Anita Sarkeesi has sought out 6000 dollars on kickstarter so she could do a study on videogaming. She got 158000 dollars.she used them to buy the games for research.http://www.feministfrequency.com/2012/08/quick-tropes-vs-women-projec-update/now she has put together her first instalment of videogame reviews for feminists, regarding the "trope" damsels in distress.http://boingboing.net/2013/03/08/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games.html
I would just like to say, before this topic inevitably spirals out of control, that one is a feminist, by definition, if one believes men and women should be equal.
What Jmorph said.This has the potential to be good, but I am a bit worried about the quality of the material we will be presented as Anita Sarkeesi tends to fall more towards "feminazi" than feminist.
The video is actually interesting... At first, until you realize that she's never talking about stuff like the Final Fantasy series where you'll always find a girl as a major, active character, she sticks to the Mario and Zelda games just to get to her point (which, by the end, is really nauseous). When she gets to Zelda she even complains that she's not the star of "her own game" - even though it never was "her game". Even on the "sequel hook" for the part 2 video, she says she'll talk about more modern games.... that use the tropes. Not the ones that don't use it. You know, we could, someday, see game creators maybe start considering putting females in the lead role where they're equal to guys ! We could call these games Metroid or Tomb Raider or whatever we like.I do understand that this video is specifically about this trope in games, but I could just as well make a video about Nazi propaganda in games and talk only about games that do it, and "letting viewers make up their own conclusion" about the entire video game industry just based on that.It's obvious that in this new study she's definitely not going to talk about the general role of girls in games, she's going to talk about the games that put them in a bad light.lol||V
I am a masculist, and as such I am opposed to the portrayal of men as constantly being machismo badasses in games like God of War, Devil May Cry, Halo and Mortal Kombat. Somebody give me 6000 dollars to spend on video games.
Im all for better representation of of women in video games, but Anita is just bad. This is not a way to go about it.
I think that even Anita herself knows that she's full of shit and is just grabbing cash from the many, many impressionable people of the internet. Man she'd make a good gold digger.
DKDC said, March 09, 2013, 07:25:40 pmThe video is actually interesting... At first, until you realize that she's never talking about stuff like the Final Fantasy series where you'll always find a girl as a major, active character, she sticks to the Mario and Zelda games just to get to her point (which, by the end, is really nauseous). When she gets to Zelda she even complains that she's not the star of "her own game" - even though it never was "her game".The very reason she doesn't mention Final Fantasy is the reason you mentioned; this specific episode is all about damsels in distress, and that's something the FF series has generally lacked. Mario and Zelda, on the other hand, feature it in spades, and they're best, most popular examples to focus on.That said, I felt like she definitely gave the short shift to Zelda's increased role in the latter games of the series; especially in Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. In the former, she is absolutely vital in defeating Gannondorf, and in the latter, she spends most of the game un-kidnapped, threatened, or incapacitated, and not because of Link, but because she is under the protection of Impa, another female. DKDC said, March 09, 2013, 07:25:40 pmEven on the "sequel hook" for the part 2 video, she says she'll talk about more modern games.... that use the tropes. Not the ones that don't use it.Because the entire premise of the series is exploring tropes?Sir MC Fortes2 said, March 09, 2013, 07:30:23 pmI am a masculist, and as such I am opposed to the portrayal of men as constantly being machismo badasses in games like God of War, Devil May Cry, Halo and Mortal Kombat. Somebody give me 6000 dollars to spend on video games.That's an absolutely terrible comparison.
Overman King Jmorphman said, March 10, 2013, 01:17:54 amDKDC said, March 09, 2013, 07:25:40 pmThe video is actually interesting... At first, until you realize that she's never talking about stuff like the Final Fantasy series where you'll always find a girl as a major, active character, she sticks to the Mario and Zelda games just to get to her point (which, by the end, is really nauseous). When she gets to Zelda she even complains that she's not the star of "her own game" - even though it never was "her game".The very reason she doesn't mention Final Fantasy is the reason you mentioned; this specific episode is all about damsels in distress, and that's something the FF series has generally lacked. Mario and Zelda, on the other hand, feature it in spades, and they're best, most popular examples to focus on.That said, I felt like she definitely gave the short shift to Zelda's increased role in the latter games of the series; especially in Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. In the former, she is absolutely vital in defeating Gannondorf, and in the latter, she spends most of the game un-kidnapped, threatened, or incapacitated, and not because of Link, but because she is under the protection of Impa, another female. DKDC said, March 09, 2013, 07:25:40 pmEven on the "sequel hook" for the part 2 video, she says she'll talk about more modern games.... that use the tropes. Not the ones that don't use it.Because the entire premise of the series is exploring tropes?You could quote the rest of my post too :DKDC said, March 09, 2013, 07:25:40 pmI do understand that this video is specifically about this trope in games, but I could just as well make a video about Nazi propaganda in games and talk only about games that do it, and "letting viewers make up their own conclusion" about the entire video game industry just based on that.In other words I'm saying this series is completely useless for this exact premise. It's flawed, it's useless. It's focusing on one specific point, and it's removing all scale for comparison of how relevant that point is to the entire game industry. You could make a study about slavery, and focus only on games with actual slavery or racism in it, ignoring all the games that don't have slavery but still use black people as central characters. This is exactly what it is.
