Tropes vs Women in Video Games

Damsel in distress is from the French demoiselle en detresse and it means damsel in distress.

"hey let's talk about gender problems in society because every other more important problem up here has been solved properly and perfectly. also let's just TALK about it, let's not make our point come across better by creating a GAME that removes these tropes."

"i'm an empowered woman but i need this much makeup or i'll look ugly in front of my viewers!!!"

i had some good laughs though, this is funny.

This is so trivial. I mean she has a good point about the tropes being overused. But is this really a feminist issue and not just simply a creative one? Meanwhile women in Afghanistan or Africa or wherever get their lady bits chopped off or get murdered because they want to get an education.

Is there such a thing as fluffy feel good feminism? Because her topics sure feel like it.

Quote from Sentura

"hey let's talk about gender problems in society because every other more important problem up here has been solved properly and perfectly. also let's just TALK about it, let's not make our point come across better by creating a GAME that removes these tropes."

"i'm an empowered woman but i need this much makeup or i'll look ugly in front of my viewers!!!"

i had some good laughs though, this is funny.

Where did you find those comments? People say stupid shit indeed. There's no denying there's a fact behind what she says. It's sad people still don't want to acknowledge it and low blow her. If someone doesn't say it then shit like Hitman: Absolution happens. No offense to the people that worked on that game, levels were great but those characters... holy damn.

Quote from Steppenwolf

This is so trivial. I mean she has a good point about the tropes being overused. But is this really a feminist issue and not just simply a creative one? Meanwhile women in Afghanistan or Africa or wherever get their lady bits chopped off or get murdered because they want to get an education.

Is there such a thing as fluffy feel good feminism? Because her topics sure feel like it.

I kind of agree on some point but I feel just because it's less devastating it doesn't mean it doesn't deserve to be heard. Pop media reaches way more people and is easier to raise awareness off compared to the scenario's you describe, sadly.

I think I agree with Step's point completely. I also think it's likely that this video series will spark more hate towards feminism in general than it will do good for it.

i'm with feminists on a lot of stuff but when they say things like "the myth that women are the weaker sex" it seems like they aren't self-aware as to the fact that, physically, uh yes they are... by design...

not saying there aren't strong women out there, but evolutionary the idea is that the big male monkey can do what he pleases with the female monkey to facilitate making babiez (uNless you believe in adam and eve ). obviously, we're not monkeys, and therefore we can treat women equally, but that's how we got here, after all. nature isn't egalitarian, hence men got testosterone and big muscles, and women didn't. so when video games or movies or whatever put more women in the physical roles, its asking us to use our imaginations a step further to do that. which is why characters like samus make a lot of sense.

how many times across the world has a group of guys taken a women hostage? a million times every day. how many times has a woman in a dark alley repelled a group of like 3 guys as in that intro she was talking about? probably never. but she expects us to pretend the reality is the opposite and pretend that's totally natural, in order to create female heroes, despite it being pretty counter to the human experience

Totally going to regret posting this in five minutes. Woo-woo!

You’d be hard pressed to argue with the core of what she’s saying. The damsel in distress trope certainly does exist for videogames, just as it does in every other storytelling medium, and is particularly prominent in older games not looking to have a complex narrative outside of some lazy justification for gameplay to happen. Likewise, her ultimate conclusion that being exposed to only this trope could perpetuate a sexist world view of weak, helpless women is probably true (though I think games are more diverse than that).

However, a lot of the evidence she’s putting forwards to back up this fairly innocuous point is rife with unfounded assumptions, cherry picking, and simply reading too much into everything. This is basically the criticism she gets on her other videos, though I believe voicing this makes you a troll. With a neck-beard.

For instance, her opening gambit about Dinosaur Planet makes a lot of assumptions about changing Krystal into Fox that seem unfounded. Maybe after they merged the troubled project with Starfox they decided to use the well-established, almost-titular lead as the main character for franchise familiarity and safer sales? Demographics seem a consistent stumbling point in her videos about toys as well. Marketing people don't have souls, let alone hidden agendas.

The part about Princess Peach also seemed problematic. All the times she is a strong, capable character are said to just not count, this includes all the spin-offs like Mario Kart and Mario Party where she’s on equal footing with the other characters, Super Princess Peach where she rescues Mario and Luigi (I have never played this, so maybe it does do some silly stuff - she says she will discuss this later but does not in this video), and SMB2 in the main series was vetoed because her appearance was “accidental” – a claim with no evidence at all. Pointing out it was a Doki Doki Panic reskin doesn't prove anything, her art was unique and they could’ve added a male character instead... And I’m not trying to say here Peach isn’t a contender for the trope! She’s the quintessential example even with these exceptions so why try so hard to bury them?

