Kickstarter, Kids, Gender, and Transgender

[Schadrach]

ESCAPIST BINGO! WOOHOO!

OK, now that that's over, I thought I'd link a couple of kickstarters that are relevant to the topic and give my opinions. I'll be linking the Kicktraq (it's a site that tracks Kickstarters and news about them) page for the first one, and the Kicktraq, a wayback archive of the Kickstarter itself, and the current Kickstarter itself for the other.

First off, there's Bloom: Memories - One of a Kind Action Adventure / RPG [http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/1376061185/bloom-memories-one-of-a-kind-action-adventure-rpg/]. It's an indie action RPG by a 4 person team (Studio Fawn) whose artist/designer/writer (Dani Landers) is trans. Interestingly, there's no mention of any kind of massive hate campaign despite not only being created by a woman but a trans woman no less. It's a pity though, the game looks interesting, but there's a decent chance the Kickstarter will fail (it's under half funded with 10 days to go to raise another $30k).

Which is of course disappointing, since it really seems like an interesting take on the genre. I do find it interesting that there's been no talk about mass-scale harassment towards this project, but this project is also atypical in that it's been making itself mostly about the project, and not about building gender-politics fueled outrage over who's involved with it and what detractors are saying.



Secondly there is 9 Year Old Building Her First RPG & KICKS IT FORWARD! / 9 Year Old Building an RPG to Prove Her Brothers Wrong! [http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/susanwilson/9-year-old-building-an-rpg-to-prove-her-brothers-w/#chart-daily] I don't have a lot of good things to say about this one except that I wish all the best for the little girl.

On the negative side, it's a kickstarter started by her mother, who is a very wealthy businesswoman asking for money to send her to camp and buy her a new laptop, which seems like a "fund my life" project and thus a TOS violation. She then twitter spammed to start advertising it (another TOS violation). She *did* get at least a little bit of hate from teh internets, in the form of two posts that are publicly known about, and got several people account suspensions from Kickstarter for saying negative things about her campaign, as well as allegedly (she claimed to have done this) calling the authorities to report one person as a child predator (which "authorities" is a really good question).

Since the project began, she's switched from trying to play up antagonism between Mackenzie and her brothers to instead focusing on how awesome all her kids are and how supportive of Mackenzie her brothers are -- see the KS page as it existed on 3/24/2013 [http://web.archive.org/web/20130324191415/http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/susanwilson/9-year-old-building-an-rpg-to-prove-her-brothers-w] in comparison to how it looks today. [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/susanwilson/9-year-old-building-an-rpg-to-prove-her-brothers-w/?ref=kicktraq]

My personal opinion is that it pretty blatantly breaks KS TOS, more than once and as such should be shut down, but absolutely will not be shut down because of political/PR reasons, given that KS has bowed to that kind of pressure in the past (see Tentacle Bento, which was entirely within TOS except for pissing off certain flavors of feminist, though amusingly Cards Against Humanity was OK for some reason).

So, what does everyone else think about this stuff?

 

[Legion]

I am confused about the first one.

Are you saying that there has been harassment, and it has been kept quiet? Or that you are surprised that there hasn't been any harassment? If it is obvious which, I apologise, I am somewhat sleep deprived, but I honestly cannot tell.

Either way, I am not entirely sure what it is you are asking us about it.

The second one, I am not particularly fond of, as you say, it seems more like a "fund my life" project. That said, I am not that bothered because people who back these kinds of things know what they are paying for. It's not like she said it was needed for one thing, while spending it on another.

 

[Auron]

I see no problem with the first one, it's not like every issue that might attract controversy on kickstarter or gaming attracts trolls. The prime example being Sarkesian(I am loath to bring that name to any thread but it's the best I can think.), she isn't trolled because of anything but her failures, the internet's not out to hunt minorities in gaming, it's the people who say so who end up being hunted. There is more than one female working on gaming, Deus Ex Human Revolution's lead writer, Mary DeMarle, is a woman I rarely heard anyone mention it and never in a bad light. Why? Because she didn't make stupid statements about how it would be totally rad if she could turn a major character into a lesbian for no good reason like the Tomb Raider woman.