DKDC said, March 10, 2013, 01:46:28 amYou could quote the rest of my post too :I'd rather not quote silly Nazi comparisons.DKDC said, March 10, 2013, 01:46:28 amIn other words I'm saying this series is completely useless for this exact premise. It's flawed, it's useless. It's focusing on one specific point, and it's removing all scale for comparison of how relevant that point is to the entire game industry.I like this though. It is a pretty narrow and flawed premise, but even so, it's a valid one, I think. It's nice for someone to be talking about this kind of stuff for once, if if the actual execution leaves much to be desired.
Overman King Jmorphman said, March 10, 2013, 02:29:14 amI'd rather not quote silly Nazi comparisons.Because phrasing is so much more important than getting the point and you'd rather act as if I said the entire opposite of what I actually said. It makes it that much easier for you to discard opposing opinions.Overman King Jmorphman said, March 10, 2013, 02:29:14 amI like this though. It is a pretty narrow and flawed premise, but even so, it's a valid one, I think. It's nice for someone to be talking about this kind of stuff for once, if if the actual execution leaves much to be desired.I actually agree with this (to an extent), and that's exactly why I said the part that you did quote : it makes a pretty good point at the beginning, only it becomes nauseating somewhere in the middle (which is the extent in question). She had a point at first, but she hammers it and she drives it completely off by picking the wrong examples and leaving half of it out (the evolution of Zelda's role as you said in your previous post).
The thing about this that irks me the most is that this detestable woman has completely ruined the legitimacy of this entire thing.There may well be problems with these kinds of stereotypes! I don't know, I haven't studied them. What I do know is that anyone who finds problems with her findings/methodology/whatever will be tarred and feathered and 'you're just saying that because you're against women' and all of that fucking ridiculous crap. Even if someone were to do this properly, it won't matter now.This is why agenda-driven sensationalistic research should never exist.
DKDC said, March 10, 2013, 02:35:26 amBecause phrasing is so much more important than getting the point and you'd rather act as if I said the entire opposite of what I actually said. It makes it that much easier for you to discard opposing opinions.I was just joking. :|I just think that it's not a big deal if she doesn't stray from the topic, because it's such a huge concept.Snakebyte said, March 10, 2013, 02:42:38 amThe thing about this that irks me the most is that this detestable woman has completely ruined the legitimacy of this entire thing.What about her is so detestable?Snakebyte said, March 10, 2013, 02:42:38 amThere may well be problems with these kinds of stereotypes! I don't know, I haven't studied them.Stereotypes are by definition harmful. And one doesn't really need to study anything to see that the game industry doesn't exactly have a sterling record with women (in recent years there has been the rape caves in Duke Nukem Forever, and the PR fiasco of Tomb Raider)Snakebyte said, March 10, 2013, 02:42:38 amWhat I do know is that anyone who finds problems with her findings/methodology/whatever will be tarred and feathered and 'you're just saying that because you're against women' and all of that fucking ridiculous crap. Even if someone were to do this properly, it won't matter now.This is why agenda-driven sensationalistic research should never exist.Rational people will not tar and feather people who disagree with her findings and stuff. Unless of course they're being crazy misogynists, but that's not really an issue in most cases.And how the heck is examining the way games use female characters "agenda-driven"?
Of course she has an agenda -- that's the point. I'm worried that she was just seeking to exploit thousands of dollars from people, but I haven't done much research on her.The video was accurate.
Loco Nachoz said, March 09, 2013, 08:10:51 pmShe pisses off MRA idiots and /v/ so she's good in my book.this is generally my view
Rajaa said, March 10, 2013, 03:08:52 amOf course she has an agenda -- that's the point. "Agenda-driven" means something different from simply having an agenda (which everyone has because humanity). It's usually used as a buzzword to dismiss viewpoints that one disagrees with (though not always in the form of "agenda-driven", it might be just agenda on it's own, like "the gay agenda" or what have you)
For me I dont really care too much for damsels in distress as much as the over sexualization of fictional characters. Often I feel pervy or uncomfortable playing a few games/watchin anime where it applies. It doesnt add anything to it, i dont want to catch a shameful boner while playing games/watching anime, thats what porn/hentai is for, damnit.