Controversies

The Gabriel Knight series (like many other Sierra series) contains material which some have found controversial, and it has had its own share of controversies over the years.

This page discusses a number of aspects of the series that people have found controversial (or have complained about) as defined by reviewers and players over the years. Note: the 'controversies' are just opinions by different individuals, commentators and writers (some maybe fallacy-ridden interpretation or biased projection, and therefore the accuracy of opinions cannot be vouched for).

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the cited authors, writers, commentators and other individuals, and do not reflect the official policies or positions of this wiki.

Background
Released in the '80s and '90s, Sierra Games have been accused of controversial subject matter over the years. The social sensibilities and political correctness of the 2010s and '20s are radically different from those when the games were released; in hindsight, players and critics reinterpreted some elements found in the games as including racist, sexist, or other subject matter by modern standards.

This page includes links to blogs, articles, forum posts, where people have accused or complained that a series had some controversial material in their mind (however legitimate or nitpicking). As well as anecdotes from Sierra's own days.

Political Correctness Policy
This wiki is not really a place to parse terminology and introduce new concepts or theories, or to advocate or be used as a soap box. The articles themselves must stick to topics, basded on terminology and descriptions used by the games, official guides or other official documentation (including development materials, where applicable), and limit any speculation concerning any subjects being discussed.

Discussion of the games from a modern perspective where subject matter is found 'offensive' should only be added to this article, and in this article only. Or in very limited fashion pointing to the 'controversies' page in the "Behind the scenes section' of an article. Note: However note that this page is restricted (changes by non-admins must be vetted and discussed first, before a decision is made). This policy was made due to trollish behaviour attemptingt to insert personal attacks (ad hominem) on the developers. While 'ad hominem' controversies might appear in other blogs, threads, and articles and will be referenced here. They are not to be directly introduced as that goes against the 'neutrality' position (and choosing a side). This page must remain as 'objective' as possible in displaying both arguements and rebuttals to accusations.

If you wish to discuss soapbox and advocacy against certain topics refer back to Number 1 of Advertising and Off-topic discussions (in GK Omnipedia:Canon Policy])...


 * 1.Advocacy, propaganda, or recruitment of any kind: commercial, political, religious, sports-related, or otherwise. Of course, an article can report objectively about such things, as long as an attempt is made to describe the topic from a neutral point of view. You might wish to start a blog or visit a forum if you want to convince people of the merits of your favorite views.

Some might see this as a 'soapbox' in and of itself (based on their side of the 'arguements' being discussed, or related documentation). In that case, consider this article to be the exception to the rule. As it is the only location where critical comments, disagreements and related rebuttals are listed. Some sources may include supporting documentation, as in articles pertaining to history of why something might be found offensive based on current societal, cultural, or political trends).

However, remember that no side is taken by the wiki.

Violence

 * Police Brutality and injustice: "And yet, somehow, in this bizarre, fascist world where a mime gets subjected to police brutality for just doing his thing, blonde douchebags who get caught red-handed interfering with police business just get off with a slap on the wrist." Some have commented in particular that the ending sequence with the fight with Dr. John of being racialy disturbing by and possibly reminiscent of police brutality against black people. (more discussion below under Minority Representation)
 * Ironically, in the novel, Grace jokes about and accuses Gabriel and Mosely of police brutality. "And your pal Mosely called, too. Said he was interrogating a suspect this morning and you might want to come by." Gabriel raised an eyebrow behind the paper. "Sounds like fun." "I bet. Police Brutality 101," Grace said dryly. "

Minority Representation
Some reviewers, fans and critics accuse the series of racism, Stereotypes, & Cultural Appropriation, etc...
 * Gabriel Knight 1 has been accused of racism in its portrayal of Vodou religion: "Gabriel stumbles unto a centuries-old voodoo cult which has a special motivation to make him their latest human sacrifice. Yikes. I can only wonder what actual adherents of Vodou would think of this (and of that climactic scene)."
 * Of historical note: Dr. John's name is influenced by two figures named Dr. John in New Orleans history. The first was an African-American Voodoun Wizard who died in 1885. The other was a musicean/voodoo buff who died in 2019. It might be considered negative that respective cutural historical figure be converted into a negative evil figure

