The short story is that Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency has started a Kickstarter to explore the stereotypes of females in video games. Or well, why not just hear it in her words?

I love playing video games but I’m regularly disappointed in the limited and limiting ways women are represented. This video project will explore, analyze and deconstruct some of the most common tropes and stereotypes of female characters in games. The series will highlight the larger recurring patterns and conventions used within the gaming industry rather than just focusing on the worst offenders. I’m going to need your help to make it happen!

The longer story is that because she is a self-proclaimed "feminist" (what this means in her case I'm really not sure, since everyone interprets this label differently when applying it to themselves) that anything she does somehow automatically becomes super controversial, and she has received rape threats and death threats and attempts to shut down this project from (primarily) male gamers. Because obviously if you disagree with feminism the way to get your point across is to tell a women she needs to be raped and murdered. (That was sarcasm, in case you missed it. This is not the correct way to express disagreement. At all.)

Personally I think that, all fears of succumbing to the feminist agenda aside (also sarcasm), projects like hers are necessary for the video game industry to truly mature. Gamers seem to love talking about the word "mature" a lot, so why do we rebel against actual maturity so much? I think that it's a good thing that she is sticking to her project, all threats aside. And whatever the case, it is ridiculous that people are fighting so hard to shut her up. Why not let her say what she has to say and if, after actually hearing it, you disagree with it, you are well within your rights to say something.

What do you guys think?

PS. As of this writing she has brought in $126,768 of her $6,000 Kickstarter goal. So things aren't completely dire. But this doesn't negate the abuse she has had to (and most likely will continue to) sustain just to get this project moving.

As of today this thread will be locked. What originally was meant to be a thread discussing the soon-to-be controversial Anita videos about female tropes in Video Games grew into something much more. We at Negative World absolutely love a good conversation and we will always encourage mature and respectful conversation. That said, the thread has had it's moments of polarization to the extreme in the past and recently. While at the moment I write this, the thread is rather calm,.. there has been a joint decision by the moderators of this site to close this particular thread down. The thread strayed way outside of the original bounds of it's intent. We have a different idea of how to frame this delicate and polarizing topic at Negative World.

For future installments of Anita's series we will either have a mod create a new official thread for it (as well as posting links to previous episodes) or we will use our already established Youtube Video thread. The latter could have easily been the original home for this thread if it wanted to. Discussion can continue as normal in the future thread but we ask to keep in mind that the topic should relate to Anita's videos and her message. Hear, analyze, and discuss that. This new location for this discussion will be established with the release of her next video. Please find patience till then.

Thank you from all of us at Negative World for understanding. ~ Negative World Moderation

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@Zero

Is this on the brochure for Chicago?

@Shadowlink

Because I only see women do it here. And one black guy.

@Zero

Nice try. Black girl today, driving a silver SUV. She was eating some sort of yellow thing. A long pixy stick maybe? I noticed it in her left hand while she passed me, and then when she cut in front of me and THEN put her right hand out the window, I thought "uhhh.. --wait, how are you driving???"..

@Shadowlink

..And no, she wasn't attractive (ooooh, lets make this a race issue!). She had her hair up in a half ponytail deal, white T-shirt, looked like she was 16, and too small for that car.


How attentive is that for you, guys? Need any more details?

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 07/11/13, 01:57

You should have told us this to begin with, what if we started thinking white women were poor drivers? Come on!

But yeah, we need more details. Was she straight or gay? That seems important too. And I want to know her religious affiliation. Eye color too, and which hand she is. I've heard lefties are poor drivers.

And why are you sarcastically saying "lets make this a race issue" when you made the black guys a race issue to begin with? I'm honestly curious why you didn't make it an issue with the woman. I guess as long as you have gender to complain about, race isn't as important anymore? Because I know if it were a black guy, you wouldn't have just said "a guy". We would darn well know that it was a black guy, you would make sure of that.

Honest question... is there any other group that ISN'T bad at driving in your eyes besides white males?

Posted by

Zero

on: 07/11/13, 02:01

Edited:

07/11/13, 02:02

Women are bad drivers. Color is irrelevant.

Dumb kids on motorcycles are even worse!

Posted by

TheOldManFromZelda

on: 07/11/13, 02:10

@Zero

I didn't make the black guys a race issue, HE made it a race issue. I can just hear you now saying "oh, she's unattractive because she's black? Whats wrong with you?" Freakin' stupid. Whats wrong with you? You look for ways to make me out to be horrible based on anything I said. You used your learned "Internet Debate" skills earlier to talk about how anecdotal evidence is the greatest thing ever while simultaneously dumping on me. Maybe you missed your calling. You could've been the greatest lawyer..of all time.

