God of War’s ‘Bros Before Hoes’ Controversy Highlights an Industry Obsessed with Sexism

Luke Halliday writes:

"Recently there has been a great deal of controversy surrounding God of War: Ascension due to a particular allegedly sexist trophy titled ‘Bros Before Hoes’. The trophy is gained after defeating a main antagonist who just so happens to be female.

The trophy gained a large deal of criticism when Rev3′s Adam Sessler reviewed the game and egregiously made a point that the trophy and by extension the entire game was misogynistic based simply on the fact that you fight and defeat a female character to gain a trophy that refers to said female as a ‘hoe’. The controversy train went wild from there, highlighting once again the industry’s obsession with finding sexism and taking offense out of anything.

The saddest part of this story is the fact that Sony Santa Monica have buckled under the controversy and have announced a patch to rename the trophy ‘Bros Before Foes’. This is quite simply ridiculous and with this whole situation, it really proves that no matter how small, no matter how painfully insignificant something is, in the gaming industry there is always going to be someone to be offended by it. It is really just sad that all this controversy stems from three words that only appear on screen for a matter of seconds..."

[militissanctus]

Have you lost your mind!? Of course they should've removed the trophy! That's terrible!

[futurefrog]

Are you for real!? This is the most preposterous shit I've seen in a long time.

[Trenta27]

Nope. Gotta say that award goes to Simcity. Now that is preposterous...

[digitaleraser]

God Of War's 'Bros Before Hos' Controversy Highlights An Industry Afraid To Grow Up

^ Fixed.

[Dir_en_grey]

No, the trophy name fit the flow of the story.

It is sad that Sessler blew this out of proportion that everyone is just going to criticize the subject without even playing the game or even know the reason behind the trophy name.

Sessler admitted he got stuck and couldn't finish the game on time for the embargo lift for the review, so most likely just skipped the story parts, but as a journalist I don't know how you can miss such an obvious thing that the naming is tied to an event that happened earlier to the story.

It is very sad that Santa Monica decide to change the name like they did something wrong; well they didn't do anything wrong by using that trophy name.
What's wrong was some retarded people who didn't play the game judging something because they saw a word and decide to think that Sony Santa Monica is demeaning all women.

This whole matter is just political correctness nazi going overboard.

[koga88]

That's terrible. How do you not finish a game for review. Even if you are stuck you try and power through it for the sake of your audience. The people who have to review games should try to at least put the effort in to finish things and give their readers a fully-informed opinion. Sad that they had to buckle under the pressure and now they have to release a patch to change one letter.

[Dir_en_grey]

@koga88
He said he was stuck on a part for hours and had to resort to somebody else finish the part that he got stuck on for him because otherwise he couldn't finish the game on time and write a review and edit the video etc...

His priority was not to review the game honestly, his priority was to finish his job and get the review done on time.

Pretty much implied he rushed though the game by saying so.

[SAE]

I can't agree because it's brutal. But i can't disagree because this is just a game ..

[Christopher]

***Sessler admitted he got stuck and couldn't finish the game on time for the embargo lift for the review, ***

What he said was the last trial was something he couldn't get past and he had to ask for help to get past it in order to finish the review.

None of what you say there is technically correct and sends the impression that he had no intention of finishing the game before reviewing it.

***His priority was not to review the game honestly, his priority was to finish his job and get the review done on time.***

And yet you just said he spent hours on a very small part of the game... Sounds to me like he put in enough time to review the whole game.

Realize that it's not the only thing he has to do. If he put in a full games worth of time into it or more due to his own inability to accomplish one section of the game and still saw the game play out from beginning to end, you shouldn't criticize him for doing his job, which is what he did. He played the whole game except for one part that he could not do on his own but still saw the whole game from beginning to end prior to the review. He did his job.

[D_RoyJenkins]

well said, its stuff like this that makes me embarassed to be a gamer.

[Nimblest-Assassin]

Seriously?

