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***Update 1 – 2015-05-25 – 10:56 CEST***

I forgot to mention some really important things last night. As all thoughts came to me when i woke up this morning. So i´m just going to add those thoughts and opinions to the mix, right here and right now. Anyhow, as i was saying. Besides the rape scene in Game of Thrones, people has also complained that a lot of women die in Game of Thrones. Well, here´s an reality check. People die all the time in GOT, (that´s in fact something of which the series is mostly wellknown for) no matter the gender.

It also seems like it´s alright for men to be killed, abused and raped (all of which happened in the tv-series “OZ” for example). As there´s no rants or complains about it (no matter if it´s movies, books or video games). And the last time i checked, the “real” world is full of evil and darkness (it´s been like that since the dawn of time).

But still, time after time again the feminists and SJW´s target fiction. So i take it that real world problems ain´t a high priority for them? I should also add that George R.R. Martin has been under heavy fire ever since Episode 6 (season 5) of GOT aired one week ago. R.R. Martin even had to close down the comment section on his live journal page.

But even so, R.R. Martin made some really good and valid points in his blog post about the Sansa Stark rape scene:
“Let me reiterate what I have said before. How many children did Scarlett O’Hara have? Three, in the novel. One, in the movie. None, in real life: she was a fictional character, she never existed. The show is the show, the books are the books; two different tellings of the same story,”

“There have been differences between the novels and the television show since the first episode of season one. And for just as long, I have been talking about the butterfly effect. Small changes lead to larger changes lead to huge changes.” – George R.R. Martin, the creator of Game of Thrones

I should also add that the Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) was both delighted and excited to do the rape scene:

“When I read that scene, I kinda loved it. I love the way Ramsay had Theon watching. It was all so messed up,”. “It’s also so daunting for me to do it. I’ve been making [producer Bryan Cogman] feel so bad for writing that scene: ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this to me!’ But I secretly loved it.” – Sophie Turner via Entertainment Weekly

And i think you could call this a wrap. As i have nothing more to add to this subject at this time.

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At first i intended to write an article about Ubisoft´s upcoming title “Assassin’s Creed Syndicate” (which is set for a release to PS4 and Xbox One on the 23rd of October this year. The Windows version will be released sometime during Q3 or Q4 this year) . But then i found out about the feminist rants about the game. And not only that, Game of Thrones has had it´s fair share of angry feminist rants as well. So this is my thoughts and opinions on the matter. And i´m going to start with “Assassin’s Creed Syndicate”.

But before i do that, i´m going to go back in time for a bit. Which would be November last year to be exact. Because that´s when Ubisoft released “Assassin’s Creed Unity”. And what´s so special about that release then? Well, ACU received quite a lot of complaints . And i´m not just taking about the bug related one´s. No, i´m talking about the “not having enough female protagonists and Co-op characters” complaints . So i guess Ubisoft took notice of that, and tried to make a change for the better in “Assassin’s Creed Syndicate“.

It can´t be an easy task to satisfy feminists. You don´t have enough women in your game, you get rants. You add more women to your game. You get rants…

Well, guess what? It backfired big time. In fact, The International Business Times (which would be the same site that ranted about Assassin’s Creed Unity´s lack of female protagonists last year) stated that Ubisoft is “Exploiting Feminism For Easy PR.”. And i´m going to be very honest about this one. Dear video game developers, when will you ever learn? You will never EVER be able to satisfy SJW´s and radical feminists.

And that´s the truth of the day. Just take the case with Ubisoft ACU and ACS, no matter what they did (or didn’t do). They still ended up with the short end of the stick. And that´s why devs should just focus on their fans and their consumers instead. As it´s quite obvious which crowd it is that loves (and pays) for their games. But Ubisoft choose to cave in for the feminists rants and demands instead.

And obviously, the feminists cared very little about Ubisofts “changes” in “Assassin’s Creed Syndicate”. Nor did they care about Ubisofts comment (statement) on the matter:

“We recognize the valid concern around diversity in video game narrative. Assassin’s Creed is developed by a multicultural team of various faiths and beliefs and we hope this attention to diversity is reflected in the settings of our games and our characters.

“Historically, games have respected women about the same as you might respect a banana peel, or a used tissue. Women have been sexualized, objectified, belittled, discriminated against and misrepresented at every juncture.”

But in the past couple of years, more and more games have started to feature women characters not as damsels in distress, or jiggle-physics-enabled arm candy, but protagonists.” – Ubisoft

So this is a game which Ubisoft can´t win. But “hopefully” they have learned their lesson now. It´s just a waste of time, effort and money to try to satisfy a minority group that whines about everything and nothing. As for George R.R. Martin´s “Game of Thrones” and The Mary Sue´s “We Will No Longer Be Promoting HBO’s Game of Thrones” article. This came as no surprise to me at all. As GOT has quite a lot of sexual themes, violence and even rape in it.

Mr Sean Bean himself.

