To appease a Steam user's demands for straight representation, Webfishing added a 'Straight' title that costs 9,999 fish bucks (www.pcgamer.com)
from alyaza@beehaw.org to gaming@beehaw.org on 08 Nov 16:20
https://beehaw.org/post/16953047

#gaming

threaded - newest

brsrklf@jlai.lu on 08 Nov 16:24 next collapse

The quotation marks are a nice touch. Quality trolling.

FlihpFlorp@lemm.ee on 08 Nov 16:30 collapse

I think a question mark in parentheses would also do the trick

savvywolf@pawb.social on 08 Nov 16:30 next collapse

Finally, representation for gay people who are into irony.

[deleted] on 08 Nov 16:47 next collapse

.

thief_of_names@beehaw.org on 08 Nov 17:33 collapse

Thanks for your opinion straight person

LoamImprovement@beehaw.org on 08 Nov 17:45 next collapse

I think you mean “Straight” person

savvywolf@pawb.social on 08 Nov 17:48 next collapse

In his defense, it isn’t really a fishing game without bait.

DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca on 08 Nov 18:25 collapse

I don’t think it’s inherently a “straight” issue to think the topic of sexuality can be out of place at times. I don’t think the topic of sexuality should be taboo like it has been historically but, like many topics, I think there’s a time and place for it. In my eye, the only time I need to know a person’s orientation is when I find someone I wish to pursue something with since it’s a key aspect of my chance of success. I believe what someone does and is into is a closed doors affair; it’s their business, not mine. Plenty of times someone’s sexuality is held above someone’s head, quite literally in the case of this casual fishing game where I feel it doesn’t even slightly belong. In these situations, I find myself made uncomfortable because the topic is very mismatched for the context. We’re standing here fishing, so why are you bringing who you like to bang - or not, as the case may be - into the conversation?

And huh, would you look at that, I didn’t bring my own orientation into the mix because it’s not needed.

Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 08 Nov 19:21 collapse

Plenty of times someone’s sexuality is held above someone’s head, quite literally in the case of this casual fishing game where I feel it doesn’t even slightly belong

As a gay dude with a rainbow hat IRL this made me lol. I’m not wearing it to pick people up, I’m wearing it because I’m not ashamed of who I am. It’s not any different from wearing a wedding ring, couples shirts, or any of the million other displays of heterosexuality that you see and don’t think anything about.

PS: even if you are gay, internalized homophobia is a thing. Feeling that it’s super inappropriate to mention that you’re gay unless you want to fuck someone falls under that.

Azzu@lemm.ee on 09 Nov 04:09 collapse

You may not believe it, but most of our behavior is motivated by sex and appealing to our desired mates. Even if you rationally say you don’t want to pick up anyone with your rainbow hat, the original impetus to do it at all comes from a biological mind that is designed to reproduce. Being confident in who you are is a desirable trait in a partner, thus making you more attractive, thus contributing to your biological goal of reproduction. Yes, you have more rational reasons for it than just that, but it’s extremely likely that the wearing of the rainbow hat feels good to you because of million years of evolution to optimize reproductive success.

And yes, even homosexual people are subject to that, even though they technically can’t reproduce. Which I think is pretty funny honestly xD

It’s also interesting that you bring all the heterosexual signals up as some kind of counterpoint… but they serve the same goal.

Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 09 Nov 04:26 collapse

Friend, I am trans, I could reproduce if I wanted to with a dude (I absolutely do not want to). I’m also already married to a gay man, so my rainbow hat is not to pick people up, it’s to cover up my balding head. :p

Azzu@lemm.ee on 09 Nov 04:33 collapse

Friend, keeping a partner is also necessary for reproductive success. A child historically had a higher survival rate when parents stayed together. I didn’t say that you actually want to pick anyone up with your conscious mind, I’m just saying that the decisions you make are motivated by reproductive success.

Why do you think you even feel the need to cover up your balding head. It’s the same reason, just suddenly even more obvious.

Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 09 Nov 05:17 collapse

I think the decades of family and social pressure telling me that my appearance defined my self worth which I experienced when I was raised as a girl is the reason I wear a hat to cover my balding head, thanks for asking!

realcaseyrollins@thelemmy.club on 08 Nov 17:09 next collapse

If a community was fighting over something so trivial like this I’d consider leaving the game entirely.

