Welcome to the first installment of “what the hell is wrong with people, I mean really,what the hell Saturday.”
Today we’re going to look at a couple of recent controversies in the world of gaming. And by “controversies” I mean “women daring to get involved in the gaming industry and getting harassed by misogynistic assholes.”
First up, let’s look at the tale of a woman who’s now facing an angry internet mob because she drew a picture of the video game character Mega Man … as a woman.
A little backstory: The video game makers Comcept recently raised roughly a million bucks on Kickstarter to fund a game intended as a sort of sequel, at least in spirit, to the old Mega Man games. And they hired a woman named Dina Abou Kara as a community manager to handle their forums and other social media.
There was just one little problem: when the folks at Comcept announced her hiring, they also posted a picture she’d drawn of Mega Man, imagined as a woman. Aghast at the very notion of such a gender switch — though Dina wasn’t even involved in the actual making of the new game — the “community” collectively lost its shit.
As Ian Miles Cheong notes on Gameran,
Finding fault with her presentation, these persons decided to pry into Dina’s personal life by combing through her Twitter account for other transgressions against the human race, and found that she had written tweets supportive of feminism and linked to one of Anita Sarkeesian’s videos. …
These vocal individuals went so far as to produce a video “calling out” Dina’s past with “dirt” on her—because sympathising with the feminist cause is indeed enough to demonize someone according to these people. The vocal, well informed fans have since been calling for her resignation from the developer. At this point, these individuals have flooded the game’s development forums, and are trying to hold the game hostage by asking for refunds.
One user, a Mr. Nicholas Day, wrote: “This is a bad idea guys. I don’t want any anita sarkeesian feminism all up in my megaman reboot. I don’t want a sjw [social justice warrior] monitoring the forum, deciding who has good opinions and who has bad ones.”
So, yeah.
And while we’re speaking of douchey gamer assholery, there’s a whole other tale of harassment developing. An indie game developer named Zoë Quinn made a game called Depression Quest, and, a couple of days ago, she posted it to Valve’s Greenlight service, hoping that Valve would pick it up and sell it.
Instead, angry dudes attacked her as a “cunt” and an “attention whore” who could never truly understand depression because “all females are sluts and have no right to be depressed.” And then, she says, some dude or dudes started making obscene phone calls to her.
Here’s her eloquent response:
I'm not going anywhere, assholes. I hope my games about love & empathy & vulnerability piss you off.
— zoë “Baddie Proctor” quinn (@UnburntWitch) December 12, 2013
Check her Twitter for updates and more examples of the shit she’s been dealing with. FOR MAKING A GAME ABOUT DEPRESSION WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY BEING A WOMAN.
The Mary Sue has more about both stories.
Wait, their issue with women and depression is that people who can get laid easily have no “right” to be depressed, and women are assumed to be able to get laid easily by default because men will fuck anything with a vagina? Hard to say which sex they’re insulting more there, but putting that aside for a moment, how shallow and juvenile do you have to be to assume that lack of sex is the only or primary reason for depression?
So I’ve had a bit of time to think about this, and I have one final comment before I slip into unconsciousness.
As I said earlier in the thread, I’m a lifelong Mega Man fan. Wily’s Revenge was the first cart I ever owned for myself, and I was obsessed for a lot of years after that. So when the Mega Man X – the SNES update of the classic series – was announced, I was pretty excited. I guess I was about six or seven years old or so when the first X game was released, and I remember renting it. At the end of the introductory level, X (the main character I was controlling) gets saved by Zero, an android sporting a long blond ponytail. Because of that ponytail, by seven-year old self assumed that this meant Zero was female (whatever that even means, given that they’re robots). I wasn’t exactly scandalized by this, nor did it turn me into some kind of rad-fem. It was just another piece of information – “Huh, that robot’s a lady.” Next level, I was jumping on platforms and shooting robots, and I didn’t really think about it.
As the series progressed, I noticed that the game used masculine pronouns to refer to Zero, and eventually I decided that I was wrong about Zero’s “gender.” Again, this wasn’t exactly a shocker – “Huh, guess Zero was a dude all along.” It still didn’t matter, just another piece of information. And then I went on to jump on platforms and shoot robots, and I didn’t think about it again.
So when I watched that Michael Sawyer video and then read further about Mighty No. 9, I became very, very sad. Here are a group of individuals whom I assume are adults, and they’re acting less mature than I did when I was in grade school. And that’s a shame, because I would like video games to become a mainstream hobby, and that’s not going to happen until jackasses like this learn that women aren’t the enemy.
That’s all I have to say on the topic. I’m going to bed now.
Hmmm… The thing about gaming is that I think that people talk about several different things in gaming. One is console gaming, one is graphics-intense computer gaming, one is more casual computer games, and one is touchscreen-device gaming. Only two of those are considered gendered (whatever the actual gender distinctions are).
I will say this: telling young children that something isn’t for them because of their gender is actually really powerful. I somehow knew which tv shows were boys’ tv shows, and while I enjoyed them when I watched them, I also felt very uncomfortable doing so because I “knew” they weren’t for me.
