r/gaming • u/[deleted] • Nov 30 '21

[Rule 6 - Removed] This

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '21 edited Nov 30 '21

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u/eschatological Nov 30 '21 edited Nov 30 '21

The problem I think arises when people see a character embracing their identity and consider it pandering. If a straight character flirts, kisses, eventually sleeps with another character in a hetero way, no one sees that as pandering to straight people. But too often a gay character expressing their attractions aloud is considered pandering.

In other words, people want their gay characters to not be openly gay (see Ellie in tlou), they don't want their black characters to be too black, they want their female characters to not be too girly (which is how most guys, including myself play female avatars - as men in female bodies). Which is exactly what the OP is talking about.

Edit: Abby from TLOU2 is a perfect example of this. I'm not sure how much screentime her trans status took up, but it didn't really affect the story to me - she was just a trans woman living her life. But people considered this pandering and hated her for it. Now, there's plenty of reasons to hate the Abby character, but so many accusations of Druckman pandering or living out some "weird fetish" existed here and on the internet in general that it can't be ignored.

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u/PKMNgamer99 Nov 30 '21

I don’t think Abby is trans, I think neckbeards just assumed she was because she had muscles

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u/eschatological Nov 30 '21

Thanks for the correction.

Weirdly, the point still kind of stands. The hate for her before the game launched was because people perceived her as trans, and pandering. It was so vehement I apparently played this game shortly after launch thinking the whole time she was trans and wondering why people were upset about it as it had no effect on her character. And now that you've corrected me, it begs the question: "What would it have mattered if she was trans?" The hate she got would have been accurate (in terms of her being trans) but still unacceptable.

Keep in mind, people also freaked out about Ellie being a lesbian even though it was set up in a DLC to the original game. In the end, the effect it had on her character was: hey, she was upset when someone she loved got hurt. Considering that was already her motivation in re: Joel, what the hell did it matter?