It is no secret about my opinion on Social Justice, its Warriors, and their place in the gaming consciousness and culture. I'm not going to go into things I've already stated in previous blogs and comments about that topic, but I am going to first engage in a nuclear facepalm, a sigh, and then discuss why I was forced to do those two things.
It all started with this...
http://www.polygon.com/2014...
I know, I know, a polygon article. Just as bad as a Kotaku article so no one should be surprised. What makes this worse is that it's from Anita Sarkeesian's boyfriend. Based on the title, and the author, can you see why I was forced to do those two things even before actually getting to the STUPID points?
See, unlike Anita and Jon though, we here at N4G are all about discussion. It may get heated and trollish, but at least it actually happens. Anita blocks comments on her videos, and Jon, well he just says what he wants and ignores everything anyone could say really.
I want to address the points though because he's felt that it was necessary to generalize a whole group of gamers, so let's begin talking about his "DAILY EFFECTS OF MALE GAMER PRIVILEGE" shall we?
1. I can choose to remain completely oblivious, or indifferent to the harassment that many women face in gaming spaces.
That isn't a privilege specific to any one gender. Women can choose to be oblivious, or indifferent, to the harassment of other women because they have the right to not care and enjoy gaming, just like anyone else. The professionally offended would want the world to join their ranks, but most of us have better things to do than to create whole movements to combat trolling. The strong, and the wise, develop a thick skin to all forms of online harassment due to the truth that anonymity breeds a specific type of courage. Should one waste their time fighting everything in vain, or learn to ignore the immature and enjoy their gaming? I don't know, but I think that Mute options were invented for a reason.
2. I am never told that video games or the surrounding culture is not intended for me because I am male.
This is a myth. Any woman that claims that this happens is either lying, was talking to one douchebag amongst millions of gamers, or was talking to a little boy still firmly entrenched in what he believes girls can't do well. I've been gaming for nearly 30 years and have known countless female gamers. None of them were ever told that gaming, and gaming culture, was not for them. In fact, most gamers LOVE the fact that girls want to game and be a part of the culture due to the fact that gaming had a stigma placed on it for so long that was seen as repellent to women. But this is the M.O. of SJWs. They tend to fabricate things that sound plausible but actually don't happen.
3. I can publicly post my username, gamertag or contact information online without having to fear being stalked or sexually harassed because of my gender.
I feel like I should just post "That isn't specific to gender" and "do you not understand what trolls are?" for every point he tries to make. Trolls are indiscriminate. They don't care about gender, race, education, clothing style, or hair length. They are a$$hats because they can be. Anyone and everyone can publicly post that information, but anyone and everyone is vulnerable to being stalked and harassed in multiple ways online. It happens to EVERYONE, not just women, and not only is it sexist to ignore that it happens to men as well, but it also is guilty of being the same offence as #1. So I guess you are choosing to remain oblivious to men being stalked and harassed online now?
4. I will never be asked to "prove my gaming cred" simply because of my gender.
Never happens, and is basically the same thing as #2. If you're asked to "prove your gaming cred" it's because you sound like you don't know what you're talking about, it has nothing to do with your gender because guys are constantly asked to prove themselves as well. Have you ever visited even one gaming news site? Making stuff up doesn't lend credence to your position. Now, there is a second part of this answer I have, but thanks to the fact that you (Jon) can't stop repeating yourself, I can move that second part to #5.
5. If I enthusiastically express my fondness for video games no one will automatically assume I’m faking my interest just to "get attention" from other gamers.
First thing I thought of was GamurGurlz. If you don't think they exist, then you never heard of GameCrush or the other programs where male gamers could pay to play games with an attractive girl. Those girls were doing it for the money and didn't even have to like gaming. You also likely haven't seen any of the VGA's or past Microsoft E3 conferences filled with celebrity "gamers" whose extensive knowledge on gaming begins and ends with knowing who Mario is. And I have to stress, once again, that this isn't a problem specific to gender. The internet is filled with fake people doing whatever they can for attention and acceptance. I assure you that men get called out for this too because no one likes fake people.
6. I can look at practically any gaming review site, show, blog or magazine and see the voices of people of my own gender widely represented.
Actually nobody can do that. You know why? Online anonymity. Nobody knows if one user is male or female unless they specifically state that they are male or female. If you're referring to news articles that represent genders, well the only way women are going to be represented in gaming news is if they start making gaming news. They have to actually do something in order for anyone to be able to acknowledge and discuss them. When they do, they are discussed the same way as any story. Case in point, Corrine Yu. Here's a random news article about her for your perusal.
http://n4g.com/news/1484293...
She did the work, so we talked about her and her work. Equal representation I'd say.
7. When I go to a gaming event or convention, I can be relatively certain that I won’t be harassed, groped, propositioned or catcalled by total strangers.
Has nothing to do with gaming at all. Men are biologically wired to seek out mates, and some of them are douchebags who let their biology take greater control of them than they should. And umm, why are you discriminating against the homosexual community of douchebags when you make that kind of statement? Do you think there are no gay men that are douchebags? Douchebaggery knows no gender and yet here you are being sexist and homophobic at the same time. #FireJonMcIntosh.
8. I will never be asked or expected to speak for all other gamers who share my gender.
What? That never happens. If anything, women like your girlfriend think they have the right to speak for all other gamers who share her gender. I have never once heard a male gamer go "gee, I would love it if this random female gamer were to host a TedX talk about her experiences as a female gamer and consequently attach those experiences to every female gamer in existence." Plus, you're contradicting #1 again. You want us to not be oblivious, and fight against, the harassment some random female gamer experiences as though it equates to all women being harassed when gaming, but you don't want any one female to talk for all women? *sigh* I have a headache.
