Pour one out for a real one
It's probably a good thing she's retiring on her own terms tho
I remember some
on 
yelled at me that I needed to see what these radical feminists like Anita Sarkeesian were saying, that it was male-hating and threatening vidya. I had vaguely heard of her at that point but hadn’t seen any of her stuff so I looked up a video of hers on YouTube. Very quickly I was like “this is what the gamergaters are getting worked up over? This is pretty vanilla by feminists standards, even a bit boilerplate.”It's pure do-gooder derogation.
Materially, we have set up a system where being right is what gets you punished, and people will hate you for doing something they agree with deep down. Because of the implications it makes about them. In the words of David Graeber, who calls the phenomenon 'Moral Envy', they're saying "How dare you act as if you are morally superior to me (although I do agree that your actions are morally superior to my own.)"
But we’re not talking about some major lifestyle change, playing some video games where the lead character is a woman whose personality doesn’t revolve around her being spankbank material isn’t a huge ask.
She didnt even REALLY say "hey play different games" she moreso was just asking to be critically aware of the content of what you're playing which is some incredibly basic shit.
he moreso was just asking to be critically aware of the content of what you're playing which is some incredibly basic shit
One of her mantras was something like "it's possible to enjoy something while also accepting criticism of it" and I've learned firsthand how impossible that is for some people.
I re-read Lord of the Rings recently. And you know what? It’s definitely got racist elements in it. It sucks. But I can still enjoy the books. It’s just whenever I talk about them now (or even think about them), I do talk about how I like them but the racist parts cannot and should not be ignored.
I re-read Lord of the Rings recently. And you know what? It’s definitely got racist elements in it.
You might enjoy this: https://existentialcomics.com/comic/175
I agree and I also feel the same way about Dune and it's gender essentialist bullshit and its very on the nose Great Man Theory (granted, it presents the dangers of such a thing but it's not like all the chuds that use the name Mua'dib on the internet noticed).
But a lot of people see even the discussion of problematic elements as some existential threat that they want to
about.
Yeah people react VIOLENTLY to being asked to do that. Im not even really clean on that becuase Ive done it before in my life. But some people literally cant do it at all.
Once, I was told to (CW: suicide, gore)
spoiler
slit my own throat and die
because I said that maybe the artists working on the Mortal Kombat franchise shouldn't be required to view gory snuff films just for "authenticity" purposes to keep their jobs and that those artists weren't "privileged" in some magical way that made them deserve psychological trauma to make the treat more "authentic."
And that user still posts here.
I've seen you mention this frequently but yeah thats fucked up. I like MK for the lore and characters (not so much the gameplay lol) but the gore is way too over the top and noone should have to go through that shit.
I've seen you mention this frequently but yeah thats fucked up.
I mention it frequently because it was fucked up. I see it as a high water mark of toxic
shit, and I'm still baffled that that user wasn't banned for that and is still around.I like MK for the lore and characters (not so much the gameplay lol) but the gore is way too over the top and noone should have to go through that shit.
I enjoyed it when it was campy/absurd violence instead of "realistic" and I lost all interest when the "authenticity"
became the standard.I enjoyed it when it was campy/absurd violence instead of "realistic"
Yeah I agree with this. My only caveat is a couple of my favorite characters (Cassie Cage, D'Vorah) come from the era of "authenticity" became the norm. And I did enjoy the story of MKX despite it being one of the "authentic violence" games. Also complete sidenote but the emphasis on guest characters in the current era of MK really puts me off. Not really related but I needed to mention it.
Also complete sidenote but the emphasis on guest characters in the current era of MK really puts me off.
Wasn't Robocop present once?
playing some video games where the lead character is a woman whose personality doesn’t revolve around her being spankbank material isn’t a huge ask.
It's woke communism that is literally destroying bideo bames.
That's one of the most time-honored sources of moral envy, that's for sure.
I've learned over time that almost nothing gets people on the internet enraged more than just the uncomfortable thought that maybe they're consuming something that might be bad in some way, be it how it's made, how it's distributed, who is hurt in its production, or just the damaging propaganda built into it.
Ok this is slightly embarrassing but the first time I heard of Anita Sarkeesian was from a Hbomberguy video
I first heard about her on ShitRedditSays, before everyone flipped the fuck out.
I thought her videos were kind of boring feminism-101 stuff that should be uncontroversial and nobody could possibly need.
Whoops.
I thought her videos would be super edgy based on how the gamersphere was acting about it. I watched it and it was clear she wasn't super familiar with the games and was only doing a mild critique.
It was deeply disappointing.
Yeah you would think Anita is a hardcore feminist but she holds pretty tame positions. Which makes it baffling that gamers got this assblasted about her.
I mean that's way healthier than me. The first time I heard of her was assholes spamming /v/ with threads about how some youtuber I never heard of was going to DESTROY VIDYA by pointing out that their depictions of women were regressive and immature.
same, I played depression quest and everything and didnt hear about her till years later.
to be clear Anita Sarkeesian doesn't have anything directly to do with Depression Quest. That was a game by Zoe Quinn. Sarkeesian was targeted by a harassment campaign before Gamergate proper.
