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Fan Entitlement
Mar. 23rd, 2011 08:25 amSo I think I have a cold, or maybe sinus aggravation, on top of the on-off migraine that's been pestering me since Sunday night. I'd be back in bed right now - and will be soon enough - but sleep is going to be impossible because some jackass is running a chainsaw outside my window. It wasn't enough, the headache, the snuffles, the nausea, the touch of vertigo ... no, now I have to have someone chainsawing a tree not ten yards from my back garden. Yay.
So instead of going straight back to bed, I am going to say the following: fan entitlement sometimes just ... staggers me.
So I got up to at least try to get myself ready for work today, and that kind of didn't happen but I did do the usual LJ/email/Facebook/Twitter/RP forums/RSS feed check. Which is where I saw a post on a Dragon Age fan-community I'm on pointing out some arsehole sounding off on the Bioware forums with the following post: "Bioware Neglected Their Main Demographic: The Straight Male Gamer">.
...............Yeah, my brain already hurt enough before I read that. Let's have a look at the opening paragraph:
I don't think many would argue with the fact that the overwhelming majority of RPG gamers are indeed straight and male. Sure, there are a substantial amount of women who play video games, but they're usually gamers who play games like The Sims, rather than games like Dragon Age. That's not to say there isn't a significant number of women who play Dragon Age and that BioWare should forego the option of playing as a women altogether, but there should have been much more focus in on making sure us male gamers were happy.
I'm not going to belittle what straight guys want in a game here. But let's face it: if you're bitching about your only romance options for the straight male being 'not an option most gamers will like' because they're too 'exotic' (read: 'dark-skinned' in one case, thank you, let's have some racism in there too) and also bitching about feeling like characters aren't designed as support for Bro!Hawke enough because there are actually strong women and guys who aren't making 'bi' a synonym for 'will screw anything that moves' the way Zevran did in Origins? You'd frankly think that the sheer amount of hack-n-slash and the fact that PirateBitch runs around in slutbomb cleavage!top and no trousers ought to be enough for you.
Seriously, though? The game had its problems in places, but I would generally assume that the Straight Male Gamer would like the game for the same reason this Bi Female Gamer does: the story, which is engaging and really makes you think. The supporting characters with their flaws and their one-liners. The graphics. The improved combat system. These are things that will appeal to anyone playing, not any particular gender, sexuality or whatever. The rest? Well, frankly, if you don't want to romance the guys in-game ... don't. It's pretty easy to avoid. Just don't pick the flirting options. It's that simple.
Gaider responded quite classily to that one, for which I salute him. However, I have something to add: Bioware made sure Straight Male Gamers ... and all other demographics of gamers ... were happy by making an awesome game. I wasn't sure about All-Bi Romanes before the playthrough either but it wasn't intrusive, and I'm personally not bothered about the fact that the Racist Homophobe Gamer (a group that I hope to hell is in the minority) isn't happy with the game.
Apparently this individual has posted the same or similar rants on the forums four times already. Persistent little nug-humper, ain't he? Someone needs to put on their big-boy underpants and deal with it.
So instead of going straight back to bed, I am going to say the following: fan entitlement sometimes just ... staggers me.
So I got up to at least try to get myself ready for work today, and that kind of didn't happen but I did do the usual LJ/email/Facebook/Twitter/RP forums/RSS feed check. Which is where I saw a post on a Dragon Age fan-community I'm on pointing out some arsehole sounding off on the Bioware forums with the following post: "Bioware Neglected Their Main Demographic: The Straight Male Gamer">.
...............Yeah, my brain already hurt enough before I read that. Let's have a look at the opening paragraph:
I don't think many would argue with the fact that the overwhelming majority of RPG gamers are indeed straight and male. Sure, there are a substantial amount of women who play video games, but they're usually gamers who play games like The Sims, rather than games like Dragon Age. That's not to say there isn't a significant number of women who play Dragon Age and that BioWare should forego the option of playing as a women altogether, but there should have been much more focus in on making sure us male gamers were happy.
I'm not going to belittle what straight guys want in a game here. But let's face it: if you're bitching about your only romance options for the straight male being 'not an option most gamers will like' because they're too 'exotic' (read: 'dark-skinned' in one case, thank you, let's have some racism in there too) and also bitching about feeling like characters aren't designed as support for Bro!Hawke enough because there are actually strong women and guys who aren't making 'bi' a synonym for 'will screw anything that moves' the way Zevran did in Origins? You'd frankly think that the sheer amount of hack-n-slash and the fact that PirateBitch runs around in slutbomb cleavage!top and no trousers ought to be enough for you.
Seriously, though? The game had its problems in places, but I would generally assume that the Straight Male Gamer would like the game for the same reason this Bi Female Gamer does: the story, which is engaging and really makes you think. The supporting characters with their flaws and their one-liners. The graphics. The improved combat system. These are things that will appeal to anyone playing, not any particular gender, sexuality or whatever. The rest? Well, frankly, if you don't want to romance the guys in-game ... don't. It's pretty easy to avoid. Just don't pick the flirting options. It's that simple.
Gaider responded quite classily to that one, for which I salute him. However, I have something to add: Bioware made sure Straight Male Gamers ... and all other demographics of gamers ... were happy by making an awesome game. I wasn't sure about All-Bi Romanes before the playthrough either but it wasn't intrusive, and I'm personally not bothered about the fact that the Racist Homophobe Gamer (a group that I hope to hell is in the minority) isn't happy with the game.
Apparently this individual has posted the same or similar rants on the forums four times already. Persistent little nug-humper, ain't he? Someone needs to put on their big-boy underpants and deal with it.