Cuppytalk

Evony – now featuring porn stars

Cuppycake — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:25:15 +0000

As seen on Negative Gamer, Evony are up to their disgusting advertising still. Granted, these girls weren’t exactly in porn, they are just stock photos that happen to have also been used in porn. Nonetheless, ugh.

They sure do know how to draw attention to themselves, however I wouldn’t be caught dead playing this game.

Evony – now featuring porn stars is a post from: Cuppytalk

Pro-Rape Facebook group shut down

Cuppycake — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:16:23 +0000

I’m a bit late on reporting this one, but apparently a group of students from the all-male St. Paul’s College at Sydney University created a “Define Statutory” Facebook group with the goal being to promote pro-rape culture. Facebook allowed this public group to exist on Facebook for months before it was finally removed.

The site, which went up in August, was shut down recently, but Reverend David Russell, an outgoing master at Wesley College, tells the Sydney Morning Herald that the Facebook page is simply an encapsulation of the rape culture that has pervaded the campus for some time. “This is a story that has to be told,” Russell says, “there is no question in my mind, women are seen as meat. That is the awful, ugly truth of it.”

Ugh, I’m glad it was removed. Facebook is generally more strict with content like this.

Pro-Rape Facebook group shut down is a post from: Cuppytalk

EA buys Playfish, then lays off Mythic and EA staff

Cuppycake — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:15:08 +0000

Rumored for about a month, EA’s purchase of Facebook social game company Playfish (for $300 million) has been confirmed today. Playfish are known for their popular games Restaurant City and Pet Society, which are both in the top 20 Facebook applications.

The gloomy side of this? EA have now reportedly laid off 40% of Mythic staff (I can confirm several in fact) and several other EA studios including Tiburon in Orlando, FL and Black Box in British Columbia. My condolences goes out to the folks affected, including the awesome Jess Folsom who was the Community Coordinator at Mythic. Snatch her up quick folks!

Edit: Gamasutra has a better scoop with more details. Looks like around 80 Mythic employees were affected.

EA buys Playfish, then lays off Mythic and EA staff is a post from: Cuppytalk

Do You Want to Date Felicia Day?

Cuppycake — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:19:51 +0000

If that blog title didn’t catch you, I don’t know what will. After all, Felicia Day is the ULTIMATE example of “guys want to be with her, girls want to be her”. (Well, some girls want to be with her too…but that goes without saying…)

My friend (and EQ2 tradeskill developer extraordinaire) Emily wrote a post on the G.I.R.L. (Gamers in Real Life) blog about what an awesome role model Felicia is for women.

Not only is she a good role model for anybody who’s not yet where they want to be in their career, but she’s also a fantastic representative of women in gaming. To the old refrain of “girls don’t game” we can now say, look! A woman MMO gamer who is attractive, successful and smart. She’s far from the only one, but she’s certainly the highest profile one around right now, and by doing what she’s doing, she represents all of us.

Obligatory video below:

Do You Want to Date Felicia Day? is a post from: Cuppytalk

Real world physical beauty pressures in Second Life

Cuppycake — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:02:11 +0000

A blog post was posted on Pixels and Policy last week about female avatars in Second Life.

Out of 40 female avatars interviewed, 70% regarded their bust size as a primary concern when creating a Second Life avatar. Real-world females proved more likely to rebel against the Second Life ideal described by one female avatar as “a balloon chest and a low-cut top.” There were several real-world females who embraced a large-chested avatar, though their reasons varied.

“At first I played with an avatar that I thought represented me physically,” a Burning Life visitor told me, “But not many people talked to me. Now [with a large-chested avatar] people go out of their way to IM me and send me friend requests.” The need to adjust physical features to promote conversation ran deep among real-world women.

Drin Brewster, a provocatively-dressed female avatar, said she dressed suggestively in Second Life because there were no restrictive social norms. The desire to be approached and talked to by another avatar is realized by creating a sexually idealized character.

This is a huge step backwards for female avatars, since passive attractiveness is replacing active friend-seeking (approaching an avatar as opposed to being approached) in the virtual social network.

Even in a virtual space, Second Life citizens generally are creating avatars that look the way they want to in real life. They’re skinnier, have larger chests, and are generally the embodiment of the stereotypical female ideals. Which leads me to wonder – why is it that we fight the typical female appearance ideals, yet when given a choice to create our avatars as overweight or as similar to ourselves as possible, we don’t?

I’m a culprit too. I’m an overweight female in real life, yet my avatar in Second Life is thin and adorable.

Second Life feels like a perfect candidate to discuss the power of virtual worlds. SL isn’t a game where the people who spend time there just pop in for short intervals, complete objectives until the game is beat before putting it on the shelf to retire. Second Life is a living, breathing digital world. Most of all cultural and social norms that exist in the real world are replicated. Expectations about how people should look are translated word-for-word into SL. If you don’t look good like the other avatars, chances are you will get ignored. I knew a guy who intentionally made a very large disproportionate avatar and was laughed at, ridiculed and ignored everywhere he went. He was accused of “griefing” just because he was unattractive. See, even high school bullying takes place in SL.

