A joke CAN exhibit phobias or bigotry. However I don’t think the joke in THIS comment necessarily exhibits transphobia, as he’s not inferring that Emily looks masculine or not feminine enough… she is LITERALLY playing as a male character in this scene.
Okay, in the strip, we have a character presenting as male. The joke is suggesting she has a dick… and being a joke, the implication is that this is a surprise and a negative. On a spectrum of ways to be unfriendly to trans folks, this is hella mild… but not zero. So it’s not *just* a dick joke callback to her delivery job. And it’s not like anybody’s crying for a ban over this. Just like, “Hey, this joke is less funny if people making ones a lot like it also think you should stop existing and are willing… Read more »
Sounds to me like you just want to make a federal case out of this. Plus, everyone here seems to need an etymology lesson regarding the word “phobia.” A “phobia” is an irrational fear of something. Ergo, accusing someone of transphobia implies that the only reason someone would dare have an issue with such things as transgenderism is due to an irrational fear of such people. Same thing with so-called “homophobia” although that one is even MORE absurd because “homo” means “human” and comes from the Greek word “Homos” meaning “same.” Ergo “homophobia” actually translates to an irrational fear of… Read more »
Jess
6 years ago
All I can think about is that comic Tim did years ago when he first introduced Lilah and she sniped another player who cursed her out and she typed back to him if he would speak like that to a girl and she got to snipe him again because he was too busy alternating between cursing her out and asking for pics.
I remember the one where he finally got to meet her in person, and said she couldn’t really exist, a girl who games. She held out her arm and said to touch her, she’s real. So he copped a feel. Next frame he was in a hospital saying he “fell down”.
Now that I think about it, that wouldn’t be funny in this environment. But back then it was hilarious.
Bwauder
6 years ago
Ethan really needs the beer hat :),
I found it in the bus near Gilmans lumber mill, but just imagine leather can holders and you’ll pretty much have it.
Erugan
6 years ago
Way back when me and my brother both played WOW, which was during WotLK, he had this habit of selling his pants when he was short on gold just to buy another non-combat pet. Then there’s those iron man runs people do where they only use grey(junk) gear, no talents, and see how high a level they can get without dying (functionaly same as fighting naked just enemy auto attacks hurt a little less). Of course, you can also just use a toy nowadays in wow to look like you are fighting with no armor for 10 mins every hour.… Read more »
Scry
6 years ago
This is painfully accurate as a female gamer. I wish it weren’t so, but props to Tim on this one.
As a male gamer, I wish to apologize for the behavior of my less civilized counterparts. It shouldn’t be this way, and I do as much as I can to fight it when possible.
Do you apologize to other guys for the immature insults those same less civilized counterparts sling at the guys, too? I mean…let’s be equal here. It’s a gamer problem, really, not specifically a female gamer problem.
I wish I could say that I haven’t seen this sort of thing in all the games I have run or played over the decades since I last played in an all male game, but I have (despite having few, if any, pre-evolved friends). The first girls to join our group back in highschool were chased away by my best friend (at the time) who was the least stupid person I had ever met. (And is still in the top two or three!) The fact that I didn’t put a stop to it at the time is still a sore… Read more »
Gadget Girl
6 years ago
My husband and I have side by side gaming setups. I usually play a guy and he usually plays a girl. He says he’d rather look at a girls backside than a guys. Me? I guess a male character usually fits in with the story in my head better.
I’ve been told it’s weird, but I generally try to recreate my wife whenever I’m making a character. Part of it is that for some reason, the voice acting for female characters is often better. The rest is that it makes both of us feel like we’re gaming together.
Kyle
6 years ago
I always play as a female character, it’s a tradition now, but it started back in Halo Reach. When you would sprint your character made grunting sounds and they were different based on gender. My friends and I would all play as females so that in no radar game modes we could more easily tell if someone sprinting behind you was on our team or the other team. I’ve had many comments and messages from other players assuming I am a girl but they always end quickly if I speak.
My buddy hates gender bending in videogames unless we were doing some kind of skit. It’s pretty funny how wigged out he gets about it. I don’t care, unless you’re pretending to actually be a girl without an established roleplay element. I have, on purpose, put my wife on the microphone while ~I~ play, though. It was pretty effective in the Battlefield series when people would hear her making the call outs I told her to and suddenly people started moving as a team and giving positive feedback when everyone was ignoring me previously. There were times whens he’d get… Read more »
¿A game where the players can take all the clothing off of their characters? I do not want to thing about the potential repercussions of this concept. Seriously.
