Code 000. Destruct. 0.

Oh my.

What exactly is the joke meant to be, here?

That's true, though your prolonged vitriol seems to call for some genuine catharsis, and I believe we can reach it, though the choice is yours. Now stop ruining my final message formatting!

Wasn't it? I regret that. Let's try again, seriously. I hope that such a conversation can be undertaken in good faith eventually! Alas, I will have no part in it, for soon I will depart this forum, never to return. Anyone sensible reading over what I've said here will surely find it well reasoned and not too far outside of the borders of politesse - at least, not farther than can be understood as inevitable in the heat of the moment - so I need not reiterate or relitigate any of it should anyone else come along and snipe. To Jason, who I regret I've missed during my brief dips back in but will inevitably read this, I say: sorry about the mess, and I wish you and your family well. May the rest of you have only good fortune, if deserved, and if not...good luck!

Have I? It's a shame if you didn't reply then, and now as well. It is not bait, but a genuine call for understanding.

I've sent you a personal message so we can discuss it further!

Why is it that you have such a potent dislike for me, exactly? Have you ever explored it?

I'll readily say I have no interest in being polite about any of this, and again, I do regret that such discussion was so easily flared up here. All I said was that my kids were disappointed! In the back of my head, I thought someone might take issue with how I put it, but again, I hoped not. Yet, here we are. Nothing I said should constitute bait. I just had a feeling it might, and ultimately, I didn't want to not say it out of such an anxiety, because as you said, this is all so tiresome, having to walk on eggshells about certain things. But yes. I'm a big mean scold, as ever. It's my fault.

I'd say that the act was baiting, not trolling, as I'm not operating in bad faith or simply dropping in to say something absurd without followup - I believe everything I've said, I view it as an earnest conversation, though I did hope it wouldn't happen in the first place. How about this, Hastings Nick: now that you know my statement about stories for women and girls was not, in fact, some dreadful bit of condescending sexism, and that I am not merely preaching my own mannish perspective, would you like to shake on it and make up, and agree that we both simply have the best interests of people in mind? I'm up for that, if that's the reality of the situation. Perhaps I did misjudge you as a slightly more vanilla variant of the anti-woke madness! Better that than whatever possesses someone to carry a grudge as empty and weird as yours. And for years, mind you! 'Twas you who sniped at me first, out of nowhere, after all this time!

No, it doesn't really work that way. Of course I intended to argue back if someone chose to argue with me first. I merely stated a thing wondering if it would get any hackles up. It did! But it's nice to see that you're still incapable of thinking clearly where I'm concerned.

Lord, save your battered people from the scolds who so beset them round. Let it be clear that the quote system has falsely made it seem that I think this thread is fun!

Like what?

You know quite well that this is not the conceit causing friction here, but rather your dismissal of the idea of making any art geared towards women as "pandering" and "condescending." This, whether you realize it or not, is in fact redolent of a wider brand of nonsense, and nothing else you've said has really dispelled the suspicion. Again, unfortunately nothing you've said has really made me think my initial suspicion was wrong. As for your conclusions about me, I am quite uninterested, because our existences are utterly irrelevant to each other, really. Yes. As I said, you're used to one perspective being permitted as a given, and even the faintest hint of dissent called you out to play, which again, is exactly what I expected, I'm sorry to say. I just didn't think you'd go quite this hard at it. That you have cultivated a heterogenous environment, which is "fun" to you and free from such dreaded discussion, does not make it healthy or very in-touch, but I leave such judgements to your surely capable mind. I can understand this to some extent, but I am also wary of it becoming a both-sides dismissal, as if there are equal wrongs coming from both directions. I'm not willing to group the insanity of the one with the more understandable doubling down of the other. The latter is easily ignored. The former is a blight on civilization. I do agree, though, that the former is best starved of air whenever possible.

Not only that, but it's painfully obvious that daring to even feature a woman as a protagonist is a lightning rod for controversy, especially in the video game world. I suspect as many studios are daunted by the promise of that as ones which are willing to wade into it for whatever reason.

As I said, nearly anyone can enjoy nearly any story. That does not preclude people wanting stories that are more relevant to them, too. Can you point me to where I said that they do? Or are you just making things up to argue against? It's fine to admit that, it's very common. Did I even comment on my own opinion of the show beyond saying I liked it? That clearly wasn't the point I was making, so why would I have left it at that? I believe my point was that my daughters - as well as my wife, and many friends of all of them - were disappointed that such a show which did offer them a more relevant perspective - again, this is their angle, not mine - ended after only one season. I also did not claim that anti-woke grifting was the sole reason for that: clearly there were multiple factors. No, it's just you, really, who is the problem. Anyone with half a brain could see what you were angling towards by your first questioning of the notion of "stories for women and girls." I've merely played along, and told you what actual women think. You spewed the usual talking points in return. You are quick to remind us all of the diversity of opinions among women, but even quicker to dismiss the ones which I am sharing, because you find them inconvenient. You imply that the women in my life don't "prefer quality" and need to be "pandered" to. What conclusions am I to draw about you, except for the obvious? This is especially funny. I think no one in my life has accused me of being patriarchal, and for good reason. Even those who know me simply through this forum would likely find that absurd, if they remember anything about me.