GameSpot warned Gamers about the thought police years ago

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/gdc-2009-the-new-face-of-game-censorship/1100-6206796/

That's an old gem; yet still very relevant.

don't know if this is going to get locked, but just be prepared

Political correctness really is the worst kind of censorship and so is sexism because it seems to be a one way street against men. Both of these things are the reason females in the new Mortal Kombat are more "realistically proportioned to better portray what a normal female looks like", all the while the men are still these big hulking muscle bound gorillas, it's a double standard.. This is what happens when the ideology from people like Anita Sarkeesian starts to take hold in the game industry, you get cookie cutter watered down experiences that are censored to be more politically correct and keep the feminists quiet.

If I wanted to look at "normal females" I would take a stroll through the mall, one of the points of playing Mortal Kombat is the ridiculousness of it all, the exaggerated boobs, asses, extremely revealing clothing, that's a part of the overall appeal of the game.

You read that and then watch this video and everything will become so clear. It's like an epiphany.

@harisinghnalwa: Please put a little bit more meat on your posts than just a link to an article. This is a discussion forum. If this is Gamergate related, use the GG thread.

-Byshop

First we're attacked by the extreme right groups, and now it's the extreme left groups. Keep your damn politics out of our games.

the problem with all these psychotic political ideologists is they can't keep their politics out of anything. If there is something that does not fall in line with their ludicrously narrow world view they attack it with one of their several tools (sexism/rascism/fairness for the left, safety/security/nationalism from the right among others) until it gets enough attention and the pansies making/selling it cave in to their demands.

What i've seen is that PC is killing creativity and creating cliques. These people cater to their own

You can't smuggle in hate-speech and sexism under the guise of "too much political correctness".

Sigh

Another Gamersgate thread...... Dont you people get tired of making new threads about this?

Movies do it, so why can't other entertainment media?

What movies do that?

So games should only cater to you? Can you give examples of creativity being killed by political correctness? Games now are a lot more diverse and creative then they were before, or do you miss having nothing but WW2 shooters?

Portray hate speech and sexism? A hell of a lot of them do.

Such as? I know some exist but don't pretend they don't receive criticism.

Yeah, and that's beyond stupid, too. People are entitled to create any work of fiction they choose to. Political correctness is irrelevant in fictional story telling.

You didn't give any examples.

How is that stupid? You do know of this thing called freedom of speech right? If I find something racist I am free to criticise it for that, and if I own a cinema or DVD store I am free to not screen or sell it.

Why would you criticize someone's fictional creativity for not being politically correct? Stories are made from scenarios that don't exist in a perfect world.

I'm not saying people don't have the right to criticize and question things, but why try to change another person's work just because you're offended by it from a reality standard?

You can't control how people think and what they can or cannot create or enjoy in the world of fiction.

So lets say there is a film about how all gamers are pasty white nerds who hate women, would you not criticise it?

People are allowed to dislike something for whatever reason they want, that includes it being racist, sexist or homophobic. Why criticize it? because that's what critics do, they criticize things. If only people who liked things are allowed to comment on them then every discussion and review would be nothing but a circle jerk.

@toast_burner: hey, HEY! i am trying to sleep ovah 'ere try to keep ya muggles down!

Did you even read my comment? Criticisms and judgements exist in all things, nothing new there. People complain about any and everything in existence, especially on the internet.

The problems arise when people try to have fictitious works banned or changed, based on their political biases. Like Liberal groups trying to have "To Kill a Mockingbird" censored, or boycotting GTA for not having stronger female characters. Censoring things is equal to burning books and destroying people's creations. Fans of GTA don't play the games for having gender equality etc.

Those kinds of warped activisms are as restrictive as Conservative groups who fight gay marriage and sex education for instance. Most people of the world fall somewhere in the center, and don't go out to either of the extreme edges to force their minority views on the rest of the world.

People can freely criticize things all they like, but they shouldn't have the right to change fictional works to meet their sensitivities. They should know the difference between fiction and reality.