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Scarlett

The woman in the first KS you posted not being the only trans-gender example I can cite by the way. (I've sseem some stupid jokes about Scarlett but they're all heavily frowned upon by the community and it usually doesn't really go far.)


That said, the second link's an atrocity in every way I can think. I'd hate to be the ostracized brother who made a joke about the younger sibling... Not to mention she can't do it indeed so much that the KS is to have her learn it. -_-

 

[Schadrach]

I see no problem with the first one, it's not like every issue that might attract controversy on kickstarter or gaming attracts trolls. The prime example being Sarkesian(I am loath to bring that name to any thread but it's the best I can think.), she isn't trolled because of anything but her failures, the internet's not out to hunt minorities in gaming, it's the people who say so who end up being hunted.

Bah, you make it sound like if you don't either make a big point about what a victim you are/will be, or go out of your way to provoke 4chan that you are unlikely to receive massive hate, trolling, and even death threats...

There is more than one female working on gaming, Deus Ex Human Revolution's lead writer, Mary DeMarle, is a woman I rarely heard anyone mention it and never in a bad light. Why? Because she didn't make stupid statements about how it would be totally rad if she could turn a major character into a lesbian for no good reason like the Tomb Raider woman.

To be fair, I'm sure if they hadn't gone out of their way to separate the boss fights from the rest of the game that she, and everyone else on the team, would have had some harsh words directed at them. Yeah the thing about Tomb Raider was just kind of seemingly random.

That said, the second link's an atrocity in every way I can think. I'd hate to be the ostracized brother who made a joke about the younger sibling... Not to mention she can't do it indeed so much that the KS is to have her learn it. -_-

Aside from the "fund my life" and "unsolicited twitter spam" issues, the terms everything was put in early on was pretty horrible, and the difference between the original KS page and the current one says a lot. I'm guessing our "top female entrepreneur" discovered that selling the boys as antagonizing their sister wasn't a good marketing choice (especially after going on in comments about how great and helpful they were being), given that she changed the video and the title to seriously downplay the idea.

My biggest problem is that if it weren't for gender politics and PR, this would have already been taken down. I'm just waiting for the next project that tries to do something similar, but without the "women in stem" and "cute little girl" angles, because it will be interesting to see if this sets a precedent, or if they'll be openly hypocritical in their TOS application (I'm betting the latter given that Tentacle Bento got cancelled but Cards Against Humanity didn't [and KS has used C.A.H. as an example of a successful KS]).

 

[excalipoor]

Wait, what happened with the Susan Wilson Kickstarter between 3.4. and 4.4. (date/month...)? It got $9,880 in pledges one day, and lost $9,882 the next. Someone just make a massive pledge and then realize how dumb it was?

 

[Eternal_Lament]

In regards to the first one: As someone mentioned, it only really has concept art going for it. The game looks okay at best, and perhaps I'll be wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't end up meeting it's goal. The fact that it's being made by a transgender doesn't really fall into any equation; it neither takes away or adds to my thoughts on the game. As for why it didn't receive any controversy? You pretty much answered your own question when you said

this project is also atypical in that it's been making itself mostly about the project, and not about building gender-politics fueled outrage over who's involved with it and what detractors are saying.

It's clear that these issues are brought up when the person involved makes a point of it, not just because the person behind it is a woman. If that were the case, I'd imagine a lot more negative press about the Ouya over the fact it's being made by a woman (as opposed to the criticism about it just not being a solid investment)

In regards to the second one: yeah, it definitely seems more like a "fund-my-life" kickstarter. Now, I imagine everyone who has donated thus far is aware of this, and if that's what they want to donate to then be my guest. As for whether it will be taken down? Hard to tell. On the one hand I'm pretty sure these types of kickstarters are against the TOS, but on the other hand, if she does indeed follow through with making a game, putting it out there, and giving the rewards to backers, then technically it served all its purposes.

