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	white_tean 2012-06-17 07:59 am UTC (link)
	It does bear mentioning though, that she has also raised $158,000 for a $6,000 goal. But yes, discussing gender tropes within gaming is totally terrorism. I'm just sad this project has expired so I can't kick in even more. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	sol 2012-06-17 08:06 am UTC (link)
	I should probably mention that it got that high because the furor over a woman even daring to think about talking about these issues produced a Streisand Effect among blogs. I wish I could have contributed myself before I saw this. :x (Reply to this)(Parent)

quantumreality
2012-06-17 08:05 am UTC (link)

I read the screenshots of the youtube video link.

My reaction was a headdesk at the way the (presumably all male) commenters completely lost their shit at the idea of a woman making a statement about the way women are portrayed in video games mainly as cliches rather than as viable well-rounde characters.

Seriously, like holy SHIT what is WRONG with them????? Are they really that insecure about themselves that just unfavorably commenting on the games they play invites that kind of reaction? Jesus Christ on a pogostick, nobody's talking about banning their favorite game they probably fap to when they're not actually playing it. (Insert whole obligatory discussion about how you can enjoy problematic material as long as you understand nobody else is required to agree with you, blah blah blah)

What IS being discussed is that the games these people play tend to reinforce already-existing negative stereotypes about women (probably contributing to the Nice Guy effect, IMHO), and how to make games which don't do that but can still have broad appeal to all people who might like to play.

Then again given the way women have complained that just having a recognizably female voice in a multiplayer game tends to invite a crapton of sexual harrassment, I don't hold out much hope that the male computer-gaming contingent will evolve their thinking any time soon.

Sorry about the teal deer, everyone.

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	sol 2012-06-17 08:07 am UTC (link)
	You really don't want to see the comments that are off youtube. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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quantumreality, 2012-06-17 08:15 am UTC

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sol, 2012-06-17 08:19 am UTC

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sandglass, 2012-06-17 10:36 pm UTC

seraangelus
2012-06-17 12:46 pm UTC (link)

I find it depends on the MMO and the people you're grouping with. Something like Call of Duty will get you a lot more dudebros then the Star Wars MMO but even there you've got the occasional arsehole.

I've been _very_ lucky as a gamer not to run into a lot of harassment but I also don't play a lot of FPS games. ME3 Multiplayers is probably the only one I regularly play. I'd like to play more but the misogynistic bullshit does put me off. :(

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	sepiamagpie 2012-06-18 09:28 am UTC (link)
	I don't even know what's with men in video games and I am one. This one asshole thought I was a girl in city of heroes and sent me pictures of his dick. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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kumquat_of_doom, 2012-06-19 12:45 am UTC

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sepiamagpie, 2012-06-20 03:19 am UTC

	havocthecat 2012-06-18 05:03 pm UTC (link)
	Are they really that insecure about themselves that just unfavorably commenting on the games they play invites that kind of reaction? Oh, I've been playing video games for more than twenty-five years now and let me tell you the answer to that question: HELL. YES. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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ekaterinv, 2012-06-19 09:36 am UTC

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havocthecat, 2012-06-19 12:47 pm UTC

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ekaterinv, 2012-06-19 10:52 pm UTC

	spawn_of_kong 2012-06-21 12:38 am UTC (link)
	Are they really that insecure about themselves that just unfavorably commenting on the games they play invites that kind of reaction? Yes. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	rosehiptea 2012-06-17 09:35 am UTC (link)
	Holy crap. I heard about this before and I figured it must be bad but that's some really horrific shit. People keep asking, well, why do you have to make such a big deal that you're a woman gamer, well, maybe it's because of stuff like this. (I'm not expressing myself really well right now.) (Reply to this)(Thread)

quantumreality
2012-06-17 09:41 am UTC (link)

I don't blame you.

The latest idiocy I'm reading now is all the asshats who think questioning the legitimacy of the $120k donated somehow makes them right. They're all making up stories about how she's lololol buying a car and how dare people in a free society give their money to someone else and on and on and on, including making up farcical excuses for why it doesn't cost $6k to make a series of videos like she wants to make.

(and I bet these are the same jackasses who would throw a shitfit if anyone questioned why they spent $10 on NASCAR or something like that.)

(-_-)

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white_tean, 2012-06-17 01:27 pm UTC

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miera_c, 2012-06-19 02:45 am UTC

ninwhore
2012-06-17 09:57 am UTC (link)

Did you see the guys who've somehow raised $2000 to make a 'But guys are oppressed in video games because!!!!' counter video series?

