davidmerrick

Video games journalism isn't exactly a business casual industry... why am I doing this.

Here's how this is panning out:

1. Tracey and Megan have a discussion about the inclusion and representation of women in video games.

2. One of your sticking points is that Tracey's clothes are somewhat revealing.

3. This has nothing to do with how women choose to clothe themselves and somewhat to do with how male artists clothe female characters.

You're passively-aggressively slut-shaming them. Don't be that guy.

Alright, better question: what have Tracey and Megan done or not done that isn't worthy of your respect?

I'm curious: do you have respect for Jeff and others at this site, given the work they do?

If you had read any of those Polygon articles, watched their video, or read the stuff Patrick has posted on the site or on his Tumblr, you would know it's not people crying "sexism!" It's a variety of people having nuanced discussions about the issues, their roots, and how to fix them.

It's easy to be dismissive when you're not directly impacted by the problem. I used to be. It can be an uncomfortable thing to come to terms with but it's a necessary step.

There is so much wrong with this I'm not sure where to start.

1. God forbid people wear clothes they're comfortable in.

2. You're completely devaluing the work people like Tracey and Megan do.

3. You think that Tracey and Megan would have stepped in front of a camera to record their discussion, wearing their clothes because the editors thought some skin would get more views, especially given the discussion?!

The absolute lack of respect you have for them, their opinions and their choices is frankly insulting.

I wholeheartedly agree!

Addressing the specific numbers of female gamers, I looked over the Wikipedia article and here are some of the finer statistics:

25% of console players are women. 39% of PC players are women.

38% of Xbox users are female, 51% of whom have kids.

30% of women gamers play violent games.

These are not minor numbers, guys, and they're growing.

When that's been the case game after game for nearly three decades? Yes! Yes that's very sexist! At the very least it's lazy as all hell.

Ignoring the issue itself, it's really sad to see people on this forum and the Internet in general be so dismissive of other people's concerns. Watch Polygon's discussion on the issue. http://www.polygon.com/e3-2014/2014/6/11/5800522/female-characters-assassins-creed-video This isn't clickbait, they aren't frothing at the mouth about this, they're just genuinely upset that a full half of the human population (and if the statistics are correct, almost half of all video game players http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_EF_2012.pdf) isn't being properly represented--or represented at all, for that matter--in a medium they love. And it's not like they're straight white guys discussing the issue--though that wouldn't make it any less legitimate--but women who are legitimately excluded through these design decisions.

Saying someone isn't being genuine in their arguments or opinions is a really disrespectful way to approach a debate. Firstly, it's assuming they're believing something or taking a particular stance just to cause controversy, or become popular, for some other ulterior motive, and that devalues the fact that they have actual feelings or beliefs. Secondly, it's dismissive of the issue, allowing you to paint it as something raised only to generate headlines.

Be better than that, guys. Take people at their word, hear them out, try to empathize if not sympathize.

The guys had the right balance of funny and enthusiastic these conferences. I was genuinely thrilled to see how overjoyed Patrick and Alex got just seeing the new Yoshi and Kirby games.

Drew can be faintly heard singing something in the latest Bombcast while the duders are talking about the evolution of mobile phones. Anyone have an idea of what it was?