Feminist Gamer Journalist Targeted For Terrorist Attack

[Loren Pechtel]

Where does one find better research on the portrayal of women in video games?

It doesn't matter. We can see hers is garbage, that's enough to disregard it even if there's nothing better.

She gets a bunch of money (kickstarter) for producing her garbage, of course she keeps doing it. That doesn't make it anything but garbage.

 

[Enigma]

Where does one find better research on the portrayal of women in video games?

I don't know.

What I do know is that I don't need a better researcher to gainsay various statements that she makes that are obviously wrong to anyone who has played the games in question.
An example of such a statement is in her "Ms. Male Character" segment where she says that "Dixie Kong is just a female version of Diddy" (Donkey Kong Country 2). Anyone who has played Donkey Kong Country 2 knows that Dixie's abilities are wildly different from, and, more often than not, more useful in any given situation than Diddy's. This is also a bit of a double whammy since the plot of both DKC2 and DKC3 involves her in a party to rescue the male protagonist(s) of the previous games who are effectively male "Damsels in Distress" rescued by the girl protagonist, and yet this fact in the appropriate "Damsels in Distress" videos is notable only for its complete and total absence because it doesn't fit the narrative that she is trying to portray.

Likewise I don't need to know the name of a better car mechanic to know that a mechanic that tells me that a car without an engine is "good to drive" is not a good car mechanic at all.

 

[Arctish]

I don't object to men having their fun.

Anita and her supporters apparently do.

Well, that depends on your definition of fun.

Some years ago a Puerto Rican Day Parade crowd in New York City got rowdy and began ripping the clothes off women passers-by. The incident was recorded and arrests were made. One of the perpetrators was quoted in the press as saying he "was just having fun." Is that the kind of fun being defended here?

What I object to is how saying "Women aren't playthings or possessions" earns flames and rape and/or death threats from males who like their fantasy girlfriends imprisoned or dead.

As I said I do not agree that threats are a good way to combat her ideas. And she doesn't just object to "fantasy girlfriends being imprisoned or dead". She objects to a whole slew of other things a well. But this particular objection is silly as well I think. Video games have a limited time/space to introduce character motivation (especially older games and she admits these tropes were bigger then) and trying to rescue your girl or revenge for her death are powerful incentives for the character. Another common one is "save the world" type of story line. That is far more unrealistic than the story lines Anita objects to but I bet she is fine with it because it doesn't involve female NPCs.

Have you watched her videos? It seems that you haven't, because she addresses this point head on, and makes a convincing case that games would be vastly improved if the writers didn't rely on these tired old tropes. The stories would be more interesting, the missions/goals/purposes could be more varied and imaginative, and game sales might actually increase if the games had wider appeal. And anyway, she wasn't out to lead the charge against guys staring at digitally rendered tits and ass. She set out to examine an aspect of modern culture from a scholarly, feminist point of view. It snowballed from there due to the virulently misogynistic response from certain gamers, thereby reinforcing Sarkeesian's point that misogyny is alive and well in gamer culture.

I've been a gamer for about 17 years. I have endured every kind of sexist bullshit from the predominantly male gamers I've encountered online. I've had men yelling "That's right, lie down for me, you whore!" when they defeated my character in a one-on-one fps. I've been asked "How's your vagina?" as a greeting when I logged on to my favorite server. And I've heard the locker-room type of talking that goes on when they don't realize I'm female.

You have now moved from tropes/graphics in games themselves to behavior of gamers in multiplayer games like CS (which really have no gender component). Yet you admit that gamers will trash talk each other as well and when you come into that kind of environment you have to expect to be treated likewise. I do not think the solution is to shame men for being men or to "feminize" the entire gaming environment and such demands rightly cause scorn. Just like with games themselves, the solution is to have servers that allow such trash talk and those that don't. Gamers, male and female, could then choose which they want to play on.

What do you mean by "feminize" the entire gaming environment? If men aren't allowed to attack or harass women gamers simply because they are women, is that some kind of virtual castration? Does a gamer's dick fall off if he can't fap while asking female players if they spit or swallow (actually happened one night, and not all that unusual)?

