Are some gamers just too easily offended or do they have a point?

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Hobchild

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#114938 7-Mar-2013 23:32

A discussion recently started on nzgamer that really got me thinking. This guy started by posting an article about the oversensitive gamer and then this guy posted a counter article.

Both seem to make valid points but I'd like to hear the opinions of my fellow GZer's. Are developers taking things too far? Or is this just part of the evolution of games?

Please read both articles before replying to this thread, they are not long and they are both interesting reads whether you agree with them or not.

jtbthatsme

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#776587 8-Mar-2013 03:26

Well after reading both I can see why you say they have valid points however I fall into the too pc bunch of people and feel that there is too much sugar coating of society as a whole. Video games are telling stories (or at least the decent ones are) they need to be realistic.

I'm not sure what world you grew up in but I grew up in one where attrocities a lot worse than a possible asault on a female or black person takes place numerous times a day in pretty much every country in the world. To get upset that a bad guy in a game is killing a black or raping a women is although correct it's for most part with most forms of entertainment there to get a response and a reaction. Think back to the airport scene from MW2 a huge controversy over you having to kill some civilians why is that controversial I fail to understand...

Is it that it hadn't been seen in a game before or that you don't necessarily like the idea of doing that??? At the time you were posing as a terrorist so didn't have a option to stay in character. They did however give you the option to skip the scene which for some obviously worked as it sold in huge numbers.

Things like this are not there to make you feel good and if done as part of the story then it's ok. I think there's a lot worse things to focus on than video game violence of any nature. Especially when there's other forms of entertainment using real people to portray these events available any time you want from the movies or even worse watch the news any night to see the exact same thing just not fake.

Like movies games are a form of entertainment nobody forces you to watch or play a game or movie if you don't like it then simply don't bother playing / watching it.

Hobchild

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#777154 8-Mar-2013 22:31

Well as much as I said they both have valid points I'm definitely on the "gamers are oversensitive" side of the fence. Realistically I'm probably so far on that side that the fence is nothing but a tiny speck in the horizon for me. As I see it games are evolving and actually becoming great stories as well as great games and for this to happen they need to touch on taboo subjects such as rape.

One thing I will poke a hole in is I did not like how the sensitive guy compared Nathan Drake to Lara Croft mainly because the new Tomb Raider was a franchise changer. She wasn't the same Lara. I haven't played it so I'm just going off what I've seen in the trailers but so far it seems to me that this game is as much about survival as it is about treasure hunting. Closer to Far Cry 3 than to previous Tomb Raider titles. Nathan Drake and the original Lara Croft are clearly both based on Indiana Jones and Indiana isn't going to get raped it's just not that sort of story.

Also call me a sicko but I think the Dead Island torso is kinda cool. Would it be as cool if it was a male torso? I'd have to say no. Does this make me a sick and twisted psychopath that thinks dismembered female corpses are cool? Well I hope not. I'm pretty sure if I saw something like that in real life I'd probably vomit.

deepred

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#777733 10-Mar-2013 20:46

Newspaper columnist Karl du Fresne attempted to have us believe that Warcraft and Call of Duty were responsible for Anders Behring Breivik going trigger-happy on unarmed Norwegian youths. All the while completely ignoring the extremist hate propaganda that drove Breivik in the first place.

"I regret to say that we of the F.B.I. are powerless to act in cases of oral-genital intimacy, unless it has in some way obstructed interstate commerce." — J. Edgar Hoover

"Create a society that values material things above all else. Strip it of industry. Raise taxes for the poor and reduce them for the rich and for corporations. Prop up failed financial institutions with public money. Ask for more tax, while vastly reducing public services. Put adverts everywhere, regardless of people's ability to afford the things they advertise. Allow the cost of food and housing to eclipse people's ability to pay for them. Light blue touch paper." — Andrew Maxwell

Hobchild

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#777744 10-Mar-2013 21:25

Well this thread is more about people getting offended as opposed to games being blamed for people going crazy. But I see your point.

Cambo

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#778006 11-Mar-2013 14:34

I think gamers (and people in general) are too sensitive.

I don't know how to word this, but did she actually get raped? In the trailer, it looks to me like an 'unwanted sexual advance'.
With this particular subject matter, it can vary from very violent and destructive for the victim, to just a mere pat on the hip (which ended with a knee to the crotch?).
There is also a difference between the intention of the character perceived by players, and also that from the writers point of view.
Also, depending on the character and (in this case) her mental strengths - if we see her just brushing off the unwanted attention and kicking butt, we are less likely to be offended, correct?

I would love to see the games industry include more adult/alternative content, but it needs to be done intelligently and carefully.

jtbthatsme

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#778041 11-Mar-2013 15:07

I agree with the above when done right content is enabling people to get more involved in what's happening in the story. It's also why we have a rating on games and movies i use my discretion when playing games and or watching content around or with my children but when they're not around I'm an adult and want more than just a happy happy joy joy feeling from my entertainment of choice. I want to be engrossed, captivated, involved and to put an emotional attachment into these things not just wham bam as i need to be stimulated if a person is happy with sugar coating let them play kids movies and or games I prefer to pulled in to it and enjoy myself and if I'm not I'm simply not going to bother spending time with it.

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Behodar

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#778043 11-Mar-2013 15:07

Ironically I can't read the second one because the net nanny at work reckons that I'll find it too offensive. Go figure.

Hobchild

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#778118 11-Mar-2013 17:47

Behodar: Ironically I can't read the second one because the net nanny at work reckons that I'll find it too offensive. Go figure.

Haha and that's the pro-sensitivity one.

I just had a read of some of the comments from the articles and the more I read of Haydn Green's (pro-sensitivity) comments the harder I find it to see where he's coming from. He defends Shawshank Redemption and American History X by saying that they were pivotal to the story and while I somewhat agree one could argue that they were just following the old "American jail is bad, you get raped" cliché. If these movies had left those scenes out would it have really impacted the story so much? Maybe AMX more so as it was portraying how he was a big tough guy on the outside but inside he was just somebody's little b*tch, but Shawshank? It was just adding to the fact that jail life sucked for Andy a little bit more.

urban

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#778129 11-Mar-2013 18:04

Cambo: I would love to see the games industry include more adult/alternative content, but it needs to be done intelligently and carefully.

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