On Telltale Games’ Ableist Treatment of Sarah

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Comments

  • edited August 2014

    OHH!!! YOU HAVE RIGHT!!! THEN, DEAD TO THE BABY!!!

    According to your will is not fit to survive.

    One thing not to be fit and another to treat a character like shit.

    Is like saying Lee is crap because he can't survive.

    Nathanial posted: »

    But a world like The Walking Dead, which has been established for a decade has very much been survival of the fittest. Characters in the

  • It's funny how you're all about bashing tumblr then when you mention 4chan you honestly don't call that website toxic at all. And hey don't go on insulting people with profanity, so watch your mouth. You're over here stating how tumblr is toxic and how this site is toxic as well,. When in reality you're the reason why it's "toxic" and horrible. You are trying to justify telltale's actions and find it acceptable.

    You're one of the worst trolls i've met so far since all you do is like going in circles in arguments. But then again yet what else do I expect?

    Echopapa posted: »

    Am I triggering you? You going to go all 4chan on me? Ha. You're being a dick for no reason, and seeming to think I've done something wrong.

  • edited August 2014

    You're comparing the first days of the apocalypse to 2 years in. And there was virtually no time between Sarah's shelter (her father) dying and her death to harden up.

    Lee's mistake in sheltering Clem was pointed out by Chuck and so the situation was remedied and Clem was turned into a survivor. Carlos chose to shelter Sarah and there was unfortunately never an opportunity for him to "wake up" and teach his daughter to adapt.

    You might even argue that she was too far gone (in terms of being sheltered) even if Carlos woke up and realized he needed to teach his daughter to adapt, but that's up for debate.

    And I never said anything about killing others. Simply being a survivor, being able to adapt, and function in the new world. Which means knowing how to protect yourself... Knowing you can't just break down and cry over your dads death when there's zombies seconds away from busting in to devour you and your fellow survivors.

    Sarah was never given the opportunity by her father to do just that (take care of herself) which is a shitty situation. It's not poor writing.

    I'd like to think of Sarah as a mirror to Clemetine, had she not been taught to survive and take care of herself by Lee.

    emmuh28 posted: »

    Not really... Lee helped Clementine survive when he easily could have left her. In a "survival of the fittest" universe, he would have tosse

  • edited August 2014

    You have a good point. But something in her death and Greg's reaction to it still doesn't fell right to me, and I'm not even her fan.
    Lets think about what kind of story TT is telling to us. What I loved about season one - everything had sense. It felt like a good book to me.

    Now see, all gamers like to be represented in games they play, somehow. And now there is a autistic character. We get reminded that her attitude is dangerous and that she won't make it if she keep being that way. The thing is - we know it. It's realistic. But it's not what the STORY needs. (And TTgames are not the ones you should look for realism in).

    And what we have now - TT tries to make us feel that everything is right. That it's okay to feel relief of 'annoying and problematic' kid's death. Like someone said, in season 2 we becoming Crawford.

    All I want to say is that TT showed as an example of a very bad writing. Sarah's death was senseless.

    DomeWing333 posted: »

    So it seems like a lot of the hate towards Greg Miller is due to the fact that he found joy in seeing Sarah, a character he didn't like, die

  • Nope, but nice way to try to spin my words and disregard everything else I've been saying.
    The baby can be raised to be a survivor, rather than be sheltered out of the reality of the world like Carlos unfortunately did to Sarah.

    Although the baby is an interesting plot point, because the only baby that was in the comics for a long time was quickly written out by Robert Kirkman, so I'm curious what Telltale will end up doing.

    OHH!!! YOU HAVE RIGHT!!! THEN, DEAD TO THE BABY!!! According to your will is not fit to survive. One thing not to be fit and another to treat a character like shit. Is like saying Lee is crap because he can't survive.

  • So because they're a "privately owned company" excuses them from their behavior? No, no, no, no, no. They're a company, they need feedback and need to know what's right and wrong.

    And I did love the series so very much, but I paid my money so I'm giving my feed back and opinion whether they like it or not. Although I do wish to get a refund...

    remorse667 posted: »

    Telltale games is a privately owned company. The last thing anyone wants is to bring political correctness in their games. Let them be! If you don't like it, then please, just don't play the game!

  • Oh bloody Christ. If Tumblr is your source on any ISM then you pretty much lose any argument by association with those idiots.

  • Alt text

    Preach the truth, brother!

    I come here to avoid stupid shit like this. Tumblr is cancer to the internet, I can't believe it made it here too.

  • Lmao, so many thumbs down and ZERO responses explaining why I'm wrong. Anyone care to explain?

    Piggs posted: »

    But we know Greg Miller is an asshole to female characters. Stopped reading it there. While I don't agree with Greg at all, he isn't sexist. That's absurd. This just looks like whiny tumblr bullshit.

