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Feminist Frequency and the Truth About Video Games

H

hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
Slight shame moment... I' shit at Super Mario World.
 
Besides the article, can we take one moment here to actually appreciate that ANITA SARKEESIAN is finally treated with the scrutiny and disbelief her insane positions merit in this forum?!

This place has gone far in short of one year.
She has moved into tabletop games and card games. She was invited to GenCon as a speaker. The SJWs in that game scene are at the highest levels: Wizards of the Coast are ruining Magic the Gathering and one of the creators of Roll20 are going ape shit over men only role playing sessions.

It’s pathetic. Comics have been invaded by identity politics. Vidya games. Tabletops...

Social Justice as promulgated by SJWs is a cancer.
 
She has moved into tabletop games and card games. She was invited to GenCon as a speaker. The SJWs in that game scene are at the highest levels: Wizards of the Coast are ruining Magic the Gathering and one of the creators of Roll20 are going ape shit over men only role playing sessions.

It’s pathetic. Comics have been invaded by identity politics. Vidya games. Tabletops...

Social Justice as promulgated by SJWs is a cancer.
Yeah... I saw it coming into the boardgame scene awhile ago, although the movement has decided to focus on bigger companies like Wizards, Fantasy Flight, etc.

Thankfully, my wife and I already have a massive (300+) boardgame collection so we're set for life. Sucks if you're a boardgamer getting into the hobby right now, though. It'll follow the same trajectory as it did when their ideology infected videogames. Unfortunately boardgames are already too niche of a product to stand up to it, so it'll probably sink the hobby for the foreseeable future.
 

oagboghi2

Member
That has always been a hilarious image to me. It's like, you've finally got a chance to practice what you preach, but nah...let's make ourselves look unrealistically cute!
I think it's like an unspoken rule that if someone make a illustrated avatar of someone, they cut off 30-50 pounds off the top.
 

petran79

Banned
The #1 sign for me that she made great videos about video games is how much they pissed people off. Holy moly, people love to hate her.


That had not much to do with the quality of her videos but with all those support armies that suppressed any real criticism and were endorsed by her.



"Be critical of the media you love" but on your own media being critical via comments or dislikes is not allowed lol the cognitive dissonance is rich.... 700k+ subs and you get nearly ZERO engagement with your tweets. Just utterly pathetic
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
She has moved into tabletop games and card games. She was invited to GenCon as a speaker. The SJWs in that game scene are at the highest levels: Wizards of the Coast are ruining Magic the Gathering and one of the creators of Roll20 are going ape shit over men only role playing sessions.

It’s pathetic. Comics have been invaded by identity politics. Vidya games. Tabletops...

Social Justice as promulgated by SJWs is a cancer.

They are literally like a plague. Moving from one host to another, scamming for the money flow with their BS niche to obtain that.
 

Ascend

Member
The #1 sign for me that she made great videos about video games is how much they pissed people off. Holy moly, people love to hate her.
Not exactly a rational reason to say she made great videos... Her requirement of constant victim-playing and censorship tells another story...
 

Pallas

Member
l-26836-complaining-about-unrealistic-depictions-of-women-in-video-games-feminist-frequency-radio.jpg


Yep.

This is one of the reasons it’s hard to take them seriously when they end up doing the same shit they accused others of doing.
 
I was checking the "news" section on my Switch the other night while updating some games.

I wish I could screenshot it but one of the headlines on one of the boxes was "Leading Ladies of Gaming" and it had a picture of Peach, Rosalina, and Daisy in it.

giphy.gif



I honestly couldn't tell if Nintendo was trolling or not and I'm surprised no ones made a big deal out of it.
 
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If one side will not even admit the possibility that there could be a problem on their side and will ban you for even bringing it up, don't you think the both side argument is flawed. There were some assholes on the Gamergate side, but they were attacked from Gaters as well. Doxing was regarded as a no go, while the so called good guys always find a reason to dox people. (Look ar RestEra for example) While there is still no Gamergater in prison, there were a lot of people on the other side later exposed as perverts or rapists. The most ironic thing, as a women you would be probably safer amongst Gamergaters.

Everybody is getting harassed on the internet, but one side decided to recreate the ending of Animal Farm and told everybody, “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” and people just rolled with it, because they were too afraid to get bullied. And even walking on eggshells is not enough, the orthodoxy does not allow nuance this is why you will get banned on RestEra, while other people will just downvote your opinion.

But it is both sides, while on side can bully people into suicide and still call themselves the good people, the other has to prove everything, archive every article, every conversation and even then, when they have evidence is till getting ignored, because it does not fit the narrative.
It is this dismissive attitude about the ills of the anti-feminist side that I am calling out. You can't on one hand admit that "There were some assholes on the Gamergate side", and on the other hand wave that away like it doesn't exist. You even say that "they were attacked from Gaters as well". This is exactly what I am doing.

I like reality based arguments which is why I speak out when I see people trying to warp that reality to their own ends. The toxic side of the gaters and their sympathisers is not a small insignificant amount. I am not condemning all people who attack the feminist's arguments. That would be ridiculous because I am one of them. I am call out the sizable portion that is toxic, and those who would try to minimize it under a boys-will-be-boys argument.