Azzu@lemm.ee on 09 Nov 04:14 collapse

Then you should probably leave every game, because you can probably find some dumbfucks that argue about this everywhere. There are less than 30 people posting on this Steam discussion linked.

TehPers@beehaw.org on 09 Nov 11:38 next collapse

On this topic, I remember seeing a thread for Frostpunk 2 asking if it had DEI stuff in it.

There aren’t even any real characters in Frostpunk 2. Tf are you talking about DEI for in a game with no real characters?

JackbyDev@programming.dev on 09 Nov 12:15 collapse

The closest thing to DEI I can even begin to think of in Frost punk 1 was that you could manufacture prosthetics for amputees.

homewardbone@beehaw.org on 09 Nov 16:28 collapse

Honestly then… it probably didn’t warrant a response that will only bring more attention to their whining and more people rushing in to “support the cause”

andrewrgross@slrpnk.net on 08 Nov 17:26 next collapse

I don’t know if this is a hot take, but I think allowing straight and cis people to identify as such is appropriate, because the alternative assumes that we live in a state of default heteronormativity.

If anything, I want to live in a world where homophobes get mad that if they want to be assumed to be straight online they have to identify like anyone else. No one gets assumed to be straight any more. That’s better imo.

MagicShel@lemmy.zip on 08 Nov 19:02 next collapse

Nothing I enjoy more than asking a good ol’ boy his pronouns.

Toribor@corndog.social on 09 Nov 01:10 next collapse

The default should be “I’m horny” but unless I specify you have to guess who I’m horny for.

andrewrgross@slrpnk.net on 09 Nov 02:04 next collapse

Maybe one day we can get there, but right now it might be better for a lot of folks if the default was “I’m not horny”.

But I’m with you on the dream.

madjo@feddit.nl on 09 Nov 11:04 next collapse

Wow such asexual-phobia! (/s but only a little) Not everyone is “horny”.

Toribor@corndog.social on 09 Nov 12:30 collapse

No shade to my Ace friends intended. Totally possible to be horny for art or rock collecting or whatever. Doesn’t have to be a sexy thing. I’m horny for none of the above is totally valid.

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 09 Nov 16:32 next collapse

Pan-sexual then, perhaps?

bastion@feddit.nl on 10 Nov 01:46 collapse

I prefer pots, tbh.

bekopharm@discuss.tchncs.de on 15 Nov 09:42 collapse

heh, this totally reminds me of Terry Pratchett’s dwarves, that spend a lot of time trying to find out what’s under the beard of the other first without asking that akward question xD

P4ulin_Kbana@lemmy.eco.br on 09 Nov 19:20 next collapse

Uh, maybe I will have to specify myself, too. Never tought like that.

jjjalljs@ttrpg.network on 10 Nov 02:34 collapse

as an almost maximally privileged person (cis straight etc), i want my whining fellows to shut the fuck up. Just stop. Stop taking up all the god damn space. Just be quiet. It’s okay not to be included in every scene all the time.

Your point about not assuming people are straight by default is valid. But I mostly just want some cis-het folks to stop embarrassing me by being fucking insufferable.

Kowowow@lemmy.ca on 08 Nov 18:05 next collapse

Can’t be that hard to use something like cheat engine to get the money needed for that

Megaman_EXE@beehaw.org on 08 Nov 19:16 next collapse

Brooo you can get the title of shithead? Why would you wana be labeled as straight when you could be shithead instead? lol. That’s what I would go for haha

boonhet@lemm.ee on 09 Nov 10:30 collapse

Yeah I’d much rather take that over any sexuality. It’s a much deeper insight into my personality than just “straight”.

headerfile@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 08 Nov 19:44 next collapse

Obviously that steam guy was probably coming from a place of bad faith, but the response is maybe imperfect no? This would look pretty bad if the roles were reversed I think. (genuine question I am hoping I am told why this may not be the case; I have nowhere else to ask)

jlow@beehaw.org on 08 Nov 20:40 next collapse

The roles are not reversed, though (quite the opposite), so no need to worry about that:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw_mRaIHb-M

headerfile@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 09 Nov 19:40 collapse

