Messofanego
Banned
"Why can't we just talk about games?" Matt Lees
I wish we could just discuss videogames like civil equals. But whenever a woman speaks up or criticises anything in the videogame industry or the games, theyre not felt welcome and are threatened at points. Until that stops happening, we cant just get back to videogames discussing 30vs60fps, console wars, or lugoscababib discobiscuits. What if it happens to women you know? The irony of wanting to silence and making this bigger than what it is while complaining about SJWs taking over our vidya gams surely must be deafening.
Ive got a sister, a mom, and whenever it happens, hopefully a wife. I try to share my hobby with people who dont play videogames as much as possible because Im passionate about it. Sharing and showing them the worth of a relatively new medium while destroying misconceptions is fun. Having been exposed to this for years, my sister has grown to be a big fan of fighting games (Dead or Alive), racing (Project Gotham Racing), and action (Ninja Gaiden, El Shaddai). I dont even care much for DoA or El Shaddai. She goes ga ga for Alice Madness Returns, as does my kid niece whos all about those pretty dresses and still-brilliant flowing hair physics. We reminisce constantly about how fantastic the Tokyo radio station in PGR 2 was (Moopie Kagoshima) and lamented the lack of regional stations in further PGR games. I let her play Hohokum and Wolfenstein recently, she loved both. She loves seeing me play Lovely Planet because its got a vibrant artstyle with catchy music while still being a shooter, like a super cute response to most shooters. My mom recognises many games, like she knows the upcoming Quantum Break is by the Alan Wake and Max Payne guys. I show them all kinds of games to offset the stereotype of hyperviolent games because maybe theyre not into that. One time at a party I mentioned videogames as being awesome and a similarly aged girl (our familys friends daughter) generalises videogames as being just for men, full of violence and have nothing to say. I then go on to cite that there are many genres and they dont all contain violence (adventure, puzzle, sim, rhythm), and how some games are now more socially conscious or have contemporary elements. I mention that I played adventure games like Broken Sword 1-4 back in Pakistan with my cousins of whom many are female, and they love backseat gaming, figuring out the puzzles, and having gos at solving stuff while basking in great hilarious writing and characters. They like that the games dont require twitch reflexes, are more about thinking, and about stories.
Heres my main point: If they ever properly get into videogames as their own hobby, I want them to be welcomed with open arms. Right now, that sadly wont happen as unanimously. They will get attacked for their gender, will be thrown ad hominems about their looks and probably get really disgusting insults. They might even get hacked or their personal information let out if they speak on a bigger basis through a show or be more internet visible. That hasnt happened yet but that doesnt mean I should drop any empathy towards whats occurring right now. It doesnt have to get to directly affecting me until I care about this.
Right now, the women in gaming circles are pretty damn hardcore. Hear me out, Im not about to go on about fake geeks or some garbage, just that men are uninformed if women talking about this hobby already equals being casuals. Why is women sharing your hobby a bad thing, exactly? Moviebob had a great video on this delusional thinking. You wouldnt want that fake geek test on you, male geeks, right? They dont need to qualify for you to discuss with them in a proper manner. New people might even appreciate your more informed input if you went about it in a more positive welcoming way. Theyve braved through all those murky waters since the videogame industry was in its budding phases and was full of sexist advertising that basically said women arent allowed in this hobby or theyre a nuisance. Theyre much braver than men like me.
Imagine if I, as a muslim, publicly stepped on the internet through messageboards or youtube videos or social media at a time where I was attacked just for that. No matter what I had to say, how valuable my contributions to discussion were, it always came back to this detail. That would not make me want to open up anymore and just pipe down or leave. Ive had a few bigoted remarks when I put my face or voice on a youtube video from years ago; didnt get that many comments anyway, so I would easily delete them. The thing is, you still have to read them. Now imagine this a hundred times more, and you have to read all of them to then delete them. It would take a toll. Eventually, you might even crack and get angry, not giving the most measured of responses with rants. Then people would criticise you just because of your tone, rather than the message. Youll respond to fire with fire. The fact that many women gamers dont do that should show their greater maturity over others who decide to give them hate on a regular basis.
