Petition to remove Anita Sarkeesian from Mirror's Edge 2 development

[SMOGZINN]

And then they consult her again, and then again, and then maybe even implement her ideas...

Maybe other studios do it too and implement ideas so their games are "gender progressive".

Games aren't about creativity, it's about checking off each checkbox on a massive list of "appease everyone!!!" and it's getting tiring. At best, I'll play it when it's on a super sale, but otherwise, sorry EA, if you can't let your creative talent do it's job, I wont' give you my moneys.

If you think game are not made as much by the marketing department as the developers then you better stop playing games altogether because you have lost touch with reality.

Always remember that the primary purpose of a game is to make money, to do that they want to make it as marketable as possible. Being fun is about 3rd on the priority list.

 

[chip_rampage]

Not even "Kim Jong-un Convinces Gamers to Move to North Korea, Claims He Has a Copy of The Last Guardian"?

lol exactly like that. I said almost because it has been a year or two since I've gotten on there and I wasn't sure what they were up to now.

 

[tential]

If you think game are not made as much by the marketing department as the developers then you better stop playing games altogether because you have lost touch with reality.

Always remember that the primary purpose of a game is to make money, to do that they want to make it as marketable as possible. Being fun is about 3rd on the priority list.

That's fine with me. If a developer would like to focus more on marketing than on making a game fun ME PERSONALLY, I don't have to purchase it.

I don't have to reward the company with another sale.

 

[BoberFett]

I find using a control stick too difficult, and advocate the removal of all manual controls to allow for maximum accessibility. This new non-interactive interactivity technology will revolutionize video gaming. I call it Mind Only Viewing of Interactive Entertainment. MOVIE for short.

 

[SMOGZINN]

That's fine with me. If a developer would like to focus more on marketing than on making a game fun ME PERSONALLY, I don't have to purchase it.

I don't have to reward the company with another sale.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that you should buy anyway, quite the opposite. I'm telling you to not buy the hype, any of it. What I'm telling you is that every game does this. The only way to find out which games are good despite this is to wait for people to get them in their hands.

This Anita Sarkeesian thing is a marketing gimmick, they are getting people like us to give them free advertising, and quite frankly they don't care if that makes the game better or worse, only if it makes it sell more copies. Since very few people actually care about the #gamergate issues, but lots of people will hear about the game because of it, it is a marketing win.

Personally I think #gamergate thing is stupid. It is a bunch of children getting angry because someone on the internet doesn't agree with them.

 

[Rakehellion]

So this whole thing is a hoax based on an unfounded rumor. Cool.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

OK, so far the only evidence we have of this comes back to a single blog post from two years ago that misrepresents Anita Sarkeesian being asked to give a talk at DICE as being a consultant who is actively working on Mirror's Edge 2 with the expressed intent of EA that her word is law. Is there ANY other evidence being offered? Because if not, this claim is just ludicrous. Once again, just mentioning the name "Sarkeesian" causes wide swaths of people to involuntarily shut down all cognitive function and blindly spew vitriol about nothing. You people make it very difficult to offer up any intellectual debate of Sarkeesian because it immediately gets lumped in with the mindless hostility of people who can't be bothered to fact-check the most basic of claims before getting their rage on. You could say Sarkeesian did literally anything and large groups of people would believe it with no evidence whatsoever. And when evidence comes out that it's fake? "Well, it's something she would have done anyway, so our anger is justified!" She's become the object of delusional paranoia and it's ventured so far into absurdist territory that it defies all belief.

 

[surfsatwerk]

I find using a control stick too difficult, and advocate the removal of all manual controls to allow for maximum accessibility. This new non-interactive interactivity technology will revolutionize video gaming. I call it Mind Only Viewing of Interactive Entertainment. MOVIE for short.

*chortle*

 

[Subyman]

I find using a control stick too difficult, and advocate the removal of all manual controls to allow for maximum accessibility. This new non-interactive interactivity technology will revolutionize video gaming. I call it Mind Only Viewing of Interactive Entertainment. MOVIE for short.

IMO the control stick looks like a penis and is sexist.

 

[werepossum]

I find using a control stick too difficult, and advocate the removal of all manual controls to allow for maximum accessibility. This new non-interactive interactivity technology will revolutionize video gaming. I call it Mind Only Viewing of Interactive Entertainment. MOVIE for short.

lol +1

Acronyms are sexist.

