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        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+3" color="#0022A8"> 
          Is Duke Nukem Sexist?</font></p>
        <p align="right"> 
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          <font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          Stephanie &quot;<a target="" href="mailto:bobbi@loonygames.com">Bobbi</a>&quot; 
          Bergman</font></b></font></p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
          </font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><sup>*</sup></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Andrew 
          "Jester" Dalan: </font></b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">No. 
          It reflects the natural world view. I think they're horribly pixelized 
          and I wish they had a high-res model.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Evil Avatar:</b> 
          I would like to start by saying that I'm a huge Fan of <b>Duke Nukem 
          3D</b>. No other game had its breakthrough technology, its Humor, the 
          attitude, and the level of interactivity that <b>Duke Nukem 3D</b> brought 
          to the first person shooter genre. In the few years since <b>Duke Nukem 
          3D</b> came out though, a certain "attitude" has crept into many computer 
          games...and that is the attitude that its OK to portray women as sex 
          objects in computer games. It started with the strippers in <b>Duke</b>, 
          but its become something much worse. <b>Duke Nukem 3D</b> had a few 

          cartoon strippers, and "chicks" in bikini's, but even in <b>Duke</b>, 
          it wasn't really over-done. There was the strip club, which is only 
          a small part of one level, and then there were a few "chicks" scattered 
          throughout the remaining levels, but nothing horribly offensive. <b>Duke's</b> 
          success, however, brought about something else. Because <b>Duke</b> 
          was commercially successful suddenly it was politically correct to have 
          mild nudity or sexism in computer games. Penthouse Magazine even did 
          a <b>Duke Nukem 3D</b> level with scanned images of Penthouse playmates. 
          I think that after <b>Duke</b>, it was other developers and fans who 
          turned <b>Duke's</b> playful PG-13 attitude into something more hard 
          core. I don't think that the "chicks" in <b>Duke Nukem 3D </b>helped 
          sell the game, I feel that it was more an overall package of a more 
          humorous/adult oriented theme that appealed to gamers. <b>Duke's</b> 
          success to me is <b>Duke Nukem</b> the character, his voice, his attitude, 
          that sold the game, not just the sexism...that's part of the whole package. 
          Since <b>Duke</b>, we have seen <b>Lara Croft</b> turned from a gutsy 
          female Indiana Jones, into a huge breasted bikini wearing bimbo with 
          guns, <b>Deathtrap Dungeon</b> advertised with a sadomasochistic bondage 
          mistress, and <b>SiN's Elexis Sinclaire</b> portrayed as some kind of 
          Frederick's of Hollywood disco latex queen. I find this kind of sexism 
          offensive, and insensitive to our growing group of female gamers. I 
          hesitate to think about what <b>Duke Nukem Forever </b>will contain. 
          </font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Steve "sCary" 
          Gibson:</b> Well, here's my take. They made what sells. </font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I've seen lots 
          of movies with strippers in them, hadn't bothered me any. It's a fact 
          of life, some women choose that profession. It upsets a few women that 
          their own kind would choose to exploit themselves but guess what, those 
          women are doing what sells. Why should we treat a computer game that 
          has strippers in it any differently. Only complaint I would have is 
          the <b>Duke3D</b> boxes should have been tagged with "adult material" 
          sticker or something. I don't know, are they? If someone really thinks 
          that because the creators of <b>Duke3D</b> chose to include a bar scene 
          in their game means they are oppressing women they need to think a little 
          bit harder. Wait a minute, I think I'm gonna object to those Rambo movies. 
          It portrays men as big muscular dumb oxen who like to carry guns. We 
          aren't all like that! I've been oppressed! I'm so offended and upset 
          I cant write anymore. It hurts me so deep down inside that someone would 
          stereotype a male like that. </font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Victoria 
          Gwaed:</b> yeah... it's sexist in a way... but at the same time it's 
          sort of making fun of sexists...I'm amused by it. *shrug* </font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font size="-1"><sup>*</sup></font>Toby 
          "The Headhunter" Herndon: </b>Not at all. I think it's cool. It's all 
          in good fun, if you can't tell the difference between a game and real 
          life you shouldn't be playing it anyway. I think it was a good game 
          from the outset. You buy a game because it's technically advanced, it's 
          fun to play, you have a good time. It probably is going to appeal to 
          a younger audience, but that's not what I like about it. I like the 
          excitement, the deathmatch, stuff like that.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Ron Jomero: 
          </b>There was a lot of stuff in Duke3D related to porn magazines, erotic 
          dancers, and naked girls being stuck in alien pods begging you to kill 
          them. Sure, I admit that it did appeal to me hormonally, but it really 
          wasn't all THAT great. So, I could see it being sexist in that respect. 
