Yesterday, I wrote about Vox Day’s extravagantly evasive — yet highly revealing — interview with David Pakman. But the interview also featured a few striking moments of candor. One of these came when Day — a sometime gave developer as well as the biggest asshole in Sci Fi — offered his answer to the question: “What is Gamergate really about?”
Suggesting that the issue of “corruption in game journalism” was little more than “the spark that set the whole thing off,” Day declared that
what Gamergate is fundamentally about is the right of people to design, develop and play games that they want to design, develop and play without being criticized for it.
Which is an. er, interesting perspective, as there is in fact no “right” to be immune from criticism.
If you write a book, if you make a movie, if you post a comment on the internet — you should be ready for it to be criticized. Because that’s how free speech works. That’s how art works. And that’s how ideas work.
Criticism — whether it is positive or negative — helps to sharpen ideas and make art less self-indulgent; it pushes creators to hone their craft and expand their vision of the world. And it helps the consumers of art not only to look at art with a more critical eye but also to appreciate it more fully, by helping to draw out the more subtle meanings of this art and to put it in a broader cultural (social, political) perspective.
Of course, neither the artists nor the consumers of art are required to listen to this criticism, but they have no right to demand that such criticism be eliminated.
But Vox is right in one sense: the elimination of criticism is in fact is what #Gamergate has been about all along — or at least the elimination of criticism aimed in their direction. Indeed, that’s what most #Gamergaters mean when they talk about fighting “corruption in game journalism” — shutting down those writers and publications that have dared to critique the prejudices of a backward portion of the gaming universe that is hostile to any challenges to the status quo ante — particularly from women with opinions different from theirs. That’s what drove the outrage over the “death of gamer” articles last Fall. And that’s what has driven “critics” of Anita Sarkeesian from the start.
Speaking of which: If you want to see how testy Gamergate types get when the criticism they lob at others gets turned back in their direction, even in jest, take a look at Jordan Owen’s new video responding to a post I wrote a few days ago gently mocking Owen’s recent plea for more money to fund The Sarkeesian Effect, the alleged “film” he and far-right Anton LaVey impersonator Davis Aurini are allegedly putting together.
Owen has devoted much of his life over the past several years to attacking Sarkeesian, a woman whose main “crimes” in the eyes of her detractors have been that 1) she raised more money than she asked for to produce a series of videos looking at sexist tropes in video games, and 2) that she’s taken longer than originally planned to put out these videos (which is largely because the extra money she raised has allowed her to research these videos more thoroughly and increase her production values, but never mind).
Yet Owen is outraged that anyone would even gently tweak him and his partner Aurini for going over budget and missing deadlines on their own film. Of course, Owen and Aurini are planning on charging their Patreon supporters more money at the end of the month unless these supporters specifically opt out; Sarkeesian herself never even requested any of the additional money she received.
In his video, Owen also compared me with Bill Donohue of the Catholic League which is, er, weird. But hey, it’s his right to criticize me, no matter how ineptly.
Here’s the video, if you’re interested. Alas, he did not film it in his famous bathtub.
Aww. Troll wants us to Google cultural Marxism. Like we haven’t already mocked that notion extensively on this site.
It is funny to see the Left engage in their own form of an Inquisition! David Futrelle, I guess, is the Lead Inquistor General who is delegated to hunt down the “Politically Incorrect” and burn them at the stake.
This is all what you are engaging in. Burning Vox Day at the Stake of Political Correctness! You are the crowd screaming at the base of the guillotine screaming for blood.
What you all are trying to do is to Force Vox Day and other game designers to adopt your fantasies.
This was the whole point of Anita Sarkeesian; she has been educated in political correctness and in “Critical Theory”. From her Wikipedia page: website Feminist Frequency in 2009, while a student at York University. She created the site in an effort to create accessible feminist media criticism. What she is doing is engaging in Critical Theory in order to attack patriarchy and masculinity in the game genre which is totally all male. She has an agenda.
Her criticisms is about Feminizing, Marxizing the game industry to be politically correct. You are all on the band wagon. If you don’t like Male video games, create your own and play them. Sarkeesian is a just a foot soldier doing her part in attacking another part of the culture to make it conform to Cultural Marxism. Her criticisms have nothing to do with the art of gaming in and of itself, it is about IMPOSING HER MARXIST values on the rest of the gaming industry.
So you are saying we are not allowed to talk about this. You think it is perfectly okay to demand the right to limit our free speech on this matter.
“… in the game genre which is totally all male.”
Remind me again who’s lying?
So? We’ve decided as a society that those things are bad, so we’ve moved on from them. We’ve “evolved” in a cultural sense.
Saying that these things existed in the past isn’t an excuse to say they should still be A Good Idea now. Humanity is constantly ditching bad ideas. It’s why cell phones have changed as much as they have, it’s why computers have changed as much as they have, it’s why we live in the kind of society we do.
Unfortunately, we still get goobers like you every once in a while who pine a little too hard for the “Good ‘ol Days” where you could practice your hate out in the open and not be called out for it by the people you hate on, because you experience nostalgia for a time you’ve never experienced.