IMO the control stick looks like a penis and is sexist.

lol +1 But the buttons are raised like boobies - can't have men touching those!

Personally I cannot stand the woman but I have zero problem with her being hired as a consultant. This is precisely what we've been saying should happen, that she should help make better games rather than simply bitching about the ones other people are making.

Though I seriously doubt there is the slightest bit of truth about this rumor. And people who sign Internet petitions are by and large idiots.

 

[futurefields]

What is it with this person who seems so dead set on being involved in an industry which

1) has no apparent love for, or even much experience with
2) is seen by most as a pariah

its as if she came into her career with the sole intent of stirring crap up in whatever industry she could find employment in

 

[Exophase]

Okay, one, this petition is stupid. Who cares what person works on a game (regardless of whether or not it's true). If the game sucks as a result call them out for making a bad game, like every other time. And if the company wants to waste their money on dumb consulting that's their loss.

Two, if the GTA V petition has taught us anything, look through the signatures some before reporting the number. Like that petition, this one is filled with duplicates, in a way that appears to be some kind of bug - I don't know if they're counted or not, but I'm automatically going to be skeptical of a broken website. Now, unlike the other petition, I've looked through it for a while and can't find any signatures that are arguing against the petition. But I can find a lot that look like childish trolls.

Finally, this shows again how quick a lot of people are to rise to action for a petition that's based on clearly questionable claims. I really hope that after enough of this people learn to start questioning these things more.

Having said all that, IF this company is consulting with Sarkeesian I really doubt this petition will change anything. And it's just going to be more fuel that she can use to show how much gamers hate women (even if the comments aren't really about that) and therefore are in such dire need of her activism. And cue the next round of articles screaming in rage over gamer culture and the next big boost in her fundraising.

 

[Exophase]

OK, so far the only evidence we have of this comes back to a single blog post from two years ago that misrepresents Anita Sarkeesian being asked to give a talk at DICE as being a consultant who is actively working on Mirror's Edge 2 with the expressed intent of EA that her word is law. Is there ANY other evidence being offered? Because if not, this claim is just ludicrous. Once again, just mentioning the name "Sarkeesian" causes wide swaths of people to involuntarily shut down all cognitive function and blindly spew vitriol about nothing. You people make it very difficult to offer up any intellectual debate of Sarkeesian because it immediately gets lumped in with the mindless hostility of people who can't be bothered to fact-check the most basic of claims before getting their rage on. You could say Sarkeesian did literally anything and large groups of people would believe it with no evidence whatsoever. And when evidence comes out that it's fake? "Well, it's something she would have done anyway, so our anger is justified!" She's become the object of delusional paranoia and it's ventured so far into absurdist territory that it defies all belief.

Go mention someone like Karen Straughan on a big social justice board and watch the exact same thing happen

That doesn't excuse either of it, but over the top sensationalist reactions to people are standard for the internet, and unfortunately I don't really see how that's going to change.

 

[MrPickins]

and people who sign internet petitions are by and large idiots.

qft

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Okay, one, this petition is stupid. Who cares what person works on a game

Anyone who cares about the quality of the franchise?

The better part of 40,000 people who signed the petition already, plus the countless others who will sign it, plus those who might had they known about it.

And people who sign Internet petitions are by and large idiots.

Care to explain why?

 

[blankslate]

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Anyone who cares about the quality of the franchise?

The better part of 40,000 people who signed the petition already, plus the countless others who will sign it, plus those who might had they known about it.



Care to explain why?

Because if a female dare be represented as something other than a empty shell of a prize in a game it would ruin the whole beloved franchise!... that everyone forgot about except for a cute phsyx tech demo shortly after release... Without knowing a single thing with piles of absurd conjecture we see the immature raging in this thread, it's about ethics though amirite?

 

[SMOGZINN]

Because if a female dare be represented as something other than a empty shell of a prize in a game it would ruin the whole beloved franchise!... that everyone forgot about except for a cute phsyx tech demo shortly after release... Without knowing a single thing with piles of absurd conjecture we see the immature raging in this thread, it's about ethics though amirite?

