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Saffire
Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 1256
Location: Iowa, USA
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:59 am
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RyanSaotome wrote: |
Zac wrote: | It isn't political. He's talking about the game's gender issues a little in addition to reviewing the gameplay. It's completely relevant. He isn't going over the top.
The problem here is that you are too sensitive, believe it or not. |
Game reviews, like any review, is supposed to be about how good the game is and if they'd recommend it... not a platform to complain about gender inequality or some such junk. Nobody cares about the reviewers opinion on that stuff. Its like that recent Gamespot review for Atelier Meruru where he spent half the time whining about sexualized little girls and being offended by it. Its completely irrelevant to the quality of the game and it did nothing but cause giant flame wars in the comments. |
So, a serious social issue like gender inequality is "junk"? Seriously?
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RyanSaotome
Joined: 29 Mar 2011
Posts: 4210
Location: Towson, Maryland
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:00 am
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Saffire wrote: |
RyanSaotome wrote: |
Zac wrote: | It isn't political. He's talking about the game's gender issues a little in addition to reviewing the gameplay. It's completely relevant. He isn't going over the top.
The problem here is that you are too sensitive, believe it or not. |
Game reviews, like any review, is supposed to be about how good the game is and if they'd recommend it... not a platform to complain about gender inequality or some such junk. Nobody cares about the reviewers opinion on that stuff. Its like that recent Gamespot review for Atelier Meruru where he spent half the time whining about sexualized little girls and being offended by it. Its completely irrelevant to the quality of the game and it did nothing but cause giant flame wars in the comments. |
So, a serious social issue like gender inequality is "junk"? Seriously? |
I meant "junk" as in different issues that have nothing to do with the review. Sorry if I said it in a way that sounded like I was talking about gender inequality itself.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:01 am
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RyanSaotome wrote: |
Zac wrote: | It isn't political. He's talking about the game's gender issues a little in addition to reviewing the gameplay. It's completely relevant. He isn't going over the top.
The problem here is that you are too sensitive, believe it or not. |
Game reviews, like any review, is supposed to be about how good the game is and if they'd recommend it... not a platform to complain about gender inequality or some such junk. Nobody cares about the reviewers opinion on that stuff. Its like that recent Gamespot review for Atelier Meruru where he spent half the time whining about sexualized little girls and being offended by it. Its completely irrelevant to the quality of the game and it did nothing but cause giant flame wars in the comments. |
This sounds like nothing but childish whining to me. Grow up a little bit. If you can't handle even a mild discussion of the gender issues in games, you need to examine why that is. The problem here is you, not the critic.
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RyanSaotome
Joined: 29 Mar 2011
Posts: 4210
Location: Towson, Maryland
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:04 am
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Zac wrote: | This sounds like nothing but childish whining to me. Grow up a little bit. If you can't handle even a mild discussion of the gender issues in games, you need to examine why that is. The problem here is you, not the critic. |
If this was a feature or editorial about gender issues in games, that would be fine. Its not, its a review about a game where he lets his personal feelings on the issues get in the way of reviewing the game. In a review, we're supposed to be told if the gameplay is good, story, sound, replay value, etc. Not if the reviewer was offended since he saw too much skin.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:07 am
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RyanSaotome wrote: |
Zac wrote: | This sounds like nothing but childish whining to me. Grow up a little bit. If you can't handle even a mild discussion of the gender issues in games, you need to examine why that is. The problem here is you, not the critic. |
If this was a feature or editorial about gender issues in games, that would be fine. Its not, its a review about a game where he lets his personal feelings on the issues get in the way of reviewing the game. In a review, we're supposed to be told if the gameplay is good, story, sound, replay value, etc. Not if the reviewer was offended since he saw too much skin. |
The game is somewhat controversial because of those issues. If he didn't mention it and talk about how it made him feel, I'd call the review a whitewash. The only reason to leave that stuff out is because people like you won't stop complaining that someone dared bring up the extremely obvious.
