Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
#52
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
It's interesting how her own story fits into the "damsel in distress" category. A helpless woman being victimized by evil villains. Kickstarter heroes rush in to save the day. The fact that her top mimics the colors of the Princess Peach costume beside her further cements her into the role.
She's wearing those giant hoop earrings. They look almost like shackles. The blue lines in the plaid shirt are like the chains hooked to those shackles. (And if you drop the "p" you get "laid".) The base color of the shirt is not too far off from a flesh tone which would transform the shirt into a skimpy fishnet top.
Why is she cute and skinny? Couldn't she have gotten someone ugly and fat to helm the videos?
Why isn't she being the change that she wants to see in the world? Why not a Kickstarter to fund a feminist game studio? Games for women by women. Does she not think that women are capable?
Is her endeavor a subversive attempt to destroy feminism? Someone ought to do a Youtube report on this.
She's wearing those giant hoop earrings. They look almost like shackles. The blue lines in the plaid shirt are like the chains hooked to those shackles. (And if you drop the "p" you get "laid".) The base color of the shirt is not too far off from a flesh tone which would transform the shirt into a skimpy fishnet top.
Why is she cute and skinny? Couldn't she have gotten someone ugly and fat to helm the videos?
Why isn't she being the change that she wants to see in the world? Why not a Kickstarter to fund a feminist game studio? Games for women by women. Does she not think that women are capable?
Is her endeavor a subversive attempt to destroy feminism? Someone ought to do a Youtube report on this.
Last edited by bippitty; 03-07-13 at 09:28 PM.
#53
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
Agreed about the video, she's kind of boring but the research and material is decent. Can't really disagree with her, and I like the short clips of examples she gives for each point.
#54
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
1. I thought the first episode was great. Written like a paper, and never boring.
2. Who else got PTSD when she mentioned Super Mario 2's ice levels? ARRRRGGGGGHHH. I'd forgotten wow frustrating they were.
3. This is definitely relevant, after she spends so much time deconstructing Donkey Kong:
Dad hacks Donkey Kong for his daughter; Pauline now saves Mario
2. Who else got PTSD when she mentioned Super Mario 2's ice levels? ARRRRGGGGGHHH. I'd forgotten wow frustrating they were.
3. This is definitely relevant, after she spends so much time deconstructing Donkey Kong:
Dad hacks Donkey Kong for his daughter; Pauline now saves Mario
Last edited by dugan; 03-11-13 at 02:13 AM.
#55
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
1. I thought the first episode was great. Written like a paper, and never boring.
2. Who else got PTSD when she mentioned Super Mario 2's ice levels? ARRRRGGGGGHHH. I'd forgotten wow frustrating they were.
3. This is definitely relevant, after she spends so much time deconstructing Donkey Kong: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JeXDNg7scyU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Dad hacks Donkey Kong for his daughter; Pauline now saves Mario
2. Who else got PTSD when she mentioned Super Mario 2's ice levels? ARRRRGGGGGHHH. I'd forgotten wow frustrating they were.
3. This is definitely relevant, after she spends so much time deconstructing Donkey Kong: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JeXDNg7scyU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Dad hacks Donkey Kong for his daughter; Pauline now saves Mario
#56
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
One of my favorite games, Half Life 2, has an "ordinary" male protagonist (Gordon Freeman), and the female protagonist in the same game (Alyx) is also ordinary and not hyper-sexualized, though unlike Gordon, she's "hot".
#57
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#58
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Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
I thought it was a well-done video essay and I agree with it 100%. I can't imagine what she'll actually use $160,000 for, though, seeing as how the equipment to produce these videos presumably costs, well, $6000.
#59
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
Probably a good thing she disabled comments - it would most likely turn into an endless stream of "show us your tits" posts.
#60
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
She also hired on her producer full-time and hired a part-time writer/researcher. Also, she dedicated herself full-time to the project, so she's likely taking a salary of some sort, or at least paying for living expenses while working on the series.
http://www.feministfrequency.com/201...projec-update/
She's apparently doing a lot of research for each topic. The tumblr page for the series currently has a crazy number of screencaps of games using the damsel in distress trope:
http://tropesversuswomen.tumblr.com/
#61
Banned by request
#62
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
But as with all things, it would then escalate (or devolve) into "show us your poon" and eventually into hardcore porn with anal and bukake, with her thesis getting away from her as she's being covered with gallons of semen.
#64
Senior Member
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
I rolled my eyes when I read about this woman, but then I watched the video that Breakfast with Girls posted, and she made some really good points. I like this girl, but she needs to understand that although the amount of female gamers have been growing rapidly ever since The Sims came out, the large majority of people who play video games are still males. And that is why we see things like this. Once female gamers (and female game creators) equal the amount of male gamers/creators we'll probably see more of a change. On a side note, some females LIKE being the damsel in distress. She should talk to these women and ask why they willingly want to play such a submissive role.
#65
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
http://www.theesa.com/facts/gameplayer.asp
The problem is, as you noted, that the percentage of developers that are female is still low.
However, I don't see why we have to wait until women fight hard and reach equality in the gaming workplace for this to change. Simply educating everyone, including men, about gaming tropes that may be considered disparaging women could cause people to take a step back and consider if they use any such tropes, and why. Then they can consider ways to avoid such tropes and make better games for both genders.
#66
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
"Games that don't depend on sexist tropes" and "Games aimed at female gamers" are not the same set of games, obviously. For the second set, here's a recent interview with a company (Aksys Games) that's just released one:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/the-x-button/2013-02-20
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/the-x-button/2013-02-20
#67
Senior Member
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
This isn't true. According to the ESA, about 47% of gamers are female, and of the most frequent game purchasers, 52% are male and 48% are female. So the genders are about even now:
http://www.theesa.com/facts/gameplayer.asp
The problem is, as you noted, that the percentage of developers that are female is still low.
