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'Hey Baby' video game - what do we think of this?

8 replies

MrsSawdust · 17/06/2010 00:03

here

Is it a witty, modern and thought provoking comment on women's right to remain verbally unmolested by strangers?

Or a sick fantasy that uses the male dominated medium of the violent video game to make women believe they're empowering themseves, when they are actually just sitting at home playing games instead of getting out there and changing the world in positive and active ways?

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LynetteScavo · 17/06/2010 00:11

It's not good.

I'm too tired to discuss further.

Goodnight.

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MrsSawdust · 17/06/2010 00:33

interesting article here

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Valpollicella · 17/06/2010 00:52

Stupid game. Both in practice in playing it and also is misanthrropic. Shoot all the men? Hmm...

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ElephantsAndMiasmas · 17/06/2010 11:04

TBH I don't like any violent video games. But if they are going to continue to exist, I don't have a problem with one where blokes get gunned down for being sexist harrassing twats. Maybe it will make guys think twice? Whereas prostitutes get killed in GTA just for existing, at least this game has a morality.

But I wish violent games like this would be banned, the ones with the realistic blood showers etc, it's grim. I wouldn't play anything like this.

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ElephantsAndMiasmas · 17/06/2010 11:09

Like this from the article:

"Video-game violence often evokes the darker sort of petty wish fulfilment. ?It?s about expressing transgressive thoughts, and that?s not always positive,? says Gillen. Men?s transgressive fantasies, as ever, get plenty of airing -- from games such as Grand Theft Auto to pornography to brooding films such as A Clockwork Orange or this week?s The Killer Inside Me, we are bombarded with opportunities to contemplate the darker side of men?s desires...

...But what about women?s dark, secret fantasies? ... What if women, too, had bad thoughts and private daydreams too transgressive for polite society? What if we fantasised about responding with criminal violence to everyday harassment? What if we wanted to make men afraid? What if we wanted money, status and power? What if we wanted to rule the world?"

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MrsSawdust · 17/06/2010 17:55

You don't have to shoot all the men, Val. Just the ones that piss you off

One possible value I can see in this project is the collecting of women's experiences of street harrassment - something that almost always goes unreported. The website invites us to submit our experiences. Whether the compiler intends to put that information to any use other than putting words in the mouths of the men in the game, I'm not sure ... but just the act of sharing is empowering.

But I still feel very uncomfortable with the violent fantasy format - such a male dominated medium. Maybe that's a good thing if it comes to the attention of plenty of men ... ?

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Ryoko · 18/06/2010 12:53

I watched that crap on C4 news, I seriously didn't like the tone of the whole segment and the attitude towards the point that it was violent and a game for women.

As a gamer I shoot people in the face on a regular basis and have done since the days of doom on PC, I find the whole idea that women shouldn't be shooting people in games extremely insulting and sexist.

It's not a big budget release, it's just a poor quality creation of a female creative mind instead of a male one that is all and some kind of vent for the lady involved, the whole idea that it is somehow contraversal because it's about getting females who are all soft and gentle never violent to shoot scumbag men makes me want to shoot those making a story out of it in the face.

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Ryoko · 18/06/2010 13:02

About the GTA comment, the media likes to make a stir, the context of the game is simple it is a sandbox game as they are called, you are free to do what ever you like around the core missions.

you can hire a prostitute, take her to your car where you will be treated to a very childish sexual encounter that consists of you watching the car go up and down on it's suspension until the prostitute gets out and walks off, you can kill her if you like just as you can kill anyone in the game if you like.

What you do in GTA says more about you then it does the game, you can drive within the rules of the road if you like or run people over and just like in real life the police will be after you if you break the law.

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