So boycotting is banning something now? You do realise that all boycotting means is not buying it? So if people aren't allowed to boycott something that means you think they should be forced to buy it. I doubt that is what you think, but clearly you haven't put any thought into what you're saying.

Not supporting something is not the same as censoring it. A review giving a game or film a low score is not censorship, it is merely giving it a review.

As for banning (which is something only governments can do) that is stupid, however when it comes to hate speech no that should be banned. (hate speech meaning advocating the murder or attack of groups of people)

@toast_burner: You're the one who's not putting thoughts behind your words, because nowhere did I say boycotting shouldn't be allowed, just that I think it's stupid.

All that other drivel you wrote is just trying to put words in my mouth. We can't move forward while you're doing that.

So why did you even mention boycotting? You clearly called boycotting a problem. How is people not buying stuff they don't like a problem?

Like I said the only people who have the power to ban things are the government. So why are you complaining about critics and consumers?

Your problem is you ass/u/me way to much, and draw irrational conclusions from people's comments. I've read numerous comments from you doing just that.

If you want to me to continue the conversation with you, re-read my comments, and respond to exactly what I said, not what I didn't say or what you inferred.

Otherwise, have a nice day.

"The problems arise when people try to have fictitious works banned or changed, based on their political biases. Like Liberal groups trying to have "To Kill a Mockingbird" censored, or boycotting GTA for not having stronger female characters. Censoring things is equal to burning books and destroying people's creations. Fans of GTA don't play the games for having gender equality etc."

So how is boycotting something the same as forcing it to change?

Boycotting is activism in most cases. It leads to political pressure that can get things pulled from retailers. Like Hillary Clinton making a fuss about GTA SA and getting it pulled from US shelves. The game became ultra rare for a time and I ended up paying $100 for the damned thing.

All boycotting is is not buying something. Of course people aren't going to buy something they don't like.

Retailers are free to stock what ever they want. I wouldn't expect a Christian book shop to stock The Origin of Man, so why would you expect something like Target to stock GTAV? It's called supply and demand, if there is no demand then there will be no supply. Boycotters can't make a difference if other people carry on buying it.

Yeah business's are free to sell what they like, and people are free to bitch about what they don't like, and politicians are free to politicize things until they're blue in the face, and people are free to blindly follow the left or the right to their heart's content.

I just wish these extremists would mind their own fucking business and keep their noses out of my life. If I want to watch Pulp Fiction and enjoy the racism and sexism, the illegal nature of the movie, then I will. If I want to beat prostitutes in GTA, I will. If I want to read the word "ni**er" in "To Kill a Mockingbird" without it being replaced or censored out, then that's my right. Doesn't mean I would want to behave that way or condone that kind of behavior in the real world.

If anyone finds my enjoyment of these things offensive, then that's their problem. Banning, censoring, changing, burning, erasing these things is exactly what the thought police are trying to do. They have no real right to do so, though.

They are minding their own business. By refusing to buy something they are minding their own business. Why do you care if someone chooses to not buy GTAV because of how it portrays women? Or if they give it a lower score because they felt the sexism in the writing negatively impacted their enjoyment of the game?

Not sure why you keep bringing up banning stuff. I already said I agree that it's stupid to out right ban or censor something.

@toast_burner: I'm not talking about boycotting anymore. The thread is about how others try to push their views on people.

Years ago conservatives tried attacking games, and now liberals are doing it, both for different reasons. I guess since it's the newest form of entertainment, those groups see it as more vulnerable to political pressure.

So we agree with each other now.

Are games being banned really that much of a problem any more? It's been quite a while since I heard of a game being banned out side of Australia and the obvious places.

How about the shaming of creating sexy characters? How about the double standards of female protagonists?

Thats called free speech. Devs are still free to make sexy characters if they want to.

I still don't see why games need to be stuck in the middle of political and ethical firestorms like this. I've said it before, but games are a type of media just like anything else, and nobody seems to attack films or books when they release new content. perhaps some see games as more evil because of how the player interacts with the game world, but that doesn't mean that they are any more inherently evil than a film where the protagonist shoots a person. All entertainment is created more or less with the same purpose in mind, and games are no exception just because they're relatively new on the scene