I read about this game in Bitch Magazine last month and was surprised at the complete support and omg-so-awesome reaction. I play first person shooters and I fully admit they're violent and often misogynistic like other video games; however, I found the concept of "Hey Baby" to be troubling. I don't think killing street harassers is empowering or even a good reaction to the issue at hand. I also agree with Hess concerning the utter lack of goals in the game.
I think it's awesome that a video game is trying to tackle a difficult situation but I feel that it could have been executed in a better way that was trying to promote the notion that street harassment is terrible and needs to be stopped without resulting to murder.
Personally I like the fantasy aspect. I know I'd love coming home to Grand Theft Auto after street harrassment on my way there.
I think it sounds awesome.
EDIT: Having looked at the game itself, I still think it looks like fun, but the lack of a plot is disappointing-- for a short stress-burst period, no plot is fine, beyond that, I want some storyline and to think that the challenges are getting harder
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b. I get street harassed all the time! I don’t also need to get harassed while I am not on the street, and in fact alone on my computer. I’ve got trolls for that.
I think this is the heart of the matter for me. I don't play first-person shooter games, but I imagine why they're so attractive is because you get to live in some fantasy gang world where you are badass and etc. Frankly harassment aligns a bit too realistically with daily life and I can't imagine wanting to play a character whose purpose is to retaliate after getting harassed (if that makes any sense).
I'm all for female characters getting bloody and gory but the whole thing seems kinda passive. The character only exists to be harassed and I mean sure they can retaliate, but there's very little depth beyond that as a character.
Frankly harassment aligns a bit too realistically with daily life and I can't imagine wanting to play a character whose purpose is to retaliate after getting harassed (if that makes any sense).
I think that's the heart of the matter for me: I'd rather play a character who can retaliate, rather than who just has to walk on quickly and pretend it's not happening, or flip the bird and risk further abuse and sometimes physical threats.
It's not about being "badass," it's about not taking shit lying down.
(That said, on your last point, I'd love to see something like this done with more character development, too-- I always wanted to see the GTA series have a female protagonist for once given that there are some reasonably kickass women in the series anyway. But then again, first-person shooters with male protagonists had little in the way of plot and character development when they were first developed, right?)
I'd like to see this game with more character development also. And a story line of some kind. If the point of the game ISN'T to get harassed (as in: there's a bigger story going on with goals to fill etc) but you get harassed as a more lifelike feature of the game, and you get to mow the fuckers down with a machine gun, I'm on board.
Yes, my thoughts exactly. The only point of this game seems to be getting harassed, whereas I think the ability to do something in the context of a much larger game would be great. But this is a step.
Huh. I've got nothing against violent revenge fantasies. Heck, one of my favourite guilty pleasures after a bad day is re-reading the comic "Hothead Paisan, Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist." But somehow the description and the trailer leaves me cold. I wonder why
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I'd looney-tunes it up a bit. Exaggerate the harassers, caricature them, so they were just as obnoxious, but more laughable. Make a wide variety of cartoon weaponry to deal with them. My first thought: Bloody tampons fired out of a huge cannon. The harassers die of shock.
Very late to the party, but I love, LOVE your ideas for how to make a better game like this. I'd play the heck out of that-- though I'd still like some story or at least a boss fight or two, something more than just trash mob trash mob trash mob.
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I think it's awesome that a video game is trying to tackle a difficult situation but I feel that it could have been executed in a better way that was trying to promote the notion that street harassment is terrible and needs to be stopped without resulting to murder.
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I think it sounds awesome.
EDIT: Having looked at the game itself, I still think it looks like fun, but the lack of a plot is disappointing-- for a short stress-burst period, no plot is fine, beyond that, I want some storyline and to think that the challenges are getting harder ( ... )
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or...Maybe a cricket bat...
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I think this is the heart of the matter for me. I don't play first-person shooter games, but I imagine why they're so attractive is because you get to live in some fantasy gang world where you are badass and etc. Frankly harassment aligns a bit too realistically with daily life and I can't imagine wanting to play a character whose purpose is to retaliate after getting harassed (if that makes any sense).
I'm all for female characters getting bloody and gory but the whole thing seems kinda passive. The character only exists to be harassed and I mean sure they can retaliate, but there's very little depth beyond that as a character.
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I think that's the heart of the matter for me: I'd rather play a character who can retaliate, rather than who just has to walk on quickly and pretend it's not happening, or flip the bird and risk further abuse and sometimes physical threats.
It's not about being "badass," it's about not taking shit lying down.
(That said, on your last point, I'd love to see something like this done with more character development, too-- I always wanted to see the GTA series have a female protagonist for once given that there are some reasonably kickass women in the series anyway. But then again, first-person shooters with male protagonists had little in the way of plot and character development when they were first developed, right?)
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My first thought: Bloody tampons fired out of a huge cannon. The harassers die of shock.
Agreed about the women cheering you on :)
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