  • It's heavily implied Sarah had a panic/anxiety/autistic disorder, which would lead to her panicking. But if it's about survival... Kenny also broke down and started yelling and screaming about Sarita with zombies seconds away. The writers chose to give Sarah almost no character arc. She had no development or growth, so I think it was poor.

    This is obviously beginning to become a bit of a circular argument though so while I do see what you are saying, I do not agree with it, and I do not agree with how the writers chose to execute it, and I do not agree with how Telltale staff chose to talk about the episode in the Playing Dead interview.

    Nathanial posted: »

    You're comparing the first days of the apocalypse to 2 years in. And there was virtually no time between Sarah's shelter (her father) dying

  • edited August 2014

    Jesus, how did you even make it past infancy? You just started accusing me of justifying Telltale's actions when I've done nothing of the sort. I'm the toxic one? I call people out when they deserve it, yet here you are accusing me of things anyone with a shred of intelligence can see I have not done. I don't even know how your 'cis males' even came into this...

    I'm having this conversation with a child so, I'm done humouring you. Have fun.

    Ellias posted: »

    It's funny how you're all about bashing tumblr then when you mention 4chan you honestly don't call that website toxic at all. And hey don't

  • edited August 2014

    And what we have now - TT tries to make us feel that everything is right. That it's okay to feel relief of 'annoying and problematic' kid's death. Like someone said, in season 2 we becoming Crawford.

    Well, we're becoming more like Jane. Or at least it's starting to feel easier and and more natural to be like Jane. And I think there's something kind of profound there. I've talked about this in a recent post on another thread:

    Whereas Crawford was an over-the-top caricature of pragmatism, Jane represents the more (for lack of a better word) seductive side of it. Going out and actively hunting down those you perceive to be the lessers of society is never going to be an appealing prospect to most normal, well-adjusted people. But as the apocalypse goes on, as the horrors and deaths pile up, it becomes easier and easier to just sever all attachment to others, particularly those who are weaker than you, and just survive for yourself.

    That's something I kind of like about Season 2 now that I think about it. It feels...appropriately ruthless. This is 2 years into the apocalypse. Everyone who has survived thus far has probably had to do some pretty fucked up things to do so. Christa, Clem's primary caretaker for 16+ months, shotgun blasted an unarmed teenage girl in the stomach. Alvin, described by Rebecca as such a warm caring person, killed his friend to escape from Carver's compound. The Cabin group as a whole were willing to lock an injured little girl in a shed for their own protection. Like Bonnie says, there "ain't no saints in all of this." Not anymore. And in fact, the people closest to being saints, Walter and Matthew, both ended up being killed by the group they were trying to help. Season 2 feels colder, more ruthless, more Crawford-y because it takes place in a colder, more ruthless, more Crawford-y world.

    theonys posted: »

    You have a good point. But something in her death and Greg's reaction to it still doesn't fell right to me, and I'm not even her fan. Lets

  • edited August 2014

    I had no intention of try to spin yours words. I just wanted to emphasize the cynicism of Telltale Games with "survival of the fittest" theory that try to convey in the interview.

    Even Robert Kirkman has tried to convey the same message to every issues that come to light but kill characters just for fun and hypocritically they give messages to their main characters of no lose their humanity but no one can take that seriously if author short head like he was a psychopath.

    Nathanial posted: »

    Nope, but nice way to try to spin my words and disregard everything else I've been saying. The baby can be raised to be a survivor, rather

  • don't come back

    Echopapa posted: »

    Jesus, how did you even make it past infancy? You just started accusing me of justifying Telltale's actions when I've done nothing of the so

  • sarah killa 24-7/all day everyday!

  • I don't know about anyone else but me personally, assuming I'm still the minority here,and even though I definitely find Greg annoying ect, would be upset if he as a character died off the same way. Mainly because his character wasn't developed past his annoyance. I know I may be the minority on this but I love character development even if its on characters I dislike but its a necessity for me in enjoying any writing.

    DomeWing333 posted: »

    So it seems like a lot of the hate towards Greg Miller is due to the fact that he found joy in seeing Sarah, a character he didn't like, die

  • Love you too

    Ellias posted: »

    don't come back

  • Okay, I can agree to disagree then

    I could say more, but I won't out of respect to that.

    emmuh28 posted: »

    It's heavily implied Sarah had a panic/anxiety/autistic disorder, which would lead to her panicking. But if it's about survival... Kenny als

  • You are needlessly rude. There are idiots everywhere. If you think that because of actions of some folks you can form a clear picture of the whole site, you're not showing intelligence here.

    ViralType posted: »

    Oh bloody Christ. If Tumblr is your source on any ISM then you pretty much lose any argument by association with those idiots.

