Gender Diversity / Politics in games (was Tropes Vs. Women)

[NEG]

It's the power and gift of Christmas*

*Blast Processing Christmas

[Dudley]

We did manage to put the only 'original' female character we did (Danica Patrick in All-Stars Transformed) in a fire proof racing suit in an extremely cool 6 wheeled formula one vehicle, rather than in a bikini racing the modern equivalent of Penelope Pitstop's glammed up sports car so I mostly sleep OK at night.

Which is all the more remarkable because given the straight choice the woman herself seems more keen to be seen in a bikini than as a serious racing driver.

[Sledge]

I'm not making excuses, I was pointing out that you share a portion of the blame for trusting Sega with your money

It's a shame that it's impossible to change graphics cards in a PC when the brand you've got is causing problems.

I...er...wow...I don't even

S0L, you're a great ambassador for your company and I appreciate you taking the time to post about All Stars and its shader woes. Pointing the finger at AMD really doesn't cut it for me (other people's games work fine with the cards) and I really would have liked your take-home to be that it's not Sega whose logo I avoid. But, man, look at those two quotes there. Just look a them. I don't know how to make the case to you that quality matters when gamers so continually and resolutely refuse to hold developers to account. You really can walk all over over them. I wouldn't, personally, but it certainly seems to be the case that you can if you so wish. What's a corporation to do, eh? [Glances at the industry's recent history of broken releases, day-one dlc and drm...] Oh.

Which is all the more remarkable because given the straight choice the woman herself seems more keen to be seen in a bikini than as a serious racing driver.

Oh well in that case add "bikini patch" to my list of unreasonable demands, right underneath "games should work".

[Rev]

Actually it's about ethics in six year old ports of kart games on a limited number of configurations.

[NEG]

Give me a few hours play, I'll come up with something.

[Unofficial Who]

OK bringing us back on topic.

The other day I had a group of friends over. A game dev, a hardcore gamer and a casual gamer. And they mentioned a mutual friend of ours who is fully into Gamergate which suprised me because this mutual friend in terms of IQ is leagues smarter than I'll ever be.

So they're talking about his views on Gamergate and how they've tried to disuade him from it. And their takeaway of the whole thing is "It's such a mess. After all BOTH SIDES ARE AS BAD AS EACH OTHER."

And I was gobsmacked. Anita S? As bad as Gamergate apparently. Zoe Quinn? The same. It would appear that the only way to not be on one awful side or the other is to maintain a South Park air of "eh, stop caring so much."

And these men aren't sexists, they're pretty progressive and like our mutual friend crazy smart.

So one takeaway from this is that Gamergate has failed. Their message is being ignored.

But if you look at their goal of shutting Anita and Zoe and loads of other women from criticising or examining games beyond framerate then they've suceeded.

And 18 months from the whole mess things on the ground haven't improved. All of my female friends have stopped talking about games online now. They've either walked away from the hobby or created small closed groups where any discussion won't get sea lioned to death. Which is a pity because in many ways 2015 was the best year for gamers ever no matter your interest.

[Alex W.]

Nobody ever went broke exploiting Gamergate supporters.

[SMD]

Well, except gamergaters

[Broker]

I...er...wow...I don't even

S0L, you're a great ambassador for your company and I appreciate you taking the time to post about All Stars and its shader woes. Pointing the finger at AMD really doesn't cut it for me (other people's games work fine with the cards) and I really would have liked your take-home to be that it's not Sega whose logo I avoid. But, man, look at those two quotes there. Just look a them. I don't know how to make the case to you that quality matters when gamers so continually and resolutely refuse to hold developers to account. You really can walk all over over them. I wouldn't, personally, but it certainly seems to be the case that you can if you so wish. What's a corporation to do, eh? [Glances at the industry's recent history of broken releases, day-one dlc and drm...] Oh.

I literally said that their behaviour wasn't ok but that you'd only communicate that with your wallet, not by flying into a petty rant at someone who has no power to change the things you're angry about. But no, it's anyone who disagrees with your method's fault that there's DLC and broken games. So yeah, take your hyperbole and fuck yourself with it, I'll add you to the list I'm forming from this thread of people to painfully stupid to engage in discussions with.

[deerokus]

I remember buying something from direct2drive once. It was selling downloadable games when Steam was still just a glorified patch service for Valve games iirc.

Their site looks like it has barely changed since.

[Mr Cochese]

Gamergate appears to be the last refuge of dying business models.

[NEG]

[deerokus]

Ah, dimly lit shots of nervous and confused young women dressed as cheerleaders standing in front of radiators and 20 year-old TVs in a grimy motel room while being mocked for stupidity. What could be sexier?

Said old TV makes me think the developer just had this video he made for his 'scared young girl' fetish a decade ago still sitting around and decided to make money off it.

That thing seems really fucked up on multiple levels. Makes sense that it was and XBLIG game - Greenlight is the successor to that abyss of humanity.

[MDY]

Not games directly but the Gamergate/MRA lot have (predictably) turned their hate cannons towards Star Wars now..

