Female Game Developers Weigh In On #GamerGate

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Regardless which side of the #GamerGate issue you stand on, I think you will find these statements by female game developers interesting.

I was asked by The Escapist to participate in interviews about #GamerGate, as a female game developer. It's such a contentious subject that even balanced questions can seem skewed. Moreover, I felt like the questions didn't really get at any of the things I wanted to say. I suggested instead that women in the industry provide statements, so we could speak about the aspects of the situation that are important to each of us. What we chose to cover in our statements would say a lot about how #GamerGate impacts us.
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can someone who read the article please post a TL;DR for each of the developers? They are very verbose for developers.
 
BreezeDM said:
can someone who read the article please post a TL;DR for each of the developers? They are very verbose for developers.
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Some of the female developers get it, some don't.

One of the big things I've noticed about all these articles is the insistence that this is all perpetrated by men against women and guys "just don't get it" which isn't true at all.

Men have been subjected to the EXACT same things for years and years. The trolling, hate speech, death threats, swatting....and I'm just talking about your average CoD deathmatch session. :D If I moved every time someone threatened me I'd live on the moon by now. If I called the FBI every time someone complained about me being a dick, I'd be the director of National Security.

That said, pretending everyone is like that and lumping us all into one category is just lame.
 
Here's probably the best comment in the whole thing.

People are frustrated and I don't blame them. I am a female and a feminist and I'm fed up with it myself. I think if the games industry were a cesspit filled with misogyny and hate, then I would understand the heavy focus on misogyny in games and the industry itself, but the truth is, it isn't. I really don't think that the games industry is any more sexist than any other industry. We definitely have a real issue with the industry being comprised of predominantly men and we also have a problem with overused tropes, which could be seen as sexist, but I think both of these issues are largely a result of the target demographic initially being young men.

There are many games out there to choose from and I think hyper focusing on the few with these overused tropes is a mistake. I worry that putting so much emphasis on the bad will lead to us censoring ourselves and to me; art should always have as few boundaries as possible. I think it would be far more helpful to focus on the positive influences for women in games. If Anita Sarkeesian (and other feminists) had taken that angle, I think we'd be having a far more productive discussion about this.
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I can't disagree with the overall sentiment. The whole thing started because of exaggerated claims against "gaming" as a whole being some cesspool of rampant sexism. This lead to exaggerated claims and threats against the initial push. This then lead to even more exaggeration being tossed back (like "Gamers are dead"). Lots of "journalists" couldn't really see the forest for the small group of trees. The anonymous little children (by maturity, not age) that were issuing threats and hacking did not represent gamers as a whole but they were certainly being presented as evidence that the whole group had a rotten core.
 
I dunno either, but I found this while looking it up. I'm game....

hot_chick_by_lopez123-d3r95bg.png
 
Steve said:
Some of the female developers get it, some don't.

One of the big things I've noticed about all these articles is the insistence that this is all perpetrated by men against women and guys "just don't get it" which isn't true at all.

Men have been subjected to the EXACT same things for years and years. The trolling, hate speech, death threats, swatting....and I'm just talking about your average CoD deathmatch session. :D If I moved every time someone threatened me I'd live on the moon by now. If I called the FBI every time someone complained about me being a dick, I'd be the director of National Security.

That said, pretending everyone is like that and lumping us all into one category is just lame.
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THANK YOU FOR SAYING THIS.
 
Holy shit, I have to click through 10 pages to view the entire article? These kinds of websites can kiss my ass.

Also, has GamerGate/the current state of the gaming hobby led to a massive, global surge in female abuse, rape, and murder? If not, I still don't see what the issue is.
 
Is it just me or haven't us gamers/nerds, hardcore or not always welcomed and wanted more female gamers, programmers, forum members, etc. involved in the gaming industry? Have I been wrong this whole time or is this just a journalist thing? Maybe I'm missing something....
 
Steve said:
If I called the FBI every time someone complained about me being a dick, I'd be the director of National Security.
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They'd probably just be like, "Dammit, Steve, stop calling. Get back to work...dick."
 
A lot of female "gamers" don't even like games. Have you noticed how most of them make a huge deal about being one. They just like how easy it is to get attention by infiltrating a male-dominated hobby.
 
Steve said:
Some of the female developers get it, some don't.

One of the big things I've noticed about all these articles is the insistence that this is all perpetrated by men against women and guys "just don't get it" which isn't true at all.

