Games Journalism 2014: The Wherever-the-hell-this-has-gone

[RickH]

In other news: Eurogamer’s EIC Tom Bramwell is stepping down;

He’s been running a top-quality site. Everything I’ve read there is well-written. USgamer is doing some very interesting stuff, too.

The interface with dueling columns of “new” and “most read” stories isn’t quite working because the two are usually the same batch of things. But nothing’s perfect.

[Grifman]

This is off-topic, but … those aren’t the facts. Narrative is far less important to a game’s commercial success than you think.

Depends upon the game. COD, not so much, but I’d be pretty ticked if Mass Effect morphed into a FPS. In general it may be less important but for specific games and genres, no, that would be incorrect.

[CLWheeljack]

Not commenting on your larger point, but this:

Sarkeesian, a hostile third wave feminist who doesn’t like games and is making a career out of dissecting them,

is, as far as I know, an entirely false characterization.

Also, making a career out of dissecting games is awesome. That’s the definition of a critic’s job.

[playingwithknives]

Not commenting on your larger point, but this:

is, as far as I know, an entirely false characterization.

Also, making a career out of dissecting games is awesome. That’s the definition of a critic’s job.

I linked the video where she said she didn’t play games and had to learn about them for the video, and quotes from her regarding dislike of the games themselves are to be found. As for the dissecting bit, yes, but as a third wave feminist, not as a gamer. The agenda was set before she picked up a control pad.

“Action films are horribly misogynistic, so I’m going to watch 100 of them, pick out the most misogynistic scenes and make a video about how action films are misogynistic. Then I’m going to post it to 4chan films forum, because 4chan are famous for reasoned arguments and moderate behaviour and are guaranteed to act reasonably.”

[Damion_Schubert]

My problem with the so-called SJWs is that they seem more interested in silencing “incorrect” opinions/people.

Which side is trying to silence whom again?

Go on.

I’ll wait here.

[playingwithknives]

Which side is trying to silence whom again?

Go on.

I’ll wait here.

Go to Tumblr, and post about being a fan of HP Lovecraft, enjoying Roald Dahl poems, wearing bindis and getting drunk on Cinco de Mayo on the SJW tag. If you could somehow harness the wave of hate and abuse that came your way, we might be able to solve the worlds energy problems.

[RickH]

Which side is trying to silence whom again?

Go on.

I’ll wait here.

Nobody on this board. It’s been a pretty level-headed discussion as far as I’ve seen (although opinions surely vary). As best as I can tell, people are being honest and their hearts are in the right place, there are simply disagreements as to where the right balance belongs.

So make sure you are near a drinking fountain and a vending machine with some nice snacks.

[CLWheeljack]

Go to Tumblr, and post about being a fan of HP Lovecraft, enjoying Roald Dahl poems, wearing bindis and getting drunk on Cinco de Mayo on the SJW tag. If you could somehow harness the wave of hate and abuse that came your way, we might be able to solve the worlds energy problems.

Man, people hate on Roald Dahl? I mean, I know that everything written before like 1980 is super racist/sexist/terrible, but geez, how heartless can you get?

[Chris_Gwinn]

Look at football (soccer). If you think gaming is male dominated try football, homophobic to the extreme, no place for women other than in their own leagues and a male dominated audience that are unlikely to be interested in gender politics.

So are the football websites and magazines dominated by gender issues? Are interviews with clubs peppered with questions on how many women they employ?, “So Harry, your line up for Saturdays game, how many are out?” Are the football media united in their condemnation of football fans? Did the editor of Four Four Two magazine call his readers assholes? Are the half the football pundits calling the football fans “Racist, bigot, skinhead, violent, rapist, CP trafficking thugs” at every opportunity?

I don’t know much about soccer press, but take a look at the front page of deadspin or ESPN and tell me issues of racism and sexism aren’t in the foreground right now.

[playingwithknives]

Man, people hate on Roald Dahl? I mean, I know that everything written before like 1980 is super racist/sexist/terrible, but geez, how heartless can you get?

