Am I the only one who is starting to get offended by all this?

@mlarrabee said:

On an unrelated note, but one that has been brought up in this thread: what the deuce makes Stephen Fry an arbiter on social proprieties? People on the Internet are very fond of calling on celebrity as backup for their position. It's called the Appeal to False Authority.

He doesn't need to be an "arbiter on social proprieties" to come up with a valid criticism of them, just as I don't need to be a Pulitzer Prize winning author to validly criticize a body of text or a game developer to criticize Dead Space 3. That's an appeal to accomplishments and to authority, respectively, and both are red herrings just like your "False Authority" claim. All they do is attempt to detract from from the argument; Fry can advocate throwing shit at people and screaming like a howler monkey in a library, but he's onto something here and that's all that matters for the argument in question.

Refute his claim, not his credibility.

Don't take this the wrong way but I believe feelings like yours usually occur because of self-insecurities and resentment of what you're not. You may not know it but take a step back and take a good look at yourself from inside-out.

@GnaTSoL said:

Don't take this the wrong way but I believe feelings like yours usually occur because of self-insecurities and resentment of what you're not. You may not know it but take a step back and take a good look at yourself from inside-out.

So because I don't have boobs? Are you saying that I want to have a sex change?

@big_jon said:

@GnaTSoL said:

Don't take this the wrong way but I believe feelings like yours usually occur because of self-insecurities and resentment of what you're not. You may not know it but take a step back and take a good look at yourself from inside-out.

So because I don't have boobs? Are you saying that I want to have a sex change?

No. I mean feeling insecure and resentment in a general sense. Hating the notion of attractiveness being popular and held in high regard. You hate what you are not. What you cannot be.

@GnaTSoL said:

@big_jon said:

@GnaTSoL said:

Don't take this the wrong way but I believe feelings like yours usually occur because of self-insecurities and resentment of what you're not. You may not know it but take a step back and take a good look at yourself from inside-out.

So because I don't have boobs? Are you saying that I want to have a sex change?

No. I mean feeling insecure and resentment in a general sense. Hating the notion of attractiveness being popular and held in high regard. You hate what you are not. What you cannot be.

I assure you, I am pretty happy with who I am.

it would probably help if you actually mentioned what game site you were referring to. Kotaku's always been a shitty hell hole (just in general, it's a site people should STOP FUCKING GOING TO) , Destructoid has always posted stuff like that (mostly in jest) and I've never seen Giant Bomb do it.

@big_jon said:

@GnaTSoL said:

@big_jon said:

@GnaTSoL said:

Don't take this the wrong way but I believe feelings like yours usually occur because of self-insecurities and resentment of what you're not. You may not know it but take a step back and take a good look at yourself from inside-out.

So because I don't have boobs? Are you saying that I want to have a sex change?

No. I mean feeling insecure and resentment in a general sense. Hating the notion of attractiveness being popular and held in high regard. You hate what you are not. What you cannot be.

I assure you, I am pretty happy with who I am.

Then let others be who they are. Those who can attract attention with their looks. It shouldn't annoy you unless you can't cope with the business of attraction which then just returns everything to my first comment.

@GnaTSoL said:

@big_jon said:

@GnaTSoL said:

@big_jon said:

@GnaTSoL said:

Don't take this the wrong way but I believe feelings like yours usually occur because of self-insecurities and resentment of what you're not. You may not know it but take a step back and take a good look at yourself from inside-out.

So because I don't have boobs? Are you saying that I want to have a sex change?

No. I mean feeling insecure and resentment in a general sense. Hating the notion of attractiveness being popular and held in high regard. You hate what you are not. What you cannot be.

I assure you, I am pretty happy with who I am.

Then let others be who they are. Those who can attract attention with their looks. It shouldn't annoy you unless you can't cope with the business of attraction which then just returns everything to my first comment.

Pretty much this. Well said.

@GnaTSoL: You're completely missing the point. It has nothing to do with letting others be who they are. It's about being treated as if you're a slobbering neanderthal who only needs the promise of tits to get their attention. That's why it's shitty. Accepting bullshit business practices like this is saying that you're okay with this perception of you.

@GnaTSoL said:

@big_jon said:

@GnaTSoL said:

@big_jon said:

@GnaTSoL said:

Don't take this the wrong way but I believe feelings like yours usually occur because of self-insecurities and resentment of what you're not. You may not know it but take a step back and take a good look at yourself from inside-out.

