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Illustrated image from Jagged Alliance flashback with woman being sexually assaulted on main store page of steam :S (i.imgur.com)

submitted by ashridah

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[–]Sir_Marcus 44 ポイント45 ポイント

Wow. And it's not even her "flashback." Her victimization is apparently just part of the foregrounded man's story. Sure, she's the one getting assaulted - and who knows - maybe even raped but what's really important is how this guy feels about it.

Not that changing that would make it much better but... goddamn...

[–]hermithome 16 ポイント17 ポイント

Thank you. Came to the comments section to point this out. Ewwww

[–]ruby-minuet 16 ポイント17 ポイント

I looked at the Steam Discussion forums and some guy post a fake post about the bikini thumbnail and said, "I'm waiting to see if the social justice warriors are gonna complain or not." Someone pointed out that feminists were more likely to have an issue with the store ad.

The dev just said:

"We simply stick with the setting and the universe. Jagged is and has never been political correct, so neither will this one. Move on if you cant handle gun porn and A-team style humor. This game is not for you then. Contrary to so many other good looking women on games posters however, this one is actually part of the story. A cookie to who figures out who she is :-)"

Someone mentioned there had been a legit thread bringing up the issue of sexism but it got locked.

[–]BZenMojoall your neckbeards belong to us 10 ポイント11 ポイント

So...complain about sexual assault imagery and developers scream back at you about defending their right to lots of guns and splodey things and 80's slapstick non-violent deaths, dinosaur costumes, and fear of flying. Then turn around and reply, "By the way -- rape as primary character development!"

Those guys can go fuck themselves. They haven't sold a game in over a decade and now they're using controversy for bullshit cred points to hawk their inevitable pile of shit code and bugs.

[–]ruby-minuet 10 ポイント11 ポイント

In the other, serious thread, the same dev (Silverleech) said that the woman in the main banner ad was only being mugged and that if people thought more they were "seeing ghosts" and locked the thread. They just seem to not get it at all.

The female is NOT being sexually assaulted, r a p e d or anything else sexual. She is being mugged by 2 of the princes thugs. Spice (the guy in front) is about to do something about it, loading his gun. Anyone reading more into this is seeing ghosts or projecting ideas into this that are non-existant.

[–]iFlashieI only use Origin 6 ポイント7 ポイント

The feeeeemale is being robed? Why is the guy lifting her shirt? Why not go after the cash register in the bar? Where is she keeping all her valuables? There is no bag and I highly doubt she is keeping enough stuff in her pockets.

[–]gavinbrindstar 10 ポイント11 ポイント

Jagged is and has never been political correct, so neither will this one.

Someone thought that this would be a good defense for their game. What?

[–]ashridah[S] 6 ポイント7 ポイント

"it was totally cool in the 90's, what's the problem? DAE world hasn't changed at all?"

[–]ashridah[S] 13 ポイント14 ポイント

"This one is part of the story" aka "We're giant assholes who use women's suffering as plot devices to fuel a male protagonist's lackluster story"

Edit: changed word, still trying to stop myself from using an unnecessary feminine "hygiene" product as an insult, sorry.

[–]ruby-minuet 7 ポイント8 ポイント

For clarity, I'm 99% sure the dev was referring to the woman in the thumbnail picture that's in a mini-bikini holding a gun, and not the woman in the main banner ad.

And if the "hygiene" product you're referring to was douche, I feel like that came about from sexist/exploitative marketing and is usually bad for you, so I actually like it as an insult. :P

[–]anthrogeek 1 ポイント2 ポイント

Edit: changed word, still trying to stop myself from using an unnecessary feminine "hygiene" product as an insult, sorry.

Shit I'm tired and totally misread that. In my head I was like 'why the fuck is she calling people a tampon? Is that a thing?"

[–]ashridah[S] 0 ポイント1 ポイント

She?

[–]anthrogeek 0 ポイント1 ポイント

s/he?

[–]HovarTM -3 ポイント-2 ポイント

You're getting upset over a video game's character who has had something bad done in the past.

It's not like it's even senselessly put in, it's a big part of the story.

