Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 348 posts

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#221

Post by mturmon »

caligulatte wrote: post #49
mturmon wrote: post #13

Her video series, which you can see on YouTube, is actually quite good and well-researched. You might disagree with her conclusions (I agree with them) but even if you disagree, you have to admit she's done a lot of legwork.

The 'Women as Background Part 2' video was very well-made, and utterly disturbing. I've seen terrible videos and images - it is the Internet afterall- but it was painful to watch. There's a number of games on there that I no longer care to revisit, or even play for the first time. (Also, what were the makers of God of War 3 thinking? Staggers the mind.)

I agree, it is painful to watch. I wonder about my gender sometimes -- it's not like misogyny is isolated to video games. Boys' clubs seem to allow it to blossom.

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#222

Post by DanBC »

Rubix117 wrote: post #169
mturmon wrote: post #13

Her video series, which you can see on YouTube, is actually quite good and well-researched. You might disagree with her conclusions (I agree with them) but even if you disagree, you have to admit she's done a lot of legwork.

I disagree. Her videos have been shown to cherry pick. She is also a liar and has no interest in video gaming. This has been shown in older videos of herself. Its a money making scam.

You repeatedly call her a liar.

Your inability to point to any occasion where she has lied is telling.

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#223

Post by DanBC »

gohrt wrote: post #17
JayOtter wrote: 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.

In the UK: at least half of all calls passed to frontline officers are related to online harassment / trolling / death threats. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-27949674

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#224

Post by Chrnoschwinn »

anon3d3c928 wrote: post #114

using a throwaway account because ppl could easily find my twitter, my company, and harass me all day about this (and probably would). GamerGate is very probably a hate group, with no other legitimate purpose. they're known to send people into forums like this to argue politely and coherently that the "movement" is 100% legitimate. typically the person who comes onto a site like this, to argue in that manner, also ma…

GameGate people were not banned on 4chan. This is you spreading misinfo. The subject was banned because of the spam apparently. But this too is called onto question due to the lack of response from the staff besides a few posts. The users were not banned unless they broke a rule. Many still go there.

As for the snippet about GG being a hate group. It is obviously a consumer revolt with no leaders of any kind. A group that is tired of gaming journalism's nonsense, "indie" games, and gender politics being shoved into games by people who don't even play them.

If you are going to judge to be so shallow to judge on an entire group of people based on an individual's actions or action. I don't know what to tell you.

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#225

Post by kelvin0 »

otikik wrote: post #156
kelvin0 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being obnoxious is purely subjective to your perception. Does that make it any less valuable?

Your non-obnoxiousness is purely subjective to your perception.

Comedy gold right here folks! :)

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#226

Post by ijk »

hnha wrote: post #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 m…

> What I don't get is how they constantly counter-act the common rules on how to deal with trolls or stalkers.

Actually, the general advice is to tell everyone:

> Tell Everyone

> Report the incident to law enforcement. Notify the Commonwealth's Attorney and ask for help from your local victim/witness program. Let them know that you are afraid. Give friends, co-workers, and neighbors a description of the stalker. Ask them to document anything they see and record the time of the occurrence.

https://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/victims/documents/stalking.pdf

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#227

Post by Fear-The-N8V »

anon3d3c928 wrote: post #114

using a throwaway account because ppl could easily find my twitter, my company, and harass me all day about this (and probably would). GamerGate is very probably a hate group, with no other legitimate purpose. they're known to send people into forums like this to argue politely and coherently that the "movement" is 100% legitimate. typically the person who comes onto a site like this, to argue in that manner, also ma…

Mr./Ms. Wu,

     There is nothing sexist or racist about wanting transparency in games "journalism". Insinuating that trolls only exists in one side of this argument is also preposterous.
No one wants to be lied to for money.

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#228

Post by sebular »

caligulatte wrote: post #49
mturmon wrote: post #13

Her video series, which you can see on YouTube, is actually quite good and well-researched. You might disagree with her conclusions (I agree with them) but even if you disagree, you have to admit she's done a lot of legwork.

The 'Women as Background Part 2' video was very well-made, and utterly disturbing. I've seen terrible videos and images - it is the Internet afterall- but it was painful to watch. There's a number of games on there that I no longer care to revisit, or even play for the first time. (Also, what were the makers of God of War 3 thinking? Staggers the mind.)

Your comment provoked me to go and watch that video, and watching it clarified this whole issue for me. As someone who's done a reasonable amount of undergraduate-level film and literature analysis, I felt that the video fell quite nicely in line with that style of presentation, and it's clear that Ms. Sarkeesian has a strong background in that area. If this were for an assignment, she would've gotten a perfect score.

However, watching the video as a gamer, not as a student, there is one thing about her video which stands out to me as the reason why she inspires rage in a subset of gamers.

Ms. Sarkeesian doesn't highlight anything positive about gender roles in the games that she critiques. While she is under no obligation to do so, the indignant gamer might accuse her of cherry-picking her facts, forgetting that her video series is about "Tropes vs Women", not "when games do justice and injustice to women".

Her series really is like a homework assignment for a college class, where the professor has asked for a list of tropes. If she'd included a "full assessment" of each game, her paper would've been ten times as long, and the professor would've given her a lower grade for including a bunch of irrelevant information.

In other words, her series is so single-minded in its purpose (to identify tropes) that it bothers gamers who feel that it's unfair that she only talks about "Tropes vs Women in Video Games". They misinterpret this as a video series on "games that fail women and are therefore terrible", when she's just doing a series on "games that have these tropes."

They're enraged not by what she says, but rather by what she omits.

And as far as games journalism goes, the fully-fledged "feminist game ratings" YouTube series/website is a void still waiting to be filled.

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#229

Post by DanBC »

hrktb wrote: post #218
DanBC wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People can just be assholes without also having mental illness.

That's way passed the level I'd call being an asshole: https://mobile.twitter.com/femfreq/status/504718160902492160 Also, no one talked about mental illness.

You talked about mental illness!

> not in a sane state of mind

Stop stigmatising people with mental illness by associating them with violence.

Re: Feminist video-games talk pulled after massacre threat

#230

Post by bitJericho »

UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #143
bitJericho wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's fear mongering because it hasn't happened and is incredibly unlikely to happen. At least untog up there provided some sort of actual reporting of similar events, even though it's innocent bystanders getting caught up in the shrapnel from the heros trying to protect themselves from getting shot. That's not this hollywood blockbuster scenario you two have conjured up.

> It's fear mongering because it hasn't happened and is incredibly unlikely to happen. Because, why? Again I see no refutement. Just empty words. Two concealed carry owners shoot each other[0]. Concealed carry almost shoots a police officer[1]. Concealed carry shoots the VICTIM in a robbery[2] during a cross-fire with the robbers. [0] http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/19/1239955/-Two-concea... [1] http://www.chic…

Again, none of these were actually two conceal carry shooters accidentally shooting eachother because one thought the other was the criminal. How would you like me to refute that? Shall I find an article titled "Two heros accidentally didn't shoot themselves thinking the other was the criminal." Because that's what I would need to find in order to "refute" your rediculous premise.
Post reply on HN