Oversensitivity and Social Statements

Okay, so I've been lurking and commenting on N4G for a relatively long period of time now. This is my first blog post, and it's something I've really wanted to talk about. This has turned out a little longer than I thought, so please bear with me.

To begin, I'll assume you've most likely heard about those feminists that constantly criticizing gaming for selective and petty reasons. Who demand that developers change their allegedly misogynistic portrayals of women in a fashion that could be called harsh, or even bullying in some cases? Yes, they exist and they are a problem. The years have gone by, and despite growing efforts to counter them up to this point, they've only gotten a greater hold over gaming up to the present. Now Anita Saarkesian, a particular feminist gaming critic in the spotlight for her "Feminist Frequency" series that was backed by a Kickstarter, is consulting on the new Mirror's Edge. Her full involvement with this relatively late follow-up to the 2008 cult classic is somewhat unknown, but we do know that she is advising on the (female) main character and has made some questionable comments about simplifying the game's controls for women, unfortunate implications abound. If this sort of thing is the growing trend, I'm concerned where it's going.

However, this blog isn't completely about that or even where its emphasis is. There is another irrational and biased sensitivity that is also growing. In a few senses, it could be seen as the inverse of what Anita & Friends are. It's when the fight against the aforementioned brand of political correctness and social justice gets too stuck up its own rear. Above, you will see a picture related to The Witcher 3. In case you didn't know, the character you see is named Ciri. She's a woman (obviously), bisexual, and incidentally the secondary playable character of The Witcher 3.

First, I'll skip to the point: My problem is when people immediately call the inclusion of this female playable character a politically correct attempt to placate feminists. This is not the first of this sort of accusation toward the developer, and it will not be the last. There is absolutely no evidence that Ciri was included for any other reason other than CD Projekt Red wanted it. She is a fan-favorite character from the books that The Witcher games are based off, she is a very important figure in the world and has a very strong tie to Geralt, the normal protagonist. All evidence available from The Witcher 3 suggests that the story is centered around her, as far as the tease from the original trailer for the game. Many people behave as if their knee-jerk reactions are evidence, but they are not. Playable female characters are not synonymous with feminist agendas, nor should that be the attitude.

Next, there are other examples. There was a blog posted on the Dragon Age site (which is available to view) about a character, Dorian, who was gay. People overreacted and thought the blog was flaunting that fact and 'forcing it down peoples' throats,' when only two of the twelve Questions-Answers brought it up and in relevance to what it means for his overall character and backstory. This caused some bad blood and banter on Twitter, and some even implied that Bioware intentionally choose those question and answers so they could call everyone who objected to the blog information in any way homophobic. Suffice it to say, I don't think this made gamers look friendly or sensible. I've also seen gamers express death-wishes toward SJWs and feminists (and vice versa), like in a post on GameFAQs on the Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel board that said the SJW themes in the game were made up for by the opportunity to kill characters like them... Which is just utterly wrong.

Last examples, and a relatively small ones. I've heard many non-white characters being accused of being token, like Jacob from Mass Effect 2 or even Sahz from Final Fantasy XIII. Does the skin color of a few characters automatically warrant such response? It's always under the idea that these characters didn't "need" to be non-white, which is frankly a ridiculous and un-winnable argument of semantics. I also recall some discussions I've that about Transistor. Two of the villains are male and married together, and I guess there's a transsexual character mentioned in the data logs. Now I'm all for consumers choice and people can choose to dislike or not buy a game for whatever reason they have, but some calling the developers social justice warriors and politically correct is too much. We don't know the people from SuperGiant Games, or why they included what they did. Nor should we pretend we do.

So, idiots jumping the gun and making weighty and serious accusations based off biased attitudes and ignorant assumptions. Sound familiar? This a similar behavior that feminists will often employ against sexy female characters or lack of female characters. Just as feminists have no evidence that the developers are misogynistic, these gamers have no evidence that the developers aren't doing what they want to.

Now, one might argue that this isn't prevalent or at least not a big problem. But I very much think it is. Browsing sites like GameFAQS, Twitter, and N4G I see this stuff more than actual social justice warriors, although they usually come to counter it most often do a poor job arguing their points (often resorting to name-calling). We gamers have a fight to win, and our image is a very important part of that. These examples feed the idea that we're irrationally phobic about characters that aren't straight white males, turn off developers who are tired of these accusations directed at their integrity, and give SJWs more ammo against us. We have no trump sympathy card that can turn any debate into victimization, or any blatant offense into an excusable symptom of a tragically frustrated plight. We can't play the same condescending victim-outrage game as them, because we will lose. I believe this topic deserves more attention than it gets, which is close to none. I criticize because I care.

Upon reflection, the core problem at all this kind of stuff? Sensitivity. Too much of it, specifically. Both sides are too riled up and they keep each other riled up. Absolutely everything regarding female (or other minority) character must be construed into a social gesture or statement, because of course that's the only major factor in creative decisions. I'd hate to be a developer nowadays, because I feel like I'd absolutely have to walk on eggshells to not be accused of being a misogynist, a politically correct coward, or a tool for a social agenda. The hard-working people who make our games for us deserve better than these irrational and ignorant shots, if not outright slander, against their character. What developers have is an un-winnable situation where there is no escape from being ignorantly criticized. It is not the responsibility of developers to be inclusive or un-inclusive in any way, and either decision they make is fine. Everyone is too sensitive to just let these decisions be respected concerning the addition or lack of minority characters, and take them for the relatively small elements that they are; they're nothing worth all this drama.

Maybe some gamers are just angry and resentful about everything that has happened in recent years, so they want to play a "contra-SJW" mindset that can be as irrational and ignorant? Maybe gamers are paranoid? Maybe histrionics is just how the internet always works? A mix of all these possibilities? Some gamers are quite reasonable and intelligent, so keep in mind I'm not trying to generalize.

Whatever the case, if gamers want to overcome third-wave feminism and social justice warriors, then we're going to have to be a lot more intelligent and mature than than what we're fighting. We cannot use the same cheap tactics and behaviors, because they do not work for us. And, most of all, we cannot feed and help perpetuate this venomous war of militant resentment and condemnation that stifles the progress we want. If feminists and SJWs keep up the pace, they'll keep infecting gaming more and more. A war of words should be won with reason, not rage.

(I hope you found something useful to consider in this blog. Thanks for reading.)