Here we go again: Anita Sarkeesian and the gaming community

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

1) This is old news. I thought people already new this.

2) I'm not that worried. Chances are she'll have little to no input in the game, since she's just on the pay-roll (we don't know if she's actually being paid) for publicity.

3) Is she actually working for them at all? The debunking video did not mention either way (then again I didn't watch for very long).

 

[Aerosteam]

It doesn't matter if this rumor is true, it doesn't matter if she'll actually influence the game and it doesn't matter if the game is actually good.

I can already see this game being review bombed on Metacritic. Not that it matters.

 

[Alleged_Alec]

So how sexist is it to assume that men can't see these tropes and they apparently need a woman to point them out?

 

[DayDark]

What are these radical views? If you would enlighten me.

Im not really at my pc right now, but for example that there's no such thing as sexism against men. She's allowed to believe so, but i find it radical, and i don't believe one can have this view and also be for equality.

 

[IceForce]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah8mhDW6Shs&feature=youtu.be&t=10m59s

She's not a fan of games, she is a tailcoat riding con artist lapping up all the attention negative or otherwise because it fills up her Patreon/Kickstarter coffers.

... He says while quoting a post that has a link in it where Anita debunks this exact accusation.

Give the link in the quote above another click. Go on, I dare you.
I even adjusted the time skip on it to the part where Anita herself addresses exactly what you've written here.

 

[EternallyBored]

It's EA's funeral. Regardless of what anyone might think of the gaming community at large (I'm a 35 year old male nurse and game enthusiast, that can't stand A.S.) a huge proponent of them will boycott this product into the ground if her name is on it just to prove a point.

It might very well be completely benign her being involved, but when you are as toxic as she is, you aren't afforded the opportunity of an even assessment anymore.

She's not a fan of games, she is a tailcoat riding con artist lapping up all the attention negative or otherwise because it fills up her Patreon/Kickstarter coffers.

Hows that Tropes Vs. Women video series treating all you supporters out there. You all know she is living high off the hog with that money right?

Most gamers don't give two shits about anita, positive or negative, so beyond a token petition, there would likely be zero effect on the game's sales, especially since our community is pretty notorious for claiming to boycott something and then completely failing to follow through and buy it anyway (modern warfare 2 anyone?). Of course, that's ignoring that none of this is actually true and all evidence seems to show that she hasn't consulted on the game at all.

She's only toxic to the online hyperbole machine, the same machine that has failed to end pretty much every negative gaming practice they've railed against in the AAA arena. So unless ME2 is an indie game, the audience EA has access and is marketing to are the mainstream crowd that either know nothing about Anita, or know very little about her beyond her being some dumbass on Youtube that people care too much about.

As for her supporters? Considering she only asked for $6000 at the beginning, I'm pretty sure most of them donated knowing full well that the money wasn't going to go towards the videos. I sure as hell know if I was donating to a low budget proposal like that, that was already at 10 times its asking price, I wouldn't be expecting the equivalent value out of the product, that's not how kickstarter works.
That a lot of the donations came after the media picked up on the story, a good chunk of that money probably also came from people who have no intention of watching her videos and gave with the sole intention of knowingly letting her living high off the hog to spite the people who were attacking her, so they are probably intensly satisfied as long as people keep throwing hissy fits every time she posts something.

 

[Jiggle Counter]

So apparently Anita Sarkeesian is helping develop Mirror's Edge 2, as a consultant

Why Mirror's Edge? Does it have non-feminist issues to deal with?

If anything, she should be the consultant for Ride To Hell: Retribution, if they ever make a sequel. That game was fucked up.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

Kinda pointless petition as I doubt she will effect the game in any way but I don't like that someone who's only goal in life is to cause problems, is making money by causing said problems.
In the end I think its stupid but I don't really care either way because I don't plan on playing it anyway. And unlike a certain someone I can leave well enough alone when it comes to things that don't affect me. Good luck with the petition I guess.

 

[axillarypuma]

O'boy, I thought Sarkeesian stopped being relevant, but you guys keep bringing her up.

This is old news, and for all I care she can destroy EA and I wouln't care. I find sarkeesian to be a sad excuse of a human being and a sad excuse of a feminist to be honest, she has good points, but quite frankly that's all she has, she is only relevant because of the bunch of idiots who give her attention by insulting her and sending her all those threats, which only gives her the opportunity to gather a bunch of other idiots who are on her side and let a shitstorm unleash while she acts like a the poor defenseless victim she criticizes so much when portrayed on videogames, and that's why I find her to be a sad excuse of a feminist, because she acts like like a strong and independant woman, but she's not, at all, she just whines like a ***** until she gets what she wants.

