RaccoonTOF
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Posts posted by RaccoonTOF
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Like this thread: is it really a matter of equality when it comes down to how women are portrayed in video games? Maybe if the media supposed it presented some view of the real world, and was proposing the discrimination/enslavement/disnefranchisement of women, I could see it, but a completely fictional piece? *braces for impact*
For me at least my views presented in this thread are not so much a matter of "equality" or comparisons between the real world and the proposed game world, but rather, internal consistency within whatever world is presented. I've got no real issue if the game world presents a vastly unequal society, whether that be through gender, race, education, or whatever other means - so long as it is consistent and reasonable. The issues I have stem from narrative descriptions not matching the visual depictions (such as my mention of FFG above), unrealistic splits in the "suspension of disbelief" for such things as stereotypical female armor vs male armor providing the same level of "defense", and the stereotype of...well...stereotypes - the lack of anything being truly "average" even as presented in the world itself, but rather everything being an extreme of one form or another.
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I think that there is likely to be a large variety of non-magical items which are superior for their purposes than 'lesser' magical items. I suspect though that with magic being relatively common, the "best" items are still likely to be magical. My reasoning is the same given by someone over in the weapons and armor thread: sure, you can make a mundane item better than given magic item x - but what happens when you then make THAT item magical? The only way you would see the 'best' be non-magical is if it had some inherent property which made it not possible to enhance via magical means.
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Well...I live on a 30' sailboat. So I think out of all of the complaints of lack of "proper" location, I've probably got the biggest right to complain for lack of inclusion. However, as it is a US documented vessel and I'm a US citizen, I suppose I can pick North America.
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From Marceror's interview with Adam Brennecke (posted over at Sorcerer's Place here: http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=58248)
[Adam] We’d like to do updates as often as possible. We are still working this out, but I’d at least like to provide updates to the fans on a weekly basis, perhaps bi-weekly. We love the freedom that we have with this project to share with the fans and get their feedback. I’m looking a lot at how Double Fine Adventure (another recently successful Kickstarter project) is handling this. I like their format and will probably do something similar. In fact, Josh (Sawyer) is currently working on an update that will be shared soon. We want to continue to keep in touch with the fans, and let them know what’s going on. We actually enjoy it.
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I'm not seeing anywhere that Veeno stated final retail sales indicates any upper limits for the kickstarter model...if it was stated somewhere, I must have missed that.
It makes sense that you'd miss it, it was WAAAAY back on page 2:
*snip*
Ah...I had read that post actually, but I didn't (and for that matter still don't) see how it imposes an UPPER limit on the potential for kickstarter funding. I don't think that the argument was ever that kickstarter funding had the potential to match final SALES, but that it had the potential to at least match the development budget, in part by the lowering of the budgets due to removing a lot of the "middlemen" with the traditional publishing model. And as far as that last part goes, it is very "economically logical" and to claim otherwise just shows a lack of understanding of the economics oneself.
Personally, my main gripe is the changing standard of what has to be included to be considered an "AAA" title. Originally (from my best recollection) the terminology referred to games which got positive reviews, both from "formal" sources and periodicals and from players/communities, after the game came out - regardless of platform or specific content. Noone ever tried to claim (that I know of) that an RTS wasn't an AAA RTS because it didn't include deep characterization, or was PC-only. They evaluated the games for what they were, what "role" they filled, and how good of a game they were overall - not forcing specific feature sets (again, for the most part).
Now, modern definitions of AAA titles, from both gaming sources as well as financial sources (including such places as Forbes) seem to require a game to be released on PC, Mac, PS3, and XBox at the very least to even be considered - no matter HOW good the core game is. Likewise with being "fully voiced" etc. In my eyes those may be things that are commonly found in AAA titles - but they should not be requirements to be considered an AAA game, nor should they automatically make something an AAA game just because it has all the right "ingredients" if the cooks burned the results. In other words - nothing should ever be able to be an "AAA game" prior to release, and upon release its rating as an AAA game should be dependent on its quality as a game, not on the market share that it reaches.
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Personally I want to see the "mature" themes being explored go well beyond sex/sexual/gender. Every example listed in the OP still boils down to "sex" and facets/expressions thereof. I also think it can be more than just raw violence. How does the main character cope with the loss of his/her family/friends/party members? What is the morality of genocide, when applied to a "cruel" or destructive species? The effects of profiting for oneself or allies through deceit? Class/caste restrictions on power in society(ies) and the positive and negative effects of such. These are all just examples, there are lots more mature subjects out there which could be tackled aside from sex and violence.
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I like the soul-swapped idea, and think that it can be done in a creative and unique manner without just being a "justification for werecreatures". The others are good
"justifications" for fairly common ideas, but I don't see anything wrong with that either as long as they are consistent.
I'd also like to see a variety of "monsters" and "critters" that are unique to the setting and consistent with the geography/climate/evolution, are drastically different from anything we are familiar with in mundane forms, and yet are no more magical than your typical real life deer or house cat. Unique, but within the world itself nothing "special".
