Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Random Shots: Burn It To The Ground

  • Before I get into this, how come no one told me that Syl of Raging Monkey's was such a great blogger? I feel like you were hording her all for yourselves. Shame on you.

  • So you've all heard of Tera, right? If not, let me sum up the game in three pictures.
Action Based Combat

Big-Ass Monsters

Pedophilia

  • Do you understand the problem here? No, of course the game is not about pedophilia. But what am I supposed to think when the game world is populated with half dressed prepubescent girls? What am I supposed to tell my wife and daughter? That it really is a great game as long as you disregard the sexualized children? I mean, I already have to get around the hypersexualized women in every other game (which Tera in spades as well). How am I supposed to play this with a clear conscience about the message that it is giving?

  • This is what the gaming industry thinks of us. This is what we get for being so complacent about sexual imagery in gaming. Good job, everyone.


© 2012 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

14 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. I honestly think they should have redone the models for that race altogether for western release, or just left them out.

      I have to agree that the way games often depict women is a bit insulting. In fact, one of the things I like about LoTRO, SWTOR, and DDO (my three current favorites) is that women wearing armor...look like they are wearing functional armor. You can sex yourself up if you want to in two of them, but you have to go out of your way to do it and I don't blame the developers for giving players options.

      Contrast with most MMOs where the exact same armor looks completely different depending on whether you equip it on a male or female character. I do find that insulting. I'm not 14.

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    2. "for western release"

      so it makes it less pedo for an asian dude?

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    3. Originally posted by Yeebo, stupidly deleted by me (Sorry!) ----

      Wow, I had to edit this three times to not get ranty.

      It's already been out in Korea for some time, that ship sailed away a long time ago. When localizing it for this market yes, they should have changed it more than they did.

      Further, given that the game isn't at all controversial in Korea, it's hard to say whether Koreans perceive it the same way that westerners do. I honestly doubt it, or you'd think they never would have designed the game that way in the first place (either that or Koreans are pervs). So yes, you may well be correct.

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  2. I've hated this trend in gaming since, well... Samus in her bikini if you played Metroid *just* right. I was what, 12? Just because some guys think with the wrong organs doesn't mean we all do.

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    1. I absolutely loved the Metroid reveal in the regular ending. But you're right, it has been all downhill from there.

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  3. Aw Anjin, thank you so much. :) I certainly didn't expect to read that checking your blog today. it is wonderful to hear such feedback, feedback in general - but one rarely gets to know what other bloggers or readers think in general or who they are.
    I feel the same way too; I recently discovered your blog thanks to twitter (I have clearly waited too long with twitter...) and wondered where you had been hiding all this time! the blogosphere IS vast. Cheers! =)

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    1. That's one of the things I'm enjoying about the NBI. I'm finding new established bloggers along with all the new ones. Glad we bumped into each other.

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    2. Same here, I've added quite a few new people to my RSS reader.

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  4. I agree on the art and the (I guess?) cultural issues with the Elin, yet I'm still playing and actually having fun. I feel a little guilty every time I log in, like I'm playing the MMO version of a reality TV show or something.

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    1. For all the negative aspects, I'm still super curious about Tera from a gameplay perspective. So frustrating!

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    2. Any specific questions? Email me, maybe I can do something descriptive that'll save you from having to put money into the game.

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  5. I made an Elin Berserker names Spankz!! See what I did there? Mostly I made the character because the general chat on the starter area gets dominated with the pedo talk.

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    1. You are a terrible person and I love you for it.

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