So because I don't have boobs? Are you saying that I want to have a sex change?

No. I mean feeling insecure and resentment in a general sense. Hating the notion of attractiveness being popular and held in high regard. You hate what you are not. What you cannot be.

I assure you, I am pretty happy with who I am.

Then let others be who they are. Those who can attract attention with their looks. It shouldn't annoy you unless you can't cope with the business of attraction which then just returns everything to my first comment.

This is not about others being who they are, this is about male consumers being treated like morons, and quality content being trumped by cleavage, and sleazy over sexualization.

Now if you could kindly get off the topic of my personal feelings about myself, I don't see how this is relevant to the conversation here, or how it is any of your business, not knowing me, as we are on a videogame forum. Please don't try psychoanalyzing me.

It's not new at all. IGN has been around for ages.

If the thumbnail is actually part of the video, no problem. When it starts being stupid, and this applies to any type of videos, is when the thumbnail has nothing to do with the actual content, where it's nowhere to be seen.

Still, I believe being offended by anyhing is pointless. *points at Stephen Fry quote posted at the top of the thread*

@Milkman: @Milkman said:

@GnaTSoL: You're completely missing the point. It has nothing to do with letting others be who they are. It's about being treated as if you're a slobbering neanderthal who only needs the promise of tits to get their attention. That's why it's shitty. Accepting bullshit business practices like this is saying that you're okay with this perception of you.

Whether they are wrong or not, as long as I'm not actually a slobbering neanderthal, I couldn't give less of a fuck if companies think I am one.

Hell, why would I even feel pointed at to being with? They are making these decision based on the average consumer. I'll just accept being divergent from the masses.

Seeing a booth babe with skimpy clothing doesn't in any way make me feel 'Moronic'. If you feel moronic, that's only cause you let it get to you trying so hard to hate it.

It's not like they're pressing their assets right on your face.

@big_jon: Sry if I hit a cord....... :)

@TobbRobb: I can't make you care, nor am I interested in making you care but it shouldn't be that hard to see why others have a problem. People don't like being talked down to. To equate it to something else, think of it like when people complain about modern games being too "hand-holdy" with it constantly having things like a giant arrow on screen telling you where to go. The assumption is that you're an idiot who needs to be led everywhere. The assumption here is that you're an idiot that needs boobs to get you to be interested in anything. It's lazy.

@big_jon: No that does not offend me, it is nothing but good marketing. Sex sells simple as that.

What I am starting to get really offended by is all of the whiny people who are constantly offended about everything.

@Coombs said:

@big_jon: No that does not offend me, it is nothing but good marketing. Sex sells simple as that.

What I am starting to get really offended by is all of the whiny people who are constantly offended about everything.

Hostile much.

@big_jon: The responses in this thread are fucking ridiculous. Shit like this makes me lose all faith in the Giantbomb forum community. Why the fuck am I here?

If someone can't openly express their feelings about something, and want a worthwhile discussion to stem from it, why would anyone post on forums?

And yeah, Big Jon, although I'm not particularly offended by it, I think it's dumb how more and more video thumbnails are becoming increasingly sexual and "ADD". Apparently, bright colors, exaggerated claims, and sex, sell people to clicking videos - and we're that much closer to living Idiocracy.

@big_jon: Yes, Guess who the hostility is directed at

I'm only offended when there are boobs featured prominently in the thumbnail yet they only make up a few seconds of the video.

That's the real issue at hand.

@Castermhief117 said:

@big_jon: The responses in this thread are fucking ridiculous. Shit like this makes me lose all faith in the Giantbomb forum community. Why the fuck am I here?

If someone can't openly express their feelings about something, and want a worthwhile discussion to stem from it, why would anyone post on forums?

And yeah, Big Jon, although I'm not offended by it, I think it's dumb how more and more video thumbnails are becoming increasingly sexual and "ADD". Apparently, bright colors, exaggerated claims, and sex, sell people to clicking videos - and we're that much closer to living Idiocracy.

Eh, as much as I like Giantbomb, it's still part of the internet. Anonymity allows people to be as hostile, or generally as unpleasant as they feel as about things as simple as expressing an opinion, as @Coombs: is showing us.

Didn't mean to go rustling jimmies here.

@Castermhief117: Losing faith in the community? Everyone partaking in a community has to agree for you to stay? I participated in this thread attempting to be both honest and lighthearted about a topic that every gamer must have crossed into at some point. There is no need to become aggressive and throw around threats to leave the site behind as it'll make a mod close big_jon's thread.

