Gamergate leads to death threats against women in the gaming

[Grace Gubreez]

Morbid Gnome

I can't completely s**t on Blizzard. They are responsible for my absolute favorite female character, Sarah Kerrigan

But yeah, Warcraft is a total opposite. The remarks in that video are especially frustrating when you consider exactly what character they're talking about. "Can you imagine Sylvannas looking any other way?" Yes, we ******** can. She's had three models in game. The middle model is the one they used when first giving her a make-over in the WotLK beta. The one on the right is the model they eventually went with... the model where she's wearing a glorified bra. Because it totally makes sense for the (former) Ranger-General of Silvermoon to run into battle with all her vital organs exposed.

Who were the panel people in the video exactly? The creators of wow? or?

That bolded part, so true! The outfit is ridiculous any way you look at it. It really is a shame they didn't keep the beta one.

[Like a Leaf on the Wind]

stepawayfromthedrawers

How is an opinion piece news?

HOW is threatening to commit a massacre NOT news?? I heard about this on the radio yesterday.

[Honey of the South]

Kitty Nocturna

Honey of the South

All of this "GamerGate" s**t is making me more wary about wanting to get into video game development. At the very least it's making me consider having them use my middle name as opposed to my first name in the credits of games I've worked on in the event that I do get into the gaming industry. That's only because my middle name is somewhat more androgynous than my obviously-feminine first name.

I really can't believe how much this crap has been blown out of proportion, especially when there are a good number of games out there with strong female protagonists. It's making the community come off as a bit hypocritical if you ask me.

I'd just go ahead and try to find a place in video game development regardless of males' harrassment if that was the career I wanted. The problem won't be solved by backing down. A woman has just as much place in video gaming and its creation as any male anyways.

Hey, I'm not completely giving up my dream, I'm just going to use my middle name instead. It'll at least result in less of a chance of receiving death threats from people like these dweebs. Only people who'd know that I was a woman would be the people I work with, friends, family, and any journalists that might interview me. I'd try to keep it that way the best I can until I feel that I'm well-established in the industry. Then I'd gradually allow my first name to be used in the credits of games I've worked on and the like.

[Prince Aegon Targaryen VI]

Morbid Gnome

I'm a feminist who has played many video games. I think there is a problem with the way women are portrayed in video games, just as there is a problem with the way women are portrayed in magazines and on television. There are a few wonderful female characters in games, but there are also a great many who are not so wonderful.

I tell you, the solution is more and more D&D based games, and bringing them closer and closer to D&D itself.

Most of the games I know of with bad representation of women are the big, monolith, pre-defined character type games.

Because in a game that perfectly represents D&D, I can play as a anything I want, from a well-rounded, interesting female character of any variety to a bear who uses disguise and bluff to convince people that it is a human.

Yeah, there is always an issue with NPCs, but most of the D&D-esque games that I myself play tend to portray female NPCs relatively well.

Skyrim's Delphine is pretty ******** awesome. Old (Supposed to be late 50s, I believe) soldier/spy whose still all shrouded in intrigue and s**t, has a hidden intrigue room and everything.

Fallout 3's Amata leads a revolt against her tyrannical father and can, (depending on player choices) end up breaking the vaults isolationist, cult-like system in favor of interacting with the outside world, etc.

+ Bethesda is typically (I admit, they drop the ball some times) good at avoiding fan-service.

For the most part, their female armor typically resembles... Actual effective armor.

Daedric Armor on a woman is pretty similar to what it looks like on a man.

Course I realize this doesn't erase the bad representations of women, I'm just saying, in my experience, they are typically depicted quite well in D&D rooted, open-world games.

[Prince Aegon Targaryen VI]

Honey of the South

Hey, I'm not completely giving up my dream, I'm just going to use my middle name instead. It'll at least result in less of a chance of receiving death threats from people like these dweebs. Only people who'd know that I was a woman would be the people I work with, friends, family, and any journalists that might interview me. I'd try to keep it that way the best I can until I feel that I'm well-established in the industry. Then I'd gradually allow my first name to be used in the credits of games I've worked on and the like.

Death threats?

Perhaps you could avoid those, yes.

Hate in general?

I'd almost say you'd be more prone to get it if you were well known.

Take Todd "Worse than Seven Hitlers" Howard.

If he had subbed out with Zoe Quinn and there had been some rumor that he had secured Skyrim's praise through sex, people would have exploded.

People already treat him as though he's the worst thing to happen to Video Games since ET the Video Game for failing to make Skyrim and Oblivion Morrowind 2.0.

Course there is a "I can't hear you over my four consecutive Game of The Year winners/mountain of money" element, so I suppose hypothetical future well known dev you would have that going.

[Honey of the South]

Prince Aegon Targaryen VI

Morbid Gnome

I'm a feminist who has played many video games. I think there is a problem with the way women are portrayed in video games, just as there is a problem with the way women are portrayed in magazines and on television. There are a few wonderful female characters in games, but there are also a great many who are not so wonderful.

I tell you, the solution is more and more D&D based games, and bringing them closer and closer to D&D itself.

Most of the games I know of with bad representation of women are the big, monolith, pre-defined character type games.

