massey

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities You don't know who Zangief is but you assure me you're an uber-geek. You're so well-versed in video games that you say with certainty that most games portray men in a totally realistic light. It's all those natural body-builders you grew up with, when you weren't playing Zaxxon or Diablo. In the end video games are unrealistic. I don't really care that you'd like to be able to play a marginally overweight female in your online games. You present this as if it were sexist, and I think you stretch the definition of that word to such an extreme that I just don't give a damn anymore.

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities Then who cares if women in video games have large breasts if they aren't sexual?

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities What does it matter if they aren't sexual organs? Gonna hate on Sideshow Bob for having really big feet? The fact that you claim to not know who Zangief is means that you're catastrophically unsuited to make a judgment as far as how "most video games" portray men. I mean, Jesus, the guy is well recognized enough to get several speaking lines in the Wreck-It Ralph trailer. The only REAL video game character to do so.

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities 1. Breasts help in orgasm as well. 2. If breasts aren't sexual organs, then it shouldn't matter if a woman has big boobs in a video game. It's no different from a character with a bobblehead. 3. Zangief: [ATTACH=CONFIG]45095[/ATTACH] Absolutely normal looking male.

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities Angelina Jolie's boobs aren't that big. You grew up with bodybuilders? Well those guys are all on steroids. They're no more "real" than a chick with a boob job. They promote unhealthy male body image issues and they're taking medications that make their nuts shrink and cause them to fly into violent rages. And I've met women with natural breasts and very thin waists. Just because you list a handful of actresses who don't fit that mold doesn't mean that there aren't women out there who look like that. I should know. I look at a lot of breasts. No one gets pissed off if you stare at their elbow. Zangief says you lie. You done a scientific study on this? No? That's what I thought.

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities You are the only person in the history of the universe to say that men in video games are realistically proportioned. Bullpucky. So why do they get mad when I stare at them?

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities They aren't reproductive organs. They're clearly sexual. Go up and grab a woman's boob and see if you get the same response as you do when you put a hand on her shoulder.

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities That's ridiculous. You can have power fantasy or you can have realistic depictions of people. Guys don't look like this in real life: [ATTACH=CONFIG]45094[/ATTACH] So women can put up with looking like Lara Croft. Nobody is going to play a video game about a woman in her mid-30s who struggles with her weight who kills aliens. Power fantasy games are going to have you look like a supermodel with enlarged sexual organs.

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities I sure as hell do have that right. I can be as rude and mean to strangers as I want. It might be classless and I might get my ass kicked, but I don't have to be nice to people.

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities Don't worry, it was before your time.

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities I am not Stinky Mortimer. I've been blessed with, well, a whole bunch of things really. My issues with women tend much more to the "fear of commitment" level than the "I hate you for making fun of me in junior high" level. I do know Stinky Mortimer, however. I've listened to the Stinky Mortimers complain over the years, and I know why they feel the way they do. A dog that has been beaten will bite you, even though you're not the one who beat it. If sexism is any more rampant in the geek community than in other traditionally male arenas, that's why. But the internet is a hive of scum and villainy. Being upset because someone posted mean pictures or left nasty comments? Anonymity has allowed people to say the meanest things they can think of with zero consequences. Don't believe me? Google "I can count to potato".

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities Some of what they're talking about is being treated as morons by males, some of it is being ogled, some of it is people posting mean pictures. There's been just about every kind of complaint possible listed at one point or another in this thread, either by a poster here or by a linked article. But again, so what? There's anecdotal evidence that some men in some regions don't treat women well. Stop the presses. It happens in reverse all the time as well, women treating men like they're complete idiots when we venture into their territory. So let's turn this around. Let's see why the guy might be this way. There's a good deal of territorialism in this world. "This is my place. It is not for you. Stay out." For some nerdy guys that's the comic book shop. It's the same reason guys don't get invited to baby showers. It's why women have Girls' Night Out. For some guys the game store isn't just about a hobby, it's about male bonding. For guys who feel constantly discriminated against by women, the nerd store and online games are the last places they have left. So you're a nerdy guy. You don't get laid. Women don't want to talk to you. When you approach them and ask them out, they say no. Every interaction you have with women is disappointing. So you go to the game store because you don't want to be Mortimer Snerd anymore. You want to be SkullAssassin the Barbarian. You want to adventure with your buddies and lay waste to entire kingdoms. It's how you deal with the fact that women in real life call you "Stinky Mortimer". Now a girl shows up and she wants to play. She doesn't want to date you. She just wants you to show her how to play. She wants to dress like Wonder Woman but she doesn't want you to look at her tits. She wants to play her elf priestess but she doesn't want SkullAssassin, defiler of women and father of a thousand bastard sons, to try and get in her pants. She wants to take away your game. Now you aren't having fun anymore because all your real life problems are suddenly reflected in your escape world. Think that's not a real issue? Think again. There's a reason the game store smells the way it does.

