lord of flies

Ah, so it's just a coincidence that you happen to live in a society where media tells you that 36-24-36 is attractive and you also believe that 36-24-36 is attractive. Even though standards of beauty vary wildly across the world and history, even though historically "fatties" were viewed as attractive, your particular cares and desires for women just so happen to fit with those that your society tells you. It's, what, biological? Pfft. Well, ever notice how recently it's become attractive for adult women to have no hair anywhere except on their heads?

You really think that the media has no effect on you finding a good pair of breasts attractive? Am I reading this sentence right?

Unless that specific person is the media, in which case it totally is.

Women don't have to cater to beauty norms, they're living people. They aren't required to fit some idealized version of femininity. People don't have to be super-ridiculously-pretty to save the world or fight crime - in fact, I'd say it's just the opposite. People who fight on a regular basis will be muscular (not part of the traditional beauty norms) and athletic, and if those fights are life and death, they'll have their scars and wounds and missing pieces and burned away hair. And you know what? These armors you're posting aren't aesthetically pleasing. They're an eyesore. They're ugly, stupid, ineffective. It's funny, I made a thread specifically on the positive examples to try to avoid getting dragged down in a long, boring debate about how ~this is the way it's supposed to be~ and yet here you are, derailing away.

It's true though. The US Prison and Jail population totals 2,284,913 (US DOJ), while internal Soviet documents show that there were only 1-2M people inside the GULAG at any given time (see here).

Yes, but if you'll notice, those are exaggerations of actual features of armor. Armor is heavy. It has pauldrons. "Big hole in the stomach" has not been an actual feature of any armor since we figured out how to make clothing that covers the whole body. The "hyperpatriarchal" nature of the medieval era was not inherent (e.g. Japan had the onna-bugeisha, while having very medieval-esque social structures and technology), and even within Europe there were plenty of female warriors (e.g. Jeanne d'Arc, everyone on this list). You are attempting to rewrite history to remove all agency from historical women, a very common trend but ultimately one that is fictitious. Doing a brief skim of this article (which has an admittedly small sample size and qualitative analysis, but seems the most in-depth study on female perceptions of sexism in gaming), it seems as though women prefer to have a choice in the matter??? Non-gamers also view it as a heavy obstacle to entry, with one noting that "I

I don't see how the gaming industry being a boys club is really an excuse. It seems more like a bad thing than a good one. Funny how the male model, wearing the same armor, doesn't have a big hole in it. I certainly wouldn't mind a female veteran who had "let herself go" (or whatever you want to call it) after leaving the service as a character. But I'd also expect it to be commented on, rather than assumed that thin, wasp-waisted, big-busted women are the "normal" design for female warriors.

When is it not appropriate, specifically? It's easier to notice, since it's visual rather than narrative. While I can look at really stupid clothing/character design in games and immediately recognize it as stupid, I have to rely on either secondary sources or spend a decent amount of time actually playing/watching the game to determine how it treats sex/sexuality/etc. People's appearance is, in certain ways, a result of their personality. The two aren't completely independent, and that's understood. People who swordfight regularly aren't going to be skinny. People who are celibate or planning to go into a knock-down-drag-in fight aren't going to be wearing dental floss for clothes. I mean, this is one of the best armors in World of Warcraft. It has a giant hole for you to stab the lady in the stomach. I don't think I'm judging people on appearance too much to say that someone who would choose to wear clothes like that into a fight is a moron.

Yes, because female sexuality is (much) more stigmatized than male sexuality. And part of that process is criticizing what already exists, and showing how it could be better. Not sure what your point is here. Bad writing is definitely a problem too (Other M), but clothes and shape also represent a kind of forced gender stereotyping and activity. After all, people aren't (generally) forced to wear clothes, they choose to wear them, nor are body types solely the result of nature's providence (and, for a lot of character designs, couldn't occur without surgery). Lots of people wear glasses who aren't teachers, way to engage in backwards stereotypes! *flips table over*

Sure, though SIE is hardly an unknown to anyone posting here. I said aesthetically pleasing. I don't think that character's face is even symnetrical. I'm sure there are folks who get off on older women/female doctors (of course, Male Medic is an older man/male doctor, so, you know). However, you'll notice that her proportions aren't absurd, her outfit isn't sexualized, etc. Compare it to other female designs common to gaming, like the extreme sexual dimorphism and dental floss armor of World of Warcraft, for example. There's also this great blog post that highlights the diversity of male builds. I'd say that's what I was shooting for: examples of aesthetically pleasing (if not sexually so) female characters that are not simply exemplars of modern gaming's extreme objectification of women. I don't play games for titillation (well, I do, but not *these kinds* of games). Until recently (when I started to realize the sheer extent to which priming can effect behavior), I felt like game designers were being stupid with this. Now, I think they're being stupid and manipulative.

