[Choc]

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/06/513794/

tldr;

Female Australian journalist went to E3 for PCPowerplay magazine for the first time

Sat down to demo station clearly ready to play, looking like she is a gamer

PR assumed she didn't play shooters or games

Took over

This happened during various demos


Thoughts?

This is pretty disgusting to be honest. Especially if it happened a lot. If it was a one off you might say well that PR is just shit, but this seems to be systemic as it occured multiple times.



Don't video game companies realise that by alienating the entire female population (or at least doing their very best to), they are losing out of fifty percent revenue potential.

It's just disgraceful.

FWIW, i used to be a games journo and every demo i was shown never was the control taken from me. Probably because i am male....

[JDSN]

I bet it was in the Eidos booth.

[Juice]

Wait, why didn't she name the PR shithead's game/company?

[pje122]

Oh the humanity

[Htown]

That's messed up.

Some real sexist shit.

in b4 Privilege GAF


EDIT: dammit, too late they're already here

[famousmortimer]

The rampant sexism that still exists, and not just in our little videogame club, is disgusting. If it was just us, I could pass it off as a boy's club. But even in stuff like the atheist community and the skeptic community there is this feeling that all the girls there aren't as smart and their opinions don't matter.


And while the anonymity of the internet does lead to a fair amount of racism, it doesn't hold a candle to sexism. Any youtube video with a girl in it has comments about "go make me a sandwich" or some stupid shit.


This article is gross. The whole world is gross. Men need to grow the fuck up.

[Jintor]

Wait, why didn't she name the PR shithead's game/company?

Blacklisting is and remains a common practice.

[Inorigo]

I bet it was in the Eidos booth.

Well played.

[exmachina64]

It's disgusting, but isn't the level of sexism in the games industry and society obvious at this point?

[Wario64]

Next E3, they'll just print your Gamercard on your badge.

[SolidSnakex]

I bet it was in the Eidos booth.

I know you're kidding, but she only says that the first time it was PR for a well known military shooter. So, that should be MoH, Battlefield and CoD. And i'm not sure that CoD is ever shown on anything other than the 360 before its release. At least not at gaming shows.

[Chacranajxy]

Did this happen to other female journalists, too? Because whether any outrage from either camp is justified depends on that.

[Baconsammy]

Stupid and unfortunate? Sure. Disgusting and disgraceful? No, it personally doesn't hit those levels for me.

[BocoDragon]

Echoes of the Aisha Tyler thing.

[Yo Gotti]

Nobody is at fault.

This is simply a generalization the female gamers will have to shed over time.

It's not too hard for me being in my early 20's to think back to when gaming was pretty much a "nerdy" guy thing.

[EmCeeGramr]

I know you're kidding, but she only says that the first time it was PR for a well known military shooter. So, that should be MoH, Battlefield and CoD. And i'm not sure that CoD is ever shown on anything other than the 360 before its release. At least not at gaming shows.

Given the parts about crumbling buildings and cars, and animals and blades of grass and brush, I bet it was either MOH or Crysis 3.

EDIT: Yeah ARMAIII is a good guess too.

[Htown]

Did this happen to other female journalists? Because whether any outrage from either camp is justified depends on that.

Does it?

[IC_Champion]

That's just dumb and bad PR work to boot.

[Gen X]

FWIW, i used to be a games journo and every demo i was shown never was the control taken from me. Probably because i am male....

I remember being invited to a MS office years ago and shown an 80% code for Ninja Gaiden for the first time. I was handed the control, completed the first levels end boss (after a couple of deaths) and the guy who was with me during this session left the office calling in other co workers 'This guy has beaten the first boss on Ninja Gaiden' prompting about half a dozen to come into the gaming room. No one in the office of the gaming division, all male, could do it.

[MuddyDonut]

I bet it was in the Eidos booth.

.

[awaiken]

How awful that two women in the past two weeks have had to proclaim "I am a gamer" to dumbasses who don't believe them.

[El Sloth]

It's disgusting, but isn't the level of sexism in the games industry and society obvious at this point?

Doesn't mean we should stop pointing it out and shaming them appropriately.

[Choc]

the guesses so far on the game is ARMA 3 and Metro Last Light

[Dragonzord]

Echoes of the Aisha Tyler thing.

Yeah, but these people were actually rude to her.

[BorkBork]

The rampant sexism that still exists, and not just in our little videogame club, is disgusting. If it was just us, I could pass it off as a boy's club. But even in stuff like the atheist community and the skeptic community there is this feeling that all the girls there aren't as smart and their opinions don't matter. .

Funn you should mention this. My good friend who attends skeptic meetings just recently had first hand experience with some of the members who were dismissive of how she and other women were being treated. She's decided never to going back. It's just a messed up situation.

[Dresden]

I bet it was in the Eidos booth.

They probably assumed she needed some protectin'.

[RockmanWhore]

Maybe it's just the results of his experience. Like, most time he gets to meet girls professionally they either hate games or are casuals.

[NintendoGal]

For what it's worth, I've gone to many booths for demos before for numerous FPS games and never once had the controls taken away from me. Mostly the folks running the booths are happy that I'm there trying out their game.

Maybe she just didn't look like she wanted to play? I've been asked whether or not I want them to play while I write many times, but I'm sure that's different than what this situation is.

[Choc]

It's disgusting, but isn't the level of sexism in the games industry and society obvious at this point?

There's a famous saying that goes something along the lines of that society and civilizations only put up with what they choose to.

basically its saying, if you want something changed, you need to make noise and a lot of it.

I wish i could remember it :< it was one of my most liked sayings

[ZombieTimeMachine]

It's disgusting, but isn't the level of sexism in the games industry and society obvious at this point?

