Kings of perception -
April 23, 2001 - Chris Jones
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed
within this column are those of the participants and the
moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the
GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive
material afoot.
Waves of storms keep passing through town - it's like being at a god-sized carwash.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
I'm not sure how to describe this, so I'll just link to the picture and let you get your heads around it.
I gotta say, I'm a bit disturbed by this, assuming it's even real. The picture itself is a bit odd - the face looks overly large and proportion to the body, and looks like it was done at a different resolution to boot. But that's not really here nor there - the entire concept of Maxim strikes me as a bit silly, so I'm maybe not the best judge of the quality of cheesecake.
What's more relevant is what exactly Square's trying to do with this little marketing ploy (again, assuming it's real). It's not that this is the first time they've pushed a project by making eye candy out of one of the cuter protagonists, but it feels different this time around. Tifa was a cartoonishly exaggerated babe who developed real depth as you played through, much like FFVII sold itself as a flashy FMV-fest but developed real heart as a game. (We can argue how good it looks now, I still maintain it was a big step forward for the time.)
The FF Movie is different. It's been my impression all along that this was a prestige project for Square - sure, everybody salivated over the realism of Aki's blinking eye in the first demos, but this was supposed to be CGI done right, a movie that would move computer animation into serious drama territory. Sure, I'll admit that there are any number of female leads from summer blockbusters who do photo shoots in everything from Entertainment Weekly to Playboy, but this isn't some actress looking to further the rest of her career - a CG character is only a character, and placing a CG character in a wildly incongruous context weakens their ability to be the character they were originally designed to be. In other words, nobody in the FF Movie's likely to run around in a purple bikini (at least, that's the impression I get) but now that I've seen Aki in one, it's going to be hard to think of her otherwise.
...and looking back on that, I've probably ranted far too much about a simple marketing ploy, and laid bare my prejudices about what's "proper" for a non-existent collection of polygons. But what the hell, tilting at windmills is what they pay me for.
Onward.
| Legacy of Antrim |
| Stand back, I'm gonna contact the Agent!
In all this talk of gay gaming, I'm a bit surprised that nobody brought up that parody site that Thor Antrim did to make fun of Grrl Gamer. Gaay Gamer. He got a lot of crap over that, people accused him of hating gays and girls in general, when the point of the site was to draw attention to how stupid it is to put gender classing over the quality of the site itself. I could elaborate on this, but I think someone said it better than me yesterday when they mentioned that homosexuality would sadly overshadow the character themself. So I won't talk about Barret lying with his head in Vincents lap.. gazing at the stars... like a never ending dream...
Gilbert the Agent contacter, that makes you the contactee baby
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I remember that mock site, and I also remember at the time thinking it was pretty childish. Thor Antrim's a cool guy, about a billion times funnier than I am, and as far as what it was trying to do, the site was a fairly solid critique of the source material. Where we part ways is the extent to which the source material needed to be parodied at all. It's really easy for a member of a majority to be completely clueless about a minority to such an extent that they don't even realize their cluelessness, and following that line of reasoning, it's easy for straight teenage males to scratch their heads in bewilderment that anybody could ever want games, or the gaming community, to be any different from what they already are.
I admit that I don't personally relate to a lot of the points this topic's brought up. I was only half kidding when I said how great it was that games provided an endless stream of babe protagonists, I honestly hadn't ever questioned the number of gays featured in games, and I stay as far away from yaoi and yaoi-type characters as possible. (Sydney the character is damn cool, Sydney the design I'd just as soon see put some real pants on.) Even now I'm surprised that this topic lasted as long as it has... but that's the whole point. I'm not always aware of what unspoken prejudices are behind the way I think, and if something like Grrl Gamer wants to challenge those prejudices by presenting things from their perspective, more power to them. The Internet's a big place, it's not like what they're doing has to affect you in any way, shape or form, and if you think it's complete idiocy, then be content to let their own excesses be their own parody.
| The Iconoclast |
| I hate to see female stereotypes slip over into female gaming stereotypes. I always hoped, deep down inside, that I could be as tomboyish as I wanted to in geekland without noticing that I'm less feminine than everyone else. And yet, it seems my hopes are false. Women gamers like romance best? But *I* don't! RPG romances are boring! All of the love interests are exactly the same! Romantic scenes are always the ones that affect me least. I recently played through FFIX, and while the Zidane/Dagger thing was nicely done, it just didn't affect me as much as, say, anything whatsoever involving Vivi. The romance was one of the least interesting things about that game. There are other ways to develop characters. Zidane's defining moment in the game, for me, was his beautifully done scene at the end with Kuja--not in the least bit romantic, but still very touching.
