That's certainly a valid reading. When re-reading that story, I interpreted the explanation of sorceresses having to make themselves pretty for "the prestige of the profession" as being Geralt's own rather sexist thinking. Then, when Yennefer casts him under her spell, she tells him he's paying for his insolence and his disrespect. The vehemence with which she says this does more to convince me that this insolence and disrespect is all too common among men in her experience, that the "prestige of the profession" is something that men assume and women have to conform to. Hence, she treats men with derision, using them ruthlessly as a way of fighting back. This also fits with the fact that she is apparently flouting both the law and her own society of sorcerers by taking up residence in Rinde.

I don't think this idea was particularly well executed, but I think it may have been what Sapkowski was going for. I do wonder if this is clearer in the original Polish.

Anyway, sorry for getting so off-topic.

Yeah, she actively tried to cultivate that impression.

Part 1, right near the top: As in, it's not even necessary for me to provide supporting evidence because it's axiomatic.

Part 2: Again, axiomatic. Really the whole article is loaded with these kind of statements. In fact it's quite easy to find comments in that article that demean men as a whole, using nothing but the author's preconceived biases as evidence. That's real sexism.

Actually it's entirely germane, because it's clear that the portrayal of women in the game is in no way out of line with the way human beings and human-like creatures as a whole are portrayed in the game. Selectively isolating the portrayal of women for criticism is ridiculous, just as isolating the portrayal or men for criticism would be ridiculous. They're both part of a single milieu. I don't think it is a problem at all, but if it is why is it any more problematic for women than it is for men?

I don't believe a game like The Witcher causes anyone to believe anything about anyone, and if it did the most likely outcome would be to create a sense of self-loathing in human beings. But really, the game is inherently an un-reality and that's largely the point of its existence. It's a nasty world full of nasty people and things: a world where violence and mayhem on the part of the player are justifiable.

You're right, I'd forgotten about those statements. But by the end of the series, she's changed her tone a bit: She does still criticize the gift-exchange-for-sex aspect, which I think is fair, as most of the sexual encounters work that way. But she also notes things like: It's definitely worth reading the final post, for any who haven't yet.



I disagree; I think it's entirely possible and worthwhile to separate the two. More on why below.

I wish this were true. Unfortunately, psychology studies have repeatedly shown that depictions of characters in the media, and specifically depictions along gender lines and depictions relating to sex and sexual behavior, very much do make people believe things about other people. Here are some example studies:

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/october/virtual-female-avatars-100913.html
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11199-009-9695-4
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103108001005
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejsp.755/abstract

Notably, some of these studies found effects on both men and women. So why focus on women so much? The reason is complicated. A lot of it is cultural. For example, in The Witcher, as you pointed out, there are lots of women who use sex for personal gain but there are also men who are murderers and drunks. But these two stereotypes are not viewed as equally bad, at least in Western culture. There's a lot of popular music (especially hip hop) that glorifies violence, drinking and drug use while deriding sexual promiscuity in women. It's also common for people to blame rape victims rather than rape perpetrators.

Now, The Witcher is a Polish game, and it's possible that in Poland people do not hold these same prejudices, but I doubt it. And while The Witcher is certainly not the worst example in gaming, it does contain a lot of these stereotypes, which feed back into cultural prejudices. These stereotypes and prejudices tend to be more damaging to women than to men.

I prefer the witcher 1 combat over witcher 2's combat. Witcher 1 feels more strategic.

+1

for Witcher 1 over Witcher 2.

Most characters were a lot more credible in the first game. Not to mention the by far superior storyline.

Giving Geralt a vast jawbone isn't any improvement for me, neither is an overload of shaders nor are similar "character extensions"...

And while he really maybe looked a tiny bit to soft in the first game, the "russion bouncer thug"-W2-Geralt isn't even near any image the books create... at least for me.
But I only know 3 of em so far... maybe I just accidentially skipped all the books regarding that...

I like somethings more about the first game for sure. I think the soundtrack is no doubt way better. Its so beautiful.

Absolutely! The whole game design felt more skillfully "composed", less overdone.

Witcher 1 was more of an RPG, rather than a hack and slash action, with console button-sequences thrown in. Alchemy and pot drinking were more player friendly. And complex. And fun. Among other things.

I like the 1 more.

I have to say that I initially really struggled to get through the first act of The Witcher 2. It wasn't what I was expecting at all after what came before in The Witcher 1. It took me several attempts to get through it. Artistically it's a masterpiece, but from a story telling point of view it was a let down up until about half way through the game. The second half is great, but then very unexpectedly it's over.

Style over substance comes to mind.

The composition in the first one is just better weighted, imho, and comes closer to the books.
This isn't even changed through book related story aspects, like the increased politcal aspects in the sequel.