It's on my "to read" list...right after Player Piano.Doug said:Quite probably - tis a form of doublethinkD-Mic said:What really bothers me about this is that these mods get flamed, while penis-monsters run amok in the lands of Spore, probably created by the exact same people who did it for a laugh.(see 1984 - the book)
oh, dude, i didnt mean to say that the people here are just spamming hate against the other haters, im saying that though they are doing that, you cant to anything about it, its what they will do regardless, i would prefer if they actually had realistic criticisms, but im saying, thats what you have on them, you dont agree with them, so tell them why, in a decent manner, but nobody needs to sink to their own level, and just say they should be beaten up or killed just because they want to express their freedoms (even if its ignorant)SuperFriendBFG said:Spamming her e-mail and essentially stalking her is not right. These weren't maturely thought out negative criticisms they were outright harassment. I've used a few of Slof's mods myself, although I found most of them not to my taste.hcig said:Its a real life internet white knight! AWESOME!
So lemme get this straight, girl makes mod, girl gets harassed for making mods, girl gets tits in a bunch and leaves internet.
wow, your SURE showed them slof!
what i find horribly ironic about the whole discussion (or rather, rant thread) is that you all are screaming about how she should have the right to make and distribute these things, but you want to take away peoples right to hate them? even worse, apparently some of you think death is in order.
grow up, no, i dont agree with it, i actually downloaded one of the slof mods (i cant for the life of me remember what) and she did good work, but there is bound to be people screaming bloody murder about the whole thing, and thats okay, slof shouldnt have let it get to her, and you all shouldntt have been so quick to wish silence and death upon somebody who is doing the same thing you are: expressing their opinion (no matter how spiteful, if a nazi makes fun of jews, you can make fun of boning his mum, its fair trade)
I advise all those who will inevitably flame me, please direct it at my inbox, for i wish to save you the humiliation of your own ignorance.
There's a big difference between expressing your opinion and personally attacking someone.
lol, not sure if serious...Cid SilverWing said:100% agreed. Homophobia must be banned. Seriously.
I guess why people are so criminally homophobic is because an uncountable number (in fact perhaps a majority) of online guys are gay and the haters are either Christian heretics or just sick of being incapable of meeting straight guys or girls who aren't whores/bitches.
lol, i can say 4chan, and i didThe Rogue Wolf said:Well, I can honestly say I am both surprised and pleased by the responses given so far. I'll address a few points that have been brought up during the discussion.
- I am in no way saying that we have to, actively or implicitly, support the subject matter. If you think that nude Mods for games are a waste of time, or silly, or outright disgusting, that's your choice. I am speaking out against harassment (especially when the harassers seek out their target deliberately in places they would otherwise never go) because of creative work that the harassers are not being forced to partake of in any way, shape or form. The fact that male figures are being decried in an arena practically flooded with examples of female nudity is just a layer of hypocrisy on top of that.
- I wouldn't call it "weakness" causing her to take down her work. I'm a writer, artist and moviemaker, and I'll admit that any time I put work out on display for others to see, I am in fact investing myself emotionally- if only just a little- in the response. I've thankfully never been a victim of harassment anywhere near the scale that AlienSlof has seen, but I do on a base level understand why, after years of this type of response, she would simply want to "disappear" from the radar. Perhaps making this topic may have run counter to that wish, and if so I apologize wholeheartedly, but even a normally quiet and unassuming person such as myself has to speak up once in a while.
- I know that this issue doesn't fit the strictest definition of homophobia, but given that the majority of the insults being flung at AS seem to be centered around "gayness" (again, absolutely idiotic when being applied to a WOMAN'S appreciation of the male figure), it does touch upon the subject. (The fact that "girlie" also seems to be an insult in the minds of these people is quite telling.) The temptation to dismiss this as "boys will be boys" fades with the realization that it's quite likely these "boys" already are, or are growing into, hateful young men who feel perfectly comfortable with attacking anyone so long as they can hide behind the mask of Internet anonymity. (Can you say "4chan"?)