In a franchise that has over the top gore and sex scenes with dozens of women... we draw the line with a trophy name

BTW

Its sad Sess never gave context to this scene

SPOILERS

The furies try to trick Kratos using a brothel, and a fury's son helps kratos kill her

I had no problems with his review... but he blew this thing way out of proportion

[HammadTheBeast]

I love how they ignore the fact that the femdom fury has Kratos chained up and is torturing him, yeah, no bias there.

[Blacktric]

Shh. You just go back to playing that "amazing" game made by always politically correct Phil Fish; Fez. Leave the actual debate to people who play games with a bit of substance.

Oh and stop getting mad over videogames.

And taking opinions of a casual guy, who can't finish a videogame, seriously... Yes, I'm talking about Sessler.

[Christopher]

Just FYI, he's far from the only reviewer who has complained of the difficulty of that one section of the game.

[Aceman18]

Im just gonna say booooo, and that too many people are too damn over sensitive today. now when i pick up my game later today i won't have the pleasure of having this particular trophy on my list :-(

you damn complainers suck.

[MikeMyers]

I think it's pretty bad. They should be encouraging women into the industry.

[Blacktric]

Considering the trophy name was the idea of a female designer/producer, they are on the right track when it comes to that.

[MikeMyers]

She probably knows the demographics of its userbase. Teenagers who like rap music, that love to play it lid in the background while online, but that doesn't mean she can't at least try and market beyond that. We know most owners are teenage boys who don't have a problem with this.

[discordman]

And he proves himself hypocritical with his GOW 2 review, where he calls Athena menstrual. He has no room to talk of the subject.

[futurefrog]

It makes me angry that I used to actually like Sessler when he was on X-Play. Now I just view him as a hypocritical asshole

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

yes now he has a one review track record. One thing he got right is that it's not the best gow game.

[morganfell]

As I said in another article on this issue he shows all the signs of an insignificant nobody struggling to be relevant.

Controversy is the last defense of the untalented hack.

The game industry is always worse off when influenced by people that have nothing to do with it.

And writers, be they bloggers or IGN employees, have nothing to do with the industry. They wrongly affect it from the outside.

[Christopher]

@morganfell: I don't agree with that assessment.

Let me explain.

First, I agree Sessler went a little too far in calling this misogynistic. It's not hatred towards women. I do agree that it is a bit crude and shows the mentality behind the scenes of the game in a way that I would rather not be there. That's just me.

Second, Sessler suddenly seeing this isn't a sign of him trying to be relevant and I really don't agree that he is an untalented hack. Sessler has some great viewpoints on gaming and has done a great job in general of reviewing and promoting video games to both the gaming community and the media. What I believe is just that this is that one time that he recognized it and saw it for something he hadn't before. Perhaps recently he dealt with the topic and his was thinking too much about it or something like that. But, I don't think he goes around looking for misogyny and trying to defend whomever from it. I just think it's something that stuck with him this time.

[ManDemon]

Perhaps he's more recently started "white knight"-ing. But it goes to point out, those that are fans of the game are likely not the kind to be offended by this. Only when it's been thrust into the public's eye that it's being scrutinized.

[discordman]

In my opinion, it doesn't matter if his change was recent. This subject doesn't need to be relevant when females are fighting for control of their own bodies at the moment. This isn't even an issue, and for him of all people to bring it to the table..well, that's kind of absurd.

[koga88]

Hell, even in the video review they linked, if you watch all the way to the end he references the mini-game where you screw the two girls and "finish" and then one of the girls says she wasn't done and Sessler says that it wasn't his problem. Real good job there Sess. What a hypocrite.

[SilentNegotiator]

But he played as Lara Croft without short-shorts! That makes him a female rights expert!!

lol

[Canary]

It's not sexist. It's misogynist. There's a difference.

And is it a big deal? No. Not at all. It's maybe kind of a deal, I suppose, if analyzing misogyny in pop-culture is your thing.

[admiralvic]

There is a difference, but one you clearly don't understand.

Misogyny is starting to become the new "go to" term for anything against women, which not only devalues the word (this is a bad thing in it of its self if you were unaware), but also makes claims seem overly dramatic.

[Canary]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

It's objectification of women. That's misogyny.