Yes, Revolting Rhymes contains the word “slut” which is now a word not to be uttered.

[Jmacgregor]

Which side is trying to silence whom again?

Go on.

I’ll wait here.

http://www.littletinyfrogs.com/article/457616/Gamergate_and_the_RPS_response

This might not be Brad’s exact response but if you scroll down to the set of links starting with “terrorist”, it hardly seems like these people want a conversation.

Quinn’s been saying that because the hashtag #gamergate and #notyourshield (not sure about that one) were started by 4chan members, anyone using them is basically complicit in her harrassment. Regardless where these hashtags were started, denying that there’s anything worthwhile in the arguments of the people using them (especially #notyourshield) doesn’t seem like an argument to win people over.

[Jmacgregor]

Yes, Revolting Rhymes contains the word “slut” which is now a word not to be uttered.

That and the whole oompa loompas = pygmys thing. That being said Going Solo is one of my favourite books partly because of the strange relationship between coloniser and colonised.

[AntediluvianArk]

I linked the video where she said she didn’t play games and had to learn about them for the video, and quotes from her regarding dislike of the games themselves are to be found. As for the dissecting bit, yes, but as a third wave feminist, not as a gamer. The agenda was set before she picked up a control pad.

So, even if it that is valid, an individual needs to start somewhere. For argument’s sake let’s say she never played a single game before she started her Tropes vs. Women campaign and video series. She may even hate the medium of video games with all her heart. She secured funding in a free market and is exercising her right to free speech. If people don’t agree with her arguments and reasons then they should start their own fundraising campaign and their own video series to provide a contrasting and dissenting opinion. That is the appropriate and reasonable course of action in our society…not rape and death threats. Just like everyone says right: “If you don’t like the current state of affairs go make your own game.” well those that disagree with her video series should go make their own and meet her arguments on a level playing field; not dox and threaten from a cowardly anonymous handle.

The agenda was set before she picked up a control pad.

So what.

As far as I can tell you have provided a series of ad hominems and character assassination but haven’t really provided any counters to her arguments. Why does someone need to be a lifelong 'core gamer to have the right to critique games. I’ve often thought that this industry could use some viewpoints from academia.

-Todd

[playingwithknives]

http://www.littletinyfrogs.com/article/457616/Gamergate_and_the_RPS_response

This might not be Brad’s exact response but if you scroll down to the set of links starting with “terrorist”, it hardly seems like these people want a conversation.

Quinn’s been saying that because the hashtag #gamergate and #notyourshield (not sure about that one) were started by 4chan members, anyone using them is basically complicit in her harrassment. Regardless where these hashtags were started, denying that there’s anything worthwhile in the arguments of the people using them (especially #notyourshield) doesn’t seem like an argument to win people over.

She somehow managed to doxx a 16 year old trans person today. She’s no innocent any more.

I somehow think if she had called focus to the entire crux of the issue, not journalism, not the SJW metagame, but the undeniable fact that her ex-boyfriend is a complete and utter asshole it might not have run away into what it is today. Their sordid, public split was essentially Princip shooting Ferdinand in Serbia, it set off a clash of cultures that had been gearing up for a fight and were raring to go. It awful for her hes such a douche for airing their laundry in public, but it happened, and well, sucks to be her. She’s on Twitter #notyourshield right now, milking it for all its worth, ensuring continuing Patreon value but its not about her any more, its a 5 way brawl between gamers, SJWs, the gaming press, 4chan, and MRAs.

[playingwithknives]

So, even if it that is valid, an individual needs to start somewhere. For argument’s sake let’s say she never played a single game before she started her Tropes vs. Women campaign and video series. She may even hate the medium of video games with all her heart. She secured funding in a free market and is exercising her right to free speech. If people don’t agree with her arguments and reasons then they should start their own fundraising campaign and their own video series to provide a contrasting and dissenting opinion. That is the appropriate and reasonable course of action in our society…not rape and death threats. Just like everyone says right: “If you don’t like the current state of affairs go make your own game.” well those that disagree with her video series should go make their own and meet her arguments on a level playing field; not dox and threaten from a cowardly anonymous handle.

