Steam User Finds Misogynistic "Joke" Buried in Dead Island Code [UPDATED]

[ShadowsofHope]

Feminists are horrible creatures anyway. And just to show that I'm not chauvinistic. It will make you happy to know that I freaking hate chauvinists as well.

General equality is the way forward.

Sorry if I'm a bit thick, why are feminists horrible creatures?

http://evebitfirst.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/a-man-is-a-rape-supporter-if/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCUM_Manifesto

Things like this.

The feminists who actually fought for something would probably hate the feminists today.

Oh, I see the trouble here. See, those are shitty feminists, who don't actually want equality between men and women. Most feminists aren't like that, and in fact most feminists hate those shitty feminists as much as you do.

Believing in equality between genders =/= feminist.

Anyone who labels them self with a gender specific philosophy is just as bad.

Ok, I label myself a feminist, a masculinist (male feminism basically), a transgenderist and an various other -ists relating to gender.

Surely if I label myself with *all* the gender specific philosophies it's good right?

Just label all sexists as assholes, and you won't need to have all those pointless titles.

But it isn't just sexists. It's dealing with the inherent sexism in society. Here's where it gets kinda radical (but good radical) but here is the inherent sexism in society:
Gender specific clothing Men must wear tuxedo's, women must wear dresses. Enforced by both males and females.
Women not being able to serve in the army Women serve in the army, just not in the front lines. Mainly due to the issue of males having a stronger protective instinct towards a woman whom is in danger/injured, and may neglect the rest of his squad for a single female member.
The expectation for men to earn money Many women are the primary pushers of this concept, due to the cultural strength that the nuclear family concept still has in our society.
Slut-shaming This one is granted.
The expectation for women to care for the family Women are the natural child-bearers/caretakers of the two genders, and therefore have access to maternity leave where males do not. Males are seen to be responsible for taking care of the family outside of the home, whereas females are seen to be responsible for taking care of the family within the home.
Women being more likely to get custody of children in divorces Take a look at the above response, ties in closely.
and more.

OT: ..Really? I don't really consider this much of an issue, considering the fact that someone had to dig into the game's programming code to find it in the first place. Also, seems to fit the actual character's backstory as well.

Mountains out of molehills.

 

[Panzervaughn]

Im all for equality, title males abilities as Douchebag_machismo ability.

Feminism is also fine, until it starts encroaching on perfectly reasonable things. Feminism is the reason im can't wallpaper my room with Penny Arcade Dickwolf shirts.

Such thought is better left to Foxnews claiming The Sim satanic Green energy agendas are making our children afraid of Coal, or whatever

 

[orangeban]

Feminists are horrible creatures anyway. And just to show that I'm not chauvinistic. It will make you happy to know that I freaking hate chauvinists as well.

General equality is the way forward.

Sorry if I'm a bit thick, why are feminists horrible creatures?

http://evebitfirst.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/a-man-is-a-rape-supporter-if/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCUM_Manifesto

Things like this.

The feminists who actually fought for something would probably hate the feminists today.

Oh, I see the trouble here. See, those are shitty feminists, who don't actually want equality between men and women. Most feminists aren't like that, and in fact most feminists hate those shitty feminists as much as you do.

Believing in equality between genders =/= feminist.

Anyone who labels them self with a gender specific philosophy is just as bad.

Ok, I label myself a feminist, a masculinist (male feminism basically), a transgenderist and an various other -ists relating to gender.

Surely if I label myself with *all* the gender specific philosophies it's good right?

Just label all sexists as assholes, and you won't need to have all those pointless titles.

But it isn't just sexists. It's dealing with the inherent sexism in society. Here's where it gets kinda radical (but good radical) but here is the inherent sexism in society:
Gender specific clothing Men must wear tuxedo's, women must wear dresses. Enforced by both males and females. This is still sexism though, because it enforces the idea that gender is some massive defining characteristic that overides personal preference.
Women not being able to serve in the army Women serve in the army, just not in the front lines. Mainly due to the issue of males having a stronger protective instinct towards a woman whom is in danger/injured, and may neglect the rest of his squad for a single female member. Also still sexist. Discipline the soldiers better, they're meant to be professionals
The expectation for men to earn money Many women are the primary pushers of this concept, due to the cultural strength that the nuclear family concept still has in our society. Well actually a lot of this is enforced by men as well. There is a real big stigma that if a men has not done well with his job he has "failed" in his duty. Also, I doubt that many women actually like the fact that men are the primary earners (and therefore women aren't as important in terms of earning) but sorta go along with it because of societal pressures.
Slut-shaming This one is granted.
The expectation for women to care for the family Women are the natural child-bearers/caretakers of the two genders, and therefore have access to maternity leave where males do not. Males are seen to be responsible for taking care of the family outside of the home, whereas females are seen to be responsible for taking care of the family within the home. Again, arbitrarilly splitting the population based on gender, rather than personal preference. Women shouldn't be the natural child-caretakers should be the natural child-caretakers. And men should get paternity leave.
Women being more likely to get custody of children in divorces Take a look at the above response, ties in closely. Still not right, this should be a case-by-case, individual basis for deciding this.
and more.

