You take that god dam pony nonsense out of here. Theres a place for that, put it back in the box.
I want to know why so many arguments take a personal dive. I mean I get that people can have fucking strange ideas but when ever these things get personal everyone shuts their ears a shouts.
Well, it usually starts with someone saying something that someone (or many) finds offensive/hateful. We then mention that, they try to defend, we explain why it's offensive and ask them to counter our arguments, they make some ridiculous claims and usually bring free speech in, we tell them they look like bigots, they say we're stupid, we conclude they are now at this point just trolling, and then everyone goes and eats dinner.
I think its at that point that we need to stop talking to them or not engage them. It does nothing for any of us if we devolve into name calling and mud slinging. It tracts away for the discussion and make the offensive person think they are right and make your angry. Better to just not talk to someone who is not going to change their mind.
Also H-H that was toppers, good old bit of the cage.
Damnit! I keep missing these. Oh well, Axel pretty much nailed it.
The only things I would have added would be the fact that Conan keeps pointing to things that are completely false and holding to them despite proof to the contrary, and that somehow thinking of someone as sub-human for having the gall, the audacity, to ask people to think about how a class of person is represented across a medium was okay.
I mean there are reasons to criticize her like many of her points being overly simplistic or obvious, or misrepresenting certain games but calling her a progressive feminist bitch-but-not-a-bitch-so-I'm-dancing-around-it isn't really the best way to go about it.
Depends. Did you make it yourself, with duct-tape?
I guy in my high school class did that. it was pretty cool looking when he was done. His date (female) was rocking a three-piece suit, with hat and cane to match.
See I'm 50/50 on canes. I've yet to see anyone under the age of fifty pull them off without looking silly. Its like white people dreads. There is bound to be someone who suits them, I just haven't seen them yet.
I tried a walking stick when I broke my back, but really that just put undue pressure on my wrist. A cane is really what I need. But now I've injured my dominant wrist, so it's a good thing my back is a bit better now...
The last guy I knew who used a cain regularly also wore galoshes all year round with sweat pants. The person before that was an utter dick who used to hit people with his cane. Now if people tooled about with a sword cane then that would be cool, that or a Ruby Rhod style microphone cane.
I used a sword cane in junior high back when I had some severe joint inflammation from my Crohn's as a kid. It was the only cane we had in the house (it was my dad's). I never revealed the sword feature in school but even if I had I doubt it would have been a very big deal unless I had actually threatened somebody with it. Nowadays I imagine it'd be a pretty bad idea to walk into a school with it at all.
:sigh:
I have a big ugly ol' medical grade aluminum-and-gray-foam-handle cane. It's definitely not glamorous. If my back isn't right by the summer I think I'll invest in something a little more fetching. It's still bad when it rains.
I got a cheap sword cane back when I was maybe 13. It seems to hold my weight but I try not to put my full weight on it just to be safe. It has come in handy a few times when I've somehow fucked up a toe or foot.
I would like one of those Cold Steel canes that are basically whooping sticks.
Thanks malzraa and ninja. It seems to be healing, albeit slower than it's "supposed" to be. My doctor's receptionist has twice denied me an appointment for it saying "there's nothing doctor can do for it anyway." The only thing I can think of is that she must think I want pills, despite the fact that I've pretty much never asked my doctor for painkillers and have been seeing him for a decade. Weird.
The cane with the ball looks cool but it seems to me like it wouldn't be all that stable with my weight on it. I dunno. My walking stick looked less "lame" than my medical supply house cane, but it wasn't very practical.
As long as I can get up on stilts in July without feeling like I'm gonna die, I'll be happy at Connecticon. I REALLY have to work on my dismount skillz, tho...
3 seizures in October combined with low bone density = 3 fractured vertebrae. Pretty intense convulsions I guess. I also made hamburger out of my tongue. Luckily as it turns out, tongues heal fast.
Maybe I need to get a Peter Mayhew style lightsaber cane.
Good lord, that sounds awful. Glad your tongue is healed up, that must have been painful (nothing but soup to eat for a while I imagine?) Clearly you're kicking adversity's ass, keep it up!
As someone who hasn't been too invested in this debate and may well be missing something huge, it seems unbelievable to me what a mountain has been made out of a molehill filled with angry, misogynistic basement dwellers. Rich, cynical assholes are eating all of our lunches and LITERALLY destroying the planet we live on in a very active way, and who knows what will be left for our children, but it's become trendy again for progressives to draw meticulously crafted dividing lines in as many places as possible.
This shit is just not important. If a bunch of sweaty nerds are boycotting some gaming website, so what?
But, hey, I'm almost totally uninformed and disinterested, so if I'm way off base here, fine.
That, to me, is one of the most baffling thing about gg. Even if all the things the claimed were actual true, so what? It's video games we're talking about, not the global economy or world health. You can practically feel the impotent rage coming off of these people, over what has got to be the most trivial issue imaginable.
