Comments

1
The sooner #GamerGate is crushed, the better. Furthermore, I hope this provides a template for how to defeat organized online harassment targeting women.
2
I am unsure why my favorite way to relax and kill time (other than sweet, sweet lovin') has been turned into some kind of weird culture I do not understand nor feel any connection to.



I mean, I just want to level up and stab Uruks in the back of the head. When did harassing people enter the equation? I don't get it, I really don't.
3
Ok what the heck is Gamer Gate I never gotten a good explanation
4
Yeah, I know. I don't care if someone's male or female IRL, or what class they play. All I care about is whether they enjoy gunning down Imperial scum as much as I do. For the Republic!
5
I'm baffled by the responses to the work of Anita (and many many others), as if pointing out that they're horrible stupid lying bitches proves their point that there's no misogyny involved. "Nobody actually watches her videos 'cuz they're wrong!!!" Then why are you so angry?

This feels like watching Fox News trying to shout down Russell Brand's YouTube videos. The ones with more power crying out how they're victimized by quiet, rational, small(ish) voices. How does that even work?
6
Morons like the one quoted are too dim to realize that it's exactly the free market which will make them irrelevant. Nobody is going to boycott good games (or even bad ones) because of their little hissy fits.
7
"I find it hard to believe he'll be able to actively change the conversation in the same way the he does on the Colbert Report."

Given that he will be interviewing celebrities instead of people hawking non-fiction books, I think his ability to influence will be surprising if he carries his editorial view over to The Late Show. And there's not much stopping him from bringing geek culture into the conversation they way Jimmy Fallon has Joshua Topolsky on his show. Colbert is a mega-nerd.

Plus, putting Larry Wilmore in for half an hour after the Daily Show has potential to REALLY change the conversation.
8
Neil Gaiman? Yeah, good luck.

They need heroes they can rely on in situations like this. Your Ted Nugents. For me, gamergate turns into something truly pathetic when you find out these sad sacks were counting on the likes of Joss Whedon or Stephen Colbert to support their twisted cause.

If these guys had at least realized their only natural allies were wingnut troglodytes I could at least respect their grasp of how the world works. But they're totally out of touch.
9
The fact that the media keeps painting this as a gender issue and not a journalistic ethics issue just shows how we've already lost. Colbert points this out, but quickly discards the idea without much thought. There's plenty of stuff out there -- like http://www.historyofgamergate.com/a-peop…, which will give you a good overview.



This snippet from that website sums it up perfectly:



"There is a narrative being espoused that angry male gamers are lashing out at progressive voices, many female, for a perceived attack on their culture. Any reputable source you can name will have content aiming to prove some variation of that point. Looking back at this time, it would be almost impossible not to come to that conclusion. A conclusion that is devoid of nuance and ultimately disingenuous. I will attempt to demonstrate a view and perspective that is not being reported on in mainstream gaming publications. In fact, it is being actively censored, effectively trying to erase the record of any opposing view, regardless of who it is coming from."



The fact that Zoe Quinn is absent from any of these discussions just shows how the gaming media is trying to spin this story. We really get into the meat of it here:



"This became something more than the escapades of an unfaithful lover. It was the revelation of who some of these men were that she was having affairs with. Several prominent members of the independent games scene, including judges of awards that she had won. However, it was one of those five names that would prove to be the catalyst for a gaming culture war that had been on the verge of eruption for some time. That name was Nathan Grayson. This name is important because he is a journalist for one of the most visited gaming sites online, Kotaku."



Notice how Anita Sarkeesian is the voice of this movement -- but it's really all about Zoe Quinn. Anita is a professional attention ... enthusiast.



Back to Zoe. Here's where it really gets suspicious:



"On March 31, 2014, Grayson, now writing for Kotaku, penned an article "The Indie Game Reality TV Show That Went To Hell." For those who don't know, a game jam is when several game developers get together and make a game, often with a time constraint of usually just a few days. Its about coming up with creative ideas and executing them in a creative way. It is not uncommon to then see these ideas expanded upon into full games later released. Zoe Quinn was one of the developers to be featured in a TV adaptation of one of these jams, intended to become a reality show. "



Of course, this didn't go as expected. So it became something for people to latch on to. If you were around any internet forums during that time that tried to discuss it, those posts were ALL deleted. Every comment, even most threads. As soon as they showed up. The reason you don't see a reasonable "opposing" side is because the same people defending Quinn/Sarkeesian are the ones who deleted any trace of discourse that didn't match their narrative. On reddit's /r/gaming, A thread that discussed TotalBiscuit's (a small celebrity in the gaming community) take on the issue -- and every single comment in that thread was deleted. The moderators of these forums were preventing any discourse that didn't line up with what they wanted.



Zoe Quinn then took a bunch of money from a venture capital firm - The Fine Young Capitalists (TFYC). It was supposed to be for Charity, but Zoe didn't want the developers working for free. Because of this, Zoe claimed that TFYC was transphobic. It's plenty easy to find proof that they are very welcoming. They even said that the individual was the sole arbitrator of whether or not they were a woman or man.



Then, Zoe and her team released the personal information of their contact at TFYC. This is often called 'doxxing' in the real world. It's supposed to bring the internet rage to the individual in real life. Remember -- this is the supposed "victim" doxxing. A vote of "transphobic" was enough to shut down discourse. TFYC were barred from rebutting the claim in every major gaming publication.