OT: ..Really? I don't really consider this much of an issue, considering the fact that someone had to dig into the game's programming code to find it in the first place. Also, seems to fit the actual character's backstory as well.

Mountains out of molehills.

Right, I'm not actually sure if you're disagreeing with me, but I did edit my post on the types of sexism a bit anyway, just in case you were.

 

[lacktheknack]

Personally, I don't see the issue. I had a friend that we affectionately referred to as "Retarded Beefcake" (he was thin and smart, the name refers to a glorious moment of Phys. Ed), and no one raised an eyebrow. I also know girls who regularly get called whores by their best friends for doing things like overdoing their makeup. I'd put my bets on it being a tasteless joke.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Wow. That means that somewhere out there, there?s an overworked programmer who feels bitter towards women. That?s a big surprise. Maybe he?s still upset because he had to take his sister to the prom.

This.

Agreed. It was a mistake to let it get released in this state, as stuff like this gets out.

Well, it?s just going to get worse. I know that the PC version of this game has received all the WTFs but now that so many consoles have HDDs and wifi, publishers have seemed to throw integrity completely out the window. They don?t mind releasing a game that?s completely broken as long as they can patch it later. And the sories that have been going around about this game make me wonder if they checked anything at all before sending it out.
The horror of Fallout New Vegas still lives fresh in my mind almost a year later. I couldn?t play that game for 15 mins without it crashing on me. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky this game actually works.

Yeah, and Alpha Protocol which had some major issues out the gate (yay! Obsidian!), which ruined the games' sales. It is a patching culture, and digital distribution is going to make it worse.

In the case of Dead Island, this could have been controlled by management if they reviewed the code appropriately. The programmer should have been told to rename the skill at some point near release, if not as soon as it was noticed.

As an analogy - I work for television. We send people out to shoot some material that won't be able to be reshot. If a camera operator or location sound mixer makes a mistake - and they make mistakes - you can sometimes "fix it in post". But that doesn't mean that the camera operator or sound guy doesn't get some sort of warning or scolding. If the pattern continues, they get fired. I've watched shows that had had careless mistakes in them that could have been fixed at one point, but never have (a blatant example is a watermark of an effects package - which takes up the entire screen - that appears if you never register the software). These mistakes are careless and should never be delivered (not to say it doesn't happen).

While alright for a joke, this is a careless temporary name. While the majority of those who work in programming are male, it could be safe to assume no one would find this. Still, that reality is changing, and its jokes like this that may keep more women from joining the programming workforce.

I know exactly what you mean. I used to work in TV too. It always helps to have a real sharp, hands on producer who knows what (s)he's talking about. It's probably the same with games.

Considering how talented the existing women in the gaming industry are, the people in charge should be doing their best to make sure it doesn't turn into another 'boys club' environment.

It would be a shame if we never got to play the next Portal because crap like this convinced women to go into another industry.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

Feminists are horrible creatures anyway. And just to show that I'm not chauvinistic. It will make you happy to know that I freaking hate chauvinists as well.

General equality is the way forward.

Sorry if I'm a bit thick, why are feminists horrible creatures?

http://evebitfirst.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/a-man-is-a-rape-supporter-if/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCUM_Manifesto

Things like this.

The feminists who actually fought for something would probably hate the feminists today.

Oh, I see the trouble here. See, those are shitty feminists, who don't actually want equality between men and women. Most feminists aren't like that, and in fact most feminists hate those shitty feminists as much as you do.

Believing in equality between genders =/= feminist.

Anyone who labels them self with a gender specific philosophy is just as bad.

Ok, I label myself a feminist, a masculinist (male feminism basically), a transgenderist and an various other -ists relating to gender.