Does this have to get to national news levels for it to make sense that its not cool to lob death threats, make them leave their house, or ruin someones life through cyber-bullying? We already have news stories of people committing suicide because of cyber-bullying in other circles like school. Does it have to get to that before cyber-bullying against women is dealt with a zero-tolerance policy? Women and the sciences or tech (STEM) is already a bigger issue that is covered in many spaces. Here is just a video about women science hosts on youtube. Look, we can criticise Anitas videos on their content, just like we do with any other video. Jimquisition, Matt Lees, Extra Credits, Errant Signal, Matthewmatosis, TotalBiscuit, whatever have been discussed and argued over with civility without majorly resorting to personal insults. You can still disagree on many points. In video shows for other entertainment mediums, it took a while but now the audience isnt as toxic towards Grace Randolph of Beyond The Trailer (movies)/Think About the Ink (comic books) or Nostalgia Chick (old movies), to name just a couple of examples. Im sure you know more.
Other mediums are better at this. Maybe because theyre older, I dont know. Even the biggest blockbuster movies targeted towards men have only a little over the majority demographic of males going to see the movies. Guardians of the Galaxy isnt great on the female representation side, Gamorra is kind of a boring strong female character who gets nerfed and becomes a love interest, but women are still going to see that movie whatever the quality of that. It had a only a 56% male ratio on its opening, which youd think would be more hardcore comic book fans of a not as well known series who would happen to be mostly male. Expendables 3, a franchise just for males wanting geriatric heroes to bask in the nostalgia cash grab jerk off from mediocre action movies, had only a 61% ratio of males. I was expecting like 80%. Do you remember the trailer where they targeted female-centric movies like Eat Pray Love and wanted men to fight back by going to see their movie? Where if you didnt go see it, you didnt identify as a MAN? So, why just 61% for the latest movie? Maybe because movies are just more acceptable for everyone, no matter what the target demographics are. Lucy and Maleficient, two movies with female protagonists/antagonists, have been 2014 movies that have actually been #1 on the box office. Hunger Games, Twilight, you name it. Sure, Scarlett Johannson and Angelina Jolie are household names by now, but how do you think they got there? By being accepted. Movie studios dont target just to men all the time. They gave women platforms to be famous and be in popular movies, they marketed them. Where have we seen that for videogames starring female protagonists no matter what the quality of female characters are, with the exception of the classic Lara Croft? Why didnt games like Beyond Good and Evil, Alice Madness Returns, or even Remember Me, have as huge a marketing push by big publishers, no matter the difference in quality? Women make as big a proportion of the gaming audience as for movies, despite the lack of targeting to them, but if were going to dismiss them anytime they want to become less than casual mobile gamers, then its expected they dont want to jump in.
Just stop. Listen. I know thats a message thats been repeated many times over these kind of issues, but its beneficial. We boys and men have been able to get our message across without being interrupted at every second. Give others from minority groups their full voice. THEN you can share your love or civil criticisms and Im sure theyd love to hear feedback if its of a sound quality. Imagine youre responding as if theyre on a public panel or lecture where others can hear you on the mic (because technically thats how it is, just on a digital level). That might help with using appropriate language and arguments other than whataboutism false equivalences.
Im probably preaching to the choir. Most likely overreacting. But damnit, women are part of our community too. Whatever sexuality, race, age, gender, I want more perspectives and voices. Thats just going to make for more interesting discussions. More interesting games. More interesting experiences. More interesting lives. White knight harder. SJW harder. Who knows, you might even get a real-life 3D waifu from all of this!
Want to get back to talking about videogames? Fend up against harassment. Against sexism, misogyny, or discrimination. Then women dont have to bring it up because there arent any problems. We can then talk about cooler stuff like subsurface scattering or how the global illumination kinda fucks with the volumetric lighting or "did you see the tessellation on Agent 47's head PHWOOAAAHH" or whatever technical malarkey. Fucking win-win, mate!