@Funkydupe said:

@Castermhief117: Losing faith in the community? Everyone partaking in a community has to agree for you to stay? I participated in this thread attempting to be both honest and lighthearted about a topic that every gamer must have crossed into at some point. There is no need to become aggressive and throw around threats to leave the site behind as it'll make a mod close big_jon's thread.

when people are posting "don't be offended because this famous guy on TV said so" then they are not interested in a debate, soz br0.

@Funkydupe: Not everyone has to agree - that's the opposite of what I want, which is a worthwhile discussion. But a number of the responses on here are just petty insults at Big_Jon, which is not cool.

@Animasta: You're probably right as far as those individuals are concerned.

@big_jon: Yep, I am the bad guy.

You want a reasonable measured response fine, here you go

Sexuality is a fact of life, The sexes are attracted to each other there is no possibility of denying that it is how humans and all animals for that matter are wired. In this industry although the demographics are changing and we are seeing many more female gamers the target audience is still young men, When you are selling to young men what is the single most effective tool? Sex.

If you personally have an issue with sex, nudity or anything of the sort that's fine it's a personal issue that you have and it's your right to have that opinion. My personal opinion is that your opinion and the fact you welcome censorship is wrong. We disagree and that's fine. But I'm not the dick that called you out. You started the thread knowing full well that you were going to get a lot of people agreeing with you and a lot of people disagreeing with you. I made a quick comment posting my distaste for your sentiment and you posted a quick comment calling me hostile, Which btw had no hostility until you called me out.

Anyway I'm done, So feel free to call me a hostile ignorant ass, And I'll continue to feel you are a person who is all for censorship and oppression.

@Coombs: Clearly wanting to be treating as more than a knuckle dragging, horny, Neanderthal is me promoting all forms of censorship here.

You can disagree with me all you like, but coming in and calling me a whiner for asking others thoughts on an issues is hostile.

@big_jon: And clearly not liking the idea of you belittling the use of sexuality in media make me a knuckle dragging, horny, Neanderthal.

And while I do disagree with you I didn't call you out personally, Any hostility you perceived would be directed at the general massive increase in threads like this about how people are offended by everything that's not considered politically correct.

@TheDudeOfGaming: you should check out context when using quotes good sir. because they quote while fitting here to some extent was in regard to something a bit different than someone being offended by precieved sexism.

@Coombs: but then you are being offended to and doing the same thing.......

@Coombs said:

@big_jon: Yep, I am the bad guy.

You want a reasonable measured response fine, here you go

Sexuality is a fact of life, The sexes are attracted to each other there is no possibility of denying that it is how humans and all animals for that matter are wired. In this industry although the demographics are changing and we are seeing many more female gamers the target audience is still young men, When you are selling to young men what is the single most effective tool? Sex.

If you personally have an issue with sex, nudity or anything of the sort that's fine it's a personal issue that you have and it's your right to have that opinion. My personal opinion is that your opinion and the fact you welcome censorship is wrong. We disagree and that's fine. But I'm not the dick that called you out. You started the thread knowing full well that you were going to get a lot of people agreeing with you and a lot of people disagreeing with you. I made a quick comment posting my distaste for your sentiment and you posted a quick comment calling me hostile, Which btw had no hostility until you called me out.

Anyway I'm done, So feel free to call me a hostile ignorant ass, And I'll continue to feel you are a person who is all for censorship and oppression.

I must have missed something. Where did people start calling for censorship? I love tits. I don't like marketers and other people lumping me in with the lowest common denominator and thinking that I'm brain-dead enough and manipulable enough to read an article about sound cards, because you had some model read it on a video or that I'd buy a video card, because some dude-bro pro gamer slaps his name across your product.

It is entirely reasonable for your customers or audience to demand to be treated like sensible mature adults and to take issue with your crappy campaigns and gimmicks which indirectly imply certain assumptions about your audience. It is absolutely fine to feel like your intelligence is being insulted and to state as much. Again, you are the customer or the audience. Raise your voice, if it matters to you.

Saying what you like and don't like or what feels gross about how you're being marketed to or the content being shoved out is hardly censorship. It's called feedback. Companies and movie producers and game publishers and advertising agencies pay ridiculous amounts of money to have focus groups arranged to do exactly that. It's not "censorship" when they voice their opinion and it's not "censorship" when you voice yours.