Skull afficianado and now apparently cowboy cosplayer Aurini has shat out a deeply unpleasant 'review' of the film - the highlights of which are detailed here:

http://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/2015/12/26/aurini-seeing-star-wars-the-force-awakens-is-the-equivalent-of-auto-castration/

And a MRA group 'Return of Kings' reckon their boycott program for this supposed "SJW propaganda" film has cost Disney $4.2m

http://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/2015/12/28/return-of-kings-claims-that-its-star-wars-boycott-cost-disney-4-2-million/

(I'm sure Disney execs are drying their tears on huge wads of banknotes right now..)

Duplicate of their pictoral summary of their issues with the film.. (for their members with a 20 second attention span..)

Hilarious - You couldn't even parody this stuff.. how would you make it MORE ridiculous?

[NEG]

On a similar note..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3377010/Some-call-Star-Wars-sexist-realizing-toy-sets-don-t-include-female-character-Rey.html

I have to admit, takes some balls (ha) to exclude the main character from a bundle product.

But it was probably more to do with which characters are going to sell less if they were standalone, so let's bundle those together. The sith guy is about the only 'main' in that box, imo.

I would have wanted Han Solo!...but maybe the kids wouldn't want Han Solo? Here, have just Chewie instead!

Edit: Yes yes, I know the critic apparently extends to other sets (?) commenting on the one Mail has pictured.

[Commander Jameson]

I think "little white Cuck ball" is my favourite phrase of 2015.

[Straps]

I keep seeing cuck used recently. Racecuck, cuckservative. I've no idea what they mean.

[Mogster]

I assume it's short for cuckhold, which is an old derogatory term for a husband who's wife has had an affair. I have no idea what it's supposed to mean in this context.

[MDY]

Derived from the cuckoo that lays its eggs in other birds nests and has the unwitting bird raise their child..

Was then applied to a man who doesn't know his wife is cheating on him (and may then be raising kids who aren't his..)

(It's also apparently a fetish - for guys who like watching/hearing about their wives having sex with other men while they watch or just hear about it after..)

They seem to have adopted it as a derogatory term for a male who isn't getting any due to being an ineffectual male/SJW etc.. but is too meek/politically correct/respectful of empowered women to do anything about it..

The irony is staggering..

[Wiper]

Yeah, it's generally used as derogatory shorthand by lovely people for men they perceive as putting themselves into a sexually impotent and subservient (in the sense that a cuckhold is subservient in allowing their wife to have an affair) role. Similar to 'beta', but with a gender-relations twist.

[Straps]

I know where the cuck comes from but I dunno know you could be a 'cuckservative' or a 'racecuck'. It seems like 'cuckservative' is used by right-wingers at other right-wingers who aren't right-wing enough.

[MDY]

Where are you seeing them being used?

[Straps]

Just from various right-wingers I get pointed at via Twitter from time to time. It seemed to be flavour of the month is all.

[Benny]

I was wondering when the MRA fuckwits were going to have a fit about TFA. Depressingly predictable.

[MDY]

There's probably just a large crossover in the various forums they frequent or the other twitter mouthpieces they all follow..

[Alex W.]

Didn't Milo invent Cuckservative? Language Log wrote about the etymology a while back.

[Unofficial Who]

Speaking of Twitter

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/15/12/30/1742256/twitter-bans-hateful-conduct#comments

Twitter has updated their site rules to prohibit "behavior intended to harass, intimidate, or use fear to silence another user's voice." According to the new rules, "You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability or disease." This follows criticism that Twitter (and other social networks) haven't done enough to prevent the ramblings of the Islamic State and other terrorist groups. "Tuesday's announcement did not disclose changes to Twitter's enforcement strategy. A company spokesman declined to say if any were in the works. The new rules also said that Twitter might respond to reports that somebody is considering 'self-harm' by contacting the person to express concern and provide contact information to mental health practitioners."

The comments are full of people over-reacting.

It seems you live in an alternate reality where SJWs are on the side of good. They are not. Any movement or political thought that seeks to ban free speech is the enemy of all of civilization.

etc. Most of the comments are by people worried about their Freedom of Speech.

I don't think they have anything to worry about. These new guidelines are designed to shut down tweets by ISIS and other terrorist organisations. I think time will show that it will be completely fine for the usual suspects to continue their harrassment of Zoe Quinn and any other SJW they deem as fair game.

[Mr Cochese]

I don't suppose these guys will ever realise how much they share with ISIS ideologically. Which is a shame, because it denies us the possibility of a hilarious training montage of Aurini trying to fire an RPG.

[TehStu]

Freedom of speech? On twitter? Always respond with this:

[The Bag]

BoingBoing have done a beginners guide to the red pillers and their ilk. It's worth following the link for the first mention of Cultural Marxism to the Southern Poverty Law Center for their history of it, interesting & depressing.

http://boingboing.net/2015/01/28/a-beginners-guide-to-the-red.html