          Unless you mean that it's sexist that you can *only* play Duke and he's 
          a pig. So I'd agree with you there too.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The things that 
          really turned me off from the game were A: All the <i>Army of Darkness</i> 
          ripped off quotes, and B: <b>Duke</b> saying to a monster "I'm gonna 
          rip off your head and shit down your throat!" followed by a detailed 
          animated sequence of him doing just that.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm sorry, but 
          those things don't make a good game in my book. <b>Duke3D</b> employed 
          a bunch lame gimmicks to appeal to a certain crowd. I probably fit in 
          that "crowd" seeing I was between 16-21 when I played it. But it really 
          wasn't all that great for me and I personally started disliking it and 
          still dislike it to this day. The only thing that I found appealing 
          was the fact that it's 3D engine was superior to <b>Doom's</b> and <b>Hexen</b>, 
          but just wasn't enough to overpower my other pet peeves.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">And then <b>Quake 
          </b>came out. End of Story. =] </font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font size="-1"><sup>*</sup></font>Jacob 
          "Bitstream" Karlsmark:</b> I don't really know. I've never really been 
          a <b>Duke</b> fan, just the attitude game never really impressed me, 
          that kind of macho, Rambo type thing. I know that's kind of strange, 
          but it's also the real world setting. Those kind of real world settings 
          never turn me on, I like when I go play games, take me somewhere else. 
          I don't want to go to the corner store and blow up the counter.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font size="-1"><sup>*</sup></font>Dave 
          "Zoid" Kirsch:</b> I've never considered that. It may be, there may 
          be some sexist overtones in it, but I think it's all part of the style 
          of the game. Whether it's sexist or not depends on the person playing. 
          If that's the type of game they want to portray, and it's portrayed 
          in a humorous aspect, I have no problem with it.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font size="-1"><sup>*</sup></font>Alison 
          "Flower" Leger: </b>Not really. It doesn't really bother me at all, 
          just because, it's a game. I don't know, a lot of people say <a href="http://www.crackwhore.com">Clan 
          Crackwhore</a>, you already exploit that anyway, but to us, it's just 
          a joke. We don't take it seriously.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font size="-1"><sup>*</sup></font>Sean 
          "Redwood" Martin:</b> Some of it is OK, but one thing that really bothered 
          me is that you blow the women up. I think it just gives the wrong mindset, 
          targeting women. I think that really bothers me the most. I think if 
          they were there and couldn't really do anything to them, they were just 
          a piece of the world, that wouldn't bother me quite so much, but the 
          violence, is just over the limit. </font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Kevin Murphy: 
          </b>I don't think there is sexism in <b>Duke 3D</b>. I don't remember 
          seeing even one kitchen sink in the game.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Seriously, I 
          don't think there was sexism in the game. I mean, why is the fact that 
          there are women in bikinis dancing necessarily "sexist?" Why is being 
          a big, muscle-bound guy who is into porn and violence and shooting pigs 
          dressed as cops not sexist?</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I think the 
          women in the game did help to sell it. But it wasn't because scantily-clad 
          women dance in the game. They helped build the overall image of the 
          game.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">What if there 
          was a game with naked guys dancing around? Would women be more willing 
          to buy it? Hell no. Does the fact that guys like naked chicks make 3D 
          Realms "wrong" for putting chicks in <b>Duke 3D</b>? Of course not. 
          </font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Any woman offended 
          by <b>Duke 3D</b> or <b>Lara Croft</b> needs to loosen up (so to speak). 
          I don't know of one domestic abuse case where the abuse started after 
          the guy got <b>Duke 3D</b>. And even if their was one, it'd mean the 
          guy shouldn't be using computers, and not that the creators of<b> Duke</b> 
          are corrupting gamers.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In other words, 
          any woman offended by either of those games needs a good fuck. Preferably 
          from me.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>PMS-Medusa:</b> 
          Well I never thought of it that way..strictly because the nekkid ladies 
          fit into the plot. I mean sure there was a marked absence of a female 
          character as the lead but I enjoyed the fact that if I got tired of 
          the strippers I could frag them. I loved Duke! </font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>PMS-Georgiana:</b> 
          Well...I never considered it sexist...actually...I thought it was fun 
          to gib the strippers and hookers...now if I couldn't gib the bimbos...I 
          might have been disappointed... </font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> </font></p>
        <p>&nbsp;</p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i><b><font size="-1"><sup>*</sup></font></b> 
          signifies the response was given in person. </i></font></p>
        <p>&nbsp;</p>
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    <td><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
      Illustration &copy; 1998 Mike Sanzone. This article is &copy; 1998 Stephanie 
      Bergman. All other content is &copy; 1998 <a target="_self" href="http://www.loonyboi.com">loonyboi 
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