This is just a small part of GamerGate. It really is a journalistic ethics that has been latched onto by people fighting gender wars. It was, and has always been, about that. As long as you ignore the most prominent gaming journalists--who were all part of the original whitewashing and continued insistence that it's angry basement-dwellers.


10
@3: My understanding is that it is a bunch of guys online who began a campaign of harrassment towards people who criticize games they like or "gaming culture," and it ended up being mostly rape and death threats directed towards women.



I think just the harrassment was initially given the "-gate" suffix, but then the name became more popular than the movement, and so they adopted the whole thing.



I think. I do not really know for sure either.
11
@9: Bullshit. The original issue was Anita Sarkeesian, and people hating her videos. The hatred and venom spewed her way was far out of proportion for any mistake she may have made.
Then we get to Zoe Quinn's ex being pissed off, and it exploded. The genesis of this was misogyny. There has never been anything at its core other than men feeling threatened by women.
12
People take their gaming way too seriously.
13
@9: Nobody thinks this is about ethics in game journalism, and you have only yourself and everyone else in #GamerGate to thank for that one. Even your long-winded conspiracy-minded response references Zoe Quinn as if one sentence about an independent game that was released for free is some kind of reason for a call to arms.



This is a traditional boys-in-male-dominated-environments response; the anger at a woman who dares to sleep with more than one of the people in their club is the tell.
14
http://youtu.be/5RVlCvBd21w
15
@10: Thanks for the explanation. I have been baffled about the whole thing, other than knowing that some sort of hatred toward women is involved.
16
@9- You're really trying to say that your movement isn't about sexism because it's about baseless slandering of a woman who stopped dating a dude and started dating another dude?



That makes it sound so much more reasonable.



If gamers really had an issue with the crappy quality of game journalism (Which is on par with every other recreational industry journalism. Do you people ever get outside?) then Gamergate's starting gun wouldn't have been a pissed off exboyfriend's pathetic whine. It would have been a substantiated failure in journalist ethics. Which the Zoe Quinn story is not.
17
I should "definitely" do nothing, ya big internet clown. Go renew your subscription to Entertainment Weekly before you write your next culture column.
18
There's this misconception amongst a lot of gamers is that there's a very limited, finite, resources for making games. Some are afraid that to make a game for women means losing a game for men. Or, to make a game for casual gamers is to lose a game for the hard core gamers. The thing is, for a period of time, they were right. In the 00's, the Big Publish model was all there was. Big Publish was seeing that lots of different kinds of people were playing games and the "casual" gamer demographic was growing far faster than the "hardcore" gamer demo. The complex and deep games of the 1990s gave way to the ubiquitous 3rd person action adventure that required little thought to play. Big Publish also still thought, almost in a self-contradicting manner, that gamers were all boys. This was also the time when the industry was declaring "the PC is dead." But now we've got crowd funding sites like Kickstarter and digital distribution platforms like Steam where any team or company of any size, from 1 person on up, can make any game they want. With all these funding models, it's now possible to make games for all sorts of people. Now nobody has to lose anything for someone to gain something. Look at Steam Greenlight and you can find anything for anybody, the funding models are in full effect and they're actually producing games. However, some of these seething man-children still have it in their heads that this thing they called their own (but never really was) is under attack, that there isn't room for everybody. All the evidence that the pool is big enough for everyone is staring them in the face, they use Steam, and the indie sections of XBL/PSN, and Humble Bundle practically every day. And on top of it all, the hardcore gamers have *never* had it better. They got a new legit Deus Ex, Wasteland 2, X-COM, and Planetary Annihilation. These are games that could not have been funded 10 years ago because Big Publish didn't think there were enough of them to buy these things off the shelf. I've been playing video games for practically as long as they've existed and the industry is way bigger and far more diverse than it's ever been before. Games can be made with strong female protagonists, with minority races, for the young, for the old, for the super nerdy and nobody loses anything. These new funding models are not only providing new kinds of games for everyone but they're also funding the genres that were forgotten for a decade or more. There really is nothing for the hardcore gamers or the guy gamers to actually complain about anymore.
19
@16 - Perfectly stated.
21
And as far as the "ethics in games journalism" bit goes, I mean, come on. You're still reading magazine or mainstream site (IGN, Gamespot, etc) reviews? Are they and their stupid review scores actually important anymore? You can get a demo of anything, there's user reviews and blogs and whatnot. Even when there is a real, true conflict of interest in a game article, why the hell would you care? Why get upset at the thought that you may be misled when you're looking at Metacritic anyway, reading all the reviews and the user comments. Do what all humans naturally do and what statisticians do for a living: toss out the outliers from the sample set. The great thing about the Internet is that you can *always* find someone to confirm your bias. So instead of harassing the ones that you don't agree with, seek out the ones you do.

And if you're going to be a self-righteous crusader, you better put your real name on it because if you're using anonymity to harass or dox someone then you're automatically wrong. People who don't actually show up to a debate and say "This is who I am and this is what my opinion is." If you truly believe in what you're saying then you'll have no problem making a video or writing a blog, showing your face, and owning your opinion. If you hide behind anonymity then you know you're wrong.
22
That doesn't look like "absolute disarray" as much as it was some trolls trying to get > guaranteed responses and occasionally winning. "You've made your bed, now die in it"? I've seen that one floating around as "obviously the Legion of Doom flipping out," but that's probably someone trying to goad Gamergaters.