Because in a game that perfectly represents D&D, I can play as a anything I want, from a well-rounded, interesting female character of any variety to a bear who uses disguise and bluff to convince people that it is a human.

Yeah, there is always an issue with NPCs, but most of the D&D-esque games that I myself play tend to portray female NPCs relatively well.

Skyrim's Delphine is pretty ******** awesome. Old (Supposed to be late 50s, I believe) soldier/spy whose still all shrouded in intrigue and s**t, has a hidden intrigue room and everything.

Fallout 3's Amata leads a revolt against her tyrannical father and can, (depending on player choices) end up breaking the vaults isolationist, cult-like system in favor of interacting with the outside world, etc.

+ Bethesda is typically (I admit, they drop the ball some times) good at avoiding fan-service.

For the most part, their female armor typically resembles... Actual effective armor.

Daedric Armor on a woman is pretty similar to what it looks like on a man.

Course I realize this doesn't erase the bad representations of women, I'm just saying, in my experience, they are typically depicted quite well in D&D rooted, open-world games.

Turbine's MMOs are really good about it. It helps that they are the ones responsible for Dungeons & Dragons Online, as well as Lord of the Rings Online. I've played both, and from what I could see the equipment and outfits for female PCs and NPCs alike were no different from those of the male ones.

I can understand female magic-users possibly wearing less than their male counter-parts, because, you know, magic. Not so much if you are playing as a female Night Elf warrior that doesn't use magic at all whatsoever and you are more often than not fighting in close combat with a giant axe.

[Honey of the South]

Prince Aegon Targaryen VI

Honey of the South

Hey, I'm not completely giving up my dream, I'm just going to use my middle name instead. It'll at least result in less of a chance of receiving death threats from people like these dweebs. Only people who'd know that I was a woman would be the people I work with, friends, family, and any journalists that might interview me. I'd try to keep it that way the best I can until I feel that I'm well-established in the industry. Then I'd gradually allow my first name to be used in the credits of games I've worked on and the like.

Death threats?

Perhaps you could avoid those, yes.

Hate in general?

I'd almost say you'd be more prone to get it if you were well known.

Take Todd "Worse than Seven Hitlers" Howard.

If he had subbed out with Zoe Quinn and there had been some rumor that he had secured Skyrim's praise through sex, people would have exploded.

People already treat him as though he's the worst thing to happen to Video Games since ET the Video Game for failing to make Skyrim and Oblivion Morrowind 2.0.

Course there is a "I can't hear you over my four consecutive Game of The Year winners/mountain of money" element, so I suppose hypothetical future well known dev you would have that going.

Just one of those things that would need to be taken in stride. The only thing that would make me regret it would be if there's absolute proof that it's the majority who hate me rather than the minority. And since the latter often has a tendency to be more vocal than the former...

[Saless]

Grace Gubreez

morbid gnome

Wow. wow wow. ******** pigs in the two videos you linked. I wasn't planning on buying anything blizzard, definitely won't be buying after seeing that.

As someone who has been only in the halo gaming community I have never been disrespected because of my gender. But I also don't play with a mic and have only been around gamers in anime conventions or in halopedia/halo waypoint forums. People are always very respectful to me at my local anime conventions and the halo forums.

It's a lot harder to be a d**k to people in person. So that's not indicative of online behavior. But yeah, there's definitely tons of sexism in the gaming community in all sorts of ways, from over sexualized female characters to the harassment Morbid Gnome talked about.

[Prince Aegon Targaryen VI]

Honey of the South

Prince Aegon Targaryen VI

Honey of the South

Hey, I'm not completely giving up my dream, I'm just going to use my middle name instead. It'll at least result in less of a chance of receiving death threats from people like these dweebs. Only people who'd know that I was a woman would be the people I work with, friends, family, and any journalists that might interview me. I'd try to keep it that way the best I can until I feel that I'm well-established in the industry. Then I'd gradually allow my first name to be used in the credits of games I've worked on and the like.

Death threats?

Perhaps you could avoid those, yes.

Hate in general?

I'd almost say you'd be more prone to get it if you were well known.

Take Todd "Worse than Seven Hitlers" Howard.

If he had subbed out with Zoe Quinn and there had been some rumor that he had secured Skyrim's praise through sex, people would have exploded.

People already treat him as though he's the worst thing to happen to Video Games since ET the Video Game for failing to make Skyrim and Oblivion Morrowind 2.0.

Course there is a "I can't hear you over my four consecutive Game of The Year winners/mountain of money" element, so I suppose hypothetical future well known dev you would have that going.

Just one of those things that would need to be taken in stride. The only thing that would make me regret it would be if there's absolute proof that it's the majority who hate me rather than the minority. And since the latter often has a tendency to be more vocal than the former...

Eh, when the time comes, I say go by sales.

The grouchy old Guard can scream about how everything since Morrowind (Bonus points if Daggerfall) is horrible, unplayable crap, but the mountains of money would imply that Todd and his team are doing something right.