So what.

As far as I can tell you have provided a series of ad hominems and character assassination but haven’t really provided any counters to her arguments. Why does someone need to be a lifelong 'core gamer to have the right to critique games. I’ve often thought that this industry could use some viewpoints from academia.

-Todd

Yes she can do that, and she did. I’m saying if she does do it, and the attending SJW horde and for some reason, the gaming press declare that anyone who disagrees is a basement dwelling misogynist virgin neckbeard, don’t be surprised and play the victim when you unleash a mob of shit flinging monkeys from 4chan and the other anonymous communities the size of which has barely been seen before.

[magnet]

“Action films are horribly misogynistic, so I’m going to watch 100 of them, pick out the most misogynistic scenes and make a video about how action films are misogynistic.”

I’ll do you one better!

“SJWs are horribly wrong, so I’m going to watch one on YouTube, pick out the most horribly wrong scenes, and write about it on the Internet.”

Cause it’s totally hypocritical to criticize SJWs unless you’ve established your SJW street cred, amirite?

[gurugeorge]

Total Biscuits jumps to the fray
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e78JRIHRjC0&feature=youtu.be

He is honest with the title: “I will now ramble about games media for just under 30 minutes”

Interesting, given he is also one of the games media people that has been heavily harassed and received death threats.

It is a bit of a ramble and takes a while to get to anything interesting, but on the whole he seems to talk sense.

[Busbecq]

If people don’t agree with her arguments and reasons then they should start their own fundraising campaign and their own video series to provide a contrasting and dissenting opinion. That is the appropriate and reasonable course of action in our society…not rape and death threats.

Let’s lose the shibboleth of “boy, y’all need to condemn these rape threats before anyone is allowed to say anything else.” Not a single person on this forum thinks rape and death threats are ok. We’ve all condemned it over and over again. Because we are callous internet people more interested in rhetoric and argumentation than propriety, can we move the conversation somewhere less travelled?

[AntediluvianArk]

Let’s lose the shibboleth of “boy, y’all need to condemn these rape threats before anyone is allowed to say anything else.” Not a single person on this forum thinks rape and death threats are ok. We’ve all condemned it over and over again. Because we are callous internet people more interested in rhetoric and argumentation than propriety, can we move the conversation somewhere less travelled?

Sorry I may not have been very articulate in my post but the main thrust of my argument is that there seems to be a subtext of fear about Sarkeesian-types wanting to limit speech or the full-range of developer expression yet that same activity is happening to them through insidious measures. My angle is more about people fearing progressives (or whatever term is most appropriate here) controlling the dialogue and the limits of expression in some future version of reality than needing to condemn the hateful activity. I was just building on the countering speech with more speech skein. So I too feel we should move the conversation somewhere less travelled.
;)
-Todd

Edit: Look, you can certainly critize my posts for being inarticulate or for possessing a degree of naïveté–I will be the first in line to level that against myself–but it is a bit disingenuous and a bit of a stretch to suggest that I was trying to distract from meaningful progression of the dialogue or in any way trying to imply that members of this forum don’t condemn the worst actions regardless of where they stand on the issue. That was far from my point. I guess that was just an easy thread to pull out of my post though and insert into a strawman.

[TimJames]

Let’s lose the shibboleth of “boy, y’all need to condemn these rape threats before anyone is allowed to say anything else.” Not a single person on this forum thinks rape and death threats are ok. We’ve all condemned it over and over again. Because we are callous internet people more interested in rhetoric and argumentation than propriety, can we move the conversation somewhere less travelled?

For whatever perceived or real slights you’ve suffered in this culture war, I don’t think that side has quite reached the point of Fox News talking heads wondering why peaceful Muslims won’t condemn Islamic terrorists.

In any case, you don’t have to say anything. If you be quiet, the only ones left speaking will be the misogynists. They’ll be easy to pick out so everyone else can move on.