Can I get the boards honest opinion on this article?

Louvaen·10/19/2014, 8:31:41 AM·1 votes·1,132 views

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/technology/gamergate-women-video-game-threats-anita-sarkeesian.html?_r=0

I typed a bunch of stuff on here earlier, then my computer went insane and deleted it all. I just want to know what everyone thinks, especially guys on here. Please no sarcasm... I just want honest opinions. Let's all be mature here, please... I will refrain from posting any replies to this thread. I guess my main question would be: Why do men hate females who play games? (I'm not talking about some of the ladies on Twitch who want attention. I'm talking about the other ladies out there, who just mind their own business playing or developing games and get harassed when guys find out they don't have dicks?)

5 Comments

Drunk Rummate10/29/2014, 5:55:49 PM2 votes

I think a lot of male gamers are sexist. I also think the whole feminist movement is a bit blown out of proportion right now similar to the whole "everyone is racist" thing that's going on right now. There are bad people on both sides, but most of us are in between.

Personally, the sexist people piss me off. I wish they would disappear. There are also plenty of women who clearly bring it upon themselves. Maybe they think they're white knighting the cause or something, but reverse sexism is a thing too. I wish we could all just treat each other equally. Unfortunately, the fact will always remain that men have testosterone and so they're going to be more competitive than women on average. On the flip side men are also going to prefer watching attractive women gamers because... well... we're men, so they (attractive girls) are always going to get more viewers; assuming they play at a competent level. One of the perks to being an attractive woman I suppose.

Anyways, I realize I've strayed a bit from the original topic, but regarding gamergate and female game developers... that's all extremely ridiculous. I feel that I'm probably reading a heavily biased article that's blowing a couple stupid people's words completely out of proportion. As stated before, I think the whole feminist movement is a bit blown out of proportion. Most people don't think women are useless, it's only a few outspoken morons who should be damned for it. And articles like this piss me off because it makes it seem like the whole gaming community thinks like that, when really it isn't.

Paqi10/29/2014, 12:51:27 PM1 votes

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/technology/gamergate-women-video-game-threats-anita-sarkeesian.html?_r=0

I typed a bunch of stuff on here earlier, then my computer went insane and deleted it all. I just want to know what everyone thinks, especially guys on here. Please no sarcasm... I just want honest opinions. Let's all be mature here, please... I will refrain from posting any replies to this thread. I guess my main question would be: Why do men hate females who play games? (I'm not talking about some of the ladies on Twitch who want attention. I'm talking about the other ladies out there, who just mind their own business playing or developing games and get harassed when guys find out they don't have dicks?)

The population of gamers is so huge now that just about all "walks of life" are represented in the gaming community, including the population of men with low self-esteem that are prone to hate women. This population is a small minority of the gaming community, but under the #GamerGate banner they're making the entire gaming community look pretty horrendous.

I'd really like to see prominent men in the game development community come out to strongly condemn the rampant misogyny that's associated with this movement. Not just the psychotics that are making the actual threats to women in this industry, but also their apologists that think some disagreement they have with Sarkeesian is more pertinent than the concern the the rest of the world has about these threats of violence.

It'd be good for prominent game companies to make official statements about this too. Would Riot like to lead the way?

ParinoidPanda10/29/2014, 7:12:55 PM1 votes

I concur with /u/Nasreth and /u/Paqi. The article makes some generalization that aren't wholly accurate, but man, there is NO excuse for those death threats. None. That's just stupid crazy.

I just went and watched some of her said videos, and while she accurately explains what the sexual objectification is and how it's used, and how ridiculous it is, how excessive it is, and its inappropriateness, I didn't see her discussing the part where sex sells. It just does. Insert the porn industry.

That said, I agree that since Gaming has gotten big enough that it should progress beyond sexism in games. However, since Wall Street can barely move beyond using strip clubs for official business meetings, I don't think the gamin industry is going to be beating them to rid themselves of the practice without some serious public outcry for change. And Anita Sarkeesian's move to create this is commendable, but she has a HUGE bill to fill. Props to her, but she's got one steep hill to climb.

The people making the death threats are basically protecting their interest in the continuation of porn in video games. The question is, how big is the market for games to not have any sexist content?

Calderweiss11/8/2014, 5:55:43 PM1 votes

I don't think that gamers are inherently misogynist, and I don't think this movement really is either. To say someone is misogynistic is that they have an inner hatred for women, and I don't see that as the case. Gamergate is not an organized movement. It's got supporters on 8chan, reddit, and all kinds of other forums. It doesn't even have a leader. Gamergate is a hashtag anyway, anyone can use it. In addition, the people who care about ethics can't really stop trolls from posting. To ask them to not use the hashtag won't stop them from addressing their concerns anyway.

It seems like something that has been boiling up for a while against anti consumer companies and sites. I see it on /r/pcmasterrace/, I see it in facebook comments, on twitter, on any of the chans, etc.

To say it is inherently misogynist, when so many people have stood up who actually care about games journalism seems like an unreasonable stereotype.

I know a lot of gamergate supporters are actually trying to track down the people who sent threats, and I think they found one of them, but it was some dude in Brazil.

You've got Totalbiscuit, a gamergate supporter, who is actually engaging with games journalists to talk to them about their ethical concerns. You've got boogie, a kind man who preaches an anti hate message and a love for games, and he's a supporter. Granted, every movement has its bad apples, but to say it's about misogyny is like saying Islam is about bombing people. Disturbed individuals hop into every movement once they see it's popular.

This game has toxic people, yet the league of legends community is where I have met a ton of nice players and staff. To say everyone was toxic would be an insult to the people who have really fostered this game's community.

I've just seen so many people who actually care about ethics, that I think branding them as misogynistic would be cruel.