Hi there,
In light of all the hysteria of the last couple of weeks I have the need to get a few things off my chest. I've been a gamer since the heady 8 bit days. I love the medium and over the years this passion has only grown stronger. For me games are the modern day version of what opera was way back in the day. Like opera games are a blend of all known forms of artistic expression. Also like opera they have a tendency to get on the nerves of some people and can even lead to a lot of debate and social upheaval. This is part of why I think games are so fascinating to me and why I think there is still a lot more that can be done with the medium that hasn't been explored yet.
But then forces emerged that seemed to want to stifle the freedom of our medium. It's not like we haven't seen this happen before so initially I wasn't worried in the slightest. I knew common sense would eventually prevail and that we all could look forward to a future were the valid criticisms would be taken on board and the BS would be chucked back into the sea of ideas. But it seems I was wrong about this and it bothers me to no end.
Yes, there is a lot of schlock being sold to us in game-form and yes it's full of stereotypes and morally questionable content. And yes it would be great to see more developed and relatable characters in games (both male and female). But that doesn't mean we have to flagellate ourselves over this as much as it doesn't mean we shouldn't support people who are doing things to advance the medium. It's called freedom of speech and that is still one (if not the most) important value any medium should respect. If we start doubting this we might as well trow in the towel and pack up. Games should be free to offend anyone without limits. The freedom of speech includes the freedom to offend, there is no way around this. If we give even an inch of that freedom away we are on a slippery slope that leads to hardcore censorship.
I feel the response of the games press in general has been weak and overly biased, focusing on the deplorable minority that is unable to express themselves in a civil manner on the subject. I think there is this climate of fear were people are afraid to be labeled a misogynist or worse for talking out critically against some of the BS that is used to push a radical sexist agenda that is out to stifle the freedom of game developers.
Naturally I want to distance myself of the vile knee jerk hate speech that has been used by people who claim to be defending the same principals. They are even worse then the thing they are fighting. All they achieve is that the people they attack become martyrs for their cause. Something we should try to avoid at all cost. People who make death threats should be persecuted to the full extent of the law.
I'm sure all of this has been said before a thousand times but I honestly had to put this down in written form.
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