It began with a preorder. Excited for the release of Dragon's Crown this month, I opened a trailer and attempted to get my girlfriend excited for the evolution of the beat-em-up genre. What I got was a nine hour discussion and a recollection of dumb fanboy shit in video games. Some highlights of our conversation:
- Do comically large breasts/asses make something sexist? Does cleavage make something sexist?
- Will the sorceress in the game do blatantly objectifying things, like putting her staff between her breasts and moaning? Will male characters treat the female PC's as sex objects?
- Does the amount of bounce matter to be deemed sexist? Why does Assassin's Creed cleavage get a pass, but the randomly bouncing breasts in Bloodrayne get no media attention?
- Why hasn't other games received this much attention?
Let's start with the obvious: Sorceress has big breasts. Yes, ridiculously proportioned breasts caused by a spell that backfired during her training (at least it's part of the fucking dumb lore). They jiggle during spells, they bounce during running, they leap around the screen.
If you've read any articles about Dragon's Crown, it seems like this is the most sexist game ever to be released. Never mind video games that have a detrimental effect on society (Rapelay), this is outrageous! It's pandering, disgusting, and should be boycotted!
At least that's the stance Polygon and other sites have taken. Yet the folks that bring up this reaction are neglecting decades of poor artistic decisions in video games. Where were these folks when Metal Gear Solid had the racist Chinese accent? Silly me, that's racism! Sexism is the new racism in 2013, and Dragon's Crown is a blight on the industry. Is Metal Gear Solid the only example I could pull out of my ass? Here's a few gems to remind you:
- The KKK looking heroes of Castle Crashers.
- The blatantly racist shit in Resident Evil 5.
- Batman: Arkham Asylum/City Was there anywhere NEAR the amount of outrage over Harley Quinn's disgusting redesign? Catwomans?
- Rayman Origins: Those Goddesses sure had short skirts and big breasts! But it's French (not Japanese) so it's okay. Right?
Saints Row 3 is a good example of how games media is selective with it's outrage. When my girlfriend began playing the game, she did a double take at the "sex appeal" meter in character creation. "Women characters get a sex meter slider that makes the breasts bigger? Why wasn't this in the news?" On closer inspection, the male slider makes the dick so thick is bulges against the pants. What's interesting about Saints Row 3 is it received NONE of the complaints Dragon's Crown has received. Why? All of the off the wall sexist humor, depictions, and scenarios were dumb. Dumb as fuck. So fucking dumb nobody could play the game and say "this is sexist, let's boycott it." Dragon's Crown does the exact same thing: It takes dumb tropes from the DnD arcade game and makes it more dumb. Treating it as the poster child for sexism in video games? Lazy as fuck link-bait. But that never stopped Polygon before, right guys?
Is the big breasted Sorceress pandering to fuckers that enjoy hentai? Yes, and it's dumb. Even more dumb is the back of the box, likely created by a marketing warlock to cover that coveted niche market. But the art style is dumb, and shouldn't be taken seriously as something that defines gaming sexism.
Oh wait, it definitely should. The Polygon review seems to place more emphasis on graphics and art style than gameplay... Which is disappointing. Hell, it might have been a 7.5 if they weren't attempting to make a statement. If a game has amazing graphics, it should be noted for a sentence and moved on. But when a review site places great emphasis on graphics and the gameplay is secondary? You have Polygon.
Imagine a game critic discussing Crysis in 2013. Would it be valid to raise the score a few points because it was really fucking "pretty?" No, it wouldn't. Would it be more beneficial to tell the reader about the gameplay (in depth) and if it's worth the money? Absolutely. It's odd that Polygon decided to knock a good point or two due to the art style... Then hide behind its writer and a review team consensus. It's like if N'Gai Croal was given the Resident Evil 5 review and he docked it points for being racist. Oh, you have a problem with his review? Well, he is African American so... Would you kindly shut the fuck up? Now pass his review on to popular image boards so we get more traffic, would you pleb?
I'll never say this again, but check out the IGN Colin review. Notice how it discusses gameplay more than the art style? That's what Polygon needs to do. Will they? Not a fucking chance with Arthur Gies running reviews.
Should game scores be knocked down for their art styles or graphics? Absolutely not. Should adult discussions about sexist art styles be contained in an article? Absolutely.
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