Poll: Do Gamers Need Anita Sarkeesian's Feminism?

[hiei82]

Now, before Pandora's box opens and the endless stream of people start screaming about how evil I, PBS, and/or Ms. Sarkeesian are, watch the video by PBS Game/Show below.

Spoiler: Link for those who want it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UrazpEFb9w [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UrazpEFb9w]

Watched it yet... I'll wait...

Done? Okay. So I think the video makes a fair point. I think most of us can agree that there ARE at least a few problems with how video games portray women. I mean, Team Ninja ISN'T exactly well known for the stunning portrayal of women's personalities and, personally, I'd like to see more strong & interesting female characters in video gaming.

So, what do you think? And keep it classy folks ^_^

Flame war beginning in 3... 2... 1... *ducks for cover*

 

[IllumInaTIma]

Whether it needs it or not, the fact that gamers are now aware that there's problem with female portrayal is good. As I said in another thread. You might not agree with Sarkeesian's method or her point, but if in the end we will have more well written and designed female characters, like Chie or Ellie, we all will be better off.

 

[Abomination]

Her brand? Where everything is sexist if women are not catered to in every aspect of every activity and every game? Where an Italian plumber saving a woman 3x his size from a giant tortoise creature by running through a magical mushroom kingdom is suddenly a patriarchal suppression of women?

Oh hell yes we need it - how did we ever manage without it?

 

[hiei82]

No, gamers don't need Anita Sarkeesian's Feminism. Gaming needs it.

"Gamers" are a group that needs to cease to exist, at least as group that is imagined as having a single, similar identity. Games are a medium. How ridiculous is it that some people think there is a culture surrounding people who consume media? We don't have "bookers" or "TVers" or "movieers". As each medium has grown to be a mature vehicle for artistic expression, it has been allowed to grow and fit any ideology. I can make a feminist or anti-feminist book, TV show, or movie, and while no doubt some people would try to silence my product no one would ever try to suggest I was not a real consumer of that medium just because my ideology contrasted theirs.

So TL;DR version: For gaming to finally grow up, gamers have to stop being gamers and start being people. And that's only going to happen when the boy's club strangle-hold on gaming-related discourse is broken.

Hm... That's an interesting point. I can't say I disagree with the distinction. It's certainly a subtle point. I suppose you could say there are "film lovers" and "book lovers" but that's not exactly the same thing. Especially since no one would ever accuse a movie lover of not loving movies because they like a different kind of movie or have different criteria for what makes a good movie. I wonder if the rise of "gamers" as a group has to do with the relative youth of the medium, the origins of the medium as "toy", or if it's just a quark of the medium. I also wonder if films and books went through this stage (or would have were they born in a more interconnected age)

Good point sir or madam! Lots of food for thought.

 

[Zhukov]

Regardless of what I think of her specific views or arguments, I'm glad for the debate that she kicked off.

Granted, that debate can get awfully tiresome at times, but that's because people keep getting angry and butthurt over it, not because of what the debate is actually about.

 

[Tanis]

You mean being a poorly researched liar who uses her vagina as a crutch/shield against anyone criticizing her?
NOPE.

Does the gaming community need more WOMEN in it?
YES.

 

[TehCookie]

No, while gaming does need a feminism wake up call it doesn't need to be Anita's. Probably because I only seen her Bayonetta video and promptly decided she doesn't have a clue what she's talking about and never played the game.

While everyone is now focusing on female characters, I think games should strive to have better characters in general.

And a slightly off-topic question for my own amusement after seeing the above post: How many people on here asked a girl why she doesn't play games? What did she say?

I see all this speculation on how to get girls into gaming, but I rarely see people ask girls directly what they want to play.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Whether we need it or not, or if any of it will amount to anything is irrelevant. What matters is that we do have it, and we need to live with it.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Anita herself? NO.

At best she is a polarizing figure, at worst she could be stirring shit up for her own financial benefit and publicity.

Now that the discussion is out there, her presence is as much of an hindrance as it is a help now.

Right now those that want a better deal for women in gaming in general need someone who doesn't generate flame-wars at the mention of her name, because otherwise this will take much much longer.

 

[Vrex360]

EDIT: Actually once again I get an unpleasant sense of where this thread might end up, going to avoid this one.

 

[Vrex360]

Again sorry not going to continue here, consider this a 'win' if you were planning to debate me further.

 

[Scolar Visari]

If anything we need a 100kg RKV to punch a hole in this awful planet and put an end to everybody's bullshit.

We need another Great Video-game Crash so we can sweep all of this trash out of the industry. The Feminists, the MRAs, the culture warriors and all of the paid shills. The sicknesses of modern society have slowly poisoned one of my favorite pastimes and now we get things like "Was physically painful to play and gave me cancer, 9.5/10 -IGN".

 

[trlkly]

No, because the lady herself vilifies feminism, making people less, not more likely to treat women equally. And I can say this without ever having seen anything she's done. Just her name stirs up crap.

It's like saying that PETA has actually helped animals.

 

[Tanakh]

Again sorry not going to continue here, consider this a 'win' if you were planning to debate me further.

I don't know you and have no idea what you are talking about, but will take that "win" if you don't mind. Always glad to have one more for the "won pointless arguments over the internet with strangers" jar :3

 

[Bertylicious]

I dunno. I just find strong, real, female characters compelling and I'd like to see more of them.

Don't get me wrong; I find surgically enhanced, female, fuck-toys compelling as well but only for about 5 minutes and then I have to go have a lie down.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Going to have to go with no gaming doesn't need Anita or the argument she "started". Mostly because this debate had already been started and pointed out plenty of times before with famous examples but not taken up by the wide spread media. If she gets credited with the change/debate in the future if things do change I won't be happy. Especially, with how long stuff like this [http://fatuglyorslutty.com/] has been around highlighting the issue. The only thing she has done to move it forward is get it "known" and people talking about it. Both good things but not in the best way.

Also I know posting captchas is a bit pointless but "skynet knows".

 

[Trivea]

No. Speaking as a female here, absolutely nothing needs feminism because feminism, as it exists today, is nothing but damaging to anything to which it is applied. What the gaming community needs is more /equality/, which isn't the same thing; anymore, all feminism in games means is "the women are never displayed as anything except strong, independent, courageous, intelligent, and heroic, while the men can go screw up like the morons they are ha ha". If we really did strictly apply feminism to games, it would mean absolutely no female characters with flaws. No unsympathetic female villains, no ditzes or sluts even if such characters would actually further the plot, no women being shown subservient to males at all.

I'm not kidding, here. Remember when the new Doctor was in the process of being chosen? People were screaming right, left, and center that it was "time for a female Doctor" because we'd never had one. I'd bet you as much as you wanted, though, that those same people would have been screaming just as loudly if the Doctor had always been female and someone suggested making the role male in the next regeneration.

Yes, gaming itself needs a lot more equality, but that can be said about both genders. Video game characters need to be more like real people. If there were more women working in game development, as well as less pandering to 15-year-old boys, I think this would be lessened considerably. Do I think the gaming community needs Anita Sarkeesian? Hell no, I don't, because she's too divisive and she seems to be going out of her way to piss people off. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that she's determined to put us back a few years in the progress that we have made, because if it's thought that she's the typical female gamer, we're going to be shut out and shut down far more than we already are. I do /not/ want to be represented by that woman, because she doesn't speak for me.