And speaking of Zidane and Kuja not being romantic, what is with all the yaoi? I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE yaoi, with an irrational depth of passion that quite frankly baffles me. I'm not even a homophobe, and I hate it. I hate its subject matter. I hate its themes. And most of all, I hate its fandom of ridiculous schoolgirls gibbering nonsensically over who can come up with the most fantastically twisted and wrong pairing of video game characters. I don't get it. It leaves me stupefied. How do you get from "Cloud and Sephiroth are hot" (a sentiment I fully agree with) to "Cloud and Sephiroth boning each other makes ME SUPER-HOT!" (an idea which makes me feel dirty even as I type it.) At first I was all excited about having video games with gay characters, and because then the yaoi fans could write homofanfics which are actually in character, but then I read a GIA letter informing me that, no, yaoi MUST be between two characters who would never end up together in any sort of sane world. Come to think of it, that makes gay characters even more appealing to me, because that means I can play at least one game without fear of the aforementioned giggling fangirls coming along and traumatizing me out of enjoying it.
So, I guess my points are:
1)Not all girls are hooked on ultra-mushy kissy-face stuff, as evidenced by yours truly,
2)I am probably a lesbian, and
3)This is very long and not very relevant to anything, so it probably won't get printed. I do hope, however, that I got at least one laugh out of the editors.
Love and (non mushy) kisses,
Lemon-chan
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Yep. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. And yep. (But not about this lesbian part.) This pretty much nails how I look at yaoi (except for "Cloud and Sephiroth are hot"). All I can think of is that, as a previous letter writer more or less suggested, yaoi satisfies some cultural kink in many (but not all) women, in much the same way that most guys get turned on by big breasts, blonde hair, and submissiveness. Not a lot that can be done about it though, except to ignore it if it's not your thing.
| Things I don't want to see at E3 |
| NOTE: the following is a satire/dramatization, The games featured within may
or may not exist ... and now, on with the show!
Straight from the e3 floor, and coming soon to your
PS2: Super Street Fighter EX 3 +a - Just like the last bout ... well maybe a
new character or two, oh yeah and a 3 instead of a 2! How's THAT for
innovative? Bet you're regretting buying that
Resident Evil: Again? - MORE! -- of the same damn 'find the jewel, get the
crank, and put it into the winch to open the waterway to the next area' style
puzzles MORE! -- of the same frustration of dying early on because you have
nothing to your name but a pretty looking butter knife. MORE! -- of the same
zombies blowing up that you've seen last time.
N64: *crickets chirp around a cobweb-laden ghost town of a booth*
Dreamcast: There aren't any new games coming out, but check this list of
peripherals!
* MP3 Player -- wait that was canceled, and besides, don't you have a
portable one you can use?
* DVD Player - sure, we can't reprogram the DC's GDROM to read DVD's, but
that's not gonna stop us! And besides, it's tradition to release several
useless unneeded peripherals for each system.
* Toaster - Comes with 'I can cook toast!' software; burns different things
into your sliced bread, like a Chu-Chu, Mecha-Sonic's head, Robotnik's head,
or Ryo from Shenmue!
Gameboy Color - Check out this amazing lineup!
Pokemon Brass
Pokemon Copper
Pokemon Violet
Pokemon Amber
Pokemon Diamond
You KNOW you want to catch them all... you KNOW you can't resist...
Anyway, it's late, I was bored, and thought I'd try a little satire, tell me
what you think!