Sexism is discrimination or prejudice.

Before you accuse someone else of not understanding something, make sure YOU know what the hell you're talking about.

[yewles1]

Canary, look at what you just posted...

Misogyny (pron.: /mɪˈsɒdʒɪni/) is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Misogyny can be manifested in numerous ways, including sexual discrimination, denigration of women, violence against women, and sexual objectification of women.

*facepalm*

[admiralvic]

@ Canary

Perhaps if you read more than the first sentence on what sexism is, you would know what you're talking about.

"Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on a person's sex.[1] It usually refers to discrimination against women, although it can also apply to men.[2][3] Sexist attitudes may stem from traditional stereotypes of gender roles,[4][full citation needed] and may include the belief that a person of one sex is intrinsically superior to a person of the other.[5]"

Bros before Hoes is a statement that men come first, which implies superiority over women. Thus it's sexist.

Also if you had bothered to look into objectification (the link uses Sexual objectification by the way, not just the basic term...) just means viewing women as nothing more than a sexual object. Since Bros before Hoes is a statement that means men come first and women are less, there is no objectification taking place. The only way that meaning works is if you look at the term literally, which at that point makes no sense.

Good try though.

[MoveTheGlow]

Look, none of you are citing Oxford, and neither am I, so let's stop being etymologists and chill for a second.

Sometimes it takes sensationalist journalism to bring attention to a very small point. The industry is changing, and Sony would rather not exclude intelligent female gamers. So, they changed the trophy. Took them all of two seconds, probs. meh.

[kaw143]

Actually, Canary, you should check your own citations. Misogyny is the hatred of women, not the objectification of them.

[etebitan]

your wrong canary... misoyny is hatred towards women.. so your not using the word correctly.. also where is the objectification in the trophy??

[Yodagamer]

It was stupid imo to include it, but it was stupid to complain about. the reviewers who supported the sex scenes before were okay with it due to it being a fictional greek mythology (which in it's self was very sex/violent oriented). There is a difference between following source material and throwing in a dumb immature phrase. Once again it's a dumb, but i see the understanding. It's not a matter if it was a women being beat or a guy being beaten, it's the matter of being unneeded.

[clintagious650]

Rename it for Adam, "She got me on lockdown".

[maniacmayhem]

They should not remove it. Kratos rips heads off of people, stomps through chests, maims, kills and slaughters without remorse and this trophy is what bothers people?

I swear, it's hilarious the things some people get all ruffled about.

[Christopher]

What's funny is that this wouldn't have been a big deal if everyone didn't make a big deal over Adam Sessler's opinion of it. That is really the _only_ reason this has any legs. Because so many people made a big deal over Adam Sessler's opinion. Nothing else.

[koga88]

I wasn't as active in checking online gaming news or forums back when God of War 3 came out, but was any of this "outrage" raised back when you used Poseidon's Princess as a freaking doorstop? She literally was in chains and you cause her to die brutally just so that Kratos wouldn't have to hurry through a door.

This has always been a thing with God of War, never has Kratos ever treated anyone differently. Man, woman, demon, he doesn't care you're all meat sacks at the end of his blades.

[discordman]

Haha, you have a point.

[Megaton]

Things like this really make me disgusted with the industry. For Sony to buckle under such idiocy from a hypocrite like Adam Sessler, is beyond pathetic. Not only has he completely discredited himself as a "journalist" for docking review points over something so meaningless, but everybody involved should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to even be a thing that is being talked about.

[admiralvic]

Exactly this.

Well said. + Bubbles.

[WildArmed]

Tough call on that imo.

'Hoes' is just as offensive as the 'n' word for african americans.
If we don't use that word, should it be ok to use "hoe".

If we have cultural sensitivity, should we not have gender sensitivity?

[Megaton]

That's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. The two aren't even in the same galaxy, let alone ballpark.

[Heisenburger]

What a silly thing to say.

You are comparing the word "hoe" to "the 'N' word"?....

Well let's see.... how about the fact that you wont even type "the 'N' word" out, whereas you are comfortable typing "hoe"?

