GamerGate

[Chocofreak13]

this mentioned gamergate in it, and considering how accurate the rant is on what an SJW IS, i figured someone might be interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpwyEq_m0zc&list=UUWB0dvorHvkQlgfGGJR2yxQ#t=603

[Chocofreak13]

it's baaaa-aaaack....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/11/game-developer-death-threats_n_5970966.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000046&ir=Women

[Bella]

People should never be doxxed and anyone who makes an online death threat is an asshole (whether they're serious or not). I feel sorry for her and her husband but I also wonder how exactly this is different from all the men who have been doxxed / received death threats online over stupid shit.

On another note...

It's a little tangential but I'd like to say that I deal with nerds on an (almost) daily basis and if they're sexist they're doing a great job of hiding it.

I've never been told by a nerd (male or female) that I can't do something because of my gender, or told that I can't make it in a STEM field, or felt judged in general because of my gender. I've heard male classmates express disappointment that there aren't more women in STEM and desire that there was more gender equality in these fields. Whether this is because of sincere interest in gender equality or a wish that there were more women they could see eye-to-eye with on their interests, I'm not sure, but I appreciate the sentiment either way.

An older guy in my math class who's studying IT has openly expressed anger that men and women are treated unequally in society and has said he can't fathom what would make anyone decide that men and women aren't intellectual equals. We have almost as many men in our women in tech club as we do women.

Granted, I've had very few run-ins with misogynists in general. A guy who was studying web design (but expressed frustration with the field and later disappeared ... hmmm...) once said some fairly dickbag things about women. I once had a fire science student try to explain to me what a CPU is - I really don't know if it was because I was a woman or he was an idiot, so who really knows in that case. Things have happened that would probably be considered sexist by tumblr-feminist types - many of my classmates (men and women) enjoy ~*problematic*~ video games, there have been sexual-innuendo-y jokes/comments (again, both genders, again, and not aimed at individuals in particular), and, you know, random ponytail-bopping, which could certainly be considered TERRIBLE MICROAGRESSION, except I interact with the person regularly and am pretty damn sure it wasn't done out of intimidation or harassment (context and all that).

Online a lot of the nerdy types I interact with seem likewise gender-egalitarian. I don't know what many of their politics / social stances are but judging from a pure "are they sexist" standpoint, I would have to say no.

Golly, it's almost like, if you (general you here) go out and interact with nerds in the real world, you see they aren't all soulless woman-hating monsters. But it's a lot easier to form sensational opinions of nerds and gamers using 4chan shitposters, redpillers and MRAs as your sample group. (Note, the same can be said of actual feminists vs. radfems and tumblr feminists, LGBTQA+ people vs. tumblr spechul snowflakes and transtrenders, regular Christian / Muslim / atheist / whathaveyou people vs. the lunatics at the fringes, etc.)

[Nichi]

Indeed. The type of nerd that person is talking about I've only seen in the shittier parts of the internet (4chan, YouTube comments section, the parts of GameFAQs revolving around current-gen games and consoles, etc.); even when I was working at Gamestop, I never encountered one of these types. In person, the nerdy people I've met have been very respectful.

[Chocofreak13]

sadly, this is prone to happen with any large group of people, and what's worse is that the public judges all of us based off those crazies. remember the Aurora, CO shootings? anyone ever heard of the Otaku Murderer? years after these things have happened we're still feeling the aftershocks of these people. and the added kick in the pants is that when a random, normal person does something like this (read: Elliot Rodger, any number or killers we see on TV), they're quickly forgotten and not thought of as the "norm". people never take into account that Tsutomu Miyazaki or James Eagen Holmes AREN'T the standard for nerdy groups. (much as i hate it, The Big Bang Theory is helping to shed the idea of nerds as creepy weirdos, even if it's reinforcing stereotypes....)

getting back to GamerGate, it's not cool to throw off death threats, no matter who the person is. but after the questionable behavour of Sarkeesian and her relation to Quinn i can't help but wonder if perhaps this too is staged. (likely isn't, i'm sounding like an ass here, but still.)

[Nichi]

The media will latch onto seemingly anything for the sake of making a story more "edgy".

It's like an old news story, about a guy that tried to commit suicide back in the late '70s...but, he just so happened to play Dungeons & Dragons, which the media latched onto and made the game out to be the cause of death (Something about he killed himself because his character died?). It's because of this that we have this made-for-TV movie (Which would be reviewed years later by Spoony, whom is a D&D fan), and is also the reason my mom refused to let me watch the D&D cartoon when Fox Kids began to air reruns of it circa '99 (Obviously, one of the side effects of exposure to magical rollercoasters is death).

[stewartsage]

I'd just like to point out on the D&D front, my dad played it in college (hardcore LOTR/Tolkein fan from way back that was convinced easily by 'there's dwarves in it') and went on to become a minister soooooo.

[Chocofreak13]

D&D is played by all kinds. one of the most hardcore catholics i ever met played a bi-monthly D&D 1.0 game with his old college buddies. it was really cool, tbh (and i still have my character made for it, lol).

playing on that point more, you'll find fans of _____ of all kinds. i know an anime fan who is also the buffest guy i know. i think he could bench something like, 300, 350?

[stewartsage]

Exactly.  My point being never pigeonhole a particular activity as exclusive property of one group.... Though I wish more people'd be interested in trying out T2K or Automated Fear or one of my other tiny niche rulesets.

[Chocofreak13]

or my desire to shove WW on everyone because it's so fun but no one knows that. ;^;

[Dr. Kraus]

[Bella]

[cut because I accidentally hit post before I actually wrote anything and OSC doesn't allow posts to be deleted anymore]

ETA:
I'm really annoyed by this mentality. There's almost-universal agreement that the STEM fields would do better with more diversity, yet there's also a loud segment of the Internet Activist™/SJW community who seem certain that STEM is a straight white boy's club and that women/PoC/LGBT people/etc. are justified in wanting to stay away from it.

In other words: "More diversity in STEM! Stay away from STEM because it's not diverse enough! More diversity in STEM!"

Paradox much?

[winduko]

I know that I want my career to be some kind of STEM career.

Honestly, the lack of diversity only encourages me. If I were to make a name for myself, then many others can make a name for themselves.

Even if I don't, I'll be doing what I enjoy for a living, and that's what matters.

[svx]

I don't know anything about Gamergate. I stopped watching after Stargate Atlantis started airing because it was pretty obvious the quality of the series was going downhill rapidly. ;<

* svx sips some whisky and stares at the monitor for a moment before clicking the "post" button

[Chocofreak13]

^have fun with that.

@bells, duko: it's a barrier to be broken again, a bit like the idea of women in trade jobs back in the 40's. we stepped the fuck up to the plate, made some bomber planes, and then when the guys came home we weren't satisfied going back to just washing clothes and cooking the roast. the change was slow, but the instant upheaval made it possible for women to have jobs, PERIOD.

in terms of this, even with it being a boys' club and all, we need to push push push this further so that we (women, PoC, LGBTQIA, etc) can carve ourselves a cozy little place in this frontier, that will then settle and grow and eventually become NYC. of gaming. a big fucking city. it may be slow, but pushing onward seems to be the only option, even with the threats, firebombing, etc.

@kraus: i agree and disagree with this guy, since while i agree that there are a lot of talentless people using their gender to get ahead in this field (*coughcoughzoequinncough*), there are also people with genuine talent being ignored BECAUSE of their gender. the idea of, "you can't have a good idea, you're a woman/PoC/LGBT! how the hell would YOU know what the people want!?"
i feel like this explains it well.