- JR
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The Pokemon, RE and Street Fighter jokes have been run into the ground by this point, but the Dreamcast stuff wasn't bad, and this brought a touch of goofiness to an otherwise overly serious column. You pass, kid.
| THE BIG RANT |
| Have I got a story for you.
Yesterday, I was playing Zone of Enders when the colors went screwy. By
this, I mean that everything took on this greenish hue, and individual
colors on the characters began bleeding outside their borders, so that
everything was basically a green blur. After some experimenting, I
determined that this was, in fact, the PS2's problem; I tried my old PS1,
which worked fine, so it wasn't the TV's problem. The PS2's DVD playback was
still fine, but every PS2 or PS1 game that I tried on the console had that
greenish, blurred effect. Not only that, but when I rebooted the system,
those spiraling lights in the bootup sequence that were normally
multicolored were now all green.
No problem, I thought. I bought the PS2 on March 7, so I was still snugly
under warranty. So this morning I called up Sony customer service; they took
my name and address and such, and then they asked me if I used a third-party
DVD remote. Yes, I said; I use a MadCatz. The woman then proceeded to tell
me that I'd just voided my warranty and directed me to page 23 of my PS2
manual:
THIS WARRANTY SHALL NOT APPLY IF THIS PRODUCT: (a) IS USED WITH PRODUCTS NOT
SOLD OR LICENSED BY SCEA (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NON-LICENSED GAME
ENHANCEMENT DEVICES, ADAPTORS AND POWER SUPPLY SOURCES), etc., etc.
She then told me I had to pay $119 for the privilege of letting Sony have my
PS2 for 15-20 business days.
After I talked to her supervisor, then hung up on him in a rage, I called
them again. I asked them if their repair people could, in fact, determine
that it was the MadCatz remote that had caused the PS2 to malfunction, and
the guy said yes. I then asked him, "If it wasn't the remote's fault, and if
the repair people determine that it was, in fact, the PS2's problem, then
will you honor my warranty?" and he said no. So I said, "So basically, Sony
is hiding behind the letter of the warranty," and he started to say, no, but
I ran over him and said, "Basically, this is the situation. The spirit of
the warranty is that Sony will stand behind its workmanship and guarantee
that its products will work for 90 days. The letter of the warranty is that
if I use any third party accessory, even if that accessory didn't cause the
problem, I still get screwed, isn't that right?" And he hemmed and hawed,
but eventually said, yes, that's the situation.
And what a situation! So basically, no one dares use any third party
accessory for fear that Sony will weasel out of its commitments. Never mind
that there is no first-party DVD remote available in the U.S. (the damn
customer service rep told me I should have used the controller). Never mind
that Sony has never issued a specific warning against the MadCatz DVD
remote. And I'm sure third party makers would be interested to hear how Sony
is basically slandering them behind their backs.
But don't take my word for it. I encourage you to check this out for
yourself. Call up Sony at 1-800-345-SONY, lay a similar situation on them,
and see what they say. See if they don't try to shake you down for $119,
even after the greedy bastards already took you for $299.
This is something every gamer ought to know about and doesn't -- the sheer
injustice, the sheer duplicity of these 90-day warranties and of the
companies that allegedly stand behind them. Nobody reads these warranty
terms, no matter how diligently they might read the manual, and no one would
think anyone would have the nerve to actually use those terms against a
customer. God knows it's too late for me. It's pony up the money and get the
PS2 repaired, or be stuck with a $299 paperweight. It's fucking ruined any
future gaming I do on the PS2 as well. I can just see it; no matter how much
I'm enjoying myself playing Metal Gear Solid 2 or Silent Hill 2 or Final
Fantasy X, I just know I'll be thinking, "I just gave those greedy sons of
bitches more money; the ones who rooked me for $119."
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One possible solution would just be to say that you didn't use a Mad Catz remote - it's not like they can prove otherwise, and if they've already got your name and address, just have a friend call in for you, and say it's his PS2 that's broken, and of course that he didn't use a Mad Catz remote. Problem is, this might constitute fraud, which is unethical, and more importantly, could get you sued. I'm definitely not advocating it, regardless.
