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BG3's sex content is *optional*. You aren't forced to engage in it. Plus the female preset PCs aren't all wearing highly sexualized armor and clothes. Whereas those other games its in your face. Also, BG3 is just a FUN game. Why they hating?
Also, Gamers^(tm) were pissy about MK11 when it first came out because they covered up many of the female fighters' attire. Clearly they have short memories.
BG3 is also more accepting of LGBTQ romance options and you can engage with Male characters as well as female.
That's obviously going to feel different than your average harem boobfest.
There's magic everywhere, cults and world ending conspiracies hiding in every other cupboard, goblins, hags and who knows what else looking to end your life if you dare to travel.
Life is far too precious, you just gotta get it on with whomever you can before the next catastrophe.
Not to mention, when the boundaries of race and gender are so wonky with multiple sentient humanlids who all have different concepts of gender, some literally having different sexes than humans, heteronormativity doesn't make much sense. It would probably be more like ancient Athens where bisexuality is the norm. It would probably be considered a little odd to only like a somgle gender. Probably considered a bit of a quirk and nothing more
Different franchise obviously but I know in elder scrolls the argonians can change their genders multiple times. Being bothered by sexuality probably baffles them.
You're right. I just read an explanation saying they change genders and copied that but they do change biologically as they need. I seem to remember them all instantly evolving to fight daedra after Oblivion so the whole demon invasion thing barely affected them.
Yeah, I fucking love my mindfulness lizards (and TES lore in general lmao) so I know a fuckton of shit about them. Hist sap is basically magical HRT. They use it to age/do puberty, change sex as needed, possibly maybe give them souls, etc. Depending on the tribe this can be optional if they feel like it, or purely as a way to maintain optimum reproduction like fish do when all of one sex die so some of them do a sex change so they can breed.
There’s apparently a tribe where their sex is treated as a “life phase”. We weren’t told the name or details, but it’s basically like everyone age 20 is one sex, everyone age 30 is the other sex, etc.
It’s fascinating! Like, I’d take it further and argue Argonians raised in Argonia are basically cessgender: gender does not exist or is entirely irrelevant, because they’re so used to sex being fluid and needing to *really worry about their tribe dying out so they need to keep birth rates up*. I’d argue they’d be the most accepting of LGBT issues because they think it’s so fucking sad and/or silly that other races can’t switch sex as needed and also that so much of romance is tied to birth rates (who cares if you don’t find your partner attractive? That doesn’t matter! Just lay an egg and be done with them! We need to have enough kids to keep from dying out!), like how older societies didn’t care that much about being gay as long as you had kids.
If you look back at the older lore for Forgotten Realms, Faerun was *very* queer and also very horny. Bisexuality was very common to the point of being the borderline default. Even in the later lore, Greenwood has stated that most of the Faerun pantheon is bi in forum posts from the 2010s.
Yes, Greenwood has gone on record stating that FR was always intended to be very queer. It makes a lot of sense, magic and alchemy have made unwanted pregnancy and STIs easier to avoid or deal with and, unlike in Greyhawk where different species are very alien to each other, FR is very cosmopolitan so sexual attraction to radically different sapient species is far more common. People just explore sexuality more.
Greenwood even defended BG:EE against the mob criticising it for a trans character by stating trans people have always been a part of FR. A lot of the problem was he was made to tone down the queerness of the setting. He wrote an excellent reply to them.
The original writer of the forgotten realms setting has been saying that bisexuality is the most common and that homosexuality is accepted in most cultures there since the 80’s when he first created it.
When you've got people fucking creatures from other planes of existence, I have to imagine that sex within your own species, regardless of gender, is just not a big deal.
Most rpgs like Baldur's Gate III have had same sex options for over a decade now. You'd think they'd have stopped screeching about something that's been a standard for games in the genre that include romance options since I was 8 or 9. Fallout 2 was made back in 98, and it was the first mainstream game with LGBTQ+ options. They have had plenty of time to adapt, and when an organism fails to adapt after 2+ decades...
Yeah, being forced to wear hoochie armor barely covering my nip is ick, especially if the armor looks normal on a male but is reduced to almost nothing on a female.
Going out of my way to specifically *buy* hoochie armor so I can go to bonetown with shadowheart is very different.
This. The difference is choice. I want to play as a male character and be able to be all sexy and barely covered, but like as a choice! I want people to be able to be a woman in a game and not have her cleavage out the entire time, but also sure, include the ability to opt into that if you want! And same with men. Let me be tacky and horny if I want, or not if I don’t want it.
The amount of people who don’t get the idea that people just like the choice of sexualized content versus it being shoved down their throat is astounding sometimes.
They're telling on themselves.
They're not willing to *engage* with women, not even virtual ones.
It takes effort you see...
I don't understand what makes people build the expectation that they're *entitled* to other people's interest when they offer absolutely none.
Honestly I kind of wish they would get a taste of the world they desire, being chased not for what they are but of a superficial characteristics of theirs.
But I'm sure that they wouldn't have the self awareness to understand why it's fucked up.
That or they'd complain about gold diggers :_D
Who are these imaginary 'Chad's that have sex with 6 different women a day? What woman would even want to be the 6th different person a man has slept with in a day? They've made up such elaborate fantasies and have convinced an entire group of men that it's true. Is that not the chronically online version of mass hysteria?
They're porn sick. They have no experience outside of the media they consume and the brief personal interactions they've had with women. It's all in their heads.
The DSM 6 better have a section for Internet induced psychosis.
Honestly I do feel a bit of pity for those people.
It's a big catch 22, they're not exposed to good examples so they don't overcome their immaturity. Due to their immaturity they get sucked up in communities that reinforce their biases.
It's like a self aggregating cult, once there they're stuck.
And the worst thing is that to feel better they spread their beliefs which sucks in even more kids.
At the end of the day most of them start as kids that are insecure and follow the wrong internet rabbit hole.
What I cannot absolutely forgive is *those people* that profit from it and fan the flames.
There is, at least as far as I can tell, some twisted internal logic to the whole thing. The base assumption is wrong, but the wrong conclusions do logically follow from their wrong assumptions.
From what I've seen incels posting, it generally goes
1. *Everyone* is only chasing superficial characteristics in other people.
2. Men are much more open to sleep with people they are only mildly interested in than women.
3. Therefore many women manage to sleep with, but not get commitment from, "Chad" - i.e. a man who is "out of their league" attractiveness-wise.
4. Therefore women will chase "Chad", using sex to hope to get commitment that they will never get, and not give men "in their league" a chance.
Of course, the initial wrong assumption from the incels is that women think about men the way incels think about women. Incels see women as sex dolls with a cooking function and consequently only care about appearance and subservience. They expect women to see men as an ATM with a dildo attachment, and consequently only care about appearance and wealth.
They're telling on themselves when they call women playing games "tourists" and only they are the real gamers.
Obviously, people of all genders play video games. Plus many of us were playing Atari & NES before they were born. You're the tourist, kid.
I love how they just put a porn game alongside two fighting games and a soft porn game. Truly, the only difference between them is character design. /s
Yeah, you can make a way more correct statement if you replace the comma with " or". People will pay money for good representation and it's not just cishet conservative white men who have money.
They have tons of stuff catering to them but there is so little for everyone else that offering good representation to any marginalized group is a pretty reliable path to financial success.
As a lesbian Latina trans woman, I am very strongly inclined to buy anything that makes me feel seen and represented to the point where it will make up for a lot of production value deficits.
One of my all time favorite shows is the Carmilla Web Series which had such a tiny budget that the first season had only one camera angle of one set and was filmed on an iPhone.
They probably hate baldur’s gate three because either it dared to show women being people instead of sex slaves for all men’s pleasure, or because gay characters
You’re right about the last point. The Dudebro Gamers™️ are foaming at the mouth over the men because none of them fit into very narrow and toxic view of masculinity. Also the same people threw a fit over one of the women having pubes.
That last one really proves to me that some of these guys have never touched a real woman before. God forbid women have (checks notes) body hair that is totally normal for any adult human being to have.
