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10/14/2014 8:43:05 PM
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What are your thoughts on Feminism in gaming?

I know this is a hot-button topic right now on social media, but since 48% of gamers identify as female and the age/race of gamers is pretty varied, why is there still a stigma against certain groups perpetuated by the media and certain SJW movements? I just want to hear your thoughts on the subject if you're interested in the topic.

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  • I can't tell if the media understand whats happening, or if they recognize how passionate the gaming community is and have decided that controversy sells. Either way it's sad that a person like Anita Sarkeesian who's only reason for picking up a controller was to look for sexism is considered an authority on gaming. As for SJW's most just come off as obnoxious self-aggrandizing idiots who want attention.

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  • Feminism in gaming? I hate it. Equality in gaming? I'm all for it. However, it's never just a black and white issue, with an easy answer. The statistics saying 48% of gamers are female is misleading, and not at all helpful if you want to make console gaming, specifically, more welcoming to females. That's really what the argument is about though, is console gaming. Some studies actually point that roughly 60% of female "gamers" play mobile games specifically. So then we're breaking it down even further. Let's just be fair and say about 50% of the 48% is female, so in reality only 24% of female gamers play on consoles. That's not even factoring in PC vs console. Which matters, for reasons I think everyone who games understands. There are big differences between the two platforms. Even then, we haven't even addressed how we are going to define "gamer". Semantics I know, but it's still important. Because, if half of all gamers are one demographic, but a large majority of that group doesn't even play on consoles, why should they dictate the direction of console games? Good or bad? I'm not trying to say the desires of female gamers should be ignored. I'm definitely four making console games more inclusive. I have a daughter who loves to game, and I would love for her to have options. Options that don't necessarily include degrading and sexist stereotypes, and nothing else. Should we bend over backwards to appease the minority? No. Should we be more conscious of our choices in entertainment, and how they are developed? Yes. Games are a business, and businesses cater to what creates profit. Mobile games show this too. A big chunk of mobile games are geared towards stereotypical female ideas, as well as adolescent ones. Was candy crush or farm town heroes, with their bright colors and cute characters geared towards the average adult male? I doubt it. The only argument female gamers have, worth addressing in a serious, urgent, fashion, is blatant sexism. Scantily clad women, moaning and groaning, with large breasts flopping and deflecting bullets. That's about it. Everything else is just noise. Childish cries of "why don't you focus on me and my needs!?"

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  • It's not going away now Instead of ignoring it, they gave power to the thing they complained about the most, and still do reading to this thread. Gamers have nobody to blame but themselves.