9. I can be sure that my gaming performance (good or bad) won’t be attributed to or reflect on my gender as a whole.
You have never gamed online even once have you? THIS ISN'T A GENDER SPECIFIC PROBLEM! Do you know what trash talking is at all? If we could quantify the amount of "git gud" or "u just got rekt" or whatever comments each and every one of us has received specifically relating to our performance in any online game, I'm sure the number of those messages given to males would be in the billions.
10. My gaming ability, attitude, feelings or capability will never be called into question based on unrelated natural biological functions.
WHY ARE YOU REPEATING YOURSELF SO MANY TIMES?! Ok, this sounds like you're trying to incorporate a woman's menstrual cycle into some form of harassment. You must live in a cave on some distant planet because this has nothing to do with gaming specifically and thus isn't an effect of male gamer privilege. Also, ability and capability are the exact same thing, you excel in linguistic redundancy.
11. I can be relatively sure my thoughts about video games won’t be dismissed or attacked based solely on my tone of voice, even if I speak in an aggressive, obnoxious, crude or flippant manner.
Again, this has nothing to do with gender. If your thoughts are dismissed, it's probably because your thoughts are stupid, not because you are soft spoken or not. Plus, the characteristics you just described apply to males or females, so I fail to see how this can be male privilege specifically.
12. I can openly say that my favorite games are casual, odd, non-violent, artistic, or cute without fear that my opinions will reinforce a stereotype that "men are not real gamers."
Is anyone else's head feeling like it's in a vice right now because of this? ANYONE CAN SAY THAT! Your problem is with TROLLS not with MEN. Plus, if you come onto a site where the population of said site is 100% core gamers, you have to expect that they aren't going to consider you a gamer if all you play is frickin' Flappy Bird or Candy Crush all day. That has to do with what they expect a game to be, not what is in between your frickin' legs.
Well, due to the nature of this article, I have to break up my blog into two parts because it'd be way too long to post, or read, otherwise. So, look forward (or cringe in disgust) to part 2 tomorrow since I don't want to flood the blog approval page with more than 1 blog. Try to maintain sanity if you can, I know McIntosh can cause any number of neurological illnesses.
I'm interested in seeing if anyone agrees with him, or merely disagrees with me. Comment below and maybe we can perpetuate his insanity further.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
I am not really interested in the whole "Gamer Privilege" thing. And I honestly don't know that it falls under the broader scope of "Social Justice."
Social Justice is getting a wrongful murder conviction overturned because the only "crime" the defendant committed was being black. Those things occur far too often in a 1st world society. Social Justice is ensuring that all people can eat at a diner, use the same toilets (and drinking fountains), and ride wherever one chooses on a city bus.
These people who are taking up a cause, don't really understand what "privilege" is. Privilege is being able to wake up EVERY morning knowing that some government won't come in and haul you off to jail for being a teacher.
Privilege is being able to say what you will about your government without any repercussions. Privilege certainly is something white males have in our society. We know this. We know things are getting better.
However, I think you missed the message about #3 " I can publicly post my username, gamertag or contact information online without having to fear being stalked or sexually harassed because of my gender."
I have a daughter who is a gamer. She is 11. She puts "girl" as her COD Clan Tag.
I can't tell you how many (because I lost count) filthy, disgusting D-Bags, creepers, etc I have to block because they simply can't handle the fact that a girl: A) Beats them at COD B) Plays a Game Online. This isn't about "social justice."
It is about being responsible and having your parents teach boys how to talk to girls. This is certainly an online problem. My daughter is mature enough to play the game, but she has to mute all players all the time because they just simply can't handle the fact that a girl is also playing the game. MMOs certainly see this as well.
Anita's agenda is purely self indulgent, anyone who backed her kickstarter or has ever sided with her are idiots.
There's was a great video on the tube which basically wrapped all this up in 10 mins.
In a nutshell if I remember correctly:
- Material already existed
- Asked for funds via kickstarter to do the whole tropes in games thing
- Sat back and laughed as the money rolled in
Unless the debate involves both sides of the argument, its redundant. Good article recently where a female writer stepped up and pointed out the way that female characters are portrayed and treated in MGS games is no worse than the male characters have endured since the beginning. Something the supreme warriors of SOCIAL JUSTICE!! failed to realise.
/rant :D
One of your finest blog entries yet.
I don't know where you find the patience to dissect feminist gibberish, but it's always welcome to see someone show this worthless crap for what it is.
I'm with you on this one DK, douchebagery knows no gender. What most people perceive to be sexism or homophobes in gaming are just d-bags using what they know to make their insult more personal. Not to say that there aren't people who are genuinely sexist, racist, or any other type of discriminatory person, but most of the time it's just some low-life trying to make their insults more effective by targeting what is different about them.
I have a friend who I also game with, in real life he works with black people, gets along with them, and is not really racist at all. But, insult him while we are playing a game online and if he has the slightest hint you are black, he will throw the N-word out just to piss you off.
Basically it doesn't matter what race, sex, or religion you are, whatever a d-bag in a video game can use to insult you they will. If we had a system that designated people online who had a tiny d***, I would bet all my money they would be insulted for that during the course of a COD game. Should we then talk about how gaming is discriminatory against endowed-challenged men?