Anita Sarkeesian was on The Colbert Report tonight

If Stephen Colbert making jokes about the recent mess in gaming and chatting with Anita Sarkeesian is where you draw the line, I don't know what to say. I don't see how anyone who has seen Colbert for years could have -this- be the last straw.

Like... he has made jokes about politics and wars and a lot of things that actually matter, but now that he mentions videogames for a few minutes that's somehow a sticking point? It just seems rather silly.

@slaegar: What freedoms do you propose Anita is taking away from you? What has she done that has violated the first amendment? What has she called to be banned?

@truthtellah:

Curiously enough the big reason she refused to do the Utah talk was because they were allowing people with concealed firearms into the talk. She wanted no guns and pat downs, but Utah is pretty pro-gun and said no. In 2011 Utah had 26 gun murders and California which has probably the most strict laws had around 1,222. So it seems strange to be concerned about such dangers especially after the police said there was no credible threat.

Whoops forgot this.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/table-20

I like to use her full name since all those goofy japanese animes (like metal gear solid) make it feel weird to refer to someone unfamiliar with their first name. So I going to call her Anita Sarkeesian or just Sarkeesian out of respect.

Also I am terrible at all the crazy formatting on Giant Bomb.

This is a dumb thing. Everything is dumb. Who gets mad over this? Who gets happy over this?

Louis CK seems to be doing fine.

@bad_karate: Dumb people?

@slaegar: Yeah, there is no reason at all that someone who had received threats of being shot would be concerned about people being able to bring concealed weapons into the same room as them. Also, if you are gonna compare gun violence in California and Utah you're gonna need to back up why that comparison is applicable, cause they seem to be very different states and not the two best cases for comparison.

@tits_matador: You might be right. I think this whole thing has made me dumberer so I can't tell.

@slaegar: That... doesn't seem to have to do with anything that I just said.

Her views on concealed carry laws, shared after receiving death threats, don't have anything to do with her and many people's views on potentially toxic elements of modern masculinity that hurt men and may contribute to unnecessary tragedies in our society. It makes sense for us to seriously think about and express ourselves regarding the problems we may have as people in a wider culture.

I was trying to explain all of this to a loved one after they asked, and as it went on, I realized it sounded like the dumbest thing ever.

So much of this has just been a stew of nonsense that has gotten crazier by the day.

@slaegar: Go read the twitter feed of the washington state kid that murder a girl he was dating: it was full with pseudo-monkey macho shit. In Mexico we have a lot of violence against women in rural areas, when you heard the justification it is always that toxic-dated view of what "being a man" means.

I don't think it is crazy to think that some pre conceived-dated ideas of masculinity encourage violence towards women. She is not generalising violence as a exclusive trait of masculinity thou.

I wish people that were very polorized didn't get as much attention as people that see the world is not black and white. She has good points but it just becomes so one sided it makes it hard for me to her, as an individual, seriously.

@shipotle: I appreciate that you took the time to try to set me straight with your first post, but I'm doin alright.

I'm not sure what other posts you're referring to(are you a fan?), but I can assure you this is just the way I talk. I'm gonna keep talking as I have whether it bothers you or not.

Speaking judiciously often feels worthwhile to me, because you and everyone else I'm talking to are real people, not just text on a website. If you'd prefer I yell at people or act like most of this is super, crazy important, that's not really going to happen. And if you're just curious about my specific views on things, you can always ask. I get criticized far more often for speaking up a lot than being too silent.

We're on a site about videogames. There's little reason to get worked up or treat one another like bitter enemies. Today we're talkin about this, tomorrow it's gonna be about Destiny and Amiibo.

Good for her! This makes me happy!

Could you elaborate? How is it hard to take a feminist seriously when she is talking about women's issues?

Yeah. I've gotten a lot of crap here and elsewhere for talking about sexism and harassment in the gaming community. I've received threats even on an awesome site like this for suggesting that women are often treated demeaningly and maybe we could do better.

I talk about a lot of things that do matter, like fostering an environment in communities like this where women and minority voices can express their different opinions without mockery and harassment. I continue to encourage further efforts to not allow bigotry and callousness to poison the places and people I care about.

And ya know what? I get an almost insignificant fraction of the nonsense a person like Anita Sarkeesian gets, and I'm glad she was able to come on a show I enjoy and share her viewpoint. I don't have to agree with everything she says to appreciate her right to say it and condemn all the shit she has to put up with on a regular basis.

She's a real person just like you, me, and everyone else posting on this site. And I look forward to the day a person like her will be able to publicly share some criticism of popular videogames and not have to face a relentless wave of unwarranted anger and absurdity.

Well, it was a nice break from the nonsense while it lasted, but here comes the shit-tsunami once more.

