I like video games. My dad also has a weakness for them and was known to come home with new games and gaming systems when I was kid. We had an original pong machine and I remember spending hours playing adventure games on the TRS-80 (You are in a tomb, it's dark... Light torch... There's a fearsome mummy coming right at you! Game Over). I was allowed to play Leisure Suit Larry until I got farther than my dad assumed that I could. After that, I was restricted to Kings Quest and Space Quest. I also had a lot of male friends, even as a tween, so I played my share of the classics like Space Invaders and Asteroids.
I recently saw this video and thought that it was a well-done piece:
You can see more of her excellent work on her site at:
http://www.feministfrequency.com
However, as I started to learn more about the gaming world. I found myself horrified at what goes on in the culture:
Note the reporter's horrified reaction as she looks as some of the comments. That's how I felt too.
This lead me to the following site:
http://fatuglyorslutty.com
Now, I don't online game for the very simple reason that I know that I would becoming terribly addicted and probably never leave the house again. However, now that I see all this information... WTF?!?!? As much as the men who defend this behaviour (most of whom can never be reached by reporters for onscreen interviews) claim that it's a normal part of gaming, but there is a big difference between trash-talking and threats. What if the same sort of language were used when discussing hockey rivalry? I might Tweet something like this,“booya, Jets kick the Leafs sorry asses!” It would never occur to me to spiral to a level where I would Tweet something along the lines of “fuck you you stupid fuckin leafs fans i wanna rip off you're cocks and stuff them down you throat until u all choke to death.” (I tried my best to use the sort of grammar spelling typically used when such threats are uttered on various social media settings).
Anyone in the atheist community has come across this sort of abuse before written both by men and women but the shocking thing about the online gaming scene is that this sort of outright hatred is largely directed at women from men. Worse yet, this sad group of individuals will even turn their anger towards children. When a very, cool dad recently hacked his 5-year-old daughter's Donkey Kong so that the Princess could save the Plumber...
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/13/watch-dad-hacks-donkey-kong-so-daughter-can-save-mario
...his post of said hack got comments wishing that his daughter be dead so she doesn't grow up to be another feminist.
It's just video games, people. Chill out. It doesn't say much about out society that this is such a huge problem. It sort of reminds me of football riots.