Female Game Developer

[GodPlayedByJamesMason]

I'm a frequent lurker here but never really post but just felt I had to after reading this article about a female game developer and the threats she receives just for doing her job, I don't know what response I want really, just someone to talk through with me how horrific this is/how brave she is for refusing to break/what can we do, you know?

No I haven't been sucked in Almond. The whole gamergate affair is not about Zoe Quinn. And men have been subjected to this behaviour, if you read the first link I posted. A few idiots do not represent the majority of gamers. It might suit some agendas to say that, but it simply isn't true

Monkey trousers, the post you're responding to was made by NobleGiraffe, not me.

But FWIW, a few people making allegations etc (of which you are one on this thread) certainly do not represent most gamers (like my DS).

monkeytrousers, your link above with this evidence of corruption (it actually goes here by the way is just a selection of storms in a teapot, really. And the sort of thing that comes up in film/book/theatre reviewing occasionally as well.

And the stuff billed as 'consumer slander' is... fairly unobjectionable. Eg New Statesman article saying gaming has moved on from the stereotype of angry white men in basements. Wow.

Now, I may not know the difference between positivism and social otherthingy, but I know how to use google and assess evidence.

Did you really not make any effort to investigate the claims before coming to a conclusion?
Did you refer to yourself as a scientist upthread, or was that someone else?

Buffy, my idiot's understanding of the dispute is as follows.

1. Gamer group A play games based on their technical complexity, visual quality etc.
2. Gamer group B play games in part based on them including diverse characters or female characters with practical clothes on.
3. Gamer group C play games like Candy Crush Saga on smart phones.
4. Group A claim that game reviewers used to review based on the preferences of group A but now do it based on the preferences of group B, for some nefarious or money making reason. This is claimed to be corrupt.
5. Any game with a clothed woman in it or that is designed by a woman (or other member of a diverse group) may or may not be lacking in technical complexity and only get a good review due to corruption, allegedly.
6. Somebody is harassing, threatening and making up allegations about women who work in gaming.
7. People seem to think it is more important to decide if the people making the threats, allegations are from group A,B or C than condemning the spread of threats, cyber stalking and allegations.

Monkey, you said that gamergate was triggered by what supposedly happened with Zoe Quinn. You confidently repeated the allegations against her as fact.

How is that not you being sucked in to that particular narrative?

I still want to know more about these supposed radical feminists who threatened Monkeytrousers (the implication is, with violence).

Was it in a public forum? What did they threaten? How do we know they were radfems?

It is just so, so different from the way the many radfems I know go about things, I think I can be excused for taking it with a pinch of salt.

I'm also still interested in these threats from radfems. I've seen some pretty heated disagreement amongst feminists, but I've never seen anyone actually being threatened.

Latest threats against Sarkeesian here

A comment from a feminist on FB:
' "I keep hearing about 'feminist extremists'. What do these feminist extremists do? They write about how women are depicted in pop culture, they call for more female representation in the media, they ask us to think critically about video games where you can beat women and lock them in your trunk.

Why is calling out sexism so threatening that men respond with rape and death threats? One man has threatened to go on 'the deadliest school shooting in American history' at USU if they host author and blogger Anita Sarkeesian. From the email threat: 'She is going to die screaming like the craven little whore that she is if you let her come to USU.'
But saying women deserve better is the real extremism..."'

She had to cancel, because the authorities wouldn't ensure that no one was concealed carrying. Because a loose interpretation of SA rights is far more important to the authorities there than keeping people safe....

and still the threats to women in gaming come

But there's no pattern there. Oh no. Just lone nutters, and the failure of the wider community to take these threats seriously doesn't at all mean there's an issue.

From their own delightful minds.... this it's long, and after a while, you'll wonder when you slipped down that rabbit hole. Suffice to say, all feminists are utter bastards. Yes, we are.

Me neither MrsBuffy.

This is terrorism against women, plain and simple. I wish there was something we could do - other than defending the slandered and attacked individuals online.

A storify about the doxxing of Zoe Quinn

The "person" who made the recent terrorist threats against Ms Sarkeesian claimed that feminists had ruined his life. Yeah, not getting to oppress women properly has ruined his life.
www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/58521856-78/sarkeesian-usu-video-feminist.html.csp

From Twitter:
Should women be allowed to create and play video games without fear of being murdered in real life? Let's hear both sides of the story.

Notice how the terrorising starts with comments and lies about her sexual behaviour? Because nothing is easier or harder to disprove than gossip about who a woman sleeps with. It's slut shaming on a global scale.

I was threatened with rape 20 years ago when online multiplayer games were in their infancy (text based MUDs), not even for arguing but just for existing and being a female player/developer, so this doesn't surprise me at all. There was also plenty of talk about whether I would be good in bed or not. When I eventually reported it to the University admins and they started talking about expulsion of the men harassing me, all their friends rallied up against me and told me I didn't know how to take a joke.

At my graduation (computing degree), a colleague, a friend and DH where all informed casually by various classmates that the reason I won the academic prizes was because I slept with the lecturers.

I work in technology - apparently some people believe I only get hired because I'm photogenic.

I'm not suprised. At all.

www.buzzfeed.com/josephbernstein/the-man-who-sparked-gamergate-regrets-the-harassment-but-say#44usvqt

The man who started "GamerGate" doesn't care about videogames. He only wanted to attack his ex-girlfriend.

Oh troll off, suttoxi.