Swifthom

Now that is a happy mix It's a little repetitive with the main melody but everything else you have going around is fairly cool, the shake up after 2 minutes was much needed. The end's a bit... sudden though, that shook me.

Yep. And I've just watched it all again. 0.41 - Argument against approaching documentaries from an established viewpoint. I've already explained that I have no problem with this and in fact would argue that someone with no objective viewpoint at all would have to be a non-gamer, which brings an entirely different problem to the table. 0.50 - It's not Anita's job to argue against herself. Her video was an argument for, and the majority of it was simply stating historical fact with only a little commentary around. Additionally she didn't argue that it should be completely retired, just that it was overdone. 1.11 - I have a big problem with her assertion that because a character is an example of a trope it disempowers them from being considered a hero in other respects. It doesn;t, it does however mean that at that point in time they ARE disempowered. 1.20 - How does being an example of a (supposedly) negative trope make someone less important. By being the object of the players quest (assuming this is a game where the player is setting out to rescue damsel in distress) they in fact are EXTREMELY important, as they are the goal, the purpose, the destination of the narrative. 1.39 - The assertion that Anita is making an arbitary desision over what is 'important' of a character. I don't recall that in the first video. Let's see where this argument comes from... 1.47 - Strength and physical power vs other attributes... Hmm. 1.59 - Determination as an attribute I can get behind, 2.14 - However when a female character is cast as a damsel in distress, them being 'bravefaced' about the situation is an admirable quality, but it is a subsidiary of the original fact that they are in a hopeless situation that requires the aide of another presense to save them. That first statement of disempowerment still holds, they then regain some dignity with the resolution but the fact remains they are still helpless without the aide of external forces to save themselves. This is not an argument agaisnt the trope and its (supposedly) negative connotations, it's just an example of how the (supposedly negative) effects of the trope can be limited 2.57 - Assertion that Peach and Zelda ARE NOT examples of DID trope using the statement that Anita gave of what the trope is. Okay, let's see.... 3.02 - Straight up admits that at times these characters ARE damsel in distress. Okay, so you've said 1 thing is NOT true and now you've said it is 'sometimes' 3.08 - Not being rescued to satisfy desires of Matio and Link? But to return order? Pah. Link and Mario desire this order, if the princesses are the path via which this order might be ascertained then therefore Link and Mario's objective desire is the rescue of these princesses. This also dismisses any form of gallantry amongst the characters (who are depicted, many times, as being very gallant.) Additionally the original statement was that the rescue was for the purposes of the rescuers story arc. As the protagonists story arc is often for the point of providing order this still renders both Peach and Zelda as examples of the trope. 3.30 - The rescue is not solely for the sake of rescue but also for the larger goal. I woudl still argue that in the rescue remains a rescue. Disempowerment remains disempowerment. Context does not deny the trope it simply gives it detail and variation. 3.36 - Offers selflessness as a quality of the protaganist. Selflessness would mean they would rescue female characters whether the larger point of order was the case or not. 3.50 - Kite seems to have confused Anita's argument as a precursor for romance. It is not. The purpose of the story arc can be anything, it does not HAVE to lead into a romance even though in some cases it does. 4.14 - These women are never reduces to 'property' in the game. I can kind of agree with this but then I boot up some video games (ALLTP I think does this) where you can see the girls you have rescued IN YOUR INVENTORY. yeah... As much as the narrative casts them as characters in terms of game functionality they are tickboxes; have rescued this, have rescues that. 4.23 - Again admits Peach IS a Damsel In Distress. Argues against the negative implication but does not deny trope. 5.10 - Argues that the 'spin off' Mario games where Peach is playable and/or NOT a DID both outnumber AND outsell the (so called) 'core' Mario games where she is. This, as I said before, is the 1 good argument this video brings to the table. That said, as Peach was a character created and iterated on for the purpose of the 'core' games, I still stand by Anita's choice of viewpoint, however I accept that KiteTales has a point here. Peach has grown beyond JUST the trope. That does not mean the trope is deniable. 6.44 - On to Zelda... 7.00 - Bigging up Zelda.... 7.12 - Okay, she's cool, I get that, your NOT arguing however that she IS NOT a good example of the trope. Again context does not deny the motiff. 8.30 - Just because someone is not playable doesn;t mean they aren't 'equal to' Link in terms of importance. This is a fair enough argument but again you are implying that importance is counterbalanced to being a Damsel in Distress. I would argue that a more important character actually leads to a greater emphasis on the 'DID' when that inevitably occurs. Harking back to the statement of viewing these 'DID's 'property', we know that attaching emotional connection to these characters will increase their 'worth', so we are more likely to act in such a way to save these characters. By making Zelda such a complex and fundamental character you increase her 'worth' to the player but you do not deny that when she is disempowered it is still the players role to rescue her. 08.45 - Male protagonists never see characters as victims... As the later Zelda games are MUCH BETTER at this than the older games, and the later Zelda games are the ones with better narrative, this is arguable but not proovable. In fact I would argue against it. The Zelda in Twilight Princess was undeniably a victim and represented as such. The Zelda (Tetra) in Phantom Hourglass also. In fact Phantom Hourglass plot entirely revolves around restoring Tetra with all other things en rotue to that. This is particularlly galling as she was presented in WW as one of the 'strongest' and 'most capable' characters and now she is fully disempowered. However with reflection to my earlier comments, this means her stock as a character we care about is high and our desire to save her strengthened. 8.51 - Isn't always female characters. This is fair enough. Reversal of the trope is a good way of subverting audience expectations, however I also think its fair to say cases where the roles are 'normal' far outway the number of cases where they are the other way round. 10.10 - Argues that Anita is not providining evidence. Whilst I would argue Anita's statement is very 'extreme' the entire video leading up to that conclusion has been offering examples. She hasn't offered examples of how game players are responding, but that wasn't within the brief of the video. Whilst it is an extreme conclusion, with a few assumptions, I would not say it was unwarranted from the evidence she provided. 10.37 - Argues Anita has a Limited perspective. I agree that the examples were limited to historic examples from the infancy of gaming (mainly the 80s and 90s). She stated that in her next video she intends to visit more recent games and see if things have changed. 10,43 - Jim Sterling has vocalised EVERYTHING I need to say about the argument 'But this is a business'. In short I have no truck with that statement whatsoever. 10.46 - Developers should have gamers in mind. These days gaming is a very equal (and very nearly 50/50 ) split between boys and girls.That wasn't true historically (perhaps, I don't have data) and it's not true for every genre, but as a business shouldn;'t they be reaching out to bring people in rather than cutting them out? 10.59 - It's about the game as a product not the narrative. That is true. It's the reason I would say the trope is 'lazy' as opposed to actually 'harmfull'. Never the less, if people are going to put a storyline in, they should pay attention to what that story is. 11.17 - Agree that we will never please anyone. That does not, however, deny that they are doing this. 11.26 to the end of the video- Seem to be concluding that the tone of the video was too negative. It was. However this video was part 1 of a series. At the moment it was just laying out historical examples, giving evidence leading up to a conclusion. I understand and agree with Kite's sentiments here but I still see a place for Anita's videos. Collecting all the evidence together in one place means that people approaching this argument can see whats she's talking about and where she's coming from. It sparks debtate from which everyone who'se seen the video can then discourse from a level playing field. As I have repeatedly said the storyline 'context' does not excuse the fact the trope is real. It's negative and harmful implications are in doubt however this video did show its historical context and its repeated, 'pervasive' use throughout video game culture. In that sense I side with Anita on this. ----- I'm not fully in favour of Anita's videos, I disagree with a lot of things she says, however I do find that whenever I see other people arguing agaisnt her it brings out the pedant in me quite a lot as I often see their arguments far more flawed than hers were.

