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[Neonivek]

Hmmm... I wonder if what I should do is do a sort of game by game case study with the HUGE pile of games I havn't finished yet.

I mean I just beat Deponia and it fails the Bechdel test, which isn't anything special for a game (Bechdel tests are almost useless for games even as a "view of games as a whole"). but for its wide cast it only has two female characters, one is a damsel and the other is a ***** character.

Which for a point and click adventure is actually pretty impressive (The genre tends to have a lot more gender balance).

Ohh yeah... point and clicks had male-female protagonist ratio.

Hmmmm... Case by case study of my point and click collection in terms of male and female roles?

Though I can pretty much sum that up. Usually minor characters tend to fulfill a stereotype within the game and thus anyone meant to be mildly intimidating will be male, unless it is intentionally being subverted. While for some games it can be excused (Kings Quest is meant to follow myth, legend, and fairy tails... and even then it breaks a few rules) most cannot.

---

Though I am still sad that the ONLY TWO series we got that were directed towards females at one point or another that weren't terrible... was...

Nancy Drew (which is excellent) and Mary Kate and Ashley sweet 16 (Which hovers VERY slightly below good)

I was REALLY hoping there would be more...

I am wondering if I should add The Sims to the list... While the first game wasn't... the versions after The Sims Online, all recognized their strong female fanbase and a lot of the fans do believe they market mostly towards a female audience while trying to be universal.

[Loud Whispers]

What does everyone think about Microsoft Sam's alleged expose?

I don't know why I didn't suspect this earlier, she DID cite a character who kills himself as a "good way to dealing with loss." Is robot voice wrong, or Anita wrong?
Of course, might just be beating on a dead horse at this point.

[Rolan7]

I too would love to play video games [more], but I don't want to go around shooting people and ripping off their heads.  Ew.

So she skipped a single word in a private lecture.  That's supposed to be proof that she isn't actually a "gamer"?  Whatever, apparently haters are going to persist in [patting each other on the back in a nonsexual way].

[Leafsnail]

It really doesn't matter even if true.

[Loud Whispers]

I too would love to play video games [more], but I don't want to go around shooting people and ripping off their heads.  Ew.

Avoid slasher & shooter genres, plenty more games available that would not even forego all kinesthetic games.

So she skipped a single word in a private lecture.  That's supposed to be proof that she isn't actually a "gamer"?  Whatever, apparently haters are going to persist in [patting each other on the back in a nonsexual way].

Well not really a single word, so much as saying some pretty contradicting things.
I.e.
I love video games, I play them a lot &,
I hate video games, I would like to play them but they're all gore

It really doesn't matter even if true.

Yes it does; she entered the mainstream and impacted the gaming industry on her persona as an inside video gamer. EA took note of her notes in production of Mirror's Edge 2, and it is going to be interesting to see what EA does next [keep changes, backtrack all over the place?]. There is also the moral issue on the fact that she profited off of a social movement greatly, based off of a lie, when she could have honestly just started off from the start with a select few examples in depth, also learning on her own way. Then there is also the allegation that she used other people's footage without so much as crediting them, passing it off as her own; i.e. plagiarism.
Simply put, many of the criticisms lain against her have now been emboldened if what is seen is true. Those saying she avoided games that satisfied her goals, or was blindly stumbling through games she had little knowledge of, choosing games heavily outdated or even completely warping in appearance order to further her argument - would be right.

Right or wrong, this matters a great deal.

[Vector]

She's still right.  The more in-depth the story and the more personality ascribed to the personage, the less likely it is that you're going to get to play as a girl.

I'm really scared that people are going to see this as Her Being Wrong At Everything Now And Forever Amen and there's going to be even more of a backlash.

[Bauglir]

I mean, I guess that depends on what you think it matters for. Figuring out whether she's an honest person when it comes to her background? Okay, sure. Discouraging lies is always good. Arguing that the claims she makes about women in video games are wrong? I could not give fewer shits about her background, in that case, because she personally is completely irrelevant to that.

Basically, is it more ammunition for discrediting somebody saying something you don't like, or is it honest criticism of somebody who happens to also be the target of a bunch of unrelated shitslinging? That's a question that should be answered before people even begin to care, but it probably won't be.

I want to explicitly state that I'm not taking a position on whether or not she has been telling the truth. I don't plan on researching it, because it's completely irrelevant to any issues I actually care about, and so I'm completely unqualified to do anything but complain about ad hominem arguments and blah blah blah.

[Loud Whispers]

Basically, is it more ammunition for discrediting somebody saying something you don't like, or is it honest criticism of somebody who happens to also be the target of a bunch of unrelated shitslinging? That's a question that should be answered before people even begin to care, but it probably won't be.

Honest criticism of immoral conduct, also ammunition to make news companies like MSNBC, game reviewers like IGN and publishers like EA lose money. Along with what Vector said, plus the other two reactions of vitriol and further advocacy directed to Sarkeesian. Lots of people have lots of stakes based off of one fake persona. The critics will have a field day, the LP'ers will probably do nothing [maybe exploit the critic's audience for money?], you just can't spin a lie this way and expect it to go well no matter the intention. The criticism regarding her ignorance of the role of women in video games would be made justified if this is absolutely true.

