Poll: Lara and the Tomb raider controversy

[LHZA]

I had no problem with the trailer, I only had problems with the guys comments. She gets beat around a lot but she eventually fight back and becomes all badass. I'll admit I found it a little hard to watch, made me a little uncomfortable, but that's just me and how I've been socialized to see violence against woman as more taboo. And for the guy gamers out there, I just want to know, for any of you, do any of you really have to feel you are defending a female protagonist in order to enjoy playing as her? I just don't get that, so if it's the cse for anyone, please explain it to me, and I'll try not to judge.

 

[MercurySteam]

Did we really need another thread about this? I lost count.

Thank God I'm not the only one who's already sick of this. The whole thing has been over-inflated from a barely suggestive few seconds of footage from the game.

Can we do something else now?

 

[Treblaine]

This version of Lara is another alteration of the character's basic personality, which also omits the superhuman competance and attached cocky attitude which went along with the sex appeal. Like it or not, what we're seeing in that video is NOT Lara Croft, whoever did that missed the entire point. The scene is fine, but not for that paticular character.

Note: I am ignoring aestu as he is not considered any point anyone has made and just endlessly goes on shallow sexist tirades. You might do well to do the same.

But what is being done with Lara is being done everywhere; established franchise characters are being taken in a "totally new direction". See the latest interpretation of James Bond which is much more vulnerable and flawed character.

I really don't like this but the problem is people simply weren't buying the Tomb Raider games of recent where you had the Lara Croft we know, and I think that yes, they do need a change and this new survival element is interesting but I think they had to change her character too much to get there.

I hope this is (like with James Bond in Casino Royale) just an establishing stage, to show how she grows into the sassy, independent, lethal and supremely confident Lara Croft we know from the original 90's series of games. But I wonder why they should even need a whole origins story game, they seem to have so completely deviated from what Tomb Raider was liked for it might make more sense to create a whole new character and intellectual-property.

I suppose we have to trust them this is leading to the Tomb Raiding Lara Croft we love and this new approach will get more people into the franchise.

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

i have no clue because i have yet to play/watch the fucking game
who knows the attempted rape thing could be handled properly and maturely or maybe it won't
people can't know for sure and if they think they do then they are jumping the gun

snip

i don't know until the game comes out. were is that answer in the polls op?

 

[m19]

I just want to know, for any of you, do any of you really have to feel you are defending a female protagonist in order to enjoy playing as her? I just don't get that, so if it's the cse for anyone, please explain it to me, and I'll try not to judge.

No I don't have to at all. But I don't see what the problem is if someone feels protective of a character they care about. To write that of as some kind of alfa male protective boyfriend fantasy is IMO shallow and unfair.

i have no clue because i have yet to play/watch the fucking game
who knows the attempted rape thing could be handled properly and maturely or maybe it won't
i will not base a option on dev comments but i will base it off the game it self
is impossible to know until the games comes out
were is that answer in the polls

The entire thing is in the trailers.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

They would never do it with a male character though because apparently male characters don't have to go through a traumatic experience to be tough...

Points for ignorance.

Really? Please reference a male game character who is depicted as going through a gameplay based traumatic experience, happening to them personally, to 'explain how tough they are.'

Because I can't think of one.

I'm hoping this was a sarcastic remark

Frodo Baggins
Indianna Jones
Hell, even James Bond, the most shallow of male fictional characters, has to endure a legions worth of pain, torture, and emotional torment in any single adventure he embarks on..

Any writer depicting any character as 'not having to go tgrough a traumatic experience to be tough" isn't doing that character justice...

Well firstly they aren't game characters and secondly those characters (except for frodo) are already depicted as being 'badass' whereas as lara needs to be put through the ringer to possibly be as good as them...Lara has stuff happen to her in the old games too but it isn't presented from the point of view of 'women start out as weaklings they need to be traumatised to be anywhere near as tough as male video game characters'

It annoys me that they view the old badass Lara as some sort of impossible character that men can't relate too.

 

[chadachada123]

Two things:

1) I think that an *attempted* rape is absolutely a good challenge for Lara to overcome, and it will make her far stronger. If she was *actually* raped, I would be offended by the implication that this would empower her. Not that it couldn't, she could emerge from it a hardened badass, but I wouldn't want that portrayal.

2) What the hell is the difference between being tortured and being raped? Both can make the average person into a shell of their former self. There's no difference between the two, yet everyone seems to make some distinction. Torturing the main character = fine, but sexually assaulting the main character = more evil, somehow? If the end result (ruining that person for life) is the same, why distinguish between the two?

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

snip

Why is a tough athletic adventurous woman unrealistic?

As a woman I found her one of the few game characters I could relate to as a teenager. So yeah I feel like they are taking that character away from me like they did with Samus and turning her into some sort of damsel in distress proxy that needs the male player to protect her.

 

[chadachada123]

They would never do it with a male character though because apparently male characters don't have to go through a traumatic experience to be tough...

Points for ignorance.

Really? Please reference a male game character who is depicted as going through a gameplay based traumatic experience, happening to them personally, to 'explain how tough they are.'

Because I can't think of one.

Lynch, from Kain and Lynch 2.

I don't even really want to describe it, because it's a pretty fucked up scene, at least when you're within the confines of the game and somewhat invested with the characters, even with their weird filters masking bits of the game.

Well, here's the videos. Starts at 12:50 in part 5 and continues for the first bits of part 6:

Edit to spoilerize and also to just tl;dw it, spoilers ahead:

Spoiler

Gets captured, tortured a lot, rescues his teammate, finds his wife dead, gets understandably distraught/angry, etc.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

They would never do it with a male character though because apparently male characters don't have to go through a traumatic experience to be tough...

Points for ignorance.

Really? Please reference a male game character who is depicted as going through a gameplay based traumatic experience, happening to them personally, to 'explain how tough they are.'

Because I can't think of one.

Max Payne, Kratos, Ezio, John Marston, Raiden and god knows how many more.

They lost family members (mostly female). They didn't have the trauma directly happen to them on screen so they don't count.

Lynch is already a 'badass'. So he doesn't count either.

They have to go from zero to hero while suffering physical pain and abuse as the reason.

There is no game which beats the crap out of a wussy male character to explain him being a badass.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

snip

Why is a tough athletic adventurous woman unrealistic?

As a woman I found her one of the few game characters I could relate to as a teenager. So yeah I feel like they are taking that character away from me like they did with Samus and turning her into some sort of damsel in distress proxy that needs the male player to protect her.

What the hell even is this criticism?

I've seen it thrown around so much in regards to this game and it makes no fucking sense.

You don't actively appear in the game and save her, you control her character who saves herself. If this is a criticism, then every game character ever has to be saved by the player.

That's what the dev said at e3... that male players would want to protect her. Like she can't even look after herself or something.

 

[Thatguyky]

Is it sexist? No, not really no. For some odd reason gamers and the media sometimes get freaky when they see a female lead in a video game doing what male leads usually do. I have no idea why.

I've personally come to not care anymore anywho. The whole situation was definitely blown out of proportion and has gotten stale by now. I'm still going to get the game though. From where I'm standing it looks great!

 

[gwilym101]

I don't really think the games sexist but the announcements have been handled terribly. The way I saw the game was it was meant to be of akin to a survival horror game than a traditional tomb raider game. so the "Wanting to protect Lara" thing was more of a, if given the option you'd go to the other side of the island to escape the mercinaries rather than hunting them down.

As for the sexual assault thing, if you had a bunch of psychotic mercinaries and a 17 year old girl on an island. It'll definitely cross their minds. The reason murder isn't as bigger threat in a game is that that happens in every game ever, all the time.