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Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

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Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#21
post #2

Never heard of her before. Why is she so famous to elicit such an extreme reaction ?

She raised a bunch of money from a kickstarter to make a series of videos about women in video games. The videos got a lot of stuff wrong about video games and she really had to reach to get her point across.

Cool so getting stuff wrong -> threats of being massacred while giving a speech?

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#22
post #2

Never heard of her before. Why is she so famous to elicit such an extreme reaction ?

Articles have appeared on the front page before, but they keep getting flagged off. Which to me is a sad commentary on the Hacker News community.

I'd provide a link but HN's search engine doesn't include articles marked [Dead].

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#23
post #8
post #5

I probably watch too many shows, but wouldn't that kind of threat (real or manufactured) actually push the speaker further into the limelight? So if this an actual threat (most likely) the 'bully' is really playing into her hands, so to speak. If this threat is manufactured, well this would indeed be quite a Machiavellian PR stunt ...

The whole of 'GamerGate' feels almost like a PR stunt to turn the world's media against gamers. The irony is almost palpable.

GG laid down that framework itself. If it feels like a PR stunt against gamers, that's because it really is turning a lot of people against gamers. The difference is, the GGers did it to themselves.

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#24
post #9
post #5

I probably watch too many shows, but wouldn't that kind of threat (real or manufactured) actually push the speaker further into the limelight? So if this an actual threat (most likely) the 'bully' is really playing into her hands, so to speak. If this threat is manufactured, well this would indeed be quite a Machiavellian PR stunt ...

> If this threat is manufactured, well this would indeed be quite a Machiavellian PR stunt ... That's a common accusation by the GamerGate folks, but given the number of other women in the gaming arena receiving similar harassment it's pretty believable that these are real.

It's very easy to believe it's real given the fairly recent school shooting fuelled by a very similar brand of misogyny. I don't think less of her at all for backing out of the talk.

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#25
post #14
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If this threat is manufactured, well this would indeed be quite a Machiavellian PR stunt ... That's a common accusation by the GamerGate folks, but given the number of other women in the gaming arena receiving similar harassment it's pretty believable that these are real.

Notice I did not accuse her of anything, simply stating two facts. Why the down votes? All I am saying is that whoever made the threats clearly doesn't want the issue to go away ... Come on guys!

[deleted]

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#26
post #17
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole of 'GamerGate' feels almost like a PR stunt to turn the world's media against gamers. The irony is almost palpable.

This is why it's best to ignore the whole thing, except to refer criminal threats to the police for investigation.

It's easy for people who aren't being targeted for harassment to ignore it, but I think we owe it to those who are to not ignore it.

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#27
post #6
post #2

Never heard of her before. Why is she so famous to elicit such an extreme reaction ?

She runs a show called 'Feminist Frequency', dedicated to calling out sexist tropes in video games (amongst other things). She appears to have become one of the enemies of the movement known as "#GamerGate". Proponents of the movement will tell you it's about ethics in game journalism, but in reality it seems to have largely become corrupted by misogyny and the like. Several female game developers and journalists hav…

but in reality it seems to have largely become corrupted by misogyny and the like

Not any more than you'll find idiots in any movement - I would liken them more to the vandals that presented themselves during Occupy Wall Street.

I hang around the organizing points for the GamerGate stuff - people are remarkably level headed and respectful (and absolutely NOT driven by misogyny). There is no organized harassment happening, there is no corruption. Anybody attempting to agitate along those lines finds themselves massively downvoted/flagged/reported/etc.

Sarkeesian et. al. are quite intolerant of any kind of criticism or disagreement - the trolls are, frankly, being made out to be a bigger issue than they actually are (not that people making death threats is even remotely okay, I'm pointing out that those people do not represent the movement).

If you doubt this, I invite you to do the same. It really opened my eyes. Calling GG about misogyny or even about feminism has never been anything more than a form of well poisoning.

edit I'm getting the "submitted too fast" thing now, so I can't respond to comments directly. I will do so below.

--

I ask anyone that points out "harassment" to provide direct examples of organized harassment, preferably links so the rest of us can see them. Someone downthread brought up the git repo containing the markdown file - how is this harassment, again?

