I think she did a disservice to the journalism by being unprofessional while posing like some valid critic (whether on purpose or not, I have no clue). All that backlash like death threats however is disgusting.
I see these main problems, why people get so upset:
1) The idiots, that gave Sarkheesian death and rape threads
2) The rebuttal that not just these people, but all male gamers are mysoginistic and women hating
3) The reaction of normally fairly resonable people feeling now attacked by that
4) The strong emotional ties many people have to this hobby, often even defining themselves through that. You can see it, whenever someone critizises the game they like and they immediatly react as if they have been personally attacked.
When really we should just show off her malpractices (not crediting content creators and cherry picking of things out of context) and showing the low quality of the videos due to bad research and very one sided views. And then really take the topics, which are often valid and make a better quality discussion about it.
The problem is, she defines as a feminist and that firstly puts many people off straight away due to negative connotations, so they won't even look at valid arguments or parts and secondly, whenever someone like this is critizised it is often in an unreasonable manner as well as the defense is is hateful as well and shouting mysoginistic.
1) The idiots, that gave Sarkheesian death and rape threads
2) The rebuttal that not just these people, but all male gamers are mysoginistic and women hating
3) The reaction of normally fairly resonable people feeling now attacked by that
4) The strong emotional ties many people have to this hobby, often even defining themselves through that. You can see it, whenever someone critizises the game they like and they immediatly react as if they have been personally attacked.
When really we should just show off her malpractices (not crediting content creators and cherry picking of things out of context) and showing the low quality of the videos due to bad research and very one sided views. And then really take the topics, which are often valid and make a better quality discussion about it.
The problem is, she defines as a feminist and that firstly puts many people off straight away due to negative connotations, so they won't even look at valid arguments or parts and secondly, whenever someone like this is critizised it is often in an unreasonable manner as well as the defense is is hateful as well and shouting mysoginistic.
A post has just been deleted. And a reminder from the last time:
And a reminder that sexist comments will not be tolerated in these forums. So please get back on the topic of journalism.
Some people have done very measured takedowns of her videos. I think part of what ignites the rage is that it's obvious she doesn't play games. Maybe she played a few at one point, but she's not playing the ones she's dismissively taking apart now. In short, she doesn't know what the hell she's talking about, and she pretends to be on some kind of crusade.
The thing is, if you've spent any time around university liberal arts departments, this is what people do all the time. Her videos are basically sophomore women's studies essays- devoid of substance but hitting all the jargon. And all these "journalists" come from that world, too, and are used to people swallowing that stuff without pushback, so they're shocked that it doesn't work. Gamers aren't being shamed into lockstep.
Obviously there are also real creeps among the critics, who get off on internet harassment. That is never okay, for any reason. Anonymous'/ 4chan's dick swinging is as eye-rolling as the other side. Ultimately it just feeds Sarkeesian's narrative, which means she'll keep thinking she's on some great crusade and the whole thing will just perpetuate itself.
Haven't they heard? "Gamers" are done.
But why is someone talking about someone they have no idea about on the internet such a big deal? Doesn't that describe 99.999% of the internet in general? People are uniquely defensive of games, sure, but without the threat-filled defenses she's just another random person making videos. Instead of disappearing like a normal person on the internet, however, the anger directed at her just attracts press attention that sets people off even more, and the situation perpetuates itself like you said. I guess the deeper question I'm asking would be something more along the lines of "why isn't she being forgotten like most people who make uninformed videos end up being?"
Speaking of which (and a bit more on-topic), one of the things that bothers me about modern "game journalism" is how insincere it is. Obviously if someone is being abused on Twitter and you write a story about that person that mentions their name and Twitter handle, more will follow and the situation will be exacerbated. I can't help but wonder if it's designed that way on purpose to create a mass of anonymous internet villains so that well-meaning people are motivated to pledge money to Kickstarters and Patreons and ebooks out of spite and/or sympathy, or if the abused themselves are actually being used for the so-called journalists' more sensationalist pieces. Either way, the writers can't possibly be so stupid as to believe that they're helping the situation, which makes their constant moral outrage so much more disingenuous.
