Our old friend over at the Pro-Male/Anti-Feminist Technology blog is angry again. This time he’s mad at a legitimate target: National Rifle Association president Wayne LaPierre. But not because LaPierre is the head of an organization that has stood athwart every attempt at sensible gun control, making tragedies like the one in Newtown an all-too-predictable side effect of the easy availability of semiautomatic weaponry.
No, Mr. Pro-Male/Anti-Feminist Tech is made at LaPierre because he thinks the NRA big gun has turned into a feminist. No, really. Noting that in the wake of the Newtown shootings LaPierre launched a transparently opportunistic attack on violent video games, Mr. PMAFT accuses him of doing the work of the grand feminist conspiracy against men and manhood:
The most important reason why LaPierre is wrong is because what he is doing is feminist. Video games are an activity predominately enjoyed by men. So are guns. Both activities are under attack from feminists (just like other predominately male activities like science fiction are) because men are interested in them and women are mostly not interested in them. LaPierre is shooting himself in the foot (pun intended) by alienating allies among the video game community and helping out feminists in their war on male activities.
Never mind that nearly half – 47% — of those playing video games these days are girls and women, according to the Entertainment Software Association. (I await the inevitable comment from a troll telling us all that whatever games these women are playing just don’t count because blah and blah.)
What LaPierre should have done is form an alliance with the video game community. While the Newtown shootings are being used against gun owners right now, the next target will be video games and other mostly male interests and activities. Both the video game community and the gun community are fighting the same enemy, feminism. They should be working together to point out facts like how the Newtown shooter was raised by a single mother and how homes where the father is kicked out lead to more violence.
Never mind that the shooter — like virtually all mass shooters — was a dude; a woman is always to blame.
The NRA is in a position of weakness now because they are attacking video games and not the real causes of the Newtown tragedy, single motherhood and feminism. The NRA is in the same boat as the Republican Party where it needs to become an explicitly anti-feminist and pro-mens rights organization to survive. (Lots of conservative and right wing organizations are in this situation.) Guns aren’t the problem here, but neither are video games. The NRA needs to realize this and realize that its only way forward is by fighting feminism. Anything else leads the NRA to irrelevance.
So one of the most powerful lobbies in American politics needs to team up with a Men’s Rights “movement” that can’t organize a single event that draws a crowd bigger than 8 people, or else it will fade into irrelevance?
I dearly hope the NRA fades into obscurity, and I am hopeful that public opinion about guns is beginning finally to shift in the right direction, but I’m not sure the NRA needs any pointers from MRAs on political relevance.
@2D Man
What, pray tell, counts as a videogame? You’re talking to woman who knows more than a handful of professionals in both viedogame design and theory, who is sitting next to one of them right now and we could use a laugh.
“Civility! We have destroyed civility with our stubborn refusal to be nice to people who’re full of shit.”
Being nice to people who are full of shit is our female obligation. Along with shaved legs.
In fact, hairy legs = Fall of Western Civilization.
Videogame dammit. I taught my autocorrect the plural and ugh.
“it is the same kind (not degree by any stretch) of stigmatizing that happens when you imply that you must be mentally ill to think/do certain things. (Like referring to Mr.Pro-Male in the OP or mass shooters as probably mentally ill.)”
Sure, I understand.
Mr. PMAFT does has some serious issues though.
“So I guess getting your face gnawed by scamps is misandry.”
Is she getting sexed up by scamps? No? Then MISANINENADRY!!!!!@!
When women play Farmville it totes doesn’t count guys, but men play Mafia or low-tech text-based RPGs they’re just old school.
When it comes down to it, the majority of World of Warcraft is just Farmville achieve-get mechanics with better graphics. Go do this menial task to receive this menial reward. Now we will force you to go do the same thing with friends. Now do it 50 billion more times.
@atomicgrizzly
Oh, hell yeah! He’s fucked up to be sure.
@Flora
Yep. In fact, all videogames operate on the same push a button, get a treat in your brain principle so the argument can (and has been) made that it isn’t much different from what we do with mice.
