I’ve been trying to avoid commenting on this GamerGate thing, but events have forced my hand (see Rebecca Watson for a concise summary). Like most gamers, I just play a game from time to time, and I’m interested in what’s coming out soon, and whether new games are any good. But I find myself increasingly disgusted with the culture.
This misogynistic awfulness pops up periodically, and at first it’s easy to say, that’s not me. Enjoying Skyrim doesn’t put me in that camp. But I can’t help but make the connection to the Tea Party. They pull the Republican Party as a whole to the right, by changing its center. Then the Republicans pull the whole country to the right. Like it or not, these trolls pull the entire community towards their dark side.
Why do people do this? Why can’t we all just get along? (Cue music). The circle jerk encouraged by forums like Twitter surely has some blame. But the larger issue is that these trolls feel that they have to defend their medium. Freddie deBoer writes a lot of intelligent stuff on this topic, and he does it really well. They have this culture of marginalization, that games are somehow not accepted, and feel the need to use these ridiculous antics to defend their chosen pastime. This belies the fact that games are such an overwhelming pop culture juggernaut.
I coined the phrase little guy syndrome, where a person or culture falsely believes itself to be the minority voice in a debate. It’s the same kind of thing going on here. I hate that these people represent me. I hate that I have to take pains to say, I like video games, but I’m not like that. It makes me want to put this whole medium behind me. Regular, non-evil people who like games should be more vocal about these issues, about separating us from them.
~ by Jared London on October 11, 2014.
Posted in Commentary
I like games, but not the bullshit that goes with them
I’ve been trying to avoid commenting on this GamerGate thing, but events have forced my hand (see Rebecca Watson for a concise summary). Like most gamers, I just play a game from time to time, and I’m interested in what’s coming out soon, and whether new games are any good. But I find myself increasingly disgusted with the culture.
This misogynistic awfulness pops up periodically, and at first it’s easy to say, that’s not me. Enjoying Skyrim doesn’t put me in that camp. But I can’t help but make the connection to the Tea Party. They pull the Republican Party as a whole to the right, by changing its center. Then the Republicans pull the whole country to the right. Like it or not, these trolls pull the entire community towards their dark side.
Why do people do this? Why can’t we all just get along? (Cue music). The circle jerk encouraged by forums like Twitter surely has some blame. But the larger issue is that these trolls feel that they have to defend their medium. Freddie deBoer writes a lot of intelligent stuff on this topic, and he does it really well. They have this culture of marginalization, that games are somehow not accepted, and feel the need to use these ridiculous antics to defend their chosen pastime. This belies the fact that games are such an overwhelming pop culture juggernaut.
I coined the phrase little guy syndrome, where a person or culture falsely believes itself to be the minority voice in a debate. It’s the same kind of thing going on here. I hate that these people represent me. I hate that I have to take pains to say, I like video games, but I’m not like that. It makes me want to put this whole medium behind me. Regular, non-evil people who like games should be more vocal about these issues, about separating us from them.
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~ by Jared London on October 11, 2014.
Posted in Commentary