I don't know if it was a productive venue of discussion one way or the other, but it looks roughly the same as most facebook comment chains.
23
The whole reason why the whole "ethics" thing got passed over was because a) lack of ethics in journalism is nothing new or noteworthy and b) more people started making it about hostility towards feminists. Now it's about hostility and sexism because the conversation morphed into that. Those people on the ethics tangent lost control of the message. Too flippin bad? That's the Internet for ya. I guarantee the miniscule minority that still cares about the original message won't ever get it back, it's too far gone now. I get it, it's upsetting, but again, that's the Internet. Be Zen about it and let it go.
24
@16: There have been other warning signs and smaller controversies and scandals leading to this, so if anything one blog post was the one that broke the camel's back. The Stardock court cases, the Kane and Lynch fiasco, questions surrounding IGN's competitions -- it's all been coming to a head. Gamespot in particular has not been well-thought-of for years, even among the most comfortably 'gamer-rific' outlets like Penny Arcade. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/1…

The "Quinnspiracy" was a dumb sex scandal that ended up leading to Polytron's documents being leaked, then things snowballed from there.

As much as there's frothing hatred and anger for 'the SJW's' among gamergate forums and chatrooms, the hashtag is still alive because the journalists who oppose have done themselves no favors. It's not going to end until the base demands are met -- clear ethics standards, disclosures of COI-- and the moderate voices are satisfied and leave the hashtag. You will never do away with every last Gamergater, but you can remove thousands of reasonable hashtag users by simply performing the most rational demands as a journalist. Joking about 'bring back bullying' only pisses off more people and bloats the hashtag even further.
25
@24 no, the only way the hashtag goes away is when people get bored with it and/or find something else that enrages them more. Again, it's not about a specific thing, it's just an amorphic blob of Internet rage. The demands will never be met because, um, yeah, ethics in journalism has been an issue since the beginning of journalism and has never abated. Because, you know, humans are involved.
26
@24- It's not going to end until people stop barraging any woman who speaks against sexism in gaming with rape threats. It's not going to end until fighting for social justice isn't mocked by assholes in the most privileged class in the world. It's not going to end until douchebag trolls stop being douchebag trolls.

Which means it'll probably never end. Good work, y'all have successfully made the world a little worse.
27
Is there some trick to making the Hulu clips play? I am failing at making Hulu work on my Windows laptop...

Hmm... Interesting... I can't get it to play from Comedy Central's site, either. WHO IS BLOCKING MY INTERNETS? CUT IT OUT TIME-WARNER!!

Woe is me. Stuck watching Colbert in unauthorized SD via PrimeWire..
28
@25 @26









Look, do you want the hashtag to die off and strip legitimacy from the vicious elements of #gamergate, or do you want every journalist to be at DEFCON-3 because an increasing number of people use a hashtag as cultural cache and wreck relationships with advertisers?









Addressing the legitimate ethical concerns with a public ethics policy in place much like the Escapist's would take wind out of their sails and turn it into a virtual ghost town. The alternative ('It'll blow over') has not worked for two and a half months. Destiny coming out didn't stop it. Ebola spreading didn't stop it. No end of negative press in Hufington Post, the New York Times, and a goddamn school shooting threat didn't stop it. We're all of three days from a major election deciding control of the US Senate and it's only redoubled since this Colbert clip.









Give what the reasonable elements want and all you'll have left is the stupid angry frothing mob. Erect clear ethical guidelines contributors "should" adhere to, an example chart of what an ideal Conflict of Interest waiver will look like in contributions, and you can counter any advertiser's concerns by stating "we've already given them what they want, and they're just flip-top-box crazy."









http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-…
29
Whoa, shoot -- I'm sorry, I have no idea why the above comment was formatted as it is. Sorry, everyone.
30
@28: the frothing angry mob is the only effective part.
31
Gamergaters are a cancer. "Ethics in games journalism" is a joke. Ethics in games journalism doesn't matter. They're reporting on a stupid hobby, not politics.



In fact, conflating this shit-fest with Watergate is an insult to Watergate, which was predicated upon an actual scandal. This is more like Benghazi: smoke, mirrors, and bullshit.



Gameghazi.



Gameghazians go home. And while you're there, do us all a favor and stick your head in an oven and fucking kill yourselves.
32
They remind me of Southerners who say they display the Confederate flag to symbolize family history or culture or whatever. It may have meant that once and still mean it to a few people but the overwhelming negative connotations are so strong at this point that you automatically own them too whenever you use the symbol.
33
@28 there are no legitimate ethical concerns behind #gamergate. Those "concerns" were a smoke screen for slut shaming and releasing pent-up id-rage because someone (Anita) was suggesting their favorite pastime could use a few more Papa y Yos rather than Duke Nukems.
34
#gameghazi. Love it.
35
@31 &34: There's a reason the main anti-GamerGate sub on reddit chose the name GamerGhazi
36
The harassment of Sarkeesian and GamerGate are not related. Sarkeesian got a lot of hate for her decision to do a feminist critique of video games. Zoey Quinn on the other hand was instrumental in starting GamerGate. Sarkeesian is desperate to put herself front and center in GamerGate because that's where the headlines are. The reality is that her threats were directed at her personal brand of feminism and have nothing to do with GamerGate.