  • edited August 2014

    God damn, does he have to be specific so some damn tumblr blogger isn't mad?

    Leave it to tumblr to always escalate every little issue. Smh -_-

    emmuh28 posted: »

    Sarah represents real people with real mental disorders. Greg said he wanted her to die because "she wasn't normal." Opinions like that don't just stay within the confines of fictional universes.

  • edited August 2014

    Okay, then I apologize if I jumped the gun on assumptions.

    At the same time, I want to make it clear. I would never advocate killing a baby (ever) or leaving a little girl behind (I smacked Sarah and "saved" her) because I don't like her. Especially as a father.

    At the same time, the difference between how Clem was taught to adapt to the world, compared to Sarah being sheltered (and clearly oblivious at times) from the world by Carlos is night and day. The willingness and ability to adapt is more of what I meant of "survival of the fittest"

    And as I said above, it wasn't even Sarah's fault she wasn't able to adapt (to a degree). She went two years into the ZA being completely oblivious to the outside because of Carlos. She can't be expected to just turn right into a survivor after all the traumatic stuff she went through in a day.

    With all that said, I don't think Sarah's death was lazy writing.

    I will say, however, with respect to Robert Kirkman, that the baby's death in the comics felt very lazy. Which is why I'm sitting back and curious to see what Telltale does with Rebecca's son.

    I had no intention of try to spin yours words. I just wanted to emphasize the cynicism of Telltale Games with "survival of the fittest" theo

  • Escalate you say? Well, if you are not angry, you are not paying attention

    remorse667 posted: »

    God damn, does he have to be specific so some damn tumblr blogger isn't mad? Leave it to tumblr to always escalate every little issue. Smh -_-

  • Angry over Sarah's treatment? No. She's a fictional character. She doesn't exist. That's why I think this thread is silly.

    theonys posted: »

    Escalate you say? Well, if you are not angry, you are not paying attention

  • you have a nice day now

    I will remember that

    Echopapa posted: »

    Love you too

  • Bro theres nothing wrong playing telltale's games and being 20-30 because their games are m-rated games for ages 17 and up

    Hey, let's not generalize based on age, I fit that age range

  • I had absolutely no hesitation when the choice came up to leave Sarah behind or not, I left her and moved on. She wasn't interesting, didn't like her character, and her extreme naivety in contrast with what I'd played through as Lee and Clem left me feeling like she was out of place and didn't have anything to offer.

    In Ben's case in Season 1 he screwed everyone over too many times so he was also dropped, helped along by the fact that he literally asked me to do it.

    Anyway, I'm happy most of the cabin group is gone. They were ready to let me die in the beginning of the season, and had little human interaction with them besides Luke who's still with us.

    This is a fictional game where these "everybody is equally important and valued" ideals do not have to be present, and I'm happy that they aren't.

  • Well... I think I'm not mature enough to participate in this but, on the bright side, I now know what "ableist" means. Yayyy.....

  • Miller does have a track record on hating on female characters way more than he does male characters, tbh. Make of that what you will. Could just be a coincidence. But it's something I've noticed, too.

    Piggs posted: »

    But we know Greg Miller is an asshole to female characters. Stopped reading it there. While I don't agree with Greg at all, he isn't sexist. That's absurd. This just looks like whiny tumblr bullshit.

  • People like Sarah exist in the real world.

    remorse667 posted: »

    Angry over Sarah's treatment? No. She's a fictional character. She doesn't exist. That's why I think this thread is silly.

  • edited August 2014

    That's what we are doing here mate. Playing the game about fictional characters in a fictional world. Arguing, being angry/sad/happy. Because we somehow care. And if you don't I have no idea what are you doing in this thread.

    remorse667 posted: »

    Angry over Sarah's treatment? No. She's a fictional character. She doesn't exist. That's why I think this thread is silly.

  • Haft the people on here are from tumbler I can tell by the way they talk. Their ages are from 9 to 14.

    Hazzer posted: »

    Actually, considering the maturity level present in most posts I'd say this forum is mostly populated by people who are under 16 and lack the ability to discuss any matter in a dignified manner.

  • If I'm correct, wasn't Sarah supposed to represent Clementine if she was shielded from the real world?

    Her protector died and she was screwed...

    Echopapa posted: »

    She's their character, they can do whatever the hell they want with her. The nodding and agreeing is called being polite and civil - they're

  • He wanted her to die because she wasn't normal. That's some eugenics-esque ridiculousness, no two ways about it, whether you use Tumblr or not.

    Imagine if he said he hated Lee because Lee was black. No one would hesitate to say he was being intolerant of people on the basis of race. After all, if he weren't a racist, why would he hate a character strictly because they were black? It's the same thing but with Sarah's mental disorder(s) instead of Lee's race.

