Poll: What would be the backlash of a female criminal in games?

[DANEgerous]

With the recent success of a petition to get GTAV pulled from Australian Targets and K-Marts as well as the questions a over a year ago of why all three playable characters of the main story are male I have to wonder if we are trying to blend oil and water here. One one hand we have a game wherein you are free to kill anyone but a group of consumers see it as mainly violence towards women for reasons that most would argue do not hold much merit given that you can essentially do the same thing to men. On the other hand you have people who are in essence asking why a woman could not perform the same acts by asking why one of the characters is not a women.

We are thus left with two questions. One is why is it tragic when a woman dies but expected when a man dies. Two is simply the headline of the post, what would be the consequences of a female criminal. Question one is fairly simple, media grooms us to see it like that. Is that a problem? I suppose it is a minor one but is is certainly changing. As women in real life take on more and more jobs society see as masculine this bias will an is eroding. The second question is far more interesting and I have no answer for it. The reason I have no answer for it is rather simple in that I would not care. So this criminal is a female, there are female criminals in life they put one in game. why should I care other than being intrigued it broke with the status quo?

I will leave you with a YouTube Video that says about the same thing a bit more eloquently as I find this an interesting question

Spoiler: In defense of Guybrush Threepwood

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

This is the internet, I'm sure someone will find some way to ***** and moan about it.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

The fact that you can play as a woman in the Saints Row games, kinda blows this question out of the water, doesn't it?

Yep. You can play as a woman, you can shoot women and women can shoot you too. In a way that kind of equality buys you a lot of credit.

 

[Tohuvabohu]

The fact that you can play as a woman in the Saints Row games, kinda blows this question out of the water, doesn't it?

You can also do the same in GTA V. Which makes the decision to pull this game in particular from shelves in Target all the more baffling to me.

Personally speaking, I wouldn't care either. So long as the game is fun and the characters are interesting, what more could I ask for? The latest GTA games have been able to provide a cast of interesting/amusing characters. Imagining a female player character in a game like this sounds like it would be very enjoyable.

Would there be backlash? Obviously. This is an era of perpetually offended people, and it's almost too easy to bet that there would be a sizeable, predictable, backlash against the portrayal of a female criminal. Games have done this before, but the ones that have tend not to gain nearly as much media attention as GTA does.

Should there be a backlash? Like many other "backlashes" as of late: No. There shouldn't.

 

[linwolf]

The fact that you can play as a woman in the Saints Row games, kinda blows this question out of the water, doesn't it?

Not really, see in these kind of outrages happens with know games and saints row is not well know outside gaming circles in the same way GTA is.
It the same reason The Witcher could have fully nude people, and even give the player a card for sex without trouble whereas Mass effect was called porn simulator by having side boobs.

If a game were a female lead is shown engaging in really morally horrible things, became truly well know it would be almost sure to have a vocal minority, decry it. And depending on what else is going on it could grow from there.

 

[Erttheking]

I'm sure someone will complain about how it's sexist and someone else will complain about how it's pandering, because it's the internet and the human race is a long history of disappointments.

 

[Mezahmay]

I'm having a difficult time providing an answer to this question since it's been done in the past without much of a "backlash" and it's all about execution. I'd imagine there'd be some backlash if a playable female villain was presented embodying negative female stereotypes or something. Hell I don't know. People are crazy these days. I'd like to think there won't be and shouldn't be because the developers aren't going to be stupid enough to do something for the sake of causing a backlash. Guess I'll go with that answer then.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

You mean something like Harley Quinn? Or Poison Ivy? Or Sofia Lamb from Bioshock 2? Or Kerrigan in Starcraft? Or any of the Saints Row/GTA games? Or any female from Borderlands? Evil Genius? Mass Effects?

I guess we'll have to wait for those games to come out before we can know for sure what the backlash will be. But on an educated guess, not much will happen.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

The fact that you can play as a woman in the Saints Row games, kinda blows this question out of the water, doesn't it?