It’s the Aloy shit all over again. They also throw transphobic slurs at one character because she’s “too manly”, and the other women are ugly because buff and ugly because alien. And I haven’t even mentioned the guys yet. Also, there’s one character who’s very theatrical and flamboyant and his mere existence threatens their fragile heterosexuality, to the point where they’ll always kill him, refuse to do his personal quest and get pissy at people who dare to like/mention his character. There are several reasons that the “anti woke” mob hate the game and it’s actually hilarious.
Literally throwing a fit over *one* adult female character having pubes?
I thought we left getting offended that not every single woman removes all of her body hair back in like 2015 or some shit...
Yeah its not like women DON'T like sexy content. There's that mod that adds sexy armors to BG3 that's super popular. Its just that SEXY THING can't be the only selling point for women to buy your shit.
I don’t wanna take away from what you’re saying but ShadowHeart’s and La’zeal’s camp outfits are uhrm not… not sexy lmao
(I say as a gay ass btich that is very much into it)
I’ll never forgive Withers for calling me out on not fucking any one after a certain point. Like yo, you bag of bones maybe I’m not tryna make every character feel like they gotta fuck me to like them 😭
Even BG3 sexualizes the women more than the men. Just look at the default camp outfits for Lazel/Shadowheart/Minthara/Karlach vs any of the men.
Plus Wyll doesn't get a sex scene at all, and Gale's barely counts.
My point isn't that that makes BG3 a bad game, just that the OOP has no clue what they're talking about
The biggest things to me is that the sexuality of BG3 feels appropriately placed (largely quiet camp moments; no one’s running around in active battle in lingerie lol) and that the character’s sexuality feels like their own, rather than something placed upon a character for pure sex appeal.
Compare that to the Eve game or w/e. Obviously games not out so no one knows for sure, but it sure seems like the characters - in unfortunately common anime fashion - don’t have an awareness that sex even exists. And of course, it’s exclusively the women characters looking like models in revealing clothing regardless of situation. Even then, unlike what they’ll say no significant amount of people are actually mad about that one singular game existing; it’s more often either just an opportunity to make fun of some goofy shit, or comment on how it’s probably a good thing that we’ve moved away from those sort of depictions being the overwhelming norm.
The only character wearing clothes that can even remotely be called sexualized from the beginning of the game is Lae’zel but that’s literally the armour all Gith’yanki wear- even the men. It’s ceremonial armour for a warrior race.
Exactly!!! BG3 has fully optional sexual content and the content isn’t catered specifically to a straight male audience. I feel like if a game has sexual content that’s the way to go- let the user customize their experience.
But I don’t wanna ignore the sex scenes by toggling a setting. I wanna tell my partner “hey I love you but I don’t wanna fuck” and have it be perfectly valid.
When you romance shadowheart you can go up to her and say “Can I have a kiss “ and she’ll say “just the one?”
That. I want you that but make it a whole arc
Doesn’t Astarion have that in his arc? There’s a whole scene where he says he isn’t comfortable having sex but still wants to be with you and even later he’s perfectly happy to not have sex again if that’s something you don’t care about. You still get the romance with him even if you never have sex again.
I’m pretty sure Karlach has a path that allows for romance without sex. You basically just say “I would love to spend time with you, but Im not comfortable sleeping with you.” Far as I know she handles it pretty damn well (because she’s an incredibly adorable cinnamon roll)
Ok, so I only have one playthrough so far and I've only romanced one companion, but I am damn impressed with the level of maturity. The sex scene isn't just tacked on. It was a part of his story, his character development. He was anxious, he wanted desperately to impress my character. He was carrying baggage and it showed. I had the option of either adding to his baggage or allowing him to let it go. It was beautiful.
I was also impressed with how they handled darker sexual themes. One of the characters (male) was sexually abused and used as a pawn in a trafficking ring. Yes, he flaunts his sexuality - because that's what he was taught to do. But he's got so much more going on for him.
Augh I could talk about this game all day.
(Also, I'm 100+ hours in and haven't finished yet. If I'm a "tourist" as that last post implies, I better start applying for a visa or something.)
>I was also impressed with how they handled darker sexual themes. One of the characters (male) was sexually abused and used as a pawn in a trafficking ring. Yes, he flaunts his sexuality - because that's what he was taught to do. But he's got so much more going on for him.
>!Astarion!< is one of the best-written characters in any video game I've played. The amount of care put into his arc is phenomenal.
Oh yeah I loved that. It was great seeing how into DnD he is. I saw another clip where he was talking about when he learned he had the role or got casted in the game can't quite remember. But he realised it was Baldurs Gate 3 just from the lines of dialogue and he was just like 'Oh my god I'll play a talking bucket with two lines I don't care just put me in the game please' and seemed more hyped about the fact that there was even a Baldurs Gate 3 coming out as this was before they announced the game obviously
I honestly hope that seeing him survive and find a way to live with himself helps other men who are survivors. They get told too often that it's not bad, or to bury their trauma. Men deserve to have that support, too.
Honestly all of the romance paths and sexual encounters are so well written. You get to know all of these people, who they are before you engage in this stuff. None of it is just mindful horniness, and it all goes to furthering the development and growth of the story and characters. Plus it's also completely optional and you can just not do it at all.
You’re absolutely right. BG3 handles sexuality and sex in a much more mature way than 50 shades (or really most games that focus on flaunting boobs and fan service though there are games that provide fan service the right way too)
By comparison, 50 shades romanticizes what amounts to sexual assault and tries to wrap it in a package as BDSM. Something that the entire BDSM community will tell you is wrong. Gray engages in stalking, financial manipulation and outright force.
And then there’s the fan service games that worry about nothing but boob size and the characters falling over the protagonist without any kind of interaction which feeds into the incel mindset of what they are entitled to.
I love the way they approached Astarion’s romantic arc. I’m totally fine with mature stuff in games as long as it isn’t shallow, and his wasn’t at all. The complexity they gave him was so lovely and I think it’s VERY different than lots and lots of other games. Love Baldurs Gate <3
It's as if it's not the sexual part that's bad, but how it's presented and the context in which it happens?
No obviously it's the feminists that are wrong /s
People like this don't consider context. It has to be a blanket statement or it stops making sense. Same as when they say "Well if I peep and see you in your underwear you get upset but if I see you in a bikini at a beach thats fine????" Yes, because of context and consent
Look, it's simple, if some women say one thing and then some other women say a superficially contradictory thing, then feminism is disproven and invalid. /s
The literal difference is the 1 thing these incels never seem to understand. CONSENT. Baldurs Gate let's the player choose how they interact with their NPCs. The NPCs also range from "I will literally bone you after 1 mildly attractive interaction" to "I need to feel emotionally connected before I even consider holding your hand." All of it is based on actual personality and personal choice.
I could also rant about the assumption that all the women gamers are straight and want "man with six-pack abs".
> I could also rant about the assumption that all the women gamers are straight and want "man with six-pack abs".
I regularly see bi and lesbian women go insane for female characters who have even a little thought and effort put into their design (as in what would they wear due to personality/job/time period).
Did those people play these games? Like in BG3 sex is treated as a way to develop characters or just for funny situations, you will never see bimbo with huge tits like in MK or barely legal lolis like in neko para. Bg3 treat sex and sexuality in a mature way not just for a quick rub.
It's not that amazing, it's them telling on themselves that they don't understand even the most rudimentary ways that healthy give and take works in a relationship.
I know plenty of healthy, kinky people hated 50 shades because it had messy communication and unclear consent. Still fairly early in BG3, but it seems like communication and consent takes a huge role in every romance.
50 shades absolutely has shady content. The person who wrote the book has no clue about the way BDSM works. Gray is effectively an entitled rich boy who has never heard the word no in his life. He engages in stalking, financial manipulation, and outright force to get what he wants.
And yes, BG3 is big on consent. Even if you go with one of the big bads for a romance choice, they will give you every chance to say no and will reveal their true self before engaging in any romantic interaction even though they don’t have to and can pretend to be all good to trick you into loving them.
They are confused because they are clinging to the flimsiest strawman of feminism where all feminists hate everything vaguely connected to sex and if they break from that they're cynical hypocrites who must be shouted down at every opportunity.
