So I was watching a little video roundup of some of the worst video games ever the other day and I came across some footage from a justifiably obscure little first-person-shooter called Operation Matriarchy.
The premise of this 2005 PC game, made in Russia, may as well have emerged from the fevered imagination of some Men’s Rights activist. Here’s how the promo blurb at MobyGames explains it, with the especially MRA-ish bits in bold:
In the mid-24th century, a virus of unknown origin wiped through the Velian civilization. It affected only the women, twisting them into brutal killing machines. They modified their bodies, enhancing them with cybernetic and bio-engineered parts. The male population was enslaved, used for genetic experiments and food. The previously democratic society became a matriarchal ant-colony; a hive-mind focused on one thing only – Domination. All-out war erupted between the Velians and their former allies, the Federation of Earth.
But fear not! For a brave Men’s Rights Activist space solider, Senior Sergeant Paul Armstrong of the Federation, stands up against these evil matriarchs and their robot friends when they attack his ship. Also, there are monsters.
So, basically, this game offers dudes an excuse to shoot scantily clad women for hours on end. Granted, some of these women are trying to shoot at the bold defenders of all things male, but others are unarmed, and are shot down long before they get close enough to do any harm, making the game ideal for anyone who fantasizes about shooting down wave after wave of women in fetishy gear.
You can see what I’m talking about in the gameplay video below.
This is all very reminiscent of the fantasies of “restorative, retaliatory” violence that seem to drive so many in the Men’s Rights movement, as I noted in my review of Michael Kimmel’s Angry White Men on the American Prospect.
And some men are very dedicated to these fantasies indeed. One odd little side-note to the history of Operation Matriarchy that seems to underscore that point. You see, the game was so incompetently made that when it first shipped it was basically broken. As Wikipedia explains:
Operation: Matriarchy, was released with what appeared to be damaged music files and incomplete sound files; all of the music files, except for the main menu track, simply play static, while several of the sound files are simply silence.
Also, it was ugly as shit.
But some enterprising fans were evidently so taken by the premise of the game that they decided to step up and fix the game themselves — so they could have the opportunity to, well, shoot down wave after wave of scantily clad women while listening to music at the same time, and without the graphics and the story being quite so completely awful.
Wikipedia again:
A pair of fan made mods that replace these files and made other enhancements to the game were released:
In August 2007, a fan-made music and sound enhancement mod was released, which added a complete in-game music score and enhanced sound effects. In addition, the story was rewritten.
In September 2009, a second fan-made mod appeared. This offered a complete (optional) translation to German and further changes to the sound effects and music. However, the largest changes were to the visuals, with enhanced lighting and improved versions of many textures and bump maps.
I don’t know if the video above is one made using the visually “enhanced” version of the game or not. All of the videos of the game I’ve seen — and there are many, many more on YouTube — look awful to me.
If you want to buy this monstrosity, you can get it on Amazon.
No true MRA ever uses body-shaming or appearance based insults.
And I am Marie of Romania.
Did pigs actually start flying on their own natural wings?
And no true scotsman eats sugar on his porridge or something.
DefJam is neither def, nor a jam.
The body-policing discussion was way more interesting.
I vote that we ignore both him and socky in the other thread and go on with whatever we were talking about before they started whining for attention.
Hey, question, totally off topic, but is it normal for you nails to feel suffocated after you put on nail polish? I bought some and used it as a treat last weekend, and it feels as if they’re suffocating, if that makes sense.
I have very little recollection on nail things, since the last time I used nail polish I was like 8.
your*
DAMN YOU GRAMMAR
I don’t know about my nails, but the fumes from nail polish can make the rest of me feel pretty suffocated if I don’t open a window…
CassandraSays: I second!
Alice:
Ha ha! Yes! I thought I was the only one. I think it’s just, if your not used to wearing nail polish it feels weird at first. I usually only polish my toes, and my toenails don’t feel weird, but on those rare occasions when I do polish my fingernails it feels exactly like they’re suffocating! I thought I read somewhere that fingernail polish can dry out your nails, but according to the Mayo Clinic it’s the acetone in nail polish remover that does.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/nails/WO00020/NSECTIONGROUP=2
And that Feministe article, yeesh.
