#Gamergate. Fighting amongst Gamers and Game Critics. I guess this is a thing that is happening now. It's leading people to question the idea of what a 'gamer' is, and leading to multiple declarations that the 'gamer' is dead. I'm cool with that. Gamer was a term coined when I wasn't paying attention. I looked up, and that's what people were calling you if you played video games, valued video games and wanted to talk about them. Fine. I'm happy to let it go. I never really had it.
Props to Wil Wheaton and Joss Whedon, whose last names are similar in a way I never noticed until just now. They're making statements against Misogyny in gamer culture, and I'm all for it. When I was a kid, there weren't a lot of girls playing video games. Not just in my neighborhood, but all around, say the statistics. Now almost half of gamers are girls. It sounds like a freakin' rennaisance! I'm envious of the 'kids these days' ! Except... wait - why are you treating these girls like shit? Don't turn them away! What are you DOING?! WHY?!!
Gamers aren't real. We're just people. If the loudest voice in the room is yelling at a little girl, browbeating and threatening her, then we should kick his ass and leave the room. Done.
"These obtuse shitslingers, these wailing hyper-consumers, these childish internet-arguers -- they are not my audience. They don't have to be yours. There is no 'side' to be on, there is no 'debate' to be had. "
Great quote. I don't even care who said it. Put more simply: you guys are ruining the fun!
-D
P.S. If you are interested in this subject at all, you really should follow John Bruneau's Tumblr, as he updates frequently will all sorts of tasty stuff.
I saw this crop up last week, the use of "Gamergate" although I'm not personally on board with its usage harkening back to Nixon's Watergate scandal. It's like the moment anything becomes about something not being good anymore, "gate" gets tacked onto the end because all anyone knows is that it's bad.
ReplyDeleteWhat I read was that some people broke into the "computers/files/personal information" of a handful of people who make a living in the video game industry. Game developer Phil Fish and columnist Anita Sarkeesian were among those targeted. The president of Sony Entertainment also had his plane grounded over a flagrantly fake bomb threat, claimed by the same people who crashed the Playstation Network back in 2011. *And then,* there's the term "Swatted" which refers to people having a police/SWAT team called on them because some angry child (regardless of age) became upset during an online gaming session.
It's a lot for the community to take in and I feel that a lot of the blowback created by these events is directed at the wrong people. Like the one kid in a class who does something that gets the entire class punished.
I'm going to stop now as I feel that I could write a fair amount without actually making a point or taking the discussion somewhere meaningful. I'll simply end reiterating Dr. Potts' send off, that the worst kinds of people are ruining the fun that games create.