A Modest Wish for a Reasonable Discussion

Amanda and I watched the first two videos of Tropes for Women in Video Games by Anita Sarkeesian today. I have a lot to say about them. I didn't agree with all of the points put forth in the videos, but basically thought they served as an excellent starting point to have a reasonable, measured discussion about how men and women are portrayed in video games.

I don't think the videos will accomplish that goal, for a few reasons. First, there were a few cases in which Sarkeesian argued against a strawman. She argued that part of the damsel in distress trope is that even in the cases when the female non-player character has a role in the storyline, it is a minor role that did not affect the progression of the game. She was right, however I believe she missed the point entirely. These are video games -- progression through the game is *player-driven*. Regardless of gender, non-player characters should not have any real impact on the plot.

Second, the opposition is brutal, sexist, and generally unwilling to have a fair conversation where they argue their points based on merit. Sarkeesian's Wikipedia entry was mercilessly vandalized during her Kickstarter campaign to fund these videos. The reply videos dissecting her arguments mostly had one or two real points surrounded by personal attacks and double standards. One man essentially argued that she should not have done the video because she did not follow the scientific method to produce it. His reply video had no scholarly substance either, yet he must have felt that the bar he set for her to surpass did not apply to him.

I think in the end, this video series will start a war fought with personal attacks and sexist comments. And that's too bad. I had hoped these videos would be the video game equivalent of the Bechdel Test -- something that stops short of saying something is or isn't expressly sexist, but makes it very clear that a problem exists. 

At any rate, Amanda and I will keep watching the videos. We had a lengthy, intelligent, reasonable discussion about the issues involved. Hopefully other people will quit with the bashing and personal attacks and do the same.