Yeah the history of oppression is definitely reason to dislike those that support it, but it seems ill-fitting to have this affect all people who identify as straight no? (Not just cis straight people who don’t support that oppression but also trans straight people and other exceptions, as another commenter pointed out)

Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 08 Nov 22:15 next collapse

It’s okay to take context into account and not just look at it as a math problem. Targeting a minority isn’t the same as doing it to people who make up 90% of society but are whiny.

headerfile@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 08 Nov 23:15 collapse

I totally agree that an unacceptable proportion of straight people are whiny about any manner of minority representation, but doesn’t this also affect straight people who are normal about this? Maybe it’d be more fitting to give a demeaning title to homophobes, eg. the steam complainer, but provide regular title to everyone else somehow? Thanks for taking the time!

Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 08 Nov 23:22 collapse

I mean, are straight people who are normal about it clamoring for the title to begin with? This seems like a problem invented basically entirely by the whiners. You could just as easily say it affects gay people who want an ironic title, or straight trans people, but for obvious reasons the whiners don’t really care about that.

All that said I have no idea what the price tag means in terms of gameplay time to acquire it. If it’s unachievable without 10 hours of grinding or something that’s a little mean, but not enough that I really care.

(Edit: accidentally a word)

thief_of_names@beehaw.org on 08 Nov 23:39 next collapse

I haven’t played the game for very long, but from what I’ve seen it would take a few hours to get to the point that you can just get a thousand bucks and blow them on a title, but it’s entirely doable. You would have to focus on upgrades anyways to start with just to get a proper income up and running, and then once you can fish with greater speed and with a greater success rate it should be fairly trivial.

headerfile@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 09 Nov 00:40 collapse

Yeah a title in some fishing game definitely seems like a really strange thing to be upset about (and yeah you’re totally right that this doesn’t just affect cis straight people). I’m just saying that the presence of only that title for people who would like a regular version or don’t care about titles and just see it in passing might feel unwelcome through no fault of their own y’know? (Though obviously feeling unwelcome would be a little ironic)

homewardbone@beehaw.org on 09 Nov 16:26 collapse

I’m just saying that the presence of only that title for people who would like a regular version or don’t care about titles and just see it in passing might feel unwelcome through no fault of their own y’know?

I completely agree with this. For example, they don’t currently have a gender fluid title. Most gender fluid folks may not be clamoring for them to add the title but if they joined the game and saw that the gender fluid tag was harder to obtain for no discernible reason, was in air quotes, and had the description “mhm” I think they would feel pretty unwelcome. Also - a lot of people won’t know the context that there were people complaining about the lack of the title.

bilb@lem.monster on 08 Nov 22:21 next collapse

I don’t think its ethical to portray straight people in video games at all.

DdCno1@beehaw.org on 08 Nov 22:47 next collapse

Bioware is well ahead of you. Haven’t most of their romanceable NPCs been bisexual for ages now?

dragonfucker@lemmy.nz on 09 Nov 04:37 next collapse

Still salty about Tali and Visas.

JackbyDev@programming.dev on 09 Nov 12:13 collapse

Any game that doesn’t make all NPCs “opportunistically bisexual” pisses me off. Quit locking content behind my character’s pronouns.

DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social on 09 Nov 17:57 next collapse

I DEMAND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY OBJECTIFICATION IN VIDEO GAMES

NO /S

Except some aces here and there, for the homies to talk about books with.

JackbyDev@programming.dev on 09 Nov 20:27 collapse

I still think asexual characters should be “romanceable”. Like, there shouldn’t be increased-friendship related content behind gender.

DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social on 09 Nov 20:35 collapse

That’s fair.

Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de on 09 Nov 19:03 next collapse

For my part I didn’t mind that so much in Cyberpunk 2077, I just played it multiple times with different V characters.

But then I can see that it’s a big time investment and not good for everyone.

JackbyDev@programming.dev on 09 Nov 20:28 collapse

Yeah, I’m usually only playing games once. I don’t want to be forced to replay just to see content like that.

apotheotic@beehaw.org on 10 Nov 10:03 collapse

I’m sort of the opposite. Give characters sexualities! Make them people! Give them criteria by which they will or won’t find my character attractive! I feel gross when every NPC is pansexual and aggressively attracted to the main character for no reason. Then again, I’m acespec, so.

