The topic's self explanatory for the most part, but I'll put up my choice as an example:
Gamesradar's 8/10 Review for Halo: Reach
inb4 ME3
EDIT: I should explain that gamesradar gave H:R an 8/10 and there was massive hate poured on Charlie Barratt, the reviewer. What's going on in the video is the staff of GR reading off their favorite comments from the debacle.
I think a good example would be most game-movies, do you remember how batshit insane people got over Nathan Fillion not being cast in an uncharted movie?
..That is a very tall order. A lot of gamer backlash is stupid as hell, and almost soul rendingly shameful. No single event springs to mind though. I know there have been many worse occasions than the ones already listed.
frankly pretty much every issue brought up by the gaming community nowadays. I cared when people considered any gamer to be a rabid psycho but I just can't get worked up about all the little 'issues' that seem to irk the rest of the community.
especially when it comes to reviewers of any sort, I couldn't care less what arbitrary score IGN gives to the new game coming out. or that fighting games are considered sexist.
I play a lot of games and I'm generally a nice guy both online and offline.
Honestly anything presented to the public for consumption is subject to critique. As video games advance the consumers can demand more of the medium, as with any medium.
That said I honestly cannot think of something that has caused such uproar. Most of the time valid critiques can be taken from backlash.
No the shameful part is what people said to the 8/10 review. They basically started freaking out and claiming that GR only did it to "increase traffic" even though they couldn't give less of a shit.
Pretty much every single time I see any accusation of sexism crop up in regards to any video game I brace myself when reading the comments expecting to see an army of people intentionally grossly misrepresenting the issue and demonizing the opposition with constant shouts of 'misandry'.
Hitman Absolution trailer:
Argument: I have issues with the way this trailer depicts violence against women in a sexualized way.
Response: OMG YOU THINK WIMIN ARE SUPERIOR AND THAT IT'S ONYL ACCEPATBLE IF MEN DIE BUT NOT IF WOMEN DIE. MISANDRY, MISANDRY!
Lara Croft 2013:
Argument: I don't like how the executive producer says that we are going to want to 'protect' Lara, nor the fact that they are using rape as a subtext for her character growth.
Response: OMG YOU HATE THE FACT THAT SHE'S GOT SMALL BOOBS MISANDRY, MISANDRY!
Cross Assault debacle:
Argument: I think it is just crude and disgusting that Aris Bakhtanias and all the people on the team thought it was in any way 'okay' to harass Miranda to the point where she wanted to forfeit.
Response: OMG, YOU WANT TO TAKE AWAY OUR FREE SPEECH! MISANDRY, MISANDRY!
Harrassment in online games:
Argument: It is not acceptable to use such disgusting and gender oriented slurs in online gaming and someone should do something about it.
Response: OMG, YOU ONLY THINK TRASH TALK IS A PROBLEM WHEN IT HAPPENS TO WOMEN AND GAYS. MISANDRY, MISANDRY!
The Anita Sarkeesian kickstarter incident:
Argument: Disagree with her or not, the use of rape and death threats as well as defacing her wikipedia and facebook and trying to hack her home address up online is unacceptible.
Response: OMG, YOU ARE DEMONIZING US BECAUSE WE DISAGREE WITH HER! EVEN THOUGH WE FOUND SOME VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE FULL OF SMUG AD HOMINEM ATTACKS AND CONSPIRACY THEORY BS THAT OFFER NO SUBSTANTIAL PROOF BUT MAKE US FEEL VALIDATED IN THE ATTACK AGAINST HER! MISANDRY, MISANDRY!
The misogynist slur buried in Dead Island's game code:
Argument: It is not acceptible nor particularly nice to bury the word 'feminist whore' into a game's code because it suggests unpleasant mindsets happening at the developer studios.
Response: OMG, YOU WANT TO PUNISH US FOR OUR GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO BE AS CRUDE AND MISOGYNIST AS WE WANT?! MISANDRY, MISANDRY!
The Penny arcade dickwolves debacle:
Argument: I don't like that they made a rape joke and then printed official t-shirts with the word 'team rape' on it, it's hardly sensitive to rape victims.
Response: OMG, YOU THINK RAPE ONLY HAPPENS TO WOMEN AND WANT TO DEMONIZE US MEN (EVEN THOUGH THE WHOLE THING ORIGINALLY STARTED DUE TO A RAPE JOKE ABOUT A MAN BEING RAPED, SHOWS WHAT WE KNOW, HUH?) WE ARE NOW GOING TO HARRASS ALL THE RAPE SURVIVORS INVOLVED WITH IT AND IF THEY COMPLAIN, WELL, MISANDRY, MISANDRY!