On the console games: I’m wondering if the cost of the console and games themselves might have something to do with it, too. I wonder if parents are more willing to buy consoles for young boys, even if they don’t explicitly ask, if only because they are more sure that their sons will enjoy it than their daughters.
We didn’t end up getting a console until I was in high school–it was the Wii, for my sister for Christmas. (I got a spinning wheel. By my own request. I think that tells you all you need to know about me.)
I’m digging the Depression Quest’s most recent comments on Steam Greenlight and will probably put in a vote myself. How long do you think it will take until the conspiracy theories that she planned all the harrassment come out?
Yep.
Ever since games became a boy thing, games have constantly been redefined so that “real games” are “boy games” and everything else is not a “real game”. I mean, even grandma can play solitaire on her computer, right? Every fuddy-duddy I know plays those mindless slots games on Facebook. But when we hear “gamer”, we immediately think of some guy yelling profanity and racism into a headset while playing a FPS. This is because “gamer” as a category is continually narrowing itself to continue to exclude girls. One day, a critical mass of women will be playing shooters, and then they won’t be “real games” anymore. May as well be playing Hello Kitty Island Adventure, amirite????
Well, I don’t like shooters, I’m bad at them, and I’m a girl, but I’m still a “real gamer”, dammit. Sim City is a real game. Skyrim is a real game. World of Warcraft is a real game. Even if too many giiiirrrrllls play them.
in my mind, the dovakin is a female argonian, so that’s probably misandry too.
the whole casual/hardcore gamer thing is so ridiculous, and has mainly been used to attack women who play games, yeah. i almost want to see someone come after me for playing “casual games” like the sims, because i would be like “yes, i play the sims. i also play dwarf fortress, dungeon crawl, and nethack. because i love games. is that hardcore enough for you?”
not that that would work, but…
i uh… don’t remember if i’ve introduced myself here before. i think i posted a few times. if i didn’t, hi! i’m a long time lurker, and i’ve been wanting say hi for a while.
I play games. I used to play MMOs, and I remember hearing about how all of the female characters are all gold diggers and how all of the female characters are dudes SO MUCH.
Now, the reason I stopped playing MMOs isn’t because of the presumption that girls socialize and guys grind, but because I didn’t want to spend my life mashing keyboard keys for hours on end for little benefit. (That and the MMORPG I was playing would constantly crash because there was a dedicated group of people trying to cheat the game, and I didn’t want to play for a company whose security was that shitty.) But you get this vibe anyways, no matter what.
@patagonianhorsesnake
Have a welcome package!
http://artistryforfeminismandkittens.wordpress.com/the-official-man-boobz-complimentary-welcome-package/
thank you! I shall treasure it always.
“Oh, you’re not a REAL gamer, you’re a girl!”
Gotta love the Gender Police. Oh, wait, no. No, I don’t.
I was a GM and play-tester when I met my husband… twenty seven years ago. These mouthy little upstarts with their gender policing can go to hell. I was a gamer before most of them were potty trained.
I came to gaming from fandom- from a fandom that meant books and comics and maybe a TV series now and then. And MY fandom wasn’t about who we could keep out. We would have dragged in strangers off the street to share the things we loved.
I can remember the old-school war gamers with their squadrons of minifigs and their carefully laid out terrain watching as my gaming group set up at an sf con for a demo. After a bit one of them wandered over and said “So, you guys get girls who want to play?” When our paladin told him that yes, there were girls who played and DMed the response wasn’t ‘Heretics! Blasphemers!’ It was to ask how they got girls to play because they wished their girlfriends/wives/sisters/friends would play too.
Seriously, the guys throwing these fits over the idea of girl cooties are not the alpha and omega of gaming. And on some level I think they know it.
Princess Leia said it best. ” The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”
Why is a fanmade lady megaman somehow a problem, but Square Enix making distaff female counterparts to star in their games not?
Seriously, Payne from FFX-II is a “female version of Squall” and Lightning, main character from FFXIII -series is, down to identical facial models, a female version of Cloud. This is all something the character designers have openly discussed too.
Is it because they’re hawt? (Not even kidding when I say that Lightning got some chest enhancements between the original game and it’s sequels – the designer once again rather proudly pointed out that they gave her bigger boobs in her next appearance.)
Is it because they’re designed by men?
Is is because they’re separate characters – even though still lady versions of older, more beloved ones?
Because, seriously, I’ve seen plenty of male characters re-imagined as females without nobody giving a shit – whether or not they liked their stories is a separate issue but the gender flip itself is rarely what people take offense to in alternate universe stories or re-imaginings.
Though I have noticed that especially outside of fandom, gender flips from female to male are relatively rare.
I know this isn’t a particularly insightful question, but… WHAT THE FUCK IS THE MATTER WITH THESE PEOPLE?
Ps. Yes, I am aware that there is a difference between a distaff counterpart and a literal gender-flop re-imagining and alternate universe versions. Similar themes just tend to apply to all of these.
Hehe… gender-flop. I meant flip 😀
“gelar | December 15, 2013 at 12:00 am
I’m digging the Depression Quest’s most recent comments on Steam Greenlight and will probably put in a vote myself. How long do you think it will take until the conspiracy theories that she planned all the harrassment come out?”