I wish we could just discuss videogames like civil equals. But whenever a woman speaks up or criticises anything in the videogame industry or the games, theyre not felt welcome and are threatened at points. Until that stops happening, we cant just get back to videogames discussing 30vs60fps, console wars, or lugoscababib discobiscuits. What if it happens to women you know? The irony of wanting to silence and making this bigger than what it is while complaining about SJWs taking over our vidya gams surely must be deafening.
Ive got a sister, a mom, and whenever it happens, hopefully a wife. I try to share my hobby with people who dont play videogames as much as possible because Im passionate about it. Sharing and showing them the worth of a relatively new medium while destroying misconceptions is fun. Having been exposed to this for years, my sister has grown to be a big fan of fighting games (Dead or Alive), racing (Project Gotham Racing), and action (Ninja Gaiden, El Shaddai). I dont even care much for DoA or El Shaddai. She goes ga ga for Alice Madness Returns, as does my kid niece whos all about those pretty dresses and still-brilliant flowing hair physics. We reminisce constantly about how fantastic the Tokyo radio station in PGR 2 was (Moopie Kagoshima) and lamented the lack of regional stations in further PGR games. I let her play Hohokum and Wolfenstein recently, she loved both. She loves seeing me play Lovely Planet because its got a vibrant artstyle with catchy music while still being a shooter, like a super cute response to most shooters. My mom recognises many games, like she knows the upcoming Quantum Break is by the Alan Wake and Max Payne guys. I show them all kinds of games to offset the stereotype of hyperviolent games because maybe theyre not into that. One time at a party I mentioned videogames as being awesome and a similarly aged girl (our familys friends daughter) generalises videogames as being just for men, full of violence and have nothing to say. I then go on to cite that there are many genres and they dont all contain violence (adventure, puzzle, sim, rhythm), and how some games are now more socially conscious or have contemporary elements. I mention that I played adventure games like Broken Sword 1-4 back in Pakistan with my cousins of whom many are female, and they love backseat gaming, figuring out the puzzles, and having gos at solving stuff while basking in great hilarious writing and characters. They like that the games dont require twitch reflexes, are more about thinking, and about stories.
Heres my main point: If they ever properly get into videogames as their own hobby, I want them to be welcomed with open arms. Right now, that sadly wont happen as unanimously. They will get attacked for their gender, will be thrown ad hominems about their looks and probably get really disgusting insults. They might even get hacked or their personal information let out if they speak on a bigger basis through a show or be more internet visible. That hasnt happened yet but that doesnt mean I should drop any empathy towards whats occurring right now. It doesnt have to get to directly affecting me until I care about this.
Right now, the women in gaming circles are pretty damn hardcore. Hear me out, Im not about to go on about fake geeks or some garbage, just that men are uninformed if women talking about this hobby already equals being casuals. Why is women sharing your hobby a bad thing, exactly? Moviebob had a great video on this delusional thinking. You wouldnt want that fake geek test on you, male geeks, right? They dont need to qualify for you to discuss with them in a proper manner. New people might even appreciate your more informed input if you went about it in a more positive welcoming way. Theyve braved through all those murky waters since the videogame industry was in its budding phases and was full of sexist advertising that basically said women arent allowed in this hobby or theyre a nuisance. Theyre much braver than men like me.
Imagine if I, as a muslim, publicly stepped on the internet through messageboards or youtube videos or social media at a time where I was attacked just for that. No matter what I had to say, how valuable my contributions to discussion were, it always came back to this detail. That would not make me want to open up anymore and just pipe down or leave. Ive had a few bigoted remarks when I put my face or voice on a youtube video from years ago; didnt get that many comments anyway, so I would easily delete them. The thing is, you still have to read them. Now imagine this a hundred times more, and you have to read all of them to then delete them. It would take a toll. Eventually, you might even crack and get angry, not giving the most measured of responses with rants. Then people would criticise you just because of your tone, rather than the message. Youll respond to fire with fire. The fact that many women gamers dont do that should show their greater maturity over others who decide to give them hate on a regular basis.