Of course people will choose servers where they feel most comfortable and enjoy the company of the regulars who frequent them. I used to play on an Adults Only server where porn sprays were perfectly acceptable, but misogynistic bullshit wasn't. You could drool over the titties and talk about splooge all you wanted, but harassing the female players simply because they were female would get you kicked out for anything from 5-minutes to perma-ban depending on how much of a stubborn asshole you were. But even in that environment, where players were expected to act like adults, the juvenile misogyny of certain gamers was a constant problem. New players would join the server and next thing you know, the leering and jeering would start up again.

I told one guy that I learned more about men in a couple years of playing CounterStrike than I did in 50 years of living, and it was the simple truth. Listening to the way men talk about and treat women in game environments was a real eye-opener.

You know you can trash talk them as well? Simple solution is to open a server for those that do not want to engage in trash talk.

There are Christian servers where profanity is not allowed. Want to guess how often gamers go there just to spam the mic with profanity? Telling female gamers to just go play somewhere else isn't a solution when servers set up for the purpose of providing a harassment-free environment are constantly invaded by gamers who go there with the specific intent of harassing the other players.

BTW, trash talking back is not a solution, either. In the first place, it ruins the gameplay. More time is spent arguing than in actually playing, and if you're not playing, what's the point? Second, there is a curious thing that happens when a young male trash talking to a female is out-trash-talked. It's as though he's being called a homosexual. He becomes even more nasty, hateful, and offensively sexist. The more misogynistic he is, the harder it is for him to deal with being bested by a female. Things get very ugly very quickly, and again, it ruins the gameplay.

Remember I said I'm always ready to back up a young girl facing the misogyny of certain gamers? My joining in actually helps out the guys as much as the girls. Boys are a bit better about being shut down by a 50+ year old than they are about the same thing coming from a girl their own age. I think it has something to do with the thought of making sexual suggestions to a woman older than their mothers that squicks them out. Whatever the reason, they usually back off before an Admin gets involved and we can all get back to the reason we logged on in the first place: playing the game.

It would be if the reason the man is dead is so that the woman can mourn the loss of her boy-toy and go out and kill the bastard who forced her to find another young hottie to train up right.

I am sure there is fiction where death of a lover serves as a motivation for a female character. But I am sure there is also a difference in how male and female characters, in aggregate, are portrayed. But so what? Men and women are different (on average). Denial of gender differences is one of the silly (and inconsistent) outgrows of 2nd wave feminism.

No one is denying gender differences. Sarkeesian is pointing out how females are portrayed in games, and she backs up her observations with good examples. It's up to you to decide if how much you care about it. Apparently, some guys care so much they issue death threats, create games where one can virtually beat Sarkeesian bloody, and threaten to rape her if she ever again dares point out the obvious. Apparently, some other guys think that's an appropriate response to criticism of their favorite form of recreation. But many more people think it's over-the-top, unacceptable, and a disgraceful display of the worst aspects of guy-gamer culture.

 

[Arctish]

Exactly what is the threat that Anita Sarkeesian poses to gamers who disagree with her?

Will game developers stop making games? will they stop making games with female characters? will they stop making games with female characters in perilous positions and under developed personalities?

Or is there a tiny group of gamers who had their shit called out and now they feel exposed for what they are and they don't like it?

Well, just look at the new beta release for the next version of Call of Duty. There is far less time devoted to actual combat and far more time spent picking out an outfit to wear to the fight that doesn't make you look fat and sitting around over coffee discussing how shooting bad guys makes you feel.

That's serious changes to the game mechanics of a major title because of people like her.

Looking good!

 

[Terrell]

Where does one find better research on the portrayal of women in video games?

I don't know.

What I do know is that I don't need a better researcher to gainsay various statements that she makes that are obviously wrong to anyone who has played the games in question.
An example of such a statement is in her "Ms. Male Character" segment where she says that "Dixie Kong is just a female version of Diddy" (Donkey Kong Country 2). Anyone who has played Donkey Kong Country 2 knows that Dixie's abilities are wildly different from, and, more often than not, more useful in any given situation than Diddy's. This is also a bit of a double whammy since the plot of both DKC2 and DKC3 involves her in a party to rescue the male protagonist(s) of the previous games who are effectively male "Damsels in Distress" rescued by the girl protagonist, and yet this fact in the appropriate "Damsels in Distress" videos is notable only for its complete and total absence because it doesn't fit the narrative that she is trying to portray.