Because, you know, Nathan Drake totally had a storyline where he was a victim and he was only something for you to protect. Oh and he gets stronger because he was almost raped! Yeah! That's totally horrible-

OH NO WAIT THAT'S THE NEW LAURA CROFT

FUCK YOU GUYS WHERE IS MY RED RING

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	rosehiptea 2012-06-17 10:07 am UTC (link)
	Did you see the guys who've somehow raised $2000 to make a 'But guys are oppressed in video games because!!!!' counter video series? They actually got money? I'm... really depressed now. Earlier tonight I found this tumblr parodying that general idea (maybe not those guys specifically.) I actually found it pretty funny: http://misandryinvideogames.tumblr.com/ (Reply to this)(Parent)

quantumreality
2012-06-17 10:09 am UTC (link)

The thing that always amazes me about the "what about the menz" MRA types is that they don't even realize how reactionary they are. They never try to prove their point independently of whatever women do; they're always just reacting to women who try to make a point about social power imbalances.

If these MRA-types could see themselves, they'd realize how ridiculous and petty they really are.

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mmanurere, 2012-06-19 01:43 am UTC

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quantumreality, 2012-06-19 01:56 am UTC

	cygnia 2012-06-18 05:40 pm UTC (link)
	Watching the husband play the latest "Uncharted", I swear the amount of dumb decisions Drake kept making, he NEEDED to be saved from himself. :p (of course, that still isn't on par with attempted rape :-/) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	full_metal_ox 2012-06-19 01:49 am UTC (link)
	Because, you know, Nathan Drake totally had a storyline where he was a victim and he was only something for you to protect. Oh and he gets stronger because he was almost raped! Yeah! That's totally horrible- OH NO WAIT THAT'S THE NEW LAURA CROFT FUCK YOU GUYS WHERE IS MY RED RING You might appreciate Dork Tower's take on the matter. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	lostmahmarbles 2012-06-17 10:16 am UTC (link)
	I honestly can't think of anything to say in response to this. Normally I kind of stick my head in the sand about this stuff because "it's the internet" but some of this stuff goes beyond vile into "I fear for this woman's life" territory. Jesus Christ. (Reply to this)

lied_ohne_worte
2012-06-17 12:30 pm UTC (link)

Oh dear.

I just cannot comprehend how all those men can fail to see the enormous irony involved in telling a woman that she is wrong about pointing out sexism... by being infinitely more sexist than the material she was researching in the first place.

All of this just makes me glad that the only online games I've ever even tried out are LOTRO and Glitch, both of which appear to be quite different from what I hear about, say, WoW. I can't imagine playing for fun and relaxation in an environment where people like that are tolerated.

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ekaterinv
2012-06-17 08:55 pm UTC (link)

I left WoW, but it was never nearly this bad, though it was always in the lower half of MMOs when it came to assholishness. (Guild Wars is the worst I've seen, and oh boy, it was bad.) You can choose with whom to play, silence channels, etc. That said: one of the reasons I left WoW is that it's gotten a lot worse in recent years, socially, than it used to be. When I started to play, I could be in general chat, and pretty much count on the most annoying thing there being Chuck Norris jokes. By the time I left, I couldn't be in any chat that wasn't private, not even trade.

I always avoid youtube comments because there is nearly always something horrifically bad in them. I saw people throwing racist, homophobic, misogynist, and I don't even know what slurs on a Debussy flute piece playing over a nice picture.

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quantumreality, 2012-06-17 09:15 pm UTC

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full_metal_ox, 2012-06-19 01:55 am UTC

	seraangelus 2012-06-17 12:52 pm UTC (link)
	http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnyegriffiths/2012/06/15/j-smooth-on-harassment/ There's an article on Forbes.com about it too, and a link to Jay Smooth talking about it. (Reply to this)(Thread)

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coffee_mug, 2012-06-17 08:23 pm UTC

	agent_hyatt 2012-06-17 07:39 pm UTC (link)
	Another really annoying thing about this is that it's affected her other videos about women in media. They've got hundreds of down votes, and the recommended videos in the sidebars are often anti-feminist trash. (Reply to this)(Thread)

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coffee_mug, 2012-06-17 08:13 pm UTC

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quantumreality, 2012-06-18 01:13 am UTC

	kumquat_of_doom 2012-06-17 08:10 pm UTC (link)
	And then people wonder why I refuse to get an X-Box Gold membership and play games online... (Reply to this)

jkefka
2012-06-18 08:55 pm UTC (link)

*sigh*

Any denial of misogyny in video games or anything video-game related is sheer fantasy. There are occasional instances of things that are really insulting to men as well, in a tiny, tiny minority, but of course none of the people claiming that video games are oppressive to men are actually thinking about that. If they were, they wouldn't be denying the misogyny at the same time. It is entirely possible for something to be insulting to everyone of any (binary or otherwise) gender, which is pretty much how I would describe the last E3 (ba-dum-pish).