[–]ashridah[S] -1 ポイント0 ポイント

Upset? Methinks thou dost assume much not in evidence. This is my "wow, what assholes, moving on" expression. But nice try.

Big part of the story or not, it's still a pathetically lazy, overused trope that's better off left to shitty titles from AAA developers who're too scared to risk their butts with something new.

[–]HovarTM -4 ポイント-3 ポイント

You're getting upset over a video game's character who has had something bad done in the past. It's not like it's even senselessly put in, it's a big part of the story.

[–]Albino_Jackets -1 ポイント0 ポイント

Wait, why can't the story be about a man? I don't understand what's bad about that.

[–]ashridah[S] 1 ポイント2 ポイント

I didn't say having a story about a man was bad...

[–]0x17h_ 4 ポイント5 ポイント

Jagged is and has never been political correct

Translation: "We're proud of being colossal assholes and having absolutely no empathy."

[–]1338h4xA wild MISSINGNO. appeared! 2 ポイント3 ポイント

Move on if you cant handle gun porn and A-team style humor. This game is not for you then.

Even if we were to accept that, it still isn't appropriate for Steam's front page. Can't really move on from that, even if I don't play the game it's still there. And ffs, kids are gonna see that too.

[–]KillerBunny666 0 ポイント1 ポイント

I didn't play the first one besides the first mission but I did play 2 a lot though it was ages ago and I wasn't paying much attention to this kind of stuff, but besides the violence I don't remember anything in JA 2(which is the one most people care about in the series anyway) making it a game notable for "political incorrectness". In fact I remember quite a few female mercs not being sexualized and looking pretty cool.

I could be forgetting something though.

Oh well, that's a shame though, It's sad seeing devs being total assholes.

[–]GeorgeTheCynic 1 ポイント2 ポイント

Jagged is and has never been political correct

Weird, I thought Jagged Alliance 2 was pretty nicely politically correct/diverse, if unintentional anyway. You can pick and choose interesting mercenaries of every race, gender, and level of psychoticness. Every mercenary had a cool backstory, funny dialogue, and the women mercenaries were pretty badass.

A shame these new Jagged Allience games just don't have the magic Ja2 had, gameplay,story, and setting wise.

[–]sneakystratus 14 ポイント15 ポイント

What the fuck :(

[–]ashridah[S] 23 ポイント24 ポイント

Was particularly disappointed to see this. Since I'm assuming Valve have editorial control over the main front page, what on earth let them think it was a good idea to include this particular image? Is that all the developer gave them?

Also, what does sexual assault even have to do with a fricking turn based strategy game? You can't claim "immersion" or "realism" there, so how do you even come up with an image there and use it as a representation of the game?

[–]ashridah[S] 4 ポイント5 ポイント

Then there's the shovelware that's leading to ambiguously offensively named crap like this showing up as well, thanks to steam's self-publishing efforts.

All your favorite, vaguely offensive children's titles, overpriced, and super-low quality, all in one place. Joy.

[–]kinderdemon 5 ポイント6 ポイント

Could you explain this one? Maybe it is a cultural thing or my google-fu may be weak but what exactly is offensive about Putt-Putt and Fatty Bear? It seems like complication of an unironic children's game about a talking car and another about a bear.

[–]ashridah[S] 1 ポイント2 ポイント

It's mainly the "fatty" qualifier I take issue with. Defining things by their weight is a little shitty. It's the kind of shitty language I used to hear from bullies when I was a kid, and this game's name helps normalize it.

[–]eyucathefefe 4 ポイント5 ポイント

I'm not going to defend their name choice. Even though the name has nothing to do with the bear's weight, it is absolutely a problematic, insensitive name.

But on the gaming side of things - those games were fantastic, and they aren't on steam because of any self-publishing efforts. They're educational children's games, by an actual game publisher. They are not "shovelware", or "super-low quality".

[–]ashridah[S] -2 ポイント-1 ポイント

Being unfamiliar with the specific game, fair enough, but it looked like generic shovelware at first glance. But whatever.