Plenty of the reactions in the recent sexism in games threads have shown that there are people who are completely oblivious to this.

[phosphor112]

You know what bothers me more than this article? The need to post "WASD" pictures all over it...

Really?

[Choc]

For what it's worth, I've gone to many booths for demos before for numerous FPS games and never once had the controls taken away from me. Mostly the folks running the booths are happy that I'm there trying out their game. Maybe she just didn't look like she wanted to play? I've been asked whether or not I want them to play while I write many times, but I'm sure that's different than what this situation is.

read the article

her hands were on wasd and the mouse. I think she was ready

[Nirolak]

Given the parts about crumbling buildings and cars, and animals and blades of grass and brush, I bet it was either MOH or Crysis 3.

I don't think MOH had grass or animals, so I'll say Crysis 3 or Far Cry 2 (since I think you play military personnel in the co-op?).

[Zoramon089]

Why didn't she ask for the keyboard back

[toddhunter]

How awful that two women in the past two weeks have had to proclaim "I am a gamer" to dumbasses who don't believe them.

One potential solution is for her to say 'no I know what I am doing fuck off'. Mind you I would assume anybody who really wanted to play another generic shooter at E3 doesn't really know what they are doing anyway.

[EmCeeGramr]

I don't think MOH had grass or animals, so I'll say Crysis 3 or Far Cry 2 (since I think you play military personnel in the co-op?).

Far Cry didn't occur to me because of the phrase, "military shooter," but you're right, it is possible.

[JDSN]

I know you're kidding, but she only says that the first time it was PR for a well known military shooter. So, that should be MoH, Battlefield and CoD. And i'm not sure that CoD is ever shown on anything other than the 360 before its release. At least not at gaming shows.

It could be Arma 3, in that case id probably given the keyboard to the guy willingly. Anyways, it seems kinda weird that she didnt ask for the keyboard back, maybe she just wanted to write this cathartic article, but she could have done it while also changing the perception of the preview guy by proving him she could play the damn game.

[awaiken]

Wait, why didn't she name the PR shithead's game/company?

She was descriptive of the game enough to make it clear which game she is referencing without explicitly saying so. She actually did a pretty nice job of doing that in this piece.

[Tylahedras]

So do female PR people not make this mistake? Because that would surprise me.

[udivision]

So... she was treated like a casual? *dramatic echo*

[Chacranajxy]

Does it?

Yeah. What if the PR person took over for a reason other than her being a girl, and the person in question played it up because writing about sexism in the game industry is in vogue now? Something along those lines.

Though upon more than just skimming the article, it sounds like it happened more than once. So, I guess that could indicate a problem, potentially. But maybe not.

I need to go to bed. Too tired to muster up an argument one way or the other.

[thetrin]

Gaming is a boys' club to a horrible fault. But that's what happens when an industry exists in a sausage party incubator for 15 years.

It's fucking sad and reprehensible.

[RyougaSaotome]

It could be Arma 3, in that case id probably given the keyboard to the guy willingly. Anyways, it seems kinda weird that she didnt ask for the keyboard back, maybe she just wanted to write this cathartic article, but she could have done it while also changing the perception of the preview guy by proving him she could play the damn game.

I can also imagine she was frustrated enough that that BS actually happened to think to do that.

When stupid shit like this happens to people, making the seemingly obvious choice isn't always so simple.

This is definitely messed up.

Edit: And also, yeah, blacklisting. It sucks.

[Dragonzord]

Why didn't she ask for the keyboard back

That's my thing. If you find something like that offensive, why not stand up for it? You're at E3, not a rally. She should have told them, 'No, I know what I'm doing. Why do you think that I don't?' People like that need to be put in their place.

It sounds like she just went 'okay.jpg'

[NintendoGal]

read the article her hands were on wasd and the mouse. I think she was ready

I think I skimmed over that part. Though I will say that even when I've looked ready, the folks needed to take things away from me for just a moment to set things up properly. :: shrug ::

[EmCeeGramr]

It could be Arma 3, in that case id probably given the keyboard to the guy willingly. Anyways, it seems kinda weird that she didnt ask for the keyboard back, maybe she just wanted to write this cathartic article, but she could have done it while also changing the perception of the preview guy by proving him she could play the damn game.

Why didn't she ask for the keyboard back

That's my thing. If you find something like that offensive, why not stand up for it? You're at E3, not a rally. She should have told them, 'No, I know what I'm doing. Why do you think that I don't?' People like that need to be put in their place. It sounds like she just went 'okay.jpg'

From the tone of the article, she probably didn't know how to react at the time.


EDIT: Yeah, "simulation-grade shooter," it's almost definitely ARMA.

[Jintor]

Maybe she did and it wasn't really important to her overall larger point that everywhere she went people immediately assumed she was just eyecandy or something.

Full disclosure btw, I work at PCPowerPlay.

[Tenck]

Did this happen to other female journalists, too? Because whether any outrage from either camp is justified depends on that.

Hahaha, you serious?

Edit: Yes, yes you are.

[Dragonzord]

If they're demoing it on a keyboard, it's definitely Arma.

Metro, Far Cry, MOH, etc would all be demoed on a gamepad because it's easier to pack even though it's the pc version. Arma wouldn't work with a gamepad.

[Chacranajxy]

Hahaha, you serious? Edit: Yes, yes you are.

Why is it so outrageous I think an isolated incident might not be a big deal? It could've happened to anyone, in that case.

If you have someone who looks like they have no idea what they're doing, potentially holding up a line of people who need to demo something... yeah, you're gonna take over. If it just happened to be a girl, is it suddenly sexism? Possibly, but not necessarily.