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Discussion The Slippery Slope of Censorship: Girls, Mental Health, Killing, Gore, and More

Thread Description
Censorship and revision doesn't stop at sexy girls, and it's starting to spread to more things.

Cayhr

varishangout.com
Artist
Regular

Preface​


First, I must clear the obvious bias. I am an artist, in particular, a booby artist. I have always enjoyed sexy girls in my media, and I'm sure many of you do too. They come in many shapes and sizes, but they are attractive nonetheless. I certainly enjoy them on the... exaggerated end (of the likes of Senran Kagura), but it doesn't mean I can't appreciate modest characters such as Lady Emma from Sekiro; beautiful, gentle, yet deadly. I hope this thread flows well, and makes sense.

The obvious bias of me being a booby artist aside, I believe we should understand that hot girls have simply been the frontline of the attack on enjoyable media. You are probably aware of how sexy/curvy/busty/cute/loli girls are being censored by the mainstream industry. However, few people willingly speak out and take action against preserving their portrayals in media. You may remember quite prominently in recent years, Xenoblade 2 by MonolithSoft came particularly under fire for its character designs. Pyra (Homura in JP) and a few of the Blades (snow bunny Dahlia) received special attention for being sexist/problematic/obscene/whatever terms the progressives regressives use. In most conversations, you may find that your conversation partner would agree or be indifferent to their toning-down and or removal (one of my friends refuses to play Xenoblade 2 because of Pyra). The more staunch anti-"fanservice" individuals (such as Twitter users) write people like me off as simply being "horny" or "coomers" just don't realize the things they enjoy have yet to be on the chopping block. Most western publications have watered down all their women and even black-washed some (see the Lost Ark censorship).

This thread came out because of the recent Xenoblade Chronicles 3 reveal on February 9, 2022, where the revealed characters had notably less attractive features (see this thread, courtesy of Ene on the Pleroma). I love Xenoblade, but I am legitimately worried about it being released in the current industry climate. Our sentiments are not unfounded; attractive girls are being covered up and sometimes outright nerfed.
XB3.png
XB3.jpg

Lots of mixed opinions, it seems.

So what other problems do western moral busybodies have to invent?

Final Fantasy VII Remake; Mental Illness, Neurodivergence, and Extremism​


Perhaps you've already seen it, but I present to you "Why Final Fantasy VII remake part II should tone down sephiroth's madness" (archive link) by CBR. TLDR: Instead of making him descend into madness, they want him to be a victim of brainwashing.

Here are a few quotes I picked out to comment on.

Cue obnoxious parallels to real world mental illness and politics.
For some neurodivergent players, this equating of mental problems with moral wickedness can be an uncomfortable storytelling device.
Some of you may already know what they're trying to say.
However, it's that imperialism that provides a solution to the problem: instead of characterizing Sephiroth as losing his mind, FFVII Remake should portray him as someone radicalized into extremism.
The entire article reeks of trying to utilize the "alt-right" boogeyman. It's propaganda at it's finest.
Real-world fascism and other extreme ideologies are frequently motivated by similarly racist pseudoscience, and people being fooled by their propaganda is a growing concern throughout the world. Sephiroth may lack their political goals, but he doesn't necessarily need them: the horror story of a young man with few bonds or aspirations embracing such evil to fill his emotional void is scary enough on its own.
Something something funny mustache man.

They want to completely rewrite Sephiroth for their own agenda. Sure, it's a "remake" and not a "remaster," so you could be pedantic and argue it's techincally not obligated to be faithful. But what would an avid FF7 fan feel if things were way too different from what they originally remembered? It would be a "rewrite," effectively, and that is important to recognize. If you love FF7, you should be dismissing this vehemently.

Glory Kills​


What else are they going after? Well, your glorious glory kills! Here is an article titled "Do glory kills need to calm the hell down?" (archive link) featuring PCGamer vs Doom & various shooters (the short answer is no, and the long answer is nooooooooo). TLDR: Glory kills get ranked by brutality in 7 different shooters, with undertones of being overwhelmed by them and generally being condescending. This section is a bit more for me to make fun of the writer, but please bear with me.