Likewise I don't need to know the name of a better car mechanic to know that a mechanic that tells me that a car without an engine is "good to drive" is not a good car mechanic at all.

Gotta agree with you on Diddy vs. Dixie Kong. Dixie was MUCH better at jumping than Diddy, she could jump further, when she used her helicopter spin. It could also be used to more precisely control where she landed. Diddy had nothing on that. Even Diddy's ability to partially cartwheel off of a ledge and jump while in mid-air, wasn't exclusive, Dixie could spin partially off a ledge and do the same thing, and still use her helicopter spin.

Anita Sarkeesian couldn't be more wrong about Diddy & Dixie as to who the more capable character was. When you've got both Diddy & Dixie, it almost always is advantageous to play Dixie. Advantageous to the point that in the game's manual, they had a paragraph called "Diddy's Advantages". Dixie needed no such paragraph.

(10 & 11) Diddy Kong! He's Back!

Diddy's in the starring role this time and he's off to prove himself a
true member of the Kong Family of Video Game Heroes. He'll have his
work cut out for him as he storms Kaptain K. Rool's pirate haven on
Crocodile Isle!

Cartwheel
Diddy's signature cartwheel attack lets him bowl over enemies. If he
cartwheels off the edge of a platform and then jumps, he'll leap a
little farther than he does with a normal jump.

Throw
Diddy can pick up barrels and certain enemies (after stepping on them),
and then throw them. Press the Y Button to pick up a barrel, and
release the button to throw it. If you press Down on the Control Pad
as you release the button, you will put the barrel down.

Jump
Jumping is a skill you'll need for exploring all the different nooks
and crannies of Crocodile Isle. You can also jump on top of some
enemies to attack them.

Swim
Swimming comes in handy in the many aquatic areas of Crocodile Isle.
Tap the B Button to make Diddy swim. Use the Control Pad to make him
sink or swim faster.

Climb
Crocodile Isle is covered with climbable terrain, which makes it a
perfect place for a monkey to explore. Diddy and Dixie can not only
climb up and down here, but they can also climb to the right and left
if the rope or chain goes in that direction.

Run
Hold down the Y Button as you move to make Diddy run. Running makes
the game faster and more exciting.

Diddy's Advantages
Diddy's cartwheel jump enables him to make jumps that are longer than
average jumps. Also, notice that Diddy carries the barrel out in front
of him and that it acts like a shield as he runs into enemies while
carrying it.

[Cranky:] Bah! The lad had a couple of frames in DONKEY KONG COUNTRY
and now he thinks he's a big star!

------------------------------------------------------------------

(12 & 13) Here comes... Dixie Kong!

Dixie and Diddy are inseparable friends and go everywhere together.
Both share a love of adventure and the awesome abilities to make it
fun! Dixie's powerful ponytail allows her to equal and sometimes even
surpass Diddy's adventuring abilities!

Dixie's Helicopter Spin!
Using her terrific tresses, Dixie can float slowly to the ground from
high places by pressing and holding the Y Button as she falls. While
on the ground, Dixie can also spin to defeat enemies.

Throw
Dixie uses her ponytail to pick up and throw barrels. She holds the
barrels above her head, which gives her a slightly different throwing
trajectory than Diddy has.

Climb
Being a monkey, Dixie can swing just like Diddy and Donkey Kong. Her
aerial abilities give her an edge when she's at high altitudes because
she can helicopter to slow her fall.

Swim
Dixie isn't afraid of the water (or much else for that matter). She's
as much at home under the sea as her friend Diddy is.

Run
Hold down the Y Button as you move to run. While running, you will
automatically pick up any objects in your path, so use this with
caution.

Team-Up!!
When Diddy and Dixie are together, they form a powerful team. Press
the A Button to pick up the other character. You can then throw your
pal using the Y Button. You can use the throw to attack enemy
characters or to reach normally inaccessible places and items. Try to
toss your friend in many different situations.

[Cranky:] What's going on here? She should be the damsel in distress,
not one of the stars!

http://www.world-of-nintendo.com/manuals/super_nes/donkey_kong_country_2.shtml

Threatening her is wrong, full stop, but her observations on Dixie couldn't be more wrong.

