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Journalism and Bias in the Gaming Industry


Blarghagh

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Ah, Moviebob.

 

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Also, wikipedia drama due to a recent article on the Mary Sue:

 

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The area between the balls and the butt is a hotbed of terrorist activity.

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About the article? Sure.

Brianna Wu recently wrote an article on The Mary Sue stating that Samus Aran is a transwoman based on evidence that I could charitably describe as "flimsy".

(It's far more likely that her "evidence" was either a transphobic joke itself or an inside joke from the team about how Samus was a male character for a while in development.)

 

There was someone trying to edit the official wikipedia page to state that Samus Aran is trans.

They didn't succeed.

 

Also Wu has now gone on to twitter with her grievances:

 

 

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The extreme anger and aggressive denial of my piece about the evidence #Samus is transgender shows how much transphobia is in gamer culture.

 

Why does this upset people so much? Well, that answer is simple. You hate transgender people, and can't imagine a gaming icon as one.

 

I need you to understand, your unconscious bias against transgender people is killing them. It killed my friend Evelyn, who was only 19.

Good grief. Edited by Barothmuk
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About the article? Sure.

Brianna Wu recently wrote an article on The Mary Sue stating that Samus Aran is a transwoman based on evidence that I could charitably describe as "flimsy".

(It's far more likely that her "evidence" was either a transphobic joke itself or an inside joke from the team about how Samus was a male character for a while in development.)

 

There was someone trying to edit the official wikipedia page to state that Samus Aran is trans.

They didn't succeed.

 

Also Wu has now gone on to twitter with her grievances:

 

 

3VsNYgp.jpg

 

The extreme anger and aggressive denial of my piece about the evidence #Samus is transgender shows how much transphobia is in gamer culture.

 

Why does this upset people so much? Well, that answer is simple. You hate transgender people, and can't imagine a gaming icon as one.

 

I need you to understand, your unconscious bias against transgender people is killing them. It killed my friend Evelyn, who was only 19.

Good grief.

 

 

Do you feel guilty  Baro...this is what happens when you guys promote transgenderphobia  ;)

"Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss”

John Milton 

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Those people cannot help themselves. They have to create a controversy that they themselves have to be the solution of.

 

In the good old days those people were pitied and sent to hospitals or monistaries to be cured. They should listen to the wisdom of their forefathers.

"Some men see things as they are and say why?"
"I dream things that never were and say why not?"
- George Bernard Shaw

"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

"The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it."

- Some guy 

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Ah, Moviebob.

 

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Rather disappointed no one tweeted that always popular PA move of "citation needed" at her, tsk, what has Twitter come to.

 

Good to see Wu is as batty as ever.

Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

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Like clockwork.

"Some men see things as they are and say why?"
"I dream things that never were and say why not?"
- George Bernard Shaw

"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

"The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it."

- Some guy 

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Apparently they got the idea from an old interview with the creator of Metroid Prime. When asked about when the game will be released on the PS2, his answer was: "That's about as unlikely as the idea that Samus is transgender. Please enjoy it on the Gamecube.". That's their whole basis, taking a quote out of context.

Edited by Meshugger

"Some men see things as they are and say why?"
"I dream things that never were and say why not?"
- George Bernard Shaw

"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

"The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it."

- Some guy 

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Ah, Moviebob.

 

QhsiGPi.png

 

 

As someone who knows a thing or two about Polish history, was born in Poland, whose entire family is Polish and can trace their ancestry all the way back to when Poland first became Christian then later officially became the Kingdom of Poland, I can say unequivocally that Poland has always been "super white".  There was undoubtedly a little bit of intermingling with Turks, especially back during the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but for the most part, super white.  Who you believe, me or Donna Dickens, I'm sure she's an expert on the matter, or at least thinks she is, is up to you.

 

The Internet - Where Everyone Is An Authority On Everything.  No Actual Experience Or Knowledge Required!

Edited by Keyrock

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"Any organization created out of fear must create fear to survive." - Bill Hicks

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Step aside, what do the Poles know about themselves? Nothing! Now let your betters from the other side of Twitter decide your etnicity, history and cultural expressions for you.

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"Some men see things as they are and say why?"
"I dream things that never were and say why not?"
- George Bernard Shaw

"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

"The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it."

- Some guy 

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You can't alter canon externally (sorry, I'm a page or two behind here, getting back to earlier topics).  The media creator IP owner gets to decide what is and isn't canon, period.  I can alter details in my own mind for my own consumption.  For example, say I'm playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution and I decide it would be cool if Adam Jensen was a Pacific Islander, I can pretend in MY OWN game that I'm playing for MY OWN enjoyment that Adam Jensen is a Pacific Islander, and that's fine.  That is where it ends.  Because I want Adam Jensen to be a Pacific Islander doesn't officially make him a Pacific Islander, he's only a Pacific Islander in MY OWN game, no matter how much I wish he was a Pacific Islander officially in the series (because that would be freakin' awesome).