Is there though? I really haven't seen evidence for this, honestly... What I mean is, sure, some people are aggressive towards women that play games, but, how many guys are on the receiving end of aggression online? Barely anyone doesn't get called names... So why is it a problem when it happens to women and not a problem when it happens to men? Or why is it a bigger problem when it happens to women? And in the majority of cases, when a woman can play like anyone else, she gets a lot more praise than a guy would get, because she's seen as a 'novelty'. Is that a bad thing, or not?

Feel free to show the contrary.

This is the attitude that I'm speaking out against. Just because everybody does it, doesn't mean it is right. Also just because you might not be offended doesn't mean someone else won't be. Btw, I am not going down the slippery slope into the ultra sensitive "triggered" territory. I'm talking about direct intentional antisocial behavior.

Once again, I like to base discussions on reality. It is known that some gaming communities are infamous for their toxic behavior, and that is towards everyone, men and women alike. Let's not pretend everything is hugs and puppies. Calling out antisocial behavior is the right thing to do. If you saw this type of behavior out in the real world, I'd like to think there would be little controversy in condemning it. Just because it is online, it doesn't get a pass.
 

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
Calling out antisocial behavior is the right thing to do. If you saw this type of behavior out in the real world, I'd like to think there would be little controversy in condemning it. Just because it is online, it doesn't get a pass.
And this is exactly why I will continue to call out extreme, irrational and unintelligent SJW behaviour. On the internet AND in real life.
 

hecatomb

Banned
It is this dismissive attitude about the ills of the anti-feminist side that I am calling out. You can't on one hand admit that "There were some assholes on the Gamergate side", and on the other hand wave that away like it doesn't exist. You even say that "they were attacked from Gaters as well". This is exactly what I am doing.

I like reality based arguments which is why I speak out when I see people trying to warp that reality to their own ends. The toxic side of the gaters and their sympathisers is not a small insignificant amount. I am not condemning all people who attack the feminist's arguments. That would be ridiculous because I am one of them. I am call out the sizable portion that is toxic, and those who would try to minimize it under a boys-will-be-boys argument.



This is the attitude that I'm speaking out against. Just because everybody does it, doesn't mean it is right. Also just because you might not be offended doesn't mean someone else won't be. Btw, I am not going down the slippery slope into the ultra sensitive "triggered" territory. I'm talking about direct intentional antisocial behavior.

Once again, I like to base discussions on reality. It is known that some gaming communities are infamous for their toxic behavior, and that is towards everyone, men and women alike. Let's not pretend everything is hugs and puppies. Calling out antisocial behavior is the right thing to do. If you saw this type of behavior out in the real world, I'd like to think there would be little controversy in condemning it. Just because it is online, it doesn't get a pass.
Lol since when is antisocial behavior wrong, who do you think you are judging others thinking you are some god better then others? Its not a fact just cause someone is antisocial makes them less then others. As long as they aren't hurting anyone, who cares, stop thinking you are better then other people, cause no cares but you.
 
I have never heard of gamergate or this Anita lady. However, I have noticed some bad reviews of games for lacking ‘diversity’ in the past year (a realistic medieval game ffs!) and given resetera a try and been banned for saying for virtually anything a few times. It should not bother me because the games I play will hopefully be unaffected, but it does seem that something weird is going on with gaming at the moment - hopefully it all settles down.
The problem with these identity politics activists is that many don't seem to empathize or see people as humans. They don't add or create organic interesting diverse characters. They can only see skin deep and as far as genitals, they often put bland uninteresting characters that have nothing else going for them other than their skin color or gender identity, beneath that there's nothing to the character they add.
Yeah... I saw it coming into the boardgame scene awhile ago, although the movement has decided to focus on bigger companies like Wizards, Fantasy Flight, etc.

Thankfully, my wife and I already have a massive (300+) boardgame collection so we're set for life. Sucks if you're a boardgamer getting into the hobby right now, though. It'll follow the same trajectory as it did when their ideology infected videogames. Unfortunately boardgames are already too niche of a product to stand up to it, so it'll probably sink the hobby for the foreseeable future.
t. Just because everybody does it, doesn't mean it is right. Also just because you might not be offended doesn't mean someone else won't be. Btw, I am not going down the slippery slope into the ultra sensitive "triggered" territory. I'm talking about direct intentional antisocial behavior.
The thing is, when I see mainstream sources gamergate is presented as a coordinated harassment movement, whose main purpose was to harass and threaten.

Alternative sources say that wasn't the purpose of gamergate, and most did not harass or threaten.

While at the same time harassment, lies, doxxing and even physical violence is not only tolerated but practically celebrate on the other side. The whole punch a nazi, is part of the movement, only nazi stands for whoever you disagree with, basically punch anyone you don't agree with.
 

CatCouch

Member
It is this dismissive attitude about the ills of the anti-feminist side that I am calling out. You can't on one hand admit that "There were some assholes on the Gamergate side", and on the other hand wave that away like it doesn't exist. You even say that "they were attacked from Gaters as well". This is exactly what I am doing.

I like reality based arguments which is why I speak out when I see people trying to warp that reality to their own ends. The toxic side of the gaters and their sympathisers is not a small insignificant amount. I am not condemning all people who attack the feminist's arguments. That would be ridiculous because I am one of them. I am call out the sizable portion that is toxic, and those who would try to minimize it under a boys-will-be-boys argument.



This is the attitude that I'm speaking out against. Just because everybody does it, doesn't mean it is right. Also just because you might not be offended doesn't mean someone else won't be. Btw, I am not going down the slippery slope into the ultra sensitive "triggered" territory. I'm talking about direct intentional antisocial behavior.

