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One Week of Harassment on Twitter

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Re: One Week of Harassment on Twitter

#41

Post by in_cahoots »

teamhappy wrote: post #38
aqme28 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tumblr is just a blogging platform. Why can't we link to a blog?

I am told (!) that Tumblr is one of the more immature platforms out there, especially in regards to feminism/gaming. Then again, it might just be that jug5 doesn't like Tumblr. I wouldn't know, really.

There's no reason to disregard a piece of writing because of the platform it's published on, especially considering the creators of Tumblr have no agenda and there's no barrier to entry. Would this piece suddenly become better if it were written on Medium?

Re: One Week of Harassment on Twitter

#43

Post by teamhappy »

in_cahoots wrote: post #41
teamhappy wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am told (!) that Tumblr is one of the more immature platforms out there, especially in regards to feminism/gaming. Then again, it might just be that jug5 doesn't like Tumblr. I wouldn't know, really.

There's no reason to disregard a piece of writing because of the platform it's published on, especially considering the creators of Tumblr have no agenda and there's no barrier to entry. Would this piece suddenly become better if it were written on Medium?

I don't know why you're telling me this. I just tried to provide some context (and immediately regretted it).

// Sorry in_cahoots. Though you were mad at me or something.

Re: One Week of Harassment on Twitter

#44

Post by eropple »

hoopism wrote: post #21
jamesshorten wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly don't think that a lack of social skills is to blame. I'm not the most social creature and that sort of behaviour horrifies me. I think it is more likely a lack of empathy, combined with the view that the internet is somehow not the "real world" and an entitlement complex of incomprehensible size.

Perhaps we define social skills differently... or it's just the wrong word (probably). But I do think a lot of the aggression towards women stem from insecurity and lack of ability to comfortably converse with opposite gender. Those in my mind are social skills.

I would agree that the symptomatic cause of the current situation is insecurity, but not about "talking to girls". It's fear of losing what you consider to be yours. Whether or not you have any sort of right to it--and I think it is very safe to say that, no, young white males do not have an inherent right to be catered to by all aspects of the game market--doesn't matter, you think it's yours and they're taking it and that means it's OK to call the cops and get a SWAT team sent to somebody's house. (Apparently.)

The fear that the universe is zero-sum is the major way that regressive elements maintain societal control. The rich guy takes nine cookies, elbows the middle-class guy, and says "hey, the poor guy's gonna steal your cookie!", and the middle-class guy hops to. It applies here just the same--if you're so unable to get outside of your head to entertain the idea that maybe games not targeted directly at you could maybe, just maybe, expand your horizons a bit and make your life better, while making life better for other people...well, you freak out, and apparently you don't stop freaking out.

Personally, as a straight white dude, I am marvelously unthreatened by the idea that people make games for people who aren't me. I encourage it. But then, I have the basic reading comprehension to not try to say with a straight face that "gamers are dead" was a pejorative rather than market analysis, so I was probably never in the wheelhouse for the hatemongering.

Re: One Week of Harassment on Twitter

#45

Post by merb »

Somehow I don't like the people that harass like that.

But... Sorry you start a completly unuseful campaign against sexism in video games. Come on that are just games.

There are many more things in life that would help other people than changing the way games are designed. It's a real mess that some people always come with sexism and do nothing against the real problems. Sexism is a problem but not in video games. Just look at other countries and take a look how women are treated. That is something that is scary and not video games.

Re: One Week of Harassment on Twitter

#47

Post by eropple »

merb wrote: post #45

Somehow I don't like the people that harass like that. But... Sorry you start a completly unuseful campaign against sexism in video games. Come on that are just games. There are many more things in life that would help other people than changing the way games are designed. It's a real mess that some people always come with sexism and do nothing against the real problems. Sexism is a problem but not in video games. Ju…

Sarkeesian is discussing games as art, within the context of the society that creates them. That is valuable, and attempting to dismiss her based on the medium she discusses is fundamentally misguided.

Art matters because it shapes and forms cultural perceptions. Our cultural perceptions hurt people who are not straight white males. "Oh but it's worse over there" does not legitimize shittiness here.

Re: One Week of Harassment on Twitter

#48

Post by ignostic »

This is disgusting. It's also disappointing how little most games (CoD, for example) have done to cut back on back behavior. I've seen players on some games just spew hate and nasty taunts in games with no repercussions. At most, they get banned from servers that care to moderate. Often there's not even a mechanism for reporting other players globally. The lack of oversight allows a culture of trolling and nastiness to thrive.

Twitter could also do more to proactively prevent troll accounts and monitor tweets without waiting for someone to report it. I'd be a little more sympathetic to startup-stage Twitter figuring it out, but they're to the point where I'd expect something better.

Those who raise the "free speech" argument fail to realize that these are private companies. Companies like EA and Twitter are well within their rights to limit what is broadcast on their servers and networks. You can say what you like (within some reasonable constraints), but that doesn't give you the right to have it amplified through someone else's work.

Re: One Week of Harassment on Twitter

#49

Post by ignostic »

This post appears to have been flagged incorrectly. I'm sure we've been using a bunch of words that would raise a flag, when in reality we're just talking about the content and important but sensitive issues.

Could some fix that? Remove the flag?

Re: One Week of Harassment on Twitter

#50

Post by macintux »

sauere wrote: post #25
jameskilton wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you saying with your comment? That we should just accept this despicable hatred? That this is normal?

Yes. Deal with it. If would have made a top hacker news post everytime someone insulted me in the net i would be rich by now. Just f*ing deal with it.

I defy you to post an equivalent amount of ongoing abuse. "Someone was mean to me a few times and I got over it" is a pretty lame response to someone who undergoes constant rape/death threats.
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