I'm sure that almost everyone in this community is aware of what happened today on (I think) reddit and all the crazy things surrounding that. Between the people calling everyone on GiantBomb a bigot or pig and the people spewing hate back at them, I'm really confused why this is happening when the topic this surrounds is about sitting on your couch slapping buttons on a controller. I have noticed over the past year a really odd wave of militant anything-but-white-guyism that has me really confused as a white male what I have done wrong. Because of this recent explosion I figured it would be best for me to try and figure out what maybe I just don't understand from people who aren't me, and beyond what some of the internet is saying today I still think this is the best community to have a sensible conversation.
So I'm just going to lay out a few boiled down ideas I have about what is going on and I would love to hear feedback and criticism on it:
1. I actually got pretty offended and upset at what Samantha Allen said about GiantBomb hiring a "White guy". First off, that is racist. Had she said the same thing about "another black guy" or any other race or gender, people would go bat shit. Second, People always talk about how it's great to get different perspectives and I totally agree with that, but all white guys don't come from whiteguyville. We don't all share the same opinions, someone from Russia and someone from Great Britain might seem to have a similar skin color but they certainly will have different views and opinions and life experiences. This is the main issue I have with people like Samantha, Dan and Jason are from different parts of the country, come from different cultures and will surely have some different viewpoints. It all seems a little bit silly to actively go out and hire certain people to hit a check list and as anyone who even slightly knows anything about Jeff, Brad, Patrick and the others knows that they are not hiring people just to spite the other gender.
2. I am also a little confused about what certain people thing video game journalism is. When we talk about needing other genders for new viewpoints, I'm a little concerned about how many different viewpoints you can get from someone about video games just because they are of the opposite gender than you. I believe in a way people are putting journalist before video games and getting too political about entertainment. I come to GiantBomb to get blow off steam from the shit fest that is real life, I play video games for the same reason, please stop making it stressful to participate in something I do to relax. When it comes to listening to people talk about video games I am not really to concerned whether it is a man or woman, but rather that they know what they are talking about. I know that video games are getting bigger and maybe they will impact people's lives more but fucking candy crush makes millions so it's still a time killer/ entertainment for most.
3. I am concerned about the idea of being "represented" in video games odd and confusing. I have never once played a game where I felt satisfied that I was represented, probably because I don't think people play games for that reason. The fact is, at this moment white dudes make up a lot of the computer science/ software engineer/ other video game related graduates. As a computer science major I can tell you that my wife (another cs major) is the only female in most of my courses. I would assume white guys with these degrees are going to think of white guy stories, but as with anything that starts to get popular we see different types of people other than the core demographic jump in. As these people naturally get interested we will get more and more games that become more and more diverse and that is awesome. If it doesn't naturally happen it just seems forced and stupid, like serious dialog in a stupid action movie I cringe a little. I love opening my eyes to different cultures and backgrounds, when it's a great story that takes me to a world I never knew about it's almost like the same feeling I got when I found out about GiantBomb and wanted to know everything about it and be a part of it. Sleeping dogs is a great example of this, I literally wanted to move to Hong Kong after playing that game and doing tons of research and reading about that part of the world and it's culture. This is what is slowly happening and will continue to slowly happen and everyone needs to be okay with that, freaking the hell out because every avatar in every game isn't able to be both genders will not solve anything or open anyone's eyes to a new world or culture, it's putting lipstick on a pig.
I am sorry this is wicked long and probably a bunch of nonsense but I figured I would let some of my thoughts that have been hanging around in my head out. Feel free to call me out if I am being a bigot or insensitive as I swear I am not attempting to, thanks for listening to my thoughts as well.
Log in to comment