Well, look, I don't think the marginalization of women is trivial. I think there's a lot of cards at play here. The problem, or one of the problems, is that I don't think everyone's agreed on the deck we're playing with.
My daughters game. I'd like them to be able to play a game with a strong female protagonist who's not dressed up like a sex object, etc.
What I think is crazy is to give a megaphone to a bunch of assholes who have a problem with the above, which to me seems to be GamerGate in a nutshell.
1) video game reviews? Who is still swayed by video game reviews? I go by word of mouth and personal choice when buying video games. I EXPECT publishers to promote their games in any way possible. I also expect reviewers to gladly accept free copies of games. I am honestly shocked when a reviewer buys a copy to review.
For a reviewer their word is all they have. Why would they trade their journalist future for a quick gain today?
2) fake gamer girls? These GG types WISH they had a girl who played video games with them.
Well, look, I don't think the marginalization of women is trivial.
I don't either, my last post was poorly worded. Sarkeesian et al. have valid and interesting points. It's the goobergaters that have the trivial arguments, that game journalists might be FRIENDS with developers, quelle horreur!
I've still never understood the connection between Sarkeesian (or any other feminist addressing the fact that games are generally offputting for female gamers) and any debate about any kind of ethics in any kind of journalism. How are these two things even in the same conversation?
It seems to me like a bunch of dateless wonders got jealous that someone in gaming journalism might have gotten a date. It's not like they're reporting on the Middle East, here. Gaming Journalism is right up there with NASCAR on my list of things to take very seriously. Sorry.
I've still never understood the connection between Sarkeesian (or any other feminist addressing the fact that games are generally offputting for female gamers) and any debate about any kind of ethics in any kind of journalism. How are these two things even in the same conversation?
GamerGate is basically a consumer cult. It is built around an identity as a consumer of video games. They see reviews as a kind of holy text that explains what is good, what is bad and what they should buy. As such they clamor for an objective standard of quality for a product. Any influence on reviews from outside the context of the game itself and perhaps comparisons with other games is a corruption of that objective standard. They draw no distinction between a direct, actual corruption of the reviewer through monetary funds (e.g. the Kane and Lynch reviews or the Shadow of Mordor payola) or an ideological "corruption" by media critics and commentators like Sarkeesian who want to push games as a medium in a certain direction. Any consideration of such viewpoints that go beyond games as a dumb plaything by the developer of a game of course disqualify the developer of that game outright because that would poke a hole in their worldview of games being an objectively product, which is why they hate games like Gone Home or Depression Quest.
In other words, GamerGate considers games appliances, not media, and they are pissed off at people who believe otherwise.
There's no way that anyone earnestly, sincerely believes that game reviews are in any way objective. The total subjectivity and "For Sale" nature of game reviews online has been a running joke since at least 1998.
Comments
Also H-H that was toppers, good old bit of the cage.
The only things I would have added would be the fact that Conan keeps pointing to things that are completely false and holding to them despite proof to the contrary, and that somehow thinking of someone as sub-human for having the gall, the audacity, to ask people to think about how a class of person is represented across a medium was okay.
Also, ending with a:
"Good day, sir.
I SAID GOOD DAY."
would have been nice to see.
HOW DO I GET TO THE PROM?!
I'M PRETTY! I'M PRETTY-HEEEEE-HEEEE!
I guy in my high school class did that. it was pretty cool looking when he was done. His date (female) was rocking a three-piece suit, with hat and cane to match.
:sigh:
I have a big ugly ol' medical grade aluminum-and-gray-foam-handle cane. It's definitely not glamorous. If my back isn't right by the summer I think I'll invest in something a little more fetching. It's still bad when it rains.
I would like one of those Cold Steel canes that are basically whooping sticks.
Also,
The cane with the ball looks cool but it seems to me like it wouldn't be all that stable with my weight on it. I dunno. My walking stick looked less "lame" than my medical supply house cane, but it wasn't very practical.
As long as I can get up on stilts in July without feeling like I'm gonna die, I'll be happy at Connecticon.
Maybe I need to get a Peter Mayhew style lightsaber cane.
This shit is just not important. If a bunch of sweaty nerds are boycotting some gaming website, so what?
But, hey, I'm almost totally uninformed and disinterested, so if I'm way off base here, fine.
My daughters game. I'd like them to be able to play a game with a strong female protagonist who's not dressed up like a sex object, etc.
What I think is crazy is to give a megaphone to a bunch of assholes who have a problem with the above, which to me seems to be GamerGate in a nutshell.
1) video game reviews? Who is still swayed by video game reviews? I go by word of mouth and personal choice when buying video games. I EXPECT publishers to promote their games in any way possible. I also expect reviewers to gladly accept free copies of games. I am honestly shocked when a reviewer buys a copy to review.
For a reviewer their word is all they have. Why would they trade their journalist future for a quick gain today?
2) fake gamer girls? These GG types WISH they had a girl who played video games with them.
In other words, GamerGate considers games appliances, not media, and they are pissed off at people who believe otherwise.