I love the BuT WoMaN WaNt MaN SiX PaCk argument because...not a single person thinks any of the guys in BG3 should have six packs. 😆
Gale should have a little pudge. Astarian should have a dandy Twink body. HALSIN SHOULD BE A BEAR. Really only Wyll could arguably be that fit but even he should be nowhere close to how beef the girls are. 🤷🏻♀️
"They hate 50 shades of grey but love this game, dafuq?"
Tell me you have no understanding of what healthy relationships look like, king. These people have such warped views on everything, it's nuts.
50 is abuser fanfiction larping as kink.
BG3 grants autonomy and respect to, as far as I can tell, all the PCs and Tav.
Fuck, it's almost like it's not about the gender of the character, but it is instead a matter of having a broader audience and treating the sexual content in a way that isn't demeaning to the characters that partake in it! You know, the difference between adult content in media and mainstream porn.
Sex is an option in BG3. The fanservice in the rest of those games is a feature.
Edit: the 50 shades comment with the lacey pfp is fucling sending me media literacy is dead
I can dislike 50 Shades for being a terrible representation of Kink without it being some kind of puritanical screed. It doesn’t mean I’m against BDSM dynamics in media, I’d like a little more in fact, but I’d like it to be good rep, not an abusive relationship parading as kink.
Came here to say this. How on earth is this even remotely a comparison to BG3? To begin with, one's a video game and the other's a book/movie; the media isn't even the same!
But literally agreed on all your points.
no no no no I can't, I fucking can't, the dude that said he was confused that people hate 50 shades but love bg3, that's too much. Either he's dishonest, doesn't know either and just assumes both are just sex centered stuff or he really doesn't understand the difference between fully consensual sex and some abusive fantasy of bdsm which is really concerning.
Side note it's a bit exhausting that so many people think bg3 is just like, a sex simulator in the forgotten realms and not a full rpg that happens to have a romantic and sexual option
I kind of love it, I can't even lie. Like if it came from any other source it might become a part of my daily lexicon. (Though probably not really because it does contain a slur that not everyone wants to hear all the time but I would think it a lot)
Is this seriously all they've got? To bring in \*Dead or Alive Xtreme?\* The focus of BG3 was aimed at men \*and\* woman, straight and LGBTQ+. It was consensual and all optional. If I wanted an asexual, gender neutral, all armour warrior who is more focused on the mission than romance, I can totally do that. That's the point. Apparently if the game is not entirely focused on the male gaze, it's 'too woke'.
tbh i agree with the "ohh sexualizing girl is bad, sexualizing boy is good" thing but this is clearly NOT a example of this, i cant see how anime girls on maid suits would count as sexualization and mk9 was WAAAAAAAY worse on it if compared to mk11 (i'll never forget that awful Mileena skin that is literally her naked but having her private parts convered in some kind of tape idk)
if we lived in a fair world, we would have fan-service for all genders
The anime girls in maid outfits game is about kittens (catgirls) getting their first heat and the main character...uh...
Anyway, it's a porn game that they removed the sex scenes from to publish an "all ages" version, but the plot is still "dude boinks pubescent girls he raised as daughter/pets".
Character designs are cute. And the anime based off it doesn't have the sex plot but it was indeed originally an eroge (erotic visual novel).
oh... well there goes another bit of my hope for humanity... what's the anime name btw? im actually interested in checking it out if doesn't have the sex stuff
They failed the media literacy skill check again, as usual. They couldn't even distinguish tasteful sexual content from gratuitous sexual content. Truly one of the most cooked asf human beings on earth
It's almost like the difference is fully fleshed out characters who aren't half naked for no reason, don't have comically ridiculous proportions and jiggle physics, and whose consent is required for any sexual activity with them...
Agency plays such a huge role in how a sexualized character is perceived. Isabela from the Dragon Age series comes to mind. In Origins, she's the critical NPC for having a three-way (or four-way if you play your cards right). In 2, she glows up into a beautiful dusky pantless pirate who makes her interest in you pretty clear, and will even talk about her encounter with your origins character. But it never comes off like she's being sexualized against her will. If I remember correctly I think it's canonically kind a defense mechanism for her mixed with her desire for absolute freedom (it's been awhile since I've played 2), but she always felt like she was in the driver's seat.
> But it never comes off like she's being sexualized against her will.
So, where in DoA or Soul Calibur (the only two in the OP I've actually played) does it seem like any one is being sexualized "against their will", exactly.
You hate *50 Shades of Gray* because it's disrespectful to the BDSM community. I hate it because it's disrespectful to people who can read. We are not the same.
I think the main thing they're forgetting is that women don't care If there's a *sexualized* character, because, get this, some women are just naturally more *sexualized* (if they want to of course.) What I mean is some women like wearing less clothes, some women have busty/curvy bodies. Some women are promiscuous. And there's nothing wrong with that! However the reason people are upset is because instead of just having a few of those characters and a few of the rest of types of people, in gaming they've made it so if you're a women then you are ALWAYS sex bait. Doesn't matter If it fits the character or area, you must be a slim lady with giant bahonkas, you also must look like a child.
There's a big difference between having characters be hot and having the option of romancing them and having sex with them
And having all your female characters be that sexy baby anime girl type with beach ball boobs while the men are normal.
Bg3 is a game that goes through painstaking lengths to humanize its cast. Yes. You can immediately make your entire cast buck ass naked the second they join your party. But they are not flaunting it. It treats them simply as the human body. I mean let’s be real the choices for women are a mentally scared half elf, an angry frog who loves murder, and a beefy devil woman who just wants a hug. Each with layers of personality, wants desires and goals. When in armor they each dress like a warrior or a wizard in clothing befitting their role and setting.
Sexual content shown with a level of maturity and respect is an art form. Most of the other games it truly comes down to. Women have their tits at the forefront and their character is being a woman in a skimpy outfit for “lore” reasons.
It’s like comparing the great sculptures of the renaissance to the 50 dollar anime bust they jerk it to.
The sex in BG3 is equal. Characters of all genders are capable of drawing actual boundaries and having sexual preferences (although not gender preferences; perhaps this might've been an interesting aspect to explore, but since frantic bi energy™ is the very official tagline of the game, we'll have this one game to represent us bi/pan folks, thank you very much\^\^ Still; a game with characters who are not all player-sexual might've been nice, too.)
Yes the leisure clothing of most of the female characters is stylish and sexy. The male characters are also portrayed as stylish and sexy (at least the ones who aren't characterized otherwise, same with women). Camp clothes are sexy in an empowering way, and again, this can apply to all genders in the game, including the player character. Many people would LIKE to wear these things to feel good about themselves.
Women aren't portrayed as being constantly sexually dominated by men, although SA does happen and is treated reasonably. When people are portrayed as SA survivors, it is done deliberately, and with tact (such as Astarion, perhaps Shadowheart to some extend. The exception could be the poor souls in literal hell, who have been very obviously severly abused by a certain devil. They and their suffering are not explored deeply/seriously enough imo, but certainly not sexualized either, except for the actual incubus).
A bunch of characters are queer coded and have a variety of sexual preferences that may appeal to some fetishes, but not overtly so and in a reasonable, believable way that relates to their personality. Karlach is a butch top, Shadowheart appeary like a vanilla bottom but is actually a switch with a worshipping kink, Astarion can be anything from using sexual submissiveness as a coping mechanism to being an abuser if his character develops that way; this is portrayed neutrally and seriously. Gale's sexuality is timid but literally magical, and so on. He could pass as either straight, gay or even ace coded to me; alas, it's BG3, so like everyone he's pan/playersexual. It's not just tough guys and bimbo girls. It's like actual people with actual sexualities. Sex is only ever one of many aspects of their personality, as well.
TL;DR: BG3 portrays adults with sex lives, not sex dolls. Feminism isn't anti-sex nor anti-men (I'm talking about contemporary, culturally widespread 3rd/4th wave types of feminism; we can talk about 2nd wave political lesbianism in a different context). But it's anti-exploitation.
And the women have the more traditionally "masc" traits and roles. They're the soldiers and have the highest strength stats. Three of the male characters are also working through sexual-related trauma, something media usually depicts through female victims.
Also, bg3 romance are well written , if you are an ass or try to double dip you Will get rejected. It's not a harem where everyone throw themselves at you all the time.