Every antagonist is the game is black and protagonist in the game is white. It also has a very ethnocentric portrayal of voodoo culture. That’s incredibly racist by today’s standards so I don’t think it should rank so high on the list. Also, games like police quest support an unconstitutional law called prohibition that puts people who suffer from addictions in jail and that is currently a huge human rights issue that over million people are joining together to stop right now so considering the fact that at least half of the people out there don’t support prohibition, I don’t think that where it’s ranked on the list accurately reflects the majority opinion especially since space quest did way better in it’s day anyways. That’s my opinion. You don’t have to like it, but please respect my right to make it. @tempestmichael: People generally don’t judge games by their political leanings, and why should they? Not everything has to be politicized these days! Certainly, you wouldn’t consider Shakespeare to be all that great if you judged him based on the expression of certain political ideas… If I would only enjoy art that expresses similar political views to mine, then I would certainly miss a lot, like pretty much the whole genre of western movies! Sure, a racist slant is quite uncomfortable to experience (consider the movie “Birth of a Nation”). But you’re simply wrong concerning Gabriel Knight anyway. While Malia is part of the hoodoo cult, she is so unwillingly and is definitely a protagonist in the story. And well, voodoo is mostly practiced by black people, considering its origins from Africa, so what you’re basically requesting is changing the skin color of some of the antagonists for the sake of political correctness! And don’t be so defensive. No one wants to take your right away to express your opinions, even if they are totally wrong… First of all, I want to say I really did love the game as a whole, and I'm sure that the game writers were not trying to be offensive or racist. This also may have to do with the fact that I have just read a couple of books on Haitian history and Voudoun, so I may be a bit oversensitized on the subject. However, I just couldn't help doing a major "say WHAT now?" when the ending cutscene strongly implied that the Haitian revolution was provoked by Tetelo. Though the Haitian revolution was bloody, it is an unequaled human accomplishment. It is the ONLY successful slave revolt in the history of the world. Once again, the ONLY successful slave revolt ever (successful meaning resulting in permanent freedom for the former slaves and an end to the institution of slavery). Against enormous odds and at great human cost, a horribly oppressed people threw off their oppressors and gained their own freedom. To casually drop that it was provoked by an evil spirit seems to diminish and trivialize this accomplishment. To me, it sounds like someone stating that the leaders of the civil rights movement only fought for equality because they were possessed by the devil. Evil spirits don't provoke slave rebellions, the evil of slavery provokes slave rebellions. Now of course, this is a fantasy game, and clearly the writers didn't believe that this is actually the case. However, they also didn't need any line at that point that trivializes the fight against slavery. Also, the writers did a fantastic job of researching and including authentic details about Voudoun. But I couldn't help feeling that their efforts were a bit tainted by that throwaway line at the end. So... is it just me? Am I a bit nuts on this subject? Or did that line rub anyone else the wrong way as well? Eh, maybe I 'think too much.'https://www.gog.com/forum/gabriel_knight_series/gk1_ending_a_bit_offensive_spoilers
 * The villains of Gabriel Knight 1 are predominately black or mixed heritage. The main character is white (and through the course of the game plays the part of an amatuer detective), his best friend (a police detective) is also white (causing accusations of white savior complex, and police brutality on the part of the game's portrayal of police in general in the game (in particular the actions of the main characters in the game's ending), and most of the black villains sacrificial victims are white (or in case of Grace share particuarly traditional "white" American cultural practices, while deeming other practices as 'foreign' or 'different'). Their power extends into practically everything. Several of the characters might be seen as stereotyped depictions of black characters, and culturally appropriated and exaggerated voodoo culture in general. The spirit of Witch has a long hatred of white people. https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/18643 Gabriel knight has racist undertones.


 * One person comments: "I think it’s a mistake to go into this game’s #MeToo problem without at least mentioning the game’s problematic treatment of race. It seems to imply that the sexual harassment problems matter and that the race problems don’t...Probably neither kind of problem had “ill intent.” I don’t think Jane Jensen regards sexually harassing your staff to be appropriate, any more than she thinks it’s appropriate to steal a frock from a priest. I bet the “white savior” problems were completely unconscious. But that’s why it’s so important to talk about this stuff, to make people conscious of common racist tropes." https://www.filfre.net/2019/08/gabriel-knight-sins-of-the-fathers/

Lisa H.

August 3, 2019 at 8:45 pm

Gabriel stumbles unto a centuries-old voodoo cult which has a special motivation to make him their latest human sacrifice.

Yikes. I can only wonder what actual adherents of Vodou would think of this (and of that climactic scene).

Reply

Jimmy Maher

August 4, 2019 at 6:19 am

Yeah, that’s a whole other side to the game: where a bunch of white people have to defend the world from the literal black magic of voodoo. I didn’t raise it in the article because a) I was already being hard enough on the game and b) I don’t believe this was done with any conscious agenda or ill intent. Nevertheless, pictures like that one are… not a great look. (See Shades of Gray, which I wrote about quite extensively in an earlier article, for a much more sympathetic and nuanced portrayal of the religion of Haitian Vodou.)

Reply

Ross

August 4, 2019 at 3:27 pm

I think the other two Gabriel Knight games bear out the notion that there’s no agenda or ill intent, but much like the casual attitude toward sexual harassment, it reflects a lazy and unthinking regurgitation of genre tropes that were already showing their age at the time and are seriously uncomfortable now.

Reply

Cliffy

August 7, 2019 at 6:02 pm

Of course the entire history of the cult was explicitly put in motion by white brutality towards black slaves.

Reply

Dan Fabulich

August 12, 2019 at 4:45 pm

I think it’s a mistake to go into this game’s #MeToo problem without at least mentioning the game’s problematic treatment of race. It seems to imply that the sexual harassment problems matter and that the race problems don’t.

