Hef

@jbuchan76 said:

@PulledaBrad said:

Please stop passing off opinion pieces off as news. Thank you.

Agreed! Thank you!

So you've never read a feature article or a column before then?

This bloody torso speaks more about the perceived video game culture than it does about women. You don't make a bloody torso with big boobs to appeal to a female dominated industry. I think the issue here is way more about how the world and advertisers see a juvenile gaming industry and not an opportunity to discriminate against women.

But judging by some of the conversations in this thread, maybe the advertisers were right. Maybe the video game industry is just a bunch of man children too focused on the boobs then on the actually message of this torso.

Can we all agree that no one on this forum is actually for the oppression of women and that someone actually thought this would sell more copies of dead island. I mean what does that say about the video game industry as a whole? Because in no way is this is an attempt to market to 30 something year old men and women.

I feel like people are focusing too much on the boobs and not why are those boobs there in the first place you know?

@Dark_Lord_Spam: I'm not so sure about that. Saying we don't think feminism is the issue doesn't mean the marketers "win". I think this is a very tacky and distasteful statue. But I wasn't going to buy the product regardless. I bet next to no-one was going to buy Dead Island because of this statue. I bought it 2 years ago or so because it was a good video game, and trying to spark sales of their perceived audience with this boyish fantasy is kind of insulting to gamers as a whole.

Most gamers are not horny teenage boys, and I think that singling this as a women's-rights issue is wrong. Not a single person on this forum (I hope) is for the repression of women on the games industry, and turning this dumb marketing ploy into an argument for sexism against women is misguided. We should be hating this for it being juvenile and tacky marketing and offensive to all gamers.

I would LOVE for the video games industry to be taken as seriously as the movie or music industry. But until this kind of marketing is seen as something that offends all gamers, and not just women, people will continue thinking this is a male dominated and male driven business. While this is still kind of true, I know a lot more female gamers than I did 10 years ago. While I still think that number is smaller than the male numbers, I don't think it's small enough to ignore.

I mean this article is supposed to be the sort of woman's perspective on the issue. But why? Why single out women? Sure the statue has boobs on it, but think about who those boobs are aimed at and why this statue even exists in the first place.

@Ooame said:

@valrog said:

Patrick, stop white-knighting and trying to protect those fragile beings from something that isn't even there. They will not have sex with you if you defend their honour like that. What a joke, seriously.

You can't be sexist towards men. IT'S DIFFERENT WHEN ITS A WOMAN, right Patrick?

As on point as I think that picture is, saying Patrick is "white-knighting" and "doing this so women will sleep with him" is really immature. This is not 4chan, please don't treat it as such.

@Kingyo said:

@BrockNRolla said:

Anna Kipnis says things well, but states in the same breath why there's little hope for change. So many people don't take the industry seriously, nor issues like sexism for that matter. The comments bear that out too.

People don't take things seriously, and don't want to. It's as though enjoying something and thinking about something have to be mutually exclusive. Any time someone asks them to stop and think about something, to really dig into the implications of their actions and views of the world, they get indignant about it. How dare someone question your world view? How dare someone suggest that you don't see something they do? How dare you talk about a topic they don't care about?

Disagreement and discussion are incredibly valuable, but dismissal, as is the most common comment around here, does nothing but hold this community and the discussed issues back. I applaud anyone willing to keep fighting the good fight to improve the games industry and fight back those who just can't be bothered to give a shit about how others see the world. Patrick Klepek, I can't imagine how exhausting this interaction must feel, but good on your for trying.

Here here.

Fighting the good fight? This is not solely a games industry issue. I think this whole uproar over something so stupid and juvenile is itself stupid and juvenile. Women do not need people to go out and "fight the good fight" for them. What we need to do is call this what it is. Tacky and distasteful. Is it sexist? Hell no. It is a bloody slab of meat with tits on it. Whoopdy-fucking-shit. Sure you can think boobs = sexist, but then you'd be an idiot.

This whole issue is blown way out of proportion and a bunch of niche website full of nerds talking about it on internet forums is not going to change ALL OF MARKETING. Sex sells. Old Spice uses sexy men because girlfriends and wives buy toiletries for their significant other. Just like axe surrounds guys with sexy women when they wear their cologne or body spray or whatever.

But I don't see bloggers and women in the deodorant industry writing blogs about how those commercials offend them. Do you know why? Because in the case of axe, they understand it's stupid and juvenile. And in the case of old spice, it's a guy so it's not sexist or a misrepresentation of the majority of men.

@crcruz3 said:

@jaks said:

HAY GUYS LETS FIND OUT WHAT FEMINISTS THINK OF A STATUE OF A PAIR OF BLOODY BOOBS

Seriously, just stop. Patrick, you're in touch with your feminine side. We get it. I know you're going to shake your head and lament about the state of the comments section on the internet while you pat yourself on the back for being Mr. Smartypants, but this is article really lame. Sex is used to sell basically every product in the world other than Polident. Get used to it because it isn't going to stop. That lame Dead Island statue thing was stupid because it was a stupid thing, not because it was a symbol of male chauvinism in a male dominated industry.

You are going to continue to see shit like this because hot people are still the single most effective way of selling products. You're going to continue to see sexy college ladies in bikinis and cowboy hats on beer commercials and you are going to continue to see hot ex NFL players wearing just a towel hawking Old Spice because it has been determined that a lot of women buy their husband's/boyfriend's toiletries.

So just stop.

Please don't try to use common sense here. We are just enjoying ourselves in this very repetitive multi-article discussion about a female torso zombie statue.

100% what Jaks said.

It's a stupid collector's edition bundle of a 2 year old game that no one was going to buy. I don't look at that torso and think, "fuck yeah looking at that sexy piece of bloody torso makes me want to go objectify women".

I think, "Wow what a stupid and juvenile marketing ploy, I bet that won't sell anything".

I am more than 100% sure that every person who saw that torso immediately thought the same thing I did.

You are all quite literally making a mountain out of a molehill. No one should of even given this bundle or whatever it is a second thought.

The funny thing is this thing is never going to stop happening. As long as their is a porn industry and sexy ladies make money, there will be sex in advertising. But as we all know, it's only sexist when men do it.

Who cares? Why is it when something involves women that everyone gets all up in arms and has to go blog about how offended/unoffended they are.

I am so sick of this "games industry is sexist" attitude. When piranha 3DD came there wasn't some big debate over actresses in the film industry and how they're viewed by their peers. You know why? Because there are serious game/movies like a bioshock or lincoln or whatever and then there's B movie/games like Dead Island or Pirannha Euphemism.

All you did was bring attention to some stupid fucking limited edition bundle that NOBODY was going to buy anyways! You did exactly what Deep Silver's marketing team wanted, and you're all fucking stupid.

All of you.

As long as Metro Last light comes out this year, I'm happy. Also now maybe we'll have a space marine sequel! THQ shot that one down pretty hard because of lack of funds, but hopefully things have changed!

But most important of all, whatever happens, just let the new Metro game still come out this year.

@sissylion: As a Canadian who experiences the exact same media as americans, we have significantly less school shootings. And most of them are "some kid shot a gun at someone he got in a fight with and was arrested." The last one I can think of that was a major news event was the Montreal School shooting in the 80's. And it was something about feminism and how it ruined his life, not violent video games.

While there are probably some effects from violent video games, I can't imagine that being the major cause in going on a killing spree. Honestly if you have trouble separating fantasy and reality and go around shooting people because you did it in a videogame, there is something seriously wrong with you.