It’s not news that we often find ourselves bored of the lives we live. As creatures of intellect and curiosity, we simply can not allow ourselves to maintain a monotonous existence. It is the very reason why inventions were built and sports were contrived; a whole world of games were created for our entertainment.
Video games, in particular, seem to be the most popular among the masses. Whether it be a first person shooter or role-playing game, all types and genres give us the freedom of creative pursuit and individual expressionism. And yet, despite the idea that any one can play these video games, there persists a remarkable amount of stereotypes within the gaming community and industry.
Public speaker Anita Sarkeesian addresses these issues and her experience as a victim of online harassment in her TED x Women talk. She begins by introducing her work in producing a series of YouTube videos called ‘Tropes vs Women in Video Games’. Her objective was simple: to examine the depictions of women across gaming platforms. “It is no secret that the video gaming industry boasts some of the most sexually objectified, stereotyped and downright oppressive portrayals of women in any medium. So with that in mind I decided to launch a fundraising campaign on the crowd funding website Kickstarter…what could possibly go wrong (1:20 – 1:35)”
It didn’t take long for her to find out as her social media accounts became bombarded with “threats of rape, violence, sexual assault, and death. (2:40 – 2:50)” All which had a common theme to target her gender. Which, brings us to more prominent questions we might have asked ourselves. Would the same event unfold if Anita Sarkeesian had happened to be male? And if so, to what extent and why is there so much backlash? Sarkeesian responds that there are two fathomable reasons (1) a gaming society of close minded patriarchal men (2) those who think their abusive behavior is a game.
It’s almost embarrassing to believe that grown men in their 30’s would be so hatefully targeting a sole woman expressing her opinions, much less neglecting reality with the rules of gaming constructs. It is virtually “a culture of sexism—where men who harass are supported by their peers and rewarded…women are silenced…and excluded from full participation.(7:35 – 8:00)” It is why we continue to witness unrelenting misogyny in our culture and the abuse that comes with it.
Zoe Quinn, author of Crash Override, is another unfortunate victim of misogynistic mob mentality. Her game Depression Quest garnered attention in a way she never thought it would; she was accused of having sexual relations to promote her game and it spread nationwide. She wasn’t anyone special, just a common developer, so why the scrutiny? Much was due to a social platform like GamerGate, who allowed such acts to continue under the justification of “preserving gaming journalism and ethics”. A more genuine answer as we know it, is to keep the gaming community as an exclusive and privileged badge of honor to the male population.
However, all is not lost. There is time to change and improve the way things are seen and done. We just have to remember why everything started: for a fair share of innovation and happiness from the constricting workload in our lives.
DMS 448 Spring 2020 
I like that you brought up mob mentality and where we are supposed to draw the lines.
Events like GamerGate truly seem to have a mob mentality.I wouldn’t be surprised at all if after the initial targeting of Zoe Quinn, more people jumped on the bandwagon of targeting and harassing her without even knowing anything about the guise of “ethics” in journalism. Mob mentality is already a strange phenomenon, but with how far-reaching the internet is, mob mentality becomes downright scary.
Drawing the line is interesting, too. I remember back in maybe 2008, I was listening to an NPR interview with a woman who was struggling with the court system to take her case of cyberstalking seriously. She had plentiful evidence of this person stalking her, but because it was all through the internet, no court woud take it seriously. She mentioned these stalking events hurting her professional and social life and forcing her to live in fear. I know laws have changed slightly since then, and many states have attempted to draw up laws that make cyberstalking illegal, but I still feel like it’s not enough. And like Zoe Quinn said in her book, in this day and age, it is not realistic for a victim to be told to simply stay offline. I would like to see a stronger push for regulation to protect people’s well-being on the internet.
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