That’s already a feature in pretty much every MMO since at least World of Warcraft and probably even before that…
Patrick DiSandro
6 years ago
Y’know, I’m really not doubting that it happens. I do in fact KNOW it happens at least through second-hand info of people I don’t think would randomly lie about it. But in this instance, I think her reasoning is a tad off. I play primarily as female characters. I’ve never been hit on by someone who actually assumed I was a girl. Plenty of males play as female characters for a variety of reasons (though most notably for simple aesthetics.) And many female players play as male characters. No one will know who or what you actually are in a… Read more »
I fully agree with you. It may have been a big deal once to be a female playing an online game, but it doesn’t seem to be anything special anymore.
Sita
6 years ago
I’ve done this in an MMO. AND played as a female. But if I want to “play” as I “think” a male would play, I am accused of behaving like a 14-year old girl.
Once you let them know you ARE a female, you can’t get away with anything.
(I mean just as she is fighting in her tighty-whities.)
Reeeeee
6 years ago
Nope.
If you play as a girl character none of that is gonna happen because there’s tons of guys who play as female characters in any MMO.
Unless you use a mic, in which case playing as a dude wouldn’t mask the fact so the point is also invalid.
Vukodlak
6 years ago
Here’s a story from GTA Online.
Guy 1: “Get out of the car Bitch”
Girl Avatar: *Silently gets out of the car, blasts him with a shot gun, gets back in his car and drives away.*
Guy 1: “Why’d she kill me!?”
Guy 2: “Because you called her a bitch stupid, have some respect.”
Lowfdog
6 years ago
Personally, I always try to make my characters look like me. Granted, a me that works out more and has had some minor plastic surgery, but still me… 🙂
Vicente
6 years ago
This conversation is unreal, you cannot spend more than 1 minute without suffering a bug or dropping from the server. I read it on the Internet.
24
I Diagnose you with the gay.
Emily has another package for you, Ethan ?
Nice transphobia there, pal…
Don’t label a joke as phobia or you’re part of the problem.
A joke can be a demonstration of phobia, the excuse that something is a joke doesn’t excuse what or how something is said.
A joke CAN exhibit phobias or bigotry. However I don’t think the joke in THIS comment necessarily exhibits transphobia, as he’s not inferring that Emily looks masculine or not feminine enough… she is LITERALLY playing as a male character in this scene.
Incidentally Tim, was this strip inspired by any real life experience?
This is how social interaction works. “Hey, this joke can be insensitive to this group. Did you know?”
“Oh, I didn’t think about it from that perspective. I just wanted to make a dick joke.”
“Yeah, just don’t be a prick about it.”
“… well played.”
How in the world is that even transphobia?
Okay, in the strip, we have a character presenting as male. The joke is suggesting she has a dick… and being a joke, the implication is that this is a surprise and a negative. On a spectrum of ways to be unfriendly to trans folks, this is hella mild… but not zero. So it’s not *just* a dick joke callback to her delivery job. And it’s not like anybody’s crying for a ban over this. Just like, “Hey, this joke is less funny if people making ones a lot like it also think you should stop existing and are willing… Read more »
“Doing 55 in a 54”
Sounds to me like you just want to make a federal case out of this. Plus, everyone here seems to need an etymology lesson regarding the word “phobia.” A “phobia” is an irrational fear of something. Ergo, accusing someone of transphobia implies that the only reason someone would dare have an issue with such things as transgenderism is due to an irrational fear of such people. Same thing with so-called “homophobia” although that one is even MORE absurd because “homo” means “human” and comes from the Greek word “Homos” meaning “same.” Ergo “homophobia” actually translates to an irrational fear of… Read more »
All I can think about is that comic Tim did years ago when he first introduced Lilah and she sniped another player who cursed her out and she typed back to him if he would speak like that to a girl and she got to snipe him again because he was too busy alternating between cursing her out and asking for pics.
Life was so much easier before mics.
I remember the one where he finally got to meet her in person, and said she couldn’t really exist, a girl who games. She held out her arm and said to touch her, she’s real. So he copped a feel. Next frame he was in a hospital saying he “fell down”.
Now that I think about it, that wouldn’t be funny in this environment. But back then it was hilarious.
Ethan really needs the beer hat :),
I found it in the bus near Gilmans lumber mill, but just imagine leather can holders and you’ll pretty much have it.
