A Feminist game developer chides Anti-Gamergate radical feminists

[LJ_Reloaded]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/art...ame-Developers-Make-Statements-on-GamerGate.8

I think the term gamer means different things to different people. To me it's an all-encompassing term for everyone who plays games, from the casual Facebook player, to the professional gamer. But I think some people have come to think of gamers as a separate entity. Stating that "gamers are dead" was a terrible idea. Even if the term "gamer" does represent a smaller subset of people, I still can't imagine why anyone thought it would be a good idea to go and insult their readers. And what's worse, it appears they collaborated on this decision. Did nobody think, "hang on a minute guys, this is a really bad idea!"?

It was incredibly unfortunate for game developers too, most of us wouldn't dream of saying anything like that about our user base, and in fact, many developers are also gamers. Those few journalists really made it seem like the "gamers are dead" sentiment was industry-wide and so I think a lot of developers ended up facing the backlash of that as a result.

I understand how GamerGate as we know it now came to exist. I think the GamerGate crowd is a group of individuals who have come together with many different frustrations, primarily about the way things have been handled in the media. Some are annoyed at the lack of ethics in games journalism, but many are just fed up with the extensive news coverage about sexism in games and felt it was overshadowing actual video games themselves.

People are frustrated and I don't blame them. I am a female and a feminist and I'm fed up with it myself. I think if the games industry were a cesspit filled with misogyny and hate, then I would understand the heavy focus on misogyny in games and the industry itself, but the truth is, it isn't. I really don't think that the games industry is any more sexist than any other industry. We definitely have a real issue with the industry being comprised of predominantly men and we also have a problem with overused tropes, which could be seen as sexist, but I think both of these issues are largely a result of the target demographic initially being young men.

There are many games out there to choose from and I think hyper focusing on the few with these overused tropes is a mistake. I worry that putting so much emphasis on the bad will lead to us censoring ourselves and to me; art should always have as few boundaries as possible. I think it would be far more helpful to focus on the positive influences for women in games. If Anita Sarkeesian (and other feminists) had taken that angle, I think we'd be having a far more productive discussion about this.

Personally, I think the problem with the overused and outdated tropes can be remedied by having more women working in the game industry itself and those changes have been happening. Going to GDC each year, I have noticed the number of women in attendance rise from next to none in 2004, to hundreds in 2013. We are and have been on the path to improvement.

"People are frustrated and I don't blame them. I am a female and a feminist and I'm fed up with it myself. I think if the games industry were a cesspit filled with misogyny and hate, then I would understand the heavy focus on misogyny in games and the industry itself, but the truth is, it isn't."

"I think it would be far more helpful to focus on the positive influences for women in games. If Anita Sarkeesian (and other feminists) had taken that angle, I think we'd be having a far more productive discussion about this."

 

[badbabysitter]

that actually doesnt say literally anything you claim it does

 

[LJ_Reloaded]

that actually doesnt say literally anything you claim it does

"People are frustrated and I don't blame them. I am a female and a feminist and I'm fed up with it myself. I think if the games industry were a cesspit filled with misogyny and hate, then I would understand the heavy focus on misogyny in games and the industry itself, but the truth is, it isn't."

You claim she didn't say this?

"I think it would be far more helpful to focus on the positive influences for women in games. If Anita Sarkeesian (and other feminists) had taken that angle, I think we'd be having a far more productive discussion about this."

If you can't claim she didn't write this then the article says EXACTLY what I said it does: a self-identified feminist game developer chided radical anti-GG feminists. She called out Sarkeesian's fearmongering extremism and she chided feminism by saying misogyny isn't as bad in the gaming industry as feminists say it is.

Really, do you ever read for comprehension?

 

[badbabysitter]

You claim she didn't say this?





If you can't claim she didn't write this then the article says EXACTLY what I said it does: a self-identified feminist game developer chided radical anti-GG feminists. She called out Sarkeesian's fearmongering extremism and she chided feminism by saying misogyny isn't as bad in the gaming industry as feminists say it is.

Really, do you ever read for comprehension?

I'm claiming " she" didnt say anything about " anti-gamer gate radical feminists" ...in fact in the quote you published it doesnt mention gamer gate whatsover

so how can " she" be clamouring against " ant-gamergate" when she doesnt actually mention anti-gamergate feminists,

in fact the closest " she" gets to mentioning " anti-gamer gate radical feminists" is saying Anita Sarkeesian is wrong... but "she" never actually discusses what it was the Sarkeesian did was wrong


and I can easily claim " she" didnt wrote this article... it's very easy to claim you are something you're not when you post it anonymously.. KarenKraft convinced alot of people she was a chick

you see, unlike the evil radfems " she" has a distaste for.. "she" didnt have the conviction to post this under her own name?

" oh its because she'll get harrased by those evil anti-gamergaters"

which would be a valid arguement... if the gamergate meme wasnt about how women are protected by the great white knight of the media, the industry and society at large

she didnt call out Sarkeesians " fearmongering " either.. "she" said she was wrong because she attributed a stance to Sarkeesian that she didnt have in the first place.. and then criticized her for having this assigned position