Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Workin' My Way Back To You

Time flies when you're taking care of a baby.

The Spinoff and I have been having a wonderful time this past month-and-a-half that I've been home watching him. He certainly enjoys listening to Sirius/XM "60's on 6," the most when Daddy sings falsetto along with Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. We've come to an agreement on napping, and that the Spinoff promises not to repeat to his mother any of the language he hears while watching "Deadwood" with Daddy.

I've been complaining about the bibs the Affiliate has been buying for him, though. It seems the inexpensive bibs that absorb spit-up the best also have to come with little writings like, "Jock," "Flirt," "Li'l Dude" and "Tough Guy." Quite frankly, not wanting to raise a dude-bro is high on my list of goals. I'd prefer an array of bibs with things like "Scientist," "Genius," "Li'l Scholar" and "Smart Guy," but nerd bibs are pretty expensive. Alas, his D&D onsie is the best I've been able to provide so far.

The video game world has been all atwitter about this post written by some guy who doesn't like that there are gay characters in video games. He feels that since he is a straight male, anything that doesn't interest him should be removed from his games. The game in question is "Dragon Age 2." I've written highly about the 1st game in the series, "Dragon Age: Origins" (Which also had possible homosexual relationships). I haven't played DA2 yet, because I have a baby at home and other games to finish first.

Anyway, one of the game's creators, David Gaider, responded with a defense of the game, saying that the relationship options in DA2 were for everyone, including, but not just, straight males. My favorite line was, "You can write it off as "political correctness" if you wish, but the truth is that privilege always lies with the majority." Simply seeing privilege of the majority discussed in such a forum was both surprising and refreshing. I'm sure Mr. "Straight Male Gamer" has never once noticed a lack of options for gay or female gamers who want to play characters closer to their real-life selves. Of course, for reasons I can't fathom, the increase in options to include others is often seen as the oppression of the majority.

I ask this, however - Why wouldn't a straight male gamer choose to play a homosexual character in a video game? I have no problem being an elven wizard from Denerim, three things which I am not in real life. I also wonder why the simple act of having a gay character make an advance on a straight player is seen as an affront. Apparently the player can say no, just like with any other in-game romance he or she decides not to pursue.

In the end, there are plenty of video games aimed at the young straight male demographic, with plenty of boobies thrown in so they can be sure to know they are really straight males. Please leave the adult games with intelligent stories and decisions to make to those of us who aren't scared of catching The Gay from a line of computer code.

Well, the Spinoff has awakened and is politely inquiring as to why he has not been fed yet. Until several months from now, when I post next.

Your Bottle leader.