A Rant on Civility and Gamergate

Gamergate, it's been an ongoing problem, both for the gaming community and for feminism, women's interests and general civility as a whole. As it is, I hope you enjoy my rant regarding Gamergate and it's problems.

So today I was talking to my brother over the phone, and he was talking about Anita Sarkesian doing some slurry interview on ABC (to those that do not have the displeasure of knowing who Ms Sarkesian is, here is a link for education). Now, getting back to the issue, she is (for those that do not click the link) something of a culture critic when it comes to the gaming community. She says that games are, on the whole, blatantly misogynistic, and that the culture of gamers is well... blatantly misogynistic. 

If I had to summarize what she is, I would say "She is the Game Industry and Culture's personal muckracker". She has made quite a bit of noise over games, and the culture, and is part of the reason behind the internet-infamous "Gamer Gate" a controversy in the gaming community that has mainly focused on gender and sexism in part due to pundits and gamers escallating the issue. Doubtless to say, Sarkesian's claims have some creedence, as do many claims regarding sexism in games, and in media as a whole. There are a few issues where you can see how gender roles clearly play out and how tropes become shorthand for character traits based and enforced by gender. There are misogynistic elements in some games. Between GTA, Duke Nukem, there's a pretty solid subset there showing elements that would make people cringe with how women were treated (as well as lollipop chainsaw which is in my opinion a bit of a hidden gem, though potentially offensive to some). 

But here's what got me upset enough to write this. My brother said, "They should hack her personal info and threaten to post it unless she does a live debate on Twitch!" If I was talking to him in person, I would have smacked him on the head for that response. While I still think for the most part Sarkesian is, an opportunistic, grunge covered scuzball in how she goes about things (and that would be the calm and measured response) her overall message seems to be valid. I think she's more or less right about misogyny in games, especially in some pockets of the culture, mainly in shooters and the more male-centric games like GTA though this isn't surprising. Gaming culture is known for being a sort of guy's culture after all, but it's changing and is less... guy than it is a mix of elitism and skill based respect fueled by competition.* You need only look to Pottermore and the userbase for an example of a female dominant gaming community. In that regard, I would say gaming culture is no more mysogynistic than most sports. It could be seen as even LESS mysogynistic in some cases, and in some subsets of the gaming community regarding certain series (fire emblem, pokemon, mario, many nintendo games) as being rather neutral in the culture, and I'm moderately surprised that Ms. Sarkesian does not draw attention to the good every now and then, at least from what I've gathered from her regarding her opinions and what I have seen. 

Overall, I would say she's not a hack per se. She has a point, as the heretical occasionally does, but when this sort of thing happens, and folks want to basically take the heretic and opt for the public lynching rather than the reasoned response... it's disappointing to say the least. By all means, I would want to see her debate folks like Chuggaconroy, Marriland, Frash from Video Games Are Awesome or Angry Joe. I'd love for conversations with developers and her to happen as they're forced to confront the heretical. But, forcing people into debates that are less debates and more "oppritunity to destroy" is about as sporting as the "debates" and interviews set up to make the other guy look better. 

*Footnote: on this note, I would say that if you enjoy games, play lots of games, and find them your cup of tea, I would say you are a gamer, and impacted in some way by the gaming culture. This is quite similar (and the irony does not escape me) to how to be feminist, one need only believe that women should be treated with all the respect and rights given to men and vise versa.