Once again, I like to base discussions on reality. It is known that some gaming communities are infamous for their toxic behavior, and that is towards everyone, men and women alike. Let's not pretend everything is hugs and puppies. Calling out antisocial behavior is the right thing to do. If you saw this type of behavior out in the real world, I'd like to think there would be little controversy in condemning it. Just because it is online, it doesn't get a pass.
What is this antisocial argument? I haven't heard that used yet. Looking the definition up it does list "disruptive, distasteful and unfriendly" as synonyms, though. From a low level offense I would say that applies to a noticeable amount of people in what could be considerd toxic communities. I certainly don't like the toxic behavior that's in MOBA games. I don't know if something like Ranker is a great way to gauge the reality, though. It doesn't seem a great site to use as a source (Dark Souls is one of the most toxic communities?). It just looks like a fun, not particularly serious site full of lists.

I've really never heard antisocial used as a different way of saying toxic. What is "direct intentional antisocial behavior"? That sounds like an accusation of having a disorder or of criminal action, at least to me it does.

I don't see enough damage being done in gaming arguments to fit any law enforcement definition of antisocial behavior since that is usually a local thing and not an internet issue.

The Mayo clinic states: "People with antisocial personality disorder tend to antagonize, manipulate or treat others harshly or with callous indifference. They show no guilt or remorse for their behavior."

People on all sides of these debates are quite harsh and hateful. I see a lot of intentional aggression on all sides. Antisocial seems to be a pretty different beast with it's own disorder, though. Is "toxic" the same as "antisocial"? Anonymous behavior online might be a different thing altogether as I doubt there are that many people with disorders playing these games.

It might be reckless to start throwing that word around. I know we've all exhausted words due to how often we throw them at each other but they do have meaning, let's not forget that. Maybe I'm missing something, I imagine talking in real life would allow us to express our points without misinterpretations. I just don't like seeing new ways to insult gamers pop up after previous ways of insulting gamers got old and worn out. It's always something new which I feel contributes to the toxic atmosphere. Everybody is so aggressive.
 

Humdinger

Gold Member
The problem with these identity politics activists is that many don't seem to empathize or see people as humans. They don't add or create organic interesting diverse characters. They can only see skin deep and as far as genitals, they often put bland uninteresting characters that have nothing else going for them other than their skin color or gender identity, beneath that there's nothing to the character they add.

That's a natural outgrowth of the SJW/identity-politics ideology. It's a very shallow way of seeing people. They see people only as representatives of biologically determined categories like race, gender, or sexual orientation. They don't see the individual. They see the category.

So naturally, they are unable to develop characters with any depth. They ignore what makes people interesting and unique -- which is not skin color and genitalia, but their individuality, their unique personalities and character.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
That's a natural outgrowth of the SJW/identity-politics ideology. It's a very shallow way of seeing people. They see people only as representatives of biologically determined categories like race, gender, or sexual orientation. They don't see the individual. They see the category.

So naturally, they are unable to develop characters with any depth. They ignore what makes people interesting and unique -- which is not skin color and genitalia, but their individuality, their unique personalities and character.

Nailed it.
 

hecatomb

Banned
The mind of a SJW is pretty much complain about problems that only effect them, you really think SJWs care about anyone but themselves? If they cared about anyone, they would be at homeless shelters helping out, they would go off on missions helping people in 3rd world countries, instead of complaining about video game characters. They complain about video games, cause they are too lazy to do anything that requires any real work.

They are like the same kind of people who only complain about 1st world problems, and act like their world would end if their new iPhone 10 broke.
 
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Xenon

Member
The #1 sign for me that she made great videos about video games is how much they pissed people off. Holy moly, people love to hate her.


Anita was a lightning rod. Her job was to piss people off and draw hateful comments. It's why all of her videos lacked connections between examples and her points. It's why most of her output is filled with hyperbolic assertions. Nobody on that side of the argument cared about the validity of her points, most wanted to prevent any debate on them at all. She cared little for games up until that point. Her value wasn't her insight, but rather the reaction she got. They took the worst comments to paint the opposition as hateful sexist bigots. Meanwhile all polite responses were ignored or worse they were grouped in with hateful ones.

Sadly though, years of being male dominated combined with a surge of female interest in gaming created the perfect storm for her entrance. The biggest factor was, like it not, some gamers became territorial and fought needed change. So the toxic responses were abundant, gamers made it easy for her to play the victim. So it was no longer about her arguments, it's was about mean boys not wanting to share their hobby. Even though most were fine with that, the picture they painted was exaggerated making it as if the majority of gamers had it in for Anita.
 
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MayauMiao

Member
What FF inadvertently created or popularized as a result of their attempt to generated fake outrage are channels that responds against FF politics, channels like The Quartering, Geeks & Gamers, Laymen Gaming, ReviewTechUSA, etc and many of these channels are getting more viewers and support from gamers. Thanks to FF, many gamers are more aware of the political narrative promoted by these so called "progressive" gaming sites.
 
Has this been posted?
Sarkeesian has been ousted as a liar more than 4 years ago. Why does anyone still continues to defend her is beyond me...


God damn this video rustles my jimmies... I mean, it's literally "I don't give a shit about this topic but hey, some are having fun so let's ruin it for them."

These peoples lives must be miserable as fuck. I cannot believe that Druckman supports this person. I will never buy a ND game again - even if it's the best game ever made.
 