I think a true feminist wouldn't act like that, but hey, what do I know? This is just my opinion.

 

[aba1]

Before we get to everyone brandishing their torches and pitchforks, I'd just like to point out that the last instance of a high-profile developer listening to Sarkeesian's criticism/views was Saints Row IV [https://www.google.com/search?q=saints+row+iv+anita+sarkeesian&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a&channel=np&source=hp], and anybody who has played that game knows how it turned out.

Also, more reputable sources than a Youtube video based on blog post rumors would be nice. The only information even tangentially related to anything like this has solely been fear-mongering, and it goes back two years now to a blog post originally made on Destructoid (which had no sourced facts or anything to begin with).

I have not played Saints Row IV. How did it turn out? I kept hearing it was good. So please enlighten me. I am serious. I am not screwing around. And I DO NOT remember a backlash against it.

I heard it was really bad cause it tossed away all its gta roots and became a infamous clone. Buttttttttt I never played it really only know friends who did and even if I had I am a MASSIVE saints row 2 fan so I would have been really let down like I was with the third, which isn't really fair from a unbiased point of view.

OT: Personally I don't like that she is working on the game especially since I was looking forward to the game so much. I don't really like how sexist she can be even if she does address genuine issues or at least gender segregation's.

Either way I don't like the idea of censorship so if the company wants her views than that is their creative decision to make which I have to respect even if I wouldn't have made the same decision.

 

[Phasmal]

I have a feeling that this topic might be taking a little holiday to R&P sometime soon.

How do you guys stay so angry over such a long period of time? Seriously she's just one person. She's not going to destroy gaming as we know it. That's my job ridiculous!

Are we going to get updates about what she's doing forever? I wonder when we'll think `hey maybe that's enough`?
I mean, we all know the reason she's so famous is the people who will not shut up about how they wish she'd go away.

 

[aba1]

Is she a /paid/ consultant?

Does anyone have an answer for this?

After all, the real question is, are they hiring her because they think she has good ideas, or to avoid being a target in her next video? I bet it's the latter, under the guise of the former. And I think it's good to let her into the studio, see how games are made, and give her one less target to ***** about. I see no problem with this.

And even if they're paying her, it's probably not for her ideas. EA likely sees it as an inexpensive marketing investment.

Honestly I agree they likely just want her to talk about the game to win over all her followers. So if they have her "consulting" on the game than the idea is that all her followers will see it buying the game is supporting her.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I guess I am somewhat ok with it seeing how the first game was never sexist or rather the protagonist didn't look like some big boob and skimpy bimbp. Now I said somewhat because her input could drastically changed the character for better or worse. The last thing I want to see is that character becoming some great big femisim who pretty much acting like a big FU to the male characters in the game.

 

[Redryhno]

I heard it was really bad cause it tossed away all its gta roots and became a infamous clone. Buttttttttt I never played it really only know friends who did and even if I had I am a MASSIVE saints row 2 fan so I would have been really let down like I was with the third, which isn't really fair from a unbiased point of view.

OT: Personally I don't like that she is working on the game especially since I was looking forward to the game so much. I don't really like how sexist she can be even if she does address genuine issues or at least gender segregation's.

Either way I don't like the idea of censorship so if the company wants her views than that is their creative decision to make which I have to respect even if I wouldn't have made the same decision.

Personally, as someone who rented the game for a few nights, SR4 was forgettable. Seriously, I forgot it even existed until this thread, and I think that's probably worse than whether or not the game was good. It didn't have the grounded fun of SR2, or the batshit insanity it embraced in SR3, it was just...bland and uninteresting.

 

[Something Amyss]

It's EA's funeral.

EA's done far worse than this.

How do you guys stay so angry over such a long period of time? Seriously she's just one person. She's not going to destroy gaming as we know it. That's my job ridiculous!

Hey, it's her fault. She keeps existing and stuff.


I say "existing," because I'm pretty sure even if she were to die, it wouldn't stop these rumours from coming up. I have a feeling that Anita is going to haunt generations of gamers, whether as a cryogenically preserved head in a jar, a clone, or a ghost.

If she would work on Mirrors Edge 2 I don't see any reason to fight that. Isn't this what people wanted her to do? Not just flap her mouth in the videos but have actual impact, show how to do better, not just critique?

