Gamerforlife wrote:
A game is a work of art, and the creators have the right to show whatever they want. That's what I meant by freedom of expression. If people don't like it, they should play something else. My original post was simply pointing out the strangeness of a franchise built on brutal, merciless, excessive violence suddenly wanting to reduce the violence. It sounds like they are feeling pressure from some source or another and are changing their way of doing things to cater to them. That's pretty much what selling out means. The moment you change the very essence of your franchise into something that completely contradicts it in order to make it appeal to more people and make more money, you are selling out.
As far as sexism goes, the idea that it's okay for the series to depict men being killed in various horrifying, cruel ways but not women, is EXACTLY what sexism is. In other words, I am NOT a sexist as I see no reason that female characters in the game should be treated any differently than male characters.
Art is typically not isolated; especially so with commercial art. There is meant to be a dialogue between the artist and the audience. If members of the audience got up and said "Hey. I liked your game, but not this one part," the artists have a choice of how to respond to that.
Here it's about some female gear scene (I think), but we could frame this argument around grinding, escort missions, first-person platforming, ect, ect. Voicing your complaints is appropriate. I don't think anyone's saying the artists don't have the right to do what they want with their game.
In that same sense, this is a new group of artists. They can do what they want with their game.
I personally don't think male characters should be depicted being killed in various horrifying, cruel ways either. I accepted long ago that the God of War franchise wasn't for me. I haven't been able to find a clip of the scene mentioned in the article, but they made it sound like there were some sexual undertones.
As I said before, when violence against women is paired with sexuality I find it extremely distasteful and inappropriate. Violent sexuality in video games almost exclusively targets women. Last I checked with the God of War series, it was not an exception. Violent sexuality in games is sexist, and to me it's wrong. Again, they should have the right to have that in their game if they want to, but I'm glad they won't this time.
So bad.)
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