You can also do the same in GTA V. Which makes the decision to pull this game in particular from shelves in Target all the more baffling to me.

I don't know. Personally I don't think there's anything baffling about people being fuckin' stupid.

 

[Ramzal]

With the recent success of a petition to get GTAV pulled from Australian Targets and K-Marts as well as the questions a over a year ago of why all three playable characters of the main story are male I have to wonder if we are trying to blend oil and water here. One one hand we have a game wherein you are free to kill anyone but a group of consumers see it as mainly violence towards women for reasons that most would argue do not hold much merit given that you can essentially do the same thing to men. On the other hand you have people who are in essence asking why a woman could not perform the same acts by asking why one of the characters is not a women.

We are thus left with two questions. One is why is it tragic when a woman dies but expected when a man dies. Two is simply the headline of the post, what would be the consequences of a female criminal. Question one is fairly simple, media grooms us to see it like that. Is that a problem? I suppose it is a minor one but is is certainly changing. As women in real life take on more and more jobs society see as masculine this bias will an is eroding. The second question is far more interesting and I have no answer for it. The reason I have no answer for it is rather simple in that I would not care. So this criminal is a female, there are female criminals in life they put one in game. why should I care other than being intrigued it broke with the status quo?

I will leave you with a YouTube Video that says about the same thing a bit more eloquently as I find this an interesting question

Spoiler: In defense of Guybrush Threepwood

There are female criminals in games as well as a choice to be a female criminal in games:

Pretty much all bioware games.
Fallout
Elder Scrolls games in general
Technically Lyndis is a criminal in Fire Emblem
Elincia from fire emblem
The Boss from Metal gear is a War Criminal on a global level
Saint's Row
Catwoman in Batman Arkham City
Ada from Resident evil.

Men are expected to die because that's just how it is socially. Men are the first in line to die in war contact and it's been that way for a very long time. The thought process on that is "If we send women out to fight, well there goes those who can make children." If a guy dies it's the norm. Adding women to the equation in video games just means that more people die. Doesn't make an overarching difference, it doesn't shake the very foundation of the world it's just another character that may have a time of death by means of sword/bare hands/bullets/magic/giant mutated frogs.

In the games mentioned above, there is no backlash from those. And even if it were, ignore it and go back to enjoying your hobby because that's what video games are... a hobby.

 

[Smooth Operator]

There wouldn't be backlash until some moron decided that particular game will become their social justice sacrificial lamb, and once that happens you know the rest... fire, brimstone, end of humanity as we know it.

 

[Grumman]

The lack of such a character is why I have not and never will buy GTA5. That is the player character I would want to play, and if Rockstar Games will not provide, their product has nothing to offer me.

 

[DementedSheep]

There are many games where you can and do shoot female criminals. Hell I think the last enemy I killed was a female criminal and I killed them by shooting their head off. It's not an issue, in fact I want more female enemies in games. I'm sure you can find someone somewhere who has an issue with that because you can always find someone but generally the people "uncomfortable" with fighting female criminals are men and half them I suspect don't really notice. It only becomes an issue when you focus on it and they think about it too hard. You also have to keep in mind while some might not like it many others might give praise.

If you sexualized the violence against them or you have them just be a victim who dose nothing but wait to be killed or who can only offer you sex to try and save their life then you might get backlash if it becomes an internet talking point.

 

[SUPA FRANKY]

Haven't their been like 10 of them the past 2 years alone or something?

 

[Guerilla]

Feminists whine where aren't female characters in games and they whine when there and, like it happens in many games, that character dies (Tomb Raider is a prime example). You just can't win with these people.

 

[Redryhno]

Considering Balalaika, of Black Lagoon fame, is considered to be one of the most ruthless and best characters in anime(not just the show itself), I don't see why a character based off of her would be all that hated except by the same people that wanted GTA pulled. So the game would probably be pulled if not squashed in development by pressuring groups.

