Jimquisition: I'm Going To Murder Your Children

[Playful Pony]

Ah, the Bad Dragon website, high up on my bookmarks list... Lots of really fun products that perfectly resonate with my bad girl fantasies X3.

I shall continue being a beacon of human kindness and perfection in the hopes of seing which one he has. I'm curious!

 

[K12]

A woman is threatened on the internet in a grossly disproportionate manner. I was wondering when we'd have a brouhaha about how some stupid people doing stupid people shit and one/some woman/women taking it all too seriously means that gaming is sexist and we're sexist.

BRB, gotta flaggelate.

And in case you're wondering, no I didn't watch past the first minute or so, there really isn't a need to at this point.

Lady Victim, evil sexists, misogyny, gaming needs to change, THE ISSUE, etc.

Edit: Well blow me down, I've since been convinced to watch the video and while the basis of the whole thing has only happened because someone thought it was acceptable to lay into a woman, the content itself managed to subvert expectations. Good work Jim I guess.

Too bad you didn't feel the pressing need to stand up and be the hero we apparently needed when all the men you mentioned were getting threatened with death, but better late than never I guess.

I can't believe that the main thing you took from this video is that the victim was a woman.

Have you not heard any of his stuff about how horribly Phil Fish was treated (including in this video). How can you square the idea that the feminist critics of games are reactionary when you act like this?

Turning a message of "threats like this are unquestionably unjustifiable" into an issue about gender and "poor me the feminists are being mean" purely because the victim is a woman is just ridiculous.

 

[MichaelMaverick]

"Hepler was a terrible writer for games that people waited for anxiously and put a lot of hope into."
"Phil Fish is an asshole who explicitly said he likes to provoke people and asked for everything he got."
"Some reviews are inherently more or less acceptable based on how objectively analytical and intellectually honest their writers were, and some of those writers should not have their jobs."

These are all positions that someone could hold (and they'd hold them correctly). It's understandable to get emotional over them as they pertain to things that people care about, plus they sometimes have very legitimate reasons for believing these things that can't be dismissed as simple idiocy/immaturity/biggotry etc. I wish Jim and others who oppose these movements would try more to understand these reasons instead of immediately jumping to fighting fire with fire at all cost. Speaking pragmatically, I don't think Jim has accomplished much with this episode at all, only made more people pissed off even more intensely. Despite what he said, this episode didn't NEED to be done.

There. With that said, I completely AGREE that death threats, insults and childish rage are despicable, distasteful and don't belong in a discussion between adults. THAT'S the part of the video I agree with. I just wish Jim didn't use it as a strawman to attack legitimate opinions, didn't twist the truth and tried to understand the opposition just a LITTLE bit better.

 

[Raika]

When Jim winked at the end, I kind of came a little. This is probably not the best episode of the show to say this, but he's never looked directly at me and winked before.

 

[Reeve]

No, we really didn't have to do an episode about that. What the fuck is there to say on this topic? Jim, I am always looking forward your show to hear something insightful about the game industry. These pointless fillers about internet rage are well, completely pointless.

Maybe next time.

You miss the point: It's easy pickings. Why do a detailed analysis of the game industry when you can make a video saying "FUCK YOU TROLLS. STOP TROLLING!" and get paid exactly the same?

 

[Ishal]

Fair points all around, but I wish you wouldn't have cast such a wide net Jim. It's not gamers... its some gamers. A tiny vocal minority on the /v/ boards and elsewhere. The audience is not going to make these creative individuals' lives harder... some of the audience will, but certainly not all and not even close to the majority. This no excuse for their behavior, its reprehensible. But to imply that nothing will fill the void in the wake of someone like Hepler leaving is hyperbole. Tons of people go to school to learn this stuff and are chomping at the bits to get into the industry. Gaming as medium is at the best its ever been right now for a plethora of reasons.

Sometimes the community sucks, and steps need to be taken to stop the nonsense. But when asked about a hobby I partake in I'm still going to call myself a gamer. I'm not going to let a tiny angry minority make me ashamed of the rest of the good gaming can and does do.

 

[ChrowX]

Wasn't it revealed that she quit for family reasons and to do some freelance work and write a book on narrative design?

I know there was some initial sensationalism going on here and that Jennifer Hepler did get a lot of shit.. a LOT of shit for her hand in Dragon Age 2 and her hand in BioWare's writing process, but wasn't that years ago? The whole issue has been done and dead for a while now. I see no reason why anyone would suddenly dredge up this particular hate campaign.

 

[Lilani]

I didn't know this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QLz0CqtMVc] still had to be passed around.

Which Jim addresses in the video, explaining that while she may not have quit for that specific reason, that does not make this behavior in any way okay. Not in her case, not in anyone's case.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

This episode is really kind of pointless, everybody with a brain already knows that this kind of behavior is bad and the rest are too stupid to ever understand that.

It's not entirely useless; the gaming culture has had to live with its purported immaturity for a long time, but the thing is I'm not an awkward teen any longer. Being an adult, I have to behave as such, even in the confines of a pastime of mine. Those of us who can reason need to speak out, for fear that the media will consistently portray us as immature. Those idiots who threaten CoD devs over weapon rebalances have deeper issues to work through than I will ever have - and they have the gall of being in my age range or to hold down jobs that require social interactions - something which I wouldn't recommend to any confirmed rager or rage-quitter.

The medium itself has matured, but the players haven't. Life doesn't revolve around sweet 360 noscope shots or trick grenade tosses. No employer will ever care if someone mentions they've Prestiged in Black Ops II for a straight month. The MLG circuit can't be counted on as a serious breadwinner if you're going to be unsportsmanlike about your wins or losses.

I could go on like this for quite a while. It's not so much the ragers who need to be reformed as the general public that needs to understand that gaming is like coffee: you can enjoy your daily two or three cups, or you can go freaking Honoré de Balzac over your java and land yourself an A-grade cardiac arrest that cuts your career woefully short. Let's all learn to ignore the dipshits, gamers and non-gamers alike.

 

[Brian Tams]

And yet Gamers throw a hissy fit when the media brands us as psychotic mass-murderers waiting to happen.

Gee, I wonder why. Can't possibly be all the death threats we tend to throw at developers we hate, now can it?

 

[KDR_11k]

Will those dickwads who want to act like the IRA over some bad videogame even watch this episode?

 

[jluzar20]

Is it just me, or has Jim's episodes been less and less entertaining and more brow beating over time? Nothing better than being called a "sick fuck" when this was the first I've heard of the Dragon Age lady thing.

Yeah, I know he's not calling me a sick fuck personally, but white knights always leave a bitter taste in my mouth. Especially so when you chastise a crowd in order to speak to a few. Shoulda stuck to the dildo, Jim.

 

[Strain42]

The fact that anyone ever feels the need to make a video like this to go "Hey, guess what, threatening to kill people or their children is something you really shouldn't do." makes me very sad.

It really does.

I know this is not specifically a gamer thing, and I know this is obviously a minority of gamers, but I just hate to see this community rely so heavily on death threats, and I hate even more to see that they are becoming a perfectly acceptable comeback to something that has displeased you.

I don't care how many people on the internet go "Oh, it's not a big deal, just brush it off." I will never accept that anything along the lines of "I'm going to kill you." "Go kill yourself." or "I hope you die." are perfectly rational and acceptable responses to someone. Even if it's just over the internet, and ESPECIALLY over something like video games.

 

[Madman123456]

Isn't it enough already?
I mean, if those People who would harass via internet are really just a vocal minority why is this still being reported all the time by gaming media? Gaming media reports some disagreeable people who write odd bullshit on the internet.

There is quite a lot of stuff on the internet that is giving these trolls far more attention then they deserve.


Trolling may or may not be a kind of a coping mechanism. It's generally accepted that trolls who would threaten violence, rape or death have a miserable existence.

Which is still no excuse for threats but on the other hand it is apparently a method to vent anger in the general direction where it comes from on someone who doesn't and/or shouldn't care about it. It's better that this and that miserable creature would call me disagreeable names rather then venting anger on People who may come in physical contact.

Would be even better if this person just shot a bunch of people and kept the mouth shut. If he/she doesn't, let a ban follow and/or a police investigation in some cases.
I had this odd experience where one dude was having a one sided rant about another guy and he swore and got progressively worse. By the time an admin showed up he was like "ima kill you! ima kill you!". Rape of female relatives was also mentioned, the usual.
I would very much like to have the police show up at his house to check if he forgot to put on his straight jacket this morning...


Anger management should be done in the videogame, not over the headset.

Or over twitter, where several developers decided it would be time for their own sexist, homophobic, racist or plain mean remarks.
Often times directly towards people who actually kept their cool.

Which makes me think that i'm being lumped in with those trolls.
Trolls are the only thing the gaming media has something about to say when it comes to community so apparently that's pretty much all there is and all there is to say about the videogaming community.

 

[Vareoth]

Came for the lecture, staying for the dildo. I wonder if he got it in a fancy colour...

 

[Bruce]

I'm with you here Jim. I don't care what someone thinks a person did to them, threatening that person's kids is just completely unacceptable and I think it does paint a very dark picture of the current game culture.

But it doesn't, because it has nothing to do with game culture. Nothing whatsoever.

It does, because it is everything to do with game culture.

A female politician in the UK who had the audacity to suggest it'd be a good idea to have more women on our currency was threatened with rape. Mary Beard, a lady who is a classicist and TV presenter was sent bomb threats for speaking up about the previous issue as well as others.

And that illustrates why we have to deal with the sexism issue within gaming. These are issues which affect far broader groups, society as a whole has these incredibly sexist elements, and they do tend towards the more violent end of the spectrum.

And we aren't separate from that, we are just enthusiasts for one form of expression. If we do not fight against that form becoming more sexist, or racist or just generally more bigoted we end up as a haven for those precise same people who send death threats to politicians who want women more represented on currency.

It doesn't matter that it is a minority, it is the perception that has been built. It is what is hitting the papers - and it is how we are seen. And how we are seen to some extent comes out to being what audience is getting attracted.

You can say it is unfair, you can claim to not be like that, but so long as gamers are issuing death threats, only to get defended by somebody going on about how the person receiving the threats somehow deserves it, then it is a valid criticism of game culture.

 

[Mr. Omega]

Too bad you didn't feel the pressing need to stand up and be the hero we apparently needed when all the men you mentioned were getting threatened with death, but better late than never I guess.

Ahem...
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/7831-Go-Fish

Try a little harder next time.

again: you're the only one here trying to make this about gender.

 

[InToTheWannaB]

WTF, Dragon age 2 story was great. It was the level design that was poopy! KILL THE LEVEL DESIGNERS KIDS! DUH!

 

[Akytalusia]

so just continue like i normally do for 7 days? no problem. fortunately, i'm not one of those people. keep up the good work, sterling.

 

[Genocidicles]

I thought the hate she got was because she suggested that games should have less gameplay for people who find them difficult, and not the quality of her writing?