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llien

Member
The #1 sign for me that she made great videos about video games is how much they pissed people off. Holy moly, people love to hate her.

By that metric, Trump is one hell of a leader, isn't he?

She's a sex negative feminist (this is mainstream feminism now, but it wasn't like that in the past) who isn't a gamer and doesn't care about gaming yet is qualified to direct entire gaming industry on what is right and what is wrong.

Curiously, the methods used by her are the same method, that Dworkin and Co used to win "the argument" against sex positive feminists: silence/ostracize your opponents using any means.

So instead of trying to understand what is going on in gaming, she has a clear dogmas upfront, and just cherry picks whatever fits the narrative, It is the definition of confirmation bias, she isn't doing any real research, it essentially renders her efforts useless.

As to why women tend to wear stuff like this, is debatable ("society forced" or just enjoy the reaction):

1qMnzZX.png



But regardless, "strategic butt covering" of Batman, is simply a lie, In many games you can rotate camera and focus on someone's butt, if you so wish, including the mentioned batman:



.So, she has plenty of far fetched statements to say, but no need to somehow defend them, as good old internet somehow failed to produce any sort of valid criticism of her "fresh" ideas, first voiced by Dworkin decades ago.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
What discussion? Where is Anita engaging anyone who disagrees with her? There's no dicussion, there never was. There's only a monologue on her part.
The discussion part was about GAF, not her. She is not discussing, she is merely content provider. I would prefer if she was willing to discuss her content, but due to the strong reactions and a group of people being outright hateful, I can in principle understand why she would want to avoid this, even disregarding the fact that discussing her content may not overall be a net benefit for her.

What's your point? She is uncriticizable? Should we just accept it and be quiet? It's funny whenever these activits bring up a "problem" they say they are starting a "dialog". Except, dialog take two sides communicating.

What you are describing here is a monologue. It's her going to her soapbox, accusing others and then refusing to listen to rebuttals.

She obviously can't answer every single tweet, but she can collect the most commonly cited "problems" with her work, either correct them in a special video or provide clarifications. This is not "free work", it's part of her job.

This is analogous to testing in software. It's something that takes time, but it must be done.
Lol no she is not uncriticisable. In fact, if you play detective GAF and look into my post history, you will see that I strongly oppse her points, and think she focusses on something that is pretty unimportant to games. In fact, I was banned here for arguing that the gender, ethnicity and sexuality of the character is irrelevant for my valuation of a games and I'd much rather focus on discussing the really important issue in games: Mechanics and level design. In particular I think ciriticising Mario and Zelda for using simple chliches is indicative of a misunderstanding of the series: The story is just there to give a quick motivator, using tropes and expectance is a good way of cutting down on non-gameplay moments and getting the real meat of the game going. So I think tropes serve a good purpose there and it is not sexist to use "standard fairy tale story" as your brief contextualisation.

However, the form of how she is being criticised (or was, at the time), over many channels can be perceived as harassment and it is reasonable if she asks for some moderation on social media before she engages any discussion on those platforms. One instance of such you can find in here, as well: Discussion of whether she is a regular video game player. Someone who fails at early stages Super Mario World and 50cc Mario Kart most certainly is not a regular video games player, true. But why is that important to the discussion of her points? Mind you, I reject her points, but the rejection should not come from an ad hominem. "You are not a real gamer" is not a proper argument here, afterall, as a critic of the medium on a very fundamental level, she may actually be repulsed from playing games for the reasons she states in her videos as to how games are misogynistic. If people start arguing just from evaluating the person rather than the arguments, that's harassment and no, it does not get any better to do this, just because "the other side" or "radical lefties" (who, I'd argue, are most of the time right of me, in a traditional sense, those people are not radical lefties, they are social justice activists, which is not saying much about traditional left positions) do it as well. It is wrong on both sides, really.
Related to your post, a story:

My oldest daughter took STEM courses in college and is now working in IT, and is making a go of it. Her two High School friends took "feminist theory" courses and are now in committed, loving lesbian relationships. They liked boys before the courses. One was even engaged to be married to a man.

No judgement, just an observation.
What is the purpose of this post? If is it not judgement, and I assume you do not want to raise the conspiracy theory that feminist theory makes lesbians, I cannot see the contributon of this coincidential story. If anything, I would assume that being homosexual as a woman potentially decreases your intimate contact and therefore understanding of men, which may result in a less nuanced form of feminism for the individual.

Well, when people do mistakes, all they need to go over them, is to admit them, explain why that happened.
I do not say that she is a saint who does nothing wrong. She should acknowledge her mistakes, but it is not central to her point given in her UN speech.


Let me give you one example which was eye opening for me and why people need to call her out more often.

I remember some School shooting happening and people were dying. The first thing she wrote like 2 hours after it did happen was thatshe blamed toxic masculinity for this shool shooting. Shortly after it came out that it had nothig to do with this and she did not even apologize for her very unsensitive tweet but went on like nothing did happen. Also people she calls out getting harrassed as well since people with large followings will mobilize vicious mobs onto the person or company this person is upset with.
That's a pretty hefty mistake, but also one that is very common with activists. The issue they pick is usually over inflated in their mind and responsible for basically everything bad in the world. Hence things like the "Thanks Obama" meme. In fact, as I know you are a German too, this is also something prevailant in "old feminism", just look at Alice Schwarzer: Activism can make blind to nuance, and make you biased. Ideally, people would be aware of this and I agree it is very much worth calling out, but Sarkeesian hardly is a special case here. It is just human nature that if you are investing most of your time on a very concise problem and are emotionally heavily invested, you will make serious misattributions and overvaluations just because your mind is fully set on blaming that one particular issue you are dealing with most of your life.