    And the issue has already been escalated. People die for "not being normal."

    remorse667 posted: »

    God damn, does he have to be specific so some damn tumblr blogger isn't mad? Leave it to tumblr to always escalate every little issue. Smh -_-

  • edited August 2014

    I'm sorry but I'm getting a little fed up with this. I'm a female that suffers from depression, anxiety and has had panic attacks in the past and some other things I would rather not discuss. Watching that interview I can tell you the only problem I had with it was Greg going overboard on Sarah, but he apologized and even admits he didn't know she was disabled, and I'm sure that if he had figured that beforehand he might not have been so harsh about it. Even I honestly didn't notice that Sarah might have disabilities until somebody pointed it out some months ago.

    Fact is that TWDG is a world where the strong are going to have a better chance at than the weak, and this is includes everybody from physical disabilities to mental disabilities. A person in a wheelchair to somebody mentally handicapped it doesn’t matter, when you got dead walking around, they’re the ones more likely to suffer because they can’t protect themselves. The only way they have a chance is being in a decent community where they are protected, and the group’s circumstances in the game is unfortunately not at that point. There will be casualties from the strong and weak. Walkers don’t discriminate.

    Now, if in that interview they were talking about ACTUAL human beings and laughing about some poor kid that got left behind to be eaten alive then that would be a cause for concern. But they didn’t, because it is fictional game, with fictional characters in a situation where people regardless of race, gender, age, sexuality or disability won’t be entitled to a ‘ free get out of jail card’ when it comes to death. And in a game or any series in particular, you are not entitled to like every character within that world, not even the creators of the game because they have favorites and least favorite characters of their own too just like us. Need we talk about Ben and how many people despised that kid? Are we going to have a heated debate about how a nervous low self-esteemed kid could be dropped from a bell tower just for screwing up? Because I’d bet you anything there were probably a few people at Telltale that couldn’t wait to drop him too like many fans couldn’t.

    Comparing what they think or say about the fictional characters in a zombie apocalypse to real human being with disabilities in the real world and calling it ‘spewing ableist bullshit’ for people having an opinion on such characters that just happened to have a disability…let me just say this:

    If Sarah was a real person, living a non-zombie apocalypse life amongst us, Telltale and even Greg would probably want the best for her, because it’s a world she has at least a chance of ‘functioning’ in and has nothing to do about the undead rising or sociality falling apart, or us as humans being put under pressure to decide if my life might be on the line trying to help a kid snap out of it because undead are pounding at my door. And even if it were the case that the dead started walking tomorrow, they would probably take things more serious because it is reality, not fiction and a life is a life, not a fake one.

    So until I catch word of them spewing vile comments about actual human beings, I don’t agree with you.

    And if a guy's apology isn't enough, then what is?

    Sincerely -A fan who both adores and relates to Sarah on some level and can even say that girl annoyed the hell of her sometimes in the game that she wanted to slap some sense into her too, but came to care about that naive dork because she got sheltered a lot too growing up and knows what's it's like to be insecure and feel like your world is falling apart and want friendship, so please don't say I'm being albeist because that'd be silly.

  • They need constructive feedback like "you need to work more on your meeting your release dates"

    "The game is laggy. Needs to be fixed"

    "You're killing off too many characters"

    Not some tumblr bs like this..

    Ellias posted: »

    So because they're a "privately owned company" excuses them from their behavior? No, no, no, no, no. They're a company, they need feedback a

  • So because it's from tumblr it's bull shit? Your point is already invalid.

    We've already given constructive criticism, this is another situation. You're honestly way off idk why you even bother.

    remorse667 posted: »

    They need constructive feedback like "you need to work more on your meeting your release dates" "The game is laggy. Needs to be fixed" "You're killing off too many characters" Not some tumblr bs like this..

  • edited August 2014

    For me it is also the death of baby in TWD Comic was a lazy writing, but i believe that Sarah's death is more a way to satisfy the Haters of Sarah forcing two deaths in one episode that a lazy writing.

    Nathanial posted: »

    Okay, then I apologize if I jumped the gun on assumptions. At the same time, I want to make it clear. I would never advocate killing a ba

  • Yes, that's exactly that. But people are reading FAR too much into her character.

    remorse667 posted: »

    If I'm correct, wasn't Sarah supposed to represent Clementine if she was shielded from the real world? Her protector died and she was screwed...

  • Haha, thank you Carver ;)

    Ellias posted: »

    you have a nice day now I will remember that

  • Projection? Denial? Disliking people whom Sarah reminds them of? Being pissed off at having to 'take care of' weak characters rather than be a tough guy? I don't know.

    Yeah, I can get behind that. What I don't understand is what exactly would prompt people to hate Sarah to the point that they'd enjoy her br

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