In What Electronic Entertainment Have You Been Partaking #18: Reticulating Splines

[hobbsyoyo]

The genital stuff in C2077 is to me a lot less problematic than how every female or transgender character in the game is either a prostitute or a sexual assault victim in waiting. (Per reviews I've read)

And the transgender 'mix it up advertising campaign (both in the game and irl) is also highly problematic and as someone else said, prudish af

 

[Ajidica]

The genital stuff in C2077 is to me a lot less problematic than how every female or transgender character in the game is either a prostitute or a sexual assault victim in waiting.

Wait what?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

No Man's Sky

One planet I found had....dinosaurs. Literally, they were just dinosaurs. I tamed one with creature pellets.

One of the randomly-generated space station missions asked me to go to a specific "marsh planet" and take a landscape photo. I think I delivered.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

@Ajidica
Yeah there are very few females in the game apparently and those that do exist tend to be NPCs that get beaten and unclothed (they don't show rape but suggest it happened) or are just outright prostitutes. The only real female characters are all sex objects too a la Witcher 1.

I actually don't know if there are any transgender characters in the game outside of the mix it up ads. And if you haven't seen that - you should. Kind of shows the tone they struck with the game in general which is funny given how they talked about it as a progressive/inclusive game.

 

[Ajidica]

@Ajidica
Yeah there are very few females in the game apparently and those that do exist tend to be NPCs that get beaten and unclothed (they don't show rape but suggest it happened). The only real female characters are all sex objects too a la Witcher 1

That's a shame, because Witcher 3 had some great female characters, even once you move beyond Yen/Tris/Ciri there were some fun characters.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Disclosure:

Haven't played C2077, just going off a reviews i read. The longer critics play them, the more harshly they view the game

 

[AdamCrock]

Disclosure:

Haven't played C2077, just going off a reviews i read. The longer critics play them, the more harshly they view the game

I think that is to be expected after prolonging the release for so long people expected much more.... It is like the "Paris Syndrome" - it is a factual syndrome of people coming to Paris - expecting it to be much more than it really is I'm afraid

 

[Ajidica]

Disclosure:

Haven't played C2077, just going off a reviews i read. The longer critics play them, the more harshly they view the game

That's a shame, and from what I've gathered, the problems are increasingly entering "design decision" territory and leaving "we can patch/dlc this"*.

*Like, they can patch out the bugs and could DLC the underwhelming 'living city' with more diverse assets, NPC conversations/interactions, etc.

 

[aelf]

I wonder to what extent the issues with rather regressive elements in C2077 come from the original material. I'm not familiar with it, but I think it's pretty dated by now?

 

[AdamCrock]

Oh look ! The "regressive" , "backward ass" guy shows up ! Keep it up soldier, You're doing great !

 

[aelf]

Ok, and Poland is in North Africa.

 

[AdamCrock]

Yes we've build a palace in one of our colonies, west of Beirut and a little bit east of Bengazi, less maintenance that way, though our trade route with Greece might take a few commerce points down, since now the are closer to our Capital

edit: of course my plan is to make amphibious battle elephants from there like Hannibal did , bang the Nubian princess and raid Berlin on mighty Elephants !

Moderator Action: Settle down Adam. --LM

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I wonder to what extent the issues with rather regressive elements in C2077 come from the original material. I'm not familiar with it, but I think it's pretty dated by now?

I doubt that had much impact. Has anyone seen the "mix it up" ad? I doubt that came from the source material.

The ad is of a woman in a tight leotard with an enormous, forearm-sized erect penis tucked under the tight fabric. It's transperson-as-fetish and the Twitter campaign around the ad was even worse.

 

[EgonSpengler]

The Long Dark

I finished mapping Ash Canyon, but decided not to hang around any longer than that. Took about 2 weeks. It's a great zone for exploring, and the backpack and crampons are worth the trip, but I think the region's too anxiety-inducing to hang out in just to enjoy the scenery. I spent a few days just chillin' in the Angler's cabin, but I found being at the bottom of a bowl like that felt vaguely threatening. I think I'm going to spend a few days on Timberwolf Mountain, maybe make a trip up to the plane wreckage, and then drag a bunch of stuff down to the Pleasant Valley farmhouse.

 

[Takhisis]

Eat arrow, scum!

I'd forgotten how it felt to play as the Elves in BfW.

Ok, and Poland is in North Africa.

In Eastern Europe, actually. I understand your confusion, because, looking at it from Africa, it's still to the north.

 

[Ajidica]

I wonder to what extent the issues with rather regressive elements in C2077 come from the original material. I'm not familiar with it, but I think it's pretty dated by now?

I've played a fair amount of Cyberpunk 2020, and ran two campaigns with it; though not in its specific setting. The books were written late 80s/early 90s and heavily borrowing from 80s action flicks. The women are all big-breasted and sexy (with hair somehow even bigger than their breasts), the guys are all muscle-bound hunks with jawlines like battleships.* I don't remember there being a single reference to homosexuality or transgender outside of some "girl on girl is hot". However, in describing the clubbing and nightlife, they borrow heavily from places like Studio 54 which was known for having a very permissive view on sexuality. The source books also carry a very strong vibe that, when you can give yourself extra arms, jack into the pleasure center of someone else's brain, and mechanically or biologically change and augment every part of yourself; concerns over what plumbing someone has is rather prudish and outdated. There is a strong anarchic "rules are for chumps" tone throughout the book. Night City is a dog-eat-dog world, where the only thing that matters is your luck and your skills; because everyone will betray you for the right price.

*Google Paolo Parente Cyberpunk. He did a lot of the best art for the book.

 

[cardgame]

I doubt that had much impact. Has anyone seen the "mix it up" ad? I doubt that came from the source material.

The ad is of a woman in a tight leotard with an enormous, forearm-sized erect penis tucked under the tight fabric. It's transperson-as-fetish and the Twitter campaign around the ad was even worse.

Alternatively, it's inclusive of trans women under the existing commodification of women's bodies that exists in 2020 and will likely continue to 2077.

It's treating them just like a cis woman might be treated, in a -reminder- corporate cyberpunk dystopia. Where body mods are massively available and not seen as a big deal.

 

[Takhisis]

So, cardgame, tl;dr we sexualise and commodify women, so doing the same to people we didn't use to consider women now means we're enfranchising and legitimising them by sexualising and commodifying them?

sounds legit

 

[cardgame]

Yes, precisely.

Misogynistic? Exactly as much as present day, present time. Transphobic? I don't see it. Maybe the twitter ad campaign/follow-up tweets.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Yes, precisely.

Misogynistic? Exactly as much as present day, present time. Transphobic? I don't see it. Maybe the twitter ad campaign/follow-up tweets.

Getting treated like everyone else. Welcome!