 

As an aside, can we get more Pacific Islander protagonists in video games, please (without altering already existing characters)?  That would be cool.

Edited by Keyrock

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"Any organization created out of fear must create fear to survive." - Bill Hicks

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As an aside, can we get more Pacific Islander protagonists in video games, please (without altering already existing characters)? That would be cool.

I'm down with that. This guy was awesome

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The area between the balls and the butt is a hotbed of terrorist activity.

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Ah, Moviebob.

 

QhsiGPi.png

 

 

As someone who knows a thing or two about Polish history, was born in Poland, whose entire family is Polish and can trace their ancestry all the way back to when Poland first became Christian then later officially became the Kingdom of Poland, I can say unequivocally that Poland has always been "super white". 

The whole idea of 'whiteness' is a product of colonialism and it applies poorly to a place like Poland.

There were better ways of tracking ethnic identity than skin color.

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The whole idea of 'whiteness' is a product of colonialism and it applies poorly to a place like Poland.

There were better ways of tracking ethnic identity than skin color.

 

You are absolutely correct.  Skin color, however, I believe is pertinent in this case because this refers to the "There aren't black people in The Witcher 3, y'all are racist!" complaint.  This first part comes from hearsay, mind you, as I haven't been back to Poland in many years, but my folks and sister were there recently and they said there are some black folks there now, though still very very few.  Back when I was growing up in Poland in the 80s, however, seeing a black person in Poland would likely be met with a "wow, I'd read about them in books, but I never thought I'd see one in person" reaction, just to give people an idea of how "white" Poland was at that time. (clearly purely the work of Nazis, I'm sure it was a veritable melting pot before 1939  :facepalm: )

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"Any organization created out of fear must create fear to survive." - Bill Hicks

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I wonder if we are going to get a token Arab in one of the adons.

And therein lies the problems.  Publishers and developers wind up shoehorning in token characters just so that the whackos shut the **** up or as a way to show off how "progressive" they are for some kind of hipster brownie points (*cough* BioWare *cough*), rather than writing characters that fit the story they are trying to tell.

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🇺🇸RFK Jr 2024🇺🇸

"Any organization created out of fear must create fear to survive." - Bill Hicks

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I wonder if we are going to get a token Arab in one of the adons.

And therein lies the problems. Publishers and developers wind up shoehorning in token characters just so that the whackos shut the **** up or as a way to show off how "progressive" they are for some kind of hipster brownie points (*cough* BioWare *cough*), rather than writing characters that fit the story they are trying to tell.

Tokenism can aslo be a result of bad writing too. For example, Anders felt like a token Gay, but Dorian didn't. Crem felt like a token character as well, mostly because everything around him/her was based on trying to make the player feel bad if they didn't immediately accept them and not ask questions.

The area between the balls and the butt is a hotbed of terrorist activity.

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Yeah, is there a 'not the Ottoman Empire' in the cannon ?

 

Not sure if there's a direct equivalent, but I think there's a I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Arabia in the game, which is where one of the main antagonists from the first game is from. A game set there would be pretty great, I think.

I've only read Last Wish and Blood of Elves from the books so far, so not sure what they have to say on it.

Edited by GhoulishVisage

When in doubt, blame the elves.

 

I have always hated the word "censorship", I prefer seeing it as just removing content that isn't suitable or is considered offensive

 

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Yeah, is there a 'not the Ottoman Empire' in the cannon ?

 

Not sure if there's a direct equivalent, but I think there's a I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Arabia in the game, which is where one of the main antagonists from the first game is from. A game set there would be pretty great, I think.

I've only read Last Wish and Blood of Elves from the books so far, so not sure what they have to say on it.

 

 

Azar Javed must have come from somewhere, after all. :)

No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering.

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Maybe the headlines would go something like this:

 

"Witcher Villain is a Lazy Stereotype"
"Brothel Scene from Witcher Game Raises Concerns About Depiction of Human Trafficking in Third-World Countries"
"Witcher Bandits Reinforce Arab Stereotype"
"Witcher Fetishises Women of Color" (Bonus as that one was already used for Witcher 3)
"Why Are Those Bloody Poles Appropriating Middle-Eastern Culture? They Should Stick To Polish Stuff."

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When in doubt, blame the elves.

 

I have always hated the word "censorship", I prefer seeing it as just removing content that isn't suitable or is considered offensive

 

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