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daveriley
Joined: 12 Aug 2003
Posts: 117
Location: Philadelphia
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:09 am
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RyanSaotome wrote: | Game reviews, like any review, is supposed to be about how good the game is and if they'd recommend it... not a platform to complain about gender inequality or some such junk. |
What makes you the authority on what game's writing should be? Why is my opinion less valid than yours?
Here is how I see it: games writing is extremely facile. Most games writing is designed to recommend a product, not criticize a work of art. Game reviews, as exist on most of the internet, write robotic reviews with entire sectioned-off paragraphs for "graphics" or "sound" or "frame rate" instead of approaching it holistically and trying to make a cohesive essay. Why is that Consumer Reports approach to writing good? I'm talking about a creative work, not testing out a lawn mower.
If I were to "review" a painting I would not say "canvas is pretty good, looks sturdy, colors are bright, none of them are runny, has a lot of red paint but a little bit of green too. 8/10" Why do you want that mechanical level of criticism, and no further, applied to games?
I am writing about a piece of art and this is a piece of art open to a lot of interpretations. It is very important, to me, to take that seriously, even if it is not to you.
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fightbait
Joined: 02 Jul 2010
Posts: 35
Location: Blaine, MN
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:12 am
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RyanSaotome wrote: |
Zac wrote: | This sounds like nothing but childish whining to me. Grow up a little bit. If you can't handle even a mild discussion of the gender issues in games, you need to examine why that is. The problem here is you, not the critic. |
If this was a feature or editorial about gender issues in games, that would be fine. Its not, its a review about a game where he lets his personal feelings on the issues get in the way of reviewing the game. In a review, we're supposed to be told if the gameplay is good, story, sound, replay value, etc. Not if the reviewer was offended since he saw too much skin. |
Did you even read the review? I've never played the game, but from Dave's review it sounds like it was attempting to say something about gender politics and failed. Discussing what a game is trying to say is relevant when reviewing it, especially if the message is poorly executed.
Also, I checked out that Gamespot review. There is ONE paragraph of several that mentioned the creepy outfits. Again, seems relevant. What if a potential buyer doesn't want to play a game like that?
People are so concerned that if someone calls something creepy or sexist that liking that thing makes you creepy or sexist.
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RyanSaotome
Joined: 29 Mar 2011
Posts: 4210
Location: Towson, Maryland
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:15 am
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fightbait wrote: | Also, I checked out that Gamespot review. There is ONE paragraph of several that mentioned the creepy outfits. Again, seems relevant. What if a potential buyer doesn't want to play a game like that? |
While it may just be one paragraph where it FOCUSES on it (he brings it up several other times as well), but is this really a paragraph you'd consider professional? Especially from the most popular gaming website?
"The setting is overloaded with anime-style cutesiness. There are more pastel colors and glowing stars here than in the average 8-year-old girl's dream bedroom. The entire game sparkles like a Twilight vampire. Even hard-fought victory in combat is concluded with Meruru and pals jumping up and down like they just won a spelling bee. Music is equally light and poppy, although tinges of adult rock make it more acceptable for the crowd that doesn't need a fake ID to buy a six-pack. This kid-friendly atmosphere sits uncomfortably alongside sexualized fetish outfits on too-young female characters. Costumes are taken to extremes with super-short skirts and corsets that it makes playing the game somewhat cringe-worthy."
That sounds like something you'd see some troll post on a forum.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:20 am
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RyanSaotome wrote: |
That sounds like something you'd see some troll post on a forum. |
It is not the world's responsibility to make sure you never read anything that triggers your issues, dude. There is nothing offensive or off-topic about that paragraph.
