Kickstarter "Tropes vs Women in Videogames"

[J T]

If cat-girl eroge titles keep showing up on Steam it's going to be even harder to claim that sexism isn't a problem in the gaming world.

[Sload Soap]

Just another little niggle for me as far as this video goes.

I just played through Metro: Last Light, a game that features in the video a few times, and I think the producers are a little unfair with this game. For me, the context for the section shown is less about titillation and more about reinforcing the dystopian theme of the game. Essentially the women are supposed to be the children of Bolshoi ballet dancers. They "put on a show" that is nothing but a poorly choreographed can-can line. Some are also pole dancers and strippers mostly out of necessity. Yes, there is nudity but it isn't for cheap thrills.

The message I got with that section is that there isn't much of the old Russia left, that even the things that were good and pure before the war have been perverted down in the tunnels of the Metro. It was subtle and effective, giving that section a particularly sombre note.

I guess what I'm saying is sometimes tits aren't just tits.

[ZeroAX]

Since she never actually played the games she's talking about it would be impossible for her to know that though :/

[Sload Soap]

Since she never actually played the games she's talking about it would be impossible for her to know that though :/

I always assumed the "Special Thanks" at the end of the video were people who had gathered footage for her and helped with the editing. I never thought she would actually sit down and play hundreds of games. That'd be pretty inefficient.

[ZeroAX]

I always assumed the "Special Thanks" at the end of the video were people who had gathered footage for her and helped with the editing. I never thought she would actually sit down and play hundreds of games. That'd be pretty inefficient.

Yes but it's the reason I can't take her work seriously. Can you take a movie critic/academic seriously if he only reads descriptions of the films? No.

I don't like all the hate and bitterness that the gaming community has thrown against her for 2 reasons:

1) There is a LOT of objectification of women in the gaming industry, lots of bigotry and intolerance (imagine an openly trans person trying to take part in a gaming tournament), and the industry in general if very hostile to females, both as gamers and game developers. And this poor woman attracted a lot of hate and worst of all ACTUAL threats just for daring to want to talk about it. It's very shameful

and...

2) Her work is simply put a piece of shit. It's unprofessional, hardly the academic study she declares it to be, and she should be called out for it and criticized for her bad work. BUT if you try to criticize her the comments section of your critique will be overrun by people who hate her for WHAT she says rather than HOW she does it, which is what my problem with her is.

It's kind of like criticizing Israel, you can't do it without sooner or later attracting fucked up neo-nazis.


Anyway I hope one day someone makes a more professional academic study on sexism in video games, though we all know the roots of the problem are the fact that women just don't join the industry cause of pre-defined gender roles.

[prfsnl_gmr]

(imagine an openly trans person trying to take part in a gaming tournament)

Actually, one of the world's top StarCraft 2 players is a transgender person:

http://www.avclub.com/article/how-a-tra ... the-107511

[AppleQueso]

^^AFAIK she catches a lot of really fucked up shit too, because you know, gamers. I've got friends who had zero interest in Starcraft though who watched streams of her competing just to root for her though.

though we all know the roots of the problem are the fact that women just don't join the industry cause of pre-defined gender roles.

I don't think 'gender roles' are the problem (after all, many of the most important figures in the development of computer science for example were women) so much as the fact that there's still a lot of sexism rampant in those industries.

[flex wood]

I always assumed the "Special Thanks" at the end of the video were people who had gathered footage for her and helped with the editing. I never thought she would actually sit down and play hundreds of games. That'd be pretty inefficient.

I'm guessing those are just backers.

Apple wouldn't you say that being a gamer is seen in society as a thing for boys so how wouldn't it be a gender role issue?

[prfsnl_gmr]

^^AFAIK she catches a lot of really fucked up shit too, because you know, gamers.

I don't doubt it. I just wanted to note that at least one championship level gamer is a transgender person.

[Sload Soap]

I always assumed the "Special Thanks" at the end of the video were people who had gathered footage for her and helped with the editing. I never thought she would actually sit down and play hundreds of games. That'd be pretty inefficient.

I'm guessing those are just backers.

Apple wouldn't you say that being a gamer is seen in society as a thing for boys so how wouldn't it be a gender role issue?

Don't think so, there is a separate list after the special thanks for the backers. And one of the Special thanks people is called Wendy the Intern. Hmm, I wonder...