@Mirado: Right click aaaand saved.

@Coombs: dude, booth babes are the lowest, laziest form of advertising there is.

also the fact that you can tell people around the world, of all gender, sexuality and culture they shouldn't be offended at anything is real nice, can I visit fantasyland?

I think it is funny how hung up people are on the word "offended", it's almost like they're offended by it.

I mean it's the most apt word I could think of to express my point, but if I said "annoyed", or "bothered", though those would mean essentially the same thing, people would no longer have their perception of the word "offended" to latch onto, and thus less arguing about it.

@Animasta said:

@Coombs: dude, booth babes are the lowest, laziest form of advertising there is.

also the fact that you can tell people around the world, of all gender, sexuality and culture they shouldn't be offended at anything is real nice, can I visit fantasyland?

I completely agree with you.

But I couldn't care less about your opinion and you sure as hell shouldn't care about mine. The fact remains however that you want to tell these companies what they can and can't do. And so long as what they are doing does not break the law and helps their sales they should continue to do so and you have no right to belittle their use, or claim that these people should be treated with any less respect for doing so.

Also I never said nobody should be offended, In fact I said everyone is entitled to their opinion and that is fine. I just wish people would keep their complaints to themselves once in a while, These threads that are nothing more than people complaining about marketing tactics are becoming more and more common and that to me is irritating since they all just say the same thing over and over.

I actually get quite offended my self, but I'm a woman... so... my point is invalid.

That aside, I think it's because there is nothing else better for growing males to do but ogle at beautiful and attractive women. It's part of culture, nature and life I suppose.

You need to go work for an insurance company or credit card company with that line of reasoning.

@Hupfen said:

I actually get quite offended my self, but I'm a woman... so... my point is invalid.

That aside, I think it's because there is nothing else better for growing males to do but ogle at beautiful and attractive women. It's part of culture, nature and life I suppose.

@big_jon said:

You need to go work for an insurance company or credit card company with that line of reasoning.

I'm supposed to be the hostile one

passive aggressive
A defense mechanism that allows people who aren't comfortable being openly aggressive get what they want under the guise of still trying to please others. They want their way, but they also want everyone to still like them.

I don't mind booth babes at all. I am a male that enjoys good looking women. They want to dress up women in sexy outfits and have them parade around the showfloor hey thats fine. It's silly of course, but nothing wrong with a good looking girl with INFAMOUS 2 written on her top. It also doesn't misrepresent gamers in the slightest as literally every public event has a variation of "booth babes." Every sports shows and every opening has attractive women there for show. It's not just games. Also it gives work for models - what do you think her job is? It's to look good in whatever getup their employer provides. Thats basically all they do - at car events, sport events, tech events. I knew some women who did that and they really enjoyed their job and found it fun to look attractive and dress up in those outfits.

@Hupfen said:

I actually get quite offended my self, but I'm a woman... so... my point is invalid.

That aside, I think it's because there is nothing else better for growing males to do but ogle at beautiful and attractive women. It's part of culture, nature and life I suppose.

I think it shows your generous nature to imply that it's just growing males. As if we grow out of ogling beautiful women at some point. :)

@big_jon said:

I think it is funny how hung up people are on the word "offended", it's almost like they're offended by it.

I mean it's the most apt word I could think of to express my point, but if I said "annoyed", or "bothered", though those would mean essentially the same thing, people would no longer have their perception of the word "offended" to latch onto, and thus less arguing about it.

I suspect that what people are hung up on is confusing the use of the word with how it is often employed. Especially in gaming (journalism) circles. That is, a way in which it's not so much "this offends me" as "I'm a young, straight, white, middle class male and this content is offensive, because I can imagine in my head a hypothetical gay, black, asian, female, transgendered, or other person that could in some way find this thing offensive and even though that hasn't actually happened yet, the fact that I conceived of this potentially happening in my head is reason enough to make it into an enormous sensationalist issue". It carries this weird sort of shading to it, like suspending a child from school from pretend-throwing an imaginary grenade while playing army with other kids during recess. This sort of leap from logical to other-dimensional-hypothetical that makes a million unlikely assumptions to arrive at the conclusion that we should all be outraged.

But, then, there's just normal offense. Like having your intelligence insulted. Or your common sense. And, especially when nobody is calling for some sort of censorship or intervention, there's really little to no reason for people to get all uptight about someone saying "wow, the implication that my brain turns off and I'll buy into anything because tits is really kind of offensive to me, as a consumer".

