Thursday, November 14, 2013
It's Complicated
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
How you handle gender is actually important!
Ah, games that get it right.
You are so refreshing.
Also I really do recommend this one. It's relatively cheap too!
You are so refreshing.
Also I really do recommend this one. It's relatively cheap too!
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Vlog 1 - Finally talking about Saint's Row!
(I apologize about frame rate issues. Game was running at 10 FPS for me while recording)
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Continuing on last time...
So. Last time I talked about the game Shepherd's Crossing 2 and called it a game very similar to Harvest Moon. I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the differences in that game, too. well. Those games.
Harvest Moon is actually a very interesting case in and of itself, actually. The game started on the SNES. There was no gender choice involved. I 'll also admit that when I go on a nostalgia trip, that is the game I choose to play. I kind of grew up on it, and there is something relaxing about the simplicity of that version. ANYWAY. The series continued through. The second game actually released, Chronologically, was Harvest Moon GB. This was the first game with a gender choice.
I'll be honest, I don't know much about the Game Boy games. I know a couple facts (like in the third one the game ended once marriage occurred if you were playing a female, while you could keep on playing and have kids and such if you were a male.) In fact the interesting part of the series in regards to gender actually starts in the GBA era, around the time Friends of Mineral Town was released. Now the portable games had been allowing gender choice, while the console games were not (Though there was a Japan only girls version of Back to Nature... That was eventually released on the PSP as part of Harvest Moon Boy and Girl... Way to have an uninspired title there kids.). Friends of Mineral Town was one of the first of the handheld versions where you were once again, locked into playing as a male character.
This is where things get interesting. There were a few games released following the trend Friends of Mineral Town started - namely, there would be a boy's version released, then about a year later, a version would be released for girls. This version would include fixes for several GAME BREAKING BUGS. It is actually interesting to me. This led to in many cases the girl version being the preferred version. Actually being able to complete the game has a lot going for it, after all. Also from a marketing standpoint it makes a lot of sense. It allows them to re-sell the game, with fixes, and make more money.
This was actually most notable with the first game for the DS, called simply Harvest Moon DS (And Harvest Moon DS Cute, for the girl's version). Amusingly, this version reversed the issue with Harvest Moon GB3 (I would love to give a better title for that, by the way... but that is the title of the game.) where marriage to a town girl ended the game for males, but you could keep playing in females. In fact in DS Cute you could even have a "Best Friends" ceremony with another female character and be blessed by the harvest goddess with a baby! ... in Japan.
Yeah moral guardians didn't care much for that one.
THANKFULLY, however, in my mind, the games now allow you to just choose in the beginning of the game, with the choice really only affecting marriage candidates. (Whiiiich is another thing entirely. I really wish I could just freely choose who my character marries. I often find myself preferring the bachelorettes.) Frankly that's how it should be. I really did not like how some of the games would end early for one gender and not the other (Bah gender binarism.). Still all in all? I like how it's just not really a big deal in these games. You don't have differing abilities. It is once again, mostly a cosmetic choice.
Unless of course for nostalgia's sake you're playing one of the games where the girl's version fixes game breaking bugs. So glad to live in the era where downloadable patches are a thing...
(truthfully though? I prefer Rune Factory anyway...)
Harvest Moon is actually a very interesting case in and of itself, actually. The game started on the SNES. There was no gender choice involved. I 'll also admit that when I go on a nostalgia trip, that is the game I choose to play. I kind of grew up on it, and there is something relaxing about the simplicity of that version. ANYWAY. The series continued through. The second game actually released, Chronologically, was Harvest Moon GB. This was the first game with a gender choice.
I'll be honest, I don't know much about the Game Boy games. I know a couple facts (like in the third one the game ended once marriage occurred if you were playing a female, while you could keep on playing and have kids and such if you were a male.) In fact the interesting part of the series in regards to gender actually starts in the GBA era, around the time Friends of Mineral Town was released. Now the portable games had been allowing gender choice, while the console games were not (Though there was a Japan only girls version of Back to Nature... That was eventually released on the PSP as part of Harvest Moon Boy and Girl... Way to have an uninspired title there kids.). Friends of Mineral Town was one of the first of the handheld versions where you were once again, locked into playing as a male character.
This is where things get interesting. There were a few games released following the trend Friends of Mineral Town started - namely, there would be a boy's version released, then about a year later, a version would be released for girls. This version would include fixes for several GAME BREAKING BUGS. It is actually interesting to me. This led to in many cases the girl version being the preferred version. Actually being able to complete the game has a lot going for it, after all. Also from a marketing standpoint it makes a lot of sense. It allows them to re-sell the game, with fixes, and make more money.
This was actually most notable with the first game for the DS, called simply Harvest Moon DS (And Harvest Moon DS Cute, for the girl's version). Amusingly, this version reversed the issue with Harvest Moon GB3 (I would love to give a better title for that, by the way... but that is the title of the game.) where marriage to a town girl ended the game for males, but you could keep playing in females. In fact in DS Cute you could even have a "Best Friends" ceremony with another female character and be blessed by the harvest goddess with a baby! ... in Japan.
