No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

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No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

Postby Paradox » Mon Apr 04, 2016 1:40 pm

No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

There's...nothing about trans characters.

Have they literally slapped trans in the title just for the clicks?
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Re: No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

Postby iMURDAu » Mon Apr 04, 2016 1:44 pm

Faris/Sarisa from FFV. Boom.
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Re: No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

Postby Matthew Notch » Mon Apr 04, 2016 2:20 pm

Sweet Jesus. The worst part is that it's actually a pretty great article. Good job writers and interviewees! But what the damn, website that hosted their article?
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Re: No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

Postby AboveGL » Mon Apr 04, 2016 3:31 pm

Sorceress Adel from FFVIII is androgynous in appearance.

That said, I share Toy's and Notch's ire on choice of title.
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Re: No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

Postby sunglasses » Mon Apr 04, 2016 3:44 pm

It might have been part of the original article and got cut.
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Re: No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

Postby archaeologydalek » Mon Apr 04, 2016 3:59 pm

REDACTED
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Last edited by archaeologydalek on Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

Postby Taluun » Mon Apr 04, 2016 4:34 pm

I can't say the commenters are justified though. It's a general trend that seems to be happening at cracked that we don't like. Even if it was included in the article it would still be clickbait as it unlikely that it was a major aspect if it could get cut like that.

Additionally its in an article about how the heads of the game companies are forcing the writers to do crappy work to match some dumb desire and yet here cracked appears to be doing a similar type of thing. This seems to be a great example of irony imo.
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Re: No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

Postby gisambards » Mon Apr 04, 2016 4:46 pm

archaeologydalek wrote:it's only because the mistake involved social justice that the commenters have lost their goddamn minds.

I don't think that's entirely fair. Cracked's editorial team have a reputation for intentional clickbait, and the higher-ups often show a disdain for the minorities they claim to be supporting. Although it's more likely to be a mistake, I hardly think it's surprising people have assumed this is Cracked's editorial team intentionally placing "progressive" clickbait at the expense of a minority none of them happen to be. That is probably somewhere along the trajectory Pargin has taken the site on.
Also, even if it was a part of the original article, it was presumably not a major enough part to warrant being the title.

Also, just to counteract the original title, Assassin's Creed Unity - part of one of the series called out in the article - contains a transgender character: the Chevalier d'Eon. So even if it had been part of the article, it would have been incorrect.
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Re: No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

Postby KleinerKiller » Mon Apr 04, 2016 5:01 pm

gisambards wrote:Also, just to counteract the original title, Assassin's Creed Unity - part of one of the series called out in the article - contains a transgender character: the Chevalier d'Eon. So even if it had been part of the article, it would have been incorrect.


And AC Syndicate has Ned Wynert, an entirely original transgendered character, although YMMV on the overall quality of that portrayal.
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Re: No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

Postby SilverMaple » Mon Apr 04, 2016 5:06 pm

Well, a title change after a couple of hours will be welcome this time.

Also, Krem from Dragon Age: Inquisition is a really well done character, I think - his personality doesn't revolve around the fact that he's trans, and it's not mentioned constantly, but he'll talk about it if you ask him.

Not really relevant, I guess, seeing as that topic isn't actually in the article, but that game is just awesome and I'm not going to miss a chance to bring it up.
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Re: No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

Postby Tesseracts » Mon Apr 04, 2016 5:07 pm

I don't see what everyone is complaining about.

They said no trans characters, and there are no trans characters in the article.

Point proven.
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Re: No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

Postby Marcuse » Mon Apr 04, 2016 5:22 pm

archaeologydalek wrote:More than likely. It's happened with other articles (including mine); it's only because the mistake involved social justice that the commenters have lost their goddamn minds.


I don't think they have here though. I think it's annoying because the title is misleading, I'm not going to turn into a pumpkin if an internet article title is misleading, but it is annoying. It is especially annoying when the misleading title is framed as a criticism of the topic of the article, when no such criticism is made in the body of the article itself. It makes the criticism seem hollow and like it's there to bait. Whether it's a genuine mistake or not, I don't know, but I am disappointed that a good article with an interesting source needs to have such a pointlessly inflammatory title.
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Re: No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

Postby Matthew Notch » Mon Apr 04, 2016 8:21 pm

At any rate, the title is, while not a bitty part of the article, much fewer words than the article itself, which I enjoyed.

I don't personally play "blockbuster" games, really, partly out of not owning the latest "gen" consoles and/or an actual desktop computer, and partly because gun games of any sort just make my eyes glaze over. But I watch my brother in law play COD or Fallout or Halo or whatever from time to time, and while some of the stories are indeed pretty hokey, I have always suspected there were some very talented writers being held back from putting an awesome story out. I suspect it more whenever a really great indie title is released, because those developers had to come from somewhere, and often it's their new calling after getting fed up with working for the big box.

I do suspect that there was not originally a bit about the lack of trans characters, although it's possible the writers interviewed had a story about wanting to write in a trans character and that being shot down by corporate. Though when it comes to the games they are discussing, I also wonder how much it would add to the story having a trans character involved, or if it would just be tokenism. Well they seem like talented guys, so maybe they could weave a narrative around that. It might be interesting to see in the future.
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Re: No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

Postby CarrieVS » Mon Apr 04, 2016 8:39 pm

Marcuse wrote:I'm not going to turn into a pumpkin if an internet article title is misleading, but it is annoying.


The misleading title traumatised me so badly that I lost my identity, and now identify as the first thing I saw when I came to my senses, which was a machine for moving water.
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Re: No Trans Characters: 6 Realities Of Writing Video Games

Postby Marcuse » Mon Apr 04, 2016 8:42 pm

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