Martin Luther King Jr. asked us to see a world in which we don't judge people by the color of their skin. She is a woman first. When a dude is in my face (and stepping towards me) calling me "bitch ass white boy," other things take precedence, and creep to the forefront. I'm sure MLK would agree.


--Also probably good drivers: Indian guys, Hispanic guys, Samoan guys, Eskimo guys, Shirley Muldowney.

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 07/11/13, 02:21

There are plenty of unattractive black women. I guess, though attraction is all relative anyway. And stop making up things that I never said to get mad at me about.

I don't look for ways to make you look bad based on anything you say, but I'll be frank... you say an awful lot of stuff that makes you look bad. It's not me doing anything. It's you saying stuff that makes you look bad. I can't help that. If it wasn't me pointing it out, it would be other people. I think most people are just scared off of this thread by this point.

MLK would probably like a world where we don't judge people on gender either, but I can't say. I don't know too much about him.

@TheOldManFromZelda Lou, the data says otherwise. This is AAA stuff too, and they set insurance rates based on their data. They're going to try darn hard to get the most accurate data possible, because their financial livelihood rests upon it. I trust that a bit more than the perceptions of men.

This seems to be a very key part of this all:

Men do seem to be more proficient than women at certain driving tasks. However, this slight edge in ability doesn’t translate into better driving records. The kinds of accidents men get into are generally the result of their riskier behavior. According to one study, men are more than three times as likely to be ticketed for “aggressive driving” than women, and more than 25 percent as likely to be at fault in an accident.

So maybe it depends on how we define "better", but I define it as less likely to kill me in a fiery wreck.

Posted by

Zero

on: 07/11/13, 02:32

Edited:

07/11/13, 02:32

@Mr_Mustache
TBH, I thought it was kind of weird that you identified the driver that cut you off as being black. I was like, "why is that relevant?" If he had been white, would you have said, "some blonde dude"? IDK, it just "felt" kind of racist when I read it, even if you didn't intend it to be.

Posted by

nacthenud

on: 07/11/13, 02:36

@nacthenud

I might've said some blonde guy if it was a blonde guy. I've had a lot of white haired and blonde women cut me off, and Zero goes "oh, you should've told us she was black -- we thought it was just another boring white lady." What am I supposed to do? Talk how I mean to talk and would talk to you face-to-face, or fall for his baiting tactics?

I remember the incident specifically when it was happening, because the dude was sitting out in the intersection, and I thought "what the hell is this guy doing?" I thought he was just going to sit still, but he didn't; when MY light turned green, he turned when he wasn't supposed to, cut me off, and a guy laid on the horn from behind me. Where do you want me to go, dude? Would you like me to drive THROUGH this guy? I have a memory that remembers plenty of things that other folks might not. I remember what shirt I was wearing in many places through my own history (I had my Red Converse and an Ottawa Lynx hat on on this day; I was wearing my #95 Bryce Paup jersey when I had my lung collapsed in the early 2000s a week after my birthday, and so on), so to remember what a driver looks like is nothing big. The dude that got in my face looked like Cee Lo Green (and missing a tooth on his left -- my right -- side of his mouth), but he talked like he was about 2 feet taller. Yes, I could pick him out of a lineup tomorrow if I had to. The guy who cut me off, probably not.


EDIT- There was a blonde girl on House last night who I thought I had seen before. Seemed very familiar like I've JUST seen her. Nope. She was on a few episodes of Veronica Mars...back in 2006. ...Yeah..

EDIT2- The first time I saw Nikki (in passing) in 2005, she was wearing some jean capris and a 'Marc Krieger' shirt (a wrestler) that she had designed herself, sitting off one shoulder. On our first date, I wore my green Mullet Dew shirt and my dad's brown fringe jacket. I got buffalo chicken strips, she had water. Yes, my mind is full of crap that tons of people would never remember.

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 07/11/13, 02:46

Edited:

07/11/13, 02:54

@Zero

AAA is a women-run government conspiracy organization designed to dethrone men as the best drivers in the world!!!

They're probably right though. This explains why my insurance has NEVER gone down despite a pretty spotless driving record (one weather related accident, 1 speeding ticket). Every 4-5 years I like to shop around for new insurance, because chances are, there's something cheaper out there. I haven't gotten around to looking again. I should get on that!

Posted by

TheOldManFromZelda

on: 07/11/13, 03:06

Zero said:

I've heard lefties are poor drivers.

Wouldn't suprise me. Lefties are evil people who's sole reason for existence is to fuck things up for the rest of us.

I'm only half kidding

Posted by

Shadowlink

on: 07/11/13, 04:12

@TheOldManFromZelda Get legal with Eagle. Oh wait, that might be a Chicago-only thing?

Posted by

Zero

on: 07/11/13, 04:54

@Zero

Might be. I just don't get why different states have different insurance requirements. But that's a topic for another post.

