to storylines that are somewhat underrepresented.

But when it switches to a specific example, I disagree; It'll ultimately depend on the story they're looking to tell, so it's hard to make too many assumptions right now, but in principle I don't have a problem with Bethesda making this choice in the best interests of the game they wish to develop.

That's the problem, and I'm struggling to reconcile it satisfactorily. There are more stories out there that should be told that are being neglected, and that's bad. But it doesn't necessarily mean that you should force a story into that mould. In Bethesda's case, it's rather dependent on how well they make Emily a plausible and individual character, rather than Corvo-sans-Blink.

The solution I'd like to say is that companies should continue to make the stories they wish to make, and new developers should spring up to fill those gaps. But that's its own problem when money comes into the fray; can such titles get the funding they need to be viable projects when commercialism becomes a necessary consideration?

It's a tough one. I agree with FF in the general sense, disagree in the specific sense, but in doing so also have to concede that unless there are some specific pushes in that direction, the general sense won't change.

Good post. I agree with you mostly. In my case I don't care overall who or what I play as usually in a game. That's how I roll, even as a male. Granted over the passed few years I have played more females in videogames.

Why? They are what I am looking for in the game I am playing. I play a lot of females in fighting games because I like their fighting style. I play Lynn in Vindictus because I wanted to use a Halberd or Glaive. Other times its just because I think the females are better designed or more lively than the male characters. Not to say I don't play male characters anymore in games, since I do but, I don't get the notion that we have to connect to every character in every game we play.

 

[PairOfFilthySocks]

Lol, I was wondering how they'd push a negative narrative in the face of a wildly more inclusive and diverse cast of characters this E3.

Sounds like Anita and co are more interested in getting even than getting equal. Gotta get them controversy bux somehow I suppose.

 

[Galactic Barret]

Theres more nuance there, but that appears to be the stance, yes.

What the fuck is that shit?

Does she really hate men? I've played Videogames since I was a toddler: never shot a school up or treated a woman like an object. What the hell?

I feel dirty. Seriously.
Many factors are at play: mental illness, bullying and the PTSD that results, media (yeah, media too). These broad sweeping strokes are what I thought she was trying to help men from doing to women. It rude.

 

[Fitts]

46% let you choose your gender while 9% force the player to control a female protagonist. That's more than half that allow you to play as female.

FF should be elated with that fact, but negativity/cynicism gets more clicks so I'm sure I'm sure they're locked and loaded with plenty to rail against.

EDIT: Wow. Those tweets above are horrible.

 

[Bronetta]

Theres more nuance there, but that appears to be the stance, yes.

DoktorEvil pls

 

[oti]

Dishonored 2.


Glad I am I guy who doesn't care about the gender of the character I am playing as. I can't wait for both of those games.

I would like to see a female character in GTA though just to see if and how different the story/game would be. A new perspective like that. In cases like Horizon and Mirror's Edge I don't really care, but both of these games have really cool character designs so I'm cool with that.

 

[MUnited83]

Theres more nuance there, but that appears to be the stance, yes.

She doesn't seem to be talking about games there, like, at all. And she isn't wrong. At least partially. There's a reason that 99,99% of mass-shootings are perpetrated by males, after all. This wasn't just random chance, you know?

 

[Interfectum]

So out of the 31 games that had gender exclusive protagonists roughly ~22% were female? That seems pretty good considering the AAA demographic. What is she complaining about, that it isn't 50/50?

 

[Zaptruder]

You instigate change by applying pressure.

You don't alleviate the pressure because things have improved.

You're giving her way too much credit. Certainly, Sarkeesian is the most visible feminist crusader on games at the moment - but to pretend as if she's single handedly brought it about through her strategy of distortion is... disingenious and disrespectful to the significant efforts made by the broader industry on the issue.

 

[Caronte]

Theres more nuance there, but that appears to be the stance, yes.

Jesus Christ.

I see an actual pattern here: they all had guns.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

Those are some great numbers, as someone that loves to play as female characters I'm super pleased.

 

[Mindwipe]

I guess people are really buying the Gamergate bullshit that Anita is trying to censor games when they can't recognise the above as thoughtful critique of an artform as opposed to a call to ban the sales of violent games.

Jonathan Macintosh explicitly said on Twitter that he was glad for GTA getting pulled from shelves and was all for censorship. I really don't see how it can be bullshit when those involved in FF explicitly cite it as a goal and cheer when it happens.

 

[addik]

God, I feel the exact same way.

I think it might be because she and her partner Jon McIntosh are unapologetic extremists. They're bomb throwers. They're liberal versions of right wing wackos like Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter. For ideological extremists, facts are pliable things -- if reality gets in the way of the narrative, it is either downplayed or ignored. Confirmation bias personified.

For people with a more moderate inclination, extremists can be very grating. Their refusal to engage in meaningful debate, their rejection of countervailing evidence, their air of superiority and condescension -- all of these combine to make them...annoying.

But these qualities are precisely what makes them excellent advocates. The sheer volume with which they project their arguments means that we have no choice but to sit up and take notice. So for liberals like myself, Feminist Frequency and other online social justice advocates are a mixed bag -- while we agree broadly with their goals, their methods are questionable at best.

Thus the strange feeling you, I and so many others share.

I share the same exact sentiment. I think my biggest fear coming out of this is that Female Frequence ends up being the be-all and end-all of all discussion since video game designers have looked up to Anita, which isn't a bad thing mind you, as it certainly means the equal gender representation is clearly an issue that devs are seriously tackling.

But I've read the works of other scholars who have looked in to and study video gaming medium more thoroughly and intimately than Anita has, and the points they bring up could be far more interesting and beneficial. Plus, they really are able to tackle the specificity of the video gaming medium and not just resort to simple literary analyses to see its beauty.

 

[benicillin]

46% let you choose your gender while 9% force the player to control a female protagonist. That's more than half that allow you to play as female.

FF should be elated with that fact, but negativity/cynicism gets more clicks so I'm sure I'm sure they're locked and loaded with plenty to rail against.

Everyone is happy that the games showed at E3 were more inclusive this year than ever before, but it's hilarious and shortsighted to think that = mission accomplished. The industry has a long way to go.

 

[Kieli]

No its not.

Through the feminist viewpoint, which she purposely views this through for the FemFreq. The more female only driven games pushes much harder against the status quo and pushes the whole platform in a progressive direction. Having two main characters pushes less and thus less progress.

This would only ever be considered misandry if we were already at a 50/50 split and complaining about male protagonist.

Yes it is.

Misandry is when you want to reduce a dual-gender game into a single-gender female game to push for that magical 50/50.

Feminism is when you want to build, FROM THE GROUND UP, a game with an empowering female lead to hit that 50/50. Like Horizon or Mirror's Edge (but I guess she will probably dislike those games because they are violent).

 

[VanWinkle]

Wow, that is a pretty darn good balance!

 

[Verger]

I can only agree with Anita that games need more creative diversity and less marketing interference.

Beyond that she goes off into crazy-ville with her recent tweets bemoaning violence or people applauding violence (been around since humans first came into being....Gladiator fights anyone?), or even more insane stuff that there's no such thing as "escapism", or that men are inherently violent and women are not.

Not to mention all her sex-negative spiel.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

While I sympathize with the message here, I really do believe that they should probably focus on women's issues and talk about this entirely separately. If only for pragmatic reasons and not diluting the message (as well as not giving the "Anita = literally Jack Thompson" idiots more ammo).

Anyways, I'd be interested in seeing a comparison between this and other E3s. There seem to be way more female-lead/choice based games here then there were last year.