 

[Arctish]

People need to quit crying about how their avatars are treated in video games. I've played PVP MMOs and its quite common to trash talk and humiliate your opponents. I played mostly females chars in one particular MMO and I would do /emotes on my slain enemies usually squatting and pissing on their corpse, raping the body with a pipe or cutting off their dick. That doesn't mean I hated men. There was one brilliant player that made his char look like a gay stripper cowboy wearing just boots panties and a cowboy hat. He named his toon Brooke 'em in Mountain. I'm sure he wasn't a heterophobe IRL.

Well, all I can say is I hope you are male, because if word gets out that female gamers are emasculating male avatars and raping their corpses with pipes the most probable reaction will be rape and death threats. Anita Sarkeesian's videos don't even come close to what you describe, and look what happened to her.

 

[Arctish]

What is beyond ridiculous about it? I've watched her videos and I think she supports her points very well. The tropes she points to are as obvious as whiskers on a walrus.

Have you looked at any of the rebuttals out there?

I've seen some. Which rebuttals do you agree with most?

(I am assuming you have watched the videos and have an opinion based on your own response to her arguments)

For example, she rightly points out most female characters are just props used to motivate the male characters. They have no purpose other than to be a damsel in distress, or a potential sexual conquest, or a possession of sorts that the villain has taken from the hero, which motivates him to seek revenge. Even strong characters like Kerrigan in StarCraft are sacrificed so the guys will get angry and the villains will face their righteous wrath. And the way their bodies are rendered - ye gods, who could stand up straight much less run around with that much fleshy mass protruding out in front? Those ladies are as skinny as sticks and they still can't see their toes.

Is it any surprise that they are generally rendered to be attractive? Most characters are rendered with above-average attractiveness except for some evil types that are deliberately made very unattractive.

I don't play a lot of games. Of what I do play, though, I can't recall one where there wasn't a choice between male and female (assuming it's a game where you have a gender at all.)

Some games give you a choice in gender but many of those restrict the clothing choices to stupid outfits like metal bikinis for the females. Anyway, the point isn't about guys looking at tits and ass. It's about how females are treated in games, both as characters and as players.

 

[Arctish]

I don't think anyone here has said that all male gamers are misogynists, or even most of them.

The OP definitely seems to express that view about GamerGate.

I certainly don't believe it.

Indeed. I have no notion of how anyone could possibly make that mistake....

I told one guy that I learned more about men in a couple years of playing CounterStrike than I did in 50 years of living, and it was the simple truth. Listening to the way men talk about and treat women in game environments was a real eye-opener.

It's not ridiculous that women gamers dislike the blatantly sexist environment they must endure if they want to play. What is ridiculous is expecting them to meekly endure the constant harassment, vile comments, and obscene leering that male gamers feel entitled to dish out. I sure as heck don't put up with it, and I'm always ready to lend my support to the young girls facing it for the first time.

Not "those men", or "those kind of men", or "those assholes", or "assholish guys who play Counterstrike", or "assholes who play first person shooters", or "guys who play first person shooters", or "assholish online multiplayer gamer guys", but just "male gamers" and "men".

All those qualifiers apply to the second part of what I said, and I should have used one of them. But the first part is true as written. I have learned more about men in a couple years of playing CounterStrike than I did in 50 years of living, and one of the things I learned is how tolerant men are of extremely disturbing suggestions of rape and other violence being committed against women and gay males. Maybe the guys are so used to it, it just doesn't register anymore, but as an outsider listening in on how men talk when they think there are no women around, it was incredibly upsetting to realize even guys I respected would say such things. Granted, when one of them would go too far the others would shut him down. The guy talking about having sex with 9 year olds was told to stfu pretty damn quick. And one night a very crusty shipyard worker set a few of the younger guys straight about women smelling like fish. But some of the things men say about their wives and girlfriends is actually pretty horrible, although apparently only a woman would think so. The guys seemed to think it was normal.

As a male gamer who doesn't match any of the qualifiers prior to "male gamer", I don't expect and wouldn't want women gamers to meekly endure the harassment. I expect them to (where available and in rough order of priority) report said assholes, mute said assholes, troll said assholes back with a vengeance, and, in the off-chance that none of those are viable options, use the core mechanics of the game to kill them repeatedly while questioning their manhood over chat/voice chat, which I suspect would get to said asshole male gamers about as much as the harassment gets to the women gamers.
Alternatively, if they want a less wild-west experience, they can find a better server that bans that bullshit so that everyone wins. Granted, my main experience with FPS games was with Team Fortress 2 a few years back, so I may be off on what are viable options.

