A Lack of Women in Video Games and a Swearing Woman Presenting Video Games

This is a two-parter blog.  I shouldn't really have to explain what that is, but I'll explain it anyway.  I want to talk about two things and instead of making two separate blogs, I'm going to talk about those two things in a the same blog.  Understood?  Goodie.  On we go.

First Part:

Let me present you with the newest Jimquisition.   In it, he talks about the lack of female playable characters in the newest installment of the Assassin's Creed franchise Unity.  Ubisoft states that creating female characters would have "doubled the amount of work".   I honestly can't think of any better way to address that ridiculous statement than how Jim Sterling did in his latest piece.  But, if you don't want to watch his video, I'll share  my thoughts.

Doubling the amount of work?  Lack of resources?  You are UBISOFT!  You have MILLIONS of dollars to R&D; to develop amazing CGI cutscenes; to develop new engines; to produce massive marketing campaigns.  You HAVE the resources to do it.  YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE IT!  You can't possibly call a game "Unity" and then KNOWINGLY leave out female assassins.  You PRAISED yourself by increasing diversity when you created Assassin's Creed: Liberation's lead Aveline de Grandpre, an assassin who wasn't just a woman, but also half black.  YOUR PRIME DIRECTIVE WITH UNITY SHOULD HAVE BEEN TO INCLUDE ANOTHER WOMAN ASSASSIN!  You can't just give the community one woman and then say, "There's your woman.  Happy now?"

Jim also addresses this point.  Let's just say it really was a matter of over distention with the budget and they really couldn't afford to build and animate female characters, not to mention voice act them.  This is a problem with AAA game developing, having to spend so much money on bang and flash and to market it so aggressively that even elderly people in hospices are exposed to your commercials.  But the biggest offending factor to Unity is that it HAS to come out exactly a year after the previous Assassin's Creed.  STOP THIS!  Give your games more time!  We can wait!  Because we're buying other games because yours isn't out yet doesn't mean you're losing money.  We'll still buy it when you release it.  If it means Unity doesn't come out in March or whenever next year, so be it.  YOU NEED GOOD PRESS UBISOFT!

And well, like a friend of mine said, Rockstar at least flat out said they were going to have three male protagonists in GTA V.  They didn't come out with any bullshit excuses of, "But we ran out of moneiz!" like Ubisoft said...

End Part 1

Begin Part 2

Loud mouths.  Gotta love them.  I present to you Aisha Tyler.

This foul mouthed comedian (of which I have no problems with personally) has hosted the Ubisoft E3 Press Conference for at least the third time straight.  But, it's her attitude this year that's making the news.

She will tell you straight to your face "Fuck you!" if you tell her she doesn't play games.   Apparently, she does and if you disagree, "FUCK YOU!"  I haven't watched the conference this year, but I did watch the little compilation posted in the article.  Now.. *takes a deep breath* before I continue, let's just say that I swear up a storm.  Anyone I hang out with can attest to that.  I have a sailor's mouth, and it gets really, really bad when I play games (especially Mario Kart).  I also love a lot of movies that are full of swearing.  "Yippie-kae-yay motherfucker!" is in fact one of my favorite lines.  I'm not adverse to swearing; I just believe that are certain times and places you just don't do.

It's about being professional.  She can swear however much she wants in her stand ups, and that is fine.  I saw one of her stand ups and it was fucking hilarious.  But, during an E3 Press Conference, she's representing Ubisoft.  This wasn't being professional.  And yes, I'm aware that the games Ubisoft makes contain swearing, as well as blood and sex and other things.  Again, it's about presenting yourself professionally.  Let's say you're working in a restaurant.  You can tell your coworker, "I need a fucking cheeseburger!", but when you serve that cheeseburger, do you tell  your customer, "Here's your fucking cheeseburger!"  No... it's not professional, and even if you told me you do stand up as your night job, I wouldn't care.  You don't impress me with your ability to swear while doing your job working in someone else's establishment.

Which is highly ironic that I love the Jimquisition, because that man cusses up a storm.  Again, however, there's a difference.  The Jimquisition is Jim Sterling's show, and those who don't like swearing don't have to watch it.  They know what to expect, and they steer clear of it.  But people who wanted to watch the Ubisoft E3 conference can't steer clear of Aisha Tyler unless they simply don't want to see the conference.  My issue with Tyler is that all this swearing and being quoted "FUCK YOU!" is drawing a LOT of attention to herself, so much so that more people are talking about HER than the games.  THAT'S unprofessional.  Who gives a fuck if we cuss in our blogs or while we play games, right?  When you represent a COMPANY, however, then it comes time to watch your mouth.

And get a better joke writer.... I swear, I don't want to watch them most of the time because the jokes are just so bad... Yeah, she's better than Joel McHale, but at least Joel never coined the term "girl wood."  *shivers*