EDIT @Anihawk: Is someone, who is against female quotas in jobs against women? Someone who is against male quotas against men? Being for or against (enforcing) equality in non-basic-rights does not equate being against whomever such an action could help. Being against enforcing a higher number of female protagonists for instance does not mean being against women either. Now, using extreme measures and attacking the opposing side personally, as well as mobbing them (as certainly has happened with Wu and Quinn) is inexcusable, but it does not mean one should just deliberately describe the motives wrong or overgeneralize.
you seem to believe there is a line. i really don't see it.
i don't know about hiring quotas (especially where males weren't being hired but needed to?), but actively turning away ideas, downplaying games with female focus, and turning off the possibility to more female-infused influences is dumb and wrong and bad for the industry.
in the 70s and 80s, the video game industry was like the early film industry. early films were made by stage actors and magicians and artists and a random assortment of people who never picked up a camera before because cameras never existed. from that we had a very creative and new industry from many different backgrounds. in the 70s and 80s, the people who got into game development were graphic artists, programmers, authors, and all other kinds of people from different walks of life. it's how we got pitfall and super mario bros. and mother. at a certain point, new designers were people who grew up playing video games. they had no other life skill to offer the industry. some became auteurs in a way anyhow (like michel ancel), but i think by and large the industry has condensed itself into a very samey kind of game design, especially on consoles and handhelds.
the industry should welcome different perspectives. it should bring in people with different kinds of upbringings and
encourage people who are not included to become interested in the industry. this can be done by simply hiring those kinds of people who are qualified onto the job; it can be done by eliminating
wage disparity and treat them like actual fucking people; it can be done by creating games with characters and stories only meant to appeal to one very specific group of people. who knows what other worlds and ideas are out there if we're telling half of the world to shut the fuck up?
and that's if i'm just looking at it in a 100% selfish view.
i want better things and more things that are better. it doesn't upset me though. it baffles me that people would fight against progress like that, but what actually upsets me is that people send rape and death threats against women in particular for pointing out this huge disparity, for having pointed out this culture in the first place.