A better course of action would be to call Mad Catz up and tell them the story. Basically Sony seems to be implying that their remote caused damage to your PS2 - if they're right, then it should be Mad Catz' job to replace it, and if they're wrong, then as you say, Mad Catz is being impugned, and probably wants to put a stop to it. Either way, it's something they're probably better to deal with than you.
And lastly, in the interests of fairness and journalistic integrity and all that rot, I did go ahead and call up Sony, laying out the situation as you described it to me. The CSR I spoke to was extremely helpful and informative, and told me that although the remote did technically violate your warranty, you'd only be charged if they found your remote did do the damage. (In which case I'd get on the phone and start yelling at Mad Catz.) I don't know why our experiences differed, except that, having worked in customer service myself, I can tell you that for the most part you're a lot more likely to get what you want if you're patient and polite. Unless they start obviously giving you the runaround, in which case you demand to talk to as many supervisors as you possibly can.
| The gay Persona |
| Just a few thoughts on the topic of homosexuals in RPGs...
First of all, if we ever see a homosexual protagonist, I think it
will most likely be a man. Why? Let's put it this way: think about
most anime and manga. The majority of these can be put into one of
two categories based on the target audience: shounen/seinen (intended
for a male audience) and shoujo/josei (intended for a female
audience). In my experience, the majority of relationships portrayed
in guys' anime/manga are heterosexual, but when it comes to girls'
entertainment, a great deal of it contains at least hints of
homosexual interest between (typically male) characters - overall,
yaoi/shounenai is quite popular, whereas girl/girl relationships are
comparatively rare.
To be honest, though, I don't think that we'll see a main character
who is openly gay in a mainstream RPG anytime soon, if ever. As has
already been pointed out by others, the target audience for games is
mostly male, not female, and, in general, guys don't seem to have
nearly the obsession with female/female relationships that girls do
with male/male ones.
On a side note, however, there already IS a major RPG release where
the hero can become romantically involved with another guy in the
party - Persona 2: Innocent Sin. Depending on certain choices made
during the game, Tatsuya can end up with one of three different
people - Maya, Lisa... or Jun, who, although not exactly what I'd
call masculine, is most certainly male. (And unlike the male
pairings in the Star Ocean 2 endings, no, it's definitely NOT meant
to be just friendship... ^^;)
Tavila
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That's a good point about Persona, and it makes a lot of sense now that I think about it. Persona's fairly unique in that it's a modern day RPG that has concerns somewhat closer to reality than most other games. It's not so much that you're likely to worry about demons invading your town/school/mall/whatever, but the issues of identity that the game brings up are fairly relevant to the intended audience of teenage kids. If games really are art, then no theme should be out of bounds, regardless of the setting, but if games are primarily escapism, then sexuality's probably as out of place in a fantasy game as civil rights, or economic theory, or the idiocy of Gap ads.
| The last word |
| Eh, I dunno. Gay characters on television and in films are still
simplistic overall, but they're evolving VERY fast...I don't imagine
it'll be too long before we see good ones in video games...ten years,
wot?
-AJ
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Sounds like a good place to close the discussion - I'm very pleased with the response this topic's brought out, and we'll revisit it, but for now I'd like to give it a rest. Thanks much to everybody who wrote in.
Closing Comments:
Between that Persona comment and rereading Scott McCloud's Reinventing Comics this weekend, the issue of genre came to mind. At the moment RPGs are nearly as tightly wedded to fantasy settings as American comics are to superheroes, or 50's sf was to rocket ships. Every once in a while we'll see a topic about more modern settings, but even that's interesting in that most of the discussion settles around the one-dimensional question of past vs. present vs. future settings... and even then, the basic goals and stories of the games are near identical. There's more that could be done - Wild Arms had some echoes of a wild west theme, and Persona (and Shadowrun) break away at least a bit from "horrible evil out to destroy the world". I'd like you to send in some ideas about what other genres RPGs could explore - horror's an easy one, but how about stuff like historical recreation, corporate intrigue, or even romance? (Maybe in a way that didn't degenerate into Tokimeki Memorial territory.) Give me some feedback. Later.
-Chris Jones, prefers bikinis in red, anyway
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