So by now, most if not all of you know what Feminism and Gamergate is. So I won’t bore you with the details but Feminism for those who don't know is about equality for all. Though the tendency is to priorities how the world can change to improve the social and political rights of woman. The reason for the name Feminism. On the other hand on a different subject, Gamergate is about ethics of game journalism, against journalist who have strong ties with developers or those with an agenda who would mislead the readers to reach their goal. For example Tyler Wilde who speak highly of Ubisoft games, against the common belief. This is likely to be due to his girlfriend being employed by Ubisoft herself.
Now while both of these groups have an agenda that seems to be on two different subjects, they have come into conflict due to a number of toxic people on both sides. On one hand, You have a number of Feminists who use Feminism as a call to change the way games are designed on a story and features standpoint to stop sexism in videogames.
On the other hand, you have a number of gamers, a disgustingly large number of gamers who are sexist elitists. Those who believe woman should be “In the kitchen, Making a sandwich” who don’t care for how woman are treated in online games and see them as inferior. You also have a number of gamers who idolize woman, especially woman who play video games and their comments woman also consider harassment and for good reason too. However you also have a large number, not a majority who believe woman are better than men. That men are inferior.
Let’s get this straight. Neither side is in the right in this conflict. So many people on both sides do not care for what the other side believes in and flings insults and personal attacks at each other. Both sides seem to be incapable of taking a moment, listen to the argument and comprehend where the other person is coming from. Yea sure a large number of people have it completely wrong and are attacking the other side purely for the fun of it. Sadly largely on the Gamergate side with trolling. Both sides have sent death threats, DDOS’ed and partaken in some disgusting behaviour.
Now the world is full of double standards. It’s not ok to hit woman yet totally ok to hit men. It is ok to showcase a woman being raped in a movie or TV show yet in a video game it’s misogynistic and should be stopped. Because men are the targeted audience, it’s ok to ignore the female audience because they don’t play this game. Double standards harm society and does not produce a healthy environment for either side. Little known to many gamers, the number of woman in video games is on par with the number of men. Yes in areas like First Person Shooters, Men outnumber woman. However going more into the social games like MMORPG’s, woman outnumber men. However if you talk to the average woman playing these games and other games, they will tell you they tend to not talk. That they feel safer when they keep silent as they receive harassment by other games. Now it can be just one person, or 5 in a game but whether or not it’s someone telling them to get back to the kitchen or someone who doesn’t have a girlfriend starts talking to them looking for something more than just a friendly game, How would they feel? As men, we think, “Oh they should take it as a compliment but really, how would you feel if every 30 minutes, a girl asked you out, every hour, every day, all year? There is a time and place. Video games are not it.
On the other hand we have Anita Sarkeesian, A prominent Feminist and Journalist who does not care for what Gamergate is and would rather see female NPC’s unkillable (GTA situation in Australia) and see woman always put in a good light, always right and strong characters in games. Now let’s be honest. Woman are underrepresented in video games. GTA 5 would have done well with a number of strong female characters but instead the game was primarily male characters. There are some strong female characters in the game but it could have been better. However a number of feminists mislead the public into thinking videogames are purely misogynistic killing simulators that see woman as nothing more than sexual objects. And some games do fall under that claim, but the majority don’t. Yes the majority of games could do better to include better female characters who hold more to the story but not to the extent that journalists in Kotaku and PC Game claim needs to happen. I think Christina Hoff Sommers gets it right.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RVlCvBd21w
So what needs to really happen? Male gamers, you need to stop with the toxic bullshit that you guys spout. It’s disgusting and is embarrassing.
Developers, Start adding stronger woman to your games. Add the option of a female main character. If sexuality is part of your game, broaden the scope of what can be done. If a man wants to marry and man or a woman wants to marry a woman. Put that option into the game. Bioware does a decent job at this and others should follow.
Feminists, you need to be more understanding of where gamers come from. They don’t want to lose their first person shooter, Stories about a brutal world where equality does not exist. Yes the representation of woman in games needs to improve but that does not mean putting woman on a pedestal in games. Let games be judged by the same standard as movies and TV shows.
Everyone, do your fucking research before you make claims, think before you say shit and both sides will see an improvement in what they fight for. Adam Baldwin might have his visa to visit Australia due to the toxic behaviour of both sides. All because he believe journalists need to be held to a higher standard and coined the term Gamergate.
Journalists, Sort your shit out. Just because you can write and you have a website that will post your bullshit, does not mean your articles are the word of god. You need to hold your work up to a higher standard. It should be balanced and should not favour any agenda.
If we are going to see a better world, we all need to pull our fingers out of our asses and work for it. Call out anyone who does something wrong and don’t argue, debate. Arguments go nowhere. Debates and discussions make progress.
out.