Welcome to my world.

@Branthog said:

@Hupfen said:

I actually get quite offended my self, but I'm a woman... so... my point is invalid.

That aside, I think it's because there is nothing else better for growing males to do but ogle at beautiful and attractive women. It's part of culture, nature and life I suppose.

I think it shows your generous nature to imply that it's just growing males. As if we grow out of ogling beautiful women at some point. :)

A lot of women appreciate men looking at them. It gives them a spot light, which makes them feel better about themselves! Sometimes, it just a good thing. :D

@Humanity said:

I don't mind booth babes at all. I am a male that enjoys good looking women. They want to dress up women in sexy outfits and have them parade around the showfloor hey thats fine. It's silly of course, but nothing wrong with a good looking girl with INFAMOUS 2 written on her top. It also doesn't misrepresent gamers in the slightest as literally every public event has a variation of "booth babes." Every sports shows and every opening has attractive women there for show. It's not just games. Also it gives work for models - what do you think her job is? It's to look good in whatever getup their employer provides. Thats basically all they do - at car events, sport events, tech events. I knew some women who did that and they really enjoyed their job and found it fun to look attractive and dress up in those outfits.

I think the original poster's example was more relevant in context of what is particularly off-putting. Booth babes exist in a different context than, say, using a pair of boobs in a screenshot to make you click on something. As I mentioned, Toms Hardware Guide was doing this for their news section for awhile. They may still be doing it, for all I know. I stopped visiting when they did this for more than a few days, because I just found it fucking gross. There is a distinct difference between going to the Saints Row booth at E3 and having a few good looking women dressed in character around to entertain people at the booth and promote the product . . . versus going to a site and having videos of models hired to read a prompter telling you about a news item that you could just read for yourself. Or . . . have a pudgy middle aged tech guy do a video about. Because, you know, he actually is a tech guy and not just hired to read a prompter. Toms Hardware had a whole selection of models. They'd dress them not necessarily in a revealing way, but in a sexy way that emphasized their figures. Caked in make-up. Very clearly reading from a prompter and not having any clue what they were saying (meaning, these were not just attractive female tech journalists -- these were chicks hired to read shit while looking good so you'd click on the video).

Mind you, this was at a pretty hard core tech site that caters to hard core tech professionals with pretty in-depth tech news. Employing this tactic there was rightfully offensive and off-putting to the site's readers and just felt unbelievably pandering, gross, and exploitative.

Sex sells. Attractive people, men and women, get more attention and are generally treated better. Charisma is more then a dump stat in D&D. That's just the way the human species works.

Of course, it does not mean people who could be considered less attractive are worth any less. Of course, people's worth is not wholly based on visual appearance Of course, there are exceptions to things.

However...

As a generality, men and women want to achieve some idealistic look. Typically that can be found in popular culture, or represented in what god(s) they worship. When a human being sees a person of idealistic proportions it peeks his / hers attention. The human is then compelled to investigate it and may become prone to suggestion in pursuit of said person. For example, EVERY COMMERCIAL AND ADVERTISEMENT IN THE WORLD.

If you don't like it try to buy nothing that sells their product with any kind of sex. Just stop going to whatever site you've been going and stick to Giantbomb.com.

Also, as a pro tip: Use the system in your favor. It's human nature. Go out, buy something stylish, I suggest Stacy Adams and enjoy being treated better in life.

Its just you. :,> Its actually healthy to look at boobies.

@big_jon: Is it possible that Booth Babes have nothing to do with painting the picture that men are desperate slobs in the gaming industry? Obviously I'm playing Devil's Advocate here for a second, but Sports, the supposed "manliest of manly" things have cheerleaders who are hired based on their appearances. I think the idea that we are a bunch of masturbating desperate men in basement's stems from the media portraying us as so and the minority that actually fits that guise. Some would say that because I play games all day and listen to heavy metal (Hammerfall, Iced Earth) that I'm a delinquent That's not true to any stretch of the imagination, but I can name more than I have fingers for that are.

@big_jon said:

I am the type of dude who hates booth babes, and in general women.

Misogynist.

@Funkydupe said:

Ok. I admit it. I like beautiful women. I also happen to like video games. I'm not against combining the two. There. I said it.

You monster.

All marketing offends me. It's an absolute affront to our collective intelligence. The inclusion of breasts changes nothing.

But... I like cleavage... Don't ruin this man! We've got a pretty sweet thing goin' here!