Why do you Goobers like to swing this around like a bludgeon? Why is this a bad thing? Why is believing people are people, regardless of their orientation, gender, race, or religion akin to The Devil for you people?
The Honey Badgers willfully broke the rules of the convention they were attending by lying about why they were there (by their own admission!) and heckling a group of panelists.
They weren’t thrown out because they were women, they were thrown out because they couldn’t exercise basic courtesy or adhere to the rules of the convention they paid to go to.
If you cause a ruckus in a restaurant, you’re gonna get your ass thrown out, regardless of if you’ve paid for your pancakes or not.
http://media.giphy.com/media/7tKEfRjktJ2MM/giphy.gif
And yet, here you are defending him. Seems like he’s still got a market.
There’s just so much wrong with that statement I’m not sure I want to unpack it, but here goes: Engaging in a system that actively discriminates against your fellow human beings for your own gain for whatever reason is wrong. Period. Dot. The End.
There’s a reason we frown on that kind of shit in society. Because it actively harms other people.
http://img.linuxfr.org/img/68747470733a2f2f696d672e34706c6562732e6f72672f626f617264732f706f6c2f696d6167652f313339302f32362f313339303236393231323832342e706e67/1390269212824.png
Natural: To exist in nature.
Gay penguins exist. Gay lions are a thing. I’ve never seen them be kicked out by their flocks or prides.
Hyenas, who have actual matriarchies, are a thing. Male seahorses carry the babies. Female octopi and preying mantises mate with their partners and then eat them.
I’ve never seen “racism” in animals.
And yet, here you are saying homophobia, sexism, and racism are “natural” and “just the way things are”. Hate to break it to you, those are social constructs.
Oh, and if you want to cite lions: Pretty much the male lion just sits around all day sleeping, eating and fucking, and the lionesses do all the work when it comes to gathering and rearing the cubs. Go ahead and suggest that to a group of human women and see if they agree with you because it’s all “scientific” and “natural” and shit!
Actually I don’t believe in “God” because I’m pagan. Game over. Play again!
I think this guy is a literal caricature of the trolls this site has had. And I mean literally. This is a person who doesn’t believe any of the shit they’re spewing and just saying this shit to derail the topic.
Can we get a ban on this idiot?
It was completely normal 60 years ago, but the harms are well documented. Genocide, discrimination, economic disadvantage, lynching. All of this is aimed not at straight white men, but people of minority religions, “races”, women, and those of alternate sexual orientations. Denying that harm requires your head to be DEEPLY buried in your own ass.
That statement is too broad to be meaningful in any way. On the one hand, civilization exists because we define and impose a moral code through the law. Freedom is all about the balance between minimizing harm between people, and maximizing the personal freedoms.
When people complain about Christians “Imposing their morals”, we are complaining that they are creating laws that harm people to prevent actions which do not harm people.
We, on the other hand, are merely criticizing these actions and behaviours, as is our right under the first amendment. No-one is saying Vox Day should be thrown in jail for what he believes.
Oh, and if you break rules to state your beliefs, don’t believe that protects you. The Honey Badgers misrepresented their booth, Vox Day used an official twitter account to slur another writer. You can say “Jesus is Lord” all you want, but the moment you spray paint it on my house, it’s as much vandalism as painting a dick.
The answer is 1) I care, because people who are racist, sexist or homophobic usually go out of their way to try and hurt others. 2) I’m no judge, I’m just a dude. So why does that scare you so much? 3) Moral ones.
One, Vox Day isn’t a game designer anymore.
Two, no one gives a shit if you people still want your games. No one is trying to take them away from you. People are just pointing out that there’s some problematic elements in them.
Which, y’know, everything has problematic elements. That doesn’t mean it’s not worthy of existence, nor does it mean it doesn’t have a place.
Oh shit, how did these 192 “games” appear on my computer?! What is this “Steam” thing? What’s this weird plastic box that I can put discs in?! What’s a “controller”? What are “buttons”?!
What do you mean that I’ve been “playing games” since I was four?! What’s a “game”?! My feeeble little feeemale brain can’t comprehend the masculinity!!!
[/sarcasm]
“Art of gaming”? Dude, seriously? As a gamer, I’m side-eying you on this one. You’re being a try-hard. And it’s laughable.
She’s not demanding that people conform or die, she’s just saying “Hey, these are some things I’ve noticed in games that are kind of problematic! You guys want to talk about it?”
You and the rest of your Goober friends are the ones going “HOW DARE SHE WANT TO TALK ABOUT GAMES!!?!!? BURN THE WITCH!”
Games are art, gaming is a hobby, get it right.
But, seriously, someone notify David so we can banhammer this fool. I don’t have Twitter.
And once again, the bigots use apocalyptic language to justify their hatred.
Stop projecting your sick fantasies on us, freak.
I just emailed him.
@Paradoxical
Oh…there’s email…I wasn’t aware.