She's still right.  The more in-depth the story and the more personality ascribed to the personage, the less likely it is that you're going to get to play as a girl.

I'm really scared that people are going to see this as Her Being Wrong At Everything Now And Forever Amen and there's going to be even more of a backlash.

At the end of the day, this appears inevitable, along with some of the above.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I'm not surprised. She was throwing up red flags by the dozen since this began, one more does not change things significantly.

[Rolan7]

Well not really a single word, so much as saying some pretty contradicting things.
I.e.
I love video games, I play them a lot &,
I hate video games, I would like to play them but they're all gore

Except, no, that's not what she said at all.

Some people are going to believe that she confided in this *room full of people* that she's not a gamer whatsoever and has been lying about it for years, for... some reason.  The photo is fake or something, where's her birth certificate, etc.

I believe she just accidentally skipped a single clarifying word in the middle of a lecture.  Anyone who has ever talked to people, in real life, is probably aware that this sometimes happens.

I don't see how anyone can argue that she doesn't care about video games, a great deal even.  What is even the claim here?  That she doesn't play games, but she really really really wants to ruin them for all the dickheads in the world?  I SEE!  This single mistatement I MEAN ADMISSION OF GUILT is proof!!

[Loud Whispers]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Well not really a single word, so much as saying some pretty contradicting things.
I.e.
I love video games, I play them a lot &,
I hate video games, I would like to play them but they're all gore

Except, no, that's not what she said at all.

Some people are going to believe that she confided in this *room full of people* that she's not a gamer whatsoever and has been lying about it for years, for... some reason.  The photo is fake or something, where's her birth certificate, etc.

I believe she just accidentally skipped a single clarifying word in the middle of a lecture.  Anyone who has ever talked to people, in real life, is probably aware that this sometimes happens.

I don't see how anyone can argue that she doesn't care about video games, a great deal even.  What is even the claim here?  That she doesn't play games, but she really really really wants to ruin them for all the dickheads in the world?  I SEE!  This single mistatement I MEAN ADMISSION OF GUILT is proof!!

"So, its not exactly a fandom. I'm not a fan of video games. I actually had to learn a lot about videogames in the process of making this."

After she says this, without a single cut in those lines, there is a cut to video game footage with "too many dicks on the dancefloor" behind it. We cut back to Anita lecturing.

"To me, the song is positive just because I only contextualized it in a way to critique male domination in our media. And videogames, like, I would love to play videogames but I don't want to go around shooting people and ripping off their heads and it's just gross so hence this is my response to that."

The above lecture content being just as uncut as that quoted above.

Anita plainly stated, that in 2010 she did not play games, did not like games, and that she knew very little about games. Considering that her entire selling point was of being on the insider's perspective, accidentally forgetting to say "I play video games" "I have knowledge of video games" and "I have played many video games" means she has been asking for changes in a medium she doesn't understand, misleading people with ill-placed trust pretending to be one of the fandom that's not exactly a fandom.

[Max White]

I too would love to play video games [more], but I don't want to go around shooting people and ripping off their heads.  Ew.

So she skipped a single word in a private lecture.  That's supposed to be proof that she isn't actually a "gamer"?  Whatever, apparently haters are going to persist in [patting each other on the back in a nonsexual way].

Why do people always just hear what they think she means, instead of what she says? Instead of "Well this is what she said word for word with video evidence" it is "This is what I believe she meant because my feelings"


Does the fact that she clearly isn't a fan of the violence simulator make a difference to the content of her videos? Nope, not really, neither does the fact that allegedly she stole footage from Lets Players or the amount of money she received in the kick starter or the color of lipstick she uses. All these things are irrelevant. The series is still bullshit though.

[Rolan7]

The fact is, she obviously knows a lot about video games.  She's presented a lot of information about video games.  She obviously cares about video games, because she could end the project at any point and keep the money.

So when she technically implies, in a single off-the-record statement, that she doesn't currently play video games, I don't consider that proof of anything.  It's OBVIOUSLY a slightly inaccurate way of indicating that she *has problems* with video games - which would be a reasonable thing to say to the class. 

"Not a fan of video games"?  Me neither, I think the current market sucks with a few rare exceptions!  I still play games though, even overhyped overbudget triple-A male-dominated titles.

Why do people always just hear what they think she means, instead of what she says? Instead of "Well this is what she said word for word with video evidence" it is "This is what I believe she meant because my feelings"

You, I, and Loud Whispers have all said self-contradictory things in this thread.  It's an inevitability.  Productive discussion involves forgiving technical mistakes... And Anna has some very extenuating circumstances here, seeing as she's giving an off-the-record lecture.  Blowing it out of proportion is intellectually dishonest.

[alexandertnt]

What even is the criteria for being a "Gamer". Its clear she has played games...

[MetalSlimeHunt]

By her own admission, she is not part of the modern gaming community and doesn't want to be a part of it. That is the criteria she has failed. This is not a "this person is not hardcore enough for me to consider them One Of Us", this is "this person is not One Of Us by her own admission".