Worth Reading: 12/02/2014

That 25 list oh boy. Their heart is in the right place but some of those examples, ouch. Maybe it's because the message is about as subtle as a ballpoint hammer yet they insist on this cute wink and nod approach of seeing if the viewer can connect the dots.

Personally I'd appreciate these same people simply say whats on their mind rather than come up with these ostensibly thought provoking scenarios. If there is one thing we have all learned throughout the years, thanks to the booming success of YouTube and places like Giant Bomb or people like Jim Sterling is that this generation prefers a candid conversation, not a production.

Still good on them I guess, they're trying and it's the thought that counts.

I've seen it earlier, but I thought the Sonic Boom frame-by-frame stuff was really interesting.

Oh god that last video was so.... anyway, 10 years of WoW eh?

Sadly, that seems to be the case.

In brighter news (or darker depending on how you look at it) my World of Warcraft character that I created on release day, finally hit level 61 after hitting level 60 six years ago.

I bet that kid asked if you would share with him or her. Did you, @patrickklepek? Did you let him or her play?

I should really play Bayonetta. Also, yay for Cara Ellison articles!

@zanetsu: Yeah it was. Makes you wonder if other games do that as well and we just haven't caught it because we don't through game footage frame-by-frame like a video editor does. Also, surprised to see the Game Grumps on this site and have it actually be relevant to recent game problems.

I know a person also named and spelled the same as Viv in DA:I who is super nice and humble so its kinda weird for me having a video game party member that shares the same name to be the polar opposite.

I like the fact that our goals align but man, oh man I really want to knock her down a peg. I'm playing a lady Qunari rogue as well so I wish I had the option in the game to make her humble and be less of an elitist. 0_o

I cannot believe it's been ten years already.

Nice piece Patrick! The Game grumps bit of Sonic boom cracked me up. I also appreciated the checklist video at the end. Although, I can't hear Adam Sessler without thinking Xplay. I don't know what about him, but he sounds very TV, in a good way. Probably why he was on camera at G4.

You know, Gamespot's "10 Years of WoW" feature was pretty good aswell and it has Rorie and Greg Kasavin in it: http://www.gamespot.com/wow10/

Yeah, making lists isn't the ideal way, but it creates awareness more easily. Also, nice to see the entire Idle Thumbs Cast being represented, except for the best host. No, not Nick Breckon.

Great job Patrick. =) Thanks for the article links and videos, as well as insight to them. Hope your flight didn't scare that little kid too much hahaha. Have a great week dude!

cc @patrickklepek

Yeah...@dannyodwyer would be really sad. Where's the synergy, man?

That GotY Bayonetta 2

@humanity said:

Luckily you can totally find examples of those guys giving their candid thoughts, if you look. Arthur Gies, KvO, Idle Thumbs et al, they've all given their personal feelings numerous times. It plays to me like a show of solidarity for FemFreqs message, which is usually delivered in the same polished and produced style as this video. I also generally prefer a more candid approach but hey, it's the house style.

That list of 25 annoys me.

I don't want to say that the female issue is a small one, but what about minorities in games?

What about the racism online cause im a person of colour?

Where are the AAA games who have empowering black people as a lead?

Most of the times black people are side characters, or so much a stereotype that it's just insulting.

The few positives I can think of are Connor in AC3, Adewale in AC:BF DLC, and Aveline in the AC handheld game.

Meanwhile we have Tombraider, all the FF13 games, Metroid etc etc.

It irks me that the quesion/discussion isn't broadend, it comes across as if being a person of colour is less important than being a female.

I probably am saying it all wrong, but I really really hope I can play a AAA game soon which has a positive black person as a lead.

If my niece wants to play a game as a female lead in a positive role I have options.

If my nephew want's to play a game with a person of his colour in the lead then what?

Again, I'm am not disagreeing with the issue brought up, I just don't understand why this is purely focused on women, while the issue can be broadend.

I feel like men actually saying anything about male privledge AT ALL is a good thing. Sure, these guys may express their opinions to their niche audiences, but that list video may spread their message to a wider audience. More people nationwide know about Feminist Frequency since Anita Sarkeesian's TV appearances on shows like the Colbert Report.

I'm glad @patrickklepek included Game Grumps' animation analysis episode for Sonic Boom. Barry sums it up perfectly with "This game costs $60.."