Probably neither kind of problem had “ill intent.” I don’t think Jane Jensen regards sexually harassing your staff to be appropriate, any more than she thinks it’s appropriate to steal a frock from a priest. I bet the “white savior” problems were completely unconscious. But that’s why it’s so important to talk about this stuff, to make people conscious of common racist tropes. Another reviewer commented that in their view; "I loved this game as a kid, but when I recently went to play it again about half way through the game it occurred to me that every single antagonist in the game was a black guy and every protagonist was a white guy. It would have thought it was just a coincidence if the game wasn't already so ignorant towards voodoo culture. Either way, I recommend this game if you're desperate for a sierra style adventure, but I have to give it the poorest of all rating for being ethnocentric and downright racist. I really didn't want to believe it was either, so this opinion is completely subjective and yes portraying every black character in a story as being a "bad guy" is racist no matter how subtle it seems.  One rebuttal given to this kind of arguement was given: "Personally, to accuse this game of employing the white savior trope uncritically is to practice some kind of intellectual myopia. Gabriel actually fails to save the person he wants to in the end – Malia – and the fact that she chooses to die on her own terms is a restoration of her agency, symbolic of her severing the corrupting legacy of a history corroded by racism and knowing that having Gabriel save her is also not the path forward. This game is first and foremost about the tragedy of Malia Gedde. It is only Gabriel Knight’s story in a secondary capacity. The game ends without a sense of triumph and relief. Instead, there is defeat, the feeling that much work still needs to be done to prevent the tragedy of people like Malia Gedde, that the scars of racism still have to be reckoned with, and those who survive it – usually people who are not black, like Gabriel – still have much to answer for."
 * Some critics find detective and police games like Gabriel Knight to being problematic especially now in a time of accusations of police brutality, America's racial reckocking and the rise of Black Lives Matter One writer comments: "Most highly-regarded detective games (such as Gabriel Knight or LA Noire) revel in excess. The first Gabriel Knight has you fighting a voodoo cult in New Orleans... It’s fair to say that the bar for video games, thematically, is far lower than any other form of media generally, but especially so when it comes to something as overbearing as the justice system. Expecting larger examination of institutions in games, especially mainstream ones, is a very far-fetched idea even for this indie aficionados"..."And that brings me to the game that brought about my reckoning with my love for crime fiction. I bought it one month after #BlackLivesMatter protests erupted in the United States (reminder: they still continue amid constant police brutality) and spread to the rest of the world"... Life in games are "...black-and-white, real life isn’t. The moment we’re in, as I spoke about on CiTR 101.9 FM, is showing us what’s possible in this world, as everything teeters on an edge. We should aspire for one where racial and social justice comes to those who are most affected by deprivation, deprivation enforced by those who claim to enforce ‘justice’ right now. And the art we make should fight for that future." Some have commented in particular that the ending sequence with the fight with Dr. John of being racialy disturbing by and possibly reminiscent of police brutality against black people.
 * "So Sins of the Fathers is TRULY, the DEFINITION of a problematic fave. Cannot understate how fucked up the politics of it are, how intensely and virulently racist it is, even as it’s questionably trying to subvert racist tropes and clearly thinks its heart is in the right place."