Also it was the journalist jobs to be critical of her work, to call her out for stealing video footage without any form of credit. Even in fair use you have to credit the people you got it from. They never called her out for agenda pushing libel and false accusations. Anita deserved this criticism on mass by the public (not the death or rape threats but calling her a liar and terrible person. She even used Notch to push her agenda by self inviting her to his party back then.

Also she NEVER admitted that she was wrong but everyone who said she was wrong was a misogynistic asshole who hates women.
Calling her a liar repeatedly in response to her arguments is not productive at all and I see no evidence of her being a liar. She deserves criticism for numerous things, but the criticism should be focused on the topic at hand. When discussing a certain tropes vs women video, for instance, her being a video games player or not is besides the point. As are twitter mistakes in the past or stolen assets in unrelated videos.
The thing is Sarkeesian attacked head on. She didn't say "oh, I think there might be sexism in some video games because of this and that, what do you think ? Can we discuss it ?". No, instead she told to an entire Community that classic and beloved games like Mario where in fact sexist. It wasn't Something open to any discussion, it was her way or the highway. Her videos were in fact lectures. And for what ? Do we have any proof that all the male gamers who played Mario when they were kids became mean sexist adults ? When Amy Hennig say Something along the lines that sexism wasn't such an issue in the gaming industry... I mean it's Amy Hennig, instead all the SJW sphere dropped the bomb on her, just because she expressed her point of view based on her awesome career.

How about the fact that never once Sarkeesian offered long time female gamers a voice or classic game journalists like Scorpia ? Or How about the fact that many video games, even in the 16-bit era have fstrong female characters ? How many JRPG on SNES or Genesis have strong female characters part of the player's team ? How about the fact that prior to Sarkeesian's videos, female characters in video games were evolving into more deep characters and less over sexualized. Even without these videos, would Ellie have wandered in a bikini in The Last Of Us ? Female characters would have naturally evolved in a more mature way Simply because things change, because gamers grow up and naturally want more complex characters (male and female). It's not Sarkeesian doing, things were evolving way before her or any SJW. Sarkeesian stirred the crap just to make a name for herself and self promoted herself into the noble queen of women in the gaming industry. There's plenty of women who work very hard everyday in the gaming industry and they never asked Sarkeesian anything and certainly not for her to fight their battles. So why she never take their voices into account ?
I never said I agreed with her points, methodology or goals. Just that the specific point of calling someone a liar not being harassment being conditionally wrong.
Sarkeesian isn't talking about Yoshi (merely a video game), no, i.e. her game is labelling entire groups & essentially shit-talking about them in lengthy videos which 'explain' why these groups are horrible (her targets are men & white people). She's a political agitator on the far left of the spectrum who demands censorship of contrary views. So here's a key difference: Anita openly & enthusiastically insults millions upon millions of people, yet screams "harassment" when they verbally shoot back.

That's why your comparison doesn't work here. Anita is the antithesis of 'fair & balanced' herself because her agenda & "war" has designated enemies whom she attacks relentlessly.
Are her videos actually insulting? I think they focus on irrelevant aspects of games, but I did not feel personally insulted by them (as someone who very much enjoys platformers, which are not exactly a genre she treats positively).
 

hecatomb

Banned
I could only image if all the electricity went out in the world, she'd be the 1st one to crawl up in a ball and just die.
 
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Dunki

Member
That's a pretty hefty mistake, but also one that is very common with activists. The issue they pick is usually over inflated in their mind and responsible for basically everything bad in the world. Hence things like the "Thanks Obama" meme. In fact, as I know you are a German too, this is also something prevailant in "old feminism", just look at Alice Schwarzer: Activism can make blind to nuance, and make you biased. Ideally, people would be aware of this and I agree it is very much worth calling out, but Sarkeesian hardly is a special case here. It is just human nature that if you are investing most of your time on a very concise problem and are emotionally heavily invested, you will make serious misattributions and overvaluations just because your mind is fully set on blaming that one particular issue you are dealing with most of your life.
Yes I agree with this and yes Anita is not someone special but she was made special by gaming journalists everyone who dared to criticize her was attacked and this alone made people more upset and they also helped Anita becoming much bigger than she normally would have. She is like Milo in this regard. Normally he would be a nobody but the attention he got made him to someone invincible until he ruined himself.
 
She has moved into tabletop games and card games. She was invited to GenCon as a speaker. The SJWs in that game scene are at the highest levels: Wizards of the Coast are ruining Magic the Gathering and one of the creators of Roll20 are going ape shit over men only role playing sessions.

It’s pathetic. Comics have been invaded by identity politics. Vidya games. Tabletops...

Social Justice as promulgated by SJWs is a cancer.

Is there any nerd hobby these assholes don't want to ruin?

I'm just thankful that the things they've done the most damage to, mainly comics and tabletop roleplaying games, are things I was interested in but never quite able to fully get into (I've read a few comics but have never touched a tabletop RPG)

Now, don't get me wrong, I feel for fans of those things very much, but I'm a hardcore gamer and I'm glad they haven't killed video games, though they've certainly tried and keep trying, they wounded it but haven't killed it.