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  • Edited by M37h3w3: 10/16/2014 6:34:58 PM
    Anita is a horrible person to be talking about sexism in video games and she seemingly making up attacks for clicks is detrimental to the conversation. Then you have other developers like Zoe Quinn proving all the basement dwelling "get back in the kitchen!" types right. I'm also going to drop this, this is a recent blog post from one of my favorite artists. He draws lots of scantily clad women with disproportionate shapes.[quote]Boobs. Guys are fascinated by them. Through single-digit ages, they find the very concept of them hilarious, and when puberty kicks in the mere thought of lady-lumps generally causes some movement in the trouser department. These weak-willed creatures will follow them anywhere and they will do almost anything if it means simply being permitted to gaze upon them for a few moments more. The entertainment industries, from the big movie makers to the lowly art whores (like me) know this, and have played upon it for years in order to separate males from their money. As a result, mass media is awash with the female form in all manner of provocative poses and dress. Many women are fed up with this, but is the whole thing “sexist”? Well, it’s impossible and indeed wrong to say a whole industry is one thing or another. Ultimately it’s all one, big, dumb organism that simply moves with the cultural winds. It perpetuates what sustains it. It’s only when you break it down into smaller elements that you can accurately identify what is and is not sexist. An industry that is almost entirely staffed by one gender will naturally create products that primarily appeal to that same gender, but something that is created with the intention to titillate isn’t sexist. It only becomes so if it is held up as an expectation of how a gender should behave. Let’s use a fictitious video game as a basic study. This game is made by an all male development team, so it’s naturally going to cater to male tastes. This team all love the Frank Frazetta style of swords and sorcery, so this game reflects that: the main character is a scantily clad warrior princess who is animated to be as provocative as possible and who emits orgasmic groans every time she launches an attack. None of that is sexist, just immature. It’s indulgence of male fantasy, designed by males for males. Electing not to appeal to a female audience doesn’t make you sexist, just dumb for alienating a group of potential consumers. Moving on, when the game ready for sale, it is promoted with full page ads in the gaming press featuring the main character in a sexy pose. This alone wouldn’t be sexist, but the tag-line reads “Are you man enough to take control of me?” That is sexist (and horribly out-of-date). It suggests inferiority/superiority based on gender, which is the definition of sexism. Everything else is simply visuals and how offended someone is by those is dependant on that individual’s personal attitude toward them. Puritanical minds will see every piece of exposed flesh as an affront to their sensibilities, the more hormonal driven will be thankful for a new piece of material to add to the Wank Bank and the level-headed will treat it for what it is and ignore or follow it without fuss. As you may have noticed, I draw lots and lots of absurdly proportioned females, but I have never been accused of being sexist or that I objectify women. I’m putting this down to the fact that I try to inject personality into my pin-ups. Yes, they are drawn that way to titillate, but the characters ARE characters, designed only to promote a sense of care-free, confidant fun and never used to belittle or demean.[/quote]

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    • Feminism in video games will never be an important issue so long as Queen Anita And Milady Zoe Quinn continue to be the leaders of it. Zoe Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian are the biggest liars, scam artists, and genuinely awful human beings to ever be associated with video games in the last 20 years. They have lied, stole, and scammed their way to fame while driving a movement that almost forced everything wrong with game journalism to come out with their lies and drove it into the ground, all under the banner of fighting the Misogynist Boogeyman that in actuality does not exist. The fact that they of all people get to speak on behalf of females everywhere at the UN when REAL problems facing women around the world are side-shafted because "The mean men online say homophobic slurs!! :(!!!!!" That is absolutely disgusting and shows how much of a joke those two are and how they've tainted the word "Feminism" with a near-terminal disease. Game Journalism has such a huge conflict of interest. Their reporters sleep with the developers of the games they review, and any criticism of that is silenced with being called an oppressive misogynist, even this site is not safe from this Thought-Policing attack, DeeJ himself is a giant fedora tipper who can't stand the thought of "poor innocent M'ladies being attacked by the Sexist Pigs who use the dance emotes around them in Destiny." What a -blam!-ing crock of shit. Griefing has been around since Halo CE and only now do people give a shit because God -blam!-ing forbid people grow some damn skin on the Internet. Feminism in video games is a joke. And it will continue to be a joke until White Knight SJW's stop raising up con artists on golden pedestals. Until journalists stop acting like whipped dogs to people who are only in this industry to push an agenda, and until people stop treating the Internet like their personal hugbox.

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    • Feminism has just become hypocritical thinking and not aiming for equality at all nowadays. The idea is great. I'm a guy but I agree with women being treated equally. But what feminism is now is not that at all. For example, feminists want to get paid more just like men for "equality" but when a man doesn't hold open a door for a her she blows up in his face. THATS NOT FIGHTING FOR EQUALITY! That's fighting for equality in professional situations but still wanting special treatment from men about everything. Which is the definition of contradiction and hypocrisy.

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      • I identify as a chinchilla....

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      • It doesn't belong in modern society. Nor does it belong in the gaming industry.

