Tasha

In response to just these sorts of criticisms they added Zarya.
 

 
So being vocal can help.  Now if they just added a couple more not overtly sexualized* female characters to the line-up the game wouldn't be embarrassing to play.
 
 
 
 
* - Disclaimer: I find Zarya totally bloody hot whereas the original female cast I just found meh, so maybe she is just differently sexualized.

I'd play a game with a female Link working to save Prince Zelda . . . I wouldn't mind a female Link and a Princess Zelda either, but that would be for other than dramatic reasons.
 
Regarding the whole "Ms. Character" phenomenon and why it's bad, it seems to me that it's because it treats "being female" as being in this weird space where it's simultaneously considered a noticeable difference but also only cosmetic. We get "Regular Batman" and then, for example, "Steampunk Batman", "Medieval Batman", "Future Batman", and . . . "Female Batman". I can see why women would be upset about having their gender applied as a gimmick. How would we men feel if, instead of having Ant-Man, we had "Mr. Wasp"? "He's just like the Wasp, except he's MALE . . . and can't fly." Would we Caucasians find it appropriate if a new comic character was explicitly positioned as "the white Luke Cage"?
 
(Okay, I have to admit that those examples don't really hit home, because "male" and "white" are positions of relative privilege, so those of us in those categories don't really feel the pinch of prejudice like minorities do.)
 
On another topic, does anyone else find the character designs for Blizzards new game "Overwatch" to be a little problematic?

The name Bigdamnhero comes from Firefly. (Y'all probably guessed that.)
 
First RPG I played was Original D&D back in 1976 (Junior High).
 
I can't remember if I started GMing with OD&D or just after AD&D came out?
 
I discovered Hero with 1st Edition Fantasy Hero in 1985 and never looked back. Ironically, I mostly played heroic genres for years, and didn't really get into Champions itself until about 10 years ago.
 
I run Hero almost exclusively; currently wrapping up a Champions game adapted from Savage World's Necessary Evil setting; probably going to run low-fantasy next. I play in a Star Wars Edge Of Empire game. I also run a lot of convention games, almost all with Hero in a wide variety of genres.

Hello there!
How did you come up with your 'handle' (forum name)? It's the name of one of my characters on Champions Online - she's in my avatar as well.
What was the first tabletop RPG you played? Dungeons and Dragons... Probably 3.5? I'm relatively new to the tabletop scene (at least, compared to some of you who seem to have been at this much longer than me!)
What was the first tabletop RPG you GMed? None yet... But I'm in the process of setting up my first game - of Champions! I'm really looking forward to it.  I've never done this before, but it should be a lot of fun.
What are you currently playing/GMing? See above.
 
I'm totally here because of the Champions Online MMO - when I learned it was based off a tabletop RPG I took it upon myself to track down the books - ended up with a pile of 6E books and an urge to start a campaign. Still in the planning stages, but I hope to start by early November.

Any character that I post here is based on RAW as I understand it. To do otherwise gives worthless characters and ones that don't work as advertised

Any character that I post here is based on RAW as I understand it. To do otherwise gives worthless characters and ones that don't work as advertised

Any character that I post here is based on RAW as I understand it. To do otherwise gives worthless characters and ones that don't work as advertised

Any character that I post here is based on RAW as I understand it. To do otherwise gives worthless characters and ones that don't work as advertised

I think teaching people Hero is best done at a minimal level.  They don't need to know very much at all about the rules, just how to interact with the game at the most basic level.  Here's how you roll to hit.  Here's how you do skills.  Here's how you do damage.  Lets play.
 
Using premade characters for newcomers allows them to step into play very quickly, in my experience, and gamers at least are quite familiar with the basic concepts of how rules work so they learn quickly.
 
The absolutely worst thing you can do is have three or four people trying to explain things all at once.  It becomes overwhelming and few things frustrate me as badly as trying to teach some guy how to play with kibbitzers throwing in extra details and anecdotes.  One teacher at a time.

