I come here to read about games, not social issues...
Who cares if a woman dev was insulted, I just want to play the game I paid for...
Articles like this split the community...
All this talking accomplishes nothing, stop talking and start doing...
Articles like this are just click bait...
Well this stuff goes on in other industries so why should we care...
As a gamer, I am interested in the whole of the gaming industry, not just about the latest map pack for Call of Honor Future Combat 37: Regurgitation Evolved. I find it interesting that if a writer for a gaming site posts an article on, say, what a developer does to blow off steam after crunch time, readers will find it interesting and entertaining, but if it's an article about a female dev (or journalist) being treated disrespectfully, well then hey buddy, how dare you. That first article is indeed something interesting and entertaining, but the second is actually important. It needs to be written, the issue needs to be addressed, and we need to deal with these things as a community.
We want to play the games we paid for, but for some us, our enjoyment is diminished if we know that members of the team who made the game or of the reporting community were treated with disrespect by fellow employees or members of her community. It adds a taint to the experience. The answer for this is not to bury our heads in the sand or demand that the issue not be addressed, the answer is for more articles to be written, and still more, until the people responsible for the offending attitudes finally get the point that what they are doing is wrong, and it will not be tolerated. The only way that is going to happen is if the reporting is done where the gamers go, and those gamers in turn let developers and other journalists or PR people know that they support women in the industry and will not accept that behavior.
No one wants to see schism in their favorite forums, but if that is what it takes to get people to understand that a real problem exists, so be it. And let's be very clear - the people complaining about social issues articles splitting the community are exactly the ones who are doing the splitting. They are the ones who want the sweep the issues under the rug. "All you with articles like these is divide to community and make people hate each other." Really? So your answer to that is... what? Ignore the issue and hope it goes away? The really real world doesn't work that way, and if that is how you deal with problems, then you are part of the problem.
Writing articles, community discussion, does accomplish something - it informs people about issues they may not have been aware of previously And those people then go out and modify their behavior. Maybe they talk to other people they know outside of the gaming community. Maybe they stand up for a coworker or friend who is being treated disrespectfully where they might not have before because they didn't realize there was a problem. Maybe this only happens with one in a thousand people who see these articles or participate in these discussions, which is why more articles and discussions are needed, not less.
Dismissing the subject of sexism (or racism, or any other -ism) as click bait is another way of trying to dismiss the problem and hope it goes away. It belittles the issue and those real people affected by it. It is a symptom of your privilege - it doesn't affect you, so it must not be really real. Well, it is real, and casually dismissing it will not make it go away. It will, in fact, make those of us who recognize the problem get louder until you get the point - whether you like it or not.
Because an injustice exists outside of your particular interest group does not mean it should not be addressed within your interest group. Dismissing an issue as a "first world problem" does not mean it is not a problem. Declaring that somebody somewhere in the world has things worse does not mean that people here do not have it bad. I have seen this issue - sexism - as a problem in every community I am a part of, and I have it seen it dismissed with the exact same arguments in every single one. Dismissed by those who are the very root of the problem. I know many of them do not realize they are contributors to the problem. They are perfectly nice people. But when you demand the issue not be addressed, you are giving aid and comfort to those among you who are not nice people. You are enabling them.
If you don't want to be a part of the solution, that is your business. But at least do the rest of us a favor and try not to part of the problem.
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