Tropes vs Women in Video Games

Technically any media can raise awareness to some sort of an issue.

Trying to target only video games when the issue of sexism is everywhere is a bad idea.

if it was just about sexism in general, it would be fine.

Watch Symphogear

Well, it's a good idea to focus on games, but we need action these days. Something to give the industry one of several boots to the pants it needs, not just analysis of tropes.

"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel

Given that said upcoming series is generating plenty of media attention, I'd say it counts as "something", or at least potentially could.

Also, its almost always better to focus on something more specific than "sexism in society." Picking a specific area of interest is more practical than trying to take on everything at once. And given how much pained response she's gotten, I'd say she picked a good area to hit first.

Home of CBR Rumbles-in-Exile: rumbles.fr.yuku.com

Why would you arrive to such a flawed conclusion?

Instead, I have learned a horrible truth of existence...some stories have no meaning.

Because he's smart enough not to buy into Anita's BS?

Time to leave them all behind

And what might that "BS" be?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/lb_i.php?lb_id=13239183440B34964700 Alfric's Fire Emblem Liveblog Encyclopedia!

Time to leave them all behind

...I'm torn here.

On the one hand, I agree that it is stereotypical, and that they are reinforcing gender roles...

On the other hand, I kind of want to groan "They are goddamned Legos," and leave it at that.

It's kind of funny. Sufficiently advanced stupidity is like sufficiently advanced science; eventually, you find something you can't solve.

x4 He said that one should talk of sexism as a whole instead of how sexism appears in particular events. 'Tis wrong, it's more useful to hear about how sexism appears in a certain situation. Most people will tell you that sexism is bad if you talk about it in abstract, but they may still show sexist behavior in a particular situation, perhaps unknowingly.

Instead, I have learned a horrible truth of existence...some stories have no meaning.

Good, she mentioned that she's also planning on talking about HOW exactly Lego got shoehorned into being boys only as per the market. Because although she was correct in that the girls Lego sets are stupidly simple, I kept getting the feeling that she was missing the point in that even a girl could enjoy Hogwarts or any of the other sets mentioned.

edited 21st Jun '12 6:14:59 AM by SgtRicko

A question worth asking is; why do people feel the need to be so defensive and skeptical regarding this matter? The vitriolicness of a lot of it certainly doesn't make the gamer crowd look very good.

edited 21st Jun '12 3:31:13 AM by OhSillyUs

While the immaturity of some internet users is inexcusable, I feel that she intentionally stirred up the hornet's nest by allowing comments on her You Tube video and going on 4chan of all places to advertise her videos. It's a bit easier to make money when you look like a victim, and what better way to do it then examples of misogynist remarks? Hell, many of the people on the Tropes vs Women side are just as bad as the opposition. There are a lot of smug, self-righteous, and defensive people who dismiss any criticism towards this webseries as sexism and lack of understanding due to "male privelige". I asked where the money was going on one of her videos and got called a fucking sexist of all things when I didn't even express an opinion on the issue itself. I'm fine with her doing these videos; they don't affect me in the slightest. I'll debate about them but otherwise I've got better things to be angry about. But if I hear she went and used that money to buy herself a new car or some shit, then I'll start to get pissed off.

EIGHT GLORIOUS SIDES

Which is exactly the point. If you're going to go on Kickstarter, a site with no way to moderate what you get, you had better have a long-range plan in place far before you start posting. It's way too easy to become overfunded, let it go to your head, and then lose sight of your goal.

Maybe because such skepticism is really, really conveniently aimed, and is coming out in vast, disproportionate amounts as compared to the hundreds of other Kickstarter programs. Given that this project is the one that has *also* drawn virulently misogynist hatred, its hardly unreasonable to draw a link. Particularly when the amount she asked was totally reasonable.

Home of CBR Rumbles-in-Exile: rumbles.fr.yuku.com

Asking for 6000 bucks to get a decent HD camera and recording equipment is reasonable. Getting 100,000+ dollars more than what she asked for is unreasonable. Once again, what the hell is she gonna do with the money? Countless people donated in order to feel more politically correct, but they didn't think about what a previously unknown internet pop culture commentator is going to do with their money. And once again, she exploited the negative comments to her advantage. She went on 4chan and made threads to advertise her project, fully knowing how most 4chan users act towards things like this, and reaped the benefits of 4chan's impulsive response to gain public sympathy.