[Morbid Gnome]

Grace Gubreez

Morbid Gnome

I can't completely s**t on Blizzard. They are responsible for my absolute favorite female character, Sarah Kerrigan

But yeah, Warcraft is a total opposite. The remarks in that video are especially frustrating when you consider exactly what character they're talking about. "Can you imagine Sylvannas looking any other way?" Yes, we ******** can. She's had three models in game. The middle model is the one they used when first giving her a make-over in the WotLK beta. The one on the right is the model they eventually went with... the model where she's wearing a glorified bra. Because it totally makes sense for the (former) Ranger-General of Silvermoon to run into battle with all her vital organs exposed.

Who were the panel people in the video exactly? The creators of wow? or?

That bolded part, so true! The outfit is ridiculous any way you look at it. It really is a shame they didn't keep the beta one.

The people on the panel are/were the Production Director, Lead Systems Designer, Lead Content Designer, Art Director, Lead Game Designer, and Lead World Designer.

[Glorious Leader Luna]

Morbid Gnome

Because it totally makes sense for the (former) Ranger-General of Silvermoon to run into battle with all her vital organs exposed.

vital organs
Undead

Pick one

Course she doing very bloody well for a 20+ year old corpse but you know

[crownvetch]

Blood Valkyrie

Sending death threats to someone is not okay. Seriously. People take this s**t seriously.

As for so called feminists who think there is something anti-woman about video games, clearly, those people have not played enough video games. I've seen so many strong, capable, wonderful female characters in video games it's ridiculous!

Also:



I do think people need to stop sending death threats, though. That s**t's scary.

okami and okamiden had some awesome female characters

[Grace Gubreez]

Saless

Grace Gubreez

morbid gnome

Wow. wow wow. ******** pigs in the two videos you linked. I wasn't planning on buying anything blizzard, definitely won't be buying after seeing that.

As someone who has been only in the halo gaming community I have never been disrespected because of my gender. But I also don't play with a mic and have only been around gamers in anime conventions or in halopedia/halo waypoint forums. People are always very respectful to me at my local anime conventions and the halo forums.

It's a lot harder to be a d**k to people in person. So that's not indicative of online behavior. But yeah, there's definitely tons of sexism in the gaming community in all sorts of ways, from over sexualized female characters to the harassment Morbid Gnome talked about.

True. And thats the reason I dont play with a mic. Don't need to deal with all the dicks in the world.

[Honey of the South]

Prince Aegon Targaryen VI

Honey of the South

Prince Aegon Targaryen VI

Honey of the South

Hey, I'm not completely giving up my dream, I'm just going to use my middle name instead. It'll at least result in less of a chance of receiving death threats from people like these dweebs. Only people who'd know that I was a woman would be the people I work with, friends, family, and any journalists that might interview me. I'd try to keep it that way the best I can until I feel that I'm well-established in the industry. Then I'd gradually allow my first name to be used in the credits of games I've worked on and the like.

Death threats?

Perhaps you could avoid those, yes.

Hate in general?

I'd almost say you'd be more prone to get it if you were well known.

Take Todd "Worse than Seven Hitlers" Howard.

If he had subbed out with Zoe Quinn and there had been some rumor that he had secured Skyrim's praise through sex, people would have exploded.

People already treat him as though he's the worst thing to happen to Video Games since ET the Video Game for failing to make Skyrim and Oblivion Morrowind 2.0.

Course there is a "I can't hear you over my four consecutive Game of The Year winners/mountain of money" element, so I suppose hypothetical future well known dev you would have that going.

Just one of those things that would need to be taken in stride. The only thing that would make me regret it would be if there's absolute proof that it's the majority who hate me rather than the minority. And since the latter often has a tendency to be more vocal than the former...

Eh, when the time comes, I say go by sales.

The grouchy old Guard can scream about how everything since Morrowind (Bonus points if Daggerfall) is horrible, unplayable crap, but the mountains of money would imply that Todd and his team are doing something right.

Well duh. And if the haters are still buying the supposedly-crappy games, then the best way to counter would be to ask them why they continue to buy and play them if they're so bad. Ought to leave them speechless.

[Grace Gubreez]

Morbid Gnome

Grace Gubreez

Morbid Gnome

I can't completely s**t on Blizzard. They are responsible for my absolute favorite female character, Sarah Kerrigan

But yeah, Warcraft is a total opposite. The remarks in that video are especially frustrating when you consider exactly what character they're talking about. "Can you imagine Sylvannas looking any other way?" Yes, we ******** can. She's had three models in game. The middle model is the one they used when first giving her a make-over in the WotLK beta. The one on the right is the model they eventually went with... the model where she's wearing a glorified bra. Because it totally makes sense for the (former) Ranger-General of Silvermoon to run into battle with all her vital organs exposed.

Who were the panel people in the video exactly? The creators of wow? or?

That bolded part, so true! The outfit is ridiculous any way you look at it. It really is a shame they didn't keep the beta one.

The people on the panel are/were the Production Director, Lead Systems Designer, Lead Content Designer, Art Director, Lead Game Designer, and Lead World Designer.

Damn. It's really sad to see them act that way. I can understand the booing in the crowd because a crowd can have/will have dicks mixed into the equation.

But geez those designers/ directors need to show respect. Poor girl.