Surely if I label myself with *all* the gender specific philosophies it's good right?

Just label all sexists as assholes, and you won't need to have all those pointless titles.

But it isn't just sexists. It's dealing with the inherent sexism in society. Here's where it gets kinda radical (but good radical) but here is the inherent sexism in society:
Gender specific clothing Men must wear tuxedo's, women must wear dresses. Enforced by both males and females. This is still sexism though, because it enforces the idea that gender is some massive defining characteristic that overides personal preference.
Women not being able to serve in the army Women serve in the army, just not in the front lines. Mainly due to the issue of males having a stronger protective instinct towards a woman whom is in danger/injured, and may neglect the rest of his squad for a single female member. Also still sexist. Discipline the soldiers better, they're meant to be professionals
The expectation for men to earn money Many women are the primary pushers of this concept, due to the cultural strength that the nuclear family concept still has in our society. Well actually a lot of this is enforced by men as well. There is a real big stigma that if a men has not done well with his job he has "failed" in his duty. Also, I doubt that many women actually like the fact that men are the primary earners (and therefore women aren't as important in terms of earning) but sorta go along with it because of societal pressures.
Slut-shaming This one is granted.
The expectation for women to care for the family Women are the natural child-bearers/caretakers of the two genders, and therefore have access to maternity leave where males do not. Males are seen to be responsible for taking care of the family outside of the home, whereas females are seen to be responsible for taking care of the family within the home. Again, arbitrarilly splitting the population based on gender, rather than personal preference. Women shouldn't be the natural child-caretakers should be the natural child-caretakers. And men should get paternity leave.
Women being more likely to get custody of children in divorces Take a look at the above response, ties in closely. Still not right, this should be a case-by-case, individual basis for deciding this.
and more.

OT: ..Really? I don't really consider this much of an issue, considering the fact that someone had to dig into the game's programming code to find it in the first place. Also, seems to fit the actual character's backstory as well.

Mountains out of molehills.

Right, I'm not actually sure if you're disagreeing with me, but I did edit my post on the types of sexism a bit anyway, just in case you were.

Not really, just making note that many of those examples you listed are typically perpetuated by both males and females due to cultural and societal pressures/tradtions in some way or another, not just one or the other. I agree there is a partial sexism inherent with each one, though as in the last sentence, my responses were to point out the current societal justifications for each that both genders either conscientiously and/or unconsciously promote in their daily lives.

I suppose you could call it 'lukewarm" agreement.

 

[MajorDolphin]

Well, they can kiss goodbye to 1% of their sales.

 

[Zenn3k]

Who cares? Its in the damn CODE, not the GAMEPLAY.

I'm written functions called "HOT_ANAL_SEX", even though the function had nothing to do with anal sex...programmers get bored sometimes.

 

[jmarquiso]

It's really just professionalism. Cleaning up code acknowledges that the code is used by everyone in the team, and that may include females that either are hired or will be hired. Leaving unnecessary jokes that may offend someone is just poor judgment.

Oh yeah, sure. I definitly believe that this makes him a shit programmer, who is either too lazy or too dumb to realize the necessity of sanitizing community code.
I just don´t believe it makes him a shit human being.

In dubio pro reo.
So I just chalk this up as a brain-fart combined with lazyness.

Agreed. He's just lazy, really. And it happens all the time in any job. The company is now paying the price for something that should have been taken care of, but overlooked, by management.

 

[jmarquiso]

I know exactly what you mean. I used to work in TV too. It always helps to have a real sharp, hands on producer who knows what (s)he's talking about. It's probably the same with games.

Considering how talented the existing women in the gaming industry are, the people in charge should be doing their best to make sure it doesn't turn into another 'boys club' environment.

It would be a shame if we never got to play the next Portal because crap like this convinced women to go into another industry.

Likely it'll just really lead to women having second thoughts of joining this one company.

There's also a problem of women going into math-based professions such as programming despite, on average, scoring higher in math in certified testing. They're just not culturally encouraged to do so. That's a larger problem.

 

[Braedan]

ALERT: Saying a joke doesn't mean you BELIEVE a joke.

 

[Glerken]

Let me get this straight... she has a skill... that does more damage... when she attacks men... and people are complaining about what it's named in the code more than the blatant misandry of that skill?

Seriously, if there was a male character that had a skill to do extra damage against female enemies (it could still be publicly named Gender Wars and privately named, I don't know, MisogynistAsshole or something) and people would, again, flip out on behalf of women.