It's a relatively simply bussiness for her. I have to admit she is being pretty clever in this (Some even say it's the dude doing those videos with her, a self proclaimed media manipulator Jonathan Mcintosh, behind all of this. She was just another activist before she met him):
1) make a halfassed claims about sexism, it does not matter if they hold up to closer scrutiny - this discourse has never been about logic and facts
2) piss people off, have friendly "journalists" write about her as if she is saint, piss even more people off
3) get "death threats and harassment" from 12 years old kids (alternatively use a puppet account, if not enough harassment)
4) get donations from white knights and SJWs
5) repeat when people stop paying attention to you
It wouldn't really matter that much if she was simply robbing her own side of money, as anybody with any brain left can see through it, but she is actually becoming more and more influential in the development sphere. EA for example had her give a lecture to DICE on Mirror's Edge 2 (like those Swedes need lessons on political correctness, right?).
Any kind of disagreement with her is of course labeled by those same friends of her as sexism and misogyny, any dissent is silenced by those same shouts and cries of -isms (the never failing tactic of the Left). This in turn pisses of even more people, who don't want to be lumped into the same category with those few idiots actually threatening her.
Anyway, for lulz:
1) make a halfassed claims about sexism, it does not matter if they hold up to closer scrutiny - this discourse has never been about logic and facts
2) piss people off, have friendly "journalists" write about her as if she is saint, piss even more people off
3) get "death threats and harassment" from 12 years old kids (alternatively use a puppet account, if not enough harassment)
4) get donations from white knights and SJWs
5) repeat when people stop paying attention to you
It wouldn't really matter that much if she was simply robbing her own side of money, as anybody with any brain left can see through it, but she is actually becoming more and more influential in the development sphere. EA for example had her give a lecture to DICE on Mirror's Edge 2 (like those Swedes need lessons on political correctness, right?).
Any kind of disagreement with her is of course labeled by those same friends of her as sexism and misogyny, any dissent is silenced by those same shouts and cries of -isms (the never failing tactic of the Left). This in turn pisses of even more people, who don't want to be lumped into the same category with those few idiots actually threatening her.
Anyway, for lulz:
Last edited:
Little headsup, InternetAristocrat uploaded a third video about this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km3DZQp0StE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km3DZQp0StE
Because she attracts media attention and money, not least from game developers themselves, who are defensive of gaming when the charges come from Fox News but roll over like whimpering puppies at criticism of being sexist or homophobic- or else use the publicity for their own marketing purposes, like EA. Never mind that less sensationalist critics point out excesses in gaming all the time, and the "misogynist" developers like CDPR are writing better female characters than Anita Sarkeesian could do on her best day.
You don't have to have any actual talent to be a critic. If she wasn't making money on Kickstarter, she'd be using victim politics to get tenure at some backwater liberal arts college. Same for those gaming journalists. Like most journalists, they believe they can make a living off insulting- oh, excuse me, "educating"- the unwashed masses. For a while, it works, because negative press functions as clickbait much more readily than the quality stuff. Ignore them and shed the fat.
Game journalists chosen field is dying, so they've decided to pad their own nests and make or sail any conspiracy they can hang on to, for as long as the clickbaiting can be sustained. It's basic self interest.
Unfortunately not one has stopped to figure out why their profession is dying, while mainly objective critics in new fields go from strength to strength, with people respecting their integrity and the respect they in turn show for their viewership. Totalbiscuit I have a few problems with, but he appeals much more than the "professionals."
Unfortunately not one has stopped to figure out why their profession is dying, while mainly objective critics in new fields go from strength to strength, with people respecting their integrity and the respect they in turn show for their viewership. Totalbiscuit I have a few problems with, but he appeals much more than the "professionals."
May I ask which these are? Not that I don't have some complaints as well. I am just curious.