I'm fairly sure that videos already been linked to in this thread The first time I saw it I had to turn off half way through because KitTales argument drove me into a rage. This time I heard her out the entire way through and all I can say is that i vehemently disagree with a LOT of what she says. I disagree with a lot of what Feminist Frequency says, she overstates some things I mildly agree with and comes to conclusions I can't support, but I can never say she is outright wrong. Kitetales does that pretty much every second sentence. She argues effectively that 'yes' there are more to the characters Zelda and Peach than were shown in the first video. However the only supporting evidence she uses to negate the original argument are sales figures of Kart, tennis, sports, etc... collectively being more than the pure SMB franchise. That's all very good and true but it doesn't diminish the fact the origina of these characters, and a role they return to SO regularly, is the trope. The trope might only be a small part of the individual character but that doesn't mean they aren't examples of this all pervasive trope. Especially when viewed in a historical context. Also she (and others) seem angry that FF videos aren't being objective enough, that the creator has approached subject already having made her mind up. Do you know what, I'm fine with that. She's been a gamer for years and has had a decade of experience forming these opinions. The only way you could approach this subject completely objectively is as a non gamer approaching the subject, and I don't think it would be compelling coming from that perspective. At least the FF video doesn't contain the godawful words 'I'm going on a journey of discovery' Pretty much EVERY documentary on the BBC currently contains those words and it drives me wild.

The things I see on Kickstarter which impress me the most game wise are when: 1) You have 50-80% of a game already and want money to hire animators/musicians to spruce it up. 2) Are in talks with Nintendo/Sony/XBLA/OUYA to put game on consoles and need funds for dev kits. As long as they offer a download as finished product it's as good as just selling the finished game, just as a pre-order rather than after the game is done, and it makes consumers feel good about investing as they get a sense of accomplishment. They 'helped' you make something good People who put games up which aren't in a fit state to be shown off yet are just chancers, and to be honest anyone bidding to support them is wasting their own money. We've seen such a good run of high quality 'strong' kickstarter funded games recently, it's going to be 'VERY' interesting when these start being released. Good luck with the gamer just had a look at your site, it's fairly awesome

At least not 'this' kickstarter. I've seen some indie publishers come back asking for a lesser amount, with better designed videos and more content to show off after the first one (which had badly designed plea video with barely any content asking for faaaar too much) sunk. I'm never sure what to make of it. I wish The Big Blue all the best just if it was going to work via Kickstarter they needed to do 3 things they haven't: 1) ask for a more reasonable ammount of money (scale project down) 2) In same theme, scale project down so it actually IS a recognizable sequel to Ecco rather than being some quazi undefiniable semi MMO/Sims simulator 3) Post more project updates throughout month, revealing more and more info each day. There have only been a few and they have mostly not been about gameplay reveals. Failing 1 meant it would be difficult, failing 2 meant they turned off their core audience and failing 3 meant they failed to carry momentum throughout project. Instead, as I said before, big push on day 1 and then nothing for 27 days Good luck to them finding a real publisher, they have some great ideas and I hope we get to see at least some of them in some form further down the line.

Wow... This one is down to the wire.. 9 hours to go and 90% there. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1644707178/buddy-and-me?ref=category I'm not 100% behind the concept myself but it's got some serious pedigree behind it (Metroid Prime Designers) and it does boast plenty of charm. Really hope it makes it. If your interested in ANYTHING cute, have a look

Yeah the Big Blue isn't going to happen. It got $40,000 in 24 hours and less than $10,000 in 24 days following... They've asked for waaaaaaaay too much. It's a shame, they seem to have some good ideas, but it isn't what everyone seems to want (which is just another Ecco game), it's something much bigger. Plus there was a whole 'is it, isn't it' MMO debate and how important will printed cards be to the gameplay? Such a shame to see this thing hit a brick wall when, as noted, at the core is a cool concept

Just like to say I have always 'loved' your chibi characters and your animations (you might have got that from my previous post)... So if your prepared to make some artwork with just one i'd humbly request you do FF12 Cid, so that you've got a complete set (since you've already done all the others ) On the other hand album art with all of them lined up would be a cool update to your old conga line

Oh, just noticed my Cid has an artist Curious to see which form f that Cid it'll be of, and then will it match the song Some suspense Well at least things are 'slowly' happening Really hope we get FF8 and FF12 Cids, they are really notable. I also hope we get FF1 but actually it would fit if he were absent

If it takes to the end of May that's fine, as long as it is BY the end of May. I'd appreciate them earlier but on the collab. front it looks like I won't be finished entirely myself by then. My recommendation is for everyone to aim for mid-may and then slipping back a fortnight isn't an issue

RexAsaurus - Sorry to hear that. I might tentatively PM you with an idea soon, however wait and see... If anyone else is out there chomping at the bit to get Grandma's theme in the album let me know. Also I wasn't particularly clear on last post. Argle has offered to Master the entire album to ensure even quality across all tracks. That's what I meant to write - he's reminded me that there is a difference between that and helping people finish their tracks Sorry

Looking forward to hearing it Okay guys, May is but a MONTH away. I hope your all working hard. Looking forward to your finished mixes. If anyone is having any troubles mastering their finished tracks get in touch; Argle's offered to lend a hand there. Otherwise I'm just waiting for some awesome tunes.

I think someone was onto something with Supreme Power... Seriously, there's a GREAT youtube video waiting to be made using that song

I'll PM you both but yes, I was going to say register here and then PM me for access to private forum: http://kngi.org/phpbb3/viewforum.php?f=136&sid=58630f9b6a1b2e65e22a41463546321b Kevin feel free to PM me a WIP; if it's of a decent quality we'll take you on board.