I never understood why trolls try so hard to get people angry, when all you have to do to set the internet ablaze is to say "Anita Sarkeesian did a thing!". Even mentioning politics doesn't get the rage brewing as quickly.

being a feminist is irrelevant, she frames her arguments in a "my way or the highway" fashion which does not let is self to getting to the goal in a sustainable way. I am not saying she needs to compromise but acknowledging there may be other solutions allows for a more humanistic and rational path to the goal.

I share this opinion with others like religion and politics, and has nothing to do with the issue at hand.

but don't get me wrong, the problems she presents are real and need to be addressed.

I'm sure he's really feeling the loss.

It's funny how neither of them seemed to grasp what he was really saying with his second to last "question". He was basically insulting her straight to her face, and she had no real response at all (although she did seem pretty nervous, so might've just not had the nerve to actually retort). Great segment nonetheless, both funny and brought some perspective to the whole thing.

@pufferfiz said:

I don't really understand your position here - are you saying that when offering an opinion on an issue in an interview such as this, it's better if Anita Sarkeesian takes a middle-of-the-road approach rather than steadfastly stating her opinion as asked? The questions posed to her were to state her position and personal experience & view of recent events, not to offer solutions that compromise for everyone involved.

If the questions were framed differently, or both sides of the issue were present with a moderator rather than it being an interview, I could see your qualms being justified. But as it is, she was asked questions and answered them - she does not have to pretty it up for the sake of anyone else's viewpoint.

I don't always agree with everything Anita Sarkeesian asserts, how she presents her argument, or how she chooses some of her examples; but the interview she gave was pretty straight-forward and it's a conversation worth having.

I think he was more ribbing her and being silly than really insulting her to her face. They seemed pretty chummy after the show. :)

My feeling is somewhat similar to that sentiment. I read quite a bit of news and I'm usually aware of hot button political issues so it becomes extremely difficult for me to take any of this seriously.

How would you compare the incident in Ferguson to anything that happens with these video game "controversies" and then try to get a normal person to care about it? People already grew weary of school shootings some time ago and if kids getting shot up doesn't bring about any kind of change in society I don't see why people think that society at large is going to give a damn about several people getting death threats online due to video games.

I'm sure people don't like to hear this because many people are close to the whole GamerGate issue, but everyone involved is going to have a tough time getting anyone outside of video games to care about their specific viewpoint.

No no your right in that aspect, especially in an interview that was mostly likely 10 mins of footage that had to be cut down. I meant to say when people have unmoderated soap boxes, the poor phrasing was my fault.

@pufferfiz: I getcha. There certainly is a lot of single-sided talk from both sides of this issue; unfortunately, that seems to be the case because a) the terrible events that have transpired, and b) bringing the two "sides" together for a rational discussion seems so far from the realm of possibility at this point.

It's really too bad. I want the discussion to be had. I personally think that the point far down the road of a more quote-unquote inclusive video game industry will actually lead to more games people will like, on both ends of the spectrum (and surprise! some unknown as-of-yet game ideas will have universal appeal for everyone). A bigger, healthier, more diverse video game industry would be pretty amazing and it would likely equate to more games about more things that more people get to enjoy.

That was excellent.

Nice to see that we're back to basement dwelling virgin jokes.

it was so frustrating when gone home came out and people were like every games needs to be like this or no every game should be more like cod (ie mindless). Granted gone home is not my type of game but I want both to exist , diversity and competition makes games as a whole better.

Certainly low-hanging fruit, but that's the sort of thing this recent embarrassment in gaming has reinforced for many folks. Though, he did only make the joke about those raging against women. Considering his talk with Anita, the overall segment still presents how people that care about games -aren't- just that. The point being that gaming is moving beyond that old "gamer" identity and stereotypes to something more diverse. As Anita said, fortunately we're actually seeing a widening of the kinds of games and audience around them.

I would have appreciated a Destiny joke instead, but eh, it's a like ten minute segment on a comedy news program. The stuff that had any real impact was good, and it ended well. She was clearly nervous, but it was a fine little segment of the Colbert Report.

I'm still kinda in shock that it happened to any extent. I never expected this.

To be honest, I've never met anyone who thought all games should be like Gone Home. heh. I mean, I've talked to a lot of folks since it came out, and the closest to that kind of sentiment is someone saying they prefer that kind of game over stuff like COD and would like to see a lot more of it. Though, I -have- seen a lot of people suggest that games like Gone Home shouldn't exist and most games should just be mindless entertainment, and that's unfortunate.

