Why is casual racism/sexism more accepted in video games than other forms of media (these days)?

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http://quinnspiracy.com/godot.html

jmm, Monday, 1 September 2014 17:09 (nine years ago) link

pffthehehe

Spirit of Match Game '76 (silby), Monday, 1 September 2014 17:26 (nine years ago) link

I have an idea that so much video game discourse taking the form of Nintendo vs Sony vs Microsoft console wars sets gamers up for a combative approach too. It goes alongside the well-noted game aspects in that Devin Wilson post and fits in with his point seven on protecting value of investments. It might just be the communities I've happened to see, but I feel that mode gives a top down pervasive aggression that is in the interests of some of the most powerful companies in the business, in a way that you don't really get for any other media (it's more like sports, I guess? Comics which I know less about has two big mainstream companies, but less barrier to entry between the two of them?).

Iain Mew (if), Monday, 1 September 2014 17:37 (nine years ago) link

An interesting comparison would be to Mac vs. PC which also involves a big sunk investment where people really are unlikely to do both. There's definitely a rivalry there but I don't think it gets as aggressive. OTOH there are probably more gamers who have two or more current-generation systems than there are casual computer users who own both a Mac and a PC. Generally I think sports is probably about right, and similarly I think anybody challenged on this would say, hey, it's all in fun, we play up the ridiculousness of the rivalry just 'cause. But more generally the tendency to be in "camps" probably does things that we can't exactly chart out.

Doctor Casino, Monday, 1 September 2014 19:11 (nine years ago) link

http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/2/6096163/developers-end-hate-open-letter

Cool, I guess, but from a developer's point of view it seems like the easiest possible letter to sign. How about a letter pledging to avoid racist and misogynistic tropes, or, in the case of reviewers, to dock points from games that use them?

jmm, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 20:21 (nine years ago) link

That's already starting to happen in reviews from the more self-aware sites like Polygon, and naturally they always get blowback from the same idiots for "inserting politics" into their hobby

But you're right, it's super easy to sign a letter like that. I'm more interested in a developer of Saints Row coming out and saying he agreed with Sarkeesian. tbf the franchise has been getting better in that respect but it started off pretty terrible, as evidenced by plot points in SR1 and 2 used in her videos. (While at the same time, having possibly the the best non-hetero-normative gender slider that just about any game has had in SR2)

Nhex, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 20:49 (nine years ago) link

That video above is more sad to me than anything, that these nimrods exist

Nhex, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 20:51 (nine years ago) link

tbh i find all the #notallgamers "hey there's right and wrong on both sides here let's stop arguing about this stuff" clowns just as aggravating

Daphnis Celesta, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 20:53 (nine years ago) link

yeah, pretty similar to the #notallmen thing, totally missing the point

Nhex, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 20:56 (nine years ago) link

if sarkeesian ends up achieving something I will feel bummed at being proven wrong /:

♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp), Wednesday, 3 September 2014 10:05 (nine years ago) link

good attitude

socki (s1ocki), Wednesday, 3 September 2014 13:01 (nine years ago) link

johnny fiveaces ‏@brumbpo Aug 24

@Nicendeth @MichaelToole @Babylonian why do these turdmen always look like a Kane of Nod cosplay convention

irl lulz

Daphnis Celesta, Wednesday, 3 September 2014 17:34 (nine years ago) link

http://whatculture.com/gaming/10-things-need-know-gamergate-scandal.php

lol wtf, every single one of these is like 180deg wrong

goole, Thursday, 4 September 2014 17:10 (nine years ago) link

cant remember if gmart still reads here but v good article my man <3

Neckbread (Will M.), Thursday, 4 September 2014 17:10 (nine years ago) link

uh that was an xpost referring to his p4ste piece

Neckbread (Will M.), Thursday, 4 September 2014 17:10 (nine years ago) link

"Even the extremely controversial feminist, Christina Hoff Sommers posted a tweet in favour of #GamerGate"

Such diversity. Even quislings are in favour.

jmm, Thursday, 4 September 2014 17:33 (nine years ago) link

yeah, do not click on that whatculture article, it's super infuriating and awful, and it's broken u into a million ages so to read all of their bullshit you just give them even more clicks, fuck everybody

Doctor Casino, Thursday, 4 September 2014 17:37 (nine years ago) link

yeah.. when i got to #9 which was "everyone gets death threats, PSHAW" my eyes couldn't roll hard enough

Nhex, Thursday, 4 September 2014 17:48 (nine years ago) link

it's broken u into a million ages

This is very true.

jmm, Thursday, 4 September 2014 17:49 (nine years ago) link

hahaha

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BwnH1q8IIAA_1Dk.png:large

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 4 September 2014 19:52 (nine years ago) link

good use of iso-cubes imo

⌘-B (mh), Thursday, 4 September 2014 19:57 (nine years ago) link

took me FAR too long to realize that was a parody

the other song about butts in the top 5 (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:00 (nine years ago) link

how did you not realize the moment you got to "zoe quinn be arrested & tried to the full extent of the law for her duplicitous promiscuity and/or for really upsetting that developer guy"

Mordy, Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:08 (nine years ago) link

seemed in character tbqh

the other song about butts in the top 5 (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:09 (nine years ago) link

"close down penny arcade as it is feminist" was the tell

the other song about butts in the top 5 (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:09 (nine years ago) link

i'm sympathetic to poe's law but c'mon

Mordy, Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:09 (nine years ago) link

have those fucks weighed in on this at all? They seem to be forever discussing minutia of the most minor online gamer dustups in vicious form; i don't know whether not commenting or commenting stupidly would be more in character for them.
going in

the other song about butts in the top 5 (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:10 (nine years ago) link

she should be arrested and tried for duplicitous promiscuity??? "all games journalists to not be friends with other games journalists"?? the whole thing is obv absurd.

Mordy, Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:10 (nine years ago) link

that's a parody yeah, but a quite subtle one.

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:13 (nine years ago) link

have those fucks weighed in on this at all? They seem to be forever discussing minutia of the most minor online gamer dustups in vicious form; i don't know whether not commenting or commenting stupidly would be more in character for them.
going in

Them weighing in would accomplish nothing but drawing attention to themselves so I guess it's surprising they haven't shat a big mansplainy turd into this mess

Spirit of Match Game '76 (silby), Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:16 (nine years ago) link

or maybe serious. i don't know.

the other song about butts in the top 5 (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:19 (nine years ago) link

oh and penny arcade is doing PAX (which they're part of? Not part of? depends on if they said anything stupid lately) so i think they're low profiling it but the dog whistle inherent in
"PAX is a nice reminder of just how incredible games and gamers really are. I always come away from the show inspired by this community. "
is pretty clear

the other song about butts in the top 5 (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:21 (nine years ago) link

yeah, do not click on that whatculture article, it's super infuriating and awful, and it's broken u into a million ages so to read all of their bullshit you just give them even more clicks, fuck everybody

too late for me but aaargh yes

1. gamers are not a monolithic entity, it is dumb to say gamers are bad
2. people who disagree with me are clearly not gamers and are therefore not entitled to an opinion. i can tell this because because gamers are a monolithic entity and all think the same
3. in fact YOU are the real bigot for thinking that some games could deal with LGBT/women's/race issues/anything other than explosions and be appraised on different merits, did you ever think of that huh
4. x (which is y, and that is not made up it is a FACT) is in fact (did I mention FACT) y, namely here is a list of ways it is y, and in conclusion x is y

(OK pots'n'kettles here as I am ILX's most circularly tl;dr but holy shit tautologies)

the ghosts of dead pom-bears (a passing spacecadet), Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:36 (nine years ago) link

i dont know why i noticed this first but "burpturds" is not a spelling error even though it does point out the username as a spelling mistake

Neckbread (Will M.), Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:44 (nine years ago) link

there is a publisher called gamersgate, i bet they are not having a good time atm

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:51 (nine years ago) link

"gamers" are not bad for the reasons you list but "gamer culture" is real and is historically pretty terrible in many ways

the other song about butts in the top 5 (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:53 (nine years ago) link

and i say that as a "gamer"

the other song about butts in the top 5 (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:53 (nine years ago) link

I went to QuakeCon twice in the very early 2000s

⌘-B (mh), Thursday, 4 September 2014 20:55 (nine years ago) link

#notalllamerz

Daphnis Celesta, Thursday, 4 September 2014 21:16 (nine years ago) link

the problem w/ letting "gaming culture" mean white male asshole gamers that do misogynistic things is that it actually simplifies an always diverse gaming community and disenfranchises them from how they've historically seen themselves. all these articles keep positing this diverse gamership as being something new that is replacing "old gaming culture," but that's not true. gamers have always been a diverse crowd and only when focusing on a very particular niche of the gaming market (tho, in AAA FPS games the most profitable) does it make sense to talk about "gaming culture" imo. like, the first gamer i ever knew was my mom playing zelda on her NES and return to zork on her computer. i've played w/ card gamers and wargamers and board gamers and indie gamers and sim gamers and IF gamers and classic RPG gamers and tabletop gamers and they're all such diverse + robust communities. idk. this is nitpicking bc i assume when we talk here about "gamers" and "gaming culture" we all know who we're talking about (4channers), but this has been bothering me so i wanted to toss in my 2 cents.

Mordy, Thursday, 4 September 2014 21:24 (nine years ago) link

one of the many issues here is that a very vocal minority (the one you call 4channers) is claiming that 'gamers' title as theirs and only theirs.

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 4 September 2014 21:27 (nine years ago) link

for sure, but they're wrong and we know they're wrong

Mordy, Thursday, 4 September 2014 21:28 (nine years ago) link

there is a weird complex here where a lot of the douchebags went to war over who could and who couldn't be a "gamer" slightly before it turned into "SJWs are the enemy"

take on board what your saying but that storm will pass i'm sure

Daphnis Celesta, Thursday, 4 September 2014 21:31 (nine years ago) link

Pretty sure Davis Aurini will become a MP in rural Alberta in the coming 15 years.

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 4 September 2014 21:39 (nine years ago) link

I wish I hadn't posted that video of his upthread. I posted his whole playlist by accident, which embeds whichever video is newest, and I can only imagine what vile shit might appear on there. Do any of you have mod powers by any chance?

jmm, Thursday, 4 September 2014 21:51 (nine years ago) link

"TINY INDIE DEVELOPERS" was what gave it away for me, but I read the bolded part first and now I just want "G-DAY" to happen.

jmm, Thursday, 4 September 2014 22:02 (nine years ago) link

http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/Authors/david_auerbach-authorbio.png
just another face in the diverse crowd

the other song about butts in the top 5 (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 4 September 2014 23:20 (nine years ago) link


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