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities A 3 word response to 4 solid paragraphs and a picture with a monkey? Casual dismissal, indeed. I know how the NGD board works. I've been here for years. Disagreeing with a popular poster is tantamount to heresy. Especially if it's a cute chick (or someone pretending to be a cute chick... or two cute chicks). Yuppers! But my points are valid. Sexism exists, yes. And I'm sure you'll run into it in a hobby that is still 95% male and 80% virgin. Being upset because you were stared at by the Horny Adolescent Club and they're yucky is something a high school girl would do. If someone treats you rudely and without respect, be upset with them, not every guy with a Batman shirt.

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities I did read some of them. And then I stopped. There are guys who don't know how to behave. Some of those guys are nerds. Some of them are not. Anywhere you go, you will have to deal with this. Go to a bar, there will be a guy there to leer at you. Go to work, there will be a guy there who will leer at you. Go to a male-dominated location, such as a comic convention, there will be a guy who will leer at you. There are guys who are sexist. Some of those guys are nerds. Some of them are not. You post something they see as insulting to their hobby and they will respond. Of course, there are millions of nerds out there who didn't post photoshopped pictures. There are millions of nerds who didn't make a "punch the woman in the face" game. Had she drawn the wrath of Pittsburgh Steelers fans, she'd have probably gotten a similar reaction. Had she targeted fans of country music, she'd have probably gotten a similar reaction. Look at all the hateful things you see about Barack Obama. Shake your head and say "oh those mean Republicans show no respect to our President". Now realize that I saw that same crap posted for 8 years about George W. Bush. And I shook my head and said "oh those mean Democrats show no respect to our President". If you feel yourself start to justify any of them ("Well he's really dumb..." or "But he invaded Iraq...") then realize you're part of it too. Realize that people on the internet say mean things. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45054[/ATTACH] Somehow this pic did not provoke the same reaction from you as the ones responsible for this thread. I have not been sexist in this thread. I have simply said that some people don't know how to act in society. I'm sure there are nerds who make you uncomfortable from time to time. I am sure there are guys who leer at you in your Squirrel Girl outfit or whatever it is that you wear. I am sure that these guys don't look like George Clooney and probably don't fill out their Superman costume very well. You probably don't want them leering at you. I understand that. My response is... deal with it. You're a grown up. Women do the same damn thing to men but they try and justify it and say it's okay. I don't judge all women on the basis of the skanks, bitches and hoes.

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities 29 pages of criticizing geeks for having poor social skills. Huh. Dividing people into groups results in generalizations, by definition. The women criticizing geek culture are making the same mistake as the men who don't show them their comic books. Grouping me in with rude guy at comic book store is doing a disservice to me. And the rude guy at the comic book store. The fact is many people, men and women, are shallow. Many men and women don't know how to deal with other people in anything but a shallow manner. Many people have anger issues or harbor resentment towards others and don't deal with it well. Is it any surprise that the woman with the Kickstarter of "why video games hate women" got a negative overreaction from nerdy guys who like video games on the internet? Breaking news, guys on 4chan post offensive picture. Film at 11. Trying to use this as proof that there's some overriding issue with "geek culture" however, is just as big a problem as the comic book guy saying "women make up 1% of my customers, I'm not spending another moment on this broad, there's a new Penny Arcade I have to read".

Re: Using Hero System for Zombie Survival Horror Zombie games don't tend to be long-running, in my experience, but can be fun. You can play with the genre rules and see how your players respond. For instance, I wouldn't tell them if the bite is infectious or not. In the original movie, the bite didn't turn you into a zombie. Everyone who died for any reason would arise. A young girl just happened to get bitten and she died from blood loss and general ouchiness. Leaving players in the dark like that could add dramatic tension because they don't know exactly how things work. In horror movies, characters usually aren't familiar with the "rules" of a horror movie. They don't know not to go down in the basement. They try to save Uncle Gertrude when he's been bitten by one of the monsters and looks pale. They go river rafting in Alabama. Players don't make those mistakes, because they think they know the rules. Change things up a bit, don't let them know exactly what is going on, and they'll fall all over themselves to get killed.

Re: OIHID or Why Doesn't Billy Batson not Change Back?