Don't forget that this important ethical fight was probably completely made up as satire by a comedy web site.

Also, I think we can safely call this thread a prime example of Lewis' Law

 

[axlrose87]

What is it with this person who seems so dead set on being involved in an industry which

1) has no apparent love for, or even much experience with
2) is seen by most as a pariah

its as if she came into her career with the sole intent of stirring crap up in whatever industry she could find employment in

^^ This... and that's how she is making money too. People just need to ignore her.

 

[Exophase]

Also, I think we can safely call this thread a prime example of Lewis' Law

I wish people would stop using this deflection because they don't like that a feminist is being criticized or dismissed. That doesn't automatically "justify feminism", even if the arguments are sensationalist, reactionary, or irrational. And the constant insistence that it does and other kneejerk shouting about misogyny is one of those reasons why people are getting sick of some feminists.

 

[Stringjam]

Because if a female dare be represented as something other than a empty shell of a prize in a game it would ruin the whole beloved franchise!... that everyone forgot about except for a cute phsyx tech demo shortly after release...

How is this statement relevant to the subject?

The issue was never how Faith was portrayed in the game - - it was about dumbing down gameplay mechanics. This leads me to believe you've never even played the game. There are no empty shells or female prizes.

I didn't forget about the game, and neither have a lot of other people who would like to see the IP go forward.

 

[Topweasel]

How is this statement relevant to the subject?

The issue was never how Faith was portrayed in the game - - it was about dumbing down gameplay mechanics. This leads me to believe you've never even played the game. There are no empty shells or female prizes.

I didn't forget about the game, and neither have a lot of other people who would like to see the IP go forward.

Can't fault him anymore than anyone else giving this topic more than a glance over (being a bit hipacrytical here myself), given that the topic isn't even a real topic. Now it's just going to be another GG complaint thread about the same 3 or 4 "celebs", talking about the same topics that have nothing to do about Ethics in journalism.

That said I do understand the main issue and am glad it was an old hoax. I wouldn't want Anita within 100 yards of the development of a franchise I liked.

 

[SMOGZINN]

I wish people would stop using this deflection because they don't like that a feminist is being criticized or dismissed. That doesn't automatically "justify feminism", even if the arguments are sensationalist, reactionary, or irrational. And the constant insistence that it does and other kneejerk shouting about misogyny is one of those reasons why people are getting sick of some feminists.

Actually, I think you are right to call me out on this one. I misused Lewis' Law here. This thread has for the most part been reasonable.

I agree that there can be reasonable debate on Feminism, but much, if not most, open internet debates on the subject quickly devolve to sensationalist, reactionary, and irrational and almost always in a distinctly misogynistic manner which often then leads to angry and frustrated feminists becoming defensive and countering their own sensationalist, reactionary, and irrational arguments.

The point of Lewis' Law is that the misogynistic dismissal of women is the very reason that feminism is needed.

 

[Exophase]

Actually, I think you are right to call me out on this one. I misused Lewis' Law here. This thread has for the most part been reasonable.

Okay, thanks. I'm glad you see that.

I agree that there can be reasonable debate on Feminism, but much, if not most, open internet debates on the subject quickly devolve to sensationalist, reactionary, and irrational and almost always in a distinctly misogynistic manner which often then leads to angry and frustrated feminists becoming defensive and countering their own sensationalist, reactionary, and irrational arguments.

The point of Lewis' Law is that the misogynistic dismissal of women is the very reason that feminism is needed.

The thing is, you may call something distinctly misogynistic, and many do, but it's usually done without a clear justification or even explanation as to how it's actually misogyny. At best, it usually assumes a lot about intent and indirect influence.

The definition of misogyny is hatred of women, but even if you reduce it to merely any kind of discrimination against women on the basis of their sex or gender (ie, sexism) you still have to do more than just show that people are being jerks to a woman. People are jerks to men too. You have to demonstrate that it's influenced by the fact that she's a woman, or motivated by some kind of disbelief in equality towards women.

A lot of people will insist that it's obvious that someone is singled out for being a woman (and the same people will often deny that anyone is ever singled out for being a man), but I think their perception is colored by a worldview that sees misogyny everywhere, as a basic component of all social structures, and therefore the status quo.

 

[Tweak155]

Gee, let's generate another google search hit for this person.