Girlz 'N' Games comic #87: Happy (hypocritical) slapping

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No doubt there will be complaints that this Girlz 'N' Games comic is only going up now, over a month after the initial uproar regarding loooooong-awaited shooter Duke Nukem Forever.

My apologies but life got in the way of updates - I've been living between homes with my computer in a moving box for the past month. I'm hoping to get back into a more regular updating routine from here on.

Anyway, for anyone unclear about Duke Nukem's "Capture the babe" controversy, it was announced in late March that the game would replace conventional "Capture the flag" multiplayer mode with "Capture the babe." Basically, instead of stealing your opponents' flag, banner or battle standard, you'll be kidnapping their hot chick, and hauling her off to your base.

If the idea of treating a woman as an ownable object doesn't provoke a negative reaction (this is Duke Nukem after all. "Shake it, baby!"), then there's the fact that the babe periodically struggles and freaks out. When this happens the player can calm her with a slap.

Initial misinformation spread like wildfire that the slap was to the babe's face. Just as women's rights groups exploded with rage, Duke's developers quickly announced that the slap wasn't targeted at the face. It's a playful spank to her buttocks...

Phew. Because that makes everything alright; everything perfectly acceptable.

The thing is, as much as this kind of gameplay still makes me feel uncomfortable about the mindset it's reinforcing (whether through parody or not), Duke Nukem is hardly the only game series - past or present - to let you do some pretty nasty, disrespectful things to women.


Sidenote: you can check out my earlier Duke Nukem Forever comic here.

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As usual, if you like my latest Girlz 'N' Games comic, please forward it on to your like-minded friends. You can also show your support by joining the Girlz 'N' Games Facebook fan group, which is open to all. The big advantage of joining is that you'll immediately receive an email notification every time a new comic is uploaded.

If this doesn't suit you, you can also follow me on Twitter - I tend to tweet when a comic is in production, as well as provide a heads up when it's about to debut online.

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marcolucera said…
Hi Pfangirl, I love your blog
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