This article is interesting because it targets glory kills. It seems to be this sentiment is more geared towards the intimacy that is evoked when you perform a glory kill/assassination. Glory kills are deeper than just finishing off an opponent; it's you getting personal, and sometimes they intentionally make yourself vulnerable (applicable to PVP shooters, not DOOM) for extra impact. In my opinion, the writer got owned too much on Halo, and while playing Far Cry, decided to use glory kills as the catalysts to whine about them. Now, while glory kills can be violent, the victim plays a large role. See the diference in attitude between DOOM and Far Cry:
Far Cry:
So it was a bit weird the first time I performed a glory kill in which my character slammed a machete blade through some poor lady soldier's temple. Her face is a mixture of shock and agony, which at least seems like an accurate response.

At which point I felt it fair to wonder: Are glory kill designers okay?

In a game that sits tonally somewhere between earnest and a bit silly, including kill moves that could fit comfortably in Manhunt, Rockstar's 2003 masterpiece of sadistic brutality, seems a bit odd.
DOOM:
Secondly, you’re fighting demons. There’s a slim chance they have families and hobbies and career aspirations and favourite hedgehog gifs, but it seems unlikely. Nobody gives a witch’s tit about how horribly they die. And, because of that, smashing them into meat paste feels like you’re doing humanity a kindness.
Which makes sense. It takes the humanity (literally) out of the glory kill, which makes it easier to stomach. But it sounds to me the writer is especially complaining about glory killing a female in Far Cry. It was just an excuse to tone down glory kills in games so he didn't feel bad ending a women. Knowing how many of these talentless individuals find themselves in game journalism, it's the perfect place to push his agenda. Well, the world is equal now, isn't it? Why shouldn't you enjoy glory killing a female NPC as much as you do a male NPC? They really just want no fun for any of us. Glory kills are part of these games; when you get the jump on someone, you really want to let them know it. In the case of DOOM, glory killing left and right makes you feel badass; you are the Doomslayer of legend. FPS fans should be fighting to keep these in their games.

Bonus: The passage on Titanfall 2 was personal to me.
Titanfall 2 is, in its mechanical heart, a game about a sad man making friends with a lovely robot.
No, you wood-for-brains. It's about continuing and living up to the legacy of a pilot the main character looked up to and was under the tutelage of. The circumstances throws him into the Frontier War, and he becomes a pilot from an underdog position. This writer has no idea what he's talking about.

Gore (Sorta)​


It's just the beginning. Martha is Dead was recently censored on PS4 and PS5 (Twitter post by WiredProductions). The removed scene featured cutting around the circumference and removing the face of a dead woman and peeling it off. However, even more violent (and more detailed, mind you) and gory portrayals exist in Mortal Kombat, that is not censored by Sony (Tweet by user @Fishyy_boi). Martha is Dead even subdues the gore by making the flesh of the face pitch black in the darkness. Even more notoriously, The Last of Us 2 features lots of gory scenes, but the game is met with appraisal, rather than retribution. This topic is kind of in the air because some gore is censored, and some isn't. Regardless, it still happened. Gore in the case of horror games isn't for me (horror games in general), but if you love horror games, you should be actively championing keeping your horror... horrible... yknow?

Funnily enough, Martha is Dead is walled off by an Adult Content warning. It's like the parents buying GTA for their 8 year olds and complaining about the adult nature.

It's Just the Beginning​


It won't stop at sexy or cute girls in your media; it will continue to expand. If you haven't picked up on it yet, or you even think that erotic girls should be watered down, you should reconsider. You can think of it this way: as the frontline, if all the attractive (not even sexy/erotic) girls are gone, those who enjoy them won't be there to help defend what you love being censored since their fight has been lost. I don't mean it to be a threat, but people don't understand that censorship will eventually come for them, even if they are second place in the queue.

Another thing to consider is how many studios are beginning to censor at the source. This makes it harder for us to argue that censorship happened, because there was no retroactive change. Instead, the studios are just telling their designers to tone things down before anything gets developed. If in the case of Xenoblade 3 the character designs are proven to truly and genuinely meld into the new setting, I can forgive it. But deep down, I feel that Mastatsugu Saito was told to tone things down. Maybe I'll be vindicated one day... but we have 7 months until the release. Only time will tell.