JackbyDev@programming.dev on 10 Nov 14:19 collapse

You can do that while still not locking any content behind gender though.

apotheotic@beehaw.org on 10 Nov 14:31 collapse

How can you make a character not attracted to men and simultaneously make their relationship not locked for characters who are men?

JackbyDev@programming.dev on 10 Nov 23:10 collapse

If it were me, I’d do something like not really focus on what their actual “real” sexuality is unless it is somehow relevant to the plot. Then if it is so something like make them a 1 or a 5 on the Kinsey scale instead of a 0 or a 6.

I don’t think games should be required to do, I’m not trying to force some sort of universal bi/pan agenda. I’m just saying it personally annoys me when I am locked out of pursuing a character just because of the gender I happen to be playing as because I typically don’t play games multiple times. It also annoys me when games don’t allow you to pursue all characters. Like in BG3, as far as I know, all characters are bi/pan but not all are poly. The game forced me to pick between Astarion and Karlach, for example. I put 100 hours or so into the game before I quit. I’m not willing to put over 100 more hours into it just to see what would’ve been different. It’s just a waste of my time.

An alternative approach is only having “sex scene” type content gated behind gender, but everything else can still be seen by friends. E.g., anything a character would eventually tell a lover they still tell close friends. Which is still sort of annoying but not really as bad because you can easily just look up a sex scene, but experiencing things like dialogue and special quests in game isn’t comparable to looking it up on YouTube.

apotheotic@beehaw.org on 11 Nov 09:17 collapse

I understand your perspective but I guess I just fundamentally disagree. I’d be annoyed, in the same vein as you, if every character was poly (unless they were actually poly and they had other lovers and referenced your other lovers and it was genuinely part of their identity) or if a relationship with them wasn’t different from a close friendship, besides having sex (because sex isn’t the only thing separating a close friendship from a relationship).

I guess, the way I approach the kind of game that we’re both talking about is just different. I’m not interested in exploring 100% of all the content possible, but rather having a rich experience in the content that I do explore. I’ll take an authentically written gay man and an authentically written straight girl who both won’t explore a relationship with me, over the opportunity to have more content that’s shallower. But yeah, again, thats just a different approach we both have to games.

JackbyDev@programming.dev on 11 Nov 09:31 collapse

I’m not interested in exploring 100% of content either, but I hate when games artificially block content off. For narrative reasons, I don’t care. I don’t mind the idea of mutually exclusive companions based on choices in game. But something as minor as gender at character creation? Come on now!

P4ulin_Kbana@lemmy.eco.br on 09 Nov 19:24 collapse

Could you please define “potray”? /genq

bilb@lem.monster on 10 Nov 00:42 collapse

I honestly don’t think I could. I don’t think that’s an English word.

CileTheSane@lemmy.ca on 09 Nov 16:50 collapse

Obviously that steam guy was probably coming from a place of bad faith

The Steam forums actively encourage this kind of bad faith behavior:

  1. when a post gets a new reply it’s moved to the top of the forums. So as long as people are engaging with a post, even if it’s just to make fun of a bigot, it keeps getting pushed back to the top.

  2. Users can “award” posts for various things (helpfull, cool, funny, etc) and users have taken to giving ‘Clown’ awards as a way of making fun of posts. Whenever one of your posts gets an award, you are given Steampoints you can use in the Steam cosmetics store.

This results in every game having bad faith posts “complaining” about wokeness so that people will make fun of them with Clown awards as a way to farm Steampoints. The developer bringing attention to it just helps them get more.

millie@beehaw.org on 09 Nov 03:38 next collapse

Spam G in support.

Meow meow meow.

Kolanaki@yiffit.net on 10 Nov 00:44 next collapse

Wait… This is an entire game? I’ve seen memes of it and I thought it was about an update to Animal Crossing.

Lumu@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 10 Nov 02:41 collapse

It’s very fun, feels like a return to simple web chatroom type games that I’ve really been longing for. It’s real enjoyable if the idea of casual fishing with some random people seems appealing to you!

seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 10 Nov 15:47 next collapse

I had not heard of the game, bought it and it’s awesome. Spent my whole afternoon playing it

DieserTypMatthias@lemmy.ml on 10 Nov 18:04 collapse

Game for everyone is a game for no one.