And that´s actually the reason behind why The Mary Sue decided to stop promoting HBO´s “Game of Thrones”. In fact, these are their own words on the matter:

“The show has creators. They make the choices. They chose to use rape as a plot device. Again. In this particular instance, rape is not necessary to Sansa’s character development (she’s already overcome abusive violence at the hands of men); it is not necessary to establish Ramsay as a bad guy (we already know he is); it is not necessary to prove “how bad things were for women” (Game of Thrones exists in a fictional universe, and we already know it’s exceptionally patriarchal). Rape here, like in all instances, is not a necessary story-driving device.” – The Mary Sue

I could be wrong now. But didn’t George R.R. Martin (the creator of Game of Thrones) state that Game of Thrones takes place during a time that´s very similar to the middle ages? And if your familiar to the history of the middle ages. Then you probably know that there´s a lot of truth to it. Based on things such as cloths, weapons, armors and so on (minus the dragons of course).

Anyhow, i´ll get to the point. The middle ages was a pretty gruesome time period. As it consisted of a lot of wars, violence, political conflicts (the struggle for power) and rape. So it´s quite obvious that George R.R. Martin has been inspired by these historical facts. Thus the content of “Game of Thrones”. However, there´s a difference to be found between the books and the tv-series (there´s things in the books that doesn’t exist in the tv-series. And vise versa).

Even so, it´s the tv-series that´s been under the gun more than one time since HBO started to air Game of Thrones back in 2011. I´m talking about everything from “sexism” to “misogyny” rants and threats about boycotts. Just take the controversial Sansa Stark Scene from Season 5, and Episode 6 of GOT (that´s the scene that made The Mary Sue upset by the way). And there were even politicians that got really angry over the Sansa Stark rape scene as well. Politicians such as the US senator, Claire McCaskill for example.

The famous and much talked about controversial Sansa Stark Scene.

Claire McCaskill even tweeted out the following after GOT Season 5, Episode 6:
“Ok, I’m done Game of Thrones.Water Garden, stupid.Gratuitous rape scene disgusting and unacceptable.It was a rocky ride that just ended.” – US senator, Claire McCaskill

Everyone has the right to think what they want. But here´s the thing. That scene was even more brutal in George R.R. Martin´s book “A Song of Ice and Fire.”. As Theon was asked to join in on the savage act against Sansa Stark. So i don´t understand why people are so upset over this? Then again, i don´t remember if people got upset when “A Song of Ice and Fire.” got released back in 2011 either.

But what makes the Sansa Stark scene so special? There has been far worse scenes in Game of Thrones in the past. And the same thing can be said about tv-shows such as “Spartacus” as well. And what about the movie “300“? There´s at least one a rape scene to be found in that movie. Why was there no complains about that one? At least i don´t remember any rants over either “300”, or “Spartacus” for that matter.

This is off-topic i know. But i still think it´s relevant to the topic. So here we go! This is going to be a soft spot for sure (big trigger warning ahead!). What about “50 shades of grey”? The book is full of bdsm, sex and abuse. Hell, “50 shades of grey” has even been accused of glorifying rape. And both the book and the movie has been labeled as “rape culture” by Katherine O’clare in her essay “Why I Hate Fifty Shades of Grey”. Still, women love “50 shades of grey” (yes, i have heard about the “incidents” at the cinemas…).

Spoliter alert! And shortly after there were some BDSM action.

“50 shades of grey” is basically porn for women (more or less). And by the looks of the book (and the movie) women seem like they like (get turned on) by the thought of being powerless and under the control of a rough and abusive man (that´s more than eager to give it to her after some BDSM games). So what does this have to do with Game of Thrones? Quite a lot actually.

Because when i took the time to look through some of the comments that´s been posted about the Sansa Stark Scene on several news sites. I started to notice that there´s quite a lot of women that´s been watching Game of Thrones since day one. And guess what? They weren’t upset over the rape scene, (some just saw it as a part of the show. And some just saw it as an naughty XXX scene) and they even admitted that they watched GOT for the sake of all the sexy men that´s a part of the show.

So to wrap all of this up. Game of Thrones is fiction and it´s universe and characters was created by George R.R. Martin. The tv-series (created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss) is based on R.R. Martin´s universe. What i´m trying to say is this. If the creative mind behind his (or her) creation decides to add a violent scene, a death scene or even a rape scene to his/her creation.

Then he/she has the full right to do so. Not everyone will agree or like that choice for her. But it´s still the choice of the creative creator. So if you don´t like it, then don´t buy his or her´s creation (s). It´s a simple as that. And i have never liked the thought of censorship either. As for the case with Ubisoft and “Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Vs feminists/SJW´s”.

That´s a fight which Ubisoft can´t win. Simply because these groups will never EVER be satisfied. As their constantly checking for new things to rant and complain about. So my advice to Ubisoft would be the following. Make the games that YOU want to make. And care about your fans and consumers instead. Well, this was everything that i had to say about Game of Thrones and Ubisoft has enraged the feminists (i also throwed in my thoughts on “50 shades of grey as a bonus).

So please feel free to share your thoughts on these subjects with us =)

Resources:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/game-of-thrones-rape-scene-criticised-as-disgusting-by-us-senator-claire-mccaskill-who-says-shes-done-with-the-show-10265706.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3088849/Democratic-senator-says-s-quitting-Game-Thrones-gratuitous-rape-scene-actress-defends-controversial-episode.html

George R.R. Martin Explains Controversial ‘Game of Thrones’ Sansa Stark Scene

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/game-thrones-realistic-historically-accurate-say-experts-1443454

http://www.themarysue.com/we-will-no-longer-be-promoting-hbos-game-of-thrones/

Robin “V-Act” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround