Why even listen to what she says? What she said has zero relevance to me. I really could care less about her opinions.
Anita Sarkeesian "I'm not a fan of gaming" leaked 2010 video reveals
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It should.SonOfVoorhees said:
Despite the less than perfect delivery she has, what she is saying DOES have some importance in the industry. Better characters less steeped in stereotypes of BOTH genders will only push the medium forward, resulting in better games we all love and enjoy.
Response from a completely neutral person on the video game industry: Who is she, and why the hell should I care? If we're mindlessly attacking someone again, I'm out.
This isn't really a problem. Often times it takes someone who's not a fan of something to adequately criticize it.
That being said... DUH people! Have you listened to any of her videos?
You can tell she doesn't understand the basic Challenge to Reward concept that gaming is based on.
And when she tries to go in depth on one specific game it's obvious she hasn't played it. (Cough cough Bayonetta cough)
Just because someone isn't a fan of something doesn't mean they can't criticize it. Often times that leads to better criticism. As long as you actually know what your talking about... being a fan isn't important.
That being said... DUH people! Have you listened to any of her videos?
You can tell she doesn't understand the basic Challenge to Reward concept that gaming is based on.
And when she tries to go in depth on one specific game it's obvious she hasn't played it. (Cough cough Bayonetta cough)
Just because someone isn't a fan of something doesn't mean they can't criticize it. Often times that leads to better criticism. As long as you actually know what your talking about... being a fan isn't important.
Well I think this news might actually break the internet, there really is not enough ''There's a shitstorm a brewing'' meme s available to adequately cover this.
That said I think she is going to be in for yet another round of keyboard warrior attacks which she has done nothing to earn but also prove some of her points about just how hostile the gaming industry can be for someone who dares to speak out against it.
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against people providing counter arrangements to her videos as long as it doesn't contain the vitriol that so many do. Its no wonder she disabled comments ect really now is it?
That said I think she is going to be in for yet another round of keyboard warrior attacks which she has done nothing to earn but also prove some of her points about just how hostile the gaming industry can be for someone who dares to speak out against it.
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against people providing counter arrangements to her videos as long as it doesn't contain the vitriol that so many do. Its no wonder she disabled comments ect really now is it?
Anita Sarkeesian is the person behind Feminist Frequency, and tackles varios issues dealing with feminism. She has criticized video games in the past in some of her videos, including the (in)famous Bayonetta critique. Earning the ire of MANY gamers, and the general population at large, she then launched a Kickstarter proposal for a series of video about tropes and women in video games. She earned a significant higher amount of money than what she was asking (160,000 out of 10,000) and has released a handful of videos since then.BlumiereBleck said:
The kickstarter money was supposed to be from games and research, but due to the presentation of her videos, many wonder if she actually did any research, and others have proclaimed she scammed people out of their money. There are a ton of other little details i am leaving out, but that is the general gist of it.
ROFL...wut!? Citation needed. I actually can't stop laughing.kaioshade said:
Slightly on topic, and serious question for anyone posting in this thread to consider...
How long must one be gaming for to earn the "gamer" title? Do you need to play particular games? How many? Does how long one has been gaming, or the breadth/type of titles one has played, make one's opinions on any and all subjects concerning gaming more valid/weighty?
Same questions re: feminism. Does one need to have studied feminism in depth in order to have opinions on feminism and/or topics concerning it? How deep/academic must that study be?
Hahahaha, a "civil" Anita discussion. Good luck with that.
Really, while it's true she clearly misrepresented herself, we don't need to turn this into a shit-flinging contest. If she is not knowledgeable about the topic, her video will have errors. Critique those errors, and quit going all e-detective on her, it makes us look like the bad guys.
Really, while it's true she clearly misrepresented herself, we don't need to turn this into a shit-flinging contest. If she is not knowledgeable about the topic, her video will have errors. Critique those errors, and quit going all e-detective on her, it makes us look like the bad guys.
And they did it well before this. They went so far as to claim her photo of her playing a game as a kid wasn't her/was faked. Maybe even done by the same people who faked Obama's certificate of Human Birth (he's a Martian, doncha know).Mcoffey said:
It's interesting, though. At what point does one start/stop being a gamer? I had several years where I was wrapped up in school and work and not failing at either where I stopped playing video games, but I've been a gamer since before most of the people on here were born. Hell, my first console pre-dates my birth and was given to me when I was four. I gave my Uncle and his wife my old SNES/Genesis and a couple other consoles to continue that "tradition." Paying it forward, as it were.
Now, strictly speaking, it could be argued that I wasn't "always a gamer," but most of us understand this context thing and probably would let me slide.
*sigh* It is embarassing. And worse, I think it might be getting more childish. I mean, you consider that when I first got into, I was a child. I continue using the term gamer, but I take your point. I have the same reaction to "audiophile," because to me it means "douchebag." I don't care about the warmth of vinyl and I won't spend 200 dollars on a pair of headphones that will be drowned out by the noise of the streets I usually use them on. I'm a huuuuuge music freak, but I don't like being associated with the subculture. It's also pretty childish.shrekfan246 said:
with "gamer," I mostly just don't care. I was a gamer at 12, when nobody was sending rape threats to people for suggesting more female protagonists. I was a gamer at 8, where none of the boys seemed to be bothered by playing as the Princess in Doki Dok...I mean, Super Mario Bros 2. And none of the girls were precluded just because they would eventually have boobs.