To be fair, in the movies Batman has been seen using guns or killing people (indirectly or not). In Arkham Asylum, I distinctly remember a moment where I tied a guy to a gargoyle, then cut that rope down with a batarang, sending him head first down a few stories.

@eazeapeazea: Agreed. Whether you like the style of delivery or not, videos like that are valuable, and the information presented is sound.

@jdci Those are all valid points as well. FemFreq concentrates on gender issues and it would be great to see things like that develop for other minority groups.

@humanity: It doesn’t seem at all cryptic to me. I’m quite confused why you seem to think that. The point is made quite clearly.

To go long with Eurogamer review of Never Alone, USGamer (Also written by Daniel Starkey) did an awesome piece about the representation of First Nations people in games and the game industry. It is a really good read.

Link

@humanity: I don't really see the "wink and nod" you're talking about. It all seems pretty straight forward to me.

I absolutely agree that the issues you list are relevant. However, I don't think it's fair to lambast a video focused on a specific issue for not addressing other issues. Focus is important for communication, especially in such a short format. The video is about one topic—maybe not the most important topic in video games, certainly not the most important topic in the entire spectrum of injustice or inequality—but that's the topic they chose. Crucially, it doesn't present itself as a comprehensive look at everything wrong with the video game community, just an examination of one particular facet.

@jdci: I think that the call for greater minority representation in games is gaining strength as well. The 25 point list seemed like a direct response to all of the people that try to offhandedly toss aside Anita's points because she "isn't a gamer" or some such nonsense. So she rounded up some friends and had some of the most visible games personalities make a PSA style video about her points as a show of solidarity. Now people can't say that her views are just the isolated ravings of some mad woman (though it really took some profound ignorance to make that point in the first place).

Patrick has done some panels at PAX with some women and minorities about surviving the internet that you can find on the interview dumptruck. He also did an interview with a BioWare developer earlier this year about how games are handling diversity. I think this video focused on women because it was produced by Feminist Frequency and recent events in the industry have brought the gender issues to the forefront. I'm sure many of those speakers would echo the sentiment for greater diversity of race as well as gender.

Game Grumps on Giant Bomb, didn't expect that. Have you guys ever thought of doing stuff with youtube shows/personalities? Danny and Arin would seem like a good fit for something like that. Or maybe it would be a disaster and you guys wouldn't gel at all. Probably that's why you don't do that stuff. lol

I love checking this feature out, and I love being featured in it!

@alraiis: Very well said.

@jdci: I honestly can't think of the last good black lead in a video game. Prototype 2? I never played that game, let alone the original, so I can't say if he managed to avoid being a stereotype.

Best example I can come up with is Louis from Left 4 Dead. Which, man, that's going back a ways to find something.

@jdci: It is weird how in FF13, Sazh is possibly the most likable main character in that game.

But yeah, I get the crux of your argument.

@viking_funeral: The Walking Dead and Broken Age spring to mind.

@enemylandlord: Exactly, and I think having people who have already expressed support on their twitter accounts and the like come on to a produced video only works to encourage more men like them to speak up.

I thought it was especially cool for folks like Greg Miller and Brian Altano to show their support - while most of the people in the video (Area 5, Arthur Gies, Chris Remo etc.) cater to an audience who is already fairly knowledgeable about white male privilege, I think the two aforementioned have the largest number of fans who may be somewhat ignorant about the situation and seeing people they like show their support for Feminist Frequency may lead them to reconsidering their views on it.

I thought this was kinda interesting, cause to me DA:I has the most uninteresting and boring characters in an RPG I've seen for years. I can't care about one of them.

Vivienne is a delightful addition to an already colorful and eclectic group of characters.

@triplestan: Yeah Greg Miller was kind of a surprise for me. I admittedly don't follow the guy closely, but I've heard some super knockin boots, and it didn't exactly scream feminism to me. I don't mean to say I know much about his views on the subject and I don't want to appear as if I'm speaking poorly of him, but it was encouraging to see him put his voice behind this.

A lot of great stuff this week!

Thanks for mentioning our Kickstarter Patrick. I kinda hoped it would be up your street ;)

@humanity: I agree scripted things such as these can be a bit shotty. Its not uncommon to come across over blown or unrealistic, That said as you mentioned trying is a good move. The method may not be the greatest but the discussion is where it really matters.

