How ism's are ruining gaming.

Hello readers of N4G!

I come here today to write about ism's and how they affect gaming negatively, I am going to try and coherently and intelligently tackle things such as racism, sexism and maybe even ageism in gaming respectfully as to not offend to many people.

I have written blogs like this before but I keep seeing a myriad of articles and blogs pertaining to this issue and frankly it boils my piss! So without further a do to the point!

So to begin I am going to define what an "-ism" is to me in an effort to lump them all together. An ism is what an uncontrollable factor leads to discrimination against a person that effects that persons rights. I think a much better term than "sexism" or "racism" is plain discrimination, I don't believe they need to be labeled separately as they are all equally as vile as each other and stem from the same sense of superiority and in some cases hatred.

Now that we have talked about what -ism's are let's discuss what -ism's are not.

If an imaginative person creates in their imagination a world that they find exciting or interesting and creates that world in movies or books or video games and it happens not to include a particular demographic in the story it is not an ism. All genders, orientations and races have equal right and ability to play said game or enjoy the media as a whole, that is limited only by your personal belief system or economic situation. You might find it offensive and that's ok but it certainly is not an ism, your rights have not been violated.

If someone from your demographic behaves, speaks, or dresses in a way you find to be stereotypical of a demographic it is not an -ism, the creators of this media could very well not be your demographic and so with no insight into being from said demographic the creators attempt to represent you accurately will be based purely on outside perception and that is very very flawed. Frustrating maybe but definitely not an -ism. The rights of all demographics to have access to this media is equal.

If someone from your demographic is overly sexualized and you find it offensive it is not an -ism. This fantasy world is exactly that, a fantasy. Yes it's objectification and what I am about to say may seem gross or to much information but I have been a teenager, I have closed my eyes to imagine my current crush naked for my own gratification, this is objectification in the same way and everyone who has ever gratified themselves has objectified someone or something in this way and are no better than the content creator. Can it be offensive? Sure but it is not an -ism no demographic has been limited to enjoying this medium.

If you feel that games are not made to appeal to your demographic then take this into account, nearly half of gamers are female. I don't have any race or orientation detail but at least 45% of gamers are female so clearly that demographic is as attracted to the media as the so called target demographic so clearly it's not exclusive at all.

http://www.usatoday.com/sto...

If you managed to make it through that whole thing then bravo! It was dry and humor less so I commend you for slugging through. My last point is about the way that characters are generalized I see people use the mario games as an example. "Princess peach is only there to get kidnapped as a plot device" some say "she portals women as things only to be rescued and fought over". All I have to say is this, mario is the hero by that thinking purely because he is male, it's his job to save the princess and that is one heck of a lot of pressure to lump on a gender. Males are not all big and strong and they may feel a great deal of pressure to act so putting themselves at risk physically and emotionally and that can be every bit as damaging to a person as being portrayed as weak. Let me tell you if my fiancee was taken by bowser I would go home and cry into a bowl of ramen after seeing the first giant human sized fungus walking towards me in world 1-1 and knowing that I am less of a man than a pseudo Mexican carpenter actual Italian Plummer with a weight problem and a magic mushroom addiction really hurts my pride. Ramen is salty enough without my tears falling into the bowl helping it along.

Anyway I am happy to discuss any perceived ism in the comments if anyone is willing. Just keep it respectful and we can have a good time!

Let me also add that the tone of the articles and blogs I have read leans towards the idea that not all people across all demographics are created equally. They seem to believe one demographic has more "worth" than other "lesser" demographics and with it have some kind of moral obligation to fix the issues brought up on behalf of the "lesser" demographics. Here is an example,
It is widely believed that the gaming industry is mostly built up of white males, since some say they portray females in an overtly sexualized way and with little to no personality that it is the job of the white males to be responsible for this offensive portrayal stopping (a similar argument has been made for the inclusion of more fleshed out racial minorities also). I have seen petitions signed to this end with the goal of shaming developers into taking on this responsibility and I have seen people trying to boycot a product to hurt the developer financially for not fixing it for them.

Threatening punitive action to one demographic because you believe them to be responsible for something your demographic is perfectly capable and welcome to work hard to change by making your own developer and game studios is an -ism. You are trying to take away their right to express themselves and their fantasies and attempting to hurt them financially to further your own agenda. That is how -ism's are damaging to gaming. By suggesting one demographic owes another representation because it can't represent itself is insulting to the demographic you claim to represent and it's discriminating to the demographic you feel owes you this representation. Worrying about pleasing everyone will stifles this industry through fear of somehow excluding or insulting somebody. That isn't fair to the gaming community as a whole.