In the long, endless stream of video game characters, there is a long, endless stream of big-breasted women with thin waists, high heels and no muscles. This is a Known Issue. Rather than simply reminding us of these lamentable elements, let us try to find some examples of positive character design for female characters which games can aspire to. First off, here's three (finished) model swaps for TF2 characters: Female Heavy, Female Medic, Female Spy (by Chemical Alia). Alternate character design for Sophitia from Soul Calibur, with Mediterranean features and a Hoptile-esque outfit and weapons, from the blog Go Make Me A Sandwich. And finally, Kalasha Nadali, from an in-progress mod for HL2 called Tales from the Galactopticon: The Search for the Argemetis Galacticus. Please, supply your own.

Don't bother. Liberals *makes sucking sound through teeth* don't have the ability to learn from history. History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce, then as a long-drawn out series of repetition of the same tired old joke. The continued existence of suboptimal governments is all because we haven't humanitarian intervened enough! That's the real reason! Not the fact that men are imperfect and the US is lead by counterrevolutionary bandits!

The UN is not a humanitarian organization any more than the US Army is you idiot. Honestly, posts like these make me wonder, do you even know what a rational argument looks like?

*shrug* Why did WW1 start? Why did the Tunisian revolution start?

Hey guys, just chiming in to make a point that no one seems to have: did you notice that these Afghanistanis attacked a compound owned by an occupying foreign power? The idea that the UN is "neutral" or "civilian" in the War in Afghanistan is a blatant absurdity. The compound itself was a UNAMA Operations Center. According to UNAMA's own website, the most recent clarification of its mandate (resolute 1974) stated that "UNAMA ... would continue to lead international civilian support to the Afghan Government ... with a particular focus on strengthening coordination ... between civilian and military operations." Whoops!

Ah, yes, the West stands for least-worst route of democracy. That would be why we participated in the overthrow the democratically elected governments of Iran, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Brazil, Chile, etc. Its why our current enemies list includes men who hold free and fair elections (e.g. Chavez) and excludes numerous who don't (e.g. House of Saud). The East stands for absolutism, that's why the Soviet Union had such positive relations with the (democratic) governments of India, Brazil, Chile, etc. Understand international politics through the lens of those who care about social justice and those who don't (or, those who favor economic liberalism and those who have a code of ethics), rather than folks with lofty ideas of "democracy," and all the teams make a ****load more sense.

Like I said, I've been here as much as my post history suggests, but if I had to guess based on my own experience with you lot, I'd wager that this is not the first time you've made this kind of dismissive personal attack on Oby. So for the record what is your view of 'her' posts? Like I said: haven't been posting. Haven't been reading.

Like I said, I've been here as much as my post history suggests, but if I had to guess based on my own experience with you lot, I'd wager that this is not the first time you've made this kind of dismissive personal attack on Oby.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04...04fa_fact_grann

Reminder that: * The rebels are NOT the same as the protesters - this is a blatant bull**** smokescreen that the West has put up so we can portray it as a good guys-bad guys conflict. * The oversimplification of the war into good guys-bad guys conflict is plainly infantile. Unless we're talking about the Cambodian-Vietnamese War, there hasn't been a good guys-bad guys war since 1945. * Their leader spent the past 20 years within 5 miles of the CIA's headquarters - this is not a legitimate revolutionary movement. * The rebels are losing. * The former intelligence minister - a man who was almost certainly involved in any historical repression that has taken place in Libya - has defected, into the open arms of the "humanitarian" west. Gee, wonder why he didn't say anything before now... * The US military is now directly involved in ongoing violence in six countries (Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, Libya), and will likely continue to add more to that list. * War. War never changes. Or perhaps it has to do with the fact that the USSR put a premium on education because they (rightly) identified it as the foundation of social justice and economic strength, whereas the current government of Russia is run by a bunch of thieves who stole the nation's wealth and sold it up the river.

A + B != C All he confirms is that they rushed out the music score. lol, yes, there were lots of bugs in the music score. That sentence makes lots of sense. Not. IGN is bad. I have no opinion on NWN. Everything I've read about DA2 makes it sound like utter **** - constant trash mob fights with trash mobs that appear from nowhere, characters who are "great if you pretend they're a literal retard" (Merrill), ****ty pop culture references ("I like big boats and I cannot lie"), and a really stupid ending plot twist.

This game is so bad that its metacritic score is low 80s (which is like a D if you're a Big Studio's Latest Amazing Release), and its customer reviews give it 30s. lmao. Give this stinker a wide birth.

I went to redo the last level to check a while back. I had a 10 Rep and picked the "No" option, and SIE accepted it.

It's not rape. If you pick the "No Way In Hell" option, she doesn't have sex with you.

I should have been clearer. Obviously, the character SIE is not (explicitly) a feminist. She's former Stasi, so I'd assume she's pretty feminist, but that's not what I was trying to get at. Is the way that SIE is written feminist? Does her character exist in order to be sexualized or does her sexuality exist in order to fit her character? Given her ownership of her own sexuality, and the fact that it is just one element of her character, I'd tend to say the latter over the former, but it's much more of an edge case than the other love interests (or Sis, for that matter).