 

[Bad Jim]

You mean someone like Carmen Sandiego? In a kids game?

No outrage whatsoever. At all.

 

[Haerthan]

Feminists whine where aren't female characters in games and they whine when there and, like it happens in many games, that character dies (Tomb Raider is a prime example). You just can't win with these people.

Oh look guys a person that misunderstands what feminism is about. And let me tell you I have seen Anita Sarkeesian's videos. Nowehere does she no to female villains. In fact her videos start the following way: "... remember, it's both possible and even necessary to simultaneously enjoy media while also being critical of its more pernicious and problematic aspects". Feminists won't take away your games, they won't censor your games. Target's decision to stop stocking GTAV isn't censorship.

Censorship: the system or practice of censoring books, movies, letters, etc. (merriam-webster)
The practice of officially examining books, movies, etc., and suppressing unacceptable parts.

Feminism: The advocacy of women?s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic EQUALITY TO MEN.
the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.

To all the people that bring up feminazis, radical feminists and all those other "feminists" THOSE are not feminists. And to the people that use "feminazis" unironically, there is no wonder we still need feminism.

Captcha: maple syrup. THanks captcha but I am in Canada, we have way too much of that shit. Don't need more

 

[Guerilla]

Feminists whine where aren't female characters in games and they whine when there and, like it happens in many games, that character dies (Tomb Raider is a prime example). You just can't win with these people.

Oh look guys a person that misunderstands what feminism is about. And let me tell you I have seen Anita Sarkeesian's videos. Nowehere does she no to female villains. In fact her videos start the following way: "... remember, it's both possible and even necessary to simultaneously enjoy media while also being critical of its more pernicious and problematic aspects". Feminists won't take away your games, they won't censor your games. Target's decision to stop stocking GTAV isn't censorship.

Censorship: the system or practice of censoring books, movies, letters, etc. (merriam-webster)
The practice of officially examining books, movies, etc., and suppressing unacceptable parts.

Feminism: The advocacy of women?s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic EQUALITY TO MEN.
the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.

To all the people that bring up feminazis, radical feminists and all those other "feminists" THOSE are not feminists. And to the people that use "feminazis" unironically, there is no wonder we still need feminism.

Captcha: maple syrup. THanks captcha but I am in Canada, we have way too much of that shit. Don't need more

I know full well what feminism is supposedly about and what it's actually about. Bringing up the predictable definitions and no true Scotsman fallacies in a thread about feminists censoring media while you're trying to downplay that censorship by refusing to call it that is hilariously ironic to say the least.

Censorship according to wikipedia:

Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication or other information which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by governments, media outlets, authorities or other groups or institutions.

Governments, private organizations and individuals may engage in censorship.

Not that it really needed clarification. Any rational individual know that what Target is doing is censorship.

 

[Haerthan]

Snip.

Snip

snip

Well then. Wikipedia. Good job buddy, a totally trustworthy source, if I had Wikipedia as a source in my papers, they would fucking fail me in university. But still even Wikipedia agrees with that I said earlier.

Government, media outlets and other institutions engage in censorship yes, but what Target has done here IS LISTENED TO ITS CONSUMERS. There is no censorship here. I suggest you live in 1950s and 60s US where censorship and McCarthyism was at its height. Or Communist China. Or the any other communist/totalitarian system out there. Try living in Russia right now, where the government actually censors the mass media and threatens it to keep it in line.This, this isn't censorship. This is just something that shows that games are still an easy target. And no I do not agree with that petition that helped pull GTAV from Target. YOU ARE NOT OPPRESSED. YOU ARE NOT CENSORED. You can still get the game.

And you clearly have something against feminism when you use "supposedly" and "actually". Women have fought for over a hundred years now for the same rights, same wages and same equality. But hey apparently they want to lord it over men. I go to a university that services a large chunk of Western Canada dude (No not in BC, where the hippies are) and I know what feminism is.

And I already made provisions what those radical feminists are: NOT FEMINISTS.