Virtual worlds aren’t actually Utopian. When will these stereotypes cease to exist in virtual worlds? When they disappear in the real life that the virtual spaces are trying to replicate.

Real world physical beauty pressures in Second Life is a post from: Cuppytalk

Blog Spotlight: Notable Ladies

Cuppycake — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:26:29 +0000

Remember back in the day when I used to spotlight and feature bloggers all over the place? Ugh, I’ve really been an absolutely terrible blogger as of late. I’m really trying to shift the focus of this blog to cover predominantly feminist, LGBT, and alternative culture in virtual worlds and online games. One part of that is linking a couple blogs by some fabulous ladies that I think everyone should follow.

The first is Empowered Fire, which is a brand new blog started by a pair of World of Warcraft mages, Aislinana and Metaneira. Their goal is to talk about World of Warcraft from a feminist (and mage) viewpoint. There are some great posts on here so far!

The other is Tank Like a Girl, also a WoW blog. The author, named Andrea, is a member of the Daughters of the Horde guild – an all female guild with over 200 members that started from the WoW_ladies LiveJournal group (which I am also a part of). Her blog is super informative with good WoW news, theorycrafting, and lots of meaty tanking information.

Check out these two blogs

Blog Spotlight: Notable Ladies is a post from: Cuppytalk

Dragon Age steals my souuuulll….

Cuppycake — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:41:24 +0000

Like many other people, I am hooked on Dragon Age. I bought it for the PC (since my boyfriend is hogging the 360 in the other room with HIS copy) and I’m trying not to play it so much that I neglect some other projects I am working on.

I have to say, it’s fan-freaking-tastic. I love the environment, the music, the storyline, the moral decisions, the combat and ability trees. It’s all quite awesome. The dialog is great and engaging. The only thing that’s getting a bit annoying for me are all the female comments.

“I’m not even afraid, and *I* am the girl here.”

“You did alright, for a woman.”

Yes, this is a fantasy world. No, I don’t expect games to be 100% politically correct. It is indeed neat that my gender I chose in character creation does affect the conversation in the game. It’s unfortunate that it affected it in this way, and so often! I’m not very far into the game, and there have been at least 4 mentions of the fact that I’m a woman so it’s surprising that I did so well. Hopefully this stops after I start kicking some major ass.

We’ll see. The game is brilliant and beautiful otherwise.

Dragon Age steals my souuuulll…. is a post from: Cuppytalk

LotRO – Can anyone clarify?

Cuppycake — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:40:46 +0000

I haven’t been following LotRO too well, admittedly. I think it’s absolutely gorgeous and I liked my class when I was playing, however I was completed turned off by the lack of soloability in the main storyline. I didn’t want to have to find a group to progress though.

With this announcement, does this mean that all of the epic questlines will now be soloable? Am I reading this wrong? If so, this might warrant another journey into Lord of the Rings Online for me in the future.

LotRO – Can anyone clarify? is a post from: Cuppytalk

WoW selling pets as microtransactions

Cuppycake — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:53:49 +0000

I couldn’t let this one go without commenting on it.

In a not at all surprising move, Blizzard are now selling adorable little in-game pets for $10 each on their store. We’ve seen them selling services such as character moves and race changes, and this is the next logical step. In game pets are huge in WoW. And over at Player vs Developer, there is a brief timeline of how much people have been spending on pets in the past few years. Yes, I do feel that $10.00 is a couple bucks higher than they probably should be, but of all the things to rail on Blizzard for – marketing and making money is not it. I’m sure these pets will be very successful and they’ll sell a bajillion of them. And, I’m sure that things like vanity outfits will be next (hopefully with some appearance slots please!)

In other news regarding microtransactions, Free Realms is making some changes to their on-ramp and paywall. All classes will be open to play up until level 5, regardless if you’re a subscriber or not. They’re learning a little bit about the free-to-play model I see. I’ve said before that I don’t think they’ve nailed the “what should be free and what should cost money” dividing line. A good example is that their pets cost money. This is different from pets in WoW costing money because Free Realms pets have a whole job associated with them and are tied to progression in the game. Their point is not just to be a cosmetic enhancement. Also, WoW has PLENTY of free pets available without spending money. I still stand firm that everyone who wants to be a pet trainer should have a free pet to get them started, and you should monetize the shit out of accessories for said pet. Exactly like letting everyone try ALL the classes for free but charge them after 5 levels.

It’s interesting to see AAA companies reaching over into the microtransactions and F2P market, but they definitely have some learning and iterating to do. Glad to see Free Realms is adapting to the business model despite their game not quite being designed from the ground up to support it.

WoW selling pets as microtransactions is a post from: Cuppytalk

Wizard101 offering rental mounts for returning players

Cuppycake — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:28:19 +0000

Just received in my inbox:

Returning users to the game get a free mount rental! There is a mount code available in the email for use, which can be entered here. I keep meaning to pop back in and check it out, but haven’t found the time between Dragon Age, writing, and Torchlight.

Wizard101 offering rental mounts for returning players is a post from: Cuppytalk