But there is a small cadre of sexist assholes who have earned every bit of the censure they receive, and quite a bit more IMO.

That small cadre of sexist assholes is everywhere, from Youtube comments to blogs that ostensibly promote "social justice" on Tumblr. What magical power do you believe that the gaming community has to stop such things that those other places lack?

There's no excuse for issuing rape/death threats to people who point out how commonplace abuse of women is, both in the game storylines and in the server chatter.

This has been stated over and over again as if "Death Threats are Horrible and the People Who Make Them are Horrible" is some sort of profound message. It isn't.

No, it's not profound and it's not new. But it bears repeating.

However, the fact that Anita gets death threats does not make it horrible for me to say that her videos are poorly researched, often rip-off footage from various Let's Players without attribution, cherry-pick said footage to an extent that an equivalent cherry-picking of Sesame Street could reveal that show's vile misogynist messaging, and make claims that are unjustified even if said footage was a complete and accurate representation.

Criticizing her work is fine. It should be critiqued, and the flaws should be pointed out so that the revised edition will be better.

It also doesn't make it horrible for me to say that she has made a practice of using these threats as a fund-raising opportunity.

I've heard that claim. Sarkeesian's Kickstarter fund grew along with the backlash against her work. Some people see that as manipulation on her part, while others see it as widespread support for a woman and a scholar under attack for pointing out an obvious case of gender inequality in popular culture. Given the explicit nature of the threats made in the USU case, I don't think the reports of threats made against her are being overblown. There is a very nasty component to the reaction to her work, and it's coming from some very nasty misogynists.

ETA: Rolling Stone has published an interview with Anita Sarkeesian on the GamerGate controversy. It's an interesting read.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

Where does one find better research on the portrayal of women in video games?

It doesn't matter. We can see hers is garbage, that's enough to disregard it even if there's nothing better.

She gets a bunch of money (kickstarter) for producing her garbage, of course she keeps doing it. That doesn't make it anything but garbage.

Where does one find better research on the portrayal of women in video games?

I don't know.

What I do know is that I don't need a better researcher to gainsay various statements that she makes that are obviously wrong to anyone who has played the games in question.
An example of such a statement is in her "Ms. Male Character" segment where she says that "Dixie Kong is just a female version of Diddy" (Donkey Kong Country 2). Anyone who has played Donkey Kong Country 2 knows that Dixie's abilities are wildly different from, and, more often than not, more useful in any given situation than Diddy's. This is also a bit of a double whammy since the plot of both DKC2 and DKC3 involves her in a party to rescue the male protagonist(s) of the previous games who are effectively male "Damsels in Distress" rescued by the girl protagonist, and yet this fact in the appropriate "Damsels in Distress" videos is notable only for its complete and total absence because it doesn't fit the narrative that she is trying to portray.

Likewise I don't need to know the name of a better car mechanic to know that a mechanic that tells me that a car without an engine is "good to drive" is not a good car mechanic at all.

IOW you don't have anyone in mind.

Is she saying that the portrayal of women in video games leaves a lot to be desired, or is she saying there are no women in video games?

Perhaps a better mechanic analogy would be do you need a better mechanic to know if it is your starter, battery, or alternator that is the reason why your car won't start.

BTW I too have played DKC2 and three. I can also see where an earlier character (say Diddy) would influence a later one

 

[Arctish]

BTW I too have played DKC2 and three. I can also see where an earlier character (say Diddy) would influence a later one

View attachment 1331

I haven't played the game so I don't know the characters. Was there any difference between the female character and the male one other than a few new abilities and a new skin?

I used to play Diablo. When Diablo II came out, there was a new character, a Monk, who could do a few things the original hero couldn't. Otherwise it was the same game.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

BTW I too have played DKC2 and three. I can also see where an earlier character (say Diddy) would influence a later one

View attachment 1331

I haven't played the game so I don't know the characters. Was there any difference between the female character and the male one other than a few new abilities and a new skin?

Do they have different abilities? Yes. Are they "wildly different?" That is a judgement call.

I used to play Diablo. When Diablo II came out, there was a new character, a Monk, who could do a few things the original hero couldn't. Otherwise it was the same game.