Speaking from my own observations as a fat person in The USA:
We USians have such a weird, dysfunctional relationship with health and weight. It’s like, fat has moral and esthetic and health implications that all get mixed up into this “fat is bad” mush. Like, fat is considered a moral failing (fat people are lazy and lack self control); an esthetic failing (fat people are ugly); and a health failing (fat people are unhealthy). All three of those are demonstrably untrue. And that Feministe article read more like something from Cosmo. The story there is not “fat woman loses large amount of weight but -oh noes!- she’s still ugly from all the loose skin!” The story is one woman who decide to live a healthier lifestyle by eating a healthy diet and exercising. So what if she lost weight or what she looks like before or after!
Really, I wish we’d just get off this obsession with weight and appearance. Really, that Feministe article just reinforced that.
Which is really strange thing to post on a blog that is “in defense of the sanctimonious women studies’ set.”
Bina – YES. The fumes are just so strong. I hated it when my old roommate would do her nails when I was around because the scent was strong enough for me to sniff it out even from about 20 feet away.
sparky – That makes sense. Ugh, I hate the sensation though, the feeling of my nails suffocating on my fingertips just doesn’t feel good. I’ve been tempted to remove the polish, then I remember that I don’t have nail polish remover and I go “oh shit, damn it”.
When I did them last weekend I was next to our apartment’s open screen door, so the fumes weren’t a problem. But my old roommate (when I lived on campus) did her nails in our dorm room, and our windows there REALLY suck.
Ah, so it’s not just me that suffer from headaches due to strong fumes.
Don’t they sell acetone free nail polish remover though?
Alice – yes, they do sell acetone-free remover.
I didn’t get the suffocating nails thing on the rare occasions I used nail polish, but the one time I tried stick-on nails I did, and ripped the thing off straight away.
It’s interesting about that Feministe article; I didn’t get the body policing sense from it or the one it linked to, just the message of “the weight loss industry makes out you’ll look like a model, and you won’t, and they never tell you about loose skin”. As for the photographer’s pictures of herself being used, I’ve no idea whether she was consulted, obvs, but she did make a public record of her ambivalence about her appearance – though it is also stated (can’t recall if in the article or the comments) that since she’s healthier now, she wouldn’t have done differently.
Kitteh — it’s the difference between “the weight loss industry makes out you’ll look like a model, and you won’t” full stop (TRUFAX!), “the weight loss industry makes out you’ll look like a model, and you won’t, they won’t tell you about X Y and Z”, and “the weight loss industry makes out you’ll look like a model, and you won’t, you’ll look like her”.
Had they included more on how the weight loss industry is full of lies, or a general analysis of damned if you do, damned if you, I’d be okay with it. But as it stands there’s too much “you’ll look like her! (The horror!)”
Fuck, I was hoping it’d be how the weight loss industry is full of lies, and including the loose skin under wtf dieting does to your body would’ve worked fine by me. Yoyo dieting is really bad for you, eating healthy, exercising (as you are able) and still being over the BMI requirement is, well, healthier than my thin ass sitting around smoking and drinking a pot of coffee daily!
There’s plenty to be said on why the weight loss industry and supposed obesity crisis is actually bad for your health, but saying it’ shad for your appearance as the only point of your article? Please no.
Your morbidly obese comment though! That was priceless. Torid makes a line of plus size goth clothing btw.
Maybe I need to read it again; I get the distinction everyone’s making, but it just didn’t strike me that way.
Curious thing I found in my own response: the photo shocked me, because I’ve never seen such a pic before. It wasn’t (as I think I said there) an Ewww ugly! reaction to her, but thinking of my own skin looking like that? I cringe at the thought of it, or having to wear feckin’ Spandex (mostly because hot weather and hot flushes and chafing are bad enough NOW, never mind being bound up extra layers).