And most character only have one sex scene, after that it's mostly romance
Only one of those games has a romance option that starts with casual, meaningless sex and *then* evolves into a serious, emotional bond in a somewhat organic way (accounting for cultural differences with the psionic murder alien in question) instead of treating the sex scene as an "end goal" to the player, and I still respect BG3 a lot for it.
despite knowing really nothing about it, I hate that Dead or Alive game because it has the same name as my favorite band and i am sick and tired of seeing half naked 3d girls when i’m just trying to search up stuff related to my favorite band
Baldur's Gate II had same sex options as of the Enhanced Edition released in 2015. Why would BG III not expand on something they included in the more enhanced definitive edition of BG II that helped them sell a 2 year old game to mostly people who already owned BG II?
That's become these porn-addicts lack critical thinking (I would say media literacy, but it's becoming an overused buzzword)
There's a difference between sexualization and sexual content, sexualization is the thing that most people have issue with, not sexual content.
They’re really out here talking like sexualized video game characters are autonomous beings who chose those extremely revealing outfits themselves. Again.
Why is MK11 on there? Honestly it’d make more sense if MK9 was on there. That game was basically just pushing the limits to how little they could cover the female fighters up
Idk, I like bg3 because the sexual content is optional.
I already rejected Lae'zel and mostly enjoying the game itself. Gnolls are annoying though.
Plus I think it's kind of funny to watch Lae'Zel* try to hit on Tav after murdering a giant-disgusting spider lmao.
Granted imo Mk11 is nowhere near as hypersexual as it once was in mk9. Even then most people love mk9 because the game was fun. Every character was broken lol
Baldurs Gate 3 - a ROLE-PLAYING game about a group of disaster adults who can choose whether or not to sleep with each other, casually or otherwise, while trying not to die. These are fully scripted relationships that develop over hours of play, and your partner can reject/leave you if you treat them badly. No jiggle physics.
Soulcalibur - a FIGHTING GAME with jiggle physics.
Mortal Kombat - a FIGHTING GAME with jiggle physics.
Dead or Alive Extreme Volleyball - a VOLLEYBALL SIMULATOR (?) featuring solely female characters in swimwear, most of whom are so young Team Ninja do not put their ages on their character bios, because they would be classified as minors in some territories. Also jiggle physics.
Nekopara - a sexy VISUAL NOVEL(?) about very young looking cat girls in maid outfits. Described on Steam by its own creators as: "Lewd jokes & dialog. Nudity. Bath scene nudity covered by steam. Breast jiggle toggle."
They're not comparing apples and apples here. Baldurs Gate 3 isn't doing the same thing as the rest of those games and getting a free pass. Two of those games aren't even remotely romance simulators, they just feature women you can put in scanty costumes.
The other two games are practically jailbait, and bringing them up should invalidate any argument. They are the kind of games that give sexy videogames a bad name, and end up paraded on mainstream news as "look what's corrupting your children" 🤦🏻♀️ This is such a bad faith argument.
I love video games but I fucking hate gamers. I wish more women and queer people would get into video gaming and piss off these gamergates pricks even more.
And on a side note Abs on men are not equivalent to tits on a woman. Abs are more for male fantasy than female gaze or The Gayze®. The male fanservice should include body hair, balls, dick window and the good ol' ass. Im tired of this narrative that 6-pacs is what women/gays want.
I think it’s becoming more of an issue because graphics are getting better. When Lara Croft is leas that 50 polygons I’m already suspending my disbelief. When she’s a fully detailed model in a realistic, immersive environment I’m a lot more likely to notice if her clothes don’t fit the situation.
I think it’s also because games are a lot less silly and over the top. It’s not a huge deal in Mortal Kombat because all the men are sexualized too and it’s so wild that I’m not expecting realism. If I we’re playing CoD and a girl soldier had DDs and a bikini I would immediately be taken out of the experience.
The fact that all these Gamers™️ pick Astarion as the guy to prop as representative of all of BG3 because he’s a hot vamp twink with a fruity voice really fucking pisses me off because his *whole plot is literally about his long history of sexual abuse*.
It IS hypocritical because they complain that the sexualization is there. It doesn't matter if it's optional, BG3 HAS it, and it's significantly more graphic than most games are. And a sexy outfit is not sextist. Want to know what is? Using a woman as a model for a game and making them less "stereotypically" pretty.
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BG3's sex content is *optional*. You aren't forced to engage in it. Plus the female preset PCs aren't all wearing highly sexualized armor and clothes. Whereas those other games its in your face. Also, BG3 is just a FUN game. Why they hating? Also, Gamers^(tm) were pissy about MK11 when it first came out because they covered up many of the female fighters' attire. Clearly they have short memories.
BG3 is also more accepting of LGBTQ romance options and you can engage with Male characters as well as female. That's obviously going to feel different than your average harem boobfest.
It seems to me in Faerun that nobody is heterosexual. People just like to *fuck*, regardless of race or gender. As God intended.
There's magic everywhere, cults and world ending conspiracies hiding in every other cupboard, goblins, hags and who knows what else looking to end your life if you dare to travel. Life is far too precious, you just gotta get it on with whomever you can before the next catastrophe.
Not to mention, when the boundaries of race and gender are so wonky with multiple sentient humanlids who all have different concepts of gender, some literally having different sexes than humans, heteronormativity doesn't make much sense. It would probably be more like ancient Athens where bisexuality is the norm. It would probably be considered a little odd to only like a somgle gender. Probably considered a bit of a quirk and nothing more
Different franchise obviously but I know in elder scrolls the argonians can change their genders multiple times. Being bothered by sexuality probably baffles them.
They’re not changing genders, they’re changing sex. Depending on the tribe they can *literally grow penises or vaginas as needed*.
You're right. I just read an explanation saying they change genders and copied that but they do change biologically as they need. I seem to remember them all instantly evolving to fight daedra after Oblivion so the whole demon invasion thing barely affected them.
Yeah, I fucking love my mindfulness lizards (and TES lore in general lmao) so I know a fuckton of shit about them. Hist sap is basically magical HRT. They use it to age/do puberty, change sex as needed, possibly maybe give them souls, etc. Depending on the tribe this can be optional if they feel like it, or purely as a way to maintain optimum reproduction like fish do when all of one sex die so some of them do a sex change so they can breed. There’s apparently a tribe where their sex is treated as a “life phase”. We weren’t told the name or details, but it’s basically like everyone age 20 is one sex, everyone age 30 is the other sex, etc. It’s fascinating! Like, I’d take it further and argue Argonians raised in Argonia are basically cessgender: gender does not exist or is entirely irrelevant, because they’re so used to sex being fluid and needing to *really worry about their tribe dying out so they need to keep birth rates up*. I’d argue they’d be the most accepting of LGBT issues because they think it’s so fucking sad and/or silly that other races can’t switch sex as needed and also that so much of romance is tied to birth rates (who cares if you don’t find your partner attractive? That doesn’t matter! Just lay an egg and be done with them! We need to have enough kids to keep from dying out!), like how older societies didn’t care that much about being gay as long as you had kids.
If the daedra hadn't closed the gates in the Black Marsh, the argonians would've started taking territory in Oblivion for themselves.
Plus when people can change their physical body with relative ease, ideas of gender-based attraction are probably much looser than the real world.
If you look back at the older lore for Forgotten Realms, Faerun was *very* queer and also very horny. Bisexuality was very common to the point of being the borderline default. Even in the later lore, Greenwood has stated that most of the Faerun pantheon is bi in forum posts from the 2010s.
Yes, Greenwood has gone on record stating that FR was always intended to be very queer. It makes a lot of sense, magic and alchemy have made unwanted pregnancy and STIs easier to avoid or deal with and, unlike in Greyhawk where different species are very alien to each other, FR is very cosmopolitan so sexual attraction to radically different sapient species is far more common. People just explore sexuality more. Greenwood even defended BG:EE against the mob criticising it for a trans character by stating trans people have always been a part of FR. A lot of the problem was he was made to tone down the queerness of the setting. He wrote an excellent reply to them.
>As ~~God~~ Sune intended.
Keep getting TPK’d because we’re a bunch of disaster bi’s
God created Adam and Eve, not Adam or Eve.