 

[ZiprHead]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=134397896&postcount=12285

#gamergate accomplishments?

 

[bigfield]

I used to play Diablo. When Diablo II came out, there was a new character, a Monk, who could do a few things the original hero couldn't. Otherwise it was the same game.

That's because you are referring to the Hellfire expansion for Diablo I. Expansions are usually just that - a little bit extra added to the original game. Diablo II, on the other hand, was in fact an entirely new game, with seven distinct character classes: Barbarian, Amazon, Sorceress, Paladin, Necromancer, Druid, and Assassin (with the latter two added by the Lord of Destruction expansion).

Diablo II is in my top 5 all-time favourite games, and one of the reasons was the excellent replayability thanks to the diverse character classes.

 

[Arctish]

I used to play Diablo. When Diablo II came out, there was a new character, a Monk, who could do a few things the original hero couldn't. Otherwise it was the same game.

That's because you are referring to the Hellfire expansion for Diablo I. Expansions are usually just that - a little bit extra added to the original game. Diablo II, on the other hand, was in fact an entirely new game, with seven distinct character classes: Barbarian, Amazon, Sorceress, Paladin, Necromancer, Druid, and Assassin (with the latter two added by the Lord of Destruction expansion).

Diablo II is in my top 5 all-time favourite games, and one of the reasons was the excellent replayability thanks to the diverse character classes.

Oh yeah, that's right. It was Hellfire.

 

[Enigma]

BTW I too have played DKC2 and three. I can also see where an earlier character (say Diddy) would influence a later one

View attachment 1331

I haven't played the game so I don't know the characters. Was there any difference between the female character and the male one other than a few new abilities and a new skin?

I used to play Diablo. When Diablo II came out, there was a new character, a Monk, who could do a few things the original hero couldn't. Otherwise it was the same game.

That is indeed interesting.
Because I also used to play Diablo and when I played Diablo, I had a choice between three character classes - A warrior, a mage, and a rogue.
Each of those classes had different skills, different equippable items, different stat caps, and had differently viable builds that generally relied on different stats. If you tried to use your mage to hack and slash your way through enemies like a warrior, you most likely ended up with a dead mage.
Never really got much into Diablo 2, but what I did play and what information I can pull up about it indicates there were a bunch more classes that each played differently:
Amazon: Ranged Warrior
Necromancer: Mage whose main ability is summon minions to fight for him
Barbarian: Big close-range fighter who beats things down with raw force
Sorceress: Mage who destroys enemies with elemental spells which have different effectiveness based on elemental type/resistances of enemies
Paladin: Tanky warrior who manages battle through various auras and holy attacks.

For all little that it matters the Rogue in the first Diablo was the one main woman character out of three (who happened to be more durable than the mage guy, but less so than the warrior guy, which makes sense), while in Diablo 2 there was the amazon (effectively Rogue equivalent) and the Sorceress (effectively mage equivalent).

 

[Enigma]

Do they have different abilities? Yes. Are they "wildly different?" That is a judgement call.

What's the difference between a King and a Queen in chess? Just a few different abilities and a different skin.
Also it's the only female piece in the game, and an obvious "Ms. Male" piece of the King, that the rules say is less important to keep alive and uncaptured than her male counterpart.
Heck, there's even a mechanic where your pawns are to rush to the opposite side of the field to effectively "uncapture" a queen which sounds like a "Damsel in Distress" scenario if I've ever heard one.

I think anyone defending games has to admit at this juncture that Chess is horribly, horribly, sexist and that if you enjoy it as strategy game (especially if you enjoy it as a white male nerd) you should feel bad for doing so because it promotes sexism and misogyny.

 

[Enigma]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=134397896&postcount=12285

#gamergate accomplishments?

Asking NeoGAF for the accomplishments of #gamergate is rather like asking a PR arm of Stormfront for the accomplishments of black people.

