Depictions of Women in Gaming (and other related issues)

[StarSock64]

I guess I'm looking at it more from a "Death of the Author" perspective, where I feel like there should be a separation for where criticism is directed. I feel like criticism should be directed more at the work itself than at the person or people behind it. The same for consumers. I really don't think it's right for one consumer to shame another for having a different purchasing preference.

I think if this was just a few months ago I would probably disagree, but I've been having second thoughts about this sort of thing. On the one hand, I've seen developers say really stupid and bad things, and I think they should be held accountable when they do. I realize that's sort of a different issue, though. Also, it's not like games come about by magic, so it feels intuitive that the creators should be held accountable. But the more I think about it, the less trying to shame creators seems like it solves anything. So yeah, I think I agree.

I don't particularly like the consumers shaming consumers thing either. I guess it's preferable to be responsible with where you put your finances, but...I think it's pretty harsh to try to keep other people from enjoying what they like. Trying to make them understand why the thing they buy might have some problems is totally cool though. If they're too stubborn to even recognize that there might be problems, then I can understand why this thing would escalate (but that doesn't mean it should).

I guess both of your points kind of tie in with the thing I said about intimidating creators out of even trying because of fear of shaming. It seems to me like criticizing works and not as much the people might be better for trying to encourage better products, since that's what C+C tends to do for improvement of any sort anyway.

I can understand why someone might want to shame people...heh heh...Anger, for one thing, but also because of a desire to want to show people that that sort of thing is unacceptable. I'm not really convinced that this has practical benefits, though. I could just be too lax about the whole thing. Like, I guess part of what's brought feminist issues to the forefront is the "fire and brimstone" of it all, as Kriven put it...but I sort of feel like we've come to a point where that mentality might be doing more harm than good. I'm not too sure about that.