GamerGate is anti-harassment and has donated over $70K to women in gaming development. They even have a harassment squad where they try to expose persons making threats against those pro or anti GamerGate. The #Notyourshield hashtag is made up of minorities and women that support GamerGate. Sarkeesian insinuates they are all part of a hate movement. The interesting question is: is calling a consumer movement (this is anti-harassment) a hate movement actually a hate movement in itself?



There is no excusing the threats to people online. They should be universally condemned and brought to justice. GamerGate supports this.



One of the reasons Sarkeesian is held in contempt is her insistence of putting herself front and center in GamerGate when she is in no way related to GamerGate. She is a shameless opportunist that is intent on smearing a grass roots movement against media bias and corruption. The fact that Colbert and the rest of the Liberal press don't even bother to investigate the story doesn't help.
37
The harassment of Sarkeesian and GamerGate are not related. Sarkeesian got a lot of hate for her decision to do a feminist critique of video games. Zoey Quinn on the other hand was instrumental in starting GamerGate. Sarkeesian is desperate to put herself front and center in GamerGate because that's where the headlines are. The reality is that her threats were directed at her personal brand of feminism and have nothing to do with GamerGate.

GamerGate is anti-harassment and has donated over $70K to women in gaming development. They even have a harassment squad where they try to expose persons making threats against those pro or anti GamerGate. The #Notyourshield hashtag is made up of minorities and women that support GamerGate. Sarkeesian insinuates they are all part of a hate movement which is emphatically untrue. The interesting question is: is calling a consumer movement (this is anti-harassment) a hate movement actually a hate movement in itself?

There is no excusing the threats to people online. They should be universally condemned and brought to justice. GamerGate supports this.

Sarkeesian is a shameless opportunist that is intent on smearing a grass roots movement against media bias and corruption. The fact that Colbert and the rest of the Liberal press don't even bother to investigate the story doesn't help.
38
@36, @37 "The harassment of Sarkeesian and GamerGate are not related."



Oh. That settles it then. Thanks.
39
Gamergate-Tempest in a Teapot....Honestly really
40
@14 The problem is that video is addressing a problem that doesn't exist. No one is accusing games of causing or creating misogyny and violence, they're pointing how gaming is way too accepting of said behavior,s and how it encourages them, and why this is a big fucking problem.
41
1. Kickstarter lies

Before Anita started her Kickstarter campaign she held a talk where she said she was being harassed by a organized group of 4chan members for months. She said these 4chan members subscribed to her channel so they would know when she released new videos so they could attack her. The type of comments she said she received were sexual insults, death threats & rape threats. She said sometimes she got together with a friend to read through the comments because it would get overwhelming. She says that she probably has the biggest block list on Youtube and anytime they leave any anti feminist, harassing, or threating comment they would be blocked. She said that she had gotten use to these kinds of comments. She said she monitored her Youtube comment section so the only comments that were allowed to be shown had to be approved by her.

She lunched her Kickstarter campaign and made a Youtube video for the campaign. She for the first time allowed comments on her video. she makes a post on her website entitled Harassment, Misogyny and Silencing on YouTube. She says this in the post.

"Here is a very small sample of the harassment I deal with for daring to criticize sexism in video games. Keep in mind that all this is in response to my Kickstarter project for a video series called Tropes vs. Women in Video Games (which I have not even made yet). These are the types of silencing tactics often used against women on the internet who dare to speak up. But don’t worry it won’t stop me!"

"These messages and comments have included everything from the typical sandwich and kitchen “jokes” to threats of violence, death, sexual assault and rape."

http://feministfrequency.com/2012/06/07/…

She says that all of these comments are because of her Kickstarter campaign because she dares to speak critically about video games. These statements completely contradict what she said before she started her Kickstarter campaign. Before her Kickstarter she said she was systemically being harassed by people on 4chan and that among the things they said to her were sexual insults, death threats & rape threats and sometimes it was so overwhelming she read them with a friend as a way to cope with it and she had gotten use to it by that point. So she leaves comments open on her youtube kickstarter video which is something she never did before and she was surprised by the negative comments but how can she be surprised by the same type of comments she was receiving long before she launched her Kickstarter. When she started her Kickstarter and left her comments open she knew exactly what the comments were going to be like because she been receiving them for months prior. So when she says during her Kickstarter that all of the negative comments were because of her Kickstarter campaign she's lying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSoDEA6y…

2. Other Lies

She says that Grand Theft Auto and Saint Row encourage players to kill women by giving players money for killing random female NPCs.

"some games explicitly incentive and reward this kind of behavior by having murdered women drop bundles of cash for the player to collect and add to their own stash"

The truth is money is dropped by any NPC that is killed in the games and has nothing to do with gender.

She says that the female stripper NPCs from Hitman Absolution were put their because the developer wanted players to kill them. The game discourages players from killing innocent civilians by taking away points. The whole point of the game is to sneak by people and keep unnecessary killing to a minimum while moving toward killing your intended target not to kill random strippers and lose points for doing so. The path to the strippers is one of two paths that the player can take. The path to the strippers is the harder of the two paths to take. The other path that the player can take is easier and doesn't involve coming near the strippers at all.