Re: OIHID or Why Doesn't Billy Batson not Change Back? Perhaps it's from watching the old Bill Bixby show as a kid, but I always pictured Banner changing into the Hulk as not a clean switch like Billy Batson/Captain Marvel. If Bruce Banner has a 10 Str and standard Hulk has a 100, then you could have a "I'm just mad enough so my eyes are turning green and the veins on my forehead are sticking out but my pants are still okay" Banner who has a 30 Str and is bulletproof. Generally I'd also think the shock of being shot or stabbed would just flip him to Hulk immediately. Even if you blew his brains out with a sniper rifle, the body would flip to Hulk and his healing powers would kick in, though that's definitely a power complication subplot that would affect the character for some time afterward.

Re: DC/Marvel Characters in Your Campaign I use them frequently. I stay away from the current continuity, because these characters are in my universe, not their own. So if Spidey shows up, there's been no One More Day or Clone Saga unless I want it to have happened (I'll cut the suspense... I don't). They are usually "classic" versions of the characters, partly because those are the ones everyone will recognize and partly because I don't keep up with comics much anymore. We generally run our games as though there is an entire multiverse of different characters. The players might be on Champions 5th edition Earth, and it's possible for them to cross over with Champions 4th edition Earth, or if they get really really lost, they might find their way to Marvel Earth or DC Earth, or a mixture of the two. I write the characters up honestly. Yes, Superman is going to be more powerful than the PCs. He's Superman. But unless you go hanging out in Metropolis you're probably not going to meet him. I go for a character modeling approach where I try to write them up "right". It doesn't bother me to give the Juggernaut 100 PD if I think it's necessary. On the other hand none of the members of the Sinister Six are gonna set the world on fire. Right now the lowest point character I have is a 139 point Steve Lombard (former NFL player, current Daily Planet sportswriter and all around jackass) while the highest is my 4600 point Galactus.

Re: What Makes An Iconic Superhero Costume? Stong primary colors and a distinctive silhouette. The cape helps you recognize Superman, not just because it's a cape, but because of how it moves and how he wears it. You can recognize Batman by his pointy ears and the jagged ends of his cape. Bold, simple, strong color combinations are a must. The Hulk has purple pants and green skin. Not normally my two favorite colors, but the design is so simple, the outline so striking, and the message so clear, that it works. Iron Man/The Flash/Captain Marvel (DC) have red and gold/yellow as their colors, and that's a good combination. Same with the red and blue users. It's visually very appealing. A strong symbol helps as well. Be it Superman's "S", Flash's lightning bolt, or Wonder Woman's W bra, it should be something easily recognizable and immediately associated with that person. Classic style elements, like art deco designs, incorporate well also.

Re: OIHID or Why Doesn't Billy Batson not Change Back? It's hard to be lazy at superspeed. Microwaving a burrito takes two minutes. At superspeed it feels like a lot longer. Imagine if your girlfriend makes you watch The Notebook or something. Now imagine that it lasts 100 times as long. Normal everyday activities it would just be easier to do them at normal speed. Sure, you can read a book to relax, or watch a movie on fast forward, or things that like. You could even take a superspeed nap. But eventually you just want to veg out and relax. It's like when I get home from work and the first thing I do is take off my pants.

Re: Public vs. Secret Identity To some people, superheroes equal secret identity. I wouldn't have a problem if a GM told me that secret ID and code vs killing were mandatory in his game. People will be trying to find out who you are in the game world. It will be bad for your loved ones if they do. It's the same as being told to take a specific hunted. "Dr. Y2K is hunting everyone in your group. Take him as a hunted." Okay no prob.

Re: OIHID or Why Doesn't Billy Batson not Change Back? I had a speedster who was OIHID. The explanation was he had to "power up" to use his abilities. He looked the same, acted the same, talked the same. He also had a public ID. Everyone knew who he was. The OIHID was that he had to consciously activate his powers. If nothing is going on, his powers probably aren't on. So if he's distracted and not thinking about being a superhero at all, they probably aren't on. Watching a football game? Eating dinner with your girlfriend? At the movies? Powers not on. As soon as something happened, he'd have to spend a phase summoning up the speed force (or whatever I had called it) and then he's got his mojo going. Why change back at all? Because normal life at superspeed is boring. Each OIHID character should have their own explanation as to why they change back. It's only a limitation if they choose to do it. Dr Destroyer has armor that gives him his powers, but it's not a focus because you can't take it away from him. It's too good. Dumbo has a feather that lets him fly, even though the ability doesn't come from it. It is a focus because he thinks he needs it and can't fly without it. OIHID characters only get the points if for some reason they choose to change back and forth.