One of those need feedback from other people moments...

[baratron]

The new Pokemon game features a character called Professor Oak, who is a Pokemon researcher. You are a kid who's been sent out to make notes on as many species of Pokemon as possible. Every so often, you contact Prof Oak to tell him how you're doing. If you've collected enough Pokemon, he sends one of his helpers out to give you an item. The helpers are, for some reason, referred to as Professor Oak's Aides.

So I posted the following message on a game help board:
Title: Professor Oak's Aides...
Content: Where can I find the Aides for Amulet Coin and Exp Share? Oak says he's sent Aides to me, but I dunno where he sent them!

I received the following reply:
You can only get Oak's Aids if you become really good friends with him. I'm not sure if you have to be a girl or not.

[Poll #364174]

I was pretty upset by that reply, so marked the message for moderation - but the only way to do that was to tick a box, I couldn't actually give feedback on why it was offensive. I'm assuming the moderator either didn't get the Aides --> AIDS switch, or thought it was perfectly acceptable humour. I'm wondering whether or not I should kick up a stink about it.

Further context is that I'm already pissed off with GameFAQs for refusing an FAQ of mine (that got accepted by two other sites!), so I might be biased. Hence I need cluing in from others.

One more question: would it be more, less or equally offensive if he'd written: You can only get Oak's Aids if you become really good friends with him. I'm not sure if you have to be gay or not.?

Comments

[johnckirk.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's offensive, but I don't think it's funny either. Honestly, it mostly reminds me of the ICSF "dodgy comments" list.

As for the gay variant, I don't know anything about the Prof Oak character, but there's generally an assumption that people are heterosexual by default. So, I'd interpret the current reply as "I assume he'd only want to have sex with girls, but I could be wrong", whereas I'd interpret the other version as "AIDS only affects gay people" - that would mainly make me think that the poster was an idiot, but again it wouldn't really offend me.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

My feelings are very similar. The 'joke' is just a rather weak pun, and not one that shows any wit. It's crude, but I don't consider it particularly offensive.

If someone had made such a comment to me (down t'pub or wherever), my immediate reaction would not be to take offense, but to think (and quite possibly say) that the person making the comment was a bit of a pillock.

[kiya]

Yeah, that's about how I feel about it.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I couldn't really say "yes" because I don't consider making a joke about something that isn't funny necessarily offensive. What makes a joke offensive to me is a lot more complicated than what can usually fit in a poll.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

My automatic filing system stuck it into "Unhelpful Response" and moved on, but when I puzzled over it I got it. I find it stupid and a little offensive.

[elynne.livejournal.com]

... maybe I don't have the right context - does the game have differences between male and female characters? Is that something that could be a legitimate "hint" (as in, your character has to be female to get certain items from Professor Oak)? I didn't even catch the "Aides - Aids" thing the first time I read it, hence the "I don't get it" response; I thought it might be some kind of... well, if there's male and female characters, and only female characters can get certain items (and males presumably get others), or if only female characters have to "make friends" with the Professor... then I'd think there was something wrong with the way the game is set up.

*shrug* Sorry... I guess I'm the unhelpful datapoint variance for this one. :]

[baratron.livejournal.com]

No, it is helpful - because I was thinking maybe the board moderator had looked at my mark for moderation and thought "what? That's clearly been clicked by mistake". Yeah, on first read it comes across like a genuine hint - especially as it has been typed as Aids not AIDS.

[hiddenpaw.livejournal.com]

I find it offensive but not because it's about something that's not funny. Saying something funny about something that isn't funny isn't bad in it's self but given the adverage age of human charaters in Pokemon games adds an additional dimention to the joke on top of the aids one I think it's distastful on two grounds.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Professor Oak is an adult, old enough to have a grandson (who is your rival in the game).

[hiddenpaw.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should have said Player charaters. (as opposed to NPC's)
Either way it desturbs me.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. Yes - the player character is a child, around 10 years old. Whatever way round, the 'joke' involves implications of paedophilia, which is pretty distasteful (understatement of the year there!).

[allison-kennedy.livejournal.com]

my response to this is maybe it's a translation issue? Is english the first language of the people on the games forum?
it definately wouldn't be the first language of the game.

just a thought

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Hello person I don't know!

In general, Pokemon games are very well translated - with much less "Engrish" than a lot of Japanese-produced games. Clearly they have the budget to work with - and also a fairly big regionalisation team in both NorAm and Europe. The English translation is usually done by the NorAm team and not changed for the British release (hence we get American spellings, but I'm fairly immune to it). Referring to Professor Oak's helpers as Aides is a legitimate use of an English word - and a usage which is much more common in NorAm iirc.

The Aides --> AIDS thing was something that another user of GameFAQs posted on the board. Like elynne said, it reads like a genuine hint - except that there is no difference in ability between the male and female character in the game. You both get to be friends with Professor Oak (friends, not "friends" - he's an elderly man and you're a 10 y.o. child). I am sure it's a deliberate joke and not a misunderstanding, because GameFAQs is a very large American site, and the vast majority of the posters are teenagers. That's why it bugged me so much - it came across to me as a teenage kiddie making a joke about AIDS, which is this hilariously funny illness that kills gays and druggies - not AIDS the unpleasant medical condition with a huge amount of stigma attached, which can stop you getting a job if your employer finds out, which can stop you getting access to medical care if you can't afford to pay for it, and which is killing thousands of innocent people all over the world. I just thought "God, if you knew someone who was HIV positive - maybe someone who got it from a blood transfusion or by being raped - you'd think twice before making stupid 'jokes' like that."

[allison-kennedy.livejournal.com]

hi there, (i am a friend of princesskaro)

thanks for explaining, i think i read too quickly. you are obviously well informed about games.

in hindsight i agree that it is a tactless remark, made by someone who should know better.