AHC: Progressive Gaming Culture
- Thread starter xie323
- Start date
Does Player Two Start count? (PoD: the Nintendo/Sony partnership actually remains in place.)
Get better PR.
The video game industry in America tends to have the same political leanings as the tech industry which tends to vote Democrat. The average gamer isn't some radical right winger and don't tend to be particularly conservative in the US, most of them are millenials who voted for Obama twice if they voted at all. The industry itself hardly promotes conservatism. It is filled with R rated games that have triggered Conservatives. It is also largely Japanese, and in America largely located in Democratic states where it employs a disproportionate amount of Asians.
The Industry does however have a low number of females, but that is probably largely for the same reasons the tech industry as a whole is male dominated. Fix the imbalances in STEM. If we want more female players, we need to make more games that appeal to girls.
Outside of that, implement some of the current anti-trolling things for online gaming earlier. No friendly fire, easier bans for insulting people, ect... Keep those types inline.
The video game industry in America tends to have the same political leanings as the tech industry which tends to vote Democrat. The average gamer isn't some radical right winger and don't tend to be particularly conservative in the US, most of them are millenials who voted for Obama twice if they voted at all. The industry itself hardly promotes conservatism. It is filled with R rated games that have triggered Conservatives. It is also largely Japanese, and in America largely located in Democratic states where it employs a disproportionate amount of Asians.
The Industry does however have a low number of females, but that is probably largely for the same reasons the tech industry as a whole is male dominated. Fix the imbalances in STEM. If we want more female players, we need to make more games that appeal to girls.
Outside of that, implement some of the current anti-trolling things for online gaming earlier. No friendly fire, easier bans for insulting people, ect... Keep those types inline.
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TheRedRageCorps
Banned
Uhhhhhh. I think video game culture is already really liberal. I mean it's already an extremely diverse media as it's meant for anyone to be able to play. I mean if you want to prevent your supposed "dudebro, ultra conservative, and misnogny." I think changing the Xbox 360's hard push for FPS, which brought in the "dudebros."
But in doing so you drastically reduce video game sales a considerable amount, maybe even tanking the 360. Plus that's a large group of people who won't get into video games, and may get others into it, who will just view at that is something for "the nerds." At most you've delayed their inclusion for another generation, but they'll still show up eventually.
Actually going to have to disagree with the Anoymity on the internet part, I used to play in the arcades there was always at least one guy who was a humungous douche.
Good rule of thumb in a group of a hundred people there will be 5 people who are jerks and 1 person who is bat #### crazy. Gammings a hobby that has litterally millions of people in it. Your going to get jerks as part of the pakage.
dirtyjapaneseman
Banned
I don't see how gaming culture is misogynistic or ultraconservative. In general, it's a fairly liberal platform. I would love to know why you assume it's the opposite.
Lots of games seem very liberal. A lot of triple A class games like Horizon Zero Dawn or Mass effect have either female protagonists or the ability to chose gender, race etc pretty extensively and that has been around for quiet a while now.
I'm not sure what gaming culture is to be honest. Its a strange notion to think that something as diverse as the video-game market can have a collective 'culture' and be attached various traits. I always thought of games as a hobby and escapist fantasy rather than something to be politicized but maybe I'm just out of touch. :/
I can see on the actual industry side that there might be room for more females creating hardware but that is probably true for the entire tech sector and is a societal issue.
In terms of streaming and LP, there are plenty of female gamer's with large fanbases on twitch and youtube.
Online gaming is what you expect when you allow anonymity and voice chat. People like to antagonize others so long as they think they can get away with it. That is not a video game specific problem as can be seen on any chat site ( youtube comments, reddit etc etc).
I'm not sure what gaming culture is to be honest. Its a strange notion to think that something as diverse as the video-game market can have a collective 'culture' and be attached various traits. I always thought of games as a hobby and escapist fantasy rather than something to be politicized but maybe I'm just out of touch. :/
I can see on the actual industry side that there might be room for more females creating hardware but that is probably true for the entire tech sector and is a societal issue.
In terms of streaming and LP, there are plenty of female gamer's with large fanbases on twitch and youtube.