In my own experience, I was fortunate to have friends male and female who would game in pretty significant ways; Halo, Star Craft, and the like. But as years went on I do feel the environment has pushed them away.Other than the occasional game of Smash Brothers on either the Wii or Wii U there has been a pretty larger drop off.That said no issue is ever based upon one or two reason but almost always is a multifaceted thing. Would they come back if things changed I do not know. But at least if things changed for newer generations coming up to games maybe that not a bad thing at all.

At least there is more and more of a start rippling in the community time will tell its affect.

Side note: @patrickklepek Great article and links as always. Would Bayonetta be a good game to pick up if say you could only play every so many weeks? 2 or 3 apart lets say. Sadly my current schedule makes it a bit impossible to sit down fully with one game, and I do own a Wii U that sees limited use but not sure if I could squeeze that in. Cheers.

Didn't someone a while back confirm that the tanks that the Batmobile is blowing up are all un-manned drones and that you wouldn't actually be shooting missiles at human enemies?

Doesn't everyone hate Vivienne?

The idea you're grasping at here is called "Intersectionality", which is the notion that you can't meaningfully talk about the oppression of one marginalized group (sexism, racism, homophobia, etc.) without at least implicitly talking about the oppression of all marginalized groups. Feminist Frequency is a platform dedicated to gender issues, so naturally that's going to be their area of focus, but yes, the privilege ascribed to men in that video largely mirrors privilege ascribable to being white (the video at one point explicitly mentions the privilege of being a "straight white man").

Intersectionality is a pretty core idea in third-wave feminism; find someone fighting against the marginalization of women (especially in the gaming sphere, where basically nobody is old enough to be a second-wave feminist) and you'll find someone who will also fight against the marginalization of people of color at the drop of a hat*, if they're not already.

* (If they don't then oops you found a racist, sorry about that.)

One of my film teachers in college brought her baby to see the Roman Polanski adaptation of Venus in Furs, so no, Patrick, it is never too early to teach kids that kind of stuff!

@jdci: I agree with you about the issues with minority representation. As an uber mutt feel underrepresented all the time. Yet, that is a different conversation. It just so happens that many women have been targeted and singled out because they themselves spoke out about being underrepresented. I have had racist names thrown at me at times but I have never heard of being aggressively and violently targeted and threatened like women have when speaking out. Unfortunately, minorities get treated slightly better in this regard due to the open cultural taboos on racism, but sexism has not had the same amount of exposure in recent years so misogynistic attitudes seem to be more intense and in some circles even accepted and embraced. When churches preach racial tolerance but then say women are subservient and should not be afforded the same rights as a man, like a very prominent church in the US did in the early 2000's, it does not help end sexism in society it helps breed it.

So unfortunately, the issues have to be separated because the causes and solutions are different and have to be dealt with separately.

Holy crap.

To be honest I have no idea if you just insulted me , or educated me.....

I'll go with educated.

And yes, I do see the feminism issue in gaming as almost the same thing as the race issue.

I didn't mean to attack that specific video, it is just weird. I mean this issue is getting international coverage, yet I don't see any movement on the race thing, which in my eyes is the same thing.

Maybe that is just something I will not understand, I accept that.

I finished Bayonetta 2 an hour ago. I immediately went back in and realized how much better I got.

All I want is more Bayonetta.

@fredchuckdave: For the most part. But nobody can argue that she isn't interesting. Her banter with the more coarse party members is pretty good too...

I think it looks weird to write about fashion sense in video games compared to real world couture and then write Louboutin wrong in such a weird way. That was directed @Gita Jackson btw, not Patrick. Patrick even gets pro-kudos for quoting without spell-checking a "(sic!)" might be helpful at times, but whatever.

This one comment concerning Vivienne stood out to me:

"who would break your neck as soon as look at you"

Now, I'm all for strong females, but this just sounds like an asshole regardless of gender to me. I'm someone who generally leans more towards the "love, second chances for everyone, let's just get along" spectrum of behaviour. I don't particularly like people having this aura of toughness around them and don't think that's something someone should aspire to.

Now, I haven't actually played Dragon Age 3, so no idea how she's actually portrayed in the game. Hell, seems like she's a must-have in your party and someone who you can't just talk your way into their pants, so that's pretty great.

Edit: Also:

“Do men focus on the penetrative act too much do you think?”

“I feel like that’s the only thing they’re good at,” Lacy says.

WTF?

@patrickklepek Thanks man, good read as ever. I wish I could get away with "It was the holidays and I was drunk," as an excuse for being late with some work ;-)

Oh man that list video was terrible.

WoW 10 years old fuck me.