In a similar vein...
 
Why does DC Comics keep insulting its fans? 

From what I've read;
 
the promiscuity is true, but something of a smokescreen. The non-interested sources I've read point out that while she may have had a relationship with one of the reporters, it didn't seem to equate into any kind of free press. Certainly not the kind to build a scandal out of. Nor did her game win any awards given by "compromised" entities (ie judged by men she may have slept with)
 
Also the woman in question lurks on 4chan and she (as well as a few others on her side) quoted messages from the various threads where the goal was less "Journalistic integrity*" and more "Make the girl suffer." The 4chan group "made the data available" in a huge 3k+ page dump as proof that they were not targeting her for abuse and apparently didn't think anyone would go through it. And apparently (again according to what I've read as I wasn't going to read 3k pages of 4chan for any reason) it was a rather large number of the posts. (though could have been a small, very vocal group)
 
 
 
 
 
*This has been a problem for ages with the Gaming industry - not because some indie game designer with girl parts slept with a contributor to a game magazine - but because the AAA game companies basically use "journalists" to sell their games. Withholding trial copies, leveraging their advertising, etc. to get favorable press, up to and including getting not-on-board journalists fired from publications if they say bad things about their games. So the uproar about the girl seems to be based more on her parts rather than the integrity of an indie gaming mag/contest. Again this could be the roar of the minority. 

More or less, except that the "we care about journalistic integrity, really" people only started popping up after the harassment started getting negative press, presumably trying to do damage control for their in-groups.  The "only fringe elements that have nothing to do with our core culture" defense, if you will.

So I don't really follow video games, but #gamergate has apparently gotten so ugly that NPR had to cover it yesterday.  My understanding is that some female industry journalists pointed out that mainstream video game culture is sexist and misogynistic, and mainstream video game culture rebutted that argument with rape and death threats serious enough to drive those women into hiding.  Is that an accurate characterization?

Someone needs to not use an orange background and to learn where their shift key is.

#GamerGate revealed as misogynist and racist movement from 4chan

That really says something about you since a lot of those ads are targeted on your browsing history.
 
Just because people are pushing in one medium to change the way women are being treated doesn't mean that similar efforts aren't going on for Movies, TV and all media. Video Games are getting the attention because of the Vitriol and evil attacks that the "don't change anything" crowd is tossing at anyone who dares to challenge the status quo.

Online abuse, leaked nudes and revenge porn: this is nothing less than terrorism against women
 

This is why you shouldn't click on the naked photos of Jennifer Lawrence

Then I guess Sociotard and I have similar browsing histories because I got the exact same ad, and also noted the irony of it to myself.  However, regardless of Sociotard's and my depraved browsing histories, that doesn't change the fact that Entertainment Weekly accepted that advertiser as one of their sponsors.  I have never seen that exact ad anywhere else on the the internet, so I have to assume that the advertising deal is with Entertainment weekly or whoever runs their site for them.  

That really says something about you since a lot of those ads are targeted on your browsing history.
 
Just because people are pushing in one medium to change the way women are being treated doesn't mean that similar efforts aren't going on for Movies, TV and all media. Video Games are getting the attention because of the Vitriol and evil attacks that the "don't change anything" crowd is tossing at anyone who dares to challenge the status quo.

The Brutalization of Women in Video Games, and its Apologists 
Anita's Irony: Every Hater Proves Anita Sarkeesian Right

Wow!  It is like we have reached some critical mass.
 
http://games.on.net/2014/08/readers-threatened-by-equality-not-welcome/
 

Okay, three things:
 
1) The article on casual cruelty against women pointed to Anita Sarkeesian's latest video, and Ms Sarkeesian talks about how the depiction of violence against women in video games is different than the depiction of violence against men in the same games.  I'm not going to repeat or summarize what she said.  Go watch the video if you are curious.
 