I could seriously go on all day but I think you're kind of starting to see my point. Truthfully these days I have very little respect for the 'gaming community' who seem to think reacting like over sensitive hyperbolic fools somehow will keep games safe from the ever feared 'censorship'. Plus of course there are the ones determined to keep this a 'boys club' and won't even listen to the idea of things changing in any way to accomodate female audiences. Either way, I get very jaded with this industry and the people who partake in it whenever the issue of sexism shows up because I know this will happen. If nothing else if the goal of behavior like this is to convince the world that gaming doesn't deserve to be criticized or demonised in any way, at least as far as I'm concerned, it's failed.
I may love video games, but I know I don't love this.
EDIT: And no I will NOT debate with you on the Anita Sarkeesian thing, I've made my position clear before and I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole again.
Edit,please do not quote me as I will be away from my computer for a long time and therefore unable to respond.
Preface: Rape is bad, its terrible, its monstrous, its horrible. I am in now way, shape or form trying to justify or downplay the act of rape and the horrible effects it has on the people who survive such acts.
Vrex360 said:
Pretty much every single time I see any accusation of sexism crop up in regards to any video game I brace myself when reading the comments expecting to see an army of people intentionally grossly misrepresenting the issue and demonizing the opposition with constant shouts of 'misandry'.
Lara Croft 2013:
Argument: I don't like how the executive producer says that we are going to want to 'protect' Lara, nor the fact that they are using rape as a subtext for her character growth.
Response: OMG YOU HATE THE FACT THAT SHE'S GOT SMALL BOOBS AND THINK THAT A SINGLE TOUCH OF THE THIGH CONSITUTES RAPE. NO I DON'T CARE WHAT THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER SAID IN MULTIPLE INTERVIEWS. MISANDRY, MISANDRY!
I'm going to have to call out the Lara Croft issue. When the rape article was put on this site a couple weeks back I had the same issue with it that I have with people overrating to the subject of rape being used in video games.
This is no logical reason why it should be ok for these games to be allowed to be created with little to no condemnation from the gaming community, and yet when it comes to rape, the subject is completely out of the question. Apparently the whole argument against it could be summarized as....
feelings of rape victims > feelings of soldiers with PTSD and people who have survived attempted murder.
I didn't realize we were to totally disregard the feelings of people who have been in war but we are required to always consider the feelings of rape victims. Its a sickening double standard on how we consider the feelings of those that have been traumatized.
The whole thing just reminds me of how this comic [http://satwcomic.com/anything-but-that] pointed out how our society views sex and violence.
Serious Sam HD better than Halo: Reach? Why would you argue against that?
OT: I'm not quite sure if this is in the same direction of this topic, bu i hate when people rage at someone for not understanding the rules of a game when they've only played for 5 min.
Pretty much every single time I see any accusation of sexism crop up in regards to any video game I brace myself when reading the comments expecting to see an army of people intentionally grossly misrepresenting the issue and demonizing the opposition with constant shouts of 'misandry'.
Hitman Absolution trailer:
Argument: I have issues with the way this trailer depicts violence against women in a sexualized way.
Response: OMG YOU THINK WIMIN ARE SUPERIOR AND THAT IT'S ONYL ACCEPATBLE IF MEN DIE BUT NOT IF WOMEN DIE. MISANDRY, MISANDRY!
Lara Croft 2013:
Argument: I don't like how the executive producer says that we are going to want to 'protect' Lara, nor the fact that they are using rape as a subtext for her character growth.
Response: OMG YOU HATE THE FACT THAT SHE'S GOT SMALL BOOBS AND THINK THAT A SINGLE TOUCH OF THE THIGH CONSITUTES RAPE. NO I DON'T CARE WHAT THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER SAID IN MULTIPLE INTERVIEWS. MISANDRY, MISANDRY!
Cross Assault debacle:
Argument: I think it is just crude and disgusting that Aris Bakhtanias and all the people on the team thought it was in any way 'okay' to harass Miranda to the point where she wanted to forfeit.
Response: OMG, YOU WANT TO TAKE AWAY OUR FREE SPEECH! MISANDRY, MISANDRY!
Harrassment in online games:
Argument: It is not acceptable to use such disgusting and gender oriented slurs in online gaming and someone should do something about it.
Response: OMG, YOU ONLY THINK TRASH TALK IS A PROBLEM WHEN IT HAPPENS TO WOMEN AND GAYS. MISANDRY, MISANDRY!
The Anita Sarkeesian kickstarter incident:
Argument: Disagree with her or not, the use of rape and death threats as well as defacing her wikipedia and facebook and trying to hack her home address up online is unacceptible.
Response: OMG, YOU ARE DEMONIZING US BECAUSE WE DISAGREE WITH HER! EVEN THOUGH WE FOUND SOME VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE FULL OF SMUG AD HOMINEM ATTACKS AND CONSPIRACY THEORY BS THAT OFFER NO SUBSTANTIAL PROOF BUT MAKE US FEEL VALIDATED IN THE ATTACK AGAINST HER! MISANDRY, MISANDRY!
The misogynist slur buried in Dead Island's game code:
Argument: It is not acceptible nor particularly nice to bury the word 'feminist whore' into a game's code because it suggests unpleasant mindsets happening at the developer studios.