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A ranseur/spetum are both "2 protrusions with a spear/sword top" (which could be hooks, either forward facing or reversed) designs, as is the partisan in many forms. Just like with swords, the naming convention between different polearms often varies regionally and over time - in many cases a "spear with 2 hooks" would just be called a "spear"...
Edit: For that matter, many examples of "tridents" are really nothing more than a spear with two additional "hooks"
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In what way is it flawed? Or are you just making blatant statements to disagree?
The core argument is just poor. It's one thing to say that crowdfunding has growth potential, it's another thing entirely to say that sales of finished games in major retail and digital outlets gives us any indication of the possible upper limits of that growth potential. It's conflating so many elements it's mind-boggling. They're not equivalent, they say nothing about each other, and the Kickstarter audience will always be by necessity significantly smaller than the retail/Steam audience.
I'm not seeing anywhere that Veeno stated final retail sales indicates any upper limits for the kickstarter model...if it was stated somewhere, I must have missed that. Thus far, what I've read of Veeno's posts seem to be very logical and reasonable, and yet anek comes in stating that they are logically flawed from an economics viewpoint without any reason for WHY they are allegedly flawed.
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I think Pixar is the only studio that does great animated films. Way better than Disney trash.
o.O? Pixar is a division of Disney, has been since 2005 or 2006...
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I sure hope it's not an economics degree though, 'cause your logic in these matters is seriously flawed.
In what way is it flawed? Or are you just making blatant statements to disagree?
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Scientific proof that Fluffle is the reason for attention span and instant gratification issues in today's gamers:
As for naming things after various games/books/etc...my oldest daughter's name is Serra and every year for her birthday gets something angel related...
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Women in western society have not been discriminated against for years now.
They have more legal privileges, leniency and support than males in nearly any situation, and there is no case (bar maybe stuff like proffesional football ?) where they are prohibited from taking part.
There are far more women only political, social, educational and sports groups than there are male only (if any).
Most, if not downright all, social "expectations" from women of the 19th-20th century have been phased out completely, while many men are still expected to adhere to them today ( I just love it when I'm next to the door in an elevator and some chick next to me barges in over me because she expects me to let her through first ... sigh )
This is actually STILL a case of discrimination, though you may be correct in stating that it is not being discriminated against. And this is one of the biggest problems with any sort of "affirmative action" solution as well. It also doesn't address the still existing discrepancies for non-performance related issues (and this doesn't apply just to women either - age, race, and a variety of other factors can all lead to lesser compensation and/or control/power for equal performance). In fact, one of the reasons for there BEING so many fewer "male" organizations is because of how they get attacked if/when they exist. If I were to advocate for and create a "young white male support society" it would get bashed immediately on all fronts, being called sexist, racist, and likely compared to Hitler - yet do the same for a "middle-aged black women's support society" and it is seen as perfectly appropriate.
One of the problems with the thread and the direction it is taking I think is largely due to the merging of threads and inclusion of "feminism" in the title. Especially because many people have not actually gone and read all of the posts here and are instead just skimming a page or two and then stating their knee-jerk reactions to the word "feminism". So they then go on to bash anyone in support of a "realism" point of view (again, for those that don't bother reading all the posts, I'm making a differentiation between "realistic" and "historical" - realistic WITHIN the given game setting is what I mean here) as being white-knight feminist supporters with no understanding of "fantasy".
Personally, I'm just as against the idea of spiky male armor, gratuitous skulls embossed in steel, exposed abs, etc etc. Ditto for ridiculously unwieldy swords, keys taking up as much inventory space as a full suit of armor, every NPC in the game being either "gorgeous" or "hideous" etc. I do believe that Obsidian can and will totally trash some/many of the stereotypes, and do a good job of it. But consistent handling of that is key - and this is where a lot of my concerns stem from. Merely describing a character in dialogue as being "incredibly ravishing" and "the most gorgeous x you've ever laid eyes on" when the visual representation for all the rest of the "x" in the game is just as "hot", detracts from that description greatly. It was primarily for this reason, as an example, that I thought the dialogue descriptions of FFG from PS:T were over the top and jarring - there wasn't really all that much setting her appearance apart from Annah, or even from the random townswomen in the upper ward, OTHER than the dialogue. She wasn't above average for the setting in any drastically noticeable way, she was just a slightly different variation on the average. Now, if this is what the background of the world/culture/etc is, then fine - but present it that way.
Likewise for the armor issues (not a concern in PS:T really, due to the primary lack of armor being a major portion of your "defense" aside from the magical abilities) - if you are going to create a massive suit of articulated plate armor (non-magical) and give it a defense rating of x because of its mundane characteristics of construction, then do the same with both genders...or, if you want to give the female characters "boob plate" then sure, go for it - but reduce the defense value appropriately (again, barring magical defenses) just as I would expect that stringy male "leathers" or "muscle tanks" would have the same sort of adjustment in comparison to a proper set of overlapping heavy boiled leather armor.