Men have been subjected to the EXACT same things for years and years. The trolling, hate speech, death threats, swatting....and I'm just talking about your average CoD deathmatch session. :D If I moved every time someone threatened me I'd live on the moon by now. If I called the FBI every time someone complained about me being a dick, I'd be the director of National Security.

That said, pretending everyone is like that and lumping us all into one category is just lame.
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Sad how easily so many overlook this inconvenient truth.
 
I noticed that the term "gamer" is now being hijacked and applied to people who only play Farmville, Bejeweled or Candy Crush Saga occasionally. That is just another indicator that the term is being forcefully re-purposed in a politically correct way to try to encompass a broader audience and be more accepting of differing opinions.

I take offense to that, actually.
 
Some idiot douchebags like to use the shut-up phrase, "First world problem!" whenever something they think is trivial pops up.

I would never do such a thing because I am in no way a douchebag. However, with so much nasty shit going on in the world who gives a fart if woman don't feel equal in the male dominated gaming world.
 
My official diagnosis: teenage boys are asshats. They're specifically trying to provoke, and succeeding beyond their wildest dreams. Yes, it sucks people are experiencing actual fear and discomfort because of it.
I suspect in most cases ignoring immature behavior works better than invoking full-on Streisand Effect. I'm not saying it's okay - I'm just being practical about how best to move on.
 
SRTie4k said:
I noticed that the term "gamer" is now being hijacked and applied to people who only play Farmville, Bejeweled or Candy Crush Saga occasionally. That is just another indicator that the term is being forcefully re-purposed in a politically correct way to try to encompass a broader audience and be more accepting of differing opinions.

I take offense to that, actually.
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Not sure I see the political correctness in this. How would define gamer and would you limit it by title, platform and what?

Farmville, Candy Crush and Bejeweled aren't my type of game, but that doesn't mean I should look down on those playing them. I don't play console games either but I would still consider those playing games on them gamers.
 
I think pics are in order since it's so important to point these game developers are female.
 
The summary of most of them:

"Well, some people may have their hearts in the right place and valid points, but the core of misogyny and malice..."
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And that pretty much sums it up.

Granted, a couple of them gave a serious think to several of the issues. But the rest are in typical reactionary mode.
 
SRTie4k said:
I noticed that the term "gamer" is now being hijacked and applied to people who only play Farmville, Bejeweled or Candy Crush Saga occasionally. That is just another indicator that the term is being forcefully re-purposed in a politically correct way to try to encompass a broader audience and be more accepting of differing opinions.

I take offense to that, actually.
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How would you define gamer? I think all it means is a person who plays a lot of video games and are passionate about them. Plus I have heard people that play a lot of board games call themselves "gamers" too, so I don't think we get to pick which games count and which ones don't.
 
#5 talks as if she actualy followed shit before commenting and is quite sensible.

Games media sites have been doing the whole Jack thompson gig for clickbait for 4~5 years. Telling everyone that sexism in game (any protrayal of a woman @ all = object to titillate men) and is the reason men are assholes to women irl.

Women are playing more games, sure, but only bout 7% AAA games compared to the 50%+ claimed. Your not gonna get a woman that plays candy crush for 10 min from time to time to sink in 100 hrs in any game by just we removing skimpy outfits.


A minority of women that don't play video games (generalization here), feminist most likely, don't want men to get titillated by women in games.
A minority of men, maybe teens, have answered with vitriol to having their hobby attacked.
And the games media that is so eager for click bait , stocking the fire.

The gaming community are telling them to take their politics and shove it.
and the games media keeps spinning.


A game made for everyone is a game that caters to no one.
 
SRTie4k said:
I noticed that the term "gamer" is now being hijacked and applied to people who only play Farmville, Bejeweled or Candy Crush Saga occasionally. That is just another indicator that the term is being forcefully re-purposed in a politically correct way to try to encompass a broader audience and be more accepting of differing opinions.

I take offense to that, actually.
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See also the word "Nerd". :rolleyes:

Teenage males and into their 20's are horny little bastards. Some gamers are even more so.

Play with guys that are past that stage, and you're not judged by being a woman. You're judged on if you're good or not. We don't care if you're a woman or not. You're a player in a game. You're good or you're not. You're not good "for a girl". You're just good or bad.