2) The vast majority of AAA game titles center upon a male protagonist who is the most important character in the game.  Most of the time if he rescues or fails to rescue any particular female in distress the game goes on either way.  Only when the male protagonist dies is all hope considered lost and the game ends.  Most people both male and female would choose to be someone whose actions matter, but in video games this role is usually reserved for male characters.
 
3) Yes, men tend to be portrayed in games, fiction, and news reports as being kind of expendable.  There deaths aren't presented as being as tragic in and of themselves as the deaths of women and children.  So I would consider it a fair point ... if men's rights activist decried this point in games and fiction.  They don't.  They do what you did.  Instead of saying that the game, movie or book is terrible for displaying men's lives as meaningless and expendable, they say that feminist are terrible for failing to decry the depiction of men's lives as being expendable.  Don't complain about the fact that feminist aren't picketing outside The Expendables 3, go picket it yourselves.  Then I will believe MRAs are serious about the issue.  Otherwise, I'm just going to believe that they (and you) are trying to score rhetorical points with an argument that they really believe themselves.

The main insult attached to White Knight is that the Knight in question is a(n effete) loser who is only agreeing with or defending the woman in question because he hopes she's reciprocate with sex. 
 
Because the idea of a guy not being on "men's" side in debates is foreign to them. 
 
(and it's defense - sorry, my brain bugged had to mention it)

If you feel that people are trying to bully you into identifying yourself as a cis male, you are overly sensitive (I know that commenting on the validity of other peoples feeling is not PC, but I thought you would appreciate that).
 
The terms cis male and cis female are used primarily in LGBT discussions, and by people trying to give an LGBT perspective on a particular issue.  Now it is fine to say "hand me the wrench" when you are dealing with a small toolbox which has only one kind of wrench.  When your tool box contains a socket wrench, a crescent wrench, a pipe fitter wrench, a monkey wrench and assorted combination wrenches it pays to be specific when asking for a wrench.  The LGBT world has a lot of types of wrenches.  Having a quick way of indicating that you are talking about someone whose biological sex, gender identity, and sexuality all match up with societal expectation can be very helpful at times.
 
Now, you want your personal gender/sexuality combo to the default, requiring no prefix even in LGBT discussions, while all other gender variants receive some sort of label (homo, bi, trans, cross dressing, etc.).  Well I can see why you would want that, but I can't see why the LGBT should concede that to you.  Certainly not if your best argument is to point to chromosomes.  You've already conceded that alternate gender/sexuality have been shown different neurologically structures compared to the "norm".  This has been established by multiple studies.  It is a fact as you say.  That it might be quicker to do a chromosome test or look at what is between someones legs than do a head CT, is irrelevant.  As I pointed out the cis prefix outside of organic chemistry is used mostly in discussion of gender identity and sexuality.  Neurological structures often trump gross anatomy in these matters and it is perfectly legitimate that the language of these discussions reflect this.
 
 
Boldly stated, but mostly BS, and totally BS in the current context.  
 
Language is the battlefield upon which wars of idea if fought.  However, it is also common ground upon which peace treaties for those wars are forged.  If one side totally wins the linguistic war, then your soldiers are terrorist, your religion is heresy and your natural sexual practices are perversions.  At that point, your conscience, expressions and thoughts are truly straight jacketed.  However, what passes for political correctness is not at that point.  It is mostly just an effort to be polite to others who are different than you and yours. Having the linguistic tools to respectfully speak to one another is an aid to open dialogue, not an impediment. The restrictions that are placed by mainstream PC speech* are rarely a serious impediment to free expressions of ideas unless the idea that is being expressed is that their group of people is inferior to your group of people.  
 
Certainly the term cis gendered poses little danger of straight jacketeding expression.  It is merely a particular gender/sexuality that happens to be yours and you want it to be the default even in discussions where a range of gender identities are being discussed.  Well tough. You don't get to have it that way.
 
 
 
*Note the description of wives as "unpaid sex workers" never caught on and has never been the official PC term for them