Day 37: An Opinion

Today, I played Skyrim.  And some Osu!.  I didn't accomplish a whole lot in either game.  That's about it.

So, today I will be posting my response to something I saw on YouTube about video games.  I don't know this person, nor do I agree with what she is saying.  As much as I want to not give this person any more views that she has already received for the series, I feel it important to allow the readers to watch and be informed.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Here's my response to this series of videos.  It will also be posted over on 

Square Enix Origin, a forum I visit a lot.

I wish that if she was going to address the issue of sexism or whatever she was blabbering on about, she would have included more examples of strong, empowered female characters. Instead of dismissing the attempts at games who focus on such characters as weak and comical, she could have talked about the gradual increase in the number of female heroines.

After watching all three videos, I went to my game collection and figured that about 20-25% of my collection have main characters who could be described as independent or strong females. But surprisingly, none of those were even mentioned in any of her videos. One "dude in distress" situation would be Laura and Henri's relationship in Unlimited SaGa. It basically flips the gender roles in that Henri is a prince who is trying to escape capture from the people who killed his parents, and Laura is there to protect him. Then there's also some not as well-known characters like Konoko in Rockstar Games's Oni that she could have used to show that it's not just about boobs and cute voices when it comes to female characters.

However, there are some games that intentionally sexualize female characters because they have a specific demographic and design their game because it is more profitable. One example is Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball.

I like watching the reaction videos to the series. From the ones I watched, they seemed very thought out and organized. And there are also a few female reactions, so it is nice to see both gender's responses. Here's one:

[For this blog entry, I will be including it below]

I just wish the comments section had been available. Disabling it just makes it seem that she's afraid of being called out for what a bunch believe to be wrong. It's like she knew even before posting the videos that what she said would have this kind of reaction, and wanted to completely avoid and not have to accept responsibility for what she said.

Finally, I have to say that the alleged death of Maria in Grand Theft Auto III made me happy. I say alleged, because the player only hears a gunshot. For all we know, he was firing a warning shot to shut off her incessant rambling, or his gun fired accidentally. As many times as I purposely failed missions with Maria just so she could die, she was helpful once. But yeah, I was happy when she "died".

And here's the videos that I mentioned in that forum post:

InuitInua's Response to Part 1

InuitInua's Response to Part 2

InuitInua's response to Part 3

There were tens of videos from all over the spectrum responding to this.  Most were from guys, because after all guys are more likely to take offense to this topic.  However, I'm including one from a female to show that not all women think the same way Anita does.  I think that Anita's opinion is too extreme and took things a bit too far.  And to see that other women do not think this is great for discounting Anita's radical opinions.

Anyway, check out these videos and all of the other response videos that are available on YouTube.  Be sure to give Inuitinua's videos a Like and Share it with everyone.  She also has a blog here on blogspot and YouTube channel.  Here's her contact information:

Blog:

HAPPINESS IS PAPER AND PENCIL

YouTube Channel:

InuitInua

So, for the coming day, enjoy every game you play!

Michael, aka me3lingual, aka 情郎