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   Druid (druid@netzsphaere.xyz)'s status on Wednesday, 18-Dec-2024 19:39:11 JST Druid
   I watched the new Half Life 2 documentary and they literally said that they wanted everyone to feel part of the game's world so they made thr npcs every shape, size, race, age etc., with roughly even numbers of men and women.
   
   But the thing is, it didn't come off like diversity pandering, did it? It actually worked, when you were playing HL2 you probably just saw the NPCs as "a bunch of realistic looking people." Nobody made you swallow a Jaguar ad, they just showed human biodiversity in all it's lumpiness and bumpiness and the end result was that the miserable and downtrodden everyday look of everyone made you feel like a trve Slav.
   • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: and snacks like this.
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     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: (lanodan@queer.hacktivis.me)'s status on Wednesday, 18-Dec-2024 20:21:51 JST Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:

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     @druid Isn't there no female combines in the end though? I'm sure some people would have like that :D
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     Druid (druid@netzsphaere.xyz)'s status on Wednesday, 18-Dec-2024 20:38:45 JST Druid

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     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     @lanodan Indeed! I think the reason is because players felt more comfortable shooting men. Valve said they were careful to cover the faces and distort the voices of any human combine soldiers so that it didn't feel like you were shooting human beings.
     
     Thematically, I think it also fits well with the feeling of sterility. (Famously, that's also why classic Star Wars has an all-male Empire.) People in Half Life 2 can't reproduce because of some evil dampening field technology, and it's implied that it's sexual dysfunction rather than mere infertility. (One to the Combine dispatch calls promises soldiers "non-manual sexual stimulation" as a reward for catching Freeman.)
     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
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     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: (lanodan@queer.hacktivis.me)'s status on Wednesday, 18-Dec-2024 21:07:36 JST Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:

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     @druid Yeah it kind of feels like shooting advanced robots or some kind of weird lifeform.
     
     That said I think it could still be female, like other valve game that pops in my head is left 4 dead.
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     Druid (druid@netzsphaere.xyz)'s status on Wednesday, 18-Dec-2024 21:15:13 JST Druid

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     • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell:
     @lanodan Zombies don't seem to count!
     
     God, now I'm remembering the BWEEEEEEEEEEE-eeeeeeeeee *radio crackle* whenever you headshot a combine soldier and they go limp. Such good feedback.
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