[WildArmed]

@Heisenburger

That's exactly my point thou.

[adorie]

as a fem. I have to disagree.
http://www.merriam-webster....

[rainslacker]

The only time I ever really hear the word hoes in every day conversation is when one girl uses it to describe another girl. I say girl, because more mature women I can't recall ever saying this. Same with the "n" word. The word "bitch" is much more common, and I do find that offensive when used as a common term for a woman, but not if used to describe her actual personality.

I'm sure there are people that use it otherwise outside my bubble, but I find it hard to support the moral high ground that you are using when the people in question use it themselves as their every day vernacular.

[Christopher]

I get what you're at, but the mentality of the mass is that sexism is not in the same ball park. Just tells me we have a lot of growing to do still as a community. I find it funny considering even with shows like Mad Men, people don't really consider it an issue.

[LightofDarkness]

I was originally on Sessler's side, admittedly only being able to go by his description of the story segment and understanding how he could be offended.

However, having played the game, it's clear that he either doesn't understand the story or he's just trying to stir the pot. Either way, he's wrong, and I was wrong for having agreed with him. It IS justified in the context of the narrative, anyone who plays the game will see it. For shame, Sessler.

[Christopher]

He didn't dock points based on this.

[SilentNegotiator]

Not explicitly, perhaps. But we all know that he let the thing get to his head. It was one of only 3 things in his dislikes category and he gave the game 3/5.

[Christopher]

And he mentioned that it didn't affect the score in the video.

[SilentNegotiator]

To save face.

[Christopher]

Well, if you're going to think different no matter what, there's really no point in any of this conversation. You've already made your mind up.

[SilentNegotiator]

He made a big stink about the "sexism". It's pretty likely that his ridiculous bias helped guide the way he reviewed the game.

[jakmckratos]

Legitimately the height of stupidity. Don't blame the industry. Blame the guys who made up that saying. Blame society. Blame the dudes saying it mockingly. Don't be pissed at video games for taking a popularly said idiom known to most everybody and is a joke statement for the most part and turn it into something it's not because it's in a video game. That's BS. YOU are the idiots making that connection.Nobody cared when there was a trophy a few years ago called Something Gone WIld( IDR the exact title sorry). Where were these whining attention whores then?? They were trivializing women..oh wait that already happened. In real life. ANd a video game is fiction. FIction sometimes mocks reality's absurdity. This is what happened here. Move on.

[WeAreLegion]

It's a harmless joke. It always has been and it always will be. There is nothing sexist about it. Ugh...

[Redempteur]

The fact that :
-it make sense in context
-there is nothing sexist about it
-no female killed in said scene ( only a illusion )

make this whole matter stupid

[Veneno]

The same people ridiculing others being overly sensitive about the trophy name are the same crazy fanboys that break down in tears b3cause their Sony ecxlusive game gets .5 lower than the score it "truly" deserves.

All areas of the industry REALLY need to grow up. Creators and consumers of games. Everyone.

[Bathyj]

All this BS highlights is that games still get held to standards that no other media does.

I've heard Bros before Hos in movies, Ive heard in in music. Ive read it in books, and even heard it in primetime free to air TV.

But a videogames says it, no scratch that, displays it in text form for a couple seconds, and everyone is apparently outraged. (Well, maybe a couple of bored jerks are.)

And everyone admits anyone who would actually be playing this game, wouldnt care anyway, ergo the only people who were offended, had to go looking for something to offend them.

This planet needs a good hard slap to get its priorities right. Why is everyone always so upset by nothing and turning a blindeye to real issues?

[discordman]

Very well said.

[Max-Zorin]

Something terrible happens in the real world, not a big deal. someone find the trophy title offensive, it's the end of the world. What's wrong with people today?

[DigitalSmoke]

Feminism is destroying male culture across every single fraction in life as wel know it.
All this does is eventualy make men more irritated with women in the first place.

85% of these feminazi's are lesbien...

[Veneno]

Even with the trophy name change patch, does that somehow change God of War into an E for everyone game? Did all of the machoness all the sudden disappear? It seems like the other side of the argum3nt is way more overboard.