I didn't start this thread as a form of petition for AS to resubmit her Mods. If she chooses never to put up a single thing again, I understand. My purpose was to call attention to this particular problem and how it affected gaming as a whole. I don't have her contact information, but I've seen that others do, and whoever wishes to reference this thread as a show of support to her, by all means feel free to do so.
This may be just one golden thread of logic here, but I feel that, with enough people and enough golden threads, you can pull a mountain down. If we start talking loudly enough, and start pointing out idiots for what they are, maybe we can start making this sort of thing feel unacceptable. Otherwise, we run the risk of all but the most mundane and pedestrian of concepts being shouted down, or not even attempted at all, simply because of the likelihood of being targeted by closed-minded bigots. Of course, we're seeing that situation in a lot of aspects of everyday life, I know... but you've got to start somewhere, right?
This is a bit late in coming, but i wanna get my opinion out on this.SharPhoe said:I know what your'e saying here, but that's basically the same as saying "No one's going to like what you do, so don't even bother trying it." Personally, I think that the phrase "nothing ventured, nothing gained" applies here. No radical movement has ever been immediately supported by 100% of the populace, and if it doesn't meet an ounce of opposition, then who's to say there was even a point?Sundavar said:I'm not sure that there is much i can add at this point.
But whatever, i'll give it a shot.
In my opinion, the one lesson that people never seem to learn is that you should avoid doing things that can cause you stress (the stress being from criticism/mockery from the masses) and take the easy way out by relieving yourself of said action
I find it laughable that i have read, time and time again, that someone has gone out of their way to do something that led to a VERY EASILY PREDICTABLE slaughtering by the harsh public.
When will people learn?!?!?
My prediction is never. People will never understand that doing X will lead to Y, Y being the harsh beating from the masses. Then the person will ***** about Y and that will lead to Z which is people complaining about the person receiving Y for doing X.
And i will sit here laughing as people continue to do this and i continue to hold control over my sanity
I'm amazed that you can say something like this.Cid SilverWing said:100% agreed. Homophobia must be banned. Seriously.
I guess why people are so criminally homophobic is because an uncountable number (in fact perhaps a majority) of online guys are gay and the haters are either Christian heretics or just sick of being incapable of meeting straight guys or girls who aren't whores/bitches.
dude, i totally agree with you, but as i replied to it above, i think he was being sarcastic.Sundavar said:I'm amazed that you can say something like this.Cid SilverWing said:100% agreed. Homophobia must be banned. Seriously.
I guess why people are so criminally homophobic is because an uncountable number (in fact perhaps a majority) of online guys are gay and the haters are either Christian heretics or just sick of being incapable of meeting straight guys or girls who aren't whores/bitches.
Someone's personal opinion is not something that you can ban.
After the "banning of homophobia" what's going to come next? Class-less society? Propaganda?
Another invasion of Poland?
"Criminally homophobic" you sound like you think that someone who dislikes gay people is a felon.
I hope that this is a mis-interpretation on my part, but if it isn't, then you sir must be a biased gay person whose opinion matters nil.
Again, for some reason this just rings communism to me.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that you're calling for the banning of people's personal opinions.
The Rogue Wolf" post="9.96480.1499710 said:A preface: I understand that there have been eleventy billion and one topics about homophobia here on the Escapist. However, this particular issue strikes me as being beyond the pale, and I feel it worthy of its own topic.
I'm an artist myself. Primarily a portrait artist. It's art by talent rather than training.
I was a 1987 national gold medalist for my portfolio. I work in any medium now that interest me but back then it was pencil (bw & color) and pen and ink work. I put the lie to the notion that Acrylics were not a workable practical medium for serious artistry "because it dries too fast".. That's kindof code language for they prefer oils where they can screw up endlessly until they get it right and then let it dry for 10 months.
I now do sculpture in plastics, wood, you name it. I scratch build. I enjoy model building and have gotten into 3d modelling:
http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=175366
.. that's a year's worth of spare time tinkering - still under construction.
I also have spent a good deal of time debating religion, philosophy and politics - publically.
