it's not about ethics in gaming journalism

[keryx]

 
Oh, hell. 

K bought me the game Life Is Strange for my birthday, on the grounds that it is basically an immersive YA novel with indie music. And I started out loving it - there is seriously a moment where you have to choose between three hipster songs to play on the hi-fi, and I can play two of those songs on the uke. It also has time travel, and poor explanations of chaos theory. And STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS. Two women kissing! This is how much this game has my number.

And then.

There is no way to get around the end of the 4th and basically all of the 5th episodes. And they are rapey and murdery as fuck. 

WITH TEENAGERS.

Fuck that. Young women's unconscious bodies are not decoration to illustrate how fucked up some dude is. This is shitty entertainment, and I'm not sure whether to stop playing immediately or try to play through to the part where my character breaks the fourth wall to scream at the game designers that this storyline is only marginally more empowering than the ones in which the male character's female romantic interest is raped/murdered/threatened. Because surely that must be an option, right?

The could've had a woman be a villain. They could've had a man be a victim. They could've done so many other things, and I am sad for every one of those choices they ignored in favor of this.