It’s hard to say more without hearing the other part, particularly her highlighted exceptions, but I think the main problem here is a lack of creativity.

still rolling my eyes at the picture of zelda with a sword.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8477683

this is why few games employ that idea, its good fun to use your imagination, which is why shoot fireballs out of our fists. but stop acting like women swinging swords is such an OBVIOUS IDEA WHY ARE THERE NO GAMES THAT DO THIS

This shit is so annoying.

A lot of these feminist movement women (and men) often forget that women are also the cause for tropes. It's not just men. Its both men and women. The women who read into this stuff are usually focused on high brow aspects of their lifestyles and pride themselves on being intelligent and independent. Not all women are like that. Just like not all men are like that.

I agree with what Taylor said. She is intentionally looking for a problem. I can find problems against hispanics in games everywhere... but why? There really isn't one. I can make there be one by looking for one though. Are there some problems with how women are presented from time to time? Sure. But its not rampant and every where - and it especially isn't a male fantasy world. It's both.

It's the same thing with any race, sex, gender orientation, or age...

actually, fuck it

Kedhrin's Campaign To End Tropes Against The Elderly

I feel that old people are misrepresented as useless wheel chair bound people - it is demoralizing and people grow to form a lack of respect for the elders.

There is clear evidence that over the past 20 years elderly care has diminished with younger generations being influenced by the media to ignore their parents, especially when they become elderly.

It is our responsibility as the game industry to properly represent the elderly in a positive manner so we can influence all generations to take care of their elders.

...

see how easy that is?

I don't need to say anything really, you guys have pretty much summed it up.

She should move to Sweden.

Ok i'm a bit cynical but check this out :

http://www.feministfrequency.com/donate/

she just doesn't give a fuck about what she is saying

I loved how she has denied comments and clip rattings on youtube, lmao. Just don't make a big fuss out of it dudes, let it die.

you know how justion bieber became famous? The haters kept talking about him! So i guess it's best to just let it fade... i'm too annoyed at this woman to have any other action

also if you simply check her linked in profile :

Formation de Anita Sarkeesian

York University

M.A., Social and Political Thought

2008 – 2010

Thesis title: “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”: Strong Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy Television”

California State University-Northridge

BA, Communication Studies

2005 – 2007

Activités et associations : Performance Ensemble

Did you already made a personnal videogame project / map at the end of your studies to get hired in a big company ? well it's pretty much the same

Pretty obvious Anita Sarkeesian was a con-artist for awhile now. Just don't understand why she bothered to make these videos -- Good con-artists are supposed to disappear after they get your money.

I just don't get it. The video is dry; she lacks enthusiasm so much you have to wonder if she did it all in an afternoon just to get it of the way. I'm so bored watching it I have to keep skipping forward.

Every bit I've watched has just been a load of facts which feel like they came straight off Wikipedia, with virtually no compelling analysis that makes me feel like I'm gaining anything at all from watching it.

I'm guessing a lot of the $160,000 budget she got for this will be spent on another things. There might be another 10 episodes or so, but if they're more of this...

I see all the feminists and white knights out there are loving it. Kind of preaching to the choir though, no? That's like making a series about how awesome MapCore is and asking us what we think.

she'll eventually become an agent provocateur as an image and people will completely disregard her opinions. good riddance, I SAY

While I think the subject is noble and worth doing a research on, the video is incredibly shallow and doesn't bring anything new to the table. Quoting Wikipedia and TVTropes is not a research, and I'm baffled to see she needed $150,000 to do this. I'm hoping the next parts will be way better than this, because this one has 0 arguments and uses plain wrong examples at times.

Ked nailed it for me. There's always an argument for inequality in race/gender/age/etc if you look for it. I'm pretty sure I could write a university grade dissertation on the portrayal of western Caucasian males in games as heartless murderers. It doesn't make it an issue.

I honestly tried to watch it twice, but I quit. It's impossible. I simply lose all my interest very easily. It's so boring to watch it, I don't feel comfortable by her facial expressions and she seems butt hurt.

She reminded me of a few über spoiled girls from my class when I was 12 years old. They give you that look, do that thing with the eyebrows and say anything pretending they have all the reason. lol.

I agree with all you guys said already.

Quote from Puddy

She should move to Sweden.

Why? ;p