 * Gabriel Knight 2 (and by extension 3) have been accused of lack of minority representation: " New Orleans/Benin are exchanged for Bavaria. Pro: less room for racist tropes. Con: another really white point & click adventure game. Like it’s predecessor, it does deliver the infotainment. The way themes and locality are woven into the story is actually amazing."
 * Grace Nakimura can be seen as the series only or limited Asian representation. She is portrayed specially in the original Gabriel Knight 1 as being stuck between two worlds, that of being "American" (or at least 'white' portrayal and concept of American culture and traditions), and her trying to escape more traditional aspects of her parent's Japanese culture (represented by her parents wanting her to go to certain schools, marry another Japanese man (arranged marriage), etc). This has lead to it being compared with stereotypical interpretations of Japanese-Americans, which play into the "model minority myth" that is believed to pit minorities against each other (while it may be based on "positive" stereotypes may actually cause damage, and lead to racist views of other groups). Asian-Americans are often of accused or being portrayed as being of being part model minority, and somehow obtaining "White-Adjacent"  (or  adjacent-'white privilege') from becoming 'more "American"'. As one Critical Race Theory writer believes: "The closer you are to whiteness—the term often used is white-adjacent—you're still going to experience racism, but there are going to be some benefits due to your perceived proximity to whiteness. The further away you are, the more intense the oppression's going to be." According to CRT advocates, Asian Americans are the most "white-adjacent" minority." Note interpretation extends to many cultures historically who have become part of the so-called "melting pot" and assimilated American culture more fully than others (for example Irish being treated as non-white for man years, until they adopted more traditional "white American" way of life).   .  "The myth of the model minority is based in stereotypes. It perpetuates a narrative in which Asian American children are whiz kids or musical geniuses. Within the myth of the model minority, Tiger Moms force children to work harder and be better than everyone else, while nerdy, effeminate dads hold prestigious—but not leadership—positions in STEM industries like medicine and accounting. This myth characterizes Asian Americans as a polite, law-abiding group who have achieved a higher level of success than the general population through some combination of innate talent and pull-yourselves-up-by-your-bootstraps immigrant striving. Like all stereotypes, the model minority myth erases the differences among individuals." Grace becoming a sacririce could be seen as a portrayal of negative racist stereotypical: anti-asian or black on asian violence  .) Of course the view of 'white-adjacent privilige' may also be seen as a racist extreme view that penelizes Japanese for their success, and plays into the 'model-minority' stereotypes as well... As one writer notes: "...many Asian Americans who are harmed by an ideology that penalizes their success. Progressives, I argue, "call out Asians for either trying to be like white people or benefiting from systems that prop up white dominance." Under the logic of CRT, it also means Asians are complicit in upholding white supremacy. To be "white-adjacent" is to benefit from the systems of oppression upon which America was allegedly founded.Applying the words of Kendi, then, means that Asians are a privileged group against whom discrimination is justified in order to make room for the "truly" oppressed. But is the concept of "white adjacency" actually valid? In reality, "white adjacency" is simply a rhetorical tool to discriminate against Asian Americans. It is an implicitly racist concept itself."
 * One writer considers Grace as having broken past the 'model minority myth': "When we first meet Grace, she isn’t wearing a flowing silk gown with cherry blossoms or doling out Confucian wisdom passed on by the ancestors. She’s not an accountant, scientist, or noted for her proficiency in math. She’s an everyday person working as a cashier. I found it refreshing that she didn’t have an exotic backstory from “the Far East” and that there was no attempt made to emphasize her as a foreigner... In a nice pair of glasses and a coral blouse that could’ve come fresh from the Gap, she looked almost exactly like my aunt, who worked at the front desk for a local shipping company. I was even further relieved to find that she didn’t have an exaggerated accent—on the contrary, Leah Remini, the voice actress who played her, did an excellent job of making her sound slightly bored and disaffected, delivering zinging retorts to Tim Curry’s version of Gabriel Knight, her womanizing, flirty boss... We discover that she lived in Japan until she was 3, before her parents emigrated to the United States. Eschewing the typical “model minority” stereotype, she confesses that her parents are angry with her for not completing her PhD—after getting her master’s degree in history and classics, she decided to take a break from finishing school. Her fondness for adventure (and old books) led her to take the job at St. George’s, where she does investigative research to help Gabriel as he tracks down the culprits. Though she’s inevitably abducted and saved by Gabriel, she changes dramatically in the other two games of the series."
 * The novel series drops her having immigrated from Japan, she was born in America (to a blue-blooded family), and lived there her entire life. Though parts of her arranged marriage do remain see Mark Kobayashi (novels). However, the novels still played with her 'otherness' both racially and from Eastern United States. And rather than suggesting she rebelled against her parents, she is said to noteably loyal to them in most cases. She also is noted that she knows how to make Japanese cuisine, and in one case discusses what life for Japanese means to them. Grace Nakimura was twenty-six years old, and about as foreign a species to him as a

goldfish is to a trout. She was from the East, in the first place. New Hampshire or some blueblooded place like that, and he was a N’Orleaner born and raised. The differences in their accents was only the beginning. The East/South thing seemed to extend deep into their subatomic cell structure. Grace was always in a hurry, always thought something ought to be done about something, and was at a loss to handle only one thing – free time. When she wasn’t working here she was taking classes like tai chi and oil painting. And this summer was supposed to be her break from school. Gabriel, on the other hand, preferred to watch life, as if from a rocking chair on the porch in the middle of August. He figured if something really interesting went past (and if he felt up to it at the moment), he could always get up and jump in. But Gabriel had met Easterners before, and there was a lot more to it than that. Grace was also smart, really smart. She was the kind of person that you knew had probably never gotten anything less than an ‘A’ in school in her entire life. She could whip through the Times Picayune crossword puzzle in about six minutes (he’d actually seen her do this, and had promptly left for the gym). She knew all the things about history and geography and world events that Europeans were always ragging on Americans for being too dumb to know, and she made you feel a couple of cents short of a dollar yourself if you spoke to her for over thirty seconds. Gabriel had never spent much time with smart women. Quite the opposite. He made sure that the women he went out with were…uncomplicated. He preferred to keep things light, as a rule. Grace wouldn’t know light if she stumbled across it in a blackout. And beyond all that, Grace was Japanese, or, rather, Japanese-American. Although she spoke and acted as American as a native (well, she was a native), there were subtle things about her that Gabriel found incomprehensible. Her loyalty to her parents, for example. She called them daily and they still seemed to run her life to an extent that Gabriel could not comprehend any grown person putting up with. Hell, his Gran had never been that bad, and he’d still moved out when he was sixteen. And Grace was so clean-cut. She didn’t drink or smoke. As far as he knew, she didn’t even go out with men. For any or all of those reasons, or perhaps because of something else even less tangible, Grace reminded him of the old science fiction pulps he used to read where the scientist would explain to the politician that, even if they did run across an alien life form, that life form was likely to be so different from our own that we wouldn’t even know it was a life form. And yet, life form or not, he liked Grace. He was damn lucky to get her to run the shop this summer, and he knew it.
 * The elements of her past and her family are mostly removed from the remake version of the game (in particulary any references to arranged marriages). Her race and culture are not focused on much at all if any. Missing is much about her parents, and Mark Kobiyashi (arranged engagement), and rather than having been born in Japan, it's implied she was born and raised in the United States her entire life.

