Back in 1992, it was the Sega CD system that was most prized possession among at home console gamers. The library which featured live video action was almost unheard of back then and one of it’s early releases was making headlines for the wrong reason.
“Night Trap” had you in the role of a surveillance expert monitoring a family home where several girls have gone missing. In your role, you spied on girls during a slumber party around the house, and had to spring traps to catch monsters ultimately revealed to be vampires.
I was there. The game wasn’t very good but it benefited from the controversy. This was 28 years ago. No internet. No social media. No daily gaming news. Just a brand new gaming system with an edgy title for consumers to spend their money on.
Fast forward 28 years later and we have “Gamer Girl”, a new title that features you in the role of a streaming moderator for a female gamer. Its your job to guide her through cyber bullying and possibly real world violence (link HERE).
The game is getting trashed online as we speak.
It’s 2020, and the treatment of women in all environments has become an issue where awareness is necessary. Gamer Girl’s reception surrounding the trailer has been blasted as being completely tone deaf over the abuse female gamers are subject to.
Wales Interactive has defended the game, in part saying,
The reason why FMV Future created the game was to raise the issue of the toxic environment which can often appear online behind the anonymity of a username.
Among the remarks opposing the game online, one user on social media said,
If you support the Gamer Girl game, you are turning a blind eye to actual female streamers experiencing actual harassment from actual people.
THIS IS NOT A GAME, THESE ARE OUR LIVES AND REAL EXPERIENCES.
In retrospect, Night Trap was a bust and a disappointment. History remembers it for it’s controversy and that’s not exactly what developers want. Especially these days when video game controversies occur every other week. Its the dollars they really want.
It’s unknown what the bottom line will be for the sales of “Gamer Girl”.
But it has become the “Night Trap” for 2020. Whether it was intended for that purpose or not.
What the social response will be however, is new generational territory they’re going to have to experience on they’re own. The world is certainly not the same.
You can watch the trailer below. It’s unclear how long it will stay up.