Things that make you feel uncomfortable in games

General
21

There’s only ever been one moment in gaming that I’ve felt just kinda uncomfortable and that was in Hero Rise: The Hero Project where two characters got into a massive argument with each other over gay hatred towards other gays I think

Being a straight dude with a straight character I was just kinda like, “Umm okey dokey then. You do you, I’m gonna go fight super villains and stuff.”

Just kinda a weird situation since I don’t care much what you’re into. Men, women, the potted plant in your foyer, whatever floats your boat. I’m just here to play video games, not make a political statement.

Though just to throw a wrench into the machine, I love the military in just about everything :grin: Send me your hate.

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22

My biggest thing is animal abuse, although I also agree with your points on bad romances, glorifying the military, and general bigotry.

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23

Seriously. In one of my planned works, your “moral stat” is Bovine Instincts vs Human Influence. Guess which one represents the negative side xD?

26

I can understand what you’re saying. I may not agree with it, simply because I think Jury being related to and being one of the biggest dicks in the game gives my MC full justification for his actions, but I definitely understand.

Also yeah, spiders are the worst :confounded:

27

Awh, thank you. I really do like how nice it is here. ^-^ Also, it’s not necessarily that cursing bothers me; it’s just when things go a bit overboard. It’s uncomfortable to listen to – or read. To me, it’s like… listening to a stranger start raging at an employee or random person in a store or something.

28

Any topic regarding sexuality, racism or abuse that is not handled with care and actuall research. I think those kind of topics are good and important for games, but should be handled with some research into it, to not perpetruate any harmfull stereotypes and prejudices.

Basically anything involving even mention of rape automatically gets me on edge. But if it is handled properly and not used as cheap drama, then i can go along with it and understand it’s use and importance in the story.

One time that i really stopped playing a game solely becasue of an issue i had with it was when one of the characters was rapist and my character couldn’t act against him in any way other than trying avoid sex themselves. But what actually add that little bit needed for me to decide not to play this game was the fact that author considered behaviour of that character as just “inappropriate” rather than rapists. I then thought “Yhy, i don’t think that is the person whose game i’ll be comfortable playing”, and never got back to it.

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29

@Razgriz

That’s a scene that I also found extremely uncomfortable but undoubtedly for different reasons than you.

I argued very strongly against its inclusion during beta-test. Actually that’s likely an understatement. I wrote several very long, very passionate emails about it. I felt that it broke the flow of the plot and served little purpose. And the author in turn argued that it was important, and that he was keeping it. So, I’ll defend his right to do so, because he was right, it is important.

And it’s important, because it means I get to discuss this with you.

I think Choice of Games is generally great in regards to including characters on the GBLTQ spectrum, however, straight players playing straight characters generally get to avoid a lot of those things. Even in a game like Heroes Rise, where you have a cast of NPCs that have a significant proportion of GBLTQ characters, you’ll generally not really get to see what that really means beyond having a pick of pronouns, or a love interest of the desired gender.

And there, in Heroes Rise, you’ve got that scene. It’s a nasty little scene, one that portrays a few GBLTQ characters in a negative light, exposing prejudices within the community we’d like to pretend don’t exist to the world. And really, who likes to see their dirty laundry being aired to the rest of the world? But it’s there, it’s in your face, you can’t just ignore that you’re playing a game with a significant proportion of GBLTQ characters, not all of whom agree with eachother, or even like eachother. Far too often if a game has two gay characters they’ll end up hooking up together on account of their gayness and not because they’re at all compatible in any other way, but here, you’ve characters arguing, over intersectionality issues, and there’s no straight person to wade in, and fix everything, instead it’s the bad-ass lesbian character. And that scene, it just shows a little of all these characters and what they’re going through, what they’ve been through, and another side of their personalities. It shows, for instance, the sort of prejudices that Stage Show has experienced, but how she’s still absolutely awesome, it doesn’t erase her as a transwoman, or handwave a future where there’s no prejudice.

I’m likely not explaining why it’s important that well. It’s important though. It’s important for inclusion, important for character building, important because the author of the game says it’s important and it’s a scene that matters very much to him.

During the beta-test I actually messaged another tester and asked what he, as a straight man, thought of it, he said he thought it was interesting, made him realise things he hadn’t before. And I figure if it’s done that to one person, well, it’s done its job, and it’s worth a bit of discomfort.

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30

@FairyGodfeather I find that scene very important and meaningfull exatly for the things you wrote about it.
In Heroes Rise series there were many LGBTQ characters and topics and this scene was a moment when it was more blunt and unavoidable to any character. Everyone have their issues and everyone is going through some serious things. It made the characters more real. I like the stories where not everything is about MC and characters have their own lives and problems. I also appreciated that it made straight people see it. So they couldn’t just avoid it and pretend that side of those people does not exist.
Ofcourse we would want that our community was strongly tied and close to each other, but those kind of issues like in that scene always came up and we shouldn’t hid it and cut ourselves out from the rest of the world.
That’s why, in my opinion, it was good scene.

