Tropes vs Women in Video Games
You know what? Screw it. I'm just going to post the "Tropes vs Women in Video Games" videos right here. Up to now, I'd only watched the first one back when it was first posted last year, and didn't really feel the need to watch the rest, because she wasn't telling me anything I didn't already know, but I went ahead and watched the rest of them today.
Damsel in Distress: Part 1
Damsel in Distress: Part 2
Damsel in Distress: Part 3
Ms. Male Character
Women as Background Decoration: Part 1
Women as Background Decoration: Part 2
So let's just be clear here. Whether you agree with the above videos or not, keep in mind that this, in large part, is the sort of thing that GamerGate supporters[1] are trying to suppress through the use of rape/death threats and "doxxing" against people like Ms. Sarkeesian. This is what GamerGate doesn't want people to see. (But, actually, it's about ethics in games journalism, amirite?)
I've played several of the games that are depicted in the above videos, such as Red Dead Redemption. RDR is probably my favorite game made by Rockstar. Still, with that said, I'm not even going to begin to try to deny that what Ms. Sarkeesian says is true about RDR or any of the other games shown. I'm not going to try to mitigate it or rationalize it or justify it or whatever. She's right, plain and simple. I may not be Sarkeesian's biggest fan in the world, but I still think she's right in what she's saying here. Shit's terrible.
But is it really as bad as she makes it out to be? A few months ago, I probably would have told you no, it's not. But in light of all the recent GamerGate bullshit, I'm much more inclined now to believe that she does indeed have a point, that maybe it really is that bad, and that the misogynistic asshats in the GamerGate movement are a direct consequence and example of this sort of thing (and that, ultimately, perhaps I need to reassess my own less-than-favorable opinion of Ms. Sarkeesian herself, primarily because most of the "proof" that supposedly "debunked" her that I read in the past all came from the same sort of assholes who are now GamerGate supporters, and I'd simply took that shit at face value until now).
I'm not saying that video games made these people into misogynistic asshats, any more than I believe violence in video games "trains" people to be terrorists or serial killers or whatever. I just think that, in this case at least, people who were already misogynistic asshats are simply using this whole thing as an excuse to be even bigger misogynistic asshats, that's all.
[1] - Unless, of course, you buy into the bullshit that it's not actually GamerGate supporters sending those threats and doxxing women and such, but really some kind of ridiculous false flag thing staged by anti-GamerGate people.
Damsel in Distress: Part 1
Click to viewDamsel in Distress: Part 2
Damsel in Distress: Part 3
Ms. Male Character
Women as Background Decoration: Part 1
Women as Background Decoration: Part 2
So let's just be clear here. Whether you agree with the above videos or not, keep in mind that this, in large part, is the sort of thing that GamerGate supporters[1] are trying to suppress through the use of rape/death threats and "doxxing" against people like Ms. Sarkeesian. This is what GamerGate doesn't want people to see. (But, actually, it's about ethics in games journalism, amirite?)
I've played several of the games that are depicted in the above videos, such as Red Dead Redemption. RDR is probably my favorite game made by Rockstar. Still, with that said, I'm not even going to begin to try to deny that what Ms. Sarkeesian says is true about RDR or any of the other games shown. I'm not going to try to mitigate it or rationalize it or justify it or whatever. She's right, plain and simple. I may not be Sarkeesian's biggest fan in the world, but I still think she's right in what she's saying here. Shit's terrible.
But is it really as bad as she makes it out to be? A few months ago, I probably would have told you no, it's not. But in light of all the recent GamerGate bullshit, I'm much more inclined now to believe that she does indeed have a point, that maybe it really is that bad, and that the misogynistic asshats in the GamerGate movement are a direct consequence and example of this sort of thing (and that, ultimately, perhaps I need to reassess my own less-than-favorable opinion of Ms. Sarkeesian herself, primarily because most of the "proof" that supposedly "debunked" her that I read in the past all came from the same sort of assholes who are now GamerGate supporters, and I'd simply took that shit at face value until now).
I'm not saying that video games made these people into misogynistic asshats, any more than I believe violence in video games "trains" people to be terrorists or serial killers or whatever. I just think that, in this case at least, people who were already misogynistic asshats are simply using this whole thing as an excuse to be even bigger misogynistic asshats, that's all.
[1] - Unless, of course, you buy into the bullshit that it's not actually GamerGate supporters sending those threats and doxxing women and such, but really some kind of ridiculous false flag thing staged by anti-GamerGate people.