One reason amongst many why i'm here and not there

[bob48]

^yeah, that's exactly right.

Just what I said.



Perv

[BanzaiCat]

It's funny how many times I've seen the argument for playing a female character. One of the most compelling arguments said, "If I'm going to stare at an ass for 40 hours of game time, it's going to be a woman's ass."

[MengJiao]

- but I am just getting really tired girding my loins, now even to the point of reading the gaming news!

  I have a rough time reading any news at all, but there is a lot of hidden goodness to the incipient horror of games becoming an important area of current (even pop) culture.  Games are seen as culturally important, this is good in a round-about way because that means more
money flows into game development and games become more diverse and interesting and complex.  It also means the amount of annoying crap multiplies steadily on every level -- but at least there are plenty of new games!

  I think the cultural cap is kind of interesting even if it does stir up stuff that is kind of hard to comprehend as even remotely constructive.
But I think there is some point to some of it and in some ways having lots of different (if often divisive) points of view is inherently entertaining.

  And, well, I admit, keeping myself entertained is my main objective these days.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

You also don't see fat dudes as main characters, by default.

I have seen numerous character creators in which you could create overweight characters, both male and female.  Almost nobody uses them.

I've ran into a fair amount of female gamers over the years, mostly in MMOs, and I don't recall a single one creating an overweight or homely character, even though they could.  Make jokes about the "Battle Ho" look?  Sure.  We all do.  But practically nobody wants to be a pork chop or fugly in their escape.

Speak for yourself.  I didn't play a lot of Saint's Row 3, but when I did I played as the fattest bastard I could make.  I spent most of my time running around naked and slapping people upside the head with a giant purple dildo. 

If I can't make a fat bastard, I tend to make angry git-of-my-lawn old gits for my characters.   "What the hell do you mean I've got to go wander around the woods and find you 10 mushrooms?  Back in my day an alchemist would gather her own mushrooms and be proud of it!  Damned kids these days....kingdom's going to hell in a hand basket....you orcs get off my lawn!"

[Nefaro]

You also don't see fat dudes as main characters, by default.

I have seen numerous character creators in which you could create overweight characters, both male and female.  Almost nobody uses them.

I've ran into a fair amount of female gamers over the years, mostly in MMOs, and I don't recall a single one creating an overweight or homely character, even though they could.  Make jokes about the "Battle Ho" look?  Sure.  We all do.  But practically nobody wants to be a pork chop or fugly in their escape.

Speak for yourself.  I didn't play a lot of Saint's Row 3, but when I did I played as the fattest bastard I could make.  I spent most of my time running around naked and slapping people upside the head with a giant purple dildo. 

If I can't make a fat bastard, I tend to make angry git-of-my-lawn old gits for my characters.   "What the hell do you mean I've got to go wander around the woods and find you 10 mushrooms?  Back in my day an alchemist would gather her own mushrooms and be proud of it!  Damned kids these days....kingdom's going to hell in a hand basket....you orcs get off my lawn!"

Well, you're very... special... SDR.   :-*

[Gusington]

Purple dildo kinda special.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Git off my lawn!

[Gusington]

Can I borrow the dildo?

[GDS_Starfury]

en garde!

[RooksBailey]

Speak for yourself.  I didn't play a lot of Saint's Row 3, but when I did I played as the fattest bastard I could make.  I spent most of my time running around naked and slapping people upside the head with a giant purple dildo. 

If I can't make a fat bastard, I tend to make angry git-of-my-lawn old gits for my characters.   "What the hell do you mean I've got to go wander around the woods and find you 10 mushrooms?  Back in my day an alchemist would gather her own mushrooms and be proud of it!  Damned kids these days....kingdom's going to hell in a hand basket....you orcs get off my lawn!"

LOL!  I knew I wasn't the only one!  One of the reasons why I had such a good time with Saints Row III was because I made my char an overweight middle aged guy (you can see him here, along with some commentary about what I think the real bigotry in gaming is)!  It was so much more fun watching him go through the over the top heroics in that game than watching just another Call of Duty, All-American Fullback type of character that Hollywood and gaming loves so much.

So count me in with the types of gamers who like a more atypical type of hero.   :) 

[TacticalWargames]

I stay out of all that on RPS..it's tiresome.

Divinity is one hell of an RPG though:)

[Jack Nastyface]

FWIW...while I am not necessarily defending their agenda, many of the articles at Polygon appear to be written with the viewpoint that games are or contain larger reflections of self, society, values and community.  IMHO, this is not unlike those people who spend sh*tloads of time talking about the relevance of art or whatever in our lives.  So if you  begin with the proposition that games are written by people who are part of society and have ideas and values, then the games they make and play may be considered as a projection of those ideas and values...which in turns merits discussion for those so inclined.
And hey...it's not like we don't have our version of "PC" thought, albeit it is more about things like history and verisimilitude.  If some fanboi started a thread ranting about how "...Battlefield 3 is the most realistic wargame, ever" we'd all be capping his ass.

RPS is a different story.  I sense they started as a "let's play games and talk about how fun they are" and are now starting to broach the area of "let's play games and talk about their social / political / cultural relevance."

[Huw the Poo]

Here is the first piece by Tom Bramwell.

There's plenty there to get your teeth into, like right at the beginning when he implies that men are inherently sexist.

Oh look everyone, he's at it again!  Go and laugh at the silly, emasculated little ninny.

That's another bookmark permanently deleted then.