Offensive Icons?

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VideoGameCritic
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Offensive Icons?

Postby VideoGameCritic » December 20th, 2015, 11:22 am

There has been some talking about removing the "Chicks Dig This" or the "May Contain Hotties" icons from this site.
http://videogamecritic.com/icon/i.htm

While these are meant to be tongue-in-cheek (I have a "may contain chickens" icon for Pete's sake) some people find the icons sexist and offensive. What is your take?

mbd36
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Re: Offensive Icons?

Postby mbd36 » December 20th, 2015, 12:08 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:There has been some talking about removing the "Chicks Dig This" or the "May Contain Hotties" icons from this site.
http://videogamecritic.com/icon/i.htm

While these are meant to be tongue-in-cheek (I have a "may contain chickens" icon for Pete's sake) some people find the icons sexist and offensive. What is your take?



For balance you could have a "may contain studs" icon for games with male characters who women might find attractive. Is Kratos considered sexy?

Shapur
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Re: Offensive Icons?

Postby Shapur » December 20th, 2015, 1:53 pm

^ Gosh I hope not. Can't stand that guy lol.

I kinda like the may contain hotties. I think we should keep 'em. I agree with the idea that a "may contain beefcakes" would be nice addition and even things out a bit so to speak.

Sut
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Re: Offensive Icons?

Postby Sut » December 20th, 2015, 2:38 pm

I think if you removed them the site would lose some personality. But the more popular the site gets, the more socially conscious it might need to get.

Your call Critic, do you value your individuality over popularity ? Do you want to sanitise your site for a potentially bigger readership or do you want to stay true to yourself and your sense of humour ?

Always a tough one, I would also state the old adage 'you can't please all of the people all of the time'.

Hardcore Sadism
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Re: Offensive Icons?

Postby Hardcore Sadism » December 20th, 2015, 2:46 pm

People who are offended over the word "sexy" probably have no life and never experienced any kind of real insult in their lives.

Tron
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Re: Offensive Icons?

Postby Tron » December 20th, 2015, 4:25 pm

Sut wrote:I think if you removed them the site would lose some personality. But the more popular the site gets, the more socially conscious it might need to get.

Your call Critic, do you value your individuality over popularity ? Do you want to sanitise your site for a potentially bigger readership or do you want to stay true to yourself and your sense of humour ?

Always a tough one, I would also state the old adage 'you can't please all of the people all of the time'.


Sounds about right.

Remember those folks that complained a year or so ago about your use of the word "gay"? They never contributed to the message boards before. They created accounts to complain and then after you omitted the word "gay" they never posted again. Some people just want to complain.

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MoarRipter
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Re: Offensive Icons?

Postby MoarRipter » December 20th, 2015, 4:29 pm

The point I was getting to with the "Chicks Dig This" icon is that most games that you've applied that icon to are simple casual games such as puzzlers, dance and music games, classic skill-based arcade games. Pretty much games that have little to no story, games that don't require a typical 25-40+ hour commitment to finish. It comes across that you don't feel that women are interested in so-called hardcore epic games such as Fallout, Mass Effect, GTA, Gears of War, Halo, etc etc etc. And that is just not true. There's a lot of female gamers out there that aren't just into playing simple casual games. Studies have been done and they show that female console owners and console gamers are a significant portion of the playerbase, they're not a niche. Just going on what I see (I'm 35) lots of my female friends are gamers, friends' girlfriends and wives are gamers and they game together, in ages ranging from their 20s to their 50s, and they're not just playing casual Nintendo games, they're playing stuff on Xbox like Fallout 4, Dragon Age, Witcher III, Neverwinter, and they're heavy into it. Maybe you don't have a lot of female friends and you're going by what games your wife enjoys? I don't know. But this is not the 80s and 90s anymore, video games are tailored and marketed to everybody these days, not just young males, and traditional gender roles have been eroding for years. That is why I suggested removing that icon in the other thread.

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Rev
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Re: Offensive Icons?

Postby Rev » December 20th, 2015, 7:19 pm

Tron wrote:
Sut wrote:I think if you removed them the site would lose some personality. But the more popular the site gets, the more socially conscious it might need to get.

Your call Critic, do you value your individuality over popularity ? Do you want to sanitise your site for a potentially bigger readership or do you want to stay true to yourself and your sense of humour ?

Always a tough one, I would also state the old adage 'you can't please all of the people all of the time'.


Sounds about right.

Remember those folks that complained a year or so ago about your use of the word "gay"? They never contributed to the message boards before. They created accounts to complain and then after you omitted the word "gay" they never posted again. Some people just want to complain.


Pretty much my thoughts on this. Totally agree.

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nesfan
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Re: Offensive Icons?

Postby nesfan » December 20th, 2015, 8:45 pm

Please don't get rid of them. The only thing worse than the incessant whining of the annoying little crybabies who get their widdle feelings hurt is when people give them what they want. They don't deserve anyone's attention. Parents don't reward their children for throwing a tantrum, yet for some reason this modern society of ours does. That needs to stop. So some people don't like the icons used on an independent video game review site. Big deal. They'll live. They can either find a real problem to complain about or just shut up and move on with their lives.

And MoarRipter, I'm not trying to imply that you or anyone else here is the type of person I described. I took your original comment to mean that the critic should consider removing the "chicks dig this" icon to appease anyone who could potentially be offended. I really don't get why people think gender stereotypes are so bad. Things are classified as "girly" or "manly" because they simply are. That doesn't have to be a bad thing. If you're a guy that likes something girly or vice-versa, who cares? I like plenty of girly things. Nowhere on this site does it imply that only the games with that icon are suited to girls. A close female friend of mine loves Soul Calibur, a super manly fighting game with awesome weapons and some grotesque looking characters. And you know what? She's good. Really good. She wipes the floor with me every time. On the other end of the spectrum, we played a Sailor Moon puzzle game for the Super Famicom together and I beat her every match. That is an extremely girly game and we both enjoyed it. So I'm really not seeing a problem here.

PinMike8666
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Re: Offensive Icons?

Postby PinMike8666 » December 20th, 2015, 10:15 pm

I don't find it offensive and I don't think you should cave in to too much political correctness; it's your site, it's your call. There are far worse, more offensive sites and icons than that minor icon. The internet in general has far more disgusting content than this very site; the majority of comments on YouTube is proof of that, especially if you are sensitive to political opinion. It's just a screenshot of a bikini that says "May contain hotties"; very insecure to be intimidated by it and I'm pretty liberal.


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