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    [–]ashridah[S] 3 ポイント4 ポイント

    Someone holding a gun, pulling her full-length t-shirt up to show her entire midriff, and stopping just short of her breasts, while other people point a gun at her head, and she's (TW)very clearly crying and holding her legs together. Also, she's already bound at the wrists (it appears anyway), so why don't they just hold her arm, exactly? Grabbing someone by the shirt that way is probably the least effective way to 'restrain' someone.

    Yeah, I'm sure they're just here for the cash in the register and making sure she doesn't run to authorities (oh, wait, plot twist, those are the authorities with the guns)

    Note, this image in no way tells me anything about the game. For all I know, this game will have top-notch, gender-inclusive gameplay. But this image doesn't show that. It shows a woman's suffering as a plot point for one of the protagonists to go rescue.

    [–]abbadon1234 -4 ポイント-3 ポイント

    Well I mean it's a violent game. I'm pretty sure the story in any violent media is advanced through suffering? It doesn't matter if it's a man, woman or child that is suffering. Take a look at any classic story. Hamlet for example, plot is advanced through suffering the same with Dracula, brave new world and literally almost every story on the face of the planet. Does it really matter what gender it is that is doing the suffering? Of course not. Just like it doesn't matter what their sexually or ethnic background is either. People have bad shit happen to them, bad shit is usually used to kick start the plot or have an emotional climax. Welcome to story telling 101.

    [–]ashridah[S] -2 ポイント-1 ポイント

    It doesn't matter if it's a man, woman or child that is suffering

    Actually it does. Look up the damsel in distress trope some time. It's very, VERY overused.

    Using "generic woman in danger, hero springs to action" is lazy storytelling at best, and given the frequency, just generally shitty towards women.

    [–]abbadon1234 -1 ポイント0 ポイント

    And of it was a teenager in distress? Or another man? You could say the exact same thing. It's not lazy storytelling it's the foundation of any story. The protagonist needs something to kick start the story which is conflict. Taken to the extreme in violent media that conflict usually results in or is in itself suffering. Suffering is bad for anyone. Just because a writer chooses to use a woman's suffering to kick start the plot isn't sexist. Just like if the writer choosed to use a gay man it isn't homophobic or a black person, racism. Sure the villains might be all of those things but that doesn't mean the piece or the writers are.

    [–]ashridah[S] 0 ポイント1 ポイント

    I'm going to try to justify overused, terrible tropes for an image BEING ON THE FRONT PAGE OF FUCKING STEAM'S STORE, completely missing the point.

    good work, btw.

    If the developer wants to reuse a tired damsel in distress trope? Good for them, I'm sure they'll make a grade A title not even worth the download. But that's not my point here. I'd like to think that valve and the developer have more integrity than to put an image of a woman, terrified, on the front page when it's easy to assume she's being sexually assaulted.

    If you're going to argue that "because the trope could have been another gender/race/whatever" it's perfectly fine, then stop bothering. First of all, very VERY few people have put gay people into video games at all, let alone used them as damsels in distress, so that's another matter. PoC get used and thrown away as plot devices in games regularly too, but they at least get some chances at agency.

    Children are regularly abused as a damsel in distress as well. However, nothing completely subjugates women like the hundreds and hundreds of examples of women being used as damsels in distress in games

    [–]abbadon1234 0 ポイント1 ポイント

    Integrity? They are a business they will do whatever sells and makes them money. But yes a terrified woman who has a gun to her head as opposed to every other piece of advertising done for any game, movie or whatever else especially the horror genre where they frequently use images of terrified people. You know what the easiest way to convey a villain? Show them terrifying someone. Just because it is a woman who is terrified doesn't make it sexist.

    Subjugating women? As in women in general? I have no idea how you jumped to that conclusion based on one image of one woman. It's an ad for a game that people can choose to ignore and not play the game. It does not oppress women in genral.

    [–]Albino_Jackets -3 ポイント-2 ポイント

    Do you spout your bullshit in history class?

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    [deleted]

      [–]CryogenianIt is dark. You are likely to be eaten by a misandrist. 6 ポイント7 ポイント

      I think it will take about another ~infinity years of game development until we see something like that.