Exclusion and oppression are big words. Lots of groups of people have been excluded and oppressed over the ages of time. Only this week the Spanish government voted to allow descendents of the Spanish jews who were kicked out over 500 years ago to come back. Those that didn’t leave were generally burnt alive, so leaving was pretty much the only decision available to them. That is oppression and exclusion. You lose your house, your land, your business, your income, your prosperity, your social hub, your friends, your family, and possibly even your life. And it took 500 years to attempt to correct it.
So when I see those same two words used to make a point about video games, my initial reaction is somewhat along the lines of areyoufuckingkiddingme? When the argument in question is because an upcoming game hasn’t included playable female characters then I wonder why my brain is beginning to hurt so much. Because yes, someone really did use those words in this context. I’m not sure that because of this decision on the game designer’s part that she is going to lose all her possessions and be exiled to some lonely atoll, but hey, it’d be a start wouldn’t it.
Here is the post in question, from someone called Brenna Hillier. She is very upset, very upset indeed. How dare those nasty game designers release a game with a story where women aren’t involved. This is nasty and evil, and wait for it …
“… I’m actually deeply personally ashamed that it took a financial argument to convince me of this, given the inherent, objective immorality of exclusion and oppression …”
It’s funny, but I don’t remember thinking this back in the day when I was playing Lara Croft. None of the people I know were gnashing their teeth in rage because they couldn’t play a male character in that game. But that’s because we are gamers. For us, the game is the thing. It has always been the thing and so it shall always be. But people like Ms Brenna are not like us. They are political activists first and gamers second. Which means they are not interested in games, they are only interested in being fucking stupid.
I mean, really? You’re not going to play the game now even though you had been so looking forward to it?
“… I had been really, really looking forward to Deep Down. I would like to wake up tomorrow and find a statement from Capcom saying the translation was bungled somehow, and that playable female characters will be included in the game – if not at launch, then by god as part of a 100% free patch in the near future …”
So don’t play the game then. Who gives a shit? Go back to pretending that you’re being excluded and oppressed. You don’t need to play a game because you already exist in a fantasy world.
UPDATE: Vox Popoli has a good reply to this as well: http://voxday.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/why-we-dont-put-girls-in-games.html