The Male Gaze

[DavidCaruso]

and just because there's a gratuitous amount of male gaze in videogames doesn't mean it should be totally discarded because "it's just a videogame". what the fuck are you, 12? sexism is just as inappropriate in videogames as it is it any other kind of media.

Wait, did anyone say anything to the contrary? I don't think I did; I just said that there are in fact quite a few strong female characters in videogames, especially playable ones, and Bayonetta and others are included in this, especially when controlled by a skilled player.

people who care much more about the gameplay than the themes a videogame reinforces ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.

What the fuck man? This is literally the most mind-boggling thing I've read in this topic. Are we going into Jack Thompson territory now? Do videogames perpetuate themes of violence because the red pixels fly out of the human pixels and ruin our kids, and perpetuate themes of misogyny because you can hit women in Deus Ex 3 (even though you can also hit men too), and perpetuate themes of anti-socialness because CoD has online multiplayer? Then again I guess we're finally in the age where videogames are now vehicles for social change or something, and mechanics are just a secondary concern compared to themes.

The "themes" of a game are almost always purely aesthetic, and can be changed without impacting the essence of the game, therefore making them completely secondary in criticism or discussion of said game.