I do agree we do get alot of freebies but marketers know we will probably buy it anyway.
That will get them banned according to the TOS. The reason this thread is not banned it allows everyone to post, no matter if you are female or male. I am surprised that you are not banned for that statement!

Honestly, I'd prefer if that one was open for everyone again, not just the "boys", just like this one ideally should have been. ( And I know the point was partly to discuss gaming preferences among the females of the forum, but that doesn't have to be tied to the giveaway. )

I'm not here to hunt for freebies, so it doesn't affect me personally either way. But just out of principle, I figure there's enough discrimination and similar bullshit in "real life", and the great thing about the anonymity of the internet is, that everyone is ( ideally ) treated equally, regardless of who or what they are in the real world. I don't see how it adds anything positive to this forum, if we artificially introduce these barriers between sub-groups of the community.

Yeah, there's that, too. *looks for some Pamela Anderson pin-ups to work some Photoshop magic on*

Do it. Now. I dare you. >:|

This giveaway was created with good intentions. There is no malicious intent here. This is similar to mother's day or father's day. Sure can spend your time trying to argue semantics and political correctness, but please, surely you can see by the tone of this giveaway there is no problem here to begin with.

Eventually all of this ends regardless of what ever your opinion is. So is this how you want to spend your time?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOksW_NabEk

How would it be different from this giveaway? It would merely target a different group of users, and everyone would still be able to post, just not participate. Just like in this giveaway.

Also, it was a joke. Kthnx.

But it can be. Just as so many other topics come with giveaways. Some even offer prizes for the best solution. Which excludes people who have no clue.

As long as you don't give out any information about your age, gender/sex, nationality, colour of skin, religion, sexual preference, shopping preference etc. that might be true.

Like I said before, most giveaways here on the forum come with some kind of barrier. The question is which barriers are OK for us. I think we all react more sharply when we're suddenly the ones feeling left out. Even if we weren't interested in the "freebie" in question.
So only giveaways that require nothing more than a post of "I'm in"?
Or are reputation/account age requirements etc. OK?

You're not seriously comparing a person's gender to "a person having no clue", are you?

Exactly, which is why I emphasized that the anonymity of the internet can ( ideally ) be a great advantage. No one is going to discriminate you for these reasons, because no one knows these things about you in first place. Yes, in a perfect world it should not make a difference either way, even in real life, but until we get to that point, if ever, the web is kind of the next best thing. And well, there's generally no need to reveal such info about yourself, especially on a gaming forum where most of us just want to play and discuss good games, and none of these things really matter.

I tried to keep out of the discussion, mainly because I still find it hard to believe that something as innocent as a themed giveaway would cause such a fuss and also because I was hoping it would pass and we could get on with the actual topic. However, out of curiosity, to all those who seem to find this thread offensive, would you still be against this thread if there was no giveaway? If I had simply hosted a discussion asking the female gamers here to discuss their gaming choices, would this have been any different? If I had asked for only the women to respond because I valued their opinions, but offered no prizes, would that be any different?

Perhaps if I had started with the men's giveaway first and the women's after, there would probably not be an issue, would hosting the men's first have been different?

It seems that many, not all, of the complains here are that the men are excluded from the giveaway. That it is some injustice agains them. To be honest, I find this attitude and entitlement to be quite arrogant and pig headed. If it was GOG the company doing this, then okay, the complaints would maybe be more justified, but it's not a company, it's one person, a woman, trying to have a little fun and get to know some other women on the forum. The gifts are secondary to this topic, I offered them purely because I enjoy gifting. My main reason was to get a better understand of the type of games my fellow GOG girls play.

In the end, as many have said, it's my giveaway, it's my money that buys the gifts, and it's my choice who I include or not. I find it pathetic that so many men, because it seems to be mainly the men, are making such a big issue of something so innocent, just because they can't enter for a prize - and as I have not excluded men from the discussion, then it must be because of the prize. Welcome to the world of us women. If not been included for a giveaway, and lets not forget, the men are getting their own, so hardly unfair or sexist, if I was sexist I would not be hosting one for the men as well, would I? If this is the worst case of sexism you encounter then count yourself lucky. If you also consider something as small as two giveaways themed for men and women to be sexist, then you really should get out more and see what real sexism is. And I'm not just referring to the kind we have here in the West, take a look at some less developed nations, then you will see what true sexism is, and it's sure as hell is not offering two different giveaways that offer the exact same prizes, that do not prioritise or favour one gender over the other. Hardly bloody sexist when I host two identical giveaways for both genders.

I will be continuing this giveaway, and the mens version, as they are part of a two themed giveaway, a giveaway that was mean as a little fun and that most people understand and take for what it is, not try to make it something seedy. I contemplated stopping this or the next giveaway, after all, I want it to be about the topic, not some controversial topic shared by what seems to be the minority. But I won't, why should I, just because some people enjoy making an issue out of something that is not there. Of course, when I do host the second giveaway, the mens giveaway, all of you that are against this practice of offering both men and women their own equal giveaway can feel free not to enter, or not to take part all together. After all, I would not want you doing anything that would be against your values now would I?

This is pretty accurate. My first love was Tetris and Pinball; closely followed by (turn-based) strategy games and rpgs.

And while i play other games, i always find myself going back to rpgs and strategy games.

Not as long the muscly guys are of the Armstrong line. :P

But to answer more seriously; as long it fits the character and setting, and are practical (for combat) i don't generally mind what a character wears in a game. My top priority for rpgs are immersion and story.

Vampires in general are usually considered to be sexy and seductive, no matter what gender the vampire is. I do agree with you on the bouncing boobs being bizarre though in that game. I mostly found it comically amusing though because of the ridiculousness and focused on enjoying the fast paced combat which is where the game shines, imo. The atmosphere was also pretty good.

I agree with this.

As did I. I never found it offensive, just as you said, comically amusing. It just seemed out of place, perhaps if it was in a Larry game, where it was done for comic effect the okay, but not in a "serious themed" game. I mean, if you want the characters to have big boobs and lots of cleavage then okay, but why have them comically bouncing all the time. This just spoils the immersion in the game, as all you can think about is how ridiculous it is.

There is nothing that describes this better than yet another super-relevant College Humor video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTGh0EMmMC8

Personally, I love seeing unrealistic but sexy armor, for the eye candy. But yes, it's idiotic as armor.

+1 for this

I already mentioned in another thread, but I say it again: Every giveaway with a requirement to enter excludes some people.
I don't remember people complaining, when a fellow GOGer held a giveaway for unemployed people only.
I don't remember people complaining, when a fellow GOGer held a giveaway for old members with 1000+ rep only.
If someone holds a giveaway where you must post a picture of your pet to enter, then people with no pets are excluded.
If someone holds a giveaway where you must post a picture of yor vacation, then people with no time/money to go on vacations are excluded.
I was excluded from giveaways, because I could not fulfill the requirements, yet I wasn't bitching about it.

What this thread has become because of a single stupid comment is riddiculous :(

I guess it could be compared to the Conan the Barbarian kind of armour, or the Spartan armour, just a bunch of guys in their underpants. But it is silly when you have the male characters in full plate armour and the female wearing as little as possible. While I understand the the developers are going for the eye candy look, it should at least fit the game and not be so out of place. There are several games that manage to balance the whole eye candy and (almost) practical armour for women, others don't seem to care and just go for 100% eye candy.

Depends on the overall mood of the game. Yes, games that are not entirely comedic or parodies or just plainly ecchi should care a bit more about balancing the eye candy to realism ratio, otherwise it can be very distracting in an annoying way.