I started doing that 14 years ago.
So what's this got to do with anything? Right?
I'm angry too. I'm angry that a term is once again abusively applied because of someone's feelings being hurt. So what. You haven't established that a "phobia" is involved here.
I know this is a favored charge of the homosexual community; but, I've yet to see an actual case of phobia. This is called soundbite argumentation. It doesn't rely on any facts. You just make the charge and pretend it fits because you're flaming mad. I'm not impressed. The left does this all the time- levelling a charge and repeating it more and more loudly and ignoring all rebuttal in hopes that someone will give up and let them get away with whatever the latest sham is. That's why moderates are so "praised" A moderate is someone who prostitues their convictions for votes so they can keep getting paid.
People have many rights. In the US here, one person's rights are supposed to end where the rights of another begins. Community standards are upheld by the supreme court as a standard of law. I know this from my own home town which successfully fought to get a couple of porn shops moved or closed down so that people entering and leaving our city wouldn't be greeted and sent off by porno shops. The town had enough of it, and the surpreme court upheld our rights to set and defend community standards.
What that means is that a community doesn't have to respect someone's work product. I may (and actually do) respect slof's talent. I don't have to respect the content of her work.
And if something is immoral, people have a right not to have to see it. You seem to think she has a right to put her work out there with no criticism as to content. No artist has such a right no matter what the subject matter. So apparently you needed to make it an issue of "fear of gays".
You also indicate that somehow it's ok to show female genitals; just not male genitals. Kindof misses the point. Gay content is what nobody wanted to see. I've not seen anyone
griping about male genitals being shown. I've had to be around this crap for a number of years as I built my own private databases of Morrowind and oblivion mods. I have something in the neighborhood of 300 gb of mods. So, one can't NOT know this stuff exists. In searching for everything one can find, one has to go through multiple websites, fora, etc.. on a seemingly endless chase. So, I'm well aware of Slof's work as well as the work of others.
And I should say, you're lucky she isn't in jail IMHO. See, I've worked retail and service sector for over 20 years. In a store, you have to show PROOF of age, not just say you're x years old. If you fail to do so on age restricted materials, You can face fines of up to $5000.00. The store can face fines far in excess of that. You can go to jail. And, in many places, you lose your job on the spot - no second chance. She's distributing age restricted materials on the web on no more than a say so that the person is of age. At a minimum, that's a 14th ammendment violation - "equal protection under the law". I could be fined, lose my job AND go to jail for doing what she's doing.
Homosexuality is immoral to a majority of Americans. It's also repugnant to a majority of americans. It's more deadly than Cocaine. And I've seen the effects first hand. I have a family member with HIV who is in the latter stages of available treatment. He has to take his doses of drugs daily and on schedule and if he misses once, it can kill him. He was so near dead a few years ago that I was telling people he died because that was what I was understanding from what was going on. I had to correct myself on that as he miraculously turned around and came back from it after changing his mind about being homosexual and becoming a christian. His turnaround was so sudden and unprecidented that the doctors in Indianapolis said it was an act of God. I'm not preaching here; but, those are the facts as they happened. If that bothers someone, I'm not sorry.
People have to respect your rights to make choices. People are under NO obligation to respect your choices. Slof didn't have to quit modding. She doesn't have to quit being an artist. She might need to grow up and learn that most people got over being called names before puberty. This is a nation of laws. The supreme court upheld the right of the community to set and defend standards in law. If slof has run up against community standards, she needs to respect the standards. I don't know her personally; but, I'm under no illusion that she'll do so. I don't know her ideological leanings; but, I would imagine she's a liberal.. Libs are driven by emotion rather than pragmatism/logic. Conservatives are ruled by logic and pragmatism. The same rule generally applies to women vs. men. Men are driven by logic and women are driven by emotion - generally, not always. This is why men so often end up with headaches for doing the right thing and often say the secret to staying married is to say that she is always right whether she is or not. Emotions never seem to be satisfied by understanding why they are wrong no matter where the explanation comes from. It's like trying to talk sense to a screaming 3 year old who only knows he/she wants the icecream you've repeatedly said no to at bedtime. Some people never learn that screaming and crying don't change the laws of the universe or the laws of morality, of men, etc. As long as someone gives in, it fuels the behavior.