It's okay, it's easy to get misogynistic harassment campaigns mixed up
I heard about her from a Jim Sterling video, and it was and still is probably the best take on the whole situation.
Calling them Jim Sterling is not dead-naming.
My name is James Stephanie Sterling, but Jim Sterling remains the "brand" name. Jim, James, James Stephanie, Stephanie, Steph.
Take your pick!https://twitter.com/JimSterling/status/1355989748846907401
Thanks for the back-up! linking the video again, because I stand by what I said.
This isn’t that weird. If you’re not a gamer - and most people aren’t - the whole gamergate thing is pretty unknown.
I can’t believe you can accurately trace the alt right directly back to people mad at her videos about games.
What a stupid timeline.
I was there when 4ch!n dropped its long standing "we are not your private army" policy to become the private army of Zoe Quinn's ex boyfriend.
Problem is: she wasn't exactly good herself... but her comments were tame beyond measure.
They were tame and people still beat her up for them.
And it spawned a lot of ultra-right and alt-right people too.
Problem is: she wasn't exactly good herself
I know nothing other than her making losers mad. Explain please?
It was mostly technical
tier pedantic stuff, like how actually killing the dominatrix nuns in the Hitman game wasn't actually rewarded by the mission design therefore everything else she said objectively wrong Normally I am the “technically correct is correct and therefore good” kinda guy, but yeah. I’ve encountered the type of reactionary thought you refer to. Using valid, albeit simple, logic chains while being as obtuse as possible. It’s very frustrating.
Side note: I always viewed the nun motif in the Hitman games as tying into the theme of 47 lacking a relationship with his mother. I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts as to whether this is off base or not.
The Americans wouldn't last ten seconds if Charlie Hebdo got translated into English. The closest I can think of to a left-wing equivalent of stonetoss.
Oh yeah, she was, like, enemy number one to the
crowd for a long time. Never actually seen any of her content but mad respect just for managing to stir the shit so hard in and of itselfYea that one in particular is probably trolling but the chuds eat it up either way. Literally every single tweet I looked at said she destroyed the gaming industry
Just insane, how, in what form, did she ruin gaming? Because games now have very token representation but still pander to white men?
Because some female characters now have more of a rugged warrior look instead of exclusively existing as big tiddy eye candy that isn’t allowed to speak
4ch!n was full of nazi "trolling" too, and still is, and turns out that that promotes nazi shit.
the name makes me think it's a bit but i genuinely can't tell. they got types of guys out there that i can't even make up.
I went to the account, he's unironically fash. He tries to seem edgy but it's no bit, he has full videos arguing his insane ideologies. Also, a "gay conservative" apparently
Why do these people claim to be the standing authority on free speech again?
I find that the so-called "SJWs" seem to tolerate more things as acceptable free speech than conservatives who want to claim free speech, but deem white men, rich people, and the GOP as sacred cows that even remotely critcizing should get someone executed for blasphemy like they're the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. I may be a lot of things, but at least I'm not them, even if they are undefeated in the culture wars.
At the risk of going full NAFO, I want to see him say that to someone who had a family member die on 9/11 didn't nearly have it as bad as him living in a society that has free speech and then get punched in the face for it. "My rights don't end where your feelings begin.....but your rights most DEFINITELY end where my ego begins."
To use one of their own quotes against them: "How does it feel to be so weak that mere words hurt you?"
Gamergate was almost 10 years ago and today you learned Depression Quest was actually a free game the whole time.
a g*mer i know just posted about this with vitriol, and it really tickles me bc i met him on a site where the dominant viewpoint was "games are art actually, and they should be treated that way!" (don't bully me, this was like 15+ years ago now)
sometimes if you give children what they want, they will hate you for it"games are art actually, and they should be treated that way!"
No, no, not THAT kind of criticism! The other kind!
lmao p much, i hit him with the "yeah it's crazy that gamers flooded the earth with their collective shit over the mildest possible libfem critique after begging for games to be treated seriously for years" and he appreciated it about as much as a swift kick in the balls
Art is when things are important, not when you think about them."You have access to lifetimes of media but no literacy or curiosity to think about it" is a monkey's paw ass situation.
They wanted all the respect and none of the criticism.
games are real art please treat this seriouslyfeminsit frequency does serious analysis and critique
noooooooooooooooooooooThey want their treats to be seen as art but don't want all the troublesome critique that art is supposed to receive.
When they said that they meant that they wanted incessant praise for being losers
I think Anita started something that has now been moved in on by people who do it in a far more entertaining way, essentially pushing her content out of the space. Combined with obviously the fact that her name still carries (unwarranted) negativity for people who grew up affected in waves of gamergate reactionary culture.
Either way she did a lot of good. Hope she knows it.