[rezzah]

If the oppressed don't speak out, then the problem cannot be known to those who dominate.

The issues between male, females, and everything in between is only a small sum of the entire picture.

[Silly gameAr]

This whole thing is just to dumb to take seriously.

[helghast102]

"it really proves that no matter how small, no matter how painfully insignificant something is, in the gaming industry there is always going to be someone to be offended by it."

Mind if I copy and paste this line into every "controversy" story from now until the end of time?

[DJ]

Controversy?? The line "Bros before hoes" is in Transformers, and the movie never got edited or chastised for that line. Shouldn't critics be angrier with, I don't know, the brutal violence in the game? LOL

[banjadude]

In the last Bonus Round video on gametrailers, they mentioned that video games are often the scapegoat compared to other media formats. I'm inclined to agree, now.

[e3kehoe]

I find it funny that you can gut stuff, rip heads off and gouge eyes with your thumbs but the word (hoes) causes the contravercy in a mature rated game..and because of adam of all people.... Wow just wow.. Sad times

[grayfoxx881]

This has really been blown out of proportion. How is this even an issue? The scene Sessler referred to is fairly mild compared to others in the series. Kratos has killed many women, and in worse ways. Doesn't the name of the trophy refer to the situation at hand, and not the curb stomp and impalement of the "woman"?

I'm not going to call out Adam Sessler and Rev3games like some other comments in this thread. If he was offended, then he was offended. Everyone's different. I still think Sessler is a positive for the industry. I have lost a little respect for him, however.

[HonestDragon]

The topic of sexism in video games has gone out of control. Plain and simple, there should have been no need to have this happen. The trophy name did not need to be changed. I swear, people are just looking intentionally for things to be offended by just so that they can comment harshly on it and make it seem like they are taking some moral high ground. In actuality, it makes them look more like people who seriously need to grow up or get a hobby.

[CharlesDCI]

It seems like a lot of people don't know what "Bros before hoes" actually means.

The term means to put your good friends (bros) first before random women you're trying to hook up with. For example: Not skipping out on plans you made with your friend of 15 years just to hook up with a woman you know for 15 days lol.

Apparently people (or in other words, men playing White Knight and insecure women) have hijacked the term and made it sexist, even though women have their own version too.

Chicks before dicks..

[TuxedoMoon]

Over sensitivity!

This is a problem I have with a lot of game related news stories lately. People being offending by small things in games. Sessler calls out the bros before hoes thing, but never ever denounced how women were portrayed in God of War as simply sex objects (sex minigames).

[Bakkies]

It only highlights that any man will buckle over and take it up the ass when feminists invades our favorite hobby.

Then some white knights comes along to "save the day", not realizing that by law he cannot be raped, in media violence is promoted against men, men die in wars but receive no glory because they are expendable, divorce will inevitably destroy the man, false rape accusations are rife, men are all rapists and have you ever heard of a violence shelter for men? Did you know in 40% of relationships women are the abusers, men are the recipients of most violence in society?

I thought this trophy would slide, I don't know, because of a little something called freedom of speech. Guess not.

[yewles1]

As posted above by armycore, Original Gamer just exposed the REAL BS involving this tragedy...

http://www.original-gamer.c...

[plmkoh]

Doesn't any find it ironic to call it sexist when the whole point of the story throughout God of War is Kratos trying to get revenge for his murdered family because he is quite the family man, hardly a sexist cause.

[leemo19]

I just don't get why Santa Monica changing the name, I don't know of any girl who gets offended of the saying. Heck some girls I know use a different saying chicks before dicks do I really care no. RDR had you put a tied up women on the train track and watch her get run over to get the trophy. Anybody seems to care not a single damn person I'm aware of, but Bros before Hoes the sky falls and everybody goes into Armageddon cause its a trophy name.

[SAE]

It's funny how people complain about the trophy but not the content that actually do it xD

[Wrightylfc88]

Whoever thinks its bad needs to do one. Its a disgrace the way someone has took offense to it. What a joke!

