For those who don’t know what the Guybrush paradox is here is a quick explanation: The Guybrush/Galbrush paradox states that modern-day game developers choose to use your bog-standard generic white male as protagonists because using a female protagonist will require them to make her a Mary Sue character, if not the developer will often be accused of being sexist or misogynistic for creating a female character with flaws. What is a Mary Sue? Mary Sue is a female character who is so competent at everything she tries without fail, a prime example of this would be Rey Skywalker:

The male version of a Mary Sue would be a Gary Stu. and the same “rules” apply to the male version. So with that in mind let us look at Rock Paper Shotgun’s review of the Resident Evil 3 remake:

“Violence against women” IN A GAME ABOUT THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! You know what is outdated to me as a gamer? Video game journalists and people being overly sensitive about gratuitous violence in media and video games. The way Jill dies in the game is perfectly realistic given the situations she gets herself into, and I for one glad they show it rather than a static camera where the character gets killed with: “You have died” written across the screen. The only difference between the deaths in the original version and the new games death sequences is the graphical fidelity and realism which has improved in leaps and bounds since the old games. For me as a gamer, these death animations actually inspire me to play better, and more carefully.

Remember those grisly deaths scenes we got to experience while playing as Isaac in Dead Space? Don’t remember these people writing entire think pieces criticizing it because as we all know violence towards men in video games is treated (differently) than women, but we do get pieces criticizing Tomb Raider and Resident Evil 3 because clearly there is a double standard when a female character is involved. Talk about a blatant double standard:

Good fucken God! That second paragraph got kinda detailed for someone who DEFINITELY isn’t into gore porn. No way. This guy ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT find it arousing at all! Not one bit!:

“Vessel for anyone’s fetish.” You mean like tentacle porn, Guro or gore porn? The number of people who play the game for that exact reason would be absolutely zero. Why does it sound like this guys is projecting his own deviant fantasies onto the character and game? Having said that, Jill is shown to be extremely tough and strong by managing to go through all of what Nemesis and Raccoon City was able to throw at her, and she still persevered. In his effort to grandstand and show his wokeness in regards to female representation in video games, he actually was more insulting towards the subject matter

Modern game reviews have become so cringe educing over the past decade or so. I remember a time when game reviews were about the graphics, gameplay mechanics, and playability of the game. Now it seems to be all about “how does the game offend me?” or “How can I use this review to push my social or political views.” And as expected the reviewer pretty much looks like your stereotypical male feminist ally:

Rock Paper Shotgun has been the low budget version of Polygon for years now. They have also long since fallen into the same trap as other video game journalistic outlets. Appearing to be super progressive as possible, unaware of what actually goes on in the industry while drifting further out of touch with gamers and their reader base. And articles like these are even further proof of this. Before I end this article if you are looking for some light reading in regards to the Guybrush Paradox, I suggest reading this article.