Response: OMG, YOU WANT TO PUNISH US FOR OUR GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO BE AS CRUDE AND MISOGYNIST AS WE WANT?! MISANDRY, MISANDRY!
The Penny arcade dickwolves debacle:
Argument: I don't like that they made a rape joke and then printed official t-shirts with the word 'team rape' on it, it's hardly sensitive to rape victims.
Response: OMG, YOU THINK RAPE ONLY HAPPENS TO WOMEN AND WANT TO DEMONIZE US MEN (EVEN THOUGH THE WHOLE THING ORIGINALLY STARTED DUE TO A RAPE JOKE ABOUT A MAN BEING RAPED, SHOWS WHAT WE KNOW, HUH?) WE ARE NOW GOING TO HARRASS ALL THE RAPE SURVIVORS INVOLVED WITH IT AND IF THEY COMPLAIN, WELL, MISANDRY, MISANDRY!
I could seriously go on all day but I think you're kind of starting to see my point. Truthfully these days I have very little respect for the 'gaming community' who seem to think reacting like over sensitive hyperbolic fools somehow will keep games safe from the ever feared 'censorship'. Plus of course there are the ones determined to keep this a 'boys club' and won't even listen to the idea of things changing in any way to accomodate female audiences. Either way, I get very jaded with this industry and the people who partake in it whenever the issue of sexism shows up because I know this will happen. If nothing else if the goal of behavior like this is to convince the world that gaming doesn't deserve to be criticized or demonised in any way, at least as far as I'm concerned, it's failed.
I may love video games, but I know I don't love this.
EDIT: And no I will NOT debate with you on the Anita Sarkeesian thing, I've made my position clear before and I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole again.
That... pretty well sums it up, only big one that I think you missed, (Though I hadn't heard about the Dead Island one, so it balances out) is:
Jennifer Hepler stating she doesn't like to play video games
Argument: It is not okay to attack someone in such a vile and disgusting manner simply because they don't share your hobby. she's a -writer- not a Beta Tester, nor a designer, nor a coder, nor anything else where an actual love of the hobby can evn be construed as a correlation of her skill. And even if she was, so what?
Response: OMG SHE CLEARLY SHOULD BE FIRED BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T PLAY VIDEO GAMES AND THUS MUST HATE THEM AND IS CLEARLY EVERYTHING THAT IS WRONG WITH GAMES AND THE WORLD IS HER FAULT!!!
Also, I copied your style as best I could, you do it way better, but it made me smile, so I wanted to try my hand at it.
Helmholtz Watson said:
The whole thing just reminds me of how this comic [http://satwcomic.com/anything-but-that] pointed out how our society views sex and violence.
I just want to say, that comic made me laugh hard enough to wake my roomate, I am now a fan of it and you can bet I'll have the archives read by the end of this week.
Okay to be fair I got most of my understanding of the issue from the following article: http://thephoenix.com/boston/life/116456-gaming-rape-culture-and-how-i-stopped-reading-pe/
So maybe the article was incorrect, I don't know. But either way having read the whole issue I've lost a lot of respect (not that I had much in the beginning anyway) for Penny Arcade.
If you haven't already, look at the 'rape vs murder' Jimquisition episode. You may not necessarily agree but it still is my basic opinion on the difference between depicting rape and killing in video games. I don't doubt there is a question about whether or not other violent games might trigger post traumatic stress into former soldiers or victims of attempted murder but frankly I don't think anyone is 'disregarding' war vets or attempted murder survivors and I think a big part of that might be because, to my knowledge anyway, there hasn't been a major outcry against it like there has with rape victims. It's not callous disregard of the issue as much as ignorance of it.
Anyway, heading out now so I won't be able to reply for a while so maybe when I get back we can keep talking about this?
Backlash against reviews are a dime a dozen. I still remember the backlash about Eurogamer's 8/10 review for Metal Gear Solid 4. Christ...1000+ comments from whiners who hadn't even played the game yet. Same with a lot of their reviews.
The worst backlash to an online review I know of was the 8.8 Gamespot scandal for Twilight Princess.
Worst backlash I've seen this year, that was (IMO) justified? ME3.
Worst backlash I've seen this year that was shameful? The Jennifer Hepler debacle.
Backlash against the LoZ: Wind Waker. Nintendo gives fans a game that is far better than its predeccessors with timeless visuals. What did the dipshit fans do? They bitched about the "kiddy" graphics, what else?
Acyually that could be said about most of the Zelda games after OoT.
Captcha: nul points. You are better than this captcha
EDIT: People whined about hats in Portal 2. PEOPLE WHINED ABOUT HATS IN PORTAL 2!!!!!!
Why are we using scoring, anyway? It's a shitty system. You don't rate lawsuits with score, damn it. "You murdered two people, but with the abusive childhood background, I'll sentence you with a 78/100"
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