Posted by

TheOldManFromZelda

on: 07/11/13, 05:02

@TheOldManFromZelda Because people fear a strong central government! I wouldn't mind states having so much power if Illinois weren't just completely full of corrupt politicians.

Posted by

Zero

on: 07/11/13, 06:00

Funny story... in 2004, my car died near an intersection. I put on my hazard lights and waited for the tow truck to arrive. In my utter boredom I decided to keep track of the gender (and eventually ethnicity) of the people who pulled up behind me failing to notice my hazard lights. I scanned the image from my notebook and I'm sure it's somewhere on this external harddrive sitting next to me. Perhaps I'll upload it one of these days.

Lou, do you remember me doing this? I had it in my AIM away message for the rest of that day =) ahhhh good ol' AIM. So much better than Facebook.

Anyway, I know I haven't revealed the results of this little poll. But, it doesn't matter. Why? Because such a small sample is irrelevant to anything other than an amusing anecdote! =) Anecdotal evidence is the worst kind there is... I'm lookin' at you, Anita!

As for that AAA thing, yea, without looking at the numbers I would assume that men are technically more competent and capable drivers (high reliance on spatial awareness and manual coordination), but, I would also assume that competency would lead to more reckless behavior which can then result in terrible accidents. But, these are only assumptions of mine.... nothing more...

Posted by

Chocobo_Rider

on: 07/11/13, 07:02

Edited:

07/11/13, 07:02

I wonder if it would really be due to competency that men would be more reckless though? I feel like when it comes to driving a lot of men feel like they have something to prove, too, because "cars" are seen, socially, as a very male thing. Especially in the teenage years. I actually got teased by my guy friends a bit because I was such a "safe" driver (in general... although there were exceptions, like the day I caught air off a huge speed bump on film for a movie we were making...)

And I recently saw my cousin teasing his friend for asking my cousin to pay more attention to the road when he drives. Like, what the hell? That's tease worthy?

Admittedly, I have no idea if teenage girls tease each other for good driving as well, since I didn't hang out with many girls as a teenager.

PS. My cousin is like 26 but I still consider him, essentially, a teenager, because he hasn't really ever grown out of the teenage mindset...

Posted by

Zero

on: 07/11/13, 07:11

NinSage said:

As for that AAA thing, yea, without looking at the numbers I would assume that men are technically more competent and capable drivers (high reliance on spatial awareness and manual coordination), but, I would also assume that competency would lead to more reckless behavior which can then result in terrible accidents. But, these are only assumptions of mine.... nothing more...

You sound like Dumbledore...Being so much smarter than most people he makes less mistakes...but when he does make them boy are they doozies!

Posted by

Shadowlink

on: 07/11/13, 07:53

@Zero

The macho/bravery thing is also a factor. Absolutely.

@Shadowlink

Wait, *I* sound like Dumbledore or the hypothetical men in my hypothetical situations do?

Posted by

Chocobo_Rider

on: 07/11/13, 10:25

@NinSage

Err...what you say of the men sounds like what Dumbledore says of himself .

Yes, that makes sense.

Posted by

Shadowlink

on: 07/11/13, 11:07

@NinSage

I eagerly await results.

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 07/11/13, 22:56

Article on the BBC website, There is a video there too.

The traditional idea of the video game player is a man playing in his bedroom, alone - but that is fast changing.

As mobile phone ownership has shot up, so too has the number of people playing video games on their mobile phones.

There will be more than 72m smartphones and tablets in use in the UK by the end of 2013, up from around 22m in 2010, according to research analysts IHS Electronics and Media

While in 2010 smartphone and tablet games accounted for 5% of the total spend on video games in the UK, by 2013 this has gone up to 19%. And this is a trend that can also be seen in Europe and North America.

Thanks to this phenomenon - as well as the rise in gaming on social networks like Facebook - a new breed of 'casual gamer' has been created. Many of these new gamers are women.

The issue of mobile gaming was one of the hot issues at the Develop in Brighton conference this week - an event which draws hundreds of the world's video game developers to the seaside, for a week-long talking shop and networking event.

BBC News caught up with a selection of delegates to hear their views about the rise of mobile gaming: Berni Good, a psychologist who advises the gaming industry; Will Freeman, editor of industry paper Develop; Martin Frain, founder of Digit Game Studios; James Binns, former journalist and now publisher of Network N; and Michael Levall, a developer who has set up a small firm called Dead Shark TriplePunch.

Posted by

warerare

on: 07/12/13, 13:35

The New Head of Xbox is a WOMAN. Everyone REMAIN CALM.

I doubt much will change with Microsoft's approach, but interesting nonetheless.

Posted by

Zero

on: 07/12/13, 20:04