Thanks Jim. Sincerely. This tendency of demanding women to legitimise themselves and their interest is absolutely asinine. Not least because the very model to which they are expected to adhere is often frowned upon to begin with.
URHG! Nerd culture (whatever that is) was also founded by nerdy women like Roberta Williams, Carol Shaw, Dona Bailey, Anne Westfall, Jane Jensen, Brenda Laurel, Brenda Brathwaite, Janet Murray, Amy Briggs, Danielle Bunten Berry, etc...Ashoten said:Seriously Jim? Fuck you on this one. This a far more complex issue of social interaction that relates to all male/female interaction(Including transgender and homosexuals of course) and not just gamers in particular. Why do think those movies about 3 buddies that get broken up by a random set of breasts appearing keep getting made?
A lot of male nerds have toiled to establish the nerd culture(just as you said) specifically or indirectly because they didn't have female companionship to distract them. So now that The nerd culture is bigger and more acceptable it is only natural for old timers to be suspicious of any new comers. The poser knows no gender but in my own credulity I have witnessed what happens when a random poser usually a girl enters the scene.
Groups break up,feeling are hurt, and friends no longer speak to each other. Maybe this isn't the girls fault maybe the guys in the group let their testosterone take control. I have had legitimate nerd girls in my circles of friends and it was cool but the painful times when things went bad are the ones that stick out in our memories.
What you are seeing is real concern and fear that is always exhibited when previously unknowns are introduced. Interactions between men and women are real chemical reactions because they are different some very distinctive ways. Of course since I am a Fat chud white heterosexual male neck beard in his early 30's you can dismiss my opinion as short sighted egotistical rantings.
And for the record men don't get off judgement free Jim. You always have to worry about weather you are perceived as an alpha who leads or a beta who follows or risk being outcast because you don't have a defined role.
One is a marketing practice done by the companies that hire said women, and the other is a bunch of women expressing fandom. Entirely different things.Sylveria said:So a few weeks ago Jim was decrying the occupation of Booth Babe... and today he's defending what is essentially the same thing, just less likely to be pulling a pay-check for it?
I tend to agree, but I do want to leave an "out" for those who feel manipulated by the use of sexuality in the medium as a whole as opposed to those who just want an excuse to mistreat actual individual women (that is, immature jerks.)Taunta said:But taking that to its logical conclusion, it gets very conspiracy theorist. "Fake girl gamers" are all evil, cruel women who just want to use your interests to manipulate you into getting attention from them! THE HORROR, THE HORROR!
...When in reality, these "fake girl gamers" are either a) Not "fake" or b) not very knowledgeable about the subject, but are interested. That should be an opportunity to teach them, not to shun them out of your secret club.
Who's lying? They took the time to find a costume related to gaming, learn enough to portray that person, and immediately they're looked upon as if they're fake. Whether they are or not. What's dishonest is looking at them that way in the first place.Smilomaniac said:Lying to peoples faces isn't bad behaviour? Thinking that the people they're lying to are so stupid that they'd actually believe it?
Sure, I could just placate them or avoid them, but I'd rather show how pissed off that makes me feel and let them know that it isn't alright. In fact, I think that's a bigger sign of respect than any other response.
What does this have to do with any of the things I've said?Remember, even Felicia Day was recently called out on this (by a Destructoid contributor no less), a woman who built her entire career and production company around a show based on an MMO guild. She was asked to produce her "credentials" so to speak. Whereas Jim, Angry Joe, Total Biscuit have never been asked.
Words change. In the same breath as saying that nerd means something to be derided, but someone also needs to go through that sort of dirision to have pride in the name, well, that's hypocracy.GLo Jones said:A wild counter argument has appeared!
I'd say that women in the gaming community are often seen as a personification of this kind of culture shift. It's not necessarily their fault, but they're simply an easy target for people to take out their frustrations.
How paranoid do you have to be to think talking to someone is a test? If someone is wearing a damn pikachu shirt and I happen to really like pokemon, then of course I'm going to want to talk to her about pokemon and of course if she doesn't know, it's going to be disappointing. When that happens over and over, and every attempt and video game discussion with a pretty lady ends the same way, people are going to start getting fucking irritable.Taunta said:The problem is, what are people gonna do about it? Why do girls 1,3, and 4 need to be tested in the first place?
OT: Because the point of the video is this leads to some sort of witch hunt which only affects women, which is fucking stupid. If you're a man, and you say you play video games, people take you at face value. If you're a woman, you have to prove that you have a right to exist. What are the requirements for being a "genuine" gamer girl? Do you have to own X number of video games? Must have a certain level of unattractiveness? Must play X Y Z genres?
I'm sorry, I must have missed the part where we went back to third grade. When did trying to share someone's interest in order to get their attention become a bad thing? When did video games become a secret elitist club? Why, instead of being excited that they're interested, and showing them more, is the response "EWWW, GIRLS ARE ICKY"?
I've never attended a gaming convention so I don't really know where all this stuff comes from, but booth babes would be different because they are promo models. They'll act like their interested in the game/games while in costume because it's their jobs. Tomorrow they might be modeling in a bikini at a car show acting interested in muscle cars. You will find out who the real person is if you see or know them in between the jobs.Combustion Kevin said:isn't this just an extention of the booth babe thing?
you know, girls dressing up to pretend to like a game they're promoting.
otherwise, I got nothin'.