His aversion to puzzles, it's false. I've seen him playing that Blizzard card game, that is a form of puzzle, channeling your mind down various paths testing possibilities and measuring outcomes. You just need to think differently for every puzzle you encounter.
He also seems a bit too enchanted with streamlining and feature stripping, the industries already had enough of them if you ask me, it still can't match the content produced twenty years ago on much simpler machines, so I think it's time to be asking for more not less.
Minor things, and he were always polite when I used to buy games from him in Debs on Moor in Sheff, so I can't criticise him too much.
He also seems a bit too enchanted with streamlining and feature stripping, the industries already had enough of them if you ask me, it still can't match the content produced twenty years ago on much simpler machines, so I think it's time to be asking for more not less.
Minor things, and he were always polite when I used to buy games from him in Debs on Moor in Sheff, so I can't criticise him too much.
And this is what shouldn't be happening:
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/saints-row-dev-responds-to-feminist-frequency-crit/1100-6422014/
Developers shouldn't be appeasing her like this. It galls me when the media calls them out and they apologize for shit they don't have to. I'm sure it's because their jobs could be compromised and they need to maintain professionalism discourse, but they don't need to grovel at her feet. How does this guy propose he 'fix' the issue in Saints Row? That game is so outrageous you can't take the first step to being PC without ruining it.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/saints-row-dev-responds-to-feminist-frequency-crit/1100-6422014/
Developers shouldn't be appeasing her like this. It galls me when the media calls them out and they apologize for shit they don't have to. I'm sure it's because their jobs could be compromised and they need to maintain professionalism discourse, but they don't need to grovel at her feet. How does this guy propose he 'fix' the issue in Saints Row? That game is so outrageous you can't take the first step to being PC without ruining it.
Last edited:
This is exactly what should be happening if the respective person self-reflects about him- or herself. He never said that he thought that Sarkeesian was right in everything she said he only spoke about his own game and design which is his good right and actually a good thing. I highly doubt that someone at Volition or Deep Silver "forced" him to respond in that way. He could has just remain silent about the topic instead and nobody would have taken a deeper notice of the thing.
The hyperbole in the Breitbart headline doesn't help.
Leigh Alexander continues to prove how immature and substanceless her stuff is. The hypocrisy is really amazing, that these people want to feed off and make a living from game development while being able to crap on it and on gamers continually. She laments that so many game writers have to get real jobs because people won't just pay them money for writing their shitty blog posts. Meanwhile any time someone criticizes or comments on her or her friends in a critical way, she shoots off some dismissive, gossipy tweet. She recently called Christina Hoff Sommers "some middle aged white lady" for daring to criticize her feminist writing. Now Adam Baldwin is "some washed up crackhead." Good night.
Leigh Alexander continues to prove how immature and substanceless her stuff is. The hypocrisy is really amazing, that these people want to feed off and make a living from game development while being able to crap on it and on gamers continually. She laments that so many game writers have to get real jobs because people won't just pay them money for writing their shitty blog posts. Meanwhile any time someone criticizes or comments on her or her friends in a critical way, she shoots off some dismissive, gossipy tweet. She recently called Christina Hoff Sommers "some middle aged white lady" for daring to criticize her feminist writing. Now Adam Baldwin is "some washed up crackhead." Good night.
if he was sincere at all, the saints row games would be a completely different. it smacks of pr, appeasement, and groveling. it's a preemptive prostration to avoid sarkeesian's blacklisting.
cna you imagine him coming out to do some soul searching every time a male youtube commentator pisses on his game? yeah, didn't think so.
You know what I just realized? Leigh Alexander is the author of what I consider to be the worst video game review in the history of video game reviews.
Read it and weep knowing that this person is still writing for big game sites seven years later.
Read it and weep knowing that this person is still writing for big game sites seven years later.
Holy fuck, it never ends. On one hand I want this shit to disappear, but on the other I think people need to see this:
The corruption is beyond anything I would have suspected.
The corruption is beyond anything I would have suspected.