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      • Basically. Everyone wants to be equal right? So why draw attention to yourself? Its always bugged me how chi chi bois and feminazis demand equality and yet dont act equal to everyone else how is that fair? You have gay pride marches ok whatever you are gay and take the banana, you have feminazis coming out with extremism and radicalness online who cant get the D so they want all men to be castrated. Us straight normal people who respect women dont have straight pride marches or anti women sites so why should they be treated equally when they make a point of being different. If you game online it should not matter about your race or gender, if you are a black tranny who identifies as a horse then ok so long as you arent a shit -blam!- who loses every game, if you are a white gay kid who -blam!-s other mans ok just dont lose the game and dont broadcast your twisted -blam!-ed up behaviour just play! Women? Dont care stop telling me you are a girl and start playing

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      • Are you counting mobile gaming? If so gtfo.

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      • #GOD OF WAR

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      • There's feminism in gaming?

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      • stupid and unnecessary

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        • Feminism in general is a joke to me. Regardless of the topic at hand.

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          • Feminism should be altogether ditched and abandoned because all it is is trying to elevate females above males

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          • Idk... Just be nice to other peeps. If they're not nice to you, oh well... If you're not nice to them, oh well... All of it comes with the territory, and if you let it disrupt your life to such a degree, does it continue to be a worthwhile endeavor of your time? That is, of course, assuming it is truly that terrible, which it's not. I wouldn't suggest bowing to a truly negative common denominator, I don't believe in appeasement. But, if your perspective is so sensitive that you cannot bear these things, why bother stepping outside of your own home.... In the end, nothing needs to be done. Not about "gamers", not about feminists, because it's their struggle to bring about change that will continue the cycle of society, and we are all apart of it, whether we step in or not.

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          • lol I'm a feminist and I honestly couldn't care less how they portray women in video games. Hell, it's not as if all the men out there are buff, fit dudes, but that's all you see in games. The one thing I don't like is boob armor. It's unrealistic, no woman would be able to get that on!!

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          • There are a few games where there are moments of, "oh dear". Yet this happens everywhere in life. I can see how people whom don't play video games could easily get the wrong idea. Yet I'm completely wanting to say that it is their problem. When they moan that the girls have unrealistic bodies, have they looked at the men? O.o (just an example)

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            • It's a bad joke.

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            • Feminism is bullshit period. Any ism is bullshit. If feminism was about equality it would simply be called humanism.

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            • *sits in a polished black leather chair* "...feminism is the equality of women's rights and all races and genders, world equality...""

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            • Games exist to have fun. If you're having fun, good. If you're not having fun, play something else. I have no desire to play [i]Hatoful Boyfriend[/i] but if you want to, be my guest. Just leave me to play some [i]DOA[/i] in peace. Whatever happened to, "What people do behind closed doors is their business. Stay out of it."

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            • There's fighting for sex/gender equality and then there's Anita Sarkeesian/femextremists.

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            • *sigh* There are plenty of games that don't have this kind of stuff in it. If they don't like it, they can go play something else. Game developers have the right to do what they want in their games!

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            • Feminism today is bullshit and those feminazi bitches need to take it somewhere else.

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              • That they, and every other group trying to change gaming because of politics, need to -blam!- off and go mind their own damn business. And I consider feminism to be a complete and total joke anyway. In places like the U.S., Canada, the majority of Europe, Australia....basically any civilized first world country, feminism is absolutely not needed. All of the so-called "issues" I see feminists in places like America and Europe calling out amount to pretty much the definition of first-world problems, and not only that are something that [i]everyone[/i] has to deal with (like assholes/trolls online for instance). So yeah, feminism in the first-world is something completely pointless and all they're doing is whining and bitching about not everyone bowing down and worshipping them and doing whatever they say (essentially). Pretty much all gamers don't give a shit whether you're a man, woman, white, black, Asian, European, African, straight, gay...whatever other descriptors you can think of, they just don't care and don't think it matters. They just want to play good games. The (in comparison to gamers as a whole) small number of trolls should not be held up as representative of the [i]entire[/i] group anymore than radicals and extremists in any group or movement should be held up as the example when they're the minority (like Westboro is not representative of Christianity and Al Qaeda and ISIS/ISIL/IS (whatever the -blam!- they're called these days) are not representative of every single Muslim throughout the entire world).

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