Messages

(blah blah blah)

I'll answer your questions after you answer mine. And as for sweeping statements, I did say "generally". I'm very well aware that such a statement does not apply to everyone; however, that does not negate the fact that such a generality does exist, and that I wish to explore such a generality.

(The women who think that women are being hypersensitive, on the other hand, might have more of a point...)

Well, that would be me so I guess I have a point.

MORE of a point, dear. MORE of a point.

My point anyway, is that I think I have a pretty good attitude to this stuff, but keep in mind that I'm a bisexual with a thing for large (but not TOO large) and shapely breasts so I'm not unbiased or without my own agenda here.

Well, there you go. I don't have a thing for breasts; in fact, I often feel that my own are an inconvenience to me. Hence, I can't possibly understand why people like them so much. Acknowledge that they do, yes, but not understand.

(blah blah blah)

EDIT: TIS, I like you so I'm not taking a stab at you with this, but just remember you aren't fighting the good fight for all of us. You aren't every woman, just as I'm not. Let people be people, and individuals be individuals.

Oh, I know that. I know that not all women think the same way just because we're women. I'm not even "fighting the good fight" anywhere on this forum or on the particular blog entry that I posted. I know all about how complaining about titties in an amateur adventure game and being all "BLAH BLAH BLAH OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN" about it is going to do absolutely nothing to help the status of women in games (and women as a whole). I know that there are better ways to direct my efforts, and I do so (supporting the encouragement of women to play and make more games being one such effort). If anyone actually bothered to read my blog post, you would already know that I am well aware that there are worse displays of blatant sexuality in the media, and that I was only focusing on this particular game because, well, it's an amateur adventure game, which I tend to care more about than other genres because I make them. (Besides, blogs like Game Girl Advance and Athena's Legacy already complain about gender issues in the more mainstream sorts of games as it is.) I also know that I have no right to stop people from making the kinds of games that they want, and that by complaining about the game, I'll probably contribute to making it infamously popular. I know that if I don't like what the game represents, then I shouldn't be playing it, end of story. (Admittedly, though, after all this hype, I might just end up downloading the demo just to see what all the fuss was about.)

The thing is, in case you haven't already noticed, I love to complain. It makes for fun discussions that probably wouldn't even come up if everyone just happily agreed to not complain about anything. And in these discussions, people, though not necessarily changing each other's minds, become motivated to think and communicate more clearly about their own opinions. Honestly, I don't see how that's a bad thing.

Anyway, now that that's all cleared up...

...you like me, do you? That's so sweet. It's not just because of my huge boobs, is it?

That in itself isn't a point - but here comes the point. Every girl or woman I know loves the show. They adore it. These women are the example of what they themselves want to be - independant, strong, financially sound.

I don't.

Objectifying in itself is such a lame term. What does it mean to 'objectify'? If I objectify you, Squinky, does it take away anything from your life? Does it make you feel uncomfortable to the point where you wouldn't be able to live your life the way you want to? Or would you shrug, move on and simply ignore the comments I would make in that vein. If you do anything else than the last suggestion, I think you may be looking for trouble rather than finding it.

That's black-and-white thinking. Of course I would feel uncomfortable, but I'd still be able to get on with my life.

It's just pixels on a screen. Nobody's getting hurt.

Define "getting hurt".

If the final goal is to reach to a point where the only differences are the ones determined by the pulses of our genitalia... Why does a woman complain of a thing that we wouldn't complain if the situation was the opposite?

IS that the final goal? Does equality mean sameness? Or does it involve taking into account the differences between the genders, but glorifying feminine traits as equal to masculine traits, rather than seeing them as inferior?

I was not there when that happened! So, I see as totally unfair to have to suffer the anger of Ã, repressed women.

You are also a man, and therefore have no idea what women today are going through. This goes for not just you, but any other man who thinks that women are being hypersensitive. (The women who think that women are being hypersensitive, on the other hand, might have more of a point...)

Now, here's a random but pertinent question for you all that maybe someone can answer: why do we generally consider naked men to be funny and naked women to be sexy? (We, of course, includes both men and women.)

Now, the dilemma here is: does it objectivize women? Sure. If you are living in the sixties. If you are living in the twenty-first century, all I can say is: patronize much? Hell, the dirtiest-minded more sexually obsessed people I know are girls.