Also, I haven't seen any of the controversial elements you mentioned, but there is one thing I can answer for you:

allegedly (she claimed to have done this) calling the authorities to report one person as a child predator (which "authorities" is a really good question).

Simple, she backtraced it and reported to the cyberpolice

 

[Tom_green_day]

I'm sorry, I don't understand bringing up the first one... You point out she is trans, and then state that no-one's attacking her over it. Isn't that, like, normal? Most people aren't attacked for who they are, it's just others emphasise the cases where that does happen.
The second one really sickens me though. I've seen it before and I couldn't fathom why someone would fund that- especially since she was asking for about $100 million (HYPERBOLE) and afterwards stated the course she needed to take only cost $1300. It is just a fund-my-life thing, and I don't understand why kickstarter haven't taken it down. The woman behind it seems like a tyrant.

 

[Schadrach]

well, unless being transgender suddenly gives you superpowers and uber133t programming skills, i dont really give a damn. if her game is good, then it is good.

the fact that she was born a man and changed into a woman is as important in game developement as the significance of wet toiletpaper on a catamaran, thus almost none.

More to point out that despite what some say being a woman on the internet who's visible as a woman on the internet doesn't somehow inspire mass rage about whatever they are up to. In comparison to Anita or the Arkh Project (a game with an unsuccessful Kickstarter that has been used as "proof" that gamers really have issues with women and trans folk because it pitifully failed compared to other game Kickstarters -- personally I think them presenting it more or less entirely in "gender politics" terms and not in "game" terms had more to do with it, but that's just me), for example.

One thing I find interesting is the position that her being a trans woman is totally insignificant regarding game development, given how many people recently have been explicitly making the argument that the number of people in game development that are women is of central importance.

Personally, I think the project looks interesting, and I'll probably back at a low level.

and the mother seems like a psycho woman with the highest funding tier on kickstarter. just read it out loud:

---------------------------------
Pledge $10,000 or more

ROCK STAR REWARD LEVEL: At this level, you get everything from the previous levels plus a personal apology from her brothers and the satisfaction of knowing that you've not only started a career, you've also helped to fund future courses in computer programming for her along with more (and better) games!

-------------------------------------

Worth noting that in her drastic rewrite of both the project description and video she decided to drop that funding level entirely. Kickstarter allows you to remove or alter funding rewards if no one had pledged for them yet. So the live site doesn't have the $10k reward, but it also paints the brothers as wonderful kids who are helping their sister instead of as "misogynistic puppy-torturers", as you put it. Pretty drastic difference in depiction, and I wonder if any of the early backers will notice the de-emphasis of antagonism form the brothers and the women in STEM angle and change their pledges.

Also worth noting that she called out two people by name for cancelling their pledges, and claimed to report a third to authorities as a "child predator."

 

[IvoryOasis]

More to point out that despite what some say being a woman on the internet who's visible as a woman on the internet doesn't somehow inspire mass rage about whatever they are up to. In comparison to Anita or the Arkh Project (a game with an unsuccessful Kickstarter that has been used as "proof" that gamers really have issues with women and trans folk because it pitifully failed compared to other game Kickstarters -- personally I think them presenting it more or less entirely in "gender politics" terms and not in "game" terms had more to do with it, but that's just me), for example.

Heya, this is Dani.

I tend to run across the articles or threads for the game and post on various forums about the project when I can. Between comments that I'm mentally ill, to comments bluntly stating they won't donate because I'm a "crossdresser", to one forum that said I should go do tranny porn and began posting trans porn in my game thread ... uhh... yea, kind of is annoying. Sexist and bigoted attitudes didn't vanish from the world overnight haha.

I just tend to focus more on the project when I can. I don't hide from the issue (of course not, I made an update explaining that diversity and unique points of view are actually great for getting new types of games out there.. in response to some comments I was getting).

I think it is absolutely amazing that people think being trans is a non issue. Sadly, there are still plenty who judge a person rather harshly for it (that is probably an understatement ~_~ it is a depressing issue when you start to dig into the real condition of things haha).

I'm not really going anywhere though I'm still going to be moving ahead with the game in whatever way I can.