1) How is it a boys club? No one stopped me, a female person, from buying a game in a store or online because of my gender. My Xbox or PC don't stop magically working because I have a vagina. You should distinct between "just playing games" (which is what anyone interested in the medium should be most concerned about) and "participating in a gaming community/online gaming activity" first.omega 616 said:
I agree that in these contexts, women get treated differently than men because there are other ways to harass them if you want to be a dick. But men get shit too. Who get's it more often is beside the point. If you argue like that, you ignore one side and that is also wrong. Society does not condemn men experiencing mean stuff (while gaming/on the Internet) because they should "man up" and deal with it, right?
What I also witness and what pisses ME of is, that people think I should get special treatment as a woman. I play competitive games like FPSes online. Naturally, when there's competition you get trash talked. People who think of themselves as progressive and inclusive likely say that a player calling me a ***** is an evil bigot. But when it happens to my boyfriend, no one gives a fuck. My proposition: Either give a fuck about all of this or do not. THAT is real equality!
Furthermore, yeah there are more male progatognists in AAA games and male devs in development. But why should I take offense to that and shame thoese products? A man is a human being, I still can feel sympathy to one when playing a game as a male protagonist. I would have problems when it comes to experiences/issues only men could deal with for biological reasons, but I don't think a AAA game about prostate cancer exist, lol.
Heck, I could identify with a genderless shape if it expresses emotions in some way. Also as long as the game is good, why should I care what gender is most represented in the dev team?
And if I still desire to play as a woman, than there are plenty of games with female protagonists and the option to play female out there. They may not be the majority or equal to games with male protagonists, but we're getting there. I dislike how many approach this issue with shaming games that have male protagonists, instead of taking the positive way and express demand for female protagonists and signal boost games that already fit that criteria.
Or is it a "boys club" because we lack female perspectives with less women in development? How can you argue that when phenomenons like transgenderism exist? I am certain that a man can express sentiments that society considers "female" as well as a woman. The average man may be more less likely to do that, but we as a society still don't have a consesus if it's more for biological or societal reasons.
2) "Every" game huh? Guess I played the wrong games. Or the problem is that people have very different definitions about what "nearly naked" means and when it is wrong. For example, many female gamers, myself included, think that Bayonetta is a character that empowers them as females while others, even those that identify as feminist, act like conservative puritans when it comes to her. Despite the fact that a woman created her... uh I digress. In general one can say, what offends this person is OK with the other. Again, if you don't like it don't shame the games that already exist... if you value freedom of expression and art.
3) AS get's hate because she wants to be seen as a researcher/scholar, but does not act like that. Many people are concerned with her methods (there's many cherry-picking involved to support her stances), arguments (that can be completely changed to be positive or adress a problem with male representation in games) and lack of citing and comprehending actual research. It often comes off like a opinion piece. Though that would not be a problem at all if... she would face the discussion. Which she doesn't. Comments are disabled, counter arguments never engaged. Better to sit in your own hugbox of people who agree with you and donate to you, right? That is not the behaviour of someone who associates as a person who wants to do science for the benefit of mankind - or in this case, womankind. That makes people mad. I am especially furious because she wants to "help" or "represent" me as a woman. But I can't voice my criticism to her because certain ways are censored and/or she does not simply care. Heck, if I do it too loudly her followers accuse me of "internalizing misogyny" or use the reserve white knight argument (I don't care about the medium, I just want to get dick by defending "the boys club"? Fuck off!).
I realize that this user may be strawmanning/trolling as hell. But I don't care, my points still stand. I have to get this out there somewhere. This issue frustates me SO MUCH. There are people out there who want to help women and achieve equality. That his a noble cause, but many things they do and say come off so...wrong to me. They tell me that I am oppressed, not only in the context of gaming. But I can't see it, sorry. Maybe it is because I am not a working contributor to society yet since I'm visiting a university at the moment. But I can say on the way to get there, I never felt mistreated or not having had the same opportunities and support as my fellow male human beings (I live in Europe btw, if that matters).
If anything, I often felt preferred. Teachers being more nice to me and my female classmates. Other players in games suddendly behave more polite and less agressive when I speak in voice chat. Or giving me free stuff in the MMOs I played. The list could go on.
But what I can see are women in underdeveloped countries who do not have the same choices, opportunities as me... who may even have to fear for their well being everyday. Maybe I am encountering the wrong feminists, maybe people helping those women are not as loud in the news and on social media... but I have the perception that in this day and age, arguing that women in Western societies have it soooo bad is more important than these issues. It's obviously not.
Sorry for any grammar/spelling errors. This subject makes me so emotional. I just believe we should condemn all bad stuff that happens to both men and women instead of arguing about who has it worse, and let people make the games they want to make... if you think a certain type of game is underrepresented, don't shame the others, work in a positive way. Oh, and realize that there simply are mean people and trolls on the Internet. Which is why generalizations are also not a very good idea.