Online gaming is what you expect when you allow anonymity and voice chat. People like to antagonize others so long as they think they can get away with it. That is not a video game specific problem as can be seen on any chat site ( youtube comments, reddit etc etc).
To add onto what has already been said, if you hear someone espousing racially charged rhetoric, or just enganging in a discourse which sounds pretty far right, chances are high that the individual's in question are trolling and/or making fun of actual right wingers with a unique form of meme satire.
My thoughts exactly, speaking as someone who's been in gaming since I was about 4 years old.
GeographyDude
Gone Fishin'
I'm a boardgamer, and let me ask if there are popular video equivalents of a couple of types of game:
1) cooperative games such as Pandemic?
2) social deduction games such as Avalon?
1) cooperative games such as Pandemic?
2) social deduction games such as Avalon?
come on we all know that the OP is primary talking about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamergate_controversy
and honestly this is more then isolated incidents. Yes there is female and minority twitch and youtube gamers but the vast majority are white males.
Who tend to be more conservative etc.
and honestly this is more then isolated incidents. Yes there is female and minority twitch and youtube gamers but the vast majority are white males.
Who tend to be more conservative etc.
dirtyjapaneseman
Banned
Ban
Given that I extensively followed the Gamergate events sa they happened as I am involved in game development and media, I can say that that Wikipedia entry seems incredibly biased towards Zoe Quinn. As I understand it, Zoe Quinn had sex with 5 different games journalists and as a result got a huge amount of positive press for her game Depression Quest. Some people were incredibly upset by this and thus started the informal Gamergate movement. Some people obviously took the chance to attack Zoe personally but you have to keep in mind that 1) they attacked the journalists as well so it's not like it was a wholly misogynistic attack, 2) most people seemed to be pretty civil about the whole thing.
The reason most gamers are while males isn't because women are intentionally excluded but instead have deep rooted causes. In some cases it's as simple as what kind of games are popular at the moment and in others it's because of demographics spanning decades. It's a lot more nuanced than "games industry hates womyn". Also another reason that some people don't like girl gamers is because of how much a lot of them openly exploit being girls. Go on Twitch and see how many woman streamers have their tits half hanging out. It's gross.
dirtyjapaneseman
Banned
also the Gamergater point of view is that they were fighting against blatant corruption in games media. from what I've seen, they're pretty much right considering most media seemed to open hand dismiss any Gamergate evidence and instead decided to lambaste gamers for "being sexist". it wasn't a right wing backlash against left wing ideals, it was a consumer backlash against perceived corruption.
This whole reply honestly makes the case for the OP. Said as I'm watching a 24 hour stream on Twitch of a couple guys I follow. Also this whole thread is real border line current politics.
the POD for this has to be the 80's i feel pre internet for sure.
Obergruppenführer Smith
Banned
I suppose this is an example of "conservative" gaming culture: http://www.npr.org/sections/alltech...ng-with-a-gamergate-of-its-own-over-a-t-shirt
The way it happened in Player Two Start could honestly be considered somewhat of a historical accident. The success of Snatcher pushing games into the mainstream, convincing MTV to do a video game cable news show, AND that show hiring an exceptionally progressive woman who happens to be a completely original character in that timeline is in and of itself vulnerable to butterflies. If Snatcher flops, MTV never makes GameTV, and if the producers insist on a less progressive woman, Brittany Saldita never becomes an icon for girls and women in gaming in that timeline.
Maybe another way it could happen... avoid the 80s crash and somehow get someone like Gail Tilden in charge of a still-relevant Atari in the mid 1990s, perhaps? Gail Tilden was a badass who made Nintendo Power possibly the greatest video game magazine of all time, put her in charge of Atari (if they're still competitive) and who knows what happens?
Maybe another way it could happen... avoid the 80s crash and somehow get someone like Gail Tilden in charge of a still-relevant Atari in the mid 1990s, perhaps? Gail Tilden was a badass who made Nintendo Power possibly the greatest video game magazine of all time, put her in charge of Atari (if they're still competitive) and who knows what happens?