PopBot

+1 on this.

Also, I don't see any indication anymore if I've watched the video or not on the thumbnail, and there is no longer a little red bar in the thumbnail showing how much I have watched, anyone know if this is intended behavior?

PopBot - PC

http://steamcommunity.com/id/handsomeransom

Jumping back in, so many changes!

IGN: PopBot

I feel like the strongest content had an ensemble cast, now we have a lot of single duder content and it seems to be dividing up more every day. I wouldn't begrudge Vinny a move that is best for his family, but I will really miss him on the bombcast (especially when Jeff is gone and it's the Vinnycast). Giantbomb has always been my favorite because the duders who ran it saw it as a show/production first, something that entertains. I hope they find a new hire who isn't just another video game journalist hopping from site to site. A gregarious and hilarious dude/dudette (actually hiring a woman to be on the team would be an awesome move I think) is necessary, not another twitter obsessed journo who is awkward on camera. But I guess all that is obvious. Congrats Vinny!

*also NY Vinny concept art looool. NY Vinny needs to be a thing.

Like Prison architect, it eschewed Kickstarter and went straight to the consumer (via the Humble store). I was surprised by the quick reaction, I am very much looking forward to this game but the buzz didn't seem $300K in 24 hours strong. Any thoughts?

@Harkat said:

@PopBot said:

@Harkat said:

@Gordo789 said:

It bums me out that I need to feel like shit whenever discussions about sexism come up. I guess feeling like shit once in a while is not as bad as feeling like shit all the time, though, so good on you for bringing this stuff up @patrickklepek .

For all the dudes arguing furiously in these comments, just stop, you're making it worse. We can all learn something from an episode of south park, the one where Stan's dad guesses the N-word on wheel of fortune, and Token Black is really upset at Stan about it. Stan eventually realizes that he can never understand how that makes Token feel because he's not black. We can never REALLY understand what women have to deal with, so stop trying to rationalize and dissect everything. Accept the comments, try and learn something from them, and most of all: don't be a dick. Even on the internet, where it is totally expected, don't be a dick.

Certainly men, on the whole, lack perspective in these matters, but I have an issue with your mentality. I don't like to accept - on good faith alone - that any given person has a better idea than me about something. One always needs to back up one's case, saying "you can't understand, you're part of a privileged group" is worthless from an argument perspective. Not pointing any figures, there are plenty of good points in this thread, giving automatic credibility to anyone is problematic.

This sounds like you are discounting other people's perspectives because it hurts your ego that they might know more about their own lives than you do. You need to justify yourself if you are going to start telling other people about their own life experiences, not the other way around.

I'm not proclaiming to know jack about anyone's life experience, and accordingly, I'm not pushing for anything specific in this case. So no, I don't have to prove anything.

If women in the videogame industry really are treated unfairly - something I absolutely don't discount - and we should alter our ways accordingly, there needs to be solid, provable justifications. Of which there are, but "you don't know my life" ain't it.

Why is their word not a "solid, provable justification?" What more do you need? For a man to say it? =/

I don't get how you can still be pretending like this is somehow up in the air, like all these women are just outliers. The games industry is incredibly sexist. Is there really any debate about that anymore?

@Harkat said:

@Gordo789 said:

It bums me out that I need to feel like shit whenever discussions about sexism come up. I guess feeling like shit once in a while is not as bad as feeling like shit all the time, though, so good on you for bringing this stuff up @patrickklepek .

For all the dudes arguing furiously in these comments, just stop, you're making it worse. We can all learn something from an episode of south park, the one where Stan's dad guesses the N-word on wheel of fortune, and Token Black is really upset at Stan about it. Stan eventually realizes that he can never understand how that makes Token feel because he's not black. We can never REALLY understand what women have to deal with, so stop trying to rationalize and dissect everything. Accept the comments, try and learn something from them, and most of all: don't be a dick. Even on the internet, where it is totally expected, don't be a dick.

Certainly men, on the whole, lack perspective in these matters, but I have an issue with your mentality. I don't like to accept - on good faith alone - that any given person has a better idea than me about something. One always needs to back up one's case, saying "you can't understand, you're part of a privileged group" is worthless from an argument perspective. Not pointing any figures, there are plenty of good points in this thread, giving automatic credibility to anyone is problematic.

This sounds like you are discounting other people's perspectives because it hurts your ego that they might know more about their own lives than you do. You need to justify yourself if you are going to start telling other people about their own life experiences, not the other way around.

@Neferon: @Neferon said:

@PopBot said:

@Neferon said:

There's also plenty of "Oh, it's so hard being a woman in the gaming industry, because I'm so attractive. All the guys want to date me. I get so much attention. It's like, really hard."

No... not really that at all. More like "I am constantly being inappropriately propositioned by people in a professional setting that would be totally unacceptable if I where in any other industry. If I bring it up, I'm an uptight bitch or a lawsuit waiting to happen."

You have a point and I don't disagree that that's inappropriate behavior. But it's not at all exclusive to the gaming industry. My point however, is that while this type of inappropriate behavior can be annoying, tough or insulting, it is miles away from things such as not hiring a woman because "she doesn't know anything about videogames", or not taking her game-ideas seriously based on the fact that she's a woman. The seperation between these two things, I believe, is very important if you do not want to polarize the community. I think many people are faced with inappropriate behavior in their working environment. They deal with it somehow, some people are more resilient than others so it's a different experience for everyone. Opinions about how to best deal with it (More focus! - vs - Suck it up!) are divided and personal. I don't think that behavior that prevents women from getting hired or doing their jobs (even though they are clearly qualified) is viewed with nearly the same amount of division.

This issue needs clarity.

Yes not getting a job based on gender is worse than being hit on, but that something worse exists is not a good excuse. It's the whitewashing of "all suffering of all groups is equal" that is not helpful. It basically is just supporting the status quo, which in the games industry is that women are second class citizens, by pretending that everyone's experience is essentially the same, which in turn boils down to blaming and shaming the victim ("Oh everyone has a hard time, you just aren't tough enough to deal with the smacktalk/office environment/etc").

I appreciate the reasoned response btw.

indayr@Indarys said:

@PopBot: Congrats--you're the worst type of person. It's the system that's responsible for the way people act on both sides of the spectrum. Putting all the blame on one group of victims is going to make the problem worse. Do you really think racist whites in the 50s just became racist because they were assholes, or because they were brought up knowing no other way to behave? You think that men like swimsuit supermodels because that's just how men are, or because that's the standard of beauty fed from every angle by society? All you're going to do by posting the drivel you do is provoke comments like "

#1reasonwhy You're all crazy aren't you? Just DONT GIVE A FUCK,jeez stupid women.

— Andrew.V. (@AndrewVareikis) November 27, 2012

Which I'm sure reinforces your self worth because then you can think about how much more "enlightened" you are than "the typical sexist pig", but doesn't do much to help heal the inherent animosity between two groups of people.

Falsely equating two vastly different experiences (both men vs women and racism in the 50s vs sexism in the games industry today), ad hominem attacks, and trying to shut down debate because it creates "division". Three for three!

@Indarys: Yeah!