This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Did they make the female models fat, or did they just stop doing sex doll caricatures?
I shouldn't care about this, this is not the kind of game I'd play, and I do know that such games aimed exclusively at guys are not worried about women, they're putting in sex dolls. But the whining irritates me when it boils down to "I can't wank to this image".
What games I play, I'm not thinking about "whoo, look at the crotch bulge on that beefcake, I'm gonna beat off". But male and female sexuality is different, and guys who play games about shooting stealing it go boom etc. want their sexy sex doll wallpaper as well. That's fine, but don't complain as if "women are supposed to look like anorexic stick insects with zeppelins for breasts" is the normal depiction of women.
Great, and now I'm whining. I should go back and finish my replay of Baldur's Gate 3 for the evil ending, then continue on with the second replay I started and see if I can get Wyll to get into Astarion's pants this time round 😈
Well, this is the previous "sex dolls" from PD2
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gamespot.com%2Fa%2Fuploads%2Fscreen_kubrick%2F1179%2F11799911%2F2761522-clover.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=7f642c546f82c7b13b8e444b4f95b8d02cd6f7c6327e822a247849ea4d7b7355&ipo=images
Sounds to me like projection
To be mildly fair, Sydney did get a lot of porn made of her, but then again, that was mostly just literally one artist who just really liked Sydney.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
The former. It's kinda hilarious actually because these days, games use real life actors as a base for human models, and people have started to notice that the actresses that do the capture are more curvy and have better looking faces than the end result. Which means someone, at some point, had to make the thing more ugly than it really is, and have a reason to do so.
Another possible explanation for this is that most women (especially in shots that end up highly ranked on Google images, eg. photoshoots, awards ceremonies and so on) wear flattering clothes that accentuate their curves. Meanwhile, when scanned into the game (if the model is based on a scan) they're wearing a skintight wetsuit. With faces, a lot of it (honestly this is true at least for Horizon and ME: Andromeda) is scanning the actual face and then players comparing it to pictures of the model in makeup striking a specific pose (ie. mewing).
Your theory is that the pretty women in the google images for characters like M.J. in the recent Spiderman II or Alloy in the Horizon Forbidden West games are just fat with good fashion sense? How does that square with Stellar Blade?
Is Aloy fat? I don't play capeshit but as I recall MJ in the Spider-Man games was again an average looking redheaded woman, and certainly not fat.
from the first one to the second one, yeah, she got fat
EDIT.- Alternate link because the other one got mangled. Sorry that its to iFunny.
Your link is mangled and goes to a random /r/funny thread, seemingly due to some combination of trying to link an image hosted on Reddit and old.reddit.com.
thanks for the heads up, added another link.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Speaking of, what do you think of BG3 female party members' looks? Am I the one who's crazy when I think the "they making em look like men for trans appeasement" crowd need to touch grass?
That crowd needs to touch grass. I would say that I don't personally find any of the female party members attractive (Shadowheart comes close but her haircut is so damn ugly), but that's just personal preference. I certainly don't think they look like men.
I find Lae'zel to be the most attractive woman in the history of videogames, but that may be down to personality.
Lae'zel has that wonderful teef-ling bit that is probably the most endearing character interaction in the whole game.
More options
Context Copy link
I used to find Lae'zel the most grating woman in the history of videogames, but then I recruited Minthara. Can anybody tell me what is the drow attitude towards nudity? Does she feel humiliated when I don't return the clothes I looted from her in act one and she is forced to strut around the camp pussy out? I hope she does.
More options
Context Copy link
I question your taste in women, lol (I know, taste is totally subjective). Lae'zel's entire personality is grumpy. Maybe if she got the sand out of her cloaca she would be more pleasant to have in the party. :/
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link