As you said, there's room in gaming for a wide variety of games, and with the ever-growing diversity of people making and writing about games, that's bound to be a bigger factor in the years ahead. I'm gonna run into more games I probably quite dislike, and I'll probably still run into many that I do. With greater diversity naturally comes greater potential for conflicting opinions and feelings, but that's actually a good thing. The answer isn't in us avoiding one another or our differences but finding ways to better accept folks expressing themselves on the things we like and dislike in games.

With greater diversity and resulting potential for conflict, it also means more chance of ignorance and discrimination popping up to spoil things, but that's just something we'll have to manage as best we can. For years, a lot of viewpoints couldn't be heard in gaming, and the discrimination toward those views was more of the accepted status quo than a vocal effort. Now that the status quo has been changing as gaming has grown and opened up, those clinging to such ignorance and discrimination have had to become a bit more vocal to continue to assert their influence. Eventually, though, even that will fade to some extent as most reasonable individuals realize there are bigger things to care about. It's just gonna take some time.

I fully expect the next few years to see some more blow ups like this recent mess, but their frequency and impact will fade. People looking for conversation amid disagreement will endure, and seemingly difficult topics now will become easier. There may be reason to be embarrassed and concerned by many issues today, but the future is hopeful. I've already seen a lot of progress over the last decade, and I look forward to what's to come. :)

I'm really glad this segment happened.

What I really want to know, though? What kind of build did Colbert play in Dark Souls?

Based on the conduct of many pro-Gamergate individuals, I wouldn't blame anyone for believing that none of them know any women personally outside of their own mothers.

Name three games....

@truthtellah: Well, that's what I'm saying, he didn't realize it either, but he pretty much belittled her work as well. If your viewpoint is "it's like hollywood reporting, it doesn't matter", what does that make of her effort to promote inclusiveness in videogames ?

I'm guessing he primarily dressed in the outfits of his enemies, giving the appearance of a foe while actually being an ally.

So, Havel's set, Smough's set, Artorias's set, etc.

Well that was fun. I love how people STILL believe Colbert is being serious when he's ribbing on guests.

the thing was there was no break for the women involved. they are still bieng attacked daily.

I believe there is a lot that matters more than "games journalism", but I still think expanding criticism within gaming is important. The point of his joke was more about why folks shouldn't be freaking out over some different opinions in articles and on youtube. It's relatively silly.

Sure it minimizes the importance of coverage of gaming to some extent, but even Jeff has said about as much in the past. This is just something he and others care a lot about, but most folks know it's not earth-shattering stuff, at least for now. We can be passionate and even take plenty of things seriously without losing a wider perspective. Colbert cares a lot about fine art criticism and has highlighted it a number of times on his show, but even then, a lot of that is arguably less important coverage than serious critique of politics and wider conflicts.

In the big picture, few people care about what goes on here at Giant Bomb, but as part of my life, I care a decent bit about it. I know there are far bigger things, but we can take on both in our lives. It's just a matter of perspective.

Personally, as far as importance of what she has done, I think even if Anita stopped doing anything tomorrow, I'd be glad she has been around in gaming. I've never been a huge fan, but you don't have to think everything she has said or made has been great to appreciate the impact she has had, in particular as a symbol of many different voices in gaming finally getting a place at the table. Obviously there has been a lot of people around that, including a great multitude of everyday folks, but figurehead voices like that still matter a decent bit. She has been an individual, human face thrust into prominent view during a much larger change over time, and she has hung in there.

Ugh, I don't like any of this.

I don't like GamerGate and their crazy stance. I don't like Anita's misandrism and ridiculous perception of the world. I don't like TV attention to dumb stuff.

All this is a significant blow to humanity.

This was pretty funny. Always sad to see GG misrepresented by the media, but hey, what're ya gonna do.

I feel like GG does all that damage to itself.

I've gotten about 30 people to begin saying "uncommon sense" and have shown them the world isn't all sunshines and rainbows. My faith in humanity has long been lost, at this point I'm just waiting for Brawndo to be released.

The few are absolutely hurting the them by continued t o be massive assholes, though it's to be expected in this medium. People just generally suck, the sooner more realize it the better. Though as most are absolute sheep and aren't willing to put any effort into thinking for themselves I don't think there is much hope.

Anita's few valid points will continue to be drowned out by her cherry picking and "facts" that used the same researchers Jack Thompson's "facts" did, while a very small portion of GG folks will continue to attack,harass, threaten, and rage while defeating their movements few valid arguments.

It's just two sides screaming at each other with tons of folks in middle taking valid points from both sides and being told by both sides my way or the highway (though oddly enough I've seen more inclusion and willingness to talk from the GG folks).

Wahh, wahh. I don't like GamerGate being misrepresented! Wahhhh. It's not being misrepresented. What you, I and everyone else sees IS GamerGate. If you want to actually look into the ethics of Gaming Journalism, then distance yourself from #GG.