I was concerned that one significant point would be overlooked, but Jim sort of touched on it. I think many gamers fear that once we start accepting criticism of things like racism and sexism within the siege-engineered walls of our culture, we open the gates for criticism from the outside, no matter how ill-informed, misguided, or straight-out agenda-driven.
Now, yeah, that's not healthy. We need the people who are best informed about our medium and culture to be able to talk about it, including in ways that it falls short. And yet...
A recent article about the effect of "trolls" on Internet culture comes to mind, with its noting that such behavior drives everyone to extremes. I may dislike the way women are treated like rewards and ciphers in many games, or that dark-skinned characters are limited to shallow antagonists or stereotypical sidekicks in others. But I hesitate to take a position that might see me lumped in with those who reflexively treat any criticism of their criticism as misogyny, homophobia, or racism, who believe that because they're "fighting the good fight" it doesn't matter how scattershot their aim is or how many people who might be sympathetic to some of their broader ideals are utterly turned off of the issue by the hostility and presumptuousness of their rhetoric.
I read the Sophie Prell article Jim cited in the video. I genuinely winced at her account of the "I suck" t-shirt, and nodded at some of her points. But then I saw there was a link on the sentence, "Well, I'm not crazy", and I winced again, saying to myself, "What do you want to bet that's the 'gaslighting' article?"
...Yep.
I'll let anyone who cares to look up the article and its citation if they want; it's yet another case where while I grimace at recognition in some of the things it says, it also makes me say, "Yes, but... haven't you just given every woman one more handy catchphrase to dismiss any criticism directed towards their arguments? Do we need another piece of shorthand for anyone who is interested in addressing the middle ground to hurdle before getting into the meat of an actual point?" ("Look, I'm not a misogynist, I'm not blinded by my participation in the patriarchy, I'm not trying to gaslight you, and whether you were a man or a woman, you would still be coming off as a hysterical lunatic... YES, I'm fucking aware of the linguistic origins of the word 'hysteria'...")
I thought about the Mages Guild storyline in Skyrim, how yet again the pattern of a fallen leader giving up their mantle to the relatively inexperienced Player Character played out despite the existence of people with far greater seniority. But there weren't a large number of female NPCs who would have been the obvious choice to step forward to fill the role instead, and so that plotline went unremarked in Ms. Prell's article.
And I'm just so tired of anyone, no matter how noble their intentions, even obliquely implying that every woman, every homosexual character, every minority character has to be a role model. I've seen arguments tear even people who would otherwise be on the same side apart, with one side saying character "x" is deep and interesting and another saying those same traits the other side praise make that character stereotypical or a poor reflection on every other member of their minority. This is not progress- this is how we get characters who are designed by marketing departments and focus groups rather than goddamn writers.
Yes, I would be happy to see more strong female characters, more intelligent and emotionally moderate black and hispanic characters, more gay characters who are about more than their sexuality. But it's not my place to saddle any individual game- or games as a whole- with that as their responsibility. If we get there, we need to get there organically, in part by getting more people within those groups into the industry, and I think that will happen in time. But if I'm tired of rescuing Ms. Sex Object, that doesn't mean I want to see her replaced with Lt. Colonel Object Lesson- which seems the predictable result of certain kinds of pressure being brought to bear.
If we try to take the middle ground in these arguments, we often take fire both from the entrenched and those who besiege them. It may well be necessary, but let's not pretend for a moment that it's an easy step to make.