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I meant that based on the description there, they seem to have open the possibility for just divinely "touched" demigods without the actual literal issues of a fire elemental/human impregnation attempt - though they would still retain in some way the distinctive appearance of the planetouched, though I hope in a wide variety of different ways, not ALL (or even most) of them extreme like wings and tails but still leaving those open as possible (totally with you on the burning hair though
)Edit: example of ways that they could be set off physically without being 'fiendish/angelic' would include things like (in the case of otherwise human) abnormal skin tone/hue, green blood, no pupils/iris, etc. - distinct without having to be animalistic or freakishly large appendages.
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Hmm...so promoting realistic (within the context of the game world/systems) distribution of average, above average, and below average individuals, plus deeply varied character types that go beyond the stereotypes, and include all sorts of body types makes someone a "wannabe internet knight" that never leaves the house and should occupy their time picking their nose and masturbating. I guess reasoned discussions of deep issues isn't something that is allowed to be talked about in a "fantasy game", else it will just draw in the stereotypical crowd looking to, indeed, cause this to become a "new BSN in the making" rather than an actual intelligent adult forum...
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Or maybe the whole construction was an attempt to create some dark god using the souls of thousands of unsuspecting workers.
Love this idea...might have to spring that on my players the next time I run a typical high-fantasy game where 'belief' can cause reality...
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It really depends on how you look at it...it still contains cacao butter, just not cacao solids (at least "real" white chocolate, and not just confectioner's glaze that a lot of places market as "white chocolate")
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Definitely agreed there. Even the terms we use today such as épée, spada, etc. all literally just mean "sword". Heck, even the term "longsword" doesn't actually refer to a type of weapon, but is derived from a style of fighting with a particular type of weapon (the two-handed greatsword, with "half sword" being the alternate form to "long sword"). I just pointed it out because I had mentioned it above when discussing the various classes of thin bladed cut-and-thrust swords with villain
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Actually, I've seen a few (not nearly as many as typically hyped, but a few) "youtube celebrities" that are indeed (to me at least) significantly more talented than "most students" and even than "most professionals". The trick is sorting out the truly talented ones from the HUGE wash of mediocre or downright lousy ones...
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Oh dammit don't bring Lindsey into this, I can only deal with so much sexy at one time. Yes, she's great, but what makes her great is her look, her editing, and her dancing in combination with her violin. Other than publicity I don't see what she'd bring . . unless they pulled a Felcia Day and modeled a game character after her . . . then my girlfriend may have to break up with me.
Agreed here - I love seeing people look HAPPY playing violin...and her videos are just great. Kinda reminds me of the same attitude that Vanessa Mae has.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ798THmR5Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNc278W45ck
Edit: eh, won't let me post the third link, should be able to find "Red Hot" from either of the above two though
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Actually a number of them have stated pretty directly that they DO in fact want to see just that...or other similar portrayals. At least a couple in this thread directly I believe as well, though it was quite a few pages back and I've kinda lost track of where things were said after the merge...
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Given that the setup for the game is some soul-shattering (apparently literally) loss suffered by the main character, I suspect that there will be plenty of introspection...
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Along with these modes, we also want to introduce the Godlike races. These folks have been described previously as being similar to the humanoid "planetouched" in D&D: aasimar, tieflings, and genasi. That is a good high-level description of them, but they are viewed differently by various factions, faiths, and cultures in the world of Project Eternity. Godlike were "blessed" before birth by one or more of the meddling deities of this world. Though their appearances vary, they are unmistakeably otherworldly when anyone gets a clear look at them. Sometimes, the reaction they get is overwhelmingly positive. Many times, the reaction is overwhelmingly not. For better or worse, the physical "gifts" that mark them as Godlike always come with supernatural blessings (and curses) of their own.
Your comment about the genasi is actually one of the reasons that I do want to see an example or two of what the concept for them is visually
But yes, based on the description, I think they are more like the greek/norse semi-divinities, while still having definite and distinct visual cues as to their origins as well. -
"I am going to talk to Rob in the morning. He needed a good solid couple days to recover, from being under the gun on the art and from the vodka.
-Feargus"Considering that he already ended up having to do 2 more levels (3 maybe? I forget) while in the middle of the countdown party and already under the effect of said vodka, that's totally understandable. Maybe I shouldn't have had that extra bottle sent to the offices...
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But yes, based on the description, I think they are more like the greek/norse semi-divinities, while still having definite and distinct visual cues as to their origins as well.
[Merged] Women, Feminism, etc. in PE
in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)
Posted
I think I'm going to give up trying to make any rational explanation for anything here - it appears to have gone too far downhill and off-topic compared to the original discussion prior to the merge. Instead I believe I shall go start up my "Organization for the Furtherance of Realistic Ideals for Young, Straight, White Males" - it will probably get a better reception