Glad you liked my morbidly obese crack! Jeez, I could totally trot that joke out if I were still into Goth gear. 😉
Loose skin is one of those weird things, eh? Here in Canada, some kinds of plastic surgery are covered by provincial health plans if a medical reason or benefit exists in getting them. Breast reduction, for one — too-heavy boobs can really do a number on the spine and shoulder joints. Unfortunately, loose skin after a large weight loss isn’t so regarded. It’s more than just disfiguring; it’s still excess weight that can put strain on the person’s system. If you’ve lost a hundred pounds or more, there’s a good chance that you’ll have a couple dozen pounds of loose skin just hanging there, putting you at risk for infections and heart disease. I think removing it should be covered as a necessary surgery. But apparently the bean-counters in the health ministry see it differently. :-/
I’m not sure how much difference there is between “I don’t want to look like that” and “she’s unacceptable like that”…but that might itself be a side effect of body shaming — I’m stilling eating disordered enough to freak at being well into the normal BMI range as opposed to hovering at underweight, whereas I’ve no issue with other people being not-stick-thin (and my pharm student’s the same way and we do this “you look fine!” thing and idk about zir, but I still get all “but I don’t [despite us being able to share clothes]”)
Internalized body shaming? Idk, I’m pre-coffee, thinking aloud and shut up stomach I’ll feed you in a minute! I’ll have more coherent thoughts once my brain has been shaken back into place.
(Argh anti-PTSD-nightmare drug less than successful, head all messy)
Neither do I; it’s something I’d have to tease out. I know my reaction to her wasn’t “she’s ugly like that,” yet at the same time I would be distressed if my skin were that way. Mind you, I’ve no desire to look like models, either.
Part of it is that I’ve taken long enough to be happy with seeing myself nekkid, and thinking of my body as at all attractive ::pauses to make big kitten eyes at Mister:: and I don’t know how I’d cope with loose, wrinkled skin. (I seriously hope I don’t get old enough for it to happen.) I’m not dealing with other people’s naked skin, only seeing it in photos, and it’s not my concern – as in, not my business, and will never affect me personally – what they look like.
Hell, I’m writing this post coffee and I don’t know if it’s making any sense!
OMG, that’s the SECOND person I pre-emptively ninjaed by fucking mentioning Silent Hill 2! WHERE DO THEY COME FROM. I swear, it’s like they don’t bother to read the thread, but expect US to read every precious jewel that drops from their keyboards. (And by jewels, I mean coprolites.)
Speaking of body stuff, I’m excited, because I’m feeling… actually pretty okay with my body! It helped that I finally found a pair of jeans in a style I like that FIT. Turns out my problem was living in Hipsterville, where the only jeans that fit me were previously worn to paper-thinness by old men. Now I look and feel good!
I’m not sure how much difference there is between “I don’t want to look like that” and “she’s unacceptable like that”…
I don’t have much trouble with this. I NEVER want boobs on my frame ever again, but I have nothing against other folks’ boobs! But yeah, it’s a long process.
Yay for fitting jeans, rarest of commodities!
Yeah, part of the ED fun was having to get rid of all the jeans I’d painstakingly stored up since high school and having to get rid of them, because I no longer fit. That alone was pretty upsetting for my sick brain, but even worse was when I couldn’t find any pants that fucking fit me! (As in, they’d give me rashes if I exercised in them more than half an hour.) I went through an eight month period of being pretty miserable and desperate. I’m so glad our weight has stabilized and this is no longer a problem.
::non contact hugs in memory::
That’s another reason I don’t want to lose weight – I hope this isn’t trivialising what you went through – but I don’t want to find my clothes no longer fit. I like my clothes, I like the things I’m knitting for myself, and while I’ll have to offload eventually when we need to move into a smaller place, I don’t want to chuck everything out because it’s too big.
Rashes from clothes are the pits. I chafe easily and I’ve had summerweight jeans that leave a red rash, and a pair of tights once drew blood.