This is old now.... Back when FFX was 'new'.... But yeah, once upon a time, I used to go on Newgrounds and there was some pretty cool stuff back there. Back when flash was 'everything'.... http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/58184

Right back at the start when Legendaryfrog stepped in to give us his thumbs up, I nearly spoke up and said we should get him involved, the animate a Cid trailer or something, it'd be awesome Sadly he's a busy man but his hand-drawn animated Cids never cease to crack me up: Looking forward to seeing what does emerge though

Congrats on second mix post Argle; it's a really pleasant to listen to song, laid back, doesn't take itself too seriously, but holds your attention throughout which is the essential thing

Hmmm... http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/7044-The-Creepy-Cull-of-Female-Protagonists I personally adore Jim's 'aggressive and confrontational' takes on subjects, playing devils advocate at times and making sweeping generalisations. Yet even when I violently disagree with him I always admit he has a point. His video's to a different audience, admittedly, but comparisons between his argument in 1 video compared to her part 1 of 12, I know which one's had a bigger impact on me. EDIT: Admittedly he tackles a fundamentally different topic with regards to the role of females in gaming. Which perhaps highlights the big problem with Anita's video. Because she has a series of 12 she's chosen to start with a historical basis, telling us things that have been out of date for 5 or more years if not longer. 'Presumably' she'll get to the more important modern, relevant issues to gaming in future videos but that is assuming a lot. Right now we just have to wait and see. And bicker relentlessly about it, of course EDIT 2: Is it wrong that her response fills me with a desire to argue every third sentence she says... ... Seriously, I disagree with SO MUCH that she says. Every thirty seconds I have to go 'Hang on, your wrong, you're SOOOOO wrong.' Arguing that there is more to the characters than the trope does not deny the existence of the trope. Arguing that the reason Mario is saving Peach is not to benefit his character arc, but 'for the continued peace in the kingdom' which IS integral to Mario's character arc. In terms of Agency to the plot the 'role' of Princesses Zelda and Peach may be important in a 'larger arc' and 'world building' sense but they don't matter to the plot. In terms of their role within the story if they are a damsel in distress and it becomes the 'duty' of the hero to save them, then that is their defined role in that point of time. Everything around that point is background material. To be honest I didn't find Anita's video biased at all. It's an examination of a topic, designed to flesh out one instance. Extreme extrapolation but I don't expect documentaries on a group of scientists who are landing a shuttle on Mars to cut back to a conspiracy theorist going; "THE MOON LANDING WAS ALL A HOAX" just for balance. That's not balance, it's stupid.

Where did the $160 K go is a fair question. All I can say about that is she 'planned' to make a series of videos, she didn't ask for nearly that much money. When she realised she was getting a lot she decided to increase the number of videos, increased their depth and length. Maybe that's caused some of the problems - people are complaining she hasn't got to the relevant 'thrust' of her point in this first episode. If this was a series of just 5 vids (as originally planned) maybe that might not be the case? A tighter, more focus (read: less bloated) argument might be more effective? Who knows... However she was given the money to make these videos. People chose to give it to her, they weren't held at gunpoint. Sure, she could have made some smaller, quicker turnaround videos for free, but she recognized that there's clearly a $160 K demand for this message to be on Youtube. So where'd the surplus money go? Maybe she's doing more with it (and as Zircon highlighted a few thing's she's already done) but she was originally commited to making these videos. Not making them would be fraudulent. EDIT 1: (and with regards to Youtube as a platform - it has 1) global reach 2) ease of access 3) instant consumer awareness 4) embeddable on any other website in the world 5) She had already established herself and her modus operandum there. There 'are' many people on Youtube (and more who use Youtube to find) who broadcast semi-educational / documentarian videos which highlight issues / discuss topics. Not as many videos of that as there are tits or cats, but there are a lot if you search.) And if 1% of the internet see her video, that's still... well 2012 est. put worldwide internet use at 2,405,518,376, but lets cut that down to places with good English exposure; America, Europe and Oceansa/Australia, still puts our figure at 816,585,441. if 0.01% of them see the video and/or hear about the debate through a third party news source that's still 80,000 people talking about this as a topic. And so the debate rears its head and whether people agree / disagree, at least 80,000 people aren't acting out of ignorance. A 'lot' of people commented on this thread when it started (and even more commented on it before it was cleaved in two and the distinction between general sexism debate and video game commentary was made). I know a 'lot' of people, myself included, tend to get turned off when a thread reaches a certain length because they don't want to read through argument or are lost. In the end it tends to devolve in same couple of people arguing over a few moot points, arguing just for the sake of arguing. ... ... ... Yeah But my main counter is, if there's 1 thread like this on every decent sized video game forum or community, and each is about this size (smaller or larger) that's still a LOT of people. Then add to that the non video game forums out there that have picked this up, the news sites that have comments beneath the articles. And yes, a lot more people will ignore it than take it up, that's the nature of modern media. There's no such thing as essential viewing any more. Haven't been since there was more than 1 channel on TV. EDIT 2: Stats for estimated internet usage just in case I get shouted at: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm And I hate bringing numbers into an ethical debate, it tends to muddy the issue. I don't care about bums on seats, it's about the changing shape of society. Feel free to tell me my maths is absolute rubbish if you want but it's rather missing the point of my argument.

