[Rokkan]

p.s.: Metroid Other M was written by Sakamoto. Team Ninja had no influence on the story, shocking as it is.

I can't talk about the game (Tomb Raider) itself, I haven't seen much from it. I can only speak of what the developers of the game have told the media again and again about this game and it's gross. They keep using the same words to describe the game: "protect Lara", "weak", etc. It's a pretty fucking obvious male gaze dominating it, and I think those super-detailed and varied forms of gruesome "death" ties into it. I don't know how much she is sexualized in the game, but violence against women in media is usually extremely shitty because they sexualize it and it's super gross. In this game's case they might have designed the deaths to be upsetting and gruesome on purpose to tie in the whole "protect" motif, which is NOT what you see in, say, Far Cry 3, that has the same setting but a male protagonist in it (power fantasy & stuff). So yes it seems sexist and shitty.

Also since this thread is called "male gaze" and the opening post did not promise the discussion of the thread exclusivity to Tomb Raider, i think we could also discuss about the Anita Sarkeesian video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6p5AZp7r_Q

[Rokkan]

Yeah, completely and totally agree with that tumblr post. Especially the part in which it calls out the amazing atheist as a misogynist piece of shit.

Disabling comments was the best thing she could've done. Allowing hate speech to spread in the comments like fire not only gives no space to actual discussion and would make some people afraid to talk, but also gives the video a much worse look than what it actually is & allows people to form their opinions before actually listening to what she has to say. Like that post said, debate and discussion and idea sharing of this topic is being made, and a lot, just not on that space.

Another thing that she could've done (and did in a few of her other videos) is to allow comments, but only those she'd approve. But then people would be crying about "censorship" & stuff much more than they already are. Disabling all comments is a way better move.

Also I love how now that the video is out and she proved herself to know what she's talking about, all criticism going towards her is basically "SHE'S PUTTING ALL THAT KICKSTARTER MONEY ON HER POCKET" (no she isn't, and she even COULD because the project only asked for 6k and she got more than 10x more than what she needed, but she's not even doing that, she's putting most, if not all of it, into the production of the videos) and the "DISABLING COMMENTS IS CENSORSHIP" (which isn't).

I felt like she tried to pander too much to the people that hate her with the video. Like, it feels like she was trying a lot to win them over, with stating that she enjoys the medium a lot, "proving" that she knows a lot about gaming and isn't some sort of "EVIL FEMINIST MONSTER THAT WANTS TO DESTROY ALL THE VIDCONS THAT WE LOVE SO MUCH", which I hate that she needs to do this, because even if she -didn't- actually enjoy videogames and wasn't an avid gamer, that shouldn't take any power away from her arguments. But I guess that doing this works a lot, it definitely feels like most of the feedback is positive, even if it is grudgingly positive (comments like "yeah shes right BUT ITS NOT THE VIDCONS' FAULT" and "ok thats fair but MEN SUFFER A LOT THO" are pretty common), I just hate that she needs to do this.

[Rokkan]