She also says this in her Background Decoration video.

"their status as disposable objects is reinforced by the fact that in most games discarded bodies will simply vanish into thin air a short time after being killed"

She tries to tie disappearing bodies as something that only happens to female NPCs but it has nothing to do with gender its just something that happens in a lot of games irregardless of gender because of limited ram capacity and not having the game slow down because of bodies pilling up.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Ma…

shes a life long gamer
at a Santa Monica College in California back in early 2010 Anita says that she's not a fan of video games and she had to learn a lot about them. she says that she would love to play video games but she doesn't what to go around shooting people and ripping off their heads. During and after her Kickstarter she says that shes been playing video games since she was 5 years old and shes a life long gamer. How can she be a lifelong gamer if she said pre Kickstarter that she doesn't like video games specifically because she thinks that all games are violent. If she's a lifelong gamer than what has she been playing all of this time and why does she thinks all video games are violent. She obviously not a lifelong gamer and only said that as a way to try and give herself more credibility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJj_7SVA…

In her damsel video she said Zelda was never a playable character in a console game. Zelda was playable in the CDI games Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon & Zelda's Adventure. I am not saying these are good games but they are console games where Zelda was the star of her own adventure.

She says that gaming is all boys club and women have until recently been barred from playing games. This is untrue their has never been anything stopping girls from playing games. Most game genres are not gender excluding. Racing, fighting, beat em up, real time strategy, role playing, puzzle, point and click, action adventure, platformers, MMO, Simulation, rhythm action.

Women have been involved in the making of games for years. Theirs been female programmers, artist, composers, designer, CEO, etc. Women have also been involved in the journalism side of things as well. This false narrative that Anita's trying to push that games have somehow excluded women until recently is a lie that she tells to try to push her gender base agenda.

The other thing that she tries to push is the ideal that man are trying to keep women from playing or criticizing games. Both things are false but she keeps to that script so she can fight against the imagery boogie man that she created and so she can justify the existences of her video series.

Anita omitted the fact that she has connections to the developer of the game sword and sworcery but I am sure that has noting to do with the reason why she chose that game's character as a positive female even though it contradicts her previous videos.

https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/….

3. Poor Research

In dismals in distress she said that peach was added to Mario 2 to fill a per existing gender role that existed in the original game Doki Doki Panic except for the fact that her own footage clearly shows that two females were playable in Doki Doki Panic. If she did further research like actually playing the game than she would know that it wasn't just one girl in Doki Doki Panic. The core concept that Anita doesn't understand about games is the fact that graphics assist can be replaced with anything. In fan made mods the cast of Super Mario Bros 2 have been replaced by numerous things like Star Wars ships, Pokemon, Transformers, Spider-Man villains, etc.

http://www.romhacking.net/?page=hacks&ga…

https://youtu.be/t8bub0B1-wk?t=6m15s

In Women as Background Decoration Anita says this

"In order to understand how this works lets take a moment to examine how video game operate as playgrounds for player engagement. Games ask us to play with them. Now that may seem obvious but bear with me. game developers set up a series of rules and then within those rules we are invited to test the mechanics to see what we can do and what we can't do. We are encouraged to experiment with how the system will react or respond to our inputs and discover which of our actions are permitted and which are not. The play comes from figuring out the boundaries and possibility within the gamespace. So in many of the titles we've been discussing the game makers have setup a series of possible scenarios involving vulnerable eroticized female characters. Players are than invited to explore and exploit those situations during their play through. The player cannot help but treat these female bodies as things to be acted upon. Because they were designed constructed and placed in the environment for that singular purpose. Players are meant to derive a perverse pleasure from desecrating the bodies of unsuspecting virtual female characters. Its a rush streaming from a carefully concocted mix of sexual arousal connected to the act of controlling and punishing representations of female sexuality."

Theirs two basic concepts that she doesn't understand. The first one is that games are interactive so players can do things that developers never intended players to be able to do. The second is the fact that games have bugs in them which also allows players to do things that the developers never intending for them to do.

For example in Halo 2 players can do button combos. Button combo is a sequence of buttons that, when pressed in order, results in the execution of an exploit. Typical button combos take advantage of unforeseen attributes of certain actions. Some actions, such as meleeing, can disrupt animations for firing and reloading weapons, performing melees, etc. By chaining these and other actions, players can perform special tricks, such as automatic Plasma Grenade sticks and instant close-range kills. However, many players disapprove of such "cheap" exploitations, and Bungie has declared these combos all as cheating and therefore banworthy

http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Cheating

Another example is in early versions of arcade Mortal Kombat 2. Players figured out how to hit babies after performing Babalitys.

http://bbh.marpirc.net/mk2/

By Anita's logic midway endorses child abuse because players tested the bounders of the game and were able to interact with the objects (babies) in the game that were put their by the developer. So that clearly means that the developer supports any action the players can do in the game including hitting babies. Or it can just mean that games are interactive and filled with glitches and just because a player can do something in a game doesn't automatically mean that the developer endorsed it or even meant for player to be able to do it.