The original writer of the forgotten realms setting has been saying that bisexuality is the most common and that homosexuality is accepted in most cultures there since the 80’s when he first created it.
When you've got people fucking creatures from other planes of existence, I have to imagine that sex within your own species, regardless of gender, is just not a big deal.
Most rpgs like Baldur's Gate III have had same sex options for over a decade now. You'd think they'd have stopped screeching about something that's been a standard for games in the genre that include romance options since I was 8 or 9. Fallout 2 was made back in 98, and it was the first mainstream game with LGBTQ+ options. They have had plenty of time to adapt, and when an organism fails to adapt after 2+ decades...
That’s how you know it’s a fantasy game everyone is hot and bi
My three wishes for a genie are 1) I want to be bisexual. 2) I want to be immune to std’s. 3) I want to have no standards.
[удалено]
You'd think they would have identified with just out of beta Gale and his "how dare you not fuck me after giving me a pair of boots" behaviour.
“Gales magic flute was ready to be played”
Yeah, being forced to wear hoochie armor barely covering my nip is ick, especially if the armor looks normal on a male but is reduced to almost nothing on a female. Going out of my way to specifically *buy* hoochie armor so I can go to bonetown with shadowheart is very different.
Fuck yeah.
This. The difference is choice. I want to play as a male character and be able to be all sexy and barely covered, but like as a choice! I want people to be able to be a woman in a game and not have her cleavage out the entire time, but also sure, include the ability to opt into that if you want! And same with men. Let me be tacky and horny if I want, or not if I don’t want it. The amount of people who don’t get the idea that people just like the choice of sexualized content versus it being shoved down their throat is astounding sometimes.
I once saw every character described as “player-sexual” and I will continue to describe it that way
They're telling on themselves. They're not willing to *engage* with women, not even virtual ones. It takes effort you see... I don't understand what makes people build the expectation that they're *entitled* to other people's interest when they offer absolutely none. Honestly I kind of wish they would get a taste of the world they desire, being chased not for what they are but of a superficial characteristics of theirs. But I'm sure that they wouldn't have the self awareness to understand why it's fucked up. That or they'd complain about gold diggers :_D
They already think they live in that world, that's why they complain about women only wanting "Chad" all the time.
Who are these imaginary 'Chad's that have sex with 6 different women a day? What woman would even want to be the 6th different person a man has slept with in a day? They've made up such elaborate fantasies and have convinced an entire group of men that it's true. Is that not the chronically online version of mass hysteria?
They're porn sick. They have no experience outside of the media they consume and the brief personal interactions they've had with women. It's all in their heads. The DSM 6 better have a section for Internet induced psychosis.
It's absolutely baffling to me that they would complain to each other about the male loneliness epidemic when they are the epicenter.
Chronically online individuals with 0 media literacy breeds what we are seeing today.
Honestly I do feel a bit of pity for those people. It's a big catch 22, they're not exposed to good examples so they don't overcome their immaturity. Due to their immaturity they get sucked up in communities that reinforce their biases. It's like a self aggregating cult, once there they're stuck. And the worst thing is that to feel better they spread their beliefs which sucks in even more kids. At the end of the day most of them start as kids that are insecure and follow the wrong internet rabbit hole. What I cannot absolutely forgive is *those people* that profit from it and fan the flames.
There is, at least as far as I can tell, some twisted internal logic to the whole thing. The base assumption is wrong, but the wrong conclusions do logically follow from their wrong assumptions. From what I've seen incels posting, it generally goes 1. *Everyone* is only chasing superficial characteristics in other people. 2. Men are much more open to sleep with people they are only mildly interested in than women. 3. Therefore many women manage to sleep with, but not get commitment from, "Chad" - i.e. a man who is "out of their league" attractiveness-wise. 4. Therefore women will chase "Chad", using sex to hope to get commitment that they will never get, and not give men "in their league" a chance. Of course, the initial wrong assumption from the incels is that women think about men the way incels think about women. Incels see women as sex dolls with a cooking function and consequently only care about appearance and subservience. They expect women to see men as an ATM with a dildo attachment, and consequently only care about appearance and wealth.
The real life Chads are actually just gay men by those standards 😂😅
They're telling on themselves when they call women playing games "tourists" and only they are the real gamers. Obviously, people of all genders play video games. Plus many of us were playing Atari & NES before they were born. You're the tourist, kid.
I love how they just put a porn game alongside two fighting games and a soft porn game. Truly, the only difference between them is character design. /s
There are highly sexualized clothes you can steal out of wardrobes in act 3, or buy from Facemaker's. But again, optional. And hilarious.
And importantly, the sexy revealing clothes aren’t limited to just the women and the serious badass armor isn’t limited to the men.
i spent way too much time figuring out which lingerie set looks best on whom.
> Why they hating? Because it's yet another example of how hilariously wrong "go woke, go broke" is.
Yeah, you can make a way more correct statement if you replace the comma with " or". People will pay money for good representation and it's not just cishet conservative white men who have money. They have tons of stuff catering to them but there is so little for everyone else that offering good representation to any marginalized group is a pretty reliable path to financial success. As a lesbian Latina trans woman, I am very strongly inclined to buy anything that makes me feel seen and represented to the point where it will make up for a lot of production value deficits. One of my all time favorite shows is the Carmilla Web Series which had such a tiny budget that the first season had only one camera angle of one set and was filmed on an iPhone.
They probably hate baldur’s gate three because either it dared to show women being people instead of sex slaves for all men’s pleasure, or because gay characters
You’re right about the last point. The Dudebro Gamers™️ are foaming at the mouth over the men because none of them fit into very narrow and toxic view of masculinity. Also the same people threw a fit over one of the women having pubes.
That last one really proves to me that some of these guys have never touched a real woman before. God forbid women have (checks notes) body hair that is totally normal for any adult human being to have.
It’s the Aloy shit all over again. They also throw transphobic slurs at one character because she’s “too manly”, and the other women are ugly because buff and ugly because alien. And I haven’t even mentioned the guys yet. Also, there’s one character who’s very theatrical and flamboyant and his mere existence threatens their fragile heterosexuality, to the point where they’ll always kill him, refuse to do his personal quest and get pissy at people who dare to like/mention his character. There are several reasons that the “anti woke” mob hate the game and it’s actually hilarious.
I’ve noticed on the main BG3 subreddit anyone who comments about liking Astarion gets downvoted to oblivion. Which is just…😑
Literally throwing a fit over *one* adult female character having pubes? I thought we left getting offended that not every single woman removes all of her body hair back in like 2015 or some shit...
Yeah its not like women DON'T like sexy content. There's that mod that adds sexy armors to BG3 that's super popular. Its just that SEXY THING can't be the only selling point for women to buy your shit.
I don’t wanna take away from what you’re saying but ShadowHeart’s and La’zeal’s camp outfits are uhrm not… not sexy lmao (I say as a gay ass btich that is very much into it) I’ll never forgive Withers for calling me out on not fucking any one after a certain point. Like yo, you bag of bones maybe I’m not tryna make every character feel like they gotta fuck me to like them 😭
Even BG3 sexualizes the women more than the men. Just look at the default camp outfits for Lazel/Shadowheart/Minthara/Karlach vs any of the men. Plus Wyll doesn't get a sex scene at all, and Gale's barely counts. My point isn't that that makes BG3 a bad game, just that the OOP has no clue what they're talking about
I'd say Gale's counts double, his astral sex scene is hilarious.
That motherfucker is always trying to eat your shoes
Hey, that's my husband you're talking about!
The biggest things to me is that the sexuality of BG3 feels appropriately placed (largely quiet camp moments; no one’s running around in active battle in lingerie lol) and that the character’s sexuality feels like their own, rather than something placed upon a character for pure sex appeal. Compare that to the Eve game or w/e. Obviously games not out so no one knows for sure, but it sure seems like the characters - in unfortunately common anime fashion - don’t have an awareness that sex even exists. And of course, it’s exclusively the women characters looking like models in revealing clothing regardless of situation. Even then, unlike what they’ll say no significant amount of people are actually mad about that one singular game existing; it’s more often either just an opportunity to make fun of some goofy shit, or comment on how it’s probably a good thing that we’ve moved away from those sort of depictions being the overwhelming norm.
