Here we go again: Anita Sarkeesian and the gaming community

[EternallyBored]

FFS. Anita didn't even WRITE her Tropes Vs Women show. A man by the name of Johnathan McIntosh does (aka @radicalbytes on twitter). It's even on his profile that he both produces and writes the show.

Co-writes. Which doesn't indicate Anita doesn't write TVW, it indicates she doesn't write it alone. It took all of twelve seconds to do the research on that.

Is it just me, or does this particular conspiracy theory come off as kind of extra insulting to Anita. It's never that their co-conspirators, or that they are both frauds, no, the conspiracy makes her out to be some kind of puppet for a guy who doesn't even come off as that eloquent from everything I've read of his since finding out about him.

Why does this particular conspiracy always have him as the defacto head? Like Anita is completely incapable of having or changing any sort of opinion on her own without some kind of shady puppet master standing behind her. She is apparently a goalless rube who just dances to the tune of another person, you know, rather than any sane option like maybe they both had similar beliefs, or they actually are working together.

Seriously, she can still be a fraud without being tricked into it by some kind of mastermind, one she fully credits as a co-writer on her work and doesn't try to hide the existence of at all.

 

[Something Amyss]

Is it just me, or does this particular conspiracy theory come off as kind of extra insulting to Anita. It's never that their co-conspirators, or that they are both frauds, no, the conspiracy makes her out to be some kind of puppet for a guy who doesn't even come off as that eloquent from everything I've read of his since finding out about him.

Why does this particular conspiracy always have him as the defacto head? Like Anita is completely incapable of having or changing any sort of opinion on her own without some kind of shady puppet master standing behind her. She is apparently a goalless rube who just dances to the tune of another person, you know, rather than any sane option like maybe they both had similar beliefs, or they actually are working together.

Seriously, she can still be a fraud without being tricked into it by some kind of mastermind, one she fully credits as a co-writer on her work and doesn't try to hide the existence of at all.

I'm not sure why you're surprised that a bunch of people who get outraged because a dull woman makes bland criticism about games wouldn't expect a woman to be capable of coming up with the idea. To borrow from one of the great philosophers of the ages:

 

[Platypus540]

On the one hand, I can't imagine that she would have much negative effect on a game that's basically just about a woman kicking ass.

On the other, I really, really don't like Sarkeesian, (I've avoided her for the most part but what I've seen tends to show general ignorance of how games work) and the fact that she's working on a sequel to a game I loved is not a good thing for me.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Well, the writing for the first game was utter trash, so it's not like it can get any worse.

I find Anita to be a useless human being, but this really isn't a development anyone should be mad about.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

Well...I didn't buy the first one and don't at all care about the sequel.

Sooooo, you have at it, Sarky.

 

[Haerthan]

Well, the writing for the first game was utter trash, so it's not like it can get any worse.

I find Anita to be a useless human being, but this really isn't a development anyone should be mad about.

I understand you might not like Anita dude, but saying she's useless? No she is not, and that is veering a bit close to trolling. She criticizes games. That in of itself isn't useless.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Well, the writing for the first game was utter trash, so it's not like it can get any worse.

I find Anita to be a useless human being, but this really isn't a development anyone should be mad about.

I understand you might not like Anita dude, but saying she's useless? No she is not, and that is veering a bit close to trolling. She criticizes games. That in of itself isn't useless.

I don't like or especially dislike her. But I don't think any of her work is useful for much of anything.

 

[Haerthan]

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Well it is usefull in that one it criticizes games and shows areas of improvement and two she showed us that we still got issues to deal with.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

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Well it is usefull in that one it criticizes games and shows areas of improvement and two she showed us that we still got issues to deal with.

Yes, there are certainly issues we as gamers still have to deal with.

Namely, people like her.

[small]Zing.


...No? Ok, sorry.[/small]

 

[loa]

I don't care.
Her idea for a "great feminist game" is an abducted princess becoming the dude with tits trope she herself declared ohsosexist so it's not like she has any consistency apart from some vague concept of "empowerment" so this will have very little effect on the story about a woman being capable.

As for game mechanics and control schemes?
I don't see why they would listen to advice from her in that department since that has nothing to do with feminism and there are people in the dev team with more experience of that than her.

 

[Creator002]

I don't really care. I don't agree with a lot of her views, but if the game's still good, I don't mind.

 

[Haerthan]

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Yea, but the "backlash" she suffered is a clear sign that even knowing about those issues is not enough. That we gotta deal with them. And you believe that the gist of it is that if wasn't her, then the backlash wouldn't have happened? If that is true, please correct if not, than boy oh boy are you wrong.

 

[Vault101]

this is awesome! the time has come for the great reckoning! patron saint of Femanzi's Sarkessian has infiltrated the gamer space! AAAAHH HAHAHAHAHAHA

actual answer: I think having a bit of a feminist perspective isn't a bad thing

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

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Well it is usefull in that one it criticizes games and shows areas of improvement and two she showed us that we still got issues to deal with.

If you think those criticisms and issues are valid and that stating them is helpful, that's fine. I do not consider that to be the case. Therefore, I find her useless.

 

[Haerthan]

this is awesome! the time has come for the great reckoning! patron saint of Femanzi's Sarkessian has infiltrated the gamer space! AAAAHH HAHAHAHAHAHA

actual answer: I think having a bit of a feminist perspective isn't a bad thing

Thou my brethen are insane in the membrane. Join me in my insanity as we deal with the gamers in the name of our Overlady Sarkeesian. Join me as we shall march to conquer the world. Also heres a cookie

 

[mysecondlife]

The only video I saw (accidentally) of Ms. Sarkeesian was when she was a guest at Colbert Report. From the interview she didn't convince me that she knows a lot about video games.

If she can gain anything from the experience of game developing perspective, I say that's a plus.

 

[drummond13]

This bothers me, but only because it gives Anita even more press and credibility. The only reason she's as prevalent as she is is because of how much she's talked about. While some of her views are actually instructive and occasionally interesting, there's always a moment or two in her videos where she jumps to ridiculous conclusions based on nothing more than her own assumptions.

If everyone had just ignored her she would still be only one step up from any other person who raves on Youtube. Instead she's considered a credible source of commentary, which is a little sad. And now she's even getting jobs based on this notoriety, which would bother me less if I felt she actually knew enough about video gaming to offer the company any credible insight.

It's annoying, nothing more. The solution would be to stop making threads like these, but it's likely way too late for that.

 

[Fox12]

I thought this was old news. Seriously I've known about this for months. And wasn't Mirror's Edge just kind of boring to begin with?

I have to agree with you, I herd about this at least 6 months ago. Plus even though we know her 'consulting' won't improve the game, it's not like the quality can get much worst since it was mediocre gameplay mixed with a horrible story. I don't think they'd have someone with zero programming skills consult them on gameplay after all.

Pretty much, this is old old news. And, frankly, it's not that controversial. I doubt the suits in charge would allow her to affect the game in any negative way. In other words, if you think the game is suddenly going to involve a lone feminazi warrior resisting the powers of the patriarchy, then you may be disappointed. It'll probably be the same experience as the last game. It may still suck, but it won't be because of Anita Sarkeesian. And I'm legitimately curious to see her put her money where her mouth is.