Also, don't take my ranting as a statement for sexy and erotic girls in everything. For something more topical (what with Netflix trying to make a dead-on-arrival LOTR adaptation), I actually appreciate that the Peter Jackson adapatation of the Fellowship of the Ring (the iconic trilogy movies for The Lord of the Rings) does not have erotic portrayals of women (unlike Game of Thrones). It's grand fantasy for everyone, which I believe was Tolkein's vision. He didn't want to utilize sex to sell, even though Arwen and Galadriel were definitely beautiful. In my opinion, LOTR was more about the awe of fantasy and revel for mystery. Hence why, going back to Xenoblade 3, there is an argument to be made about intentional design. However, this is the modern entertainment industry; I don't trust it. I see a reduction (meaning there was before) in cute girls -even a bit-, I become suspicious. And by the way Xenoblade 1/DE and X still had hot girls; look at Fiora, Sharla, Ga Buidhe, and Goetia. Goetia tbh not that hot... forgettable dominatrix villain alien woman with tentacles and tits... yeah...

Now sure, it was just a few articles from media sites you probably don't care about. But they reach far more than us; the normies. That sentiment will be repeated and heard, and the aspects of entertainment media that make them good in the first place will slowly fade away. Sexy girls were just the first on the chopping block; more are next. Find the resolve to defend the niches you love from censorship, even your own fandoms.

I hope this thread was enjoyable or thoughtful, or both.
 

namedoesntfi

varishangout.com
Regular
It's weird that in a way I feel like I'm back at the 90's where violence and sex (which let's be honest it's mostly just sexy) are ostracized. Instead of being Satan's work, it's "fascism" or whatever the fuck today's retards come up with.

Also it's tiring to some extent that people perceive us defending sexiness be allowed as "everything must contain sexy girls". No, I just want people be allowed to make what they want without some screeching like it's offensive or bad or sacrilegious or whatever. We often hear how a sexy design was removed from the game and pro-censorship people (that often say "I'm against censorship BUT...") say "it doesn't take away from the game's experience". Well, if it doesn't take away why should it be removed then? The same argument can be made against this.

It's funny to see that sexy outfits and girls have been taking the shorter end of the stick and now that it's obvious that violence is also being censored, some people are starting to wake up. DESPITE THIS, some still take the position of being against only the censorship they don't like, like it one front losing wouldn't mean the other would be affected too. I think some games are way over the top with their gore, but you know what responsible people do? They don't play shit they don't want to see.

All we can do really is gatekeep while still possible; try making something yourself (if you can of course); be ready for when the shitstorm comes.
 

strawberryicecoffee

varishangout.com
I will never understand why west sees gore as "ultimate shock value". Just check all games that were "controversal" in the 90's, all of them are because of violence.
I'm seriously worried about Nintendo, since they made a post in favor of black lives matter. I don't wanna see them becoming the next Sony.
 

NLDX

varishangout.com
Regular
I will never understand why west sees gore as "ultimate shock value". Just check all games that were "controversal" in the 90's, all of them are because of violence.
I'm seriously worried about Nintendo, since they made a post in favor of black lives matter. I don't wanna see them becoming the next Sony.
If the old guard from Nintendo Japan has retire, then the Nintendo Japan will possible go woke.
 

Cayhr

varishangout.com
Artist
Regular
If the old guard from Nintendo Japan has retire, then the Nintendo Japan will possible go woke.
Possibly, but not a zero chance; Japan is not immune to the disease. I can't say for sure since I actually don't keep huge tabs on the main Nintendo branch. Nintendo is a weird one for me because they're a great game developer, but a pretty nasty business. I usually respect what Nintendo puts out, but I would never say "I love Nintendo." Instead of just putting Nintendo as a whole on a pedestal, I look for individuals. Aside from Eiji Aonuma (Legend of Zelda), Hisashi Nogami (Splatoon), and Masahiro Sakurai (Smash Bros.), I don't know of any other particular great minds that make their respective IPs great. I guess those would constitute as the old guard, then? And maybe some of the execs (rip Satoru Iwada).

Using Xenoblade again, the most notable name relevant to the series is Tetsuya Takahashi (the mastermind behind the writing), and, for Xenoblade 3 in particular, Masatsugu Saito (the character designer for 2 and 3). If at any point Takahashi no longer works for MonolithSoft, that's when I know Xenoblade is done. His successor will need to really demonstrate he/she cares about the series to continue it. I love Xenoblade so much, that in such a situation where someone takes over the Xenoblade IP, I'll even wait 2 more games to see if they end up good and worthy. As for Saito, if he releases some info about his work during Xenoblade 3 -let's assume he was told by his agency to "not be like Xenoblade 2"- that's when I know I can make peace with the IP since they're on a downhill trend. You have to look at particular individuals that make the work great.