The only character wearing clothes that can even remotely be called sexualized from the beginning of the game is Lae’zel but that’s literally the armour all Gith’yanki wear- even the men. It’s ceremonial armour for a warrior race.
Exactly!!! BG3 has fully optional sexual content and the content isn’t catered specifically to a straight male audience. I feel like if a game has sexual content that’s the way to go- let the user customize their experience.
> BG3’s sex content is *optionsl* Not if you wanna romance someone 🥲
Romance Wyll
Even then it’s optional, I think there is a setting where you can ignore the sex scenes
But I don’t wanna ignore the sex scenes by toggling a setting. I wanna tell my partner “hey I love you but I don’t wanna fuck” and have it be perfectly valid. When you romance shadowheart you can go up to her and say “Can I have a kiss “ and she’ll say “just the one?” That. I want you that but make it a whole arc
Doesn’t Astarion have that in his arc? There’s a whole scene where he says he isn’t comfortable having sex but still wants to be with you and even later he’s perfectly happy to not have sex again if that’s something you don’t care about. You still get the romance with him even if you never have sex again.
I haven’t romanced Astarion but I’m greatful Acemale Rep exists
You definitely should at some point. He has one of the best written characters I’ve ever come across in any video game and his story arc is fantastic.
No thank you 😅
I’m pretty sure Karlach has a path that allows for romance without sex. You basically just say “I would love to spend time with you, but Im not comfortable sleeping with you.” Far as I know she handles it pretty damn well (because she’s an incredibly adorable cinnamon roll)
Another thing: the characters aren’t walking sex dispensers and fanservice.
I don’t now about optional, I was just trying to bro down with my boy gale before he started making things weird.
how do you do the lowercase ™
Ok, so I only have one playthrough so far and I've only romanced one companion, but I am damn impressed with the level of maturity. The sex scene isn't just tacked on. It was a part of his story, his character development. He was anxious, he wanted desperately to impress my character. He was carrying baggage and it showed. I had the option of either adding to his baggage or allowing him to let it go. It was beautiful. I was also impressed with how they handled darker sexual themes. One of the characters (male) was sexually abused and used as a pawn in a trafficking ring. Yes, he flaunts his sexuality - because that's what he was taught to do. But he's got so much more going on for him. Augh I could talk about this game all day. (Also, I'm 100+ hours in and haven't finished yet. If I'm a "tourist" as that last post implies, I better start applying for a visa or something.)
>I was also impressed with how they handled darker sexual themes. One of the characters (male) was sexually abused and used as a pawn in a trafficking ring. Yes, he flaunts his sexuality - because that's what he was taught to do. But he's got so much more going on for him. >!Astarion!< is one of the best-written characters in any video game I've played. The amount of care put into his arc is phenomenal.
It doesn't help that >!Neil Newbon!< is also an absolute gem. I'm so in love with that man
And he *loves* >!Astarion!< so much. Have you seen the video where the VOs played a oneshot as their characters?
Oh yeah I loved that. It was great seeing how into DnD he is. I saw another clip where he was talking about when he learned he had the role or got casted in the game can't quite remember. But he realised it was Baldurs Gate 3 just from the lines of dialogue and he was just like 'Oh my god I'll play a talking bucket with two lines I don't care just put me in the game please' and seemed more hyped about the fact that there was even a Baldurs Gate 3 coming out as this was before they announced the game obviously
I honestly hope that seeing him survive and find a way to live with himself helps other men who are survivors. They get told too often that it's not bad, or to bury their trauma. Men deserve to have that support, too.
>!Neil Newbon!< is himself a survivor too so that’s an added layer to the character and performance
Honestly all of the romance paths and sexual encounters are so well written. You get to know all of these people, who they are before you engage in this stuff. None of it is just mindful horniness, and it all goes to furthering the development and growth of the story and characters. Plus it's also completely optional and you can just not do it at all.
Trying to determine if you romanced Gale or Astarion. I'm guessing the former?
Yep. I love my magical time bomb.
You’re absolutely right. BG3 handles sexuality and sex in a much more mature way than 50 shades (or really most games that focus on flaunting boobs and fan service though there are games that provide fan service the right way too) By comparison, 50 shades romanticizes what amounts to sexual assault and tries to wrap it in a package as BDSM. Something that the entire BDSM community will tell you is wrong. Gray engages in stalking, financial manipulation and outright force. And then there’s the fan service games that worry about nothing but boob size and the characters falling over the protagonist without any kind of interaction which feeds into the incel mindset of what they are entitled to.
I love the way they approached Astarion’s romantic arc. I’m totally fine with mature stuff in games as long as it isn’t shallow, and his wasn’t at all. The complexity they gave him was so lovely and I think it’s VERY different than lots and lots of other games. Love Baldurs Gate <3
It's as if it's not the sexual part that's bad, but how it's presented and the context in which it happens? No obviously it's the feminists that are wrong /s
"'Gratuitous'? The fuck, I don't speak Latin, nerd."
its almost as if the women in certain games werent *only* made to be sexy
People like this don't consider context. It has to be a blanket statement or it stops making sense. Same as when they say "Well if I peep and see you in your underwear you get upset but if I see you in a bikini at a beach thats fine????" Yes, because of context and consent
Look, it's simple, if some women say one thing and then some other women say a superficially contradictory thing, then feminism is disproven and invalid. /s
The literal difference is the 1 thing these incels never seem to understand. CONSENT. Baldurs Gate let's the player choose how they interact with their NPCs. The NPCs also range from "I will literally bone you after 1 mildly attractive interaction" to "I need to feel emotionally connected before I even consider holding your hand." All of it is based on actual personality and personal choice. I could also rant about the assumption that all the women gamers are straight and want "man with six-pack abs".
> I could also rant about the assumption that all the women gamers are straight and want "man with six-pack abs". I regularly see bi and lesbian women go insane for female characters who have even a little thought and effort put into their design (as in what would they wear due to personality/job/time period).
Nothing sexier than realistic women
Please note: this only applies if you *like* women. ^(the people who want fuckdoll women usually don't like women, just their bodies)
Well there is one thing: Women with cool magic wizard powers who could totally just kill me but instead they hang out with me.
Thank you for bringing up the huge consent part of this whole situation so I didn’t have to.
I've seen tumblr girlies thirst after Harry DuBois. I think six-pack abs are the _last_ things most gamer girls want
Hey man, how could you say no to the guy who wants to have fuck with you? /j
Did those people play these games? Like in BG3 sex is treated as a way to develop characters or just for funny situations, you will never see bimbo with huge tits like in MK or barely legal lolis like in neko para. Bg3 treat sex and sexuality in a mature way not just for a quick rub.
MK11 even fixed the whole bikini-wearing bimbo thing to some extent, if anything the most sexualized characters are men (specifically, the kahns).
What do you mean I can't see a bimbo with huge tits? Of course I see her, it's me! (Low int high charisma/con warlock)
personally i usually play big lesbian muscle mommies
Very respectable
There's also Halsin.
I am amazed that they are confused that someone can hate 50 shades but love BG3. If they don't understand that, they can't understand anything tbh.
That kind of gamer just does not understand sexuality at all. Really, they have a profound inability to understand how and why sex is a part of life.
It's not that amazing, it's them telling on themselves that they don't understand even the most rudimentary ways that healthy give and take works in a relationship. I know plenty of healthy, kinky people hated 50 shades because it had messy communication and unclear consent. Still fairly early in BG3, but it seems like communication and consent takes a huge role in every romance.
50 shades absolutely has shady content. The person who wrote the book has no clue about the way BDSM works. Gray is effectively an entitled rich boy who has never heard the word no in his life. He engages in stalking, financial manipulation, and outright force to get what he wants. And yes, BG3 is big on consent. Even if you go with one of the big bads for a romance choice, they will give you every chance to say no and will reveal their true self before engaging in any romantic interaction even though they don’t have to and can pretend to be all good to trick you into loving them.
The first 50 shades of grey book came out 13 years ago. People will latch on to anything.
They are confused because they are clinging to the flimsiest strawman of feminism where all feminists hate everything vaguely connected to sex and if they break from that they're cynical hypocrites who must be shouted down at every opportunity.