However, I don't see why we have to wait until women fight hard and reach equality in the gaming workplace for this to change. Simply educating everyone, including men, about gaming tropes that may be considered disparaging women could cause people to take a step back and consider if they use any such tropes, and why. Then they can consider ways to avoid such tropes and make better games for both genders.
http://www.theesa.com/facts/gameplayer.asp
The problem is, as you noted, that the percentage of developers that are female is still low.
However, I don't see why we have to wait until women fight hard and reach equality in the gaming workplace for this to change. Simply educating everyone, including men, about gaming tropes that may be considered disparaging women could cause people to take a step back and consider if they use any such tropes, and why. Then they can consider ways to avoid such tropes and make better games for both genders.
#68
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
This isn't true. According to the ESA, about 47% of gamers are female, and of the most frequent game purchasers, 52% are male and 48% are female. So the genders are about even now:
http://www.theesa.com/facts/gameplayer.asp
The problem is, as you noted, that the percentage of developers that are female is still low.
However, I don't see why we have to wait until women fight hard and reach equality in the gaming workplace for this to change. Simply educating everyone, including men, about gaming tropes that may be considered disparaging women could cause people to take a step back and consider if they use any such tropes, and why. Then they can consider ways to avoid such tropes and make better games for both genders.
http://www.theesa.com/facts/gameplayer.asp
The problem is, as you noted, that the percentage of developers that are female is still low.
However, I don't see why we have to wait until women fight hard and reach equality in the gaming workplace for this to change. Simply educating everyone, including men, about gaming tropes that may be considered disparaging women could cause people to take a step back and consider if they use any such tropes, and why. Then they can consider ways to avoid such tropes and make better games for both genders.
#69
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
Yeah, that 47% of gamers being women includes everything from Farmville to solitaire and minesweeper. Console-only would be much less women.
#70
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/Wanda...mographics.php
With consoles, it's a kind of chicken-and-egg situation. It's been historically more male-dominated, so there's lots of games appealing to males, like hyper violent shooters and even fighting games with "jiggle physics" for the female characters. But is it possibly these type of games that are keeping women away from adopting consoles more frequently. The Wii had higher female players, possibly because of the novelty of the controller, but also possibly because the games like Wii Sports were more gender neutral.
On a related note, here's a mod someone did of Donkey Kong NES for his daughter so she could play as Pauline:
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/0...-pauline-hack/
And again, a father changed the pronouns in Windwaker so that Link is referred to as a girl (although I guess Zelda still is put in peril):
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/1...-a-sex-change/
#71
Senior Member
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
Here's an interesting video on the subject. I love The Amazing Atheist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfkS9...J6X-sw&index=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfkS9...J6X-sw&index=1
#72
Banned by request
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
I can see both sides of the argument. She doesn't HAVE to enable comments and ratings, and frankly, I would never go to YouTube comments for reasonable debate. There are plenty of other places on the web that can host such discussions, like right here. And as someone who has released content on the internet, I know how batshit insane people can get, and how easy it is to take it personally. I got viciously attacked by people online for posting a zero star review of Apocalypto, which is nothing compared to a woman who dares to criticize the way women are handled in video games.
On the other hand, not allowing comments can be viewed as silencing criticism, and I don't know enough about Sarkeesian to know whether or not she has other ways of communicating with her audience, both negative and positive.
On the other hand, not allowing comments can be viewed as silencing criticism, and I don't know enough about Sarkeesian to know whether or not she has other ways of communicating with her audience, both negative and positive.
#73
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
Here's an interesting video on the subject. I love The Amazing Atheist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfkS9...J6X-sw&index=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfkS9...J6X-sw&index=1
First, he doesn't acknowledge the disparity between the 2 negative comments he received and the plethora of rape and death threats Anita received, which are an order of magnitude worse. The comments he got, no matter how wrongheaded they were, were still attempts at civil criticism. Rape and death threats are just attempts to silence that person through fear and intimidation.
She's already discussed this somewhat on her own blog:
http://www.feministfrequency.com/201...ng-on-youtube/
In addition to the torrent of misogyny and hate left on my YouTube video (see below) the intimidation effort has also included repeated vandalizing of the Wikipedia page about me (with porn), organized efforts to flag my YouTube videos as “terrorism”, as well as many threatening messages sent through Twitter, Facebook, Kickstarter, email and my own website. These messages and comments have included everything from the typical sandwich and kitchen “jokes” to threats of violence, death, sexual assault and rape. All that plus an organized attempt to report this project to Kickstarter and get it banned or defunded.
Note that in the screenshot of Youtube comments in that blog post, partway through there's a comment from here on why she (initially) left the comments open:
PLEASE NOTE: I've left the comemnts open on this video as a way of showing why this topic is so important. I apologize in advance for the hate speech and ignorance that will invitably be left below. So don't feed the trolls - except may to thank them for proving to everyone that sexism in gaming is indeed a huge problem. [TRIGGER WARNING]
#74
Moderator
Re: Kickstarter: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
Here's an interesting video on the subject. I love The Amazing Atheist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfkS9...J6X-sw&index=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfkS9...J6X-sw&index=1
And of course, criticism of her video hasn't been stifled...there's plenty of it all over the internet...from this thread to The "Amazing" Atheist's response video. YouTube comments are probably the worst place to get interesting discourse on anything.
I only watched about half of this inane video before giving up, so if he makes any good points in the second half feel free to summarize here.