back to notes

@4xisblack on games presenting abusive behaviours as entertainment


<@4xisblack> Sometimes I try to imagine hating Anita Sarkeesian and I just can't do it
<@4xisblack> She's like the Neil deGrasse Tyson of videogames, just seems super pleasant
<@4xisblack> It's funny that "gamers" seek an abusive relationship with makers so they can coerce them into making games that model abusive relationships
<@4xisblack> It becomes obvious that they seek to depict their power fantasies as 'realistic' because they want those fantasies to be real
<@4xisblack> The appeals to 'history' are actually appeals to the future. There was never a time when violence against women had no consequences...
<@4xisblack> ...the consequences, for women, have always been very real. By failing to represent those you are depicting a fantasy
<@4xisblack> The appeal that games are 'just harmless fun' is even more ridiculous because harmless fun, by definition, musn't harm people
<@4xisblack> The claim that one can have 'harmless' fun by depicting 'realistic' acts of harm is absurd. Depictions of real harm are harmful!
<@4xisblack> Thus, the 'gamer' fantasy is to have harmless fun by doing both simulated and actual harm to people outside the gamer' group. It's sadism
<@4xisblack> And the single best reason for 'gamers' to exclude, say, women, is that their 'harmless' enjoyment of games is contingent on harming women
<@4xisblack> So basically, the archetypal "gamer" is Dennis Hopper's character in Blue Velvet.


last updated august 2014