Gotta say, it was pretty funny how many nerds lost their goddamn minds about her
Really helped me pare down the old friends list
I always felt like she was kind of shooting fish in a barrel. It used to be really rare for games to have nuanced, good writing and it's still kinda rare. It wasn't that long ago that any depiction of a woman in a game required enormous cleavage and the ability to perv on her. Metal Gear Solid games have modes where you can make a woman do risque poses and take photos of her. There's a Hitman game where you fight against sexy nuns in bondage gear.
That stuff still exists but I think there are a lot broader depictions of women now. We're living in a simultaneous golden age and dark age for games. It's weird. There have never been so many charming, innovative indie games as right now. There are even games with good politics.
So I'd like to think at least Sarkeesian was part of that, helping to let people know games didn't have to be about grunting white man looking at tits and shooting a gun.
How DARE YOU talk shit about MGS when you're absolutely right and the series has a bad track record for treating woman characters.
no, no, you see she breaths through her skin like a plant. this absolutely is a better explanation than just admitting i was randy while designing the character
- nooooo it makes sense in the lore!! you will be ashamed of your words and deeds!!! - kojima
vs
i like looking at pretty girls lol - nier developerDrakengard had some pretty gross gender essentialist lowkey misogyny to it, and the sequel was even worse with its waifu-sex-bond magic, though.
yeah, obviously that shit is very bad, BUT the horny fuck is honest about his character design
BOMB IN VAGINA BECAUSE THE FEEEMALE SINNED is not a misogynist concept
Not to mention she was like 15 in Peace Walker and wearing lingerie
I didn't even know that part. And
were that militant about how there was nothing fucked up about the fiction, because something something not condoning it the historical documents in the fiction simply require 15 year olds in lingerie with bombs in their vaginas changing the sacred canon in any way is wokescolding touch grass touch grass Time to get technically correct in this here comments section about a video game but she was in her 20s. she was presented as, by both the character who introduced her, and by her character's design, as being 16 years old. But being a high school student was her cover as an agent of Cipher.
NEVERTHELESS, because the game presents her as being 16 years old -- all that lingerie stuff and the date is weird pedo shit.
I remember when gamers made a flash game where you punched her in the face complete with blackening her eyes or busting her lip.
Extremely normal people having a normal reaction to a woman who mildly critiqued their hobby.
"Technically it's ephebophilia" they insist as we shove them all in the
Yeah her takes are pretty lukewarm. She's just like "it'd be cool if we had some female characters that don't exist as ornaments and have some agency" and straight up starts all the videos in her series off with this:
Show
Give a Zelda game a 7/10 as a reviewer and
will froth for years about it, up to and including death threats, doxxing, stalking, and suspicious packages being mailed over.
Damn, she was still doing stuff? Kind of surprised she had enough supporters to keep going all this time considering that, as others have said, her work wasn't really novel or particularly noteworthy IIRC. Also obviously she would never have made as much an impact as she did if the gamergators hadn't made her a household name online, which is ironic.
I hate thst I want to know, but since you brought her up, how's keffals doing these days? She went way off the rails, went to rehab for a few weeks, and then went back to making shitty videos again? Or did she chill out a bit
The last I saw of her she made a clickbait video about "the truth about vaush" were she talks about how she mislead people about him, feels unsafe saying this, is sorry about not saying stuff earlier (typical drama stuff) and then goes "no sike he's great and a perfect leftist, but bad at dark souls"
So back to shitty videos.
I remember I thought she was "thunderf00t" on youtube because that obsessive freak used her in so damn many video thumbnails.
Thunderfoot has undergone a weird shift to where his new obsession is bashing Elon Musk. I scrolled through his twitter a while back and was surprised that I couldn't find a single tweet complaining about wokeness or anything, it's literally exclusively making fun of Musk and arguing with Musk fans. Critical support?
To his credit he was always one of the skeptic-sphere / nu-atheists sphere people that seemed to have a brain in his skull, so I could see him having good takes on plenty of issues but weird brainworms on others. Maybe he's cooler now in general though, that would be great. I don't know though, since I haven't followed youtuber stuff in many many years.
He is cool on basically everything except for video games and islam. It's a real case of Western knee-jerk gamer brain. He"s a real 'science' guy, but not a 'science-bro'.
amazing atheist also shifted his content and became less reactionary, though his heel turn was way more public. these things are a process i suppose, but i figure trump was a real "choose your side" moment for many.
lmao holy shit im so old i know who that guy is, he is on czech social media a lot too
I looked up that guy because that was a name I hadn't heard in a long time, and he's way older than I thought. His Wikipedia article says he got a PhD in 1997, so he was probably well into his 40s when he was obsessing over Sarkeesian.
her only real crime is that she clearly didnt play a few of the games long enough to really understand what was going on in them but other than that her critiques were pretty good
i think she over-estimated general knowledge of media studies but spending more time trying to really critical theory 101 people wouldn't have stopped the haters...
https://twitter.com/Polygon/status/1686392643012403200?s=20
all replies are blue checkmark misogynists
<=== (Anita in this chuds mind rn.)
for all the 
