[ SECRET POST #2637 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2637 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 070 secrets from Secret Submission Post #377.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

01. http://i.imgur.com/t7Ihh0Y.jpg

[nan]

I'm not that familiar with South Park but...who even would the female character be?

[(Anonymous)]

OP

In the game you play as a new character you create. You get to choose what they look like, but not their gender.

[(Anonymous)]

Wendy, Bebe, Red, Nichole, Henrietta, Karen, etc

[rbhudson]

They made up a male character for the game, hypothetically they could do the same with a female character

[(Anonymous)]

See, I understand that this group of young boys don't hang out with girls much and that Cartman especially wouldn't let a girl join, but (and I haven't even touched the game) in general as a woman I don't enjoy video games as much when I am forced to play a male character, which is the majority of them (not all, I know there are plenty of games with female options) it seems.

[ludwigvonkoopa]

As a woman who plays video games, myself, and has ever since I was about two years old, I don't understand this.

It's no harder for a female to relate to a male character, than it would be for a male to relate to a female one.

And I guarantee you that people would (or already do) completely lose their shit if a guy was to make the same statement about a female lead. I don't particularly like the double standard.

[(Anonymous)]

it's south park... i bet the fact that you can't be a girl is part of the joke

[(Anonymous)]

Ugh, I'm so torn on this fucking issue, because on the one hand, yes. It's a game about playing with a group of small boys, and from a narrative standpoint, it makes sense that the player-character would have to be male, since a large portion of the game focuses on the boys inability to convince girls to play with them. The entire point is to immerse you in that childhood mindset where girls only play with girls and boys only play with boys, and any attempt to cross that barrier would only get you infected with "cooties."

So from that perspective, I can appreciate the player-character's static gender.

But on the other hand... The player-character is customizable. Skin tone, hair, clothing... The player has the option to make their character look like them, providing the player identifies as male. In his review of the game, Angry Joe gleefully described how the customization allowed him to feel as though he really was one of the characters in the South Park show, just another one of the boys alongside Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny. As a female-identifying player, I'll never know what they feels like, and it makes me sad, because I would love to run around South Park as myself, and not some male character.

But on the OTHER-other hand (oh boy, my head is starting to spin).... A character doesn't necessarily have to be female for me to "put myself in their shoes." I don't have to completely identify with a person in order to appreciate their story or their struggle. In fact, one of the greatest things about story-telling is the chance to explore different perspectives and put yourself in the role of someone who isn't like you. So, with this in mind, I'm kind of okay with putting myself in the shoes of an eight-year-old boy, because I wouldn't have been able to have that experience otherwise.

.........but I kind of would have liked to have the choice.

Angry Joe, for example, had the choice to make the player-character look like himself. He didn't have to. He could have created a character with a completely different look than his own--still male, of course, but with a different nonetheless. He had a choice that I, as a female-identifying player, was denied. So while I can appreciate the story from the perspective of an eight-year-old boy, I still would have liked the option to play as myself. It would have been cool! The story was still really good, and I adored my male player-character and his relationship with the South Park boys, but... it would have been nice if that choice had been left up to me.

[(Anonymous)]

I think there a difference between having an avatar, which is putting yourself (or how you want to be perceived) on the screen. And relating to a character who's been written to have a personality, that anyone who could empathize could latch onto. There's no story telling to relate to with an avatar.

And yes it sucks when there the ability to make an avatar, but you, literally don't exist as an option.

[(Anonymous)]

This playground segration sounds really mystical. We were 3 girls and 4 boys that were always playing together between from we were babies until we were about 10 in the 90's.

[elaminator]

I only watch South Park now and then so my knowledge of the universe is lacking, but I thought this game looked pretty fun. I heard you could customize your character but didn't realize you couldn't be a girl. That's a bit disappointing, but it sounds like it makes sense from a storyline standpoint. Maybe there will be another South Park game where you can play as a female character?

*SPOILERS for The Stick Of Truth*

[salmagundsorceress]

I agree with OP, but for different reasons. I'm not complaining that there's not a female character option because of the point in the story when you get abducted by aliens and are anally probed by them.

The way I see it, this game would have gotten way more criticism if it had allowed female characters get raped by aliens, and I'm sure that's how the developers saw it too. Sure, this is South Park, where everything is fair to make fun of, but there's also lines that if you cross, you may get into serious trouble.

Frankly, I had trouble going through that part anyway, regardless of the gender, because it was kind of awful to watch a little boy be violated by a huge alien dildo. It wouldn't have been any different to me if it were a girl character, but given how prevalent similar violations are when it comes to girls as opposed to boys, I can see how it would have raised a more serious issue.

It's only one part of the game, but one that I imagine they were especially careful with.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't get wanting to play games as yourself. I don't one bit. Even when I can play a female characters it's never "me."

[(Anonymous)]

It DOES make sense....but still, I would have liked it. It's a great game and i'm not sad about it or anything, but I could have still been Sir Douchebag as a girl (in fact, it would have made a nice counterpoint to Princess Kenny!)

[(Anonymous)]

I really agree. I'm all for more female representation in video games but I couldn't believe people were arguing for a female option in the South Park game.

The game was extremely well done in that it fit in with the South Park world perfectly, in fact it often just felt like playing a really long episode of South Park.

But a girl would not fit in with the plot they came up with, and we already have an established world where girls and boys are very segregated. If a girl came into Cartman's camp, the dialogue would have been very different, to the point of it would probably need to be a whole other game.

I think there are times where it's fine to have one option in a game because it follows the story, and this is definitely one of those times.

[(Anonymous)]

I think if they wanted, they could've made female characters possible that disguised themself as male/crossdressing male. We already have Princess Kenneh and rape jokes with "her", so it was already done.

The producers know they have a big female fanbase, but they're pretty uncomfortable with it.

[diet_poison]

idk, South Park in general doesn't strike me as particularly women-friendly.

[(Anonymous)]

Okay I'm sure I'm gonna get hate for this but
I'm just really amazed that South Park is apparently still this relevant? How is that possible. I thought we moved on from this show being popular, like, ten years ago or something. Seeing the hype build up for this game and everything has just been bizarre to me, honestly.

[(Anonymous)]

Go play Tomb Raider or Metroid.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not at all familiar with South Park, but I think it's really pointless to allow character customization and not gender customization (same with race, though I haven't been hearing that was an issue here).

I dunno. The arguments that it wouldn't have made sense to play as a girl do hold some weight, and as much as I want more women in video games I don't think any dev should feel obligated to include a female protagonist... but since the dude is customizable in the first place, it feels off. I think I'd feel differently if you were made to play as a fixed male character, but could alter his appearance in-game through haircuts and clothing changes and so on. Hm.

[(Anonymous)]

South Park? Offensive? Who knew.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't agree Cartman wouldn't have let a girl in the group under any circumstance (how soon we forget the Bebe episode), but yeah, it's a stupid thing to complain about. I haven't played the game, but the group at least looks based on the GoT/Black Friday/console wars episodes, which only involved boys. (It bugs me a little in that it implies girls don't play video games, but that's just a problem in general. I don't think they were trying to be misogynist or anything. And JapanesePrincess!Kenny doesn't count.)

[(Anonymous)]

This thread is a great example of the hoops people will jump through to justify common sexism as not sexist at all.