Lord British and De Snel!
In addition to the news about Pet Taming and story development included in today’s update to the Shroud of the Avatar Kickstarter campaign, this video of a conversation between Richard Garriott and Dallas Snell was also posted:
De Snel! Reminds me of Wolfenstein. “…Gypsy profiling…” around 6:15.
From worst to best, according to Garriott:
Brutus (rape)
Popeye (out of forgiveness)
Wimpy (jerk)
Olive Oyl (properly motivated but made a bad choice)
Chris (I don’t put him high on the inappropriate list, relatively speaking)
Interesting to me that Richard named Brutus as the main bad guy, considering he just set a price and waited for others to act. Garriott even suggested that Brutus essentially raped Olive Oyl, which is insane as she slept with him voluntarily in order to achieve an objective unrelated to him. Brutus might be crass, but he didn’t rape Olive Oyl.
Chris–the least-evil choice by Garriott–was the only one to physically assault another player. Not cool Chris. Soon guys with crossbows will start showing up.
Dallas then lays the smack down with the Chris verdict and ends with this classic and humorous line: “As long as violence is the worst thing you can do to somebody” at 6:55.
There’s a technical term for what Brutus did: extortion. And extorted sex is, by definition, non-consensual, no?
Extortion is forcing someone to do something. Olive Oyl didn’t have to do it. She had other options. She wasn’t forced into anything. It was a trade, not extortion.
Fair enough; Brutus’ act doesn’t fit the legal definition of the term. At the same time, he set an unreasonable price on the use of his boat, essentially forcing Olive Oyl into a sexual encounter based on her need for passage. Her agreement to the act is in some respect coerced, making it non-consensual, or at least not fully consensual.
Does that mean that prostitution is non-consensual? They are doing it for money. They have other options, but they choose that profession to get what they want (assuming they aren’t forced into it). It may not be something they are particularly happy about doing, but it is consensual. Olive Oyl did it to get what she wanted. That isn’t coercion. It’s prostitution.
Well, I don’t know whether this applies to Australia, but having done a fair bit of work with the inner city street population in my university years (mostly church group volunteerism at kitchens and the like), and also based on what my wife was able to relate about her experiences working at the battered women’s center in Edmonton, I’d have to say that the majority of active prostitution is of an essentially non-consensual — or not fully consensual — nature, yes. That isn’t to say that there aren’t prostitutes who actively choose that “career” and lifestyle, but the number who do is fairly small compared to the number who are forced into it by addiction, abuse, or simple human needs (hunger, providing for children, etc.).
It’s all well and good to say that other jobs exist; this is true enough. But equally, at the practical level, it isn’t always, or often, that easy…especially when the aforementioned factors are involved.
Of course, that’s the general case. Olive Oyl’s case is a bit different. I still rank Brutus as worst, because his actions exploited Olive Oyl’s needs in a profoundly unjust and violating manner. Equally, I rank Olive Oyl
fourthsecond because (as you note) she had the option not to act upon the demand; she could simply have chosen not to visit Popeye (although now we’re getting outside the strict confines of the scenario). Still, Brutus was the instigating factor in her betrayal of Popeye, and coercive and exploitive, so I rank him higher.If Olive Oyl needed the boat because it was the only way to get food and medical supplies for her family (or any other real necessity), Brutus’s action could be described as price gouging (the price is “unfairly” high). Olive Oyl’s needs are purely emotional though. Like wanting the newest iPhone or seeing the Grand Canyon. As such I think it fits more into the category of an abusive monopoly on a commodity.
Did Brutus have the boat or Wimpy? Shit…I can’t remember the story now. Oh well. Horse sufficiently beaten.
“I’d have to say that the majority of active prostitution is of an essentially non-consensual — or not fully consensual — nature, yes. That isn’t to say that there aren’t prostitutes who actively choose that “career” and lifestyle”
In this case, Olive Oyl did choose it.
Quite. Which is why I rank her second, after the one who gave her the relevant choice.
My List:
Olive Oyl (betrayal)
Chris (beating up Popeye for being upset)
Wimpy (jerk)
Brutus (asshole, but he didn’t force her to do anything. It was her choice)
Popeye (understandable reaction)
Olive Oyl should have stolen the boat from Wimpy. 😛 Wimpy wouldn’t have cared, Popeye wouldn’t have cared. Problem solved. 😛