[PirateThom]

"Misogynistic" and "sexist" are the new negative buzz words of the year, same way "entitlement" was last year.

They're going to start using them more and more and, eventually, they'll mean nothing and undermine real issues. Remember when "epic" used to refer to things like Homer's Odyssey or Dante's Divine Comedy but now refer to someone getting a free upgrade to a large drink and fries? Yeah.

I think it's worth pointing out the head of Santa Monica Studios is a woman, the series is mostly written by a woman and the trophy was named by a woman.

[lovegames718]

The most hypocritical thing in the world. A game full of gore, random killing, sex and all types of negative innuendos and ppl are worried about the name of a trophy? This world is full of sensitive "#itches" and yes i wont take that word back because i mean. Ppl latch on to anything to make a story out of and the worst thing is that you have the lames that say "oh yeah hes right they shouldnt use that term" Man stfu seriously. It compliments the game. If ppl are so worried about things like that boycott to remove the game and make gaming a nice colorful affair!!!!!

On a side note, the term bros before ho's actually derives from the term G's up, ho's down and is used by many in urban culture to signify loyalty of comrades/friends before no good women (hence the term ho's). So whats the problem? You have different types of women and contrary to what ppl believe there are alot of ho's in this world that deserve no type of respect no matter their situation just like you have "ho" men.

I am baffled at how ppl fail to see the hypocrisy in all this and actually say that removing it is right lol You hear this in every median of entertainment, yet no one complains but as soon as a game does it its a horror? Shame on Sony for even removing this trophy. You should remove the big breast flying all around if that is the case.

[honkayjeezus]

Sounds like Sessler's pussy hurts.

[PurpHerbison]

Don't forget about half of N4Gs must be hurting too.

[MattyG]

The funny thing is YOU guys are the ones blowing it out of proportion. Sessler mentioned it in his video reivew and said that it offended him. It may not have offended others, but it offended him. Did he campaign against the game or anything? No, but the commenters whined about his opinion so much it made it a bigger deal than it was and it got more exposure than it would have had everyone just said "meh, it's his opinion, I disagree though" and moved along. If he had given it a perfect score without justification and come under fire for that, I'm sure the comments would be filled with people (mostly fanboys, but that's beside the point) saying "its his opinion, let him have it". But because you dislike his opinion, he all of a sudden isn't allowed to have one and people are getting pissy? I'm not saying I agree with him, just that he can have his opinion, no matter if you disagree with it or not.

[XIIIWARRIOR41]

This is retarded! The game is rated "M" for Mature!!!!

[RandomDude655]

Oh look at the manufactured controversy. No one gives a shit

[ginsunuva]

So women want equal treatment, but only when it's convenient for them?

[KillrateOmega]

I can't believe that they actually changed the name of the trophy!

I officially hate everyone who complained about it now. 80% of these people probably don't even understand the context in which it was used in the story.

[PurpHerbison]

So many cry babies.

[Defectiv3_Detectiv3]

It should be changed, it's blatantly misogonystic and people have a right to be offended. If games want to be taken seriously as 'art' than they should be subject to the same critisisms. What I find most toublesome is the callous disregaurd by the devs, do people really need more fodder when it comes to argueing over videogames as a negative influence. I mean, look at all of you people, half of you don't even flinch or understand why this is offensive. If my gf were to walk in an see this she I can garauntee she would be offended.

I do disagree with Sessler in one regard. It is childish to distinguish between the sexes, violence isn't any more or less shocking because of who it is being perpetrated against. Also, he does overexaggerate. The level of violence is on par with the series.

[Knightofelemia]

I would have just kept it I think its funny. In other games you get to have fun with a hooker and then beat her for your money back. You get same sex love scenes in other games. and run around a city beating people with a giant purple dildo. If people find offence to this title for a trophy then there is something wrong with gaming.

[soniqstylz]

This wasn't even a real controversy. Sessler just needed the hits / views.

He's basically become one of those "10 Reasons There Are Boobs and Guns In Some Video Games" websites that has every reason on a different page to accumulate hits.

I hadn't heard the guy's name in years before this.