If you're a fan of Blizzard games, you should (and probably do) know that the modern year Blizzard is NOT the Blizzard of old. It is a shell of its former self; a skinsuit if you will. The original greats behind Blizzard left to create Frost Giant, so you should be looking at them. In fact they announced another Warcraft kind of game, but obviously isn't Warcraft. Similarly, Respawn Entertainment is the studio behind Titanfall and Apex Legends. I love Titanfall 2, but I was prepared to drop it until the community came back and created the Northstar client. The one responsible is "BobTheBob", a genius man that made modding and old-school server browsing possible for Titanfall 2 (think Team Fortress 2 days). You follow the people behind the IPs you love, and not the publishers/studios. More examples include Kojima (Metal Gear) and Yoko Taro (Nier).
 

PureHeartedVillian

varishangout.com
First off....
1644979059432.png

BWHAHHAHHHHAHHAHAHAHAHGHAHASHAHA!!!!!
They did this unironically?!
They did this against racism?!
UNIRONICALLY?!?!

Secondly...
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that their trying to portray literal psychopaths' with a GOD COMPLEX, as poor little babies who desperately just need people to understand them. I mean hey we let trannies run free lets just cut out the middle man and let all the asylum patients have all the power.

Thirdly...
I'm not really a fan of gore but I do approve of most if not all depiction of woman getting skewered.

And finally...
Are you really surprised they won't stop? These aren't people on a mission with a vison of a better world. They have no concept of the golden rule and unironically believe "No bad tactics only bad targets." In fact what did he say about Sephiroth a little while back?
the horror story of a young man with few bonds or aspirations embracing such evil to fill his emotional void is scary enough on its own.
You see this? This is PURE projection. Every single last one of theses people do this because they're missing an actual goal in life, but still desperately need to feel like they will be a remembered hero like Martian Luther King Jr. or whatever activist you barley remember but still learned about in school.

They don't care about the state of the world for better or worse, they don't care who they hurt or what they do because this isn't about justice or fairness or being an example or anything like they claim. All this is about is the fact that they know they've never done anything worth being remembered for and instead of really doing something about it they just make every tiny disagreement a literal attempted murder in their mind so they can get some emotional high and some meaningless approval on the internet form people just like them. People who will eagerly through each other on the chopping blocks if they can fell like the hero form it.
 

Hexasheep93

varishangout.com
Regular
Long, possibly autistic rant incoming:peko-bow:

I may come off as an old man but I think this increased push to ban or censor "problematic" stuff is because of the increasing amount of time people spend online. Just look at the latest generation. They have the double edged distinction of being born in an online world, and have been exposed to the internet at a very early age.
While previous generations did not have that happen to them.
As a result we were able to see what was a real world problem and what was an internet problem, now it did happen that if something on the net got big enough it would crossover into real life.
But now internet culture is so pervasive in peoples psyche that it basically has integrated itself into "irl". A decade ago it was a novelty for a business to have anything else than a ok ish website. Nowadays even elementary schools have fricking facebook and twitter accounts :asui-what:
And because everything is so integrated people not only think thay internet problems such as trolls or "problematic media" are "irl" problems which ends in idiots thinking a character with a chainmail bikini will somehow lead to spree of gang rapes across the world.:gura-pain:

What is even morw scary is that people think they can use the internet to solve "irl" problems like those stupid blm black screen nonsense post, regardless of your opinion on the matter retweeting a hashtag is not gonna change things. It will, however make people think it did, and that is the dangerous part. After all a slave will never try to escape if he doesnt think he is a slave
 

strawberryicecoffee

varishangout.com
Your post about Xenoblade reminded me of this thing I found on twitter.
The japanese are not taking the designs of gen 9 pokemon protagonists well. The non-cutesy design in contrast of past gens are making them worried that pokemon might have gotten woke.
Sem Título-1.jpg

(I translated the tweets on deepl so sorry if is not 100% accurate)
 
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