Does this have to get to national news levels for it to make sense that its not cool to lob death threats, make them leave their house, or ruin someones life through cyber-bullying? We already have news stories of people committing suicide because of cyber-bullying in other circles like school. Does it have to get to that before cyber-bullying against women is dealt with a zero-tolerance policy? Women and the sciences or tech (STEM) is already a bigger issue that is covered in many spaces. Here is just a video about women science hosts on youtube. Look, we can criticise Anitas videos on their content, just like we do with any other video. Jimquisition, Matt Lees, Extra Credits, Errant Signal, Matthewmatosis, TotalBiscuit, whatever have been discussed and argued over with civility without majorly resorting to personal insults. You can still disagree on many points. In video shows for other entertainment mediums, it took a while but now the audience isnt as toxic towards Grace Randolph of Beyond The Trailer (movies)/Think About the Ink (comic books) or Nostalgia Chick (old movies), to name just a couple of examples. Im sure you know more.
Other mediums are better at this. Maybe because theyre older, I dont know. Even the biggest blockbuster movies targeted towards men have only a little over the majority demographic of males going to see the movies. Guardians of the Galaxy isnt great on the female representation side, Gamorra is kind of a boring strong female character who gets nerfed and becomes a love interest, but women are still going to see that movie whatever the quality of that. It had a only a 56% male ratio on its opening, which youd think would be more hardcore comic book fans of a not as well known series who would happen to be mostly male. Expendables 3, a franchise just for males wanting geriatric heroes to bask in the nostalgia cash grab jerk off from mediocre action movies, had only a 61% ratio of males. I was expecting like 80%. Do you remember the trailer where they targeted female-centric movies like Eat Pray Love and wanted men to fight back by going to see their movie? Where if you didnt go see it, you didnt identify as a MAN? So, why just 61% for the latest movie? Maybe because movies are just more acceptable for everyone, no matter what the target demographics are. Lucy and Maleficient, two movies with female protagonists/antagonists, have been 2014 movies that have actually been #1 on the box office. Hunger Games, Twilight, you name it. Sure, Scarlett Johannson and Angelina Jolie are household names by now, but how do you think they got there? By being accepted. Movie studios dont target just to men all the time. They gave women platforms to be famous and be in popular movies, they marketed them. Where have we seen that for videogames starring female protagonists no matter what the quality of female characters are, with the exception of the classic Lara Croft? Why didnt games like Beyond Good and Evil, Alice Madness Returns, or even Remember Me, have as huge a marketing push by big publishers, no matter the difference in quality? Women make as big a proportion of the gaming audience as for movies, despite the lack of targeting to them, but if were going to dismiss them anytime they want to become less than casual mobile gamers, then its expected they dont want to jump in.
Just stop. Listen. I know thats a message thats been repeated many times over these kind of issues, but its beneficial. We boys and men have been able to get our message across without being interrupted at every second. Give others from minority groups their full voice. THEN you can share your love or civil criticisms and Im sure theyd love to hear feedback if its of a sound quality. Imagine youre responding as if theyre on a public panel or lecture where others can hear you on the mic (because technically thats how it is, just on a digital level). That might help with using appropriate language and arguments other than whataboutism false equivalences.
Im probably preaching to the choir. Most likely overreacting. But damnit, women are part of our community too. Whatever sexuality, race, age, gender, I want more perspectives and voices. Thats just going to make for more interesting discussions. More interesting games. More interesting experiences. More interesting lives. White knight harder. SJW harder. Who knows, you might even get a real-life 3D waifu from all of this!
Want to get back to talking about videogames? Fend up against harassment. Against sexism, misogyny, or discrimination. Then women dont have to bring it up because there arent any problems. We can then talk about cooler stuff like subsurface scattering or how the global illumination kinda fucks with the volumetric lighting or "did you see the tessellation on Agent 47's head PHWOOAAAHH" or whatever technical malarkey. Fucking win-win, mate!
