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Last of Us Part II Deadnaming Prompts Outcry From LGBTQ+ Community and Allies

Rikoi

Member
Dont blame Neil.

All he wanted was to make a FUN game. :messenger_crying:
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ryan13ts

Member
Outside of some of the typical transphobic shit, I don't disagree that this feels like misdirected outrage. The game has lots of diversity in it and if anything, I thought Lev's character and arc was really well done. The takeaway for me was that he moved on from people that didn't accept him and wanted him dead, to finding a friend who accepted and didn't question his identity (as well as his sister). It's only natural that the scars would refer to Lev as Lily, since their 'beliefs' would never recognize him as a male and having them do so would take away Lev's reasoning for even wanting to leave in the first place. In order to show people being shitty or unaccepting, they kind of have to do... unaccepting and shitty things.

Then again, I say all this as someone who ain't trans, so hearing a tran character called their dead name might trigger stuff and I get that. But at the same time, you have to look at why it's being done and in this case, if anything, it's to build a pretty positive character.
 

subsmoke

Member
It seems like no matter how much game companies pander to the social justice crowd they're never happy. They demand more and more and more. I wish a major game company would have the guts to tell these people to fuck off already.
 
Outside of some of the typical transphobic shit, I don't disagree that this feels like misdirected outrage. The game has lots of diversity in it and if anything, I thought Lev's character and arc was really well done. The takeaway for me was that he moved on from people that didn't accept him and wanted him dead, to finding a friend who accepted and didn't question his identity (as well as his sister). It's only natural that the scars would refer to Lev as Lily, since their 'beliefs' would never recognize him as a male and having them do so would take away Lev's reasoning for even wanting to leave in the first place. In order to show people being shitty or unaccepting, they kind of have to do... unaccepting and shitty things.

Then again, I say all this as someone who ain't trans, so hearing a tran character called their dead name might trigger stuff and I get that. But at the same time, you have to look at why it's being done and in this case, if anything, it's to build a pretty positive character.

I think the main part of the controversy is that Lev's story in the game was all about people being transphobic and pretty much just yelling out "this character is trans and other people don't respect it" and I feel like us both being cisgendered people it's hard to understand why that is problematic and not really good representation. I asked a friend of mine that's transgender and here's what he had to say

"say you have a character in a video game or movie or whatever that's black and their backstory is that they are alone because their previous society of white people no longer accepted them, and when that black person runs into the people he used to live with later they all just call him the n-word and various other racial slurs. But then the main character who is friends with the black character then says "it's okay, I support you and don't care about your skin color" practically to just make the white main character look good. You would probably find that to be a very racist story wouldn't you? Well, that's basically Lev's story except instead of being black in a racist society, he's transgender in a transphobic society"

I have another comment a couple pages back I think where I talk about how Lev's storyline could have been similar without being nearly as preachy and offensive and I also say that I feel like Neil Druckmann and crew's intentions with Lev and Lev's story were good, but it really does just come off as offensive and it's why I feel like there should always be a diverse group of writers
 

ryan13ts

Member
I think the main part of the controversy is that Lev's story in the game was all about people being transphobic and pretty much just yelling out "this character is trans and other people don't respect it" and I feel like us both being cisgendered people it's hard to understand why that is problematic and not really good representation. I asked a friend of mine that's transgender and here's what he had to say

"say you have a character in a video game or movie or whatever that's black and their backstory is that they are alone because their previous society of white people no longer accepted them, and when that black person runs into the people he used to live with later they all just call him the n-word and various other racial slurs. But then the main character who is friends with the black character then says "it's okay, I support you and don't care about your skin color" practically to just make the white main character look good. You would probably find that to be a very racist story wouldn't you? Well, that's basically Lev's story except instead of being black in a racist society, he's transgender in a transphobic society"

I have another comment a couple pages back I think where I talk about how Lev's storyline could have been similar without being nearly as preachy and offensive and I also say that I feel like Neil Druckmann and crew's intentions with Lev and Lev's story were good, but it really does just come off as offensive and it's why I feel like there should always be a diverse group of writers

I guess I can kind of see how a trans person might see it as being done to make the MC look like a savior or something, didn't really think about it that way, especially in that example.

At the same time though, I never really felt like there were any overt type of "I accept you for who you are" displays or that it was their intention was to make abby look good by being like that. Instead, we got dialogue that's real nuanced and natural in the way Abby and Yara are with Lev. Hell, the closest I think we ever get to that "savior" type of portrayal is Abby asking Lev if he wants to talk about it, which he doesn't and that's it when it comes directly to Lev. Yeah, you get that conversation with Abby and Yara, but that just felt more like exposition filling out info on the situation, and not some kind of reaffirmation that the characters are ok with it. Them being ok with it never feels like it's something that has to be said, they... just are, which I feel is probably the most respectful way to go about it.
 
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sol_bad

Member
What a stupid thing the whinge about. It would make no sense for the Seraphites to call Lev by his chosen name of Lev. They don't believe in transgenders so of course they'll call her Lily.
:messenger_face_steam::messenger_face_steam::messenger_face_steam:
 

siriguillo

Neo Member
I think it's at least a -game- and opinions of people who haven't played it don't count as much.
it's mostly a narrative-based game, is not bloodborne or call of duty, gameplay-wise both LOU and LOU2 have very clunky gameplay and poor stealth mechanic, is a game based around its story, and since that the case if the story is poor and the gameplay has not changed much, you can have valid criticism based on what you see.
 
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