• Gamings Toxic Men, Explained
    59 replies, posted
https://www.polygon.com/2018/7/25/17593516/video-game-culture-toxic-men-explained Long as fuck read, don't really expect everyone to get through it It's honestly so ladened with false representation and a mis-remembering of a lot of things.
Honestly, I don't think gaming has any more of a problem with assholes than any other community. Of course, it has its own particular brand of asshole, but at least they don't riot in the streets like a lot of sports fans do.
How is this news? It's a truly terrible Polygon opinion piece.
It's honestly so ladened with false representation and a mis-remembering of a lot of things. With this statement and a movement looking to give rules to gaming related journalism mentioned in the small caption, I'm not sure I would want to read the article in the first place. Assholes like things, just as much as non-assholes do, and that's a fact people have to deal with.
Polygon is trash, nothing new here
Oh look, polygon is complaining about men. Again.
We've opened the opinion piece floodgate.
As soon as I saw Anita. Your sourcing is shit. I can already see this train.
if people complain about it, then you're probably toxic, racist and misogynistic you can't win with these people
The worst part is that creating that label for Gamers, it leads to actuall assholes thinking they're within likeminded company.
kind of raises the question of " why are so many of these people toxic " and " why aren't they stopping one another from being toxic "
If you’d like to comment on this article, you can contact us via our email form, or on Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets. We will publish the best comments in a follow-up article that really says all that needs to be said about this
Post the archived link. I ain't clicking that
Is more of a recopilation of different perspectives than a timeline of events but yes, the article explains a lot of the shit that have been going on for decades. It also does a point indicating how the "100% free speech" posture of media like Youtube, Facebook or Twitter allowing harrasment and hate speech in general have made much worse the situation. The worst thing is that there's no signals of being reduced, let alone stopping this. There are more and more abyss aside of 4Chan and Reddit that doesn't stop generating hate and almost every single fandom nowadays have a cringy toxic side not only at games, but also is being extended to movies, comics and even politics. This is a time bomb with fatal consequences to our society and we aren't doing enough to combat it. As several of the interviewed says: Compassion is essential for thinking about these issues. When I think about the boy who feels like a social outcast at school, that’s hard, and I have sympathy for him. I understand his yearning for connection. But the problem is that the forces that contribute to him feeling lost are tied up in patriarchy, which is making him feel disaffected. And then he finds these places online where his feelings are hardened and weaponized against women and against feminists, rather than being brought into a place where there is compassion and empathy. They don’t even look for healthy and validating ways to illuminate and understand each other. We need to be talking to children about compassion, empathy, dignity and digital citizenship. And then it doesn't help knowning that the far right are taking advantage of the situation, making things much worse
Every time I think Polygon has made the worst possible article they find a way to surprise me.
Where does it do that? I only see a mention of the alt right.
why do yall react so poorly to the implication that maybe some ppl that indulge in ur hobby are shitty and that kinda sucks :thinking:
I read the article. I don’t feel how you implied we all feel. I do do feel that the article contains many quotes that are inaccurate, either wholly or partially. I also feel it contains a number of conclusions that are unsupported as well as contradicts many of its own points from some of the quoted people. I just dont think it’s a good article.
Mean people exist in the world. Shocking news, tell me more. Please write 200 more articles on this. I didn't know they existed. What is it about gaming that turns the absolute pillars of goodness that is humanity into these terrible people that exist nowhere else? Please use your publications to antagonize the community, cover for terrible people in the industry, and lie to the world about it. Cause these publications celebrate the shitty ones. Like Jessica Price.
wow can this womensplaining please stop
Well, the article is just an exploration on perspective of different people. I don't think its absurd to say that many video game spaces have an issue of toxicity and that is ultimately harmful to the medium. The operative word is "most" as many comments in this thread are avoiding discussing the content of the work they're angry about, content on just implying its some sinister thing rather than just, an exploration of perspective. Hell, one of you refuse to click it then proceed to "disagree" with the fanfiction of polygon they've made up.
That second video reminds me of the first time I played an FPS with a controller.
https://youtu.be/HGBB_uSRADc
Offer some perspective and consistency yourself. People here aren't scared of the evil boogeywoman, they dislike shitty articles written in bad faith. And people who try to whitewash them.
Won't happen. I've never seen a single post from violet that isn't a low effort shitpost.
You want my perspective? Fine. Because they just blame men and Patriarchy. There's no nuance, there's no depth. Its Patriarchy and Men.
Polygon has zero credibilty in journalism
A problem I have with it on top of what I've already stated is that they ignore history, or context where it suits them. Zoe Quinn, was a part of a group called "Hellraid". Essentially, hellraid was a doxxing group in the mid-late 2000's. She was an active member of it, drove a person to suicide, and celebrated that. She now runs "CON", an anti bullying group that seeks to help victims of online hate campaigns. However, despite that being the stated goal of the organization, no one outside of her ideologically aligned friends is able to use their services. To me, when a person like that is taken to be a "Pillar" of the feminist gaming community, I have some reservations about the sincerity of anyone who is behind her in combating "toxicity". It's not that people don't change, they do, but it's that this history is white-washed and ignored. It isn't contextualized, it isn't given to the audience, people are just told to trust her, and her story. I'm sorry, but I don't. She's quoted numerous times through out the article and is a face of the community. I strongly believe if you want the inclusion of all people in gaming, having straight up toxic people isn't going to help, on either side. I think Quinn falls into the category of toxic. If you read through the article, at a certain point about 1/3 or maybe 1/2 way through the article, it begins to talk about "toxic masculinity", compassion, and children. It's in this section of the article I personally went "Fuck it" Marginality comes in many forms, and economic marginality is one of them. This is something that we saw a lot with the U.S. election [in 2016]. It’s really hard to get people who are making minimum wage and struggling financially to understand that they have structural privilege compared to other groups. Some people see programs like affirmative action and attempts to create gender parity, and they think that they are being unfairly excluded. There’s an adage that says, when you’re used to privilege, equality feels like oppression. When you’re used to being able to do and say whatever you want, being criticized for saying racist or misogynist things comes as a shock. This is why you see all of this anger over so-called political correctness. There’s a lot of anger amongst certain groups that people who they perceive to be inferior to them are telling them what to do and say. Because gaming and other spaces have been traditionally dominated by white men, the idea that they couldn’t behave as they normally did because outsiders were coming in caused a lot of anger. This quote here from Kate Milner is a good example of a well rationed and reasoned point. It's contradicted by every other person they had offer opinions. At no point does the idea of "compassion" come into play from anyone else. I don't fully agree with her perspective, but I think she's on the right track. The article goes to some lengths to quote people