Law and Order, Games Media and Women in the Idustry

In the last couple of days there was a episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit aired on TV where the story was based on the #GamerGate controversy.  It was laughably bad, overblown, poorly written and poorly acted.

The story of the episode revolves around a bunch of gamers who aren't happy with some woman making a game.  The reason they are unhappy is not because her game is bad or anything like that but just because she is a woman.  Things escalate when she goes to give a presentation about her game and she gets kidnapped, beaten and raped by a bunch of weirdos in ski masks from a site called Redchanit.  The episode ends with the cops catching/killing the gamers and saving the woman but she decides to retire from gaming because clearly she is not wanted or some such stupid bullshit.

The whole episode is cringetastic with Ice-T saying lots of stupid bullshit about video games.  The worst part is right at the end during a rooftop shootout where they decide to go first fucking person.  It's like that one bit from that shitty Doom movie but with the shitness dial turned all the way up to fucking 15.

What's sort of hilarious though is the reaction to the episode from various groups on either side of the controversy.  From what I can gather off twitter, the social justice types such as Sarkeesian are not happy with the episode.  There are a number of people on that side of the coin though who are playing it up saying that the events that happened in the episode have actually happened despite the fact that no kidnappings or rapes have occurred because of GamerGate. 

What's funny is that these people have absolutely no right to be dissatisfied with the episode because they basically wrote the damn script.  These are the people who view a disagreement as "misogyny" or "sexism" and a request of proof for their claims as "harassment".  It's even been proven that certain members  such as Brianna Wu have faked harassment in order to receive more coverage/gain ammunition to use against certain people.

Wu "harassing" herself on Steam but forgetting to log out of her Developer account thingy.  This thread was deleted.

These are the people who cherry pick all their information and use great amounts of hyperbole in order to push this quite frankly preposterous idea that women are somehow oppressed and unwanted in gaming.  I mean look at this shit.

This is just a small collection of some of the women who are celebrated within the medium.  There are tons more than this both recent and from ages past and as long as more women are willing to bring their skills to the table many more will be accepted and appreciated for their works.

The reason why gamers don't like people like Wu and Sarkesian is because they are fucking idiots.  Everything Anita says in her Tropes Vs Women series is quite frankly wrong and her examples are cherry picked so fucking hard that I'm surprised the cherry tree isn't completely bare.  It's so transparently wrong as well, with anyone having played the games she talks about being able to shoot down her "arguments" instantly but of course this is labelled as "harassment".  People don't like Wu because she's constantly prodding GamerGate for a rise so she can play it up and ask for money.  "Help! I'm being harassed! <Insert Patreon link>"  or saying flat out stupid things such as "I'm risking my life fighting GamerGate" as if we are some kind of heavily armed, anti-woman army.

But what the games media is doing isn't exactly new.  It's new for them but in terms of their methods this has been going on for years.  Way WAYYY back people who enjoyed table top games such as Dungeons and Dragons were branded as satanists.  Back in my youth people would claim that anyone who played games would become a violent murderer.  Now the new buzzword du jour is "misogyny" with every gamer being a woman hating basement dwelling nerd or some kind of closet rapist. 

The only thing that's different this time round is that the image isn't being perpetuated by news outlets with reports being written by people who no nothing of games.  This time it's games media ITSELF putting forward the image that all it's readers and fans are rapists and harassers.  At the end of the day though, it's only a case of same shit, different buzzword.

But who in this whole controversy is REALLY being the most damaging to women in gaming?  Is it gamers?  Well no because I've never met a SINGLE person within this hobby say that the don't want women in gaming and if anything it's the exact opposite of that.  Is it companies not hiring women based on gender?  Not that either because everything I've heard about the hiring process for these companies is based on skills, not gender.  If you are good at coding, drawing, making music, writing or whatever then you have just as much of a chance at a position as anyone else.  Hell, in the US it's fucking ILLEGAL to discriminate based on gender and I don't think companies are going to risk their business just to spite someone.