EIGHT GLORIOUS SIDES

Of course, as I've learned on this very site, just because you give actual help to someone doesn't mean they will share one iota of their future plans with you. Paying them out of the goodness of your politics doesn't entitle you to know that they actually have a multi-year program in the works that would hit all across the board against misogyny. (I'm not saying she does, I'm just saying she MIGHT be doing less "scamming" and more "Kickstarter + 4chan = big bucks in a hurry and a lot more hard hitting surprises in the future."

We know very little about this other than that some small-time commentator is making a ruckus and getting rich off of it for some reason.

edited 21st Jun '12 8:22:29 AM by Journeyman

So, what I'm getting here is that there's no proof that she's scamming people, but some transparency would be much appreciated.

It's kind of funny. Sufficiently advanced stupidity is like sufficiently advanced science; eventually, you find something you can't solve.

It's not a scam, people donated because they wanted to. The problem is that she got a massive amount of money, which doesn't fit with the project she was doing.

Instead, I have learned a horrible truth of existence...some stories have no meaning.

The defensiveness I find as annoying as everyone else, but I feel skepticism should be applied to everything, and I do mean everything. If someone asks for money, you should be asking questions about where that money goes and how efficiently it's used. Even if it's a charity for starving orphans in Africa. Because even if they have the best intentions, it's still possible that they might be ineptly pouring your money down a big sinkhole. Just like if someone claimed person X said quote Y, you should check to see if they actually said it and if it was taken out of context. The person who made the claim may have honestly believed it, but they could very well have been misinformed themselves. And if someone claims there's a scientific study that X causes Y or X prevents Y, you should ask to see the details of the study and how it was done, and corroborate it with other studies on the same subject. Even if the study itself was perfectly designed, it is usually practically impossible to make a single experiment completely immune to flukes of random chance. Et cetera, et cetera.

Short version: Skepticism is rarely if ever a bad trait. Not only does it help us catch liars, it also helps us catch honest mistakes. I for one think this sort of skepticism should be applied to every Kickstarter program, and many other things beyond that.

edited 21st Jun '12 12:41:49 PM by PoochyEXE

Extra 1: Poochy Ain't Stupid

So I'm a bit confused. On the one hand, I'm hearing that she needed the $6000 to buy games for her reports. On the other hand, I'm hearing she needed it to buy a nice camera? Which is it?

To be honest, even $6000 sounds pretty excessive for either of those needs, and as I understand it she got a lot more than that.

I would take the "skepticism" argument more seriously if this were the first time a Kickstarter ever exceeded its goal. Or if it were the norm for a Kickstarter to have a cap, in addition to a goal. Or if the creator of a Kickstarter had any control over how many people donate at all.

Home of CBR Rumbles-in-Exile: rumbles.fr.yuku.com

Presumably, she needs both. A camera wil be useless without what she's trying to film, and the games are just entertainment without the camera.

edited 21st Jun '12 12:53:20 PM by Dragon573

It's kind of funny. Sufficiently advanced stupidity is like sufficiently advanced science; eventually, you find something you can't solve.

Wait, is this skepticism directed at how she raised that much money, or what she's going to do with it? I was under the impression it was the latter, but I haven't actually been following the thread or the associated events closely; mainly I just skimmed over the thread, saw someone seemingly frowning on skepticism and wanted to object to it.

edited 21st Jun '12 1:46:38 PM by PoochyEXE

Extra 1: Poochy Ain't Stupid

Sure, but you can get a good camera for a lot less than $6000 and for $1200 she could buy 20 new games and cover them. Even for both, $6000 seems a little excessive.

EDIT: Looking at Walmart's website, their most expensive camcorder is around $1500, and you could get a decent one for anywhere from $300-$500.

edited 21st Jun '12 2:05:46 PM by CorrTerek