If slof doesn't like the grief, maybe she should quit and spend some time examining why it is that she was getting grief. She might come to understand that screaming for her own rights
also means she bears responsibility toward the rights of others.
The seperate issue of homosexuality is pretty easy to deal with, IMHO. They are people. They have a right to make choices like the rest of us. They too are protected under the constitution in all the same ways all the rest of us are. They don't have a right to be gay under the constitution. The pursuit of happiness is not a blank check in the constitution.
Liberty is the end goal, not license. Community standards apply. And if it's seen as immoral the US Supreme court has upheld that community standard issue multiple times. The first challenge was based in My hometown, where the people of this city decided it didn't want the first and last thing people saw driving through our city to be porno shops. We tried to get them to move and they wouldn't. We fought them all the way to the supreme court and the court stated that constitutionally, the community is the basis of standards and we had every right to defend those standards with the full force of law. The shops closed.
I'm sure I will be flamed endlessly; but, that's the price of expression, apparently. I've learned from all my years of debate that I have a right to express myself only so long as someone else doesn't disagree vociferously with me. That isn't really the case; but, they always seem to think so. The more wrong they are, the louder and nastier they get - or the whinier. I've seen it all, from self-maryrdome complexes to being cussed out by Catholic priests, bishops, nuns and monks/friars. Catholics can outcuss a sailor and out-vindictive a satanist while telling you how "unloving" you are. So, give it your best shot. Then calm down and reread what I said, turning off the emotions, and try to fault me. Not liking it doesn't make what I've said wrong.
So, in closing, being put off by homosexuality isn't a phobia any more than being sickened by the sight or smell of fecal matter is. Some things are just instinctively repulsive. One doesn't have to be afraid of a turd to be off-put by it laying in their path. Prejudice is pre-judging a situation - making a judgement without the relevant facts. You'd have to be an utter moron in this day and age not to know what a homosexual is - that or very fortunate.
I was propositioned on yahoo some time ago by a gay man who told me to be "open minded" about it and give it a try. When I retorted that they want to say it's genetic and no 'choice' was involved.. that open mindedness would therefore be immaterial, I got lambasted over something to do with the Christian bible.. Nothing religious had been discussed. But somehow, immediate response was to attack God and Christians and the Bible because I tripped the guy up on logic.
I also used to work with a group of guys of which two were gay. We were on good terms until one night when we all went to our after work stress-relief (applebies) and one of them who'd been 'single' for a while and trying to make another gay jealous decided to put his hand on the back of my head in an "intimate" manner to suggest that I was with him. If I'd done that to a female in a place of work I'd be out of work and probably facing a lawsuit. Propriety isn't their cup of tea. Necessity to what they are rules with them as a general rule. So, talking about gays and respect in the same sentence seems rather off-putting to me because in years of knowing and being around "nice" gay men and women, that observation holds no matter how nice they seem. Cross them on facts and witness how un-nice they can be. Respect, law, standards, community, rights.. If they exist, they exist for all of us. The constitution of the United states doesn't establish any rights. It recognizes that rights do exist and it seeks to see them defended in law. Wants are no more a right than they are a need. And emotionalism isn't a proper response to logic or law.
Society isn't too primative. Some people in society simply don't seem to grow up, respect the law, respect morality, etc. If you draw a line in the sand on any matter and then keep redrawing it everytime someone cries that they aren't getting their way, then things devolve.Sundavar said:This is a bit late in coming, but i wanna get my opinion out on this.SharPhoe said:I know what your'e saying here, but that's basically the same as saying "No one's going to like what you do, so don't even bother trying it." Personally, I think that the phrase "nothing ventured, nothing gained" applies here. No radical movement has ever been immediately supported by 100% of the populace, and if it doesn't meet an ounce of opposition, then who's to say there was even a point?Sundavar said:I'm not sure that there is much i can add at this point.