Games have a secret weapon though and that's Japan, there's still plenty of Japanese devs who still make games for gamers and don't care about political correctness.

In fact Japan might be the last bastion for decent nerd culture in the long run including anime and manga, which SJWs haven't even touched.

Call me a weeb if you want but I don't care, Japan might just save nerd culture, who in their right mind would prefer current Marvel comics over manga?

God damn this video rustles my jimmies... I mean, it's literally "I don't give a shit about this topic but hey, some are having fun so let's ruin it for them."

These peoples lives must be miserable as fuck. I cannot believe that Druckman supports this person. I will never buy a ND game again - even if it's the best game ever made.

Yeah, I'm pretty close to boycotting ND, it's getting harder and harder to imagine TLOU2 will be anything but political diatribing.

At least the first game works as a standalone story.
 

llien

Member
I do not say that she is a saint who does nothing wrong. She should acknowledge her mistakes, but it is not central to her point given in her UN speech.

Word "saint" is very misplaced in this context. We are not talking about morals, but about theories, research and findings.
Her personality doesn't matter. At all.

What matters is that she does no research, although her "findings" are sold as one, she just cherry picks something that fits narrative from decades ago. Once people take a closer look, and discover that you can, in fact, point camera at Batman's arse, what can she admit? "Oh, people, sorry, I didn't do any research (in fact, I don't even play games) I just cherry picked that as it goes well with sex negative stance". Welp, but then, what was that entire video about? You see the problem. If she admits mistakes, she should as well disband the whole FF, return donated money and go find a real job.

As for UN speech, in which, I was told, a filename was used as a reference and some amazing claims were made on misunderstood stats. (confirmation bias is evil)

However, the form of how she is being criticised (or was, at the time), over many channels can be perceived as harassment...
That's the only thing going for her. "Equity feminist Christina Sommers wants to debate with you. No-no, there is no legit criticism of me, it's all harassment."



My oldest daughter took STEM courses in college and is now working in IT, and is making a go of it. Her two High School friends took "feminist theory" courses and are now in committed, loving lesbian relationships. They liked boys before the courses. One was even engaged to be married to a man.

whatyearisthis.gif, seriously???
No offense, but turning heterosexuals into homosexuals is as realistic as doing the opposite, which is not something someone has really accomplished. You could have bi-sexual people swing back and forth, but that's it. And heck, people should be able to have consensual sex, as long as it is legal (age, etc).
 
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Thiagosc777

Member
The discussion part was about GAF, not her. She is not discussing, she is merely content provider. I would prefer if she was willing to discuss her content, but due to the strong reactions and a group of people being outright hateful,

This is not true. The vast majority of people aren't hateful. And there are plenty of people online that would talk to her in a moderated environment such as Liana K, who is also a feminist.

I can in principle understand why she would want to avoid this, even disregarding the fact that discussing her content may not overall be a net benefit for her.

Is she creating research into videogames or just mindless entertainment? If it is the former, SHE HAS TO ADDRESS ERRORS AND RESPOND TO CRITICS. If it is the latter, then she is just a drama channel and shouldn't be taken seriously.

You are trying to have it both ways. According to you what she says is valid, but when she is criticized then she is just "content provider". What?

However, the form of how she is being criticised (or was, at the time), over many channels can be perceived as harassment and it is reasonable if she asks for some moderation on social media before she engages any discussion on those platforms. One instance of such you can find in here, as well: Discussion of whether she is a regular video game player. Someone who fails at early stages Super Mario World and 50cc Mario Kart most certainly is not a regular video games player, true. But why is that important to the discussion of her points?

Perceived by whom? This is important because you need know the medium you are criticizing. She needs to be able to play the games, in order to know about them.

Can you be a movie critic without watching movies?

"You are not a real gamer" is not a proper argument here, afterall, as a critic of the medium on a very fundamental level, she may actually be repulsed from playing games for the reasons she states in her videos as to how games are misogynistic.

That's one of the most important arguments, because it tells us if she knows about games. You are saying that people can be critics without actually knowing the medium?

- Can someone criticize movies without watching them?
- Can someone criticize music albums without listening to them?
- Can someone criticize car brands without knowing about how cars work?

THIS IS ABSURD.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Word "saint" is very misplaced in this context. We are not talking about morals, but about theories, research and findings.
Her personality doesn't matter. At all.
Issues like her stealing footage from other channels without giving credit (assuming it is true, I just do not know, personally)) or alleged lies (always hard to prove, because a lie necessitates intent) are concerning her morality.

This is not true. The vast majority of people aren't hateful. And there are plenty of people online that would talk to her in a moderated environment such as Liana K, who is also a feminist.
Your statement does not contradict mine. If 10% of her critics were hateful at the time she was a hot topic, that would be a significant amount for a tremendous shitstorm that a single person can not handle easily (logistically).
Is she creating research into videogames or just mindless entertainment? If it is the former, SHE HAS TO ADDRESS ERRORS AND RESPOND TO CRITICS. If it is the latter, then she is just a drama channel and shouldn't be taken seriously.