31

Yeah as long as it worked and helped someone understand I guess it did its job as you say.

Mainly I don’t care, if you like girls, good for you, if you like guys, good for you, if you like both, good for you.
Whatever you do in your bed room or with people of your choosing is your concern. It’s not mine or anybody else’s.

I feel this quote works pretty well for my views on sexuality.
“You do you, and I’ll do me.” I don’t really need to know what a character or person finds attractive to like them.
Cause for me a game or book isn’t meant to make you question real world things, for me they’re there for entertainment purposes only.

They may touch on whatever subjects they wish, if that gives you some understanding or you take something away from it then I guess that’s a bonus for you. But for me it’s just plain old fun and I hope that’s how it’ll always be for me :slight_smile: This is just my personal view on things,take it for what you will.

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32

@Razgriz

I didn’t care for that scene either. Not to discount gender identity issues and whatnot (I admit I can’t relate to or even fully understand such, being a straight man secure in his identity), I just grow weary of people endlessly slapping labels on themselves/each other, which I do believe was actually addressed.

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33

@Sneaks,

Honestly the game could’ve touched on anything and it likely would’ve been overlooked by me. One, because I’m an oblivious person, and two because I bought the game so I could be a super hero.

Anyway that’s my whole shtick on uncomfortable scenes. Sorry if I went off topic.

34

I remember that scene.
It annoyed the hell out of me
These people were trash talking and insulting each other and acting like petty children. (I was probably more mature than them). My character was straight but ut didn’t matter and I still got involved and told them to shut up .
I think the option was something about not knowing what the other person has been through. (I really do not care about orientation, belief, gender (both the one you were born with and the one you identify as) because they are irrelevant.
(Warning tactical rant inbound)
I don’t understand this concept of being feminine or masculine because thats assuming a gender will be a certain way and as someone whose emotions and feelings change possibly every hour I dislike being called girly or being expected to be manly. (This implies its better for me to be manly)
I just think people are indefinable in anyway and we shouldn’t judge or assume anything about anyone because the universe is filled with infinite variables and nothing is true. So it annoys me when someone complains or insults someone because of religion, orientation, etc. (To quote some kid that I agree with “You are a speck of dust your opinions don’t matter”) so all in all
I just really hate things I consider pointless.
Unnecessary discrimination
Government
Dogs(Cats are way better)
(Rant over)

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35

Whoa there. We’re all fine with everything else, but bringing in the dogs vs cats argument may be more than you can handle. :wink:

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36

I am willing to risk it.
Cats are better than dogs
Chocolate is better than vanilla
And waffles are better than pancakes.

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37

Actually that’s part of the point. Because being queer isn’t about what you do in the bedroom. And there’s some really ugly facts that we don’t get a chance to ignore, we can’t not care about because they’re happening to us. There’s a lot of violence, and discrimination and hatred. The suicide and homeless statistics are horrifying. As are the murder statistics for trans women, especially those of colour.

And okay, all of that’s uncomfortable, and likely doesn’t seem very relevant to the point at hand to you? Because you just want to play a game, you don’t want to be bothered by real world things, and besides that scene had nothing to do with that. It was just people arguing.

But it was also a scene in which queer characters weren’t erased, and which they argued about things that mattered to them which weren’t at all related to who was in bed with whom.

It was a very GBLTQ specific scene.

I never get the option to ignore all the countless scenes brimming with heterosexuality, for instance. I don’t get to claim they make me uncomfortable. I can’t avoid them. They’re everywhere, in every single form of media I look at and I can’t ignore it. And a lot of the time that makes me uncomfortable, and makes me feel excluded.

But, hey you’re playing a game written by a gay author, writing about things that matter to him, and he considers important. And sure he loves super-heroes, and that’s fantastic, but if he also gets to use his games to raise awareness and make the world a slightly better place, that’s great too.

Anyway not disagreeing that it was an uncomfortable scene because yes, it was a really, really uncomfortable scene. But sometimes we shouldn’t be able to avoid things that make us uncomfortable, even in our otherwise fun escapist entertainment.

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38

Portrayals of entire groups of people as brainwashed or mentally ill in some way. Lesbians have debilitating anger issues, communists are incapable of thinking for themselves, members of “cults” no longer have a will of their own, and so on. The political subtext for that kind of portrayal is frightening to me.

Its appeal lies in the suggestion that people who live their lives differently from the mainstream are only doing so because they do not know what is best for themselves. The rest of us - the normal ones - therefore have an obligation to regulate these people, for their own good of course. If they protest, they are only doing so because they are brainwashed. They would thank us if they knew what was good for them. This trope was very popular in the 1950s, and shows up a lot throughout the cold war.

Also, I am made uncomfortable by anything that leads me to question or rethink my convictions. Though really, I could probably use more of that.

