Make. better. games.

[shadowspar]

I don't understand the rational basis behind people's opposition to Anita Sarkeesian's work, if indeed there is any.

I grant that I haven't plumbed the depths of Reddit, 4chan, and sundry gaming forums looking for reasoned argument, because those places are fucking gross. But what I have found seems to be naught more than a paranoid chorus of "she's out to get our games!"

Some self-identified "gamers" seem to think that Sarkeesian's saying "Stop making games". She's not. She's saying "Games can be better than this. Make better games."

The myriad cries of "censorship!" and "political correctness!" suggest the perceived danger is that games will change as a result of Sarkeesian's critique—that the amount of abuse and misogyny will decrease, and that the number of female characters with agency and development will increase. This makes the rallying cry of "she's out to get our games!" sound more like "she's out to emasculate our games!"

I have news for you, gamer dudes. If gratuitous misogyny and violence is how you define masculinity, then you've got a big fucking problem.

Comments

[switterbeet]

I don't think logic has much to do with it, beyond people who have been sickly enjoying the oppressive and fucked up nature of their entertainment and culture wanting it to continue to be oppressive and fucked up.

[tim]

No logic, just perceiving a threat to one's status and acting accordingly. I suspect the vast majority of the people yelling "censorship!" etc. haven't seen any of her videos, much as people have rarely read the books they're burning.

[torachan]

Yeah, I have yet to see a criticsm that seemed genuine. The ones that come closest are stuff like "but she used LP footage and fanart without asking permission or giving credit", but while that may be a legitimate issue, I'm never seen it framed in a way that felt proportional, so it always comes off as someone who has a hateboner for her latching on to something and using that as an excuse to get their hate on. I've also seen people complaining about how she got more money than she originally was asking for on kickstarter and is a horrible person for that, but that just seems like jealousy. People donated to her because they wanted to, and if they donated after it was already over the limit, so what?