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At Least It Wasn't Yoshi
September 13, 2005
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Whoops, looks like the opportunity arose, and Blue (being who she is, and none other than as she is) couldn't resist. The crown jewel of the comic is, in my opinion, the final line, which is owed to the combination of the wits of my friends Mary (for the setup) and Doc (for the punchline). Shout-outs to you guys, and many thanks for letting me appropriate the line. Even though I didn't really, uh, ask if I could. It's also kinda from Face-Off, but more cleverly appropriated here, and um, yeah. ...I'm not funny enough. ::hangs head::
Anyhow. I can't avoid talking about this sort of thing for long, so of course I have to mention: you know that retarded "Girls of Gaming" thing that Playboy did last year where they featured a number of female game characters in the buff (and I didn't exactly think highly of it last year, either)? Well, the game industry has gone retarded for a second time and done it AGAIN. The thing that really bugs me this time - aside from how moronic and irritating the whole thing is from the get-go and how immature and testosterone-laden it makes the entire game industry seem - is the characters being featured. Coupla bitches from Darkwatch, no big surprise, one of them was in there last year; the Oracle from God of War, whatever, she's practically naked in the game anyway (and way to go, David Jaffe, for further ignoring any possibility the game had for attracting a female audience).
But - Carla from Indigo Prophecy?! The FUCK?! Okay, here we have a cerebral, inventive, combination rebirth of adventure game / interactive movie, deep characters, involved storyline... and you take the intelligent, perceptive, capable, female detective in the game... and make her pose nude in Playboy?! Pardon my indignant anger - sorry, ENDLESS RAGE - and seriously. WHAT THE FUCK, QUANTIC DREAM. Omikron was awesome, and this was looking to be too, but then you go and make a lead do something so out-of-character as this, cheapen yourselves, make it so tawdry... this isn't some hack FPS like Darkwatch, my God, out of ANY genre that female gamers might be attracted to, that a breakout audience might be interested in, THIS one, and then...! ARRRRRGH ANGER AND RAR! FULL OF RAGE!! I can't even... imagine what that meeting to decide to do this must have been like. "So! We're constantly saying we want to interest more women in video gaming, and here's an intelligent game with a gripping storyline, emotional investment, and a strong female lead!" "Oh! Did you say a strong female lead? Fantastic! Let's put her naked in a stroke mag!" ::pounds head on floor::
And? Apparently Hellgate: London is offering up one of their ladies for the ogling. What the hell, guys, I thought we were like, tight. Why you gotta pull this shit? I don't blame the ENTIRE company, because that would be retarded (like the douchebags that apparently show up at Blizzard screaming death threats because they were banned from World of Warcraft for cheating - like dude, the fuck you gonna do, fight the entire company??) - but I blame YOU, Bill Roper. I put my faith in you! Diablo! Diablo II! You were our high hopes! You have no idea how many female gamers I knew that loved those games and were SO looking forward to this one, me chief among them. And then this? ::heavy sigh:: I really wanted to buy it, but last year I swore that I'd never buy any game that did anything like this to its characters. Prove me wrong. There were some characters in it last year who weren't topless, who weren't naked, just random pictures of them - say it's that, please? Just... because. I can't ask it to be undone but GOD, do I wish I could. I wish the whole fucking thing could be undone, revealed as the horrible, wretched excuse for a marketing idea that it is. Fall apart like a corpse rotting.
Honestly speaking I feel (lame as it sounds) betrayed. By the industry in general, I guess. I keep telling myself I'm making a difference, even just by BEING there, by adding a new perspective in things, making things less of a "boys club," doing what I can... that the industry WANTS more women gaming, more women in the industry, because they keep saying they do... But then I face shit like this every day. I doubt I can make most people understand how I feel, and why this hurt me so much, and why I do stupid shit like cry over moronic crap like this, but it's part of a whole, part of trying so hard to show the world we're not what you think we are, that the gaming industry is so much more, that games are ART, they're for EVERYONE, and then... ::sigh:: I guess I should give up: there are only so many Males Aged 18-30 in the world at one time, so if the industry is dumb enough not to TRY and seek out new markets, new audiences to survive, I should just say "fuck 'em" and walk away, right? Let them scrabble and snarl at each other for the scraps. That's the path they've chosen, right?
But I can't. For all the shit that happens, all the retarded decisions that are made, all the chauvinistic, misogynist bullshit and fucktards that it has hiding in its dark corners, I love games and I love making games, and I've loved them all my life. Nobody can tell a woman "Oh, why make movies for women, women don't watch movies," or "Why bother writing books for women, women don't read," so nobody's gonna tell me that for GAMES. You can fuck off, you ignorant assholes. I've staked my claim and I'm not moving, despite how weary and angry and hurt I feel at times. I've deluded myself into imagining I can make a difference, and I guess I won't give up until I do. This is my industry as much as yours, and there is nobody who can say that you have any more right to it than I do. This is all I can do - keep trying.
Anyhow - sorry to go all crazy-serious on you guys. Shit like this happens, and I have to say something, or it builds up and I explode. Thank your lucky stars, my friends, that I chose to rant about it and not comic about it, because I think in the end nobody'd be really laughing from that one. I certainly don't feel like laughing about it... not just yet, at least. Who knows? Maybe I will be able to look back on this in a few years, when things in my industry have changed for the better, and chuckle with amusement at how backward and lame stuff was. Probably closer to a decade, but hey - I'm not goin' anywhere anytime soon. ::wink::
That's it for me for now - but count on some ACTUAL humor (and mad links!) comin' your way on Friday. Peace out, much love, and REMEMBER - still taking notifications for your donations to Katrina and sending you all wallpaper, and even if you got that wallpaper from donating to us previously, I'll still get you something you might like. Gotta help each other, peeps. Much love.
I'm Never Gonna Stop,
Annie "Blue" C
Glad nothin's gonna stop me from pursuin' my dreams
- DCT, Just Us
"Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - Memories Frozen in Time OC Remix"
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