Yeah moral guardians didn't care much for that one.
THANKFULLY, however, in my mind, the games now allow you to just choose in the beginning of the game, with the choice really only affecting marriage candidates. (Whiiiich is another thing entirely. I really wish I could just freely choose who my character marries. I often find myself preferring the bachelorettes.) Frankly that's how it should be. I really did not like how some of the games would end early for one gender and not the other (Bah gender binarism.). Still all in all? I like how it's just not really a big deal in these games. You don't have differing abilities. It is once again, mostly a cosmetic choice.
Unless of course for nostalgia's sake you're playing one of the games where the girl's version fixes game breaking bugs. So glad to live in the era where downloadable patches are a thing...
(truthfully though? I prefer Rune Factory anyway...)
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Easy Mode
Recently my attention was called to an article I had seen. That article has since then stuck in my mind. Straight White Male: The lowest difficulty setting there is. All in all, it's an interesting read. There are bits I agree with, bits I don't, but overall I feel the metaphor is very useful (including the sad fact that he had to banhammer many, many of the 800 comments responding to that. There is a reason they are CLOSED.)
There is actually a good reason I bring this up. Recently I picked up a game that well... it fit in really well with this. The game? Shepherd's Crossing 2. In essence it's a sort of harvest moon like farming sim, but much more open ended. While it is more open ended, it is also a lot more in depth. It also focuses a lot less on social interactions. Harvest Moon, while a farming sim, has a large focus on the social aspects of life.
Anyway, when you first start a game of Shepherd's Crossing 2, you choose your gender. Alright then. Now as I tend to attempt to represent myself in these games, the first time through I decided "Hey I'll play as a female character!". Turns out, for a first time player? HUGE MISTAKE.
You see, the way Shepherd's Crossing 2 works is that in a way, it sets its difficulty by what gender you choose. Not by lesser capabilities or anything like that, but by how much it holds your hand and what requirements you must fulfill. An almost depressing mirror for life, really. To give an example: one of the key factors of gameplay is you must keep a stock on hand of firewood, food, and a side dish. If you run out of any, it's an instant game over. At least it is if you're playing a girl. IF you're playing a boy, you get at least 4 chances to run out of things, and besides doing that is the only way to marry one of the marriage candidates.
Oh yeah I did mention one of the objects of this game was to get married, right?
Speaking of marriage, marriage requirements are another case where the difficulty comes in. For a boy to get married, you need to have several sheep and... that's it. A girl? You need the sheep, need to sheer the sheep, wash the wool, spin the wool, knit it into cloth, make the cloth into bed coverings.
I see a slight discrepancy here. I don't mind there being a difficulty level. I in fact really like the idea. What I MIND is that it is tied to gender. IT is a whole giant world of unfortunate implications and mirrors to reality in western societies. I know at least of many instances where women I've known have had to work three times as hard as men for the same respect. But it doesn't even get INTO the paranoia it spawns. The paranoia that you're not doing good enough. The paranoia that if you aren't working three times as hard as everyone around you, that you're just not working hard enough.
There is actually a good reason I bring this up. Recently I picked up a game that well... it fit in really well with this. The game? Shepherd's Crossing 2. In essence it's a sort of harvest moon like farming sim, but much more open ended. While it is more open ended, it is also a lot more in depth. It also focuses a lot less on social interactions. Harvest Moon, while a farming sim, has a large focus on the social aspects of life.
Anyway, when you first start a game of Shepherd's Crossing 2, you choose your gender. Alright then. Now as I tend to attempt to represent myself in these games, the first time through I decided "Hey I'll play as a female character!". Turns out, for a first time player? HUGE MISTAKE.
You see, the way Shepherd's Crossing 2 works is that in a way, it sets its difficulty by what gender you choose. Not by lesser capabilities or anything like that, but by how much it holds your hand and what requirements you must fulfill. An almost depressing mirror for life, really. To give an example: one of the key factors of gameplay is you must keep a stock on hand of firewood, food, and a side dish. If you run out of any, it's an instant game over. At least it is if you're playing a girl. IF you're playing a boy, you get at least 4 chances to run out of things, and besides doing that is the only way to marry one of the marriage candidates.
Oh yeah I did mention one of the objects of this game was to get married, right?
Speaking of marriage, marriage requirements are another case where the difficulty comes in. For a boy to get married, you need to have several sheep and... that's it. A girl? You need the sheep, need to sheer the sheep, wash the wool, spin the wool, knit it into cloth, make the cloth into bed coverings.
I see a slight discrepancy here. I don't mind there being a difficulty level. I in fact really like the idea. What I MIND is that it is tied to gender. IT is a whole giant world of unfortunate implications and mirrors to reality in western societies. I know at least of many instances where women I've known have had to work three times as hard as men for the same respect. But it doesn't even get INTO the paranoia it spawns. The paranoia that you're not doing good enough. The paranoia that if you aren't working three times as hard as everyone around you, that you're just not working hard enough.