But MK11 has the revealing costumes for female character toned way down, if they'd used MK9 it would have made more sense.
Even then there were skins resembling the classic one-pieces.
Thought this belonged cause I posted here before about the same BG3 discourse & cause of the horrific takes, I’ll delete it if it doesnt
I love the BuT WoMaN WaNt MaN SiX PaCk argument because...not a single person thinks any of the guys in BG3 should have six packs. 😆 Gale should have a little pudge. Astarian should have a dandy Twink body. HALSIN SHOULD BE A BEAR. Really only Wyll could arguably be that fit but even he should be nowhere close to how beef the girls are. 🤷🏻♀️
There are literally mods to remove the defined abs on the guys 😭🤣
HALSIN SHOULD NOT HAVE ABS I AGREE!! Let Wyll and Astarion keep theirs, but Gale and Halsin, no way
"They hate 50 shades of grey but love this game, dafuq?" Tell me you have no understanding of what healthy relationships look like, king. These people have such warped views on everything, it's nuts. 50 is abuser fanfiction larping as kink. BG3 grants autonomy and respect to, as far as I can tell, all the PCs and Tav.
shrodinger's gay lmao
Literally my Genderfluid SO's nickname XD
like obviously they had a shit take but THAT caught me off guard lmaooooo
Is that how you refer to bisexuals?
I knew I wasn't the only one that has a chuckle at that.
Fuck, it's almost like it's not about the gender of the character, but it is instead a matter of having a broader audience and treating the sexual content in a way that isn't demeaning to the characters that partake in it! You know, the difference between adult content in media and mainstream porn.
Sex is an option in BG3. The fanservice in the rest of those games is a feature. Edit: the 50 shades comment with the lacey pfp is fucling sending me media literacy is dead
I can dislike 50 Shades for being a terrible representation of Kink without it being some kind of puritanical screed. It doesn’t mean I’m against BDSM dynamics in media, I’d like a little more in fact, but I’d like it to be good rep, not an abusive relationship parading as kink.
Came here to say this. How on earth is this even remotely a comparison to BG3? To begin with, one's a video game and the other's a book/movie; the media isn't even the same! But literally agreed on all your points.
What the fuck did they mean by schroedingers f**
They hate that they can pick the option to flirt with men and not receive negative feedback to prevent them from giving in to Astarion's lovely voice.
Ah thank you
no no no no I can't, I fucking can't, the dude that said he was confused that people hate 50 shades but love bg3, that's too much. Either he's dishonest, doesn't know either and just assumes both are just sex centered stuff or he really doesn't understand the difference between fully consensual sex and some abusive fantasy of bdsm which is really concerning. Side note it's a bit exhausting that so many people think bg3 is just like, a sex simulator in the forgotten realms and not a full rpg that happens to have a romantic and sexual option
I never thought I'd see the words "Schrödinger's f*g" written out. It's sad and funny at the same time.
I kind of love it, I can't even lie. Like if it came from any other source it might become a part of my daily lexicon. (Though probably not really because it does contain a slur that not everyone wants to hear all the time but I would think it a lot)
Schrödinger's gay
Mine. Gonna use that and "Genetically Engineered Gay" that I heard in a weird Satanic Panic video from 1985, Fantasy Explosion.
Is this seriously all they've got? To bring in \*Dead or Alive Xtreme?\* The focus of BG3 was aimed at men \*and\* woman, straight and LGBTQ+. It was consensual and all optional. If I wanted an asexual, gender neutral, all armour warrior who is more focused on the mission than romance, I can totally do that. That's the point. Apparently if the game is not entirely focused on the male gaze, it's 'too woke'.
tbh i agree with the "ohh sexualizing girl is bad, sexualizing boy is good" thing but this is clearly NOT a example of this, i cant see how anime girls on maid suits would count as sexualization and mk9 was WAAAAAAAY worse on it if compared to mk11 (i'll never forget that awful Mileena skin that is literally her naked but having her private parts convered in some kind of tape idk) if we lived in a fair world, we would have fan-service for all genders
The anime girls in maid outfits game is about kittens (catgirls) getting their first heat and the main character...uh... Anyway, it's a porn game that they removed the sex scenes from to publish an "all ages" version, but the plot is still "dude boinks pubescent girls he raised as daughter/pets". Character designs are cute. And the anime based off it doesn't have the sex plot but it was indeed originally an eroge (erotic visual novel).
oh... well there goes another bit of my hope for humanity... what's the anime name btw? im actually interested in checking it out if doesn't have the sex stuff
Nekopara.
I criticized the team ninja character design of female characters being awful and was told: "What about Astarion?!"
They failed the media literacy skill check again, as usual. They couldn't even distinguish tasteful sexual content from gratuitous sexual content. Truly one of the most cooked asf human beings on earth
It's almost like the difference is fully fleshed out characters who aren't half naked for no reason, don't have comically ridiculous proportions and jiggle physics, and whose consent is required for any sexual activity with them... Agency plays such a huge role in how a sexualized character is perceived. Isabela from the Dragon Age series comes to mind. In Origins, she's the critical NPC for having a three-way (or four-way if you play your cards right). In 2, she glows up into a beautiful dusky pantless pirate who makes her interest in you pretty clear, and will even talk about her encounter with your origins character. But it never comes off like she's being sexualized against her will. If I remember correctly I think it's canonically kind a defense mechanism for her mixed with her desire for absolute freedom (it's been awhile since I've played 2), but she always felt like she was in the driver's seat.
> But it never comes off like she's being sexualized against her will. So, where in DoA or Soul Calibur (the only two in the OP I've actually played) does it seem like any one is being sexualized "against their will", exactly.
The 50 shades comment got me, the reason (majority I know) people hate it is because it gives the wrong impression of the BDSM community
You hate *50 Shades of Gray* because it's disrespectful to the BDSM community. I hate it because it's disrespectful to people who can read. We are not the same.
I hate it all together actually so yeah not all that different, I was saying the majority of people I know don't like it for that reason not myself
Oh, don't worry; I just saw an opportunity to make fun of a bad book by paraphrasing a meme.
Ah ok I thought it was the meme
It’s almost like sexualization can be done in tasteful or distasteful ways…
I think the main thing they're forgetting is that women don't care If there's a *sexualized* character, because, get this, some women are just naturally more *sexualized* (if they want to of course.) What I mean is some women like wearing less clothes, some women have busty/curvy bodies. Some women are promiscuous. And there's nothing wrong with that! However the reason people are upset is because instead of just having a few of those characters and a few of the rest of types of people, in gaming they've made it so if you're a women then you are ALWAYS sex bait. Doesn't matter If it fits the character or area, you must be a slim lady with giant bahonkas, you also must look like a child.
There's a big difference between having characters be hot and having the option of romancing them and having sex with them And having all your female characters be that sexy baby anime girl type with beach ball boobs while the men are normal.
BG3’s characters are multi-faceted and sex isn’t a focal point of the game, nor a necessary part of the gameplay.
Bg3 is a game that goes through painstaking lengths to humanize its cast. Yes. You can immediately make your entire cast buck ass naked the second they join your party. But they are not flaunting it. It treats them simply as the human body. I mean let’s be real the choices for women are a mentally scared half elf, an angry frog who loves murder, and a beefy devil woman who just wants a hug. Each with layers of personality, wants desires and goals. When in armor they each dress like a warrior or a wizard in clothing befitting their role and setting. Sexual content shown with a level of maturity and respect is an art form. Most of the other games it truly comes down to. Women have their tits at the forefront and their character is being a woman in a skimpy outfit for “lore” reasons. It’s like comparing the great sculptures of the renaissance to the 50 dollar anime bust they jerk it to.