You are trying to have it both ways. According to you what she says is valid, but when she is criticized then she is just "content provider". What?
I would say it is a critic of the medium based on selective choice of examples. It neither qualifies as any deeper sort of research, nor as mindless entertainment, it is a form of activism instead. I would call her an activist rather than a researcher or an entertainer. Activists tend to be selective in what they address, since they are trying to push a certain viewpoint, not to discuss minute details, especially if they are not on-message.
You are trying to have it both ways. According to you what she says is valid, but when she is criticized then she is just "content provider". What?
The only thing that I claimed is valid is, that ciriticism can be a form of harassment. I strongly disagree with her on the content of feminist frequency. I also disagree on not publicly discussing her points, but I think it is understandable on certain platforms such as Twitter and from an activist / financial net benefit point of view.
Perceived by whom? This is important because you need know the medium you are criticizing. She needs to be able to play the games, in order to know about them.

Can you be a movie critic without watching movies?
Well, her criticism is meaningless to me because she does not criticises what makes games my favourite medium properly. But she is criticising story elements, cut scenes, character designs and viewpoints, as well as narrative backgrounds of mechanics. For these specific elements, while certainly preferred, playing games yourself is not required. If you were furious about tropes used in a movie or the clothing of a character,, then you could make your point in many cases also without watching the movie.

- Can someone criticize music albums without listening to them?
Yes, I have done this before, based on reading the text of a "song" (it was rap, German gangsta rap to be precise, which is why I refuse to use an unqualified song) I have criticised the text as tasteless.
- Can someone criticize car brands without knowing about how cars work?
Yes, in many ways:- One may have no idea how a car works, but see that it uses much more fuel than other cars that offer the same functionality and criticise the car maker for making a wasteful car
- One may have no idea how a car works, but enjoy the feel when using the car
- One may have no idea how a car works, but experience that the car is cheap and has high longevity and super happy about the car
(and so on)
 

Ascend

Member
This is the attitude that I'm speaking out against. Just because everybody does it, doesn't mean it is right. Also just because you might not be offended doesn't mean someone else won't be. Btw, I am not going down the slippery slope into the ultra sensitive "triggered" territory. I'm talking about direct intentional antisocial behavior.
I never said it was right. But there is such a thing called the mute, or the block. They are there for a reason. It's not needed to go on an all out rampage against a whole gaming community, let alone demonizing everyone in it, because some individuals are crossing the line. And you can't protect everyone from being offended. If someone's unwilling to be offended, they are generally also unwilling to grow as an individual. If I say "I don't like cats", there's bound to be someone out there that would feel offended. That does not somehow negate my right to say it.

Once again, I like to base discussions on reality. It is known that some gaming communities are infamous for their toxic behavior, and that is towards everyone, men and women alike. Let's not pretend everything is hugs and puppies. Calling out antisocial behavior is the right thing to do. If you saw this type of behavior out in the real world, I'd like to think there would be little controversy in condemning it. Just because it is online, it doesn't get a pass.
Looking at the link you just posted... Sorry... I can't take that seriously... Even the most common one, they admit we are talking about ~2%... And the whole article is written with a victimhood mentality, as in being expected to be offended by something.
I agree that people should behave better online, but I disagree with trying to force everyone to the ways you think is right. Do you go to the ghetto and try to call out and enforce your morals on everyone there? Yeah... Didn't think so.

In games, it's quite easy to get rid of someone toxic. If you blurt stuff out on Twitter and your whole personal life is on the internet, that's another story, because it can affect your real life a lot easier. So... Why are we attacking games and gamers so much, rather than the toxic communities on social media? Or are we postulating that only gamers are toxic, or that they are the most toxic? I assume every rational individual can see that that's false...
 
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Dunki

Member
Are her videos actually insulting? I think they focus on irrelevant aspects of games, but I did not feel personally insulted by them (as someone who very much enjoys platformers, which are not exactly a genre she treats positively).
You are not a real gamer" is not a proper argument here, afterall, as a critic of the medium on a very fundamental level, she may actually be repulsed from playing games for the reasons she states in her videos as to how games are misogynistic.

These kind of hang together. her videos are insulting to the truth and an actual dialogue we could held. Instead her videos are full of lies and cherry picked moments from YoutTube Lets plays to make her point. Best example here is the whole hitman part in her video. This was actually insulting. And her not being a game plays a small part in it. Fact is she does not play these games at all. she has no idea about the cntext of the scnes she is showing. She has no idea how characters she calls sexist are written at all. She sees bayonetta and calls it sexist without knowing anything. She is basically Slut-shaming her.

And no she does not have to be good at gaming but the least she can do is watching full playtrhoughs of these games to get a better understanding of it. And with full playthroughs I am talking nnot about some funny video clips in which a person does horrible stuff in a game to have a fun time. I am talking about actual lets plays maybe streams to actually get a full picture of the stuff the is going against.
 
... as a critic of the medium on a very fundamental level, she may actually be repulsed from playing games for the reasons she states in her videos as to how games are misogynistic.
If that's what she truly believes, doesn't that prove the point she knows nothing about video games? There's plenty of games she could play that couldn't possibly offend her (watch her prove me wrong somehow). Maybe she'd like Tetris, or perhaps EU IV or Cities Skylines. Instead of actually trying to find out if there's games that fit her, she just says she doesn't want to shoot people because that's gross.

Her assertions about games are uninformed and reductive, plain and simple.
 

Ascend

Member
If that's what she truly believes, doesn't that prove the point she knows nothing about video games? There's plenty of games she could play that couldn't possibly offend her (watch her prove me wrong somehow). Maybe she'd like Tetris, or perhaps EU IV or Cities Skylines. Instead of actually trying to find out if there's games that fit her, she just says she doesn't want to shoot people because that's gross.