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seanhiruki
Joined: 18 Jul 2011
Posts: 13
Location: Frederick,Maryland
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:21 am
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RyanSaotome wrote: |
Zac wrote: | This sounds like nothing but childish whining to me. Grow up a little bit. If you can't handle even a mild discussion of the gender issues in games, you need to examine why that is. The problem here is you, not the critic. |
If this was a feature or editorial about gender issues in games, that would be fine. Its not, its a review about a game where he lets his personal feelings on the issues get in the way of reviewing the game. In a review, we're supposed to be told if the gameplay is good, story, sound, replay value, etc. Not if the reviewer was offended since he saw too much skin. |
Do you even understand what a review is? A review is SUPPOSED to include the personal feelings of the reviewer. Saying, "he lets his personal feelings on the issues get in the way of reviewing the game" and "we're supposed to be told if the gameplay is good, story, sound, replay value, etc. " in the same paragraph makes you sound like a hypocrite. Think about it, If one reviewer thinks the gameplay is good and another says the same game had bad gameplay, would that not be an opinion?
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ABCBTom
Joined: 10 Sep 2009
Posts: 183
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:28 am
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RyanSaotome wrote: | While it may just be one paragraph where it FOCUSES on it (he brings it up several other times as well), but is this really a paragraph you'd consider professional? Especially from the most popular gaming website? |
I'm not exactly sure why it's relevant to this review.
Anyway, I bought the game, because I'm a Suda 51 fan, and although I have not played it yet, I am willing to believe it is quite sexist, and misses the mark in truly satirizing gaming culture.
You can like something, but know it's sexist. I can't help but think if the gaming scene wasn't so toxic, a satire along these lines might actually work better.
But we'll never know, because we'll never reach that point.
What an odd victory. Everyone agrees that "sexism" is bad, but suddenly, nothing is actually "sexist" anymore.
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dewlwieldthedarpachief
Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 751
Location: Canada
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:53 am
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I so really, really don't care about games at this point, and it's saving me metric tonnes of money. So quit it with your thoughtful, amusing, and overall compelling writing, Dave Riley!
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Dreg
Joined: 27 Nov 2011
Posts: 12
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:09 pm
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It's sad when games fall victim to the same inanities they parody. I'm looking at you too, Matt Hazard.
Also, given the issues surrounding Arkham City, Tomb Raider, and Hitman, I was kind of hoping this game would be able to introduce "female" and "badass" without that third wheel "pervy" showing up at the party.
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RyanSaotome
Joined: 29 Mar 2011
Posts: 4210
Location: Towson, Maryland
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:30 pm
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Dreg wrote: | It's sad when games fall victim to the same inanities they parody. I'm looking at you too, Matt Hazard.
Also, given the issues surrounding Arkham City, Tomb Raider, and Hitman, I was kind of hoping this game would be able to introduce "female" and "badass" without that third wheel "pervy" showing up at the party. |
Its pretty much a given for a Japanese game. I can't think of any Japan games with female main characters where they aren't sexualized... it comes with the territory. They know what sells, and having some generic looking woman that doesn't appeal to men doesn't sell.
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JuicyB
Joined: 08 Mar 2010
Posts: 278
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:37 pm
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Zac wrote: | It isn't political. He's talking about the game's gender issues a little in addition to reviewing the gameplay. It's completely relevant. He isn't going over the top.
The problem here is that you are too sensitive, believe it or not. |
Maybe it was a little unfair to jump on this particular reviewer for taking part in an annoying trend, but this slacktivism on the part of gaming sites is getting old. Let's face it: no woman on the face of the earth is having her life enriched or improved when someone on youtube complains about "tropes in games" or when Kotaku whines that someone called Catwoman a "bitch." It seems like these guys are upset that no one takes their job seriously, so they are trying to hitch a ride to legitimacy by pretending to be progressive without actually doing anything.
Granted, Suda51 is the type to go out of his way to court controversy, so I suppose in this case it is at least somewhat justified. So I apologize for my bitchy first comment, though I really am sick of gender politics in gaming. Maybe I should take that up with the writers of the game instead of the article, in this case.
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