In her Bayonetta video she complains about Bayonetta clothes coming off when she summons demons. she doesn't acknowledge or knows that Bayonetta's hair is also her cloths so that's why her cloths disappears when she summons demons. She also makes the claim that Bayonetta is fighting demons when in fact Bayonetta is actually fighting angles. She also says that Bayonetta has a child except for the fact that Bayonetta doesn't have any children. She claims that Bayonetta is a "choose your own patriarchal adventure porno fantasy." Lets take a second to look at what the word Patriarchy means. Patriarchy is a social system in which males hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property. So how is Bayonetta a game in which players play as a strong women who is always in control of a situation and is more powerful than any man in the game enforcing ideals of Patriarchy. Bayonetta is not a choose your own adventure type game nor is it a porno.

She says this in a tweet

"Everything about Bayonetta's design, mechanics and characterization is created specifically for the sexual pleasure of straight male gamers"

Bayontta was design by a women

http://platinumgames.com/2009/04/17/desi…

http://soulcalibur.wikia.com/wiki/Mari_S…

McIntosh said this on twatter about the Witcher.

"Geralt from Witcher 3 is emotionally deficient in the extreme. Never cries or laughs. Never expresses grief, fear, sadness or vulnerability."

Witchers are unable to express emotions on their faces because of the training that is involed to become a Witcher. Taken in as children, Witchers-to-be are subjected to intense alchemical processes, consumption of mutagenic compounds and relentless physical and magical training to make them dangerous and highly versatile against their vast array of opponents.

http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/Witcher

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/201…

"In the beginning of “Women as Background Decoration: Part 2,” Sarkeesian references a scene from Dragon Age’s City Elf Origin story, in which a group of guards make disturbing sexual comments over the player character’s dead female companion. Sarkeesian implies that BioWare’s narrative is built on the “brutalization of women’s bodies,” using dead women “as an indicator of just how harsh, cruel, and unforgiving their game worlds are.”

"However, the female elf’s treatment is better understood as a thematic commentary on systematic misogynistic violence. Both women and elves are confined to strict socioeconomic roles within the origin story, as the brutal city government uses institutional force in order to keep women and elves oppressed. Essentially, the game explores the use of sexual violence as a form of violent oppression within a misogynistic institutional structure. Yet, Sarkeesian and McIntosh misread this moment – ignoring a critical look at misogynistic oppression within Dragon Age’s narrative."

"Sarkeesian has criticized the postmodern video game Hotline Miami for utilizing the “Damsel in Distress” trope. However, Feminist Frequency’s analysis completely erases the game’s subversion of the trope – as the narrative’s “damsel” seems to be held hostage by the player, and avenging her death produces no reward. Indeed, writers such as Maddy Myers have dissented from Sarkeesian and McIntosh’s analysis – praising Hotline Miami as a postmodern exploration of hypermasculinity which subverts the “damsel” trope."

http://gamemoir.com/lgbt-gender/frequenc…

4. Things taking out of context

She shows footage of Fallout New Vegas where a womens body is being dragged around with psychic powers and says that games often permits women to be knockout, pickup, carried and thrown around. All of these things can be done to male NPCs as well. She also says that assault, mutilating & murder can be done to women in games but all of those same things can be done to male NPCs as well. She tries to use these things as examples of sexism towards women but its not sexism if the same thing can be done to male NPCs.

She claims that the objectification of female NPCs is terrible.

"Unlike other NPCs that exist for purposes outside of their sexuality, Non-Playable Sex Objects have little to no individual personality or identity to speak of. since these women are just objects there's no need or reason for players to have any emotional engagement with them. meaningful relations or interactions are not even possible. Their programming simply does not allow for it."

She tries to say this is unique to female NPCs. The lack of deep personalities, non emotional engagement or meaningful relations is true of all Pedestrian NPCs male or female.

"when assaulted by the player non playable sex objects might scream. but regardless of their canned automated reaction they are will designed to be expendable to be used and then tossed out."

Same thing is true for male NPCs as well.

In background decoration she talks about female character being objectified while showing footage of the main protagonist from Watch Dogs in the process of shutting down a human trafficking ring.

In her background decoration video she said this.

"In the realm of interactive media I use the term "instrumentailty" to refer to the practice of using virtual women as tools or props for the players own purposes. Courtesans in the Assassins Creed series, for instance, are available to be "rented" and used to help you "blend in" to the environment. Once acquired, they can be ordered to flirt with guards to distract them. Allowing the protagonist to slip by undetected. "

The courtesans were one of the four factions allied to the Assassin Order, with the other three being the thieves, mercenaries and Romanies. They usually aided the Order by collecting information from clients, or by acting as distractions and allowing allies to slip into restricted areas.

The player can also hire male thieves & mercenaries to aid them with blending into a environments and killing. So is using man as Tools bad as well or is it only bad when it happens to women in Assassin Creeed.

http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Cou…

Anita and mcintosh purposely says controversial things on tweeter to provoke a negative reaction from people so they can use the response to prove Anita's continued harassment. mcintosh even admits to purposely provoking gamers with his comments.

https://youtu.be/Xi5qQ3GIbD0?t=7m50s

Here's an example of Anita provoking a reaction from people and using the response as a example of her continued harassment to coincide with a Kickstarter update.

You only have to watch the first 3 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLD8gHka…

Lets take a look at some of these comments.