Nowadays feminism has been effectively replaced by post-feminism. A school of thought that considers openly sexual characters in fiction as empowering for women (as long as they are doing the ass kicking and/or the thinking, as opposed as being tied to a railroad waiting for the dashing hero to rescue them. That would be sexist no matter what they wear.)

Meh, even if men worship sexy women and treat them with utmost respect, the fact still remains that women face a lot more pressure to be beautiful than men do. Saying that feminism has now become completely irrelevant just because women are no longer forced to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, and that we should be perfectly satisfied with that and only that, is asinine.

OR! Maybe her breasts have little hatches on them, and she opens them to contain all her inventory items!

That would be awesome! But not as awesome as if they contained guns or bombs.

And when it comes down to it, the people that are offended, will be secretly playing the game, because they know they are just annoyed at content and are still drawn to it.

Well damnit, he's got me figured out!

I wouldn't say I'm supporting my own objectification as much as I'm supporting the objectification of -other- women so I can enjoy it. Ã, 

Hee hee! Fair enough.

Regarding the game world/real world point, yes, I know it's just a game, and it's not supposed to be realistic. However, games are art*, and like other art forms, are to an extent a reflection of the real world. Therefore, I do think it's quite pertinent, thank you very much.

By the way, I like how I'm being called "OS Squinky". Now I wonder whether I should be a happy open-source operating system like Linux or an evil closed-source proprietary one like Windows...

* Well, at least I think so.

Now you can give them a chance to do this and judge based on a finished product, or you can write an inflammatory piece based on first glance.Ã,  Personally, I prefer to pass judgement, if at all, based on a complete work, which is only fair.

True, but I'm more criticizing the way they're advertising the game (as well as the silly drooling OMGBOOBIES responses it seems to be getting) than the game itself.

While I'm at it, perhaps I should address the following oft-repeated inquiry:

Male gamers who complain about female game characters portrayed in a sexist light are possibly the funniest creatures this fish has ever come across.

Why not complain about obscenely pumped up male characters in video games being an unrealistic depiction of average "Maleness"?Ã, 

The reason why people don't complain about pumped-up male characters in video games is because big muscles are actually useful when it comes to running, jumping, and beating up bad guys. They're not there just to look good. Big boobs, on the other hand, have no practical purpose in a video game*; if anything, they'd give the character horrible back pains and slow her down. They're obviously only there to please adolescent boys.

This may not be a problem for most people who post on these forums, but I don't like it. It supports the objectification of women, which I am completely against. Like I'm sure I've said before, you may claim that a busty woman in a video game has a strong, intelligent personality and therefore is not being objectified; however, the fact still remains that the unnaturally large tits are there, and that they don't accentuate her skills or her personality, existing only for the sake of eye candy.

* Unless, of course, it were a game about fembots whose boobs were actually guns or something cool like that.

Since we're all expressive opinions, I happen to think O.S. Squinky's blog was pretty stupid, and LimpingFish already covered why I think that.

Why exactly do you think my blog was stupid? In that post of his that you quoted, it didn't seem like he was making any kind of point at all, except that people should be able to make whatever kinds of games they want. And it's not as though I'm petitioning to have the game's production shut down or anything; I'm just complaining about the fact that I don't like what they've done.

If you're saying that I'm stupid because I don't like women being depicted as sexy (for no reason other than the audience's pleasure), well, I don't know what to say. I could easily say that you're stupid because you do like women being depicted as sexy and you're supporting your own objectification, but I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you have good reasons for thinking the way you do, even though I may not agree with them.

[get]

I take it that it means you do get comments on your blog? I never get any on mine, though I do nothing for it, don't really even want comments...but yes, it seems this is a frutal subject.

Well, yes. I'm an attention whore.

Where is your blog, anyway?

I've already addressed many of your concerns in the aforementioned areas, so...

Look on the bright side: you're getting extra publicity for your game, and I'm getting five times more comments than usual on my blog. Everybody wins!

The people who have been here longer usually don't make any games and just sit around taking up all the spaces on the couch and scratching themselves... Places.