Maybe that bit's just me.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Gender Coding and Life Sucking Creatures
Hello low hanging fruit how are you? But then again it is the game that has been occupying most of my limited free time. I personally find it an awesome game. It's a good game to cover for this because really it is one of the most evenhanded portrayals that I've seen. Especailly with the customization features for appearance. Granted a true even handed portrayal, in my mind, would enable the use of all articles of clothing and all haircuts on all characters. Like Animal Crossing New Leaf. Granted to get to the opposite gender's (problematic in itself. More than two genders exist!) haircuts you have to cycle through all of the ones coded for the gender that you have picked at the beginning - but boys can at least wear dresses out of the box.
Yes yes, I know that means dresses would have to be modeled for a lack of breasts as well as with them. And many people still find it bad and wrong and deviant. It very much reinforces the idea that masculine coding good, feminine coding bad. Which is really the topic I want to get into here (Because what is this train of thought without a good side trip through the Bahamas?)
As mentioned in my last post, one of the games I grew up playing was Super Metroid on the SNES. Now I was never terribly GOOD at it but I enjoyed it a lot. Frankly it is also the first case I can remember in a mainstream game of a female character being a BAMF (I am not translating that for those who don't know the acronym.) Even then though, analyzing it through today's lens... She really was very masculinely coded. Heck, in the original Metroid, her gender served as a sort of "Gotcha!" reveal for beating the game under specific conditions. Interestingly though, her gender was actually changed from male to female midway through development.
The fact remains though that for almost every game in the series, she acts in a manner that is traditionally masculinely coded. And there's nothing wrong with that, in itself, really. It is the fact that femininity is coded with weakness. I very rarely see a case where a character is coded more.. femininely and is still a complete BAMF. To complicate this matter, if a male character is coded more femininely, they are viewed as a complete and total wuss. The problem is less the coding, more the perception OF the coding. Masculine good, feminine bad.
Even in reality, this is true - As a woman, it is more acceptable for me to participate in traditionally masculinely coded fields like computer programming and games, (Fake geek girl BS aside. That is a WHOLE can of worms involving sexist blistertwits who feel that any encroaching femininity into their Boys Club is BAD AND MUST BE MADE TO DIE. To say nothing of all the rape threats that are casually thrown about. ) than for someone who identifies as male to participate in traditionally feminine persuits such as sewing. And again, that's not even getting into alternate genders, like genderqueerness, trans*, agender, intergender... The list goes on.
and frankly when people want to call someone a wimp, they resort to words for female anatomy. That alone is a pretty shocking indictment.
Alright, wrenching this train back onto the tracks because it was aiming for the Bahamas and ended up somewhere in the north pole... or off of a cliff. In many ways I feel games are doing better. And again, Pokemon is one of the more progressive. At the very least, characters do not suffer a strength penalty for being female (like in many old crpg (computer Role Playing Games)).
Yes yes, I know that means dresses would have to be modeled for a lack of breasts as well as with them. And many people still find it bad and wrong and deviant. It very much reinforces the idea that masculine coding good, feminine coding bad. Which is really the topic I want to get into here (Because what is this train of thought without a good side trip through the Bahamas?)
As mentioned in my last post, one of the games I grew up playing was Super Metroid on the SNES. Now I was never terribly GOOD at it but I enjoyed it a lot. Frankly it is also the first case I can remember in a mainstream game of a female character being a BAMF (I am not translating that for those who don't know the acronym.) Even then though, analyzing it through today's lens... She really was very masculinely coded. Heck, in the original Metroid, her gender served as a sort of "Gotcha!" reveal for beating the game under specific conditions. Interestingly though, her gender was actually changed from male to female midway through development.
The fact remains though that for almost every game in the series, she acts in a manner that is traditionally masculinely coded. And there's nothing wrong with that, in itself, really. It is the fact that femininity is coded with weakness. I very rarely see a case where a character is coded more.. femininely and is still a complete BAMF. To complicate this matter, if a male character is coded more femininely, they are viewed as a complete and total wuss. The problem is less the coding, more the perception OF the coding. Masculine good, feminine bad.
Even in reality, this is true - As a woman, it is more acceptable for me to participate in traditionally masculinely coded fields like computer programming and games, (Fake geek girl BS aside. That is a WHOLE can of worms involving sexist blistertwits who feel that any encroaching femininity into their Boys Club is BAD AND MUST BE MADE TO DIE. To say nothing of all the rape threats that are casually thrown about. ) than for someone who identifies as male to participate in traditionally feminine persuits such as sewing. And again, that's not even getting into alternate genders, like genderqueerness, trans*, agender, intergender... The list goes on.
and frankly when people want to call someone a wimp, they resort to words for female anatomy. That alone is a pretty shocking indictment.
Alright, wrenching this train back onto the tracks because it was aiming for the Bahamas and ended up somewhere in the north pole... or off of a cliff. In many ways I feel games are doing better. And again, Pokemon is one of the more progressive. At the very least, characters do not suffer a strength penalty for being female (like in many old crpg (computer Role Playing Games)).
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