"A few months ago I started posting deliberately provocative tweets whenever I'd see the angry gamer mod launch a harassment raid on someone"

"I'd only post things I basically agreed with, but I did it in an overtly antagonizing way designed to enrage these specific hateful gamers"

"The goal was to see if I could draw some of their fire & distract them a bit from their usual targets. It worked like a charm. It still is"

"Its shockingly easy to drive these bozos into frothing fits of rage. Simply tweet critically about their beloved Ico, MGS or Bayonetta"

ANITA

"not a coincidence it's always men and boys committing mass shootings. the pattern is connected to ideas of toxic masculinity in our culture"

"manhood, not guns or mental illness should be central in newtown shooting must read 2012 article by @ jacksontkatz huffingtonpost.com"

"mass shootings are one of tragic consequence of a culture that perpetuates toxic ideas of masculinity. this is how patriarchy can harm men too"

"there's no such thing as sexism against men. that's because sexism is prejudice + power. men are the dominant gender with power in society"

"games press: allowing unmoderated comments contributes to the culture of sexism and harassment. you can't be neutral on a moving train"

"Absolutely brilliant article by @janelarejones discussing the amazing levels of sexism in BBC #sherlock's irene adler"

"I finally watched the 1st season of Mad Men & i was HORRIFIED, it is not interesting or subversive to watch uncontested sexism & racism"

"I'll be discussing the reasons Bayonetta is so pernicious in my Fighting Fuck Toy video. Bayonetta is a quintessential example of the trope"

"Everything about Bayonetta's design, mechanics and characterization is created specifically for the sexual pleasure of straight male gamers"

"Disappointed to see most major Bayonetta 2 reviews completely ignore or even praise its shameless sexism and flagrant use of the male gaze"

"I have to say, I really don't like going into comic book stores because everywhere i turn i face misogyny and sexism"

"the US bombed them back to traditional values. feminism does not exist in Japan. while I don't like judging an entire culture, that does not excuse them"

"I've played a ton of awful sexist video games but God of War 3 really is one of the most brazenly misogynist titles ever produced"

"GTA5 is in the news this week because of its horrendous violence against women. Watch our episode on the issue here:"

"A favorite harassment tactic of online abusers is to send me gameplay footage or still images of the degradation of women in video games"

"Rockstar: when gameplay from your product is regularly used to harass women it might be a sign you're contributing to a hostile environment"

"time after new GTA launch before fans started harassing me with gameplay of the use & murder of prostitutes? 86 mins"

Shows a picture of her holden Metroid Other M and comments
"About to replay this monstrosity. The things I do for you people...#cringe

"Anime is the most disgusting, sexist, and misogynistic form of media to ever come out of Japen. Anime defiles women and caters to perverts and losers. those cartoons are corrupting teenagers and promoting rape culture.

"Dying Light has a damsel in distress storyline. Dear game developers, its 2015 aren't you embarrassed by this yet?"

"The Witcher 3 does to Ciri what Arkham City did to Catwoman Thugs yell "bitch" and "whore" and sexually harass both women as you play them"

"Welp, I guess we could just use The Witcher 3 to illustrate the rest of our #tropevswomen series because it includes all the sexist tropes"

"Also the "it's realistic for enemies to sexually harass female characters” excuse is nonsense in fantasy games filled with ghouls & wraiths"

"Dear gaming industry: If you want to appeal to women maybe consider not having your game yell "bitch" and "whore" at us while we're playing"

"Enemies in Witcher 3 yall gendered insults at the playable female character but insults thrown at the make lead are decidedly not gendered"

"Enemies call Geralt "freak" & "mutant" due to fictional prejudice against magic. When they call Ciri "cunt" it's rooted in real life sexism"

"Games like The Witcher 3 use sexism & sexual violence for "gritty world-building, presenting it as regrettable but natural and inevitable"

"In fact, Witcher 3 is a particularly egregious example of this problem. The game repeatedly uses brutal sexual violence as window dressing."

"This level of extreme violence shouldn't be considered normal. Its not an excuse to say it's expected because DOOM. Thats the problem #BE3"

"Its really troubling (and depressing) that the #BE3 audience is enthusiastically cheering for bodies being ripped apart"

"Only a few minutes into the Bethesda press conference and it's wall to wall glorification of grotesque violence. I can barely watch #BE3"

"If the games industry truly wants to mature it's going to have to focus much more on creative and humanizing interactions #E32015"

"The #Fallout4 crafting system is cool imagine how much cooler it could be if it wasn't SO focused on building stuff to kill other stuff"

A bit sad that #Dishonored2 didn't make the leap to an exclusively female lead but really pleased they're using Emily in marketing #BE3

"Saints Row is not a satire of sexism, it's sexist satire. Same goes for the Grand Theft Auto franchise"

"Like the myth of reverse racism, reverse sexism only exists if you happen to have a time machine"

"Portraying women of color as exotic, hypersexual and animalistic like the succbi in the Witcher 3 is part of a very long racist tradition"

"It makes me profoundly sad that mainstream pop culture now interprets feminism to mean "women can drive fast and stoically kill people too!"

MCINTOSH

"San Francisco is full of repugnant white dudes who believe capitalism and their personal technology idea will save the poor brown people"

"probably not super productive to tell random techie dudes that their business model is both evil and racist. but damn it they had it coming"

"dear silicon valley tech startups: there is no such thing as altruistic capitalism. you can't get rich while "helping" impoverished people."