I sort of wonder when this happened. There was no definitive tipping point in gamer culture that I can see, but it went from a hobby to something everyone had to RAAAAAAEG about and it mystifies me. I mean, it's not like I've never been upset or angry (I'm not perfect), but man, the vitriol that goes out from the community to just about everyone: devs/pubs, other gamers, non-gamers, the media....
Going briefly back OT: This is the same sort of crack "journalism" that gamers hate when Fox News or the rest of the lamestream media[footnote]I love that phrase. Makes me chuckle[/footnote] does it. Please, people, for the love of Mario (Or, if you're younger, Master Chief): don't be that guy.
It's almost as if, in the real world, it's unnecessary to be a fan of something to study it. Do you think I give a fuck about Daniel Defoe? I do not, but I can give you a deep and powerful interpretation of Moll Flanders. Do you think I give a fuck about reality TV? I do not, but I can discuss the ramifications of the meta-narrative that reality TV carries into other realms of narrative creation (writing fiction and so on), and talk about what being factual means in nonfiction today with the advent of these hyper-edited reality television shows.
See, that's called pursuing an interest via an interesting route. Being a fan tends to preclude one's ability to do that thoughtfully.
See, that's called pursuing an interest via an interesting route. Being a fan tends to preclude one's ability to do that thoughtfully.
Because he COULD care less. If he COULD NOT care less, he'd be so out of here. >.>Mcoffey said:
I hate her, I truly do, I don't agree with the way she conducts her "project" nor with the way she bends most of her points (otherwise valid) just to bash at certain games in order to get attention, she's like one of those lunatics that keep raving about how Vietnam affected everything, even though you were discussing which gravy tastes better, only she keeps wasting good feminist arguments... That said...
Her focus is independent of wether she really enjoy games or not, her focus is women being tropes etc. This one in particular is bringing that subject to the video game arena, and while being a gaming fan would give her much more property, her "not even liking it" doesn't ruin her theme, it's all still valid, the way I see, as long as she doesn't start a crusade against games for the sake of it, which I sincerely don't think is doing. Her videos suck solely because she treats the subject in an almost coercive and dishonest manner.
Her focus is independent of wether she really enjoy games or not, her focus is women being tropes etc. This one in particular is bringing that subject to the video game arena, and while being a gaming fan would give her much more property, her "not even liking it" doesn't ruin her theme, it's all still valid, the way I see, as long as she doesn't start a crusade against games for the sake of it, which I sincerely don't think is doing. Her videos suck solely because she treats the subject in an almost coercive and dishonest manner.
This has got to be one of the best uses of grammar blitzkrieg that I've ever seen, I'm going to give you points for that.Zachary Amaranth said:
As for on topic, I wonder how the fact that AS doesn't really like gaming is relevant. I mean, I didn't like one of my old jobs, but I was good at it and all.
If people have an issue with her methodology or presentation, that's one thing (I still have issues with them, but they have been getting better...now, the pacing is another story entirely), but honestly, pulling the "gamer credentials" card is simply only appropriate when...huh, actually, only when one calls themselves a gamer without ever having played a game at all. (That would be like me calling myself a bowler despite never having held a bowling ball in my hand; or a bowler hat on my head.)
There are no minimum requirements for being a gamer or a feminist,BloatedGuppy said:
but the more you know, the better, because someone is going to call
you out when you make a mistake or misrepresent something.
The biggest problem is that (and please correct me if I'm wrong, because
I haven't sat down and watched Anita's videos, except for the first one
in the series) Anita is probably taking on too big of topic. It might have
been better if she had limited her study to either a specific time period
(the current console generation, maybe) and/or a specific genre (fighting games,
for instance) and gone on from there. Maybe she should have only picked a handful
of games to focus on, and dedicated a single video to each. The wider you cast
your net, the less attention you can give to any one game or period, and the
more generalized your commentary is going to be.
That's kind of exactly how I was. I've always considered myself a fan of video/computer games and grew up playing them, but there was period of about five years in my late teens and early twenties where the only games I played were classic games, owned no new systems, and felt rather disenfranchised about modern/3d games, especially realistic military shooters (this coincided mainly with the time I was actually in the military). This has been the experience of basically all of my female friends, with the exception that only a few of us actually got back into it slowly and that I work in this industry now.Mcoffey said:
So yeah, no big surprise from me, either. v:
Around the same time social networking became such a huge thing would be my guess. I have mentioned this before, but the kind of negative behaviour we see amongst gamers online is by no means exclusive and I cannot help but think that they must have some kind of common cause.Zachary Amaranth said:
After all, we get people sending threats to developers for changing a weapons firing rate and women threatening to be raped for suggesting that British currency should have a woman (other than the Queen) on it. It seems that on the internet it doesn't really matter who or where you are, you will find people like this.
I also suspect the fact that developers are now so personally tied with the gaming community a lot of it comes down to a sense of self entitlement. One of the worst communities for fans making demands and going berserk when their personal tastes are not met are fans of Bioware, and they are also the company that seems to have the closest ties with their fan-base.
It's kind of like "The more you get given, the more you expect to be given". If developers had remained silent and merely made their games like they did before the internet became so common a place to discuss things, we might see less people thinking their opinions are something that "should" be listened to.
The anonymity also certainly doesn't help either. A person can rant and rave as much as they like online but they can easily avoid consequences for their behaviour. Once they log off the site they can put it out of their mind so for many people they don't really care how many others they piss off or upset.