I really don't see how this design is under so much shit when no one said a word about Jack from Mass Effect 2. Maybe that game was just lucky to have released in 2010.
I game because I'm a gamer: To impress other people? Not so much!
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 On 09/07/2013 at 12:20 AM by BrokenH See More From This User » |
This is kind of/sort of a reply to Gigantor’s most recent blog and even the wonderful Podcast about how it is to be 30 something and still gaming!
If you asked me where Metal Gear is right now I’d say “Raiden just became a ninja cyborg!” and “Snake recruits enemy soldiers by knocking them out and whisking them to his hidden lair via reverse parachutes!” As much as you want to brag to me about Metal gear’s maturity and sophistication as a series, it’s also ripe with silly satire and very sexy women! Even in the first game Psycho Mantis would talk to me about Castlevania as I snuck around in boxes, left out nudey magazines for perverted soldiers, and tried to stop terrorists from building a super mech. (It looked kind of like the lower body of a robot chicken by the way.) At some juncture Meryl taught me “Women have more hiding places than men.” with her charming trademark smirk! At least to me personally, the adult humor added to the MGS experience. If it had taken itself too seriously I’m not so sure I’d be quite as reverent of the overall series as I am today. (Though admittedly I haven’t followed it quite as closely as people like Gray-haired. He‘s the true MG expert!)
Beyond all this, I hit an epiphany in the movie theater. “Gaming” is not more widely accepted. Don’t believe me? Try breaking out your portable game system amongst a bunch of adults and teens in a quiet room when you‘re 35. If you don’t feel at least a little awkward or slightly ashamed then congratulations! You’ve reached a type of personal nirvana and peaceful enlightenment only a few of us are liable to attain.
The truth is gaming is still under attack and under scrutiny everywhere we look. The pc crowd is trying to make games “less offensive” and “more user friendly”. Overall gaming is still considered a “boy’s club” and men who play games often still fight an epic inner struggle against nasty words such as “entitlement”, “misogyny”, and “sexism”. Seriously, it really sucks to have a penis right now. Us men are painted as stupid sexists and as outright monsters on a regular basis. I’m not stating this to undermine the importance of female-oriented problems. I’m merely bringing to attention men get the short end of the stick in many instances too. This is not a one-way street. There’s victims and victimizers on both sides.
You know what’s sad? Many of us are starting to buy into all this. We feel ashamed just because we’re gamers. We feel as if we have a right to tell the creators of our products how to edit their works to appeal more to our “personal tastes“. Let me stand corrected. The tastes of the “oppressive mob” we have adapted for ourselves to fit in so we will not be ridiculed by our peers.
"It's okay if you do "not" like this design. My problem is when you try to shame me merely because I "do" like this design!"
"By the way,where was the public's outcry when poor Raiden had to do this naked!"
Gigantor actually brought up an interesting conundrum. It went something along the lines of “Gamers want their hobby taken seriously yet they let stuff like this (Quiet the sniper’s Metal-Gear design) slide!” Firstly, know that I love ya,Gig! I’m not wanting to start an argument at all. However, I feel as if it’s my right to say Quiet is Kojima’s design (Not that of us gamers) and that I personally see nothing wrong with the concept shown. Why? I don’t game to impress other people. I don’t game to be seen as an intellectual giant. I don’t game to push my cultural values onto another culture. I game because I enjoy it. Don’t feel bad. I lost sight of that for awhile too. At the end of the day games are about fantasy fulfillment. They don’t need an agenda behind them and they don’t have to fall into the narrow constraints of “right” and “wrong”.
We need to stop believing in the rainbow pipe dream that all games will one day cater to everyone and they will one day by seen as high-art by the collective masses. Yet there “will be” more unique games embodying different perspectives and there “will be” an impressively large crowd that can always appreciate what games have done for us as a society! Don’t game to fit in. Don’t game to impress a girlfriend or impress a boyfriend. Game because you’re a gamer!
I didn't see what the fuss was about. The character's outfit was trashy and unrealistic, but I still thought it was kind of hot. 
It's only my opinion, so I didn't feel the need to push it when the majority of people that made comments seemed to not like the chick's design. It actually didn't think about "shamng me for liking it" angle. I normally pick up on that, but since Gig is a long time friend, I just didn't notice. 
Sadly, they talk about him behind his back and everything that he does that's unusual to them, they say it's because "he's always playing those games". He lives with his mother... "he's spending all his money on those games". He doesn't have a girlfriend.... "he's always playing those games". He's not responsible... "he's in his fantasy world playing those games". He doesn't have a life.... "he's always on those games". I make it no secret that I play games too. A lot. But they don't jump on me about it. But, to their defense, the guy is a bit socially arkward. I try to help them understand that's why he's different and not just he plays videogames. I had a couple conversations with some of them about gaming being just as normal as the other hobbies out there. They had little to say in response. It's probably the reason no one says anything to me about my gaming. 
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