Her assertions about games are uninformed and reductive, plain and simple.
Agreed... Imagine if the likes of Anita Sarkeesian were around when movies were starting to gain traction, and that she succeeded... Imagine all the great movies that would never be made, because they would be offensive to someone, or because there's some trope weaved in there, or because a woman wears something that doesn't agree with her, or, because there's a damsel in distress...

Speaking of which... As much as she speaks about the damsel in distress... Does no one notice she deliberately turns herself into one the moment it's convenient?
 

Dunki

Member
That's not possible. Any criticism in any medium requires a minimum knowledge of said medium. She doesn't have it, and doesn't seem interested in getting it. I think Liana K is far better.
Liana K. Is great and she can speak much better about these topics. Also on the topic of big breasts and how it is now deemed sexist in todays "journalism" culture.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
She sees bayonetta and calls it sexist without knowing anything. She is basically Slut-shaming her.
I am only answering to this part of the post because I agree on the rest. I do think she is cherry picking and her criticism does not come from a very informed position. But if you are very anal about sexual content and butt-zooms, and also do not tolerate humour based on such topics, then her amount of information on Bayonetta is sufficient to complain. I also reject the many X-shaming phrases. Certainly, the term slut-shaming can hardly be applied when we are talking a fictional character.
That's not possible. Any criticism in any medium requires a minimum knowledge of said medium. She doesn't have it, and doesn't seem interested in getting it. I think Liana K is far better.
It is possible. A criticism of very select content, like "is trope x ever being used in any form" is possible without any proper knowledge of the medium. In fact, knowledge of the medium does not make a difference if your position is "trope X may never be used".
 
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Dunki

Member
I am only answering to this part of the post because I agree on the rest. I do think she is cherry picking and her criticism does not come from a very informed position. But if you are very anal about sexual content and butt-zooms, and also do not tolerate humour based on such topics, then her amount of information on Bayonetta is sufficient to complain. I also reject the many X-shaming phrases. Certainly, the term slut-shaming can hardly be applied when we are talking a fictional character.
The problem is that she does not like it but that she shames and trying to guilt anyone who does. I also reject people lie Anita speaking for women because she does not. She speaks for her ideology and especially in the case of Bayonetta there is a vast amount of different opinions some even see her as feministic icon. She makes her opinion absolute no matter how wrong she is.

Akin if you watch lady Bits by Liana K. It is a much much better inside look in sexism and video games. It is vast superior still Liana got basically blacklisted by games "journalists" because she spoke out against Anita.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
I also reject people lie Anita speaking for women because she does not.
Of course she does not, I could not think of much that you could say where you would reliably speak for all women / all men. Maybe what you perceive as what is in their interest, but whoever claims "I speak for all women / men" is just preposterous.
 

Dunki

Member
Of course she does not, I could not think of much that you could say where you would reliably speak for all women / all men. Maybe what you perceive as what is in their interest, but whoever claims "I speak for all women / men" is just preposterous.
But this is also what did happen during gamergate when dozens of women spoke for gamergate in #notmyshield they were called sockpuppets and fake by people like Anita as well
 

Cunth

Fingerlickin' Good!
I just checked out this channel's videos out of curiosity. One of the videos was '7 ways to talk to your racist uncle at thanksgiving'
wtf is this shit
 

lifa-cobex

Member
It is possible. A criticism of very select content, like "is trope x ever being used in any form" is possible without any proper knowledge of the medium. In fact, knowledge of the medium does not make a difference if your position is "trope X may never be used".

I do actually agree with the belief that anyone can criticise anything. The problem is that people with little knowledge on the subject will be bottom tier and not really worth anyone's time. They get sniffed out quickly. If they have little information then it's very unlikely that she's really going to enlighten anyone.
Anita was not solely responsible for the backlash she got. People who were in the media, in game development and forum owners decided she was worth listening too.
A good portion of users here remember the amounts of bans flooding through for merely questioning the person who had little knowledge of the subject we all enjoyed for many years. 4chan, Something awful, Reddit, Neogaf etc etc. Ban after ban after ban.

People in game development coming out in support of this nobody over the people who had been purchasing, defending and supporting games for years.

The media jumping all over people and turning it into a witch hunt. Support her or face our wrath.

She raised a ridiculous amount for a web series and then wanted another 200 thousand for another series about ordinary women. And just to add the cherry on the cake, she gets tax exemption in 2014.

She even received an ambassadors awards for helping gaming be a better place. What exactly has she helped?

People originally were never pissed at her. People were pissed that the support this person got, which was an unusually large amount for knowing little about the subject and blatantly lying.
All the while making sure it was her face in front and centre, whilst complaining that it's frustrating to be known as the woman who survived gamergate.
I remember the news reports of her getting into limos with hired bodyguards. Trying to show this act of her life being in danger.

This was all a push for her to try and sell people an idea. An idea that clearly paid off for her but left the social gaming scene in a complete mess.
People were at each other's throats for years over this topic. It all went very tribalism. It's only now that it's beginning to die off.

But I absolutely believe others have seen the success she's had with it and are trying to push it into other areas. Comics, films, table top. Most geek fandoms.

It's a con. Their is always a price bracket at the end of each of these movements and someone to receive the cash at the end.

It's an absolute con.
 
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