Sexism and Video Games?

     For my next blog, i wanted to tackle the controversy recently surrounding sexism in the video game industry. An example of sexism is the recent GamerGate escapade that is ongoing.  For those of you that do not know, Gamergate is  "an online movement ostensibly concerned with ethics in game journalism and with protecting the 'gamer' identity" according to gawker. The recent issue was somewhat shocking to myself because among the other video gamers around me, none really talked about this issue. A basic history of the Gamergate controversy and why sexism is involved revolves around the story of Zoe Quinn, a female game developer who developed a game called Depression Quest. You can try out the game for free here. I was one of the brave few who ventured to the website to try out the game. Basically you point and click dialogue boxes as events unfold on separate page windows. Zoe Quinn's game immediately drew criticism from the gaming community, initially because of the context of the game. You don't have any sort of game mentality (example of this would be something like vehicles or guns or puzzles to solve or a open world to roam). Instead you only have the text in front of you and the music which plays throughout the game. Another reason why she received backlash is due to her perceived notion of depression. People did not appreciate the fact that she made a game that dealt with a sensitive topic that resonates deep within the gaming community. 

     Now here is when the issue gets interesting. A group of "gamers" united under the hashtag #Gamergate, which is a reference to actor Adam Baldwin's twitter response tag to  critical videos of Quinn, the developer of the game Depression Quest. The group attacked a number of females including Brianna Wu and Anita Sarkeesian. Sarkeesian is a feminist who critiqued the sexism felt in the game community. Subsequently she was threatened by the Gamergate community and had to an event because of the possibility of harm. The irony in this idea is that while females were targeted by Gamergate for advocating the idea of sexism in the video game community, male figures who spoke out against Gamergate were not specifically targeted. One prime example is Chris Kluwe who is a professional American Football player. When he spoke out against the issue the GamerGate community did no pursue him like they did Quinn and Wu. There is no specific reason why they didn't target male figures who were opposed to the ideology of GamerGate, but speculation is that it was because they were male. To some this would count as an act of misogyny.

     The reason I bring this up, is the fact that this issue surrounding misogyny. Sexism in the gaming industry is a topic that many people consider to not exists. To me there are themes of it in the real world, especially when people threaten female game developers.I feel as though as video games grow, this issue will have to be dealt with. To me there is obviously a issue if people keep constantly bringing it up all over social media. More so if sexism is something that is an issue in the video game community, then for it to be dealt with in the future. I also urge the gaming community to take a look at what they say. If we think about what we say it may have a better impact than just blatantly saying your going to kill them. Video games were something that is fun, the passion , the social interaction and the entertainment is something that needs to be preserved. Not trying to be a white knight or SJW (social justice warrior) by the way. Also the game is not that great (talking about Depression Quest).