Uh, uh, uh–did you catch the free weekend of Grimoire: Manastorm? Not a fan of most FPS (Call of the Yearly Sequels for instance), but I think it’s pretty good. It also has magic, which is awesome.
*totally not changing the subject because embarrassed*
@Jackie: Eh, I have too many games to play as it is, and by the time I noticed it, it only had fourteen hours left, and I had to get to bed. : P
It didn’t look half-bad though! Lots of good reviews.
Though, I’m kind of pissed with Valve and Bethseda at the moment about the whole “mod paywall” bullshit going on right now.
@Paradoxical
Yeah, it is pretty good. After a few hours playing it, I bought it. Only $6 so why not? They’re an indie studio and even if I never play it again (not that I haven’t not played it), the few hours of fun I had was worth $6 IMO. I don’t play many multiplayer games anyway.
I kinda missed the whole pay-for-mod thing. They pulled it down, though, right? I should really pay attention to Steam news more.
*Er, “not that I have not played it” I should say. Triple negatives. Geesh.
I have to agree that this chucklefuck seems like a parody of this site’s normal trolls.
Good times.
This is probably an unpopular opinion but games are not art, and thus should be censored to some degree.
*re-reads*
I mean, his assertions are mostly too silly to even seriously attempt to counter.
“All male gaming” hurr durr.
“Racism, sexism, and homophobia are all in the Bible”…derpderpderp…as are ritual sacrifice and selling one’s daughters into slavery.
It’s like watching a chimp throw its own feces.
Nope, it’s still up. It’s only on Skyrim (at the moment. Hopefully, Steam users and critics make enough of a ruckus that Steam and Bethseda take it down).
The whole system is “optional”, but it’s still kind of bullshit for a few reasons:
1. Valve is taking 75% of the money from each mod sale for simply hosting the mod in the Workshop. And mod makers won’t get paid for it until they make 100$ in profit for themselves (because “bank fees” says Valve), so that means their mod has to make 400$ for Valve before they see ANY money at all.
2. This might encourage game developers to be even lazier with their games, because the mod makers will scramble to fix it and then the devs can just sit back and cash in on the hard work of modders who still might not get paid for all their hard work.
3. If a modder makes something that uses assets from an already licensed property (like Lord of the Rings), or another mod and then they put it up for sale, they can get into lots of legal trouble.
4. There’s already been instances of people taking mods that were free elsewhere (like Skyrim Nexus) and putting them up for money on the Workshop without the permission of the original mod maker.
I did actually watch Total Biscuit’s video on it, mostly because while I can’t stand his “neutrality” on the issue of GamerGate, I do think he’s got good points on other subjects that aren’t related to GG.
I also went to his subReddit, where all the discussion on his videos takes place, and there were lots of really thoughtful comments on the subject from lots of people. They brought up a host of other problems like segregating the mod community, mods being priced way too high for too little content, etc.
Pel – I’ll disagree.
They can most definitely be art, but as with film and the written word can range from highbrow to low, crass to sublime, mindless to wrenching.
There’s room for it all, at least in the US.
(I say that in deference to the fact that some countries have much stricter speech laws.)
Yeah, that is an unpopular opinion. : / Care to unpack that thought?
I really disagree with this notion. I feel like games should be considered art, both as an artist, and a gamer. They are vehicles for storytelling with various looks and feelings. There’s a lot of technical knowledge that goes into it, not just for visuals, but for controls and programming as well.
However, I believe they are also then subject to the same criticisms as the rest of the art world.
@Pelagic
…
It would take me a few weeks to write an essay on how wrong you are, so I’ll just sum up was what you said is wrong.
One) Games have art design to them. From costumes to set design to character design, everything is designed with purpose. There are very few games that just toss things in for no reason.
Two) Games have stories. Many of them might not have the best stories, but many have amazing stories and moments. Penumbra: Overture, Psychonauts, Gone Home, Silent Hill 2, Red Dead Redemption–all have good stories with real emotion to them, whether that’s fear, humor, sadness, disgust, hate, love, whatever.
Three) Games have direction. Fixed camera angles, first person perspective, third person perspective, scene animation, all of these had to be planned out to best keep the player invested and immersed in the story and gameplay.
Fourth) There’s still a ton of art mediums that go into making games. Saying games aren’t art is like saying 3D animation isn’t art or costume designing isn’t an art or set designing isn’t an art. You’re disregarding years of work people have went through to create the game.
@Paradoxical
Holy shit, 75%?! The fuck! That’s fucking robbing the modder’s man! Fuck! If they wanted to do a pay model, modders should get a MAJORITY of the cash since they did a majority of the word for the mod! 85% to modder, 10% to the game developer (for the assets) and 5% to Steam at the VERY most. Hell, 90% to the modder, 7% to the game developer, 3% to Steam is more ideal, but Steam and/or the game developer would probably wouldn’t like it.
Not that I’m agreeing with the model. I just got blasted away that, obviously, modders are only worth 25% of their work. I mean, fuck.