Accomplishments (more or less off the top of my head):
Raised tens of thousands of dollars for The Fine Young Capitalists, a feminist group that is looking to promote women game designers, after said group got shat upon, harrassed, and hacked by Zoe Quinn (The female "game"* developer who is playing the part of Franz Ferdinand for this whole crazy two month saga and seems intent on trying to pretend she is still relevant) and her followers.
Created a non-sexualized and perfectly normal woman gamer mascot called "Vivian James".
Raised a few thousand dollars for a charity that deals with depression.
Convinced the Escapist and a couple other gaming news sites to update their ethics and disclosure policies.
Started the #notyourshield hashtag after various anti-gamergate people claimed that everyone who was a part of #gamergate was white male misogynists and anyone who claimed otherwise was lying.
Got suspicious of media collusion after a launch of 10+ articles in one day each simultaneously declaring that "Gamers are dead" and laying on piles of insults about gamers, did some digging and found a mailing list used to coordinate activities (GameJournoPros).
Convinced Intel to drop their support of Gamasutra after Leigh Alexander's large insult campaign against gamers that Gamasutra was complicit in backing.
Started a site that documents harassment sent to Gamergate supporters
Convinced Mercedez Benz to drop their advertisements on Gawker after one of the writers tweeted about how people should bring back bullying so that they can bully some gamer nerds. During National Bullying Awareness Month.
Donated $13k and rising to a group to help prevent bullying.
As mentioned before, tracked down and reported to the FBI someone who was making death threats to Anita Sarkeesian on Twitter (she's still welcome for that, by the way).
Through a rather weird and slightly funny sequence of events that I'm too tired to recount, started #gamerfruit after an Anti-GG dev falsely accused a fruit exporter in Europe of #gamergate misogyny.

....and frankly it's late and I'm tired so I'll just end on one more:
Been generally amicable and willing to talk to neutrals and reasonably anti-GG people even after two months of being perpetually libeled in their Dark Scary Reddit HQ, while their opposite number will ban anyone who dares gives even the slightest indication that they may consider even being neutral to #GamerGate

There's more, but it's late and I'm tired and you can probably look up the rest yourself. Here's a basic guide to some of the stuff



*I use scare quotes here because I am hard-pressed to describe what amounts to a electronic text only choose-your-own adventure book as a game.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

Do they have different abilities? Yes. Are they "wildly different?" That is a judgement call.

What's the difference between a King and a Queen in chess? Just a few different abilities and a different skin.
Also it's the only female piece in the game, and an obvious "Ms. Male" piece of the King, that the rules say is less important to keep alive and uncaptured than her male counterpart.
Heck, there's even a mechanic where your pawns are to rush to the opposite side of the field to effectively "uncapture" a queen which sounds like a "Damsel in Distress" scenario if I've ever heard one.

I think anyone defending games has to admit at this juncture that Chess is horribly, horribly, sexist and that if you enjoy it as strategy game (especially if you enjoy it as a white male nerd) you should feel bad for doing so because it promotes sexism and misogyny.

OK, now your are comparing chess to Donkey Kong. Now that is new.

A king and a queen in chess seldom look like a king and a king in drag, and that is what I think Sarkeesian was talking about.

 

[laughing dog]

Do they have different abilities? Yes. Are they "wildly different?" That is a judgement call.

What's the difference between a King and a Queen in chess? Just a few different abilities and a different skin.
Also it's the only female piece in the game, and an obvious "Ms. Male" piece of the King, that the rules say is less important to keep alive and uncaptured than her male counterpart.
Heck, there's even a mechanic where your pawns are to rush to the opposite side of the field to effectively "uncapture" a queen which sounds like a "Damsel in Distress" scenario if I've ever heard one.

I think anyone defending games has to admit at this juncture that Chess is horribly, horribly, sexist and that if you enjoy it as strategy game (especially if you enjoy it as a white male nerd) you should feel bad for doing so because it promotes sexism and misogyny.

I didn't realize that castles in chess had genders. Your analysis ignores that the Queen is the most powerful piece on the board and the King is the weakest. So, it is difficult to take your conclusion seriously.

 

[repoman]

If you watch Internet Aristocrat's original video about "The Quinnspiracy" (which evolved into Gamergate) he really set the tenor for some aspects. He is a needler of the highest order, for good and ill...

He doesn't monetize his videos but if you dislike him you may not want him to have more views in his stats.

He is obsessed with protecting games against Social Justice Warriors and uses Atheism+ as an example of how they take over. He raises good points but overplays his hand and has little (overt display of) sympathy for gender, orientation, racial minorities.

His Tumblrisms videos are cases in point. Funny, but are they too reactionary?