9 Things Straight White Guys Won't Understand About Gaming- A Rebuttal

This is bad. This is horrendously bad. This is an "article" that offends me on a professional level, as I am a man who takes writing seriously. This is not an article that invites the reader to think, nor is it an article that educates the reader on issues regarding the LGBT community. For that, at risk of my mental health, I provide a rebuttal to what may well be the worst piece of writing I have ever had the misfortune to dissect. As always, the original work will be in bold, with my words written beneath. An archived link to the original is here: http://archive.is/Wz8Fl

Love in Gaming: Philip and Anna Strenger, "Witcher 3"

You know, not all love stories have a happy ending, but few of them have an unhappy middle. Sometimes we fall in love with someone, but then one member of the relationship gets tired of everything and wants out, but the other one doesn't. When that happens, it all goes downhill. That's the story of Philip and Anna Strenger, a couple from the game The Witcher 3.

Pictured left: Philip; pictured right: Anna. Not pictured: a happy marriage. Photos taken from the Witcher wiki. Philip Strenger's picture uploaded by user Keashi, Anna Strenger's picture by user Magic713.

Love in Gaming: Tidus and Yuna

Not all romances are permanent. Some romances last us a few years, when the couple finally gets sick of one another. Some loves end because of boredom, or because of infidelity, or because of growing apart. Some loves end in tragedy. But it's not the beginning and the end that matter, it's the middle part, all the time spent together, all the joy shared. Some romances are like a firework, a bright flash in the night, gone just as soon as it lights up. Today's couple is like that: Tidus and Yuna from Final Fantasy X.

Tidus on the left, Yuna on the right. Tidus is a guy, in case any of you didn't know.

Love in Gaming: Peach and Mario

It's every nerd boy's dream: getting together with the hot girl who sees beyond your appearance and likes you for you. It's that small (or not so small) yearning for acceptance, for someone to care for who we are, not what we look like. Society places such importance on the physical that we often develop hangups regarding our bodies, which will always lead us to think we're not good enough. For that reason it's heartwarming to see a work of art that shows the fat, funny looking guy get together with the girl one would think way out of his league. Today's couple is no exception: Peach and Mario from the Super Mario franchise.

Quick Words on Tifa Hate

First of all, I'd like to apologize for the fact that none of my blog entries this month have had pictures, but that's because my computer is broken and I'm using a really old one that is simply too unreliable. Sorry about that. Secondly, I know the hot topic of the day is that dumb article from the Mary Sue that talks about Tifa. (Update February 25, 2016: It has come to my attention that the article was intentionally written as a joke, which the Mary Sue, and by extension most readers, took seriously.) I've spoken my thoughts regarding issues like this before, but to sum them up: it's OK to draw sexy women and make sexy female characters in gaming, it's OK to enjoy sexy characters in gaming, and focusing on looks is wrong.

The Main Theme of Suikoden 4

The fourth game in the main Suikoden series, Suikoden 4 is often seen by fans of the series as being one of the worst, or at least most disappointing, games in the series. There are many reasons for this, ranging from the gameplay (a paty of 4 when the series ALWAYS allowed for a party of 6, high random encounter rates) to the presentation (only five or 7 towns to visit, depending on how you count certain areas of the game, and only ten or so dungeons), even the story gets some flak. And it's true, the story of Suikoden 4 is very short when compared to the stories of Suikoden 2 or 3. But just because it's short doesn't mean the story has no meat to it. In fact, a close observation even reveals the main theme of the game: leadership.

The Butts

In an episode of Tropes vs Women in Gaming that was at least three years in the making, Anita Sarkeesian brought to light the troubling lack of diversity in female antagonists in gaming, how most of them are either sex pots or old crones, how few video games actually have a woman in the role of the main antagonist, and how too few games show female antagonists that...Wait, no, she didn't. She talked about how many female video game characters have clothing designed to showcase but not exactly show their butts.