Female Representation
Jane Jensen was a fairly late addition to Sierra’s notable designers but no less influential; she worked with Sierra from 1991 to 1999, and continues to design games.5 She contributed to other designers’ work, notably helping with later games in Roberta Williams’s King’s Quest series, which was a common early assignment for Sierra employees. Her most prominent game for Sierra, however, was Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, a 1993 point-andclick adventure utilizing the live-action film capture technology that would reach its apex two years later with Phantasmagoria. Gabriel Knight could be said to be gender inclusive according to Ray’s definition, save again for avatar personalization, as the game progresses primarily on character interactions and interpersonal relationships and is generally nonviolent. It could also be said to be feminist because it ends with an explicit discussion of gendered power dynamics (if the player takes the path that results in the titular character Gabriel surviving the game; there is an alternate ending in which the discussion does not take place). In this conversation, Gabriel’s assistant Grace says that the “real tragedy” is that a family line of “strong women” was dominated by one personality that supernaturally possessed each one. This appears to criticize patriarchal institutions—that singular spirit may well represent patriarchy, and the women in the game, such as Malia Gedde, who has wealth and independence, might have complete agency if they were not restricted to patriarchal space with evil supernatural forces on the side of misogyny. Indeed, Grace’s monologue conforms to the late 1980s/early 1990s trends in feminist popular media: obvious reversals of androcentric tropes and an emphasis on “strong female characters.” And there can be no doubt that in the design process, Jensen had plenty of example and support from other female game designers at Sierra, including Cole and Williams, as well as others such as Lorelei Shannon. Indeed, there seems to have been little criticism of Jensen with regard to her gender, and certainly not the sort of misogynist attacks that now plague female game designers and critics; in fact, most contemporary reviews of Gabriel Knight seem to have been favorable. However, at the same time, games were increasingly being seen as an exclusively masculine space, and there are significant problems with Gabriel Knight if we are to read it as a feminist text. Despite the overtly feminist summary at the end given to Grace as the surviving “strong female character,” the game itself is generally androcentric, and tends to reward Gabriel’s casual objectification of women. Indeed, the climax of the game quickly devolves into the familiar “rescue the princess” pattern that has been present in the video game medium nearly since its inception. Indeed, most of the significant interaction in Gabriel Knight takes place between men, and Malia’s apparent agency and independence are entirely undercut by a supernatural entity that forces her to participate in a sacrificial ritual. In this way, Gabriel Knight is a prime example of a case in which game design attempts to be feminist in its writing and imagery, but fails at the crucial level of gameplay and procedural rhetoric.6 Although the characters are given feminist themes to speak in dialogue, and the game was designed by a woman who was emboldened by publisher and colleague support, the gameplay itself remains firmly androcentric—no doubt a fact that accounts at least in part for its easy acceptance by a wide audience in an increasingly patriarchal medium. It is, of course, possible that Grace’s monologue deliberately represents a significant tension for female game designers: there is desire to produce feminist and gender-inclusive games, but convention and market pressures often dictate otherwise. Thus, the “strong women” of the game industry are controlled by one spirit—that of patriarchal industry pressure—which prevents them from fully coming into their own. Here it seems that it is not sufficient even to have prestige granted to female game designers, since games like Gabriel Knight persist in androcentric tropes despite overall support for their female designers.
 * Some argue that the series is sexist, misogynistic, anti-Feminist, etc. Jane Jensen’s Gabriel Knight: Saying Is Not Doing
 * Some reviewers criticize the game as being misygonistic based on its main character:
 * "You see, Grabriel Knight is, well, a bit of a dick. He’s a sexist and a misogynist, and the game’s dialogue rarely misses a trick in portraying this. Throughout the game’s entirety, his bookshop assistant and on-call researcher Grace bears the brunt of his laddish ‘banter’, however the majority of these quips and ‘jokes’ are either unfunny, unnecessary, or both. In the original Sins of the Fathers, Grace’s tone was rather cutting, often frustrated with Gabriel, often putting him in his place. In the remake, the language remains the same, but the tone is now one far more endearing, which only serves to - or at least attempts to - validate his misogyny. It’s all a bit ‘Ah, that Gabriel, what’s he like?’ as opposed to ‘No, Gabriel. Fuck off.’ For those unaware, it probably should be noted here that Gabriel Knight was created by Jane Jenson of King’s Quest fame which, for me, makes it even more baffling as to why she decided to make her protagonist such a sexist prat in these ways, as it regularly feels forced. It could be argued that in 1993 this sort of narrative might have flown a little further under the radar than it does today - but that doesn’t mean it was acceptable then, and certainly doesn’t mean it’s acceptable now. "
 * One response to the review: "It saddens me that the reviewer chooses to cloud his judgment about the game simply because he disagrees with the moral of a character...It is like criticizing Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby as a novel because a critic does not like Jay Gatsby as a flawed character because of his criminal past or his manipulative personality with Nick and Daisy...Shows a complete lack of basic understanding of the skills of being a media critic."
 * I really can't get past how sexist the main character is, and from many of the reviews I've read this goes beyond the cringeworthy interactions in the first few minutes of the demo that prompted me to write this. The joke about him looking down the other characters shirt..not only is that not cool but it's also a really bad joke to use as a reason not to give people the option to climb the ladder. It kills whatever motivation I might have to buy this game despite having wanted to see what this series was like since I'm a big fan of adventure games. I'm not into playing a game that stars a dude who has a total lack of respect for other peoples personal boundaries, and who doesn't seem to know the meaning of consent.
 * "For those who don’t know of Gabriel Knight, he starts off as a cad. He’s sexist, drunk, lazy, unkempt…the kind of guy women in mysteries love because they get to whip him into shape by story’s end. He’s an author, which explains most of his bad behavior, but not a successful one, which explains the rest. He also manages a book store in New Orleans, along with an assistant who puts up with his behavior because, well, someone has to.""Gabriel and his dialogue are cringe-worthy, and the portrayal of him as a sexist idiot is so ham-fistedly written and acted that it’s hard to take the game as anything other than a bad comedy. That’s fine for nostalgia, but its seems horribly out of place these days. It’s worth your time to get past this, though, because there’s a reason why this is considered one of the greatest adventure games of its age. Aging gamers such as I will have fun remembering why, and new adventure gamers will get the joy of discovery."
 * "It’s a bit like opening a time capsule; for example, Gabriel doesn’t carry a cellphone, gets daily updates from a print newspaper, and unashamedly tosses out sexist come-ons to female characters that would make Duke Nukem blush. Some of the tone-setting dialogue that served to overcome the original’s visual shortcomings now come off as over the top and sometimes even silly. (The evolution of Gabriel’s relationship with socialite Malia Gedde now seems particularly sudden and overwrought.)"
 * "I think it’s a mistake to go into this game’s #MeToo problem without at least mentioning the game’s problematic treatment of race. It seems to imply that the sexual harassment problems matter and that the race problems don’t." https://www.filfre.net/2019/08/gabriel-knight-sins-of-the-fathers/