I guess being lumped in with generalized statements feels good, though. Male gamers are misogynist assholes that don't understand women gamers. :rolleyes: Yes, I've found some real assholes online. I've also found a LOT more awesome people. Even preteens play well and are very mature in game (don't get pissed when losing, etc.). Some grown adults act like morons at times, too... Welcome to gaming. You meet people from every corner.
 
SRTie4k said:
I noticed that the term "gamer" is now being hijacked and applied to people who only play Farmville, Bejeweled or Candy Crush Saga occasionally. That is just another indicator that the term is being forcefully re-purposed in a politically correct way to try to encompass a broader audience and be more accepting of differing opinions.

I take offense to that, actually.
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I agree. Its pretty silly really. Were those who only played solitaire gamers? No, no one ever considered them gamers so why now are people who play casual games considered gamers? So stupid.
 
When you see someone referring to events in this ridiculous, immature circus of a squabble as "horrific" you quickly understand how the whole shameful display got so amazingly out of hand so very fast.
 
Steve said:
Some of the female developers get it, some don't.

One of the big things I've noticed about all these articles is the insistence that this is all perpetrated by men against women and guys "just don't get it" which isn't true at all.

Men have been subjected to the EXACT same things for years and years. The trolling, hate speech, death threats, swatting....and I'm just talking about your average CoD deathmatch session. :D If I moved every time someone threatened me I'd live on the moon by now. If I called the FBI every time someone complained about me being a dick, I'd be the director of National Security.

That said, pretending everyone is like that and lumping us all into one category is just lame.
Click to expand...

That is what really annoys me about the situation: I have yet to see any good evidence that women in gaming face any more harassment/threats than anyone else. The more public you are, the more you get, the more controversial you are, the more you get. I mean look at the shit that gets flung at Phil Fish. However there's no big outcry about the harassment he gets because 1) He's a guy and 2) He invites it on himself. Or for more high profile examples, look at what gets thrown at celebrities (Celebrities Read Mean Tweets is a hilarious look at that).

It seems like misogyny gets brought in to the discussion with no good reason, as though the reason women get shit flung at them is because they are women, not because some people online are howler monkey that just fling shit at everyone. I'd be all for trying to reduce that, but you then need to take the discussion away form misogyny and towards harassment in general.
 
Didn't "gamer's gate" (I refuse to put a fucking hashtag in front of it) happen like an eternity ago in terms of the industry? Why is there still talk about it?
 
How fast would your man card get yanked if you handled this situation like some of these people complaining would:

Dude, you download the new map packs?

Yeah, was trying to get some time in last night but this guy kept trolling me all night.

That sucks.

It started out as teabagging but the little bastard started going all racial and, at one point after he killed me, he screamed "I fucking raped you faggot!" and laughed like a pre-pubescent 11 year old.

Ugh, I hate those guys.

Me too. After that, he started in on my mom, said he was going to kill my whole family.

Damn bro, did you mute him and put him on your ignore list?

NO, I CALLED THE FBI AND MOVED OUT OF MY HOUSE!

:D
 
I thought men were given testicles and stuff, not a card, to designate their gender. Then again, would it be weird to have your testicles yanked by someone for saying things like that? :confused:
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
I thought men were given testicles and stuff, not a card, to designate their gender. Then again, would it be weird to have your testicles yanked by someone for saying things like that? :confused:
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You didn't get a card? Explains a few things....
 
Her Interactive has been making games for girls for almost 20 years, and are completely ignored by almost all gaming publications and gaming websites. So female game developers should dislike game journalists even more than male gamers do.
 
As far as "gamers", it depends on the context. Gamers can be card players, board games, pencil & paper RPG'ers, sports player, casual video gamers or hard core gamers. If you take all of those, nearly everyone in the modern world is a gamer. Context is key.

I think most gamers really don't give a shit who makes their games. Men or women. Great games are great. We don't give a shit. Gaming publications? Doesn't matter. Now, preferential treatment in trade for a little ass? Yea, it happens. Bribes will be bribes.
 
Steve said:
Some of the female developers get it, some don't.

One of the big things I've noticed about all these articles is the insistence that this is all perpetrated by men against women and guys "just don't get it" which isn't true at all.
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Sentence #1: Accuses some people of not getting it.
Sentence #2: Complains about people being accused of not getting it.

p. solid analysis there imo.
 
This whole thing was ridiculous but the backlash by "gamers" was even more ridiculous.

Gamers sure know how to feed the trolls.
 
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