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	cmdr_zoom 2012-06-20 06:47 am UTC (link)
	Shortpacked weighs in. (Reply to this)

chikane
2012-06-22 07:39 pm UTC (link)

What really gets me is that even after all this, even today, after people called out how shitty this all was...people are still attacking Tropes Vs Women. Even now, men (and a few women that seem to really like being treated as The One Sane Woman) keep arguing that she deserved it on, say, the escapist and other gaming sites.

It's horrible, and they still think they are correct for doing this. Because mildly criticizing things in games is bad!

Except when MEN do it, of course - see the ME3 ending campaign, which faced nowhere near this amount of dislike.

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ekaterinv, 2012-06-22 09:43 pm UTC

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bishounenhideto
2012-07-11 11:34 pm UTC (link)

It keeps going downhill: http://metronews.ca/news/toronto/293097/feminist-blogger-faces-gamer-backlash-toronto-woman-caught-in-crossfire/

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Gamer campaign against U.S. feminist catches Toronto woman in crossfire

The threats began slowly — first with YouTube comments denouncing her gender and race, then on a Wikipedia page, replacing her personal image with a pornographic one.

Soon came an online game where players could beat American feminist blogger Anita Sarkeesian’s virtual face into a bloody pulp with click after click.

And then, as a misogynistic underbelly of gamers began to surface, one Toronto woman got caught in the crossfire and began receiving death and rape threats of her own.

This online vitriol emerged in response to a fundraising campaign started by pop culture critic Sarkeesian in May to produce a series of free online videos on female stereotypes in video games. By June, Sarkeesian had surpassed her goal of $6,000 by more than $150,000.

The game “Beat up Anita Sarkeesian” was created last week by a Sault Ste. Marie gamer who goes by @Bendilin on Twitter in response to this campaign. The gamer claimed that Sarkeesian had scammed thousands of people out of money.

“She claims to want gender equality in video games, but in reality, she just wants to use the fact that she was born with a vagina to get free money and sympathy from everyone who crosses her path,” @Bendilin posted below the game on newsground.com.

The day after it was posted, it was taken down from the site and was followed by @Bendilin’s Twitter account being temporarily suspended, for unknown reasons. The Twitter account had been registered to a Ben Spurr.

Although he continued to tweet about the game on Tuesday, @Bendilin ignored repeated requests for an interview with Torstar News Service. Sarkeesian also didn’t respond to a request for an interview.

When Stephanie Guthrie, a 27-year-old feminist tweeter from Toronto heard about the game, she immediately took to the social networking site, tweeting openly against the game and its creator. As she continued, she said she began receiving death and rape threats through the site.

“I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways,” one tweet to Guthrie said on Monday, soon to be matched with even cruder and more violent tweets from other users.

“The critique I’m fine with,” Guthrie said. “Unfortunately I find these people to be fairly obstinate and impossible to argue with.”

Best known for founding Women in Toronto Politics, an organization that brings together females in Toronto’s political community for panels and blog posts, Guthrie said she’s never faced anything like the insults hurled at her online.

The situation ultimately led her to file a police report on Monday night.

“I don’t think any of these people are going to come to my house and kill me,” she said. “The ability to be anonymous on Twitter facilitates really abusive comments.”

Although all the threats have come through Twitter, Guthrie doesn’t plan on shutting down her account.

“The obvious goal of these people is to silence Anita,” Guthrie said. “We can’t stop expressing our support; we have to just steer through the fear.”

Jennifer Jenson, a game designer and professor at York University and former academic supervisor to Sarkeesian, said misogyny is a troubling theme throughout gaming culture largely because it remains such a male-dominated area.

Yet, it’s not a problem for the gaming world alone. “I think that the object is almost always women, but this is prevalent in other online communities,” she said. “Anytime there’s anonymity involved, we have this problem.”

Although anonymity can allow people to act in ways they might not in real life, Jenson doesn’t think the digital and the real world are all that separate.

“These kind of comments anonymously posted are [their] real life,” she said. “It’s who they are.”

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