“When it comes down to it, the majority of World of Warcraft is just Farmville achieve-get mechanics with better graphics.”
That’s why I moved to other online games. I’ve been playing Everquest and Vanguard and I’m thinking of trying out SOE’s new game Wizardry. Those maniacs give you so much for free.
The mental-health registry idea sent shivers down my spine. Basically anyone who’s ever sought a therapist through their insurance, or been prescribed anti-depressants, or had a school report for behavior could end up on a list like that; and the potential for abuse by future employers, bank-loans etc is chilling.
Some Gal said:
That’s not at issue. Specifically, the context is dealing with games that get blamed for mass shootings.
“Yep. In fact, all videogames operate on the same push a button, get a treat in your brain principle so the argument can (and has been) made that it isn’t much different from what we do with mice.”
I wouldn’t say it’s that simple. Of course it is always getting a treat in your brain, but some games (the better ones) make you think more. I got the Ico/Shadow of the Colossus collection recently and those games are far more intellectually stimulating than almost all modern games.
Timothy McVeigh was raised by his single father. Thus, single fathers cause mass bombings. The logic is so obvious.
“I’ve been playing Everquest and Vanguard and I’m thinking of trying out SOE’s new game Wizardry”
Vanguard is still around? Man, the SO and I played that back when it first came out to cleanse our systems of WoW. Tried Everquest and couldn’t get into it… I guess the problem with MMOs in general is the pressure to keep up with the Joneses. This is why I love Skyrim… I don’t miss anything when I need to drop it for weeks at a time.
@2D Man
You brought it up so now it is very much at issue. Specifically, the larger context is about feminists ruining videogames. Are we only ruining some of them? How exactly are we ruining them?
“Basically anyone who’s ever sought a therapist through their insurance, or been prescribed anti-depressants, or had a school report for behavior could end up on a list like that;”
That’s my entire family (except me. I haven’t been to therapy… yet)
“Yep. In fact, all videogames operate on the same push a button, get a treat in your brain principle so the argument can (and has been) made that it isn’t much different from what we do with mice.”
Or how we raise children through reward-based toys and education. Which leads people believe nothing is worth doing for its own sake, but only for payback. Which leads to NiceGuy™ mentality……
Oh dear, I just came up with an anti-gaming argument, sorry kids ; (
I’m sure Joe1 will be along shortly to make that reality.
To echo Some Gal, tell us what constitutes a “real” video game, oh mansplainer. Because if you’re going to tell me today that social media games are not “real” video games, then I’m going to tell you that all those arcade games y’all played in the 80’s and 90’s aren’t real, either, and “video games” are only about ten years old.
As a gamer who got her start playing Burger Time and Q-Bert on the Colecovision that her dad bought for her 7th birthday, let me be the first to tell you to fuck off.
@atomicgrizzly
Oh, I agree it is certainly more complex, but there is a whole field of study that ignores narrative elements completely, thus boiling it down to button/reward or series of buttons/series of rewards. I think they are stupid, but they are considered experts in videogames.
I did no such thing.
I suspect – correct me if I’m wrong 2D Man – that games with guns = man games and games that don’t involve murderdeathkill are lady games. Of course, this negates the fact that there are plenty of puzzle and word games that achieve immense popularity across the board (Angry Birds, Draw Something, Braid, Portal, Tetris).
@atomicgrizzly
Learning is considered a reward for the brain in this context because we love learning as a species and our brains reward it like almost nothing else.
“there is a whole field of study that ignores narrative elements completely, thus boiling it down to button/reward or series of buttons/series of rewards. I think they are stupid, but they are considered experts in videogames.”
I read about Zynga hiring psychologists who specialized in this stuff to help develop their games, which is why they became so popular. For people like me who view games as a great potential for artistic creativity and mental challenge, it’s pretty grotesque.
At least we still have Phoenix Wright. I need a 3DS.
@2D Man
Then tell me the difference between the games that are blamed (that women play) and the games that aren’t (that women play). The problem is that the NRA understands videogames and demographics even worse than you do. There is no way to make what they claim make sense in the real world.