No, the most damaging thing to women in gaming right now is the people claiming to be on their side.  Every day the spin this narrative of fear.  They lie constantly or spin convenient half truths that push their controversial stories for ad revenue.  These claims that women aren't welcome or that they will be harassed out just for being women will only serve to scare them away and we risk losing a lot of talented people as a result.  If it was true then I promise you that the gaming community would be right there trying to make gaming a space for everyone to enjoy, like they have been doing since THE DAWN OF FUCKING GAMES.  These people are pushing this story for their own selfish means and it's absolutely pathetic.

Gaming and games media would be a much better place without these people shitting it up.  No one wants to keep anyone out, we just want  to play some fucking video games.  We also don't want to be lied to and misrepresented by the people who deliver information about the industry to us, that's all.

Let's just get along and play some goddamn games.....fuck...   

No One Wants You To Stop Gaming, Idiot

Jesus fuck, here I am about to talk about #GamerGate on my blog.  It's an issue I've been, generally speaking, trying not to talk about too directly because it's an extremely polarizing controversy and I want this blog to be mostly fun and stuff.  However, today I saw a video titled "What it feels like to be a Gamergate target" from ABC news that has pissed me off so much I can't help but write something.

First of all, the video itself.  I'm not going to link it because it's complete bollocks that attempts to paint people who enjoy games as horrible human beings and the amount of cherry picking to push certain incorrect points is disgusting.  Apart from the video being full to bursting with complete lies about video games and the people who enjoy them it's also biased, one sided bullshit.  They interviewed 3 people; Sarkeesian, Brianna Wu and some dude in a shop, all who were anti-GamerGate and all who had nothing to do with the core issue behind it. 

This isn't something new, main stream news and media have been trying to paint gaming enthusiasts as horrible, antisocial, fat, dangerous nerds for YEARS so really this whole thing about "misogyny" is just the violence controversy from the 90s with a new lick of paint.  That doesn't stop it being any less annoying or wrong.  So screw that video, it's full of bullshit and all it does is make gaming an unpleasant thing to be a part of because now there are throngs of morons who will eat that shit up and will judge you on site just for owning a game system.

Now let me say a little something about #GamerGate.  For those that don't know, #GamerGate is this big online movement that's been going on for MONTHS now regarding the unethical practice of journalists for big name websites.  The only reason women in the industry came up as a topic AT ALL is because that's what people in the media like to hide behind when they face criticism.  If you call out and unethical practice, disagree with their agenda pushing in articles that don't call for it OR just disagree with them in general, you are a misogynist, according to them.

Due to this, #GamerGate gets a lot of flak for being this massive hate campaign to try and get women out of the games industry but that couldn't be further from the truth.  I'll admit something here; when I'm on the train going to/from my job, I jump on twitter and see what's happening in the tag and to be quite honest with you, I don't see ANY of the so called harassment or anti-women mentality that apparently every single supporter carries.  I see plenty of nastiness from the other side but very little from #GamerGate itself.

Also, if #GamerGate is a hatemob designed to stop women from gaming or being part of the industry they are doing a fucking crap job at it.  The only people that they have apparently "harassed" are a critic who has nothing to do with it but likes to antagonize trolls for attention and a shitty developer who has made one crappy phone game and likes to antagonize trolls for attention.  If anything, I see them doing the OPPOSITE of what they are supposed to be doing, celebrating games made by talented female developers and helping with trying to get their work noticed.

What I'm trying to say with all this is that despite what certain idiots on the internet will tell you and despite the kind of stupid stories that major news outlets push, gamers don't want certain groups of people to stop gaming/being part of the industry.  We've been collectively moaning for YEARS about how stale AAA development has gotten and people from diverse backgrounds may help counteract that, we welcome them with open arms.

It doesn't matter about your race, creed, colour, sexuality or what-the-fuck-ever, if you are here to play then you're welcome and that's what it's been about since gaming fucking started.  No one who games gives a shit who you are as long as your here to game.  If your new to games or a hardened veteran since the days of 8 bit or younger, it's a hobby filled with great people always up for a bit of fun no matter who you are or where you come from.

However keep one thing in mind, gaming is a multi billion dollar industry and when this many people are playing there are BOUND to be a few fucking idiots that could do with a slap.  That's the same for any hobby with mass appeal, there's always going to be a small group of fucking morons trying to ruin your day but in the grand scheme of things they don't matter, just take whatever it is in your stride and move on.

Remember, games are about FUN!  There are a lot of people who would do well to remember that