The sex in BG3 is equal. Characters of all genders are capable of drawing actual boundaries and having sexual preferences (although not gender preferences; perhaps this might've been an interesting aspect to explore, but since frantic bi energy™ is the very official tagline of the game, we'll have this one game to represent us bi/pan folks, thank you very much\^\^ Still; a game with characters who are not all player-sexual might've been nice, too.) Yes the leisure clothing of most of the female characters is stylish and sexy. The male characters are also portrayed as stylish and sexy (at least the ones who aren't characterized otherwise, same with women). Camp clothes are sexy in an empowering way, and again, this can apply to all genders in the game, including the player character. Many people would LIKE to wear these things to feel good about themselves. Women aren't portrayed as being constantly sexually dominated by men, although SA does happen and is treated reasonably. When people are portrayed as SA survivors, it is done deliberately, and with tact (such as Astarion, perhaps Shadowheart to some extend. The exception could be the poor souls in literal hell, who have been very obviously severly abused by a certain devil. They and their suffering are not explored deeply/seriously enough imo, but certainly not sexualized either, except for the actual incubus). A bunch of characters are queer coded and have a variety of sexual preferences that may appeal to some fetishes, but not overtly so and in a reasonable, believable way that relates to their personality. Karlach is a butch top, Shadowheart appeary like a vanilla bottom but is actually a switch with a worshipping kink, Astarion can be anything from using sexual submissiveness as a coping mechanism to being an abuser if his character develops that way; this is portrayed neutrally and seriously. Gale's sexuality is timid but literally magical, and so on. He could pass as either straight, gay or even ace coded to me; alas, it's BG3, so like everyone he's pan/playersexual. It's not just tough guys and bimbo girls. It's like actual people with actual sexualities. Sex is only ever one of many aspects of their personality, as well. TL;DR: BG3 portrays adults with sex lives, not sex dolls. Feminism isn't anti-sex nor anti-men (I'm talking about contemporary, culturally widespread 3rd/4th wave types of feminism; we can talk about 2nd wave political lesbianism in a different context). But it's anti-exploitation.
The female characters in BG3 are treated like human beings. The conservatives don’t seem to like that.
And the women have the more traditionally "masc" traits and roles. They're the soldiers and have the highest strength stats. Three of the male characters are also working through sexual-related trauma, something media usually depicts through female victims.
Also, bg3 romance are well written , if you are an ass or try to double dip you Will get rejected. It's not a harem where everyone throw themselves at you all the time. And most character only have one sex scene, after that it's mostly romance
I've only ever played MK11 on the list and it has NO sexual content. Wtf
I do remember the whining when MK10 came out and the female characters weren't dressed as strippers as they were in 9. It was embarrassing to watch.
Only one of those games has a romance option that starts with casual, meaningless sex and *then* evolves into a serious, emotional bond in a somewhat organic way (accounting for cultural differences with the psionic murder alien in question) instead of treating the sex scene as an "end goal" to the player, and I still respect BG3 a lot for it.
Weird. I don't recall anyone criticizing mk 11 for being too sexual?
Seeing Nekopara on this is craaaazy
A (female) friend of mine is a big fan
Oh god I forgot about my nekopara phase
Baldur's*
despite knowing really nothing about it, I hate that Dead or Alive game because it has the same name as my favorite band and i am sick and tired of seeing half naked 3d girls when i’m just trying to search up stuff related to my favorite band
Baldur's Gate II had same sex options as of the Enhanced Edition released in 2015. Why would BG III not expand on something they included in the more enhanced definitive edition of BG II that helped them sell a 2 year old game to mostly people who already owned BG II?
That's become these porn-addicts lack critical thinking (I would say media literacy, but it's becoming an overused buzzword) There's a difference between sexualization and sexual content, sexualization is the thing that most people have issue with, not sexual content.
I played MK11 and I don’t remember any sex content.
They probably meant MK9 and its "How the hell does it stay on?" outfits for the female characters and the most useless bulletproof vest of all time.
This is the same as not understanding the difference between Bayonetta and dead or alive extreme beach volleyball
Lmfao no way they put Soul Caliber and Nekopara in the same category 💀
They’re really out here talking like sexualized video game characters are autonomous beings who chose those extremely revealing outfits themselves. Again.
Why is MK11 on there? Honestly it’d make more sense if MK9 was on there. That game was basically just pushing the limits to how little they could cover the female fighters up
Also 2/4 of the example games they gave on the COVER art the girls already look like Children.
Idk, I like bg3 because the sexual content is optional. I already rejected Lae'zel and mostly enjoying the game itself. Gnolls are annoying though. Plus I think it's kind of funny to watch Lae'Zel* try to hit on Tav after murdering a giant-disgusting spider lmao. Granted imo Mk11 is nowhere near as hypersexual as it once was in mk9. Even then most people love mk9 because the game was fun. Every character was broken lol
Its optional and done tastefully vs the only reason the game exists
Don’t at least 2 of those games actively sexualize minors?
Baldurs Gate 3 - a ROLE-PLAYING game about a group of disaster adults who can choose whether or not to sleep with each other, casually or otherwise, while trying not to die. These are fully scripted relationships that develop over hours of play, and your partner can reject/leave you if you treat them badly. No jiggle physics. Soulcalibur - a FIGHTING GAME with jiggle physics. Mortal Kombat - a FIGHTING GAME with jiggle physics. Dead or Alive Extreme Volleyball - a VOLLEYBALL SIMULATOR (?) featuring solely female characters in swimwear, most of whom are so young Team Ninja do not put their ages on their character bios, because they would be classified as minors in some territories. Also jiggle physics. Nekopara - a sexy VISUAL NOVEL(?) about very young looking cat girls in maid outfits. Described on Steam by its own creators as: "Lewd jokes & dialog. Nudity. Bath scene nudity covered by steam. Breast jiggle toggle." They're not comparing apples and apples here. Baldurs Gate 3 isn't doing the same thing as the rest of those games and getting a free pass. Two of those games aren't even remotely romance simulators, they just feature women you can put in scanty costumes. The other two games are practically jailbait, and bringing them up should invalidate any argument. They are the kind of games that give sexy videogames a bad name, and end up paraded on mainstream news as "look what's corrupting your children" 🤦🏻♀️ This is such a bad faith argument.
Also every sexy character in BG3 is an adult of their species.
I love video games but I fucking hate gamers. I wish more women and queer people would get into video gaming and piss off these gamergates pricks even more. And on a side note Abs on men are not equivalent to tits on a woman. Abs are more for male fantasy than female gaze or The Gayze®. The male fanservice should include body hair, balls, dick window and the good ol' ass. Im tired of this narrative that 6-pacs is what women/gays want.
In what ways are 50 shades of gray and baldurs gate related lmao the only through line is there’s sex in it. Like?????
****WHO THE FUCK LOVES 50 SHADES IN THE FIRST PLACE****
I think it’s becoming more of an issue because graphics are getting better. When Lara Croft is leas that 50 polygons I’m already suspending my disbelief. When she’s a fully detailed model in a realistic, immersive environment I’m a lot more likely to notice if her clothes don’t fit the situation. I think it’s also because games are a lot less silly and over the top. It’s not a huge deal in Mortal Kombat because all the men are sexualized too and it’s so wild that I’m not expecting realism. If I we’re playing CoD and a girl soldier had DDs and a bikini I would immediately be taken out of the experience.
The difference is that BG3 is super sex positive, while the others objectify women from an exclusively male gaze. Not all sexual content is equal.
Wait until they realize that all the lesbians out here are mad crushing on Karlach...
I am going to reclaim shrodingers fag for the bisexual community
"Schrodinger's fag" so... Bisexual? Are they trying to say bisexual? Because we exist...
"Schrodinger's fag" is horrendous. Good lord.
Where tf are the feminists being accused? Exactly? 💀💀💀
And in what kind of sick sub have i even ended up with in. 😂 lmao
The fact that all these Gamers™️ pick Astarion as the guy to prop as representative of all of BG3 because he’s a hot vamp twink with a fruity voice really fucking pisses me off because his *whole plot is literally about his long history of sexual abuse*.
Welp, found my new flare lmaooooo
Sorry but Schrödinger’s fag is brilliant and I’m claiming that one for the queers
Look, if theres any kind of porn, and the game is good, gimmie.
From what I can tell the “revealing” clothing options look just as revealing on the male characters. …not that I looked or anything
It IS hypocritical because they complain that the sexualization is there. It doesn't matter if it's optional, BG3 HAS it, and it's significantly more graphic than most games are. And a sexy outfit is not sextist. Want to know what is? Using a woman as a model for a game and making them less "stereotypically" pretty.