* Regarding the #burgersandfries IRC - absolutely bullshit and absolutely disgusting. The name is even a reference to Quinn's personal life. That channel is on Rizon, is still up, and can be looked at on your own, but you'll note that this is not the organizing channel for gamergate (which is #gamergate).

Perhaps GG started out of disgust for Quinn (and her professional behavior is hardly beyond reproach), but tying them together for the purposes of discrediting GG is a genetic fallacy.

I'm not denying that organized harassment campaigns exist - but I am saying that #GG ain't it.

* Regarding how the GG movement can only be defined by what is done under it's banner

This line of thought allows any movement to be trivially discredited. Quite literally any movement involving strong emotions will lead to people doing stupid things. If you simply discard the entire thing based on that minority of people, you have been manipulated.

This would allow people who disagree with such a movement to expend the slightest amount of effort to do something (or even fabricate doing something) distasteful in its name as a form of attack. Please recognize that this possibility exists. Your answer to "drop the movement" is not feasible as that is an untenable sequence of events. 10 Movement starts, 20 idiot does something, 30 movment discredited, 40 goto 10.

* Regarding how GG isn't going after the big publishers

GG is about games journalism, specifically the journalists themselves and their lack of integrity, not what the publishers do. We can't exert enough pressure to convince, say, EA to stop doing underhanded things - there are simply too many people who will buy their content on a schedule (like the yearly Madden rehash) for any kind of boycott to succeed. Seriously, gamers have been trying for years on outrages that are about marketplace behavior rather than social issues. It does not work.

In other words, it's a matter of picking one's battles.

Exerting pressure on the journalists is another matter entirely. A journalist is only as good as their credibility - and showing a pattern of anomalous reviews or undisclosed connections is a great (and tremendously effective) way of exerting negative pressure on that kind of behavior.

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#28
oh, what a fruitful discussion this might trigger..

What I don't get is how they constantly counter-act the common rules on how to deal with trolls or stalkers. It really feels like they are bathing in the outrage, not interested in actually solving it. And that's one reason why I sadly don't feel any sympathy but rather understand the vocal (non socio-/psychopath) critics.

There is no fair discussion so I wish the media would simply stop with their help on filling the fire...

Disclaimer: Middle class white male who once got online death threats after banning a sociopath from a site of his. I discussed them privately, did not give any reaction to the freak apart from quickly banning the new accounts and where possible delete the verbal abuse. It took several weeks but ultimately it just got quite and we all live happily ever after.

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#29
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She runs a show called 'Feminist Frequency', dedicated to calling out sexist tropes in video games (amongst other things). She appears to have become one of the enemies of the movement known as "#GamerGate". Proponents of the movement will tell you it's about ethics in game journalism, but in reality it seems to have largely become corrupted by misogyny and the like. Several female game developers and journalists hav…

I think calling it "corrupted by misogyny" is a bit misleading. As far as I can tell, it is as pure and uncompromising in its misogyny as ever, the journalism thing has been a smokescreen from the beginning.

I was trying to be a little bit neutral but...yeah, I think you're probably correct.

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#30
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She runs a show called 'Feminist Frequency', dedicated to calling out sexist tropes in video games (amongst other things). She appears to have become one of the enemies of the movement known as "#GamerGate". Proponents of the movement will tell you it's about ethics in game journalism, but in reality it seems to have largely become corrupted by misogyny and the like. Several female game developers and journalists hav…

I think calling it "corrupted by misogyny" is a bit misleading. As far as I can tell, it is as pure and uncompromising in its misogyny as ever, the journalism thing has been a smokescreen from the beginning.

It's a bunch of things thrown together. http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/4395

"If you witness a group of issues, some relevant and some irrelevant, you will feel a need to respond to the relevant issues.

If you witness someone responding to the relevant issues of the group, you will think they are responding to the group of issues.

The exploit, taken from this, is then clear: Group up a bunch of issues (Apples, Oranges, Watermelons, Rat Poison) and then people who show concern about the Rat Poison will seem to be showing concern on Apples and Oranges. And people who are supporting Apples and Oranges could easily be mistaken for supporters of Rat Poison."

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