Lisa H.

August 3, 2019 at 8:45 pm

Gabriel stumbles unto a centuries-old voodoo cult which has a special motivation to make him their latest human sacrifice.

Yikes. I can only wonder what actual adherents of Vodou would think of this (and of that climactic scene).

Reply

Jimmy Maher

August 4, 2019 at 6:19 am

Yeah, that’s a whole other side to the game: where a bunch of white people have to defend the world from the literal black magic of voodoo. I didn’t raise it in the article because a) I was already being hard enough on the game and b) I don’t believe this was done with any conscious agenda or ill intent. Nevertheless, pictures like that one are… not a great look. (See Shades of Gray, which I wrote about quite extensively in an earlier article, for a much more sympathetic and nuanced portrayal of the religion of Haitian Vodou.)

Reply

Ross

August 4, 2019 at 3:27 pm

I think the other two Gabriel Knight games bear out the notion that there’s no agenda or ill intent, but much like the casual attitude toward sexual harassment, it reflects a lazy and unthinking regurgitation of genre tropes that were already showing their age at the time and are seriously uncomfortable now.

Reply

Cliffy

August 7, 2019 at 6:02 pm

Of course the entire history of the cult was explicitly put in motion by white brutality towards black slaves.

Reply

Dan Fabulich

August 12, 2019 at 4:45 pm

I think it’s a mistake to go into this game’s #MeToo problem without at least mentioning the game’s problematic treatment of race. It seems to imply that the sexual harassment problems matter and that the race problems don’t.

Probably neither kind of problem had “ill intent.” I don’t think Jane Jensen regards sexually harassing your staff to be appropriate, any more than she thinks it’s appropriate to steal a frock from a priest. I bet the “white savior” problems were completely unconscious. But that’s why it’s so important to talk about this stuff, to make people conscious of common racist tropes.
 * "Oh yeah, have we mentioned that hero Gabriel Knight is a total scum bag? He's a selfish, sexist pig and you'll want to punch him in the face (or tug on his ridiculous blonde mane) every time he opens his mouth. Anyone who says a protagonist doesn't have to be likeable should be forced to play this game."


 * Some people find Gerde pealing potatoes to be sexist. This was changed in the 20th anniversary reimagining to her doing offic work.