But whatever, i'll give it a shot.
In my opinion, the one lesson that people never seem to learn is that you should avoid doing things that can cause you stress (the stress being from criticism/mockery from the masses) and take the easy way out by relieving yourself of said action
I find it laughable that i have read, time and time again, that someone has gone out of their way to do something that led to a VERY EASILY PREDICTABLE slaughtering by the harsh public.
When will people learn?!?!?
My prediction is never. People will never understand that doing X will lead to Y, Y being the harsh beating from the masses. Then the person will ***** about Y and that will lead to Z which is people complaining about the person receiving Y for doing X.
And i will sit here laughing as people continue to do this and i continue to hold control over my sanity
I don't mean that they shouldn't do something that is a bit out of the ordinary (hell, i myself am pretty insane) but what i mean is that they shouldn't do something that would so obviously bring upon them a thrashing by the public.
I mean come on, designing a male nude mod? I haven't heard of anything above that yet on the "things that will get you mocked and/or harshly pwned by the general public" scale.
I understand what you mean here too, but i believe that this is just a mis-interpretation.
I mean that people should do things different and have their own ideas and make ventures and blah blah blah, but i think that people should not ***** about it when they do something that is so predictably going to garner hate from the public. But people have proven time and time again that society is too primitive to understand my logic, so i don't think this will stop any time soon.
Oh well.
It's such generalizations about gamers that make me regret what I did for all the Star Wars fanboys on Youtube who could only afford three-year old games.The Rogue Wolf said:Gaming has enough enemies as it stands. It doesn't need to be torn apart from the inside by underdeveloped, immature brats who think that everyone owes them something.
Okay wait I am not following you. They don't like wangs, so they are homophobic? That really doesn't make any sense to me, I get that you are trying to defend a person that you respect here, but tell me how accusing them of something that to me seems unfounded fixes anything. Really homophobia doesn't seem to be the issue, rather obsessive compulsive modding. Allow me to elaborate: The fact that they complain about it means that they had to have downloaded the mod correct? Well as I see it the problem is rather that they just don't understand concepts of you don't have to get the mod if you don't want it. The same thing can be said about the use of the term "gay" to relate their disatisfaction. I don't find it homophobic so much as it is them lacking the mental capacities to articulate a valid complaint.The Rogue Wolf said:*snip*
I don't think that's entirely it. Have you seen all the material in slof's arsenal? It's hardly a matter of simply adding male genitalia. If you can find images of some of the clothing and armor designs and poses.. Men in chain mail mini skirts. Men in dresses as opposed to robes. The Robe trader mod has an image of a man in a dress with a sheer top and a decidedly feminine/gay pose. Poses you'd find women taking in the sears catalogue, victoria's secret or on a fashion runway.. hips cocked to one side, back arched mocking the female s curve, etc.. In the Goth shop II material, she has a man in a kimono. Goth shop I has the chain skirt on a male in a female traditional pose. It isn't just cross dressing. The seedier her stuff gets the more you think of the village people meets bdsm.. It inspires visions of the gay private party scenes from JFK or any gay pride parade ever held. If it would be helpful, I have the promo images from slofs work in my database - the stuff that is non-adult in nature. I could probably find the adult content stuff again; but, I'd rather not go looking for it.KingPiccolOwned said:Okay wait I am not following you. They don't like wangs, so they are homophobic? That really doesn't make any sense to me, I get that you are trying to defend a person that you respect here, but tell me how accusing them of something that to me seems unfounded fixes anything. Really homophobia doesn't seem to be the issue, rather obsessive compulsive modding. Allow me to elaborate: The fact that they complain about it means that they had to have downloaded the mod correct? Well as I see it the problem is rather that they just don't understand concepts of you don't have to get the mod if you don't want it. The same thing can be said about the use of the term "gay" to relate their disatisfaction. I don't find it homophobic so much as it is them lacking the mental capacities to articulate a valid complaint.The Rogue Wolf said:*snip*