Already happened, in case you missed this earlier discussion on Steam.
http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/200770535/630799997270829819/
The guy rants about how women are ruining gaming and says their minds work like they’re brain-damaged, accuses Zoe of faking all the harassment, and even references George Zimmerman (as an example of women lying for attention, of course).
Quite a joy. At least he’s banned now.
Lol, and Right fucking on. I’m quite obnoxious in how I try to get everyone I know and/or meet for the first time interested in the things I love.
Random person: “Hi, I’m RP.”
Me: “HI RP! Say, do you like games or do you like books, or are you so awesome that you like both? Like have you tried [name of game]? You should totally read [name of book].” Blah blah blah and on an on trying to involve them
I don’t get this exclusionary mindset *at all*. It makes zero sense to me.
What enthusiasm… I generally tend to not talk about my fandoms/hobbies. Not because of gatekeeping or because I don’t like to share them, but bitter experience taught me that they kill conversation instantly and awkward silences are, well, awkward. :/
“”Ever since games became a boy thing, games have constantly been redefined so that “real games” are “boy games” and everything else is not a “real game”. I mean, even grandma can play solitaire on her computer, right? Every fuddy-duddy I know plays those mindless slots games on Facebook. But when we hear “gamer”, we immediately think of some guy yelling profanity and racism into a headset while playing a FPS. This is because “gamer” as a category is continually narrowing itself to continue to exclude girls. One day, a critical mass of women will be playing shooters, and then they won’t be “real games” anymore.””
ding ding we have a winner here
Women have played games since the very beginning. It was NEVER a ‘boy thing’, but dudebros keep deluding themselves into thinking it is.
Case in point: once, simple arcadey games were the hardest of the hardcore, and putting up the three letters on the high score table was the highest achievement available for players. One day dudebros realized women REALLY liked arcade games. Now Tetris is derided as a “grandma’s game” by the same dudebros who played Donkey Kong until their fingers broke. The same thing happened to simulation games until around the time of The Sims.
“I got a spinning wheel. By my own request. I think that tells you all you need to know about me.”
Yes, it tells me you should talk to pecunium — he spins (and I find the physics of it fascinating to watch)
As for games…Atari. I miss being a little 8-bit character where gender was rarely a thing worth wasting pixels on. Loved Adventure, and you’re a square running away from // killing dragons (who do look remotely like dragons)
And Kingdom Hearts — FF series is “real games”, Kingdom Hearts isn’t, despite having many of the same characters, made by Square, and, oh yeah, not turn based so you don’t have time to ponder wtf you should do. But right, Disney, my bad. >.<
I have a logic puzzle "game" to get back to! (VtM is also not a "real game", though I've never been able to parse that one, particularly since the P&P Vampire games is a "real game"…not that P&P "counts" to "real gamers" 🙄 )
Interesting names of the MegaMan robot Masters
Woodman (obvious reference)
Flash Man (??)
Heat Man (like an animal in heat)
Hard Man (too obvious)
Snake Man (yeah..a snake)
Top Man (getting into the BDSM)
Pump Man (pump & dump??)
Commando Man (going commando??)
Sheep Man (probably Welsh) and more
See the phallic references all over..like all drug references in SMB Franchise
And the robots, like, shoot stuff, man. Woah.
As far as women have played games since the beginning?
Yes but further back than arcade games. I go back as far as Atari home system.And Pong.Just a ball you bounced off the wall or for two player it was played like tennis.(in the 70’s)Then we advance to Space Invaders and so on .It was my brother and I that played the most.Then my mother got addicted to Mario in later years .She got tendinitis and had to wear a wrist brace .I spent half my 3rd pregnancy playing donkey kong .Oh and yeah I met my husband at a local ice cream shop that had a back room with about 15 arcade games 32 years ago. And yeah I was playing the games right beside him . Sorry they didn’t come up with lady pac man because only “boys” were sticking their quarters in the pac man machine.
Just because technology has advanced does not mean that its a “boy” activity.The kind of games we had to play were what was AVAILABLE to us (boys and girls) at the time.”Boys” were playing Centipede and yeah pin ball . We didn’t even have the internet until 20 years later .
Punks!
Centipede! Qbert? (FTR, I’m not quite 30 — perks of working class parents, I grew up playing their old system)
Qbert: because stairs are fun! ^.^
Auggz — there are times for double negatives, I think that was one of them. Ditching the negatives implies, to me anyways, that Coco could kick ass because she was girly, which I don’t think was what you meant? I need more coffee though, I could be wrong here.
I do sorta remember watching my cousins play that game, and yeah, that she wore pink did not impede her ability to kick ass (or collect bananas, as the case may be)
Centipede is a classic . Give me any 14 year old boy that is all he has available and he will play it and be happy!
Oh and Sonic the Hedgehog. ‘We” my BOY children ,my husband and I all played that .That’s what we HAD to play with . Maybe a little later they were shooting dinosaurs on the computer games like Jurassic Park etc..