 * Jane Jensen at one time was accused of being an anti-feminist (which she disagreed with being called, but that she had certain issues with feminist positions): "Working within this corporate frame, Jane Jensen claims no feminist political agenda and openly expresses her frustration at two levels of feminist discourse. First, she considers the term archaic and associates feminism with an even older women's movement, that of the suffragettes. It is not, as she hastens to say, that she is anti-feminist. Rather, her own life experience proves to her that the opportunity to express oneself and to empower oneself financially within the industry is available for any woman who develops the skills and has the talent and the drive to do so. She regrets the general absence of women from the field of science and technology."
 * Gabriel Knight is not the only series by Jane Jensen to be accused of sexism (with some seeing as a reflection of her style, and the developer's character). Some of her other series such as Moebius are criticized as well. "It's not difficult in the traditional sense — any determined player with an eye for adventure game logic will be able to complete it. No, I found it hard to get through because of its unlikable lead character, dopey writing, uneven puzzle design and omnipresent sexism." "Pretty much every woman character in Moebius: Empire Rising is a man-hungry shrew or a vapid Desperate Housewives reject. As if that weren't enough, the game contained the two most heinous acts of misogyny I've had to commit while playing a game. The first was baiting a working-class teenager — yeah, the fact that she comes from a poor family is part of the scheme — into showing off her ass to a creepy businessman in order to solve a puzzle. In the other, I had to threaten to cut a woman's face so that "no man will look at her again." Moebius positions these two horrible actions as solutions to puzzles. They are presented as justifiable things that the hero does. A means to an end that makes the poor treatment of women "okay." The framing makes it all the more unacceptable.
 * Gabriel Knight is not the only series by Jane Jensen to be accused of sexism (with some seeing as a reflection of her style, and the developer's character). Some of her other series such as Moebius are criticized as well. "It's not difficult in the traditional sense — any determined player with an eye for adventure game logic will be able to complete it. No, I found it hard to get through because of its unlikable lead character, dopey writing, uneven puzzle design and omnipresent sexism." "Pretty much every woman character in Moebius: Empire Rising is a man-hungry shrew or a vapid Desperate Housewives reject. As if that weren't enough, the game contained the two most heinous acts of misogyny I've had to commit while playing a game. The first was baiting a working-class teenager — yeah, the fact that she comes from a poor family is part of the scheme — into showing off her ass to a creepy businessman in order to solve a puzzle. In the other, I had to threaten to cut a woman's face so that "no man will look at her again." Moebius positions these two horrible actions as solutions to puzzles. They are presented as justifiable things that the hero does. A means to an end that makes the poor treatment of women "okay." The framing makes it all the more unacceptable.

