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.
“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.”
Sure, of course. But it’s so much better than the push button, kill things model that so many games use today.
Ironically I’m a huge Dynasty Warriors fan, which is the epitome of this. Yeah, I’m a huge hypocrite.
@atomicgrizzly
It’s like the Michael Bay school of video games – people like explosions, childhood nostalgia, and sexy wimmins, so let’s make a movie with all those things! It’s sure to be successful!
@atomicgrizzly
The 3DS is awesome and the 3D screen is still fun after a year or so. I loved Sticker Star so much! Although the regular DS Lego Harry Potter was one of the funniest things I’ve ever played.
“It’s like the Michael Bay school of video games – people like explosions, childhood nostalgia, and sexy wimmins, so let’s make a movie with all those things! It’s sure to be successful!”
Ugh. You’re digging up some bad memories there.
Except, the OP here does not single out FPS games — he says “video games,” PERIOD. And he makes a claim that we’ve seen again and again from sexists — that video game culture belongs to men, that women who try to participate are interlopers who are only there as attention whores, etc. Stop shifting goalposts, dood.
“The 3DS is awesome and the 3D screen is still fun after a year or so. I loved Sticker Star so much! Although the regular DS Lego Harry Potter was one of the funniest things I’ve ever played.”
I want one for Phoenix Wright vs Professor Layton. I do love me some Paper Mario though.
I still need to get through all of my Humble Indie Bundle games first though. Limbo and Superbrothers: Sword and Sorcery FTW!
I’m sure 2-D man has surveyed all women in the world regarding their video game preferences.
@atomicgrizzly
The button-kill stimulates some of the same things and studies have show that fantasy killing is definitely seen as fantasy by almost everyone (even young children). Real violence is a different issue. Blaming violent videogames is no different than blaming violent films or books and very different than blaming violent rhetoric (which deliberately blurs boundaries between fantasy and reality).
As I said above, this is very context-dependent. Regardless of PMAFT’s accuracy, he was referring to the relatively small set of games that get blamed for mass shootings. Responding with the 47% figure, according to the lined article, is lumping Dragonvale in that category.
As a violent video game, Dragonvale doesn’t “count”.
Mom and I are a lot closer now on videogames, thanks to her relatively recent involvement with Second Life. I used to be a big MUCK denizen back in the late 90’s, so she’s speaking my language now. 🙂
Got her hooked on Pocket Planes over Christmas. Yes I’m evil.
Heck, roughly 40% of my raid team in WoW are women; kick-ass tanks, healers and nukers.
Wait, so feminists are attacking video games, guns, and sci-fi now? But how would I clean my rifle in the soft blue glow of a paused game of Star Tropics while watching wrestling on SyFy?
THAT IS IT I AM GOING MRA
“The button-kill stimulates some of the same things and studies have show that fantasy killing is definitely seen as fantasy by almost everyone (even young children). Real violence is a different issue. Blaming violent videogames is no different than blaming violent films or books and very different than blaming violent rhetoric (which deliberately blurs boundaries between fantasy and reality).”
Huh? when did I argue for blaming video games for violent behavior? I didn’t accidently do that, did I?
Again, you’re shifting the goalposts. Mr. PMAFT says that “video games” are for men, not FPS, not violent games, but all video games. He further says that science fiction itself belongs to men.
@2Dman
Here’s your citation.
Now show me yours.
@2D Man
The recent NRA statement singled out a rather diverse group of games and movies. In addition, it is implied that the games they themselves released are not part of the problem. Do you really want to try to make sense of his statement especially when what we are specifically discussing is women/feminists ruining games?
Unless you want to claim that the existence of games for which women are the primary audience is ruining the games for which women are a large secondary audience, you are just moving goalposts.
“he was referring to the relatively small set of games that get blamed for mass shootings.”
No, he was characterizing video games as a male activity.
@2D Man,
But that’s not what he’s saying at all. He says that “Both the video game community and the gun community are fighting the same enemy, feminism.” and that ” Video games are an activity … under attack from feminists…because men are interested in them and women are mostly not interested in them.”
He doesn’t specify violent video games, and in fact is directly talking about the broader gaming community. In any case, the line between violent and non-violent video games is incredibly blurry. What are stealth games that let you choose between lethal and non-lethal force? What about games like Pokemon which are violent in concept (you use your vicious pet to attack other vicious pets and wild animals) but designed for children?
@atomicgrizzly
Sorry, the second part of that was just me riffing on the first bit (which was a response to you). Singling out violent videogames as different from other games just never makes a lot of sense considering that the players of both violent and nonviolent games have very similar experiences.
thenatfantastic
Citation for what, exactly?
From David’s citation:
Which means 67% of them are playing “real” video games. Uh oh, I think there must be some vaginas in there!
“Singling out violent videogames as different from other games just never makes a lot of sense considering that the players of both violent and nonviolent games have very similar experiences.”
Indeed. When they’re playing games, they’re not shooting “real people.” In their minds they’re just shooting interchangeable digital targets.
Sources cited: My brain as a gamer 😀
Side note: Does anyone else find it comical that Dynasty Warriors was attacked by the press because the killer was a fan?
You asked where the 47% citation came from, I showed you it. Now prove that those 47% don’t account for ANY of what you have deemed to be ‘proper’ video games.
“Which means 67% of them are playing “real” video games. Uh oh, I think there must be some vaginas in there!”
http://www.funnydictionary.com/img/entry_images/900/vr7KUExgR8r.jpg
@blitzgal
In 2004, it was at least a quarter, I bet it is higher now.
*sigh*
Greetings from Texas, where the men are men and the women are damned good shots.
Assholes.
And yes, the NRA will be jumping at the chance to ally with people who are terrified by a box-cutter wielding mob.
Yes. Totally gonna happen. Just not in my lifetime.