Nope.
Fallout has the lady killer perk that allows male characters to do more damage to female characters.
No one gives a shit about the actual skill, it's the misogynistic joke in the code that people are displeased about.

 

[MajorDolphin]

Feminists are horrible creatures anyway. And just to show that I'm not chauvinistic. It will make you happy to know that I freaking hate chauvinists as well.

General equality is the way forward.

Sorry if I'm a bit thick, why are feminists horrible creatures?

http://evebitfirst.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/a-man-is-a-rape-supporter-if/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCUM_Manifesto

Things like this.

The feminists who actually fought for something would probably hate the feminists today.

Oh, I see the trouble here. See, those are shitty feminists, who don't actually want equality between men and women. Most feminists aren't like that, and in fact most feminists hate those shitty feminists as much as you do.

Believing in equality between genders =/= feminist.

Anyone who labels them self with a gender specific philosophy is just as bad.

Ok, I label myself a feminist, a masculinist (male feminism basically), a transgenderist and an various other -ists relating to gender.

Surely if I label myself with *all* the gender specific philosophies it's good right?

Just label all sexists as assholes, and you won't need to have all those pointless titles.

But it isn't just sexists. It's dealing with the inherent sexism in society. Here's where it gets kinda radical (but good radical) but here is the inherent sexism in society:
Gender specific clothing Men must wear tuxedo's, women must wear dresses. Enforced by both males and females. This is still sexism though, because it enforces the idea that gender is some massive defining characteristic that overides personal preference.
Women not being able to serve in the army Women serve in the army, just not in the front lines. Mainly due to the issue of males having a stronger protective instinct towards a woman whom is in danger/injured, and may neglect the rest of his squad for a single female member. Also still sexist. Discipline the soldiers better, they're meant to be professionals
The expectation for men to earn money Many women are the primary pushers of this concept, due to the cultural strength that the nuclear family concept still has in our society. Well actually a lot of this is enforced by men as well. There is a real big stigma that if a men has not done well with his job he has "failed" in his duty. Also, I doubt that many women actually like the fact that men are the primary earners (and therefore women aren't as important in terms of earning) but sorta go along with it because of societal pressures.
Slut-shaming This one is granted.
The expectation for women to care for the family Women are the natural child-bearers/caretakers of the two genders, and therefore have access to maternity leave where males do not. Males are seen to be responsible for taking care of the family outside of the home, whereas females are seen to be responsible for taking care of the family within the home. Again, arbitrarilly splitting the population based on gender, rather than personal preference. Women shouldn't be the natural child-caretakers should be the natural child-caretakers. And men should get paternity leave.
Women being more likely to get custody of children in divorces Take a look at the above response, ties in closely. Still not right, this should be a case-by-case, individual basis for deciding this.
and more.

OT: ..Really? I don't really consider this much of an issue, considering the fact that someone had to dig into the game's programming code to find it in the first place. Also, seems to fit the actual character's backstory as well.

Mountains out of molehills.

Right, I'm not actually sure if you're disagreeing with me, but I did edit my post on the types of sexism a bit anyway, just in case you were.

I hope I quoted this correctly.

"Women not being able to serve in the army Women serve in the army, just not in the front lines. Mainly due to the issue of males having a stronger protective instinct towards a woman whom is in danger/injured, and may neglect the rest of his squad for a single female member. Also still sexist. Discipline the soldiers better, they're meant to be professionals"

What? You think a few months of basic training will override millions of years of evolution? I don't think discipline and training would help. Men are not wired to let a woman bleed to death. We're not designed to sit back in situations like that, especially those brave enough to become a soldier.

Soldiers already deal with enormous amounts of stress and come home with emotional and physical issues they deal with for years. We shouldn't subject our soldiers to the feeling of helplessness while a woman screams in agony while bleeding to death. I'm honestly not sure why you don't understand this. It has nothing to do with sexism. It's reality.

 

[Negatempest]

Under what context was the joke made? Parody? Prejudice? Toilet Humor? We may never know.

 

[BRex21]

Honestly, because all women are feminists. You are confusing feminism with 'crazy-man-hating-extremist'. A real feminist just want to be treated equally at home and work. A real feminist would be angry if it said something horrible about men too.