LGBT Representation
16 Apr 2014 at 8:46 am PST profile image You sound like a friend of mine. She has a tendency to walk up behind me, look at the screen and just say "Yum." She definitely changed the way I look at Leon Kennedy and that's not even counting the pictures she's shown me that I can never unsee. There's plenty of work to do for the treatment/representation of women in games... but if you enjoy making hot guys you should do it without any crap from the outside. Enjoy the process of making a game because dagnabbit YOU'RE MAKING A GAME! My only request is that you make better characters than random soldier #172 that I seem to get in most modern games. The gender or hotness doesn't really matter to me when I get more character from a cardboard box. Login to Reply or Like Christian Nutt 16 Apr 2014 at 11:50 am PST profile image Funny you should mention Leon Kennedy. Say what you will about Japan and its treatment of female characters (and trust me, I will) but I think the country is definitely ahead in creating male characters with the female gaze in mind. Login to Reply or Like 2 likes Moxie Blox 16 Apr 2014 at 12:20 pm PST profile image Wow, this is the most hetero-and-cis-normative thing I've ever read. Way to erase queer sexuality in men and women and totally be a transphobe in your opening paragraph. Not impressed. Login to Reply or Like 1 likes Christian Nutt 16 Apr 2014 at 12:45 pm PST profile image The criticism of the first paragraph is broadly fair, though (maybe not my place to say so) I wouldn't call it transphobia (I'm assuming here it's not a deliberate attempt to erase trans women) as much as what you might call "trans-blindness" or, in plain language, a lack of consideration. I say "not my place" because I am not the one directly impacted by these attitudes. However, here's at least a mention of gay men in the body of the piece (being one, I noticed, of course.) My reaction there was more that writing attractive male characters as a gay man may not result in characters that are attractive to heterosexual women -- and relatedly, I don't see why that should be my goal were I to attempt to do so. I guess this is something I think about a lot because of the division in manga culture between boys love/yaoi (gay men written by straight women for straight women) and bara (gay men written by gay men for gay men.) The clarity of that division makes it really obvious that the division exists, even if it's specific in that regard to Japanese culture. Login to Reply or Like 1 likes Moxie Blox 16 Apr 2014 at 1:02 pm PST profile image Whether you want to call it transphobia or trans-blindness or whatever, it all points to the same problem: That people have yet to understand the need for inclusive language and the hurt and upset they're causing to trans individuals everywhere. You're basically slapping their identity in the face every single time you write something that's "plain language," aka, not even scientifically accurate, as people who have "innies" can also be intersex or chromosomally different, and that's not even taking into account their identity. I'm not even asking for a paragraph long caveat explaining the ins and outs of sex and gender identity, I'm just asking the author: Is it really so hard to just qualify your intended audience as "women" and not bring genitals into the equation? I don't think so. As far as the queer sexuality, I think we'll agree to disagree on that point. I don't particularly like the genders being lumped together as "broad generalizations of attractiveness to each other" instead of "preferences." Again, she simply fails miserably at using inclusive language and I don't think shoehorning in a brief mention of gay men really makes up for the tone of the article. The entire thing is just based on personal preferences, and those vary -- this article tries to pigeonhole "What Women Like" as if it's a Cosmo article, and it reads very much like that. I assure you, not all women or gay men like the men described. To offer yet another simple suggestion to the author: Would it have been so hard to say "What *I* find attractive and want to see in video games"? Again, I don't think so. In this day and age to feign complete ignorance to trans or queer issues and write with complete erasure of either is lazy at best, highly offensive at worst. We need more women-centric things in media, but please, NOT like this. Login to Reply or Like 1 likes Christian Nutt 16 Apr 2014 at 1:08 pm PST profile image Thanks for the lengthier response -- it makes it easier to come to grips with what you're saying. I certainly fretted about my own response, because I know there's a fine line, when you take on the role of an interlocutor, between "trying to keep an open mind about what someone might mean" and "covering up for someone who's trying to pull some shit," and very often the latter masquerades as the former because people know they can't get away with covering up shit in an overt way these days. Anyway, I think the real issue is that, yes, this blog post could have used less unnecessary provocation and more "this is the audience I write for and what I know about -- this may not apply in your case." And I think that you can still get something out of it if you play that disclaimer in your head while reading it, even though it's not there. A brief mention of gay men doesn't make up for the tone of the article, so to speak, but what I'm saying the article is what it is, Jensen writes the kind of characters she writes for the audience she has. I don't think either of us would instruct her to stop doing that. I think what we all want is more awareness and less myopia, when it comes to pieces that deal explicitly with gender and sexuality (because, let's face it, the thesis "hot men" crosses that line). Login to Reply or Like Isvar Horning 17 Apr 2014 at 11:39 am PST profile image Seriously, I really didn't like the article. It reinforces the idea that all women like not only men, but certain men, and that there is a recipe for hotness all women like. Also everything that Moxie said. It's absolutely okay to make this characters simply because you like them this way - but I'm quite sure there are people out there that would like to see something else than the same old (and often harmful) tropes repeated over and over again.", "Joyce Wu 19 Apr 2014 at 11:47 pm PST profile image This article is not only offensive, it also provides many poor advice for character and story development and derive "evidence" from generalised assumptions about popular culture and a rose-tinted lens about her own games. Just because you make the NPCs in the game felt attracted towards the protagonist (despite what a dick he is, a la Malachi Rector), it doesn't mean the player will automatically think the protagonist is hot as well. If the protagonist is a dick and has no redeeming traits (again, see Malachi as example), no matter how many NPCs throw themselves prostrate at his foot, the player simply won't buy it. In fact, they will feel insulted that the game has such low opinion of the player's intellect and taste. Finally, Ms Jensen, just because some male game designers and story writers sexualise female characters it doesn't mean you should do the same for male characters. Feminism is about challenging sexism, and you are merely reinforcing sexist stereotypes, albeit for male characters. Login to Reply or Like 1 likes Audie Bakerson 27 Aug 2014 at 10:40 am PST profile image I'm really not surprised to see all the MEN (and it's always men who think they are being progressive and feminist who say women aren't allowed to do X and call everything sexist...) saying girls aren't allowed to have a sexual interest in fictional character. I regularly see exactly this kind of men tell me there can't possibly be ANY women interested in serialized female character and that they are all for men. I can't pretend to understand what makes a man attractive to a normal girl, or that there is a PERFECT overlap between what an average male designer and a female player who likes girls will find attractive (I certainly don't find a character walking around in a bikini and heels 24/7 too attractive even though it shows up enough to indicate a lot of designers find it attractive), but this idea that women somehow lack a sex drive or lack the empathy (and accusing women of a lack of empathy is of course a horrible, sexist thing to do) to "relate to" a character unless they are the same sex/skin color/whatever (never-mind their situation, personality, position, experiences, skills or anything else) or that they HAVE to relate to a character instead of being able to enjoy unique characters who are fun to watch, even if they aren't anything like themselves (My favorite video character is a sassy, hermaphrodite, man-eating, "wench"-hating animated "puppet" from times primordial who is loyal to the protagonist. How do I "relate to" THAT?!) is a really condescending sexist viewpoint I constantly hear supposedly "feminist" men voice. Keep up the good fight. " https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JaneJensen/20140414/215473/WRITING_HOT_MEN_FOR_GAMES_Yes_please.php
 * Jane Jensen has caused oontroversy, and has been accused of being transphobic for her love of writing 'hot male characters' such as Gabriel Knight. Ian Richard
 * Bruno is portrayed as a camp gay figure, and talks about his possible boyfriend, Cid. He is described in the novel as; "“Bruno was gay, which was fine, but he was also a flaming bitch, which was not."
 * Several characters in GK2 appear to be gay or bisexual in nature. This possibly also due to the Werewolf curse.
 * There is a lesbian couple in GK3.
 * "Implicitly gay characters’ markers are a bit more ambiguous. Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within,for example, features a historian who helps the two lead characters. At one point, the historian mentions that he identifies with King Ludwig II (known to be gay) in certain respects but is glad he lives in a more tolerant time. The game also features a secret society of male werewolves and draws parallels between werewolves and homosexuality. Implicitly lesbian female characters are read by players as homosexual when they flirt with other female characters. For example, in Red Dead Redemptionan NPC woman dancing with afemale sex worker in a bar has been read as potentially a lesbian by many players."

Miscellenous

 * https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/17670
 * GK2 was contentious to some players for its overuse of prescripted full motion video and streamlined gameplay and puzzles.
 * Gk3 was controversial to some individuals for hits use of 3D camera, in a time of very early 3D. It's also famous for a few weird puzzles like the Cat-hair mustache puzzle.