Way back when me and my brother both played WOW, which was during WotLK, he had this habit of selling his pants when he was short on gold just to buy another non-combat pet. Then there’s those iron man runs people do where they only use grey(junk) gear, no talents, and see how high a level they can get without dying (functionaly same as fighting naked just enemy auto attacks hurt a little less). Of course, you can also just use a toy nowadays in wow to look like you are fighting with no armor for 10 mins every hour.… Read more »
This is painfully accurate as a female gamer. I wish it weren’t so, but props to Tim on this one.
Indeed! My wife games with us and even with people in the channel know that she’s my wife there’s still some of that.
As a male gamer, I wish to apologize for the behavior of my less civilized counterparts. It shouldn’t be this way, and I do as much as I can to fight it when possible.
Do you apologize to other guys for the immature insults those same less civilized counterparts sling at the guys, too? I mean…let’s be equal here. It’s a gamer problem, really, not specifically a female gamer problem.
Amen, bro, amen.
I wish I could say that I haven’t seen this sort of thing in all the games I have run or played over the decades since I last played in an all male game, but I have (despite having few, if any, pre-evolved friends). The first girls to join our group back in highschool were chased away by my best friend (at the time) who was the least stupid person I had ever met. (And is still in the top two or three!) The fact that I didn’t put a stop to it at the time is still a sore… Read more »
My husband and I have side by side gaming setups. I usually play a guy and he usually plays a girl. He says he’d rather look at a girls backside than a guys. Me? I guess a male character usually fits in with the story in my head better.
I’ve been told it’s weird, but I generally try to recreate my wife whenever I’m making a character. Part of it is that for some reason, the voice acting for female characters is often better. The rest is that it makes both of us feel like we’re gaming together.
I always play as a female character, it’s a tradition now, but it started back in Halo Reach. When you would sprint your character made grunting sounds and they were different based on gender. My friends and I would all play as females so that in no radar game modes we could more easily tell if someone sprinting behind you was on our team or the other team. I’ve had many comments and messages from other players assuming I am a girl but they always end quickly if I speak.
Using character grunts as IFF is crazy clever.
Kewl!
My buddy hates gender bending in videogames unless we were doing some kind of skit. It’s pretty funny how wigged out he gets about it. I don’t care, unless you’re pretending to actually be a girl without an established roleplay element. I have, on purpose, put my wife on the microphone while ~I~ play, though. It was pretty effective in the Battlefield series when people would hear her making the call outs I told her to and suddenly people started moving as a team and giving positive feedback when everyone was ignoring me previously. There were times whens he’d get… Read more »
I think everybody loves a badass female. Well, everybody worth a damn. 😀
Agreed.
OMG i love the idea of this strip.
¿A game where the players can take all the clothing off of their characters? I do not want to thing about the potential repercussions of this concept. Seriously.
There are many many games out there already with this.
That’s already a feature in pretty much every MMO since at least World of Warcraft and probably even before that…
Y’know, I’m really not doubting that it happens. I do in fact KNOW it happens at least through second-hand info of people I don’t think would randomly lie about it. But in this instance, I think her reasoning is a tad off. I play primarily as female characters. I’ve never been hit on by someone who actually assumed I was a girl. Plenty of males play as female characters for a variety of reasons (though most notably for simple aesthetics.) And many female players play as male characters. No one will know who or what you actually are in a… Read more »
I fully agree with you. It may have been a big deal once to be a female playing an online game, but it doesn’t seem to be anything special anymore.
I’ve done this in an MMO. AND played as a female. But if I want to “play” as I “think” a male would play, I am accused of behaving like a 14-year old girl.
Once you let them know you ARE a female, you can’t get away with anything.
(I mean just as she is fighting in her tighty-whities.)
Nope.
If you play as a girl character none of that is gonna happen because there’s tons of guys who play as female characters in any MMO.
Unless you use a mic, in which case playing as a dude wouldn’t mask the fact so the point is also invalid.
Here’s a story from GTA Online.
Guy 1: “Get out of the car Bitch”
Girl Avatar: *Silently gets out of the car, blasts him with a shot gun, gets back in his car and drives away.*
Guy 1: “Why’d she kill me!?”
Guy 2: “Because you called her a bitch stupid, have some respect.”
Personally, I always try to make my characters look like me. Granted, a me that works out more and has had some minor plastic surgery, but still me… 🙂
This conversation is unreal, you cannot spend more than 1 minute without suffering a bug or dropping from the server. I read it on the Internet.