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39

hmm…well to be honest, I haven’t had a CoG turn me away because of a subject, also, I didn’t think rape is allowed period in a CoG or HG. The way they make it sound, you’re not even allowed to imply that a character was/is being raped.
Anyways, back on topic.
Some things that make me put down a game…well personally I REALLY want to get my money’s worth, so a game has to absolutely disgust me with it’s content to turn me away, but I still have subjects that only annoy me, but I’ll keep playing.

Annoy List

  • Religious Intolerance (everyone has their right to their religion or lack thereof)
  • Unneeded animal death (this is an odd one, because I get disqusted when there is heavy animal abuse, but say the one beast from Hero of Kendrickstone, that was needed, it showed that there can be two sides for every conflict with wildlife. normally you kill the beast slaughtering lifestock, which I had no problem with, but I loved how a mage character could see in her mind that she was just trying to provide for her cubs as the humans kept advancing on her forest, but I digress. But some dude killing a puppy just to kill a puppy is just flat out wrong, and to be honest depending on how graphic the death was, this would move to the disgust list.)
  • Slice of Life (unless the story blows me away, I don’t enjoy these. to be honest, gaming is partially an escape of mine, everyone has one, but mine is gaming. I want to dream of other worlds, not just read about a different version of the one I’m in. Again, if the story is amazing, I find myself enjoying these here and there, but even not, if I paid for it, I’m playing it.)
  • Random character death. (ok, this one is really stupid, but I get annoyed when a choice kills you, no matter what your stats are. I understand and even sometimes enjoy failing if it’s the result of how I built my character, but if that choices can’t be lived through no matter what I did before hand, I get annoyed, but to be honest, never disgusted.)

*line_break

Disgust List

  • Glorification or support of Pedophiles (I really hate those bastards…)
  • Major use of homosexual themes without warning or optional use (Not to sound too bad here, but I want to know what I’m getting myself into. I’m not talking gay romance OPTIONS, I can willingly avoid them and the game can be no worse in my mind for having them, but what completely ruins it for me, is if I’m going through my playthrough, giving no indication of liking the same sex, when boom, a scene shows up that I really didn’t want to see, and that’s a player choice. [side note, my empathy is actually making a compelling argument that homosexuals (trying to be politically correct here, slipped earlier and text box is bugging out and I can’t edit it right now, will try to change later.) should have their side branches, rather than just let asexual (is that an offensive term? I’m really paranoid now.) and heterosexuals (is straight offensive now? I’m having a brain fart.) have their branches of romance or just doing nothing in asexual case. Empathy or not, if I do add anything along those lines, I am going to remain as vague as I can although to be honest I wasn’t exactly planning on getting graphic in any scenario. Probably just a paragraph ending in “…”, then have the graphic parts take place in imagination, and pick up once the couple is finished using a page break. I think that’s actually the standard thing anyway, although I think Choice of Robots gave a little info. I really need to digress now.])
  • Glorification of Rape (don’t think I have to explain this one)

wow, I kind of expected my disgust list to be longer, I’m probably missing stuff. Sorry if I went on a bit of a rant here and there. I’m tired and my brain goes into this kind of non-barricaded state when tired.

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40

‘Uncomfortable’ is a bad blanket term here. Alone in a new house, lights flickering out and a rattling from the attic scuttle—that’ll make me uncomfortable. Poorly-written sex scenes from a teenager with a questionable deviantart history? That’ll make me cringe. An immature depiction of gender dynamics, or poorly designed tropes? That’ll make me unamused.

My point is that there can and should be a place for some discomfort in games. If a writer manages to relate the distress of the protagonist to the reader, then you have the makings of a gripping and heart-pounding tale. The connotation between “uncomfortable” and “stuff that upsets me on a personal level” is an unfortunate one for aspiring writers, and I hope this thread doesn’t dissuade anyone from pursuing a very meaningful emotional response.

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41

I read up on pedophiles.
Ummm…
And not all of them are horrible.
Some scientists think pedophilia might be caused by some miswiring in the brain(there is some evidence) but they can’t investigaye more because no one would ever want to admit to pedophilia so our hatelred of it gets in the way of attempting to understand it.
(If it is caused by brain miswiring its unintentional) not to say that thats the case for all pedophiles I just don’t think its fair to assume all pedophiles are evil.
(I am a kid that just defended pedos. This world is weird)

42

I’m friends with a lot of asexual people who prefer aromantic, mostly due to the scientific fact that they can’t reproduce on their own. But anyways, I’m glad to see a lot of people agree with the crush romance. I suppose the one that annoys me the most is Black Magic from Hero’s Rise. I mean, I get that you can put in a celebrity as a template for her appearance, but I suppose I just don’t find celebrities that attractive. Also, another thing that annoys me: Random death scenes AKA, death scenes because of a single choice like whether to go right or left, as opposed to a stat check. I’m looking at you, Burn(t)!