If all women are feminists than how do you explain women who openly admit that women can't drive or can't do math. Both are obviously untrue yet i've known a lot of women who would admit that, The latter was actually said to me by a woman I met through Mensa. On the flip side, how do you explain women who believe in blatant favouritism for women? Such as jail for men counselling for women who have committed the same crime or free health care coverage for women only? you say they aren't "real feminists" yet if all women are feminists than they simply must not be women.

"This is to feminism what the Westboro Baptist Church is to Christianity."
Truer words were never spoken.

My problem with this is that The WBC simply does not have the political pull radical feminism does.

Incorrect. The actual definition of feminism is that both genders are treated equally. This HASN'T HAPPENED YET, and females are still at a disadvantage.

I would agree we are not treated equally but i will not concede that it is females that have the disadvantage, that is far to situational. In a previous post you pointed out that sexual assault runs both ways, as does domestic violence, yet women in most western societies have a virtual monopoly on this victim-hood, programs to pay for counselling almost exclusively for women, and women have almost exclusive access to domestic violence shelters. In fact in both The USA and Australia DOGS have better access to domestic violence shelters than adult men. There are more shelters exclusively for pets than for adult men in the world. I frequently hear Feminists saying that not being believed is one of the worst things about rape, but i rarely hear that the least likely person to be believed is a man.
Women have better access to health care in western society with shorter wait times in many European countries to programs exclusively for women in the United States and Canada, with everything from free HIV tests to blood pressure tests being for "women only." In fact a man named Raymond Johnson was recently expected to lay down and die because he got breast cancer, he did fight and he did win but this does not change the fact that what he was fighting was someone in governments decision that based on his gender his life was not worth saving, in fact he is not the first man to run into this, the others however chose to lay down when they were told to. Besides the government still only covers "woman's cancers" and mens health issues are still very taboo.
Most western cultured demand a certain percentage of women in companies workforce provided the jobs aren't deemed too dangerous, and women have better access to welfare in most of these countries. They tend to clean up in divorce court. Get to retire earlier with pensions.
From where I sit there are a lot of advantages to being a woman it all depends on when.

To be fair I can't blame this all on feminism, but most of it rather on the lack of a coherent "mens" movement, people willing to speak up about the challenges and needs of men and the discrimination that they face.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

Wow, Read the update. I hope he doesn't lose his job over this shit. I hope they just tell him, don't do that again or something like that. This is blown way out of proportion.

 

[Skiisk]

Feminism is just as retarded as chauvinism or any other form of sexism. Taking the piss out of them is more than deserved. Why not cry about something more interesting like the fact that piss-poor games like Dead Island are constantly being made? Or that some people SUPPORT games like these?

Seriously, if you support women's rights or men's rights instead of EQUAL rights you should jump off a bridge. Preferably a high one.

Uh, you know you can support both men and womens rights at the same time? I am both a feminist and a masculinist.

Here's the thing, feminism is meant to be about equality, and for most feminists it is about equality. But the ones everyone care about and the ones that get tossed around the internet are the crazy ones so everyone thinks they are the norm (this is because normal feminists are kinda boring, seeing as pretty much everyone agrees with them.)

Feminism is aobut women's rights. It has nothing to do with equality. You can't only be after women's rights if you want equality. Same thing with chauvinism, except obviously reversed. Women and men are by default different (physically and mentally). The last thing feminists are willing to do is admit this, even though it's been proved time and time again by science. Different, but equal, save for the people (that can be found across the board) who are objectively not equal (IQ, genes, physical prowess etc).

People who want equal rights for both sexes are not feminists or masculinists (chauvinists). They are people with an actual working brain who don't feel the need to be labeled. Or feel the need to follow some stupid line of thinking that goes everything they supposedly stand for.

Feminism is kind of like a religion really: utterly retarded, but still followed by many. Guess humans feel the safest in a group.

Moreover, people should stop being so freakin' sensitive. I joke with my female friends about them belonging in the kitchen and not being able to drive constantly, and they don't take offence, because they aren't feminists (and, thus, retarded). And they deliver an equal amount of sexism back, and I don't take offence, because I'm not a chauvinist.

It's like racism: in a truly open minded world you'd be able to throw jokes about stereotypes around without a care in the world, since people KNOW how stupid these stereotypes are, and thus would be able to laugh at their stupidity. But now, when I say to a women that she should just get back in the kitchen, feminists throw a hissy fit since there's this nagging feel at the back of their head that maybe they indeed DO belong to a kitchen.

Which is unlikely, since I cook better than any female my age +10 years I know of. But women really can't drive, no joke.