"They are 100% sincere in their belief that their form of "altruistic techie capitailsm" is god's gift to the world"

"capitalism as an economic system and the continuous growth it requires is impossible to sustain. that's not ideology. that's math #ows"

"the games industry has a problem. Tens of thousands of people construct their identity around its products than act like hateful sociopaths"

"#JeNeSuisPasCharlie because I don't use my free speech to mock and deride the most marginalized and vulnerable in society like Charlie Habdo"

"Extremist vigilante shooters kill 3 in Los Vegas. meanwhile game developers at #E3 continue to glorify extreme vigilante violence"

"Gaming could be a perfect medium to help re-learn values of empathy and compassion but sadly it's most often used to permote the opposite"

"I'm not ashamed of being a man. Quite the contrary, I work to change toxic cultural ideas of what "being a man" means"

"so many toxic assumptions about violent masculinity here. You could write a thesis just about this game setting menu"

"Things that are not oppression:3) Pointing out extremely toxic sexism in hobbyist communities. 4) Criticism of video games"

"It's not a few bad apples. Gamer culture itself is absolutely steeped in extremely toxic ideals about masculinity"

"Each day a bunch of helpful gamer dudes helpfully tweet at me to help prove gamer culture is deeply sexist and toxic"

"Dear clueless gamers replying to me: The point of Male protagonist Bingo is not to win, the point is to illustrate limiting toxic patterns"

"Many promote a culture of aggressive toxic masculinity. So you just helped answer your own question there buddy"

"I’ve seen some mention the abundant sexism in The Witcher 3 but I’ve yet to see any real discussion of its toxic depiction of masculinity."

"Geralt of Rivia is the perfect embodiment of hegemonic masculinity. #TheWitcher3"

"@Scottcoeditor Rage and anger are two of the only emotions men are really allowed to express in patriarchy (which is super unhealthy)."

"Anger and rage are the only real emotional expressions male game protagonists are allowed. Needless to say that's a toxic message for men."

"Mass media narratives, especially games, are often constructed in ways that justify and exonerate men for their angry and violent outbursts."

"Reminder that both Bayonetta games include boss attack animations by Rodin which strongly imply Bayonetta has just been raped."

"If anyone needed further proof that Bayonetta is not any kind of feminist icon. RT @SJWIlluminati: hahahahahahahaha "

"We've fallen so far in critical discourse that I now regularly have to start debates with “You do know Bayonetta isn't a real person right?"

"@TheQuinnspiracy It also has a lot to do with control. They can control Bayonetta’s actions but can’t control human women, so they lash out."

"Don’t think Bayonetta is designed & marketed specifically for horny straight dudes? Nintendo partnered with Playboy. "

"Lollipop Chainsaw, BloodRayne, Dead or Alive and Bayonetta are ALL designed in the same way, as hyper-sexualized fantasies for straight men."

"Precisely. RT @mercurypixel: @radicalbytes Welp, they talk about Bayonetta like she's a freaking real human being, so... don't expect much."

"Bayonetta was created by Hideki Kamiya as his “ideal woman”. He also said "all women outside should dress like her" for his viewing pleasure"

"Bayonetta was created by Kamiya as his "ideal woman" RT @Brostalgia In fact Mari was told by her male boss to male a sexy fighting character"

"Amazed to see sexist gamer dudes now adopting feminist terminology to defend jiggle physics. We can thank Bayonetta 2 reviews for that one."

"Media literacy 101: Bayonetta’s creators make their fictional character do poses for the game camera specifically for the player’s benefit."

"No it’s really not. Bayonetta’s game camera is the most transparent use of the male gaze in video games I’ve ever seen."

"Actual comment. Doesn't understand fiction is constructed. "Stop sluts-haming Bayonetta. She fights and does sexy poses for her own benefit”

"I shouldn’t have to point this out but there is no actual sex in Bayonetta or Tomb Raider etc. Objection to the male gaze is not anti-sex."

"@a_man_in_black Bayonetta’s body/sexuality is specifically presented and displayed as a reward for successful actions taken by the player."

"@a_man_in_black Might account for the "i/her" dissonance if straight male players both self-project into & are sexually aroused by Bayonetta"

"@a_man_in_black Partly has to do with gender. Bayonetta is designed for straight male players but we’re not meant to truly identify with her"

"The special “naked” attacks essentially turn Bayonetta into a hypersexualized puppet designed to thrill the puppeteer."

"For male gaze in Bayonetta 2, pay attention to things outside of the character’s control like the cutscene camera & player directed attacks."

"Looks like most Bayonetta 2 reviews fail to mention the hyper-sexualized male gaze of the cutscene camera and player directed strip attacks."

"When Bayonetta 2 reviews come out we’ll very quickly see who actually cares about issues of sexual objectification & exploitation in gaming."

"Endlessy amused at some gamers complete inability to do even the most basic textual analyses of their favorite games. # MaleProtagonistBingo"

"For those who keep bringing up Sonic as a counterexample for Male Protagonist Bingo. I'll just leave this right here"

"The core value of patriarchal masculinity is control. It's not a coincidence that control is central to many video game mechanics & stories"

"Fascination that you somehow don't think there're any messages in Smash Bros. Start with violence solves conflicts"

"Amused to see so many hateful #gobbledygate user list aspiring game developer in their bio. Yeah good luck with that. You're gonna need it"

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