That's only if you take people at their word, which is already a risky endeavour.

 

[Karadalis]

Before we get to everyone brandishing their torches and pitchforks, I'd just like to point out that the last instance of a high-profile developer listening to Sarkeesian's criticism/views was Saints Row IV [https://www.google.com/search?q=saints+row+iv+anita+sarkeesian&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a&channel=np&source=hp], and anybody who has played that game knows how it turned out.

Also, more reputable sources than a Youtube video based on blog post rumors would be nice. The only information even tangentially related to anything like this has solely been fear-mongering, and it goes back two years now to a blog post originally made on Destructoid (which had no sourced facts or anything to begin with).

I have not played Saints Row IV. How did it turn out? I kept hearing it was good. So please enlighten me. I am serious. I am not screwing around. And I DO NOT remember a backlash against it.

Basicly the choice of gender had absolutely no effect on gameplay whatsofreaking ever.

'HOWEVER:

All the "tropes" or rather things that Anita lambasts in her videos.. like female strippers, violence against women etc etc. Is still present in Saints Row IV

As for her working on mirrors edge...

She gives "advice" and believe me when i say that whatever advice she gives would have been put into the game anyways, or EA will just nod their heads and then dont put it in because money...

EA has hired her to make themselves look good in the eyes of SJWs and professional tumblr snowflakes who nowadays are listened to way to much.

Besides that Mirrors edge was a mediocre title at best and it had nothing to do with the protagonist being female. Infact the gender had so little to do with the game it could have been a white CIS hetero dude and you wouldnt have noticed any shift in tone.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

You know what I've never understood about mirror's edge? Why it was in first person.

Parkour is one of those things that's so cool to look at, why would you do it in first person when third suits it better?

 

[DudeistBelieve]

It's EA's funeral. Regardless of what anyone might think of the gaming community at large (I'm a 35 year old male nurse and game enthusiast, that can't stand A.S.) a huge proponent of them will boycott this product into the ground if her name is on it just to prove a point.

It might very well be completely benign her being involved, but when you are as toxic as she is, you aren't afforded the opportunity of an even assessment anymore.

She's not a fan of games, she is a tailcoat riding con artist lapping up all the attention negative or otherwise because it fills up her Patreon/Kickstarter coffers.

Hows that Tropes Vs. Women video series treating all you supporters out there. You all know she is living high off the hog with that money right?

Most gamers don't give two shits about anita, positive or negative, so beyond a token petition, there would likely be zero effect on the game's sales, especially since our community is pretty notorious for claiming to boycott something and then completely failing to follow through and buy it anyway (modern warfare 2 anyone?). Of course, that's ignoring that none of this is actually true and all evidence seems to show that she hasn't consulted on the game at all.

She's only toxic to the online hyperbole machine, the same machine that has failed to end pretty much every negative gaming practice they've railed against in the AAA arena. So unless ME2 is an indie game, the audience EA has access and is marketing to are the mainstream crowd that either know nothing about Anita, or know very little about her beyond her being some dumbass on Youtube that people care too much about.

This has always been my feeling as well. Hell I argued with someone on Twitter that Total Biscuit winning some Game Award wasn't a big deal either for that very reason, he's just a chap making youtube videos.

That said, Anita has been gaining some mainstream press as of September, a story about her appeared on the BBC. GameInformer magazine (which Gamestop subscribers get) did a full length interview with her. The proverbial shit storm is launching her more and more into the public eye.

Which is ironic, they created they're own monster.

 

[Erttheking]

snip

snip

snip.

Well it is usefull in that one it criticizes games and shows areas of improvement and two she showed us that we still got issues to deal with.

People were aware of those issues long before Anita came to the scene.In fact most of what she talks about is stuff people already know.

And yet when she does talk about the things we supposedly already know, she gets called a con, a liar, a fraud, and gets rape threats. For a community that "Already knows" about these problems a lot of people sure threw one hell of a fit when someone suggested that they were true.

Let's face it, good chunks of the gaming community responded to her videos with the emotional maturity of fucking children. And frankly it permanently damaged my opinion of the gaming community.

 

[Dragonlayer]

I will gladly submit to the Fascist jackboot of the Greater Feminist Matriarchy if the Reviled One fixes the tutorial that prevented me from making any progress whatsoever in the first game. I did that goddamn wall-run-jump six times in a row and *every* single bloody time the tutorial would tell me I did it wrong and restarted! I even got my brothers to watch me and confirm that I was doing the move correctly but still the sodding tutorial would not let me pass!