Yeah, what's up with that? As an outsider, I've noticed that the people who seem to be the most popular and respected on these forums (and in the community in general) aren't necessarily the ones who have made the best games.

For a minute there, I thought this was a gathering of Wintermute users.

[Name:]

Oh, what the heck. I'm bored.

Name: www.deirdrakiai.com

Age: Twenty

Female/male: I like how "Female" is capitalized and "male" isn't.

1. How long have you been involved in the AGS community? I'm not really involved; I just lurk sporadically. I've been part of the general adventure game developing community since 1999-ish, though.

2. Why did you get involved in AGS? I didn't. I tried using the engine circa 2000 and didn't like it, so I used other engines to make my adventure games instead.

3. How do you feel that the fact that AGS is a freeware programme affect the community that has built up around it? I'm a bit confused with the phrasing of that sentence. Sure, AGS has a great community; however, that's not just because it's a freeware program.

4. How big a part does the AGS community play in your life? It's here to amuse me when I can't find people to bicker with on other adventure game development forums.

5. Have you been involved in making any games using AGS? You may list them if you want No, but I AM well-known for Cubert Badbone, P.I.

6. Answer these questions if you have been involved in making AGS games:

a. Were you interested in game design/programming before you started using AGS? Yup. I was interested in game design/programming even after I used AGS and didn't like it.

b. If no, do you feel that you would have got into game design without AGS? N/A

c. Do you make games using other programmes, either freeware or not? How does the eperience differ? I use SLUDGE for my adventure games, and the experience, well, involves a lot fewer drop-down menus and more scripting, I suppose. Before SLUDGE, I used AGAST, which was nice for a while but then didn't get updated for ages. I wrote a text adventure in C++ as well at some point, and since I plan on being a professional game developer, I'll certainly be using plenty more tools in the future.

d. Has AGS inspired you to try and take up game design professionally? No. Game design has been my passion even before knowing about AGS.

7. Do you feel that there is a gender divide in the AGS community? No more so than any other divide, I guess.

8. Are you likely to feel differently about a game if you discover it’s made by a female? In what way? Well, a good game made by a female gives me happy feelings of girl power, but a bad game doesn't become a good game in my eyes just because it's made by a girl.

9. Do you feel that AGS makes it easier for females to get involved in computer game design? In what way? If you're implying that the fact that AGS is easy to use makes it easier for women to design computer games, then I'm almost offended. If you're implying that adventure games are more appealing to women than, say, FPS games, well, generally speaking, that's sort of true. A passion for designing games can only manifest itself when one already has a passion for playing them, and if there exist more games that aren't blatantly testosterone-filled in nature, then sure, you might have more girls wanting to make games.

10. Do you feel that there is a difference between the types of games created by males and females? Not really. I'd say that some games have a masculine feel to them and some games have a feminine feel to them, but that doesn't necessarily have to do with who made the game.

11. Any other comments?

I like 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781640628620
89986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284811174502
84102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165271
20190914564856692346034861045432664821339360726024914127372458700660631558817488152
0920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511

Me too! And to think I had all of those decimal places memorized at some point...

Finally, a discussion on fan games where people actually properly define fan games! (unlike, say, this one...)

My opinion: sure, people can make fan games if they want to (and can avoid lawsuits); however, that doesn't mean I'll be all that interested in playing them.

As if amazon.com wasn't already good enough for this sort of thing...

Too bad I've already got a decent web hosting package.

I know, I can't believe it either. But it is.

Don't worry about it. At this point in time, I've got more than enough eager volunteers. Therefore, I guess I no longer NEED beta testers; however, should someone really really want to join in on the action, I wouldn't be averse to pencilling them in.

I find all religions unacceptable, simply because they require people to accept statements without critically thinking about them.

Are you SURE that your statement applies to ALL religions?

Haha, thanks.

As some of you might know, I'm working on a game. It's called The Game That Takes Place on a Cruise Ship and it's - you guessed it - a game that takes place on a cruise ship. It also just so happens to be a LucasArts-style adventure game, though sadly, it isn't made using AGS. *gasp*

In any case, I'm in need of beta testers at the moment. Therefore, if you've got a decent amount of time on your hands and are interested, inquire within.

Promote it to more places than the AGS forums. Like Adventure Gamers... or Adventure Developers...