Her kickstarter campaign promised an 'examination' followed by a 'debate'. So far this has ticked both boxes (yeah, we're self fulfilling that part by having this conversation.) Neither brings anything new to the table. Going a 'little' off topic here but 'debate' isn't where answers are found. The answers can potentially be found by (depending on your preference); Scientists (/academics), Religious Leaders or business entrepreneurs. The entire purpose of politicians and 'debate' is to bring those ideas to a larger audience... We 'know' video games, this is a field we're 'experts' on. Of course there'll be nothing new brought to the table, particularly in episode 1 of a 12 part documentary. As far as I can tell the audience this video is directed towards is a much wider audience than 'just' us. I have a degree in Chemistry. Every time I see a documentary on chemistry on the TV the few times I've bothered tuning onto any Science documentaries I spend 99% of my time going "I know that.... I know that... Oooh, I'd forgotten that, but yeah, already knew" and just 1% going "This is interesting." On a documentary on video games the documentary was well paced to explain her complaint in simple, well broadcast messages with clear examples. Of course to us it wont have anything interesting or ambitious, we already know it all because we're already invested in what she's talking about. The larger audience, the 'not us' watching however may benefit from this background information on where the debate comes from. For some people this context setting might be vital. So, I can't disparage her for starting this debate (or, re-igniting rather than starting I suppose) and that's regardless of whether I agree or disagree with what she says. She's been fairly careful not to proscribe 'treatments' for this or start preaching too heavily. She's just highlighting the issue and broadcasting it to the larger world.

I do like it, there's a good feel here thats different to the original song yet recognsable. I'd say yeah to turning up the deeper bass a bit, but also work on seperating your leads from the rest of the mix. A slightly different (or wider) sound for 'some' of the leads would give a bit more variation, whereas whilst it's good it is a 'little' samey from start to finish. I agree on some 16th notes for variation, it's not essential but it'd be cool to add a little variation here and there. Just vary some little bits up and see where that goes. All in all though, very good, keep at it

Both excellent games... Played through the Cave four times and though it has some fairly major flaws, it is an excellent game. Whilt we 'need' big blockbusters to sell the console, more like this is another need.

The drama in FF6 is a really interesting one... It's commendable that the women are never clessed as less than excellent fighters, their just as capable (if not more so) than the males in many respects, and arguably of 2 of the 3 most dominant single characters in the game are female (Terra, Celes & Locke, but again, that's arguable)... But then again Terra switches so erratically from super-powered badass to helpless wench, back and forth, several times, before finally coming to accept herself for what she is (half human, half esper), and she even becomes a role model mother figure for a group of children. It's a good journey but some points along the way are pure DiD trope and it's not strictly 'necessary' to the story for it to play out as it does. Celes on the other hand... Personally I'd say FF6 was extremely enlightened on this subject.... As far as video games went 'for it's time'...

Penelo... urghhh, a good representation of a female but an awful character in a game I otherwise love. Farore, Din, Nayru aren't characters 'per say' just forces of nature with 'supposed' female aspects... Then with Zelda/Shiek some people argue that she's actually 'changing sex' as well as wearing a disguise when she's Shiek, so that renders a whole new debate of 'women have to become men to improve themselves' if you go down that role. And the moment she resumes her old stance as Zelda she's back in the whole 'helpless' trope we started from... But despite being nitpicky, there are 'plenty' of good female characters out there.

Awww, it'd be amazing... His lawyer has hidden the legal papers necessary to divorce him on the far side of the castle. Of course as she's got a bum hip the stairs are out of window until she can reactivate the stairlift, however her young son's stolen the battery to power his remote control car so you have to chase that down first...