Sweden Considering Sexism Labels For Video Games

[dtgenshiken7]

hey, good for Sweden. They're taking steps to coddle the minorities, what's next? Fines for people who use the wrong pronouns? I long for the day when a man who identifies as a rabbit can be addressed as such. Honestly, I just do not understand the point of this. First, you're putting shackles on the directors regarding storytelling. They might have a good idea, but if an independant board of reviewers labels it Sexist or Inequal you can bet your ass there's going to be a sales drop.

It's a good idea on paper. Unfortunately, it's coming and following a trend of Feminism that can only be described as Radical. I could also describe it as grossly being misused for the personal gain of a select few ladies but frankly I'm not interested in starting that whole argument up again. The idea certainly does look like one that would not only help bring attention to inequality, but also would have Developers thinking about what they do.

Unfortunately, most Developers are just going to see this as an attack on them based on what kind of games they sell and god, this could even stray into the gender of the Protagonist. Is it male? BAM. You lose points. Is the love interest female? BAM. You just contributed to heteronormativity, you Cis Pig.

Anyone else realise just how much I sound like tumblr? This is basically tumblr being given control and I guarantee you that is not a good thing. Unfortunately, I can't see into the future so all I can do is speculate. I have absolutely no clue what this is going to do for the industry, rather than reskin and revoice the characters, but hey, I'm a White Male, what the flying fuck do I know about Equality.

 

[Azure23]

hey, good for Sweden. They're taking steps to coddle the minorities, what's next? Fines for people who use the wrong pronouns? I long for the day when a man who identifies as a rabbit can be addressed as such. Honestly, I just do not understand the point of this. First, you're putting shackles on the directors regarding storytelling. They might have a good idea, but if an independant board of reviewers labels it Sexist or Inequal you can bet your ass there's going to be a sales drop.

It's a good idea on paper. Unfortunately, it's coming and following a trend of Feminism that can only be described as Radical. I could also describe it as grossly being misused for the personal gain of a select few ladies but frankly I'm not interested in starting that whole argument up again. The idea certainly does look like one that would not only help bring attention to inequality, but also would have Developers thinking about what they do.

Unfortunately, most Developers are just going to see this as an attack on them based on what kind of games they sell and god, this could even stray into the gender of the Protagonist. Is it male? BAM. You lose points. Is the love interest female? BAM. You just contributed to heteronormativity, you Cis Pig.

Anyone else realise just how much I sound like tumblr? This is basically tumblr being given control and I guarantee you that is not a good thing. Unfortunately, I can't see into the future so all I can do is speculate. I have absolutely no clue what this is going to do for the industry, rather than reskin and revoice the characters, but hey, I'm a White Male, what the flying fuck do I know about Equality.

Somehow I don't see any game developers getting up in arms over this considering the research grant was asked for by a for profit games industry organization who just happens to be based in Sweden. An organization partnered with Ubisoft, Activision Blizzard, Namco Bandai, Electronic Arts, and a few other large publishers all with large in house development teams. This is not a government agency trying to regulate the Swedish games industry. This is an industry organization researching the possibility of coming up with a scale for gender equality so they can add another label to the already existing PEGI system.

I don't really understand your argument about sales drops either, the root of capitalism is putting out a product people want to buy. Are you saying that the sales drop will penalize games with sexist elements because people who would otherwise buy it not knowing that will be better informed and not wish to consume sexist media? With the rising cost of videogames most people these days read reviews before buying, and most intelligent people read reviews written through a critical lens they care about (such as a feminist progressive one, ala. Gamasutra). I just don't see how a sales drop has any bearing on whether or not to institute a measure like this, if such a sales drop would even occur.

Essentially I don't think this is going to do anything to the (Swedish) games industry, people who don't care about this sort of thing will go on not caring (in Sweden) and the people who would read reviews with a feminist critical lenses and not buy the game will still not buy it. You may not be able to see the future, but you could at least read the article. Your lack of understanding about what the research grant is for and your assumption that this will anger developers (the same developers partnered with the organization) tell me that at most you gave this article a cursory skim before jumping in the thread to post an already deep seated opinion without regard for the actual issue at hand.

 

[ledchicken]

This would seem a lot less silly if they were planning to apply similar labels to books, movies, TV shows, music, etc. What's posted here seems very games focused (which is fair enough really) but I feel like it would be an all inclusive thing, at least for visual media.

And if not then... that's pretty contrived.

*I know they talked about the whole "Bechdel Test" thing but I mean specifically the labels for the levels of sexism, depiction of gender-equality. That sort of thing is just too subjective to assign a definite label to. I mean, regular rating systems (ESRB, etc) aren't exactly the most accurate things in the world

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

How is "a society we want to create" different from "fantasy"? I think that quoted person in the end of the article doesn't really understand what fantasy is. If the society doesn't currently exist, juxtaposing a version of society with our desired alterations upon reality is what fantasy is.


Fantasy isn't just dragons and elves. Oh and, on that front, I'd LOVE to create a society with dragons and elves, magic and all of that other stuff too. Don't assume the society you wish to create is the society "we" wish to create, Mr. Swedish person.

 

[Ninjariffic]

I see a lot of responses about "this won't work" and "it's a binary system that'll shame things that don't deserve it". I think that that's probably how it would turn out over here in North America. It would probably work just fine over there.

The US and Canada really don't seem to realize how bad we have it. There are plenty of countries that aren't as fucked up as we are.

 

[Cecilthedarkknight_234]

I'm not surprised in the least, this is a country that banned dead or alive for the 3ds and every following game series because of child pornography laws

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/26362/dead-or-alive-dimensions-banned-in-sweden

 

[Atmos Duality]

So, it will basically be the Feminist equivalent of Tipper Stickers.
Better than the CCA or Hayes Code, at least.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

I don't see this working. Classification systems have always been garbage. I mean, there are tons of games labled "mature" when it's just goofy nonsense that just happens to have blood and gore.

 

[James Elmash]

I think this is a good idea.

If you are like me and don't really care (most of the time) about representation, then its as easy to ignore as the warning "Contains comic violence", but if this is something that really matters to you, then you have a warning about it. It gives people the chance to vote with their wallets more, as they'll have a better idea about what games will annoy them.

In turn, I think this will lower the internet rage at a number of properties, as people just won't touch the games with the label.

If you give people the chance to know if there is something in a game that they'll hate, and then the only people playing the game will be people who won't get offended

 

[maninahat]

Guess Sweden's in for social engineering. "This game is socially unacceptable" speaks their bloated Orwellian government and the masses will nod their heads in agreement. Governments moralizing always turns out so well for people who don't fit the mold.

The Orwellian comparison implies that Swedes have no influence in what their government does. In reality, if you don't like what a government is doing, you can either petition them or, if they won't listen, vote in another one who will do what you like. If this new government experiment causes a mass outrage in Sweden, I suspect the voters will say so.

Also, all governments serve to moralise and seek codify a set of generally agreed upon morals. It isn't automatically a bad thing. We generally see murder as wrong, and the government makes that official with laws against murder. The only people whom that doesn't turn out well for are murderers.

 

[m19]

This is just infantalizing. People should think for themselves and not rely on big brother to do it for them. And such labelling activities should be kept to an absolute minimum and stay firmly in things that can be defined objectively, like graphic violence, porn, etc. Propaganda of moral values needs to be a separate activity, not a branding iron central authority applies to other people's creations.

 

[Zerotwo]

So.... This wasn't a very pleasant read at all.

Let's put things into perspective. An industry organization is researching the possibility for a new product labeling for games, in Sweden. This label could indicate either if the game promotes gender equality or if it's regarded as sexist by the rating board. Exactly what and to what extent these labels could be applied is not known, since it is as stated just now being researched (actually not starting until January 2015 according to their website). "Sweden Considering Sexism Labels For Video Games" is an article title, made to look interesting, and in this case quite erroneous.

Dataspelsbranschen is an industry organization, not tied to any political party or movements. It is a private for profit organization with partners including (as stated on their website): Activision Blizzard, Bergsala, Disney, Electronic Arts, Game Outlet, Koch Media, Microsoft, Namco Bandai Partners, Nordisk Film Distribution, Pan Vision, Ubisoft och Warner Bros.

Given the subject at hand, are you surprised the title was erroneous -and- the entire thing turned out to be stemming from a mistranslation? I know I'm not.

Furthermore the political climate in Sweden is, as evidenced by the recent election, not suprisingly moving in a steady rightward direction with strong rising support for the major nationalistic, anti-immigration and anti-left party. Similarly to what we have seen previously in Greece, France, Norway, Denmark and other European countries. Commenting on Swedens politics through the perspective of old stereotypes still being run by many media outlets today ad verbatim today (the Escapist not excused) is misleading and naive.

Must be the most impotent bad at PR rightwingers I've heard because I've heard crap all about any particular rise in rightwingedness here in Norway. I guess I probably just didn't pay enough attention to the news or something.

In just a few pages of comments here I find a humongous lot of hate directed against my country, its government and "the apparent feminist leftist conspiracy" behind it all. I would urge many of you to stop and at least actually consider the situation a little before going all up in arms over a petty thing like this. This judgemental attitude and borderline paranoic obsession with the perceived "threath to video games/gaming culture" is juvenile and hiding behind intellectualizing arguments of "objectivity" doesn't help.

If you need to find a rational reason for why this is even happening in the first place (i.e. other than "the war" against the male sex -.-) you have to look no further than the comments on this article. With an ounce of self-reflection and general knowledge that should not be hard to see.

I don't think anyone's gonna be dropping the waraxes anytime soon if the noise that's been bandied around here the past months is anything to go by I'm afraid.

I don't think there is any problem with the PR of parties like Fremskrittspartiet, otherwise they certainly would not have, as stated before, risen that much and wouldn't have won the parlimentary election 2013. Whether or not you have stopped paying attention to the media or cannot comprehend the change in political ideological climate I don't know.

I am not surprised that the subject is sparking debate but reactionary overzelous responses like equating this to Sweden trying to impose moral indoctrination is simply not grounded in reason (as explained in my previous post). Just like the statement "I've heard crap all about any particular rise in rightwingedness" from you, while you may have that experience, does not change the well documented and observable recent history of your geopolitical climate.

You are probably right about people not giving up their precious axes, that would be a lot to ask for. Maybe though they could learn to realize when they are hitting rock instead of wood and save some grace.

 

[Kathinka]

Oh the delicious smell of Fahrenheit 451: the early days. This is truly PC run amok. Scientists getting shit over the shirts they are wearing, games being labeled by what is perceived by fringe radicals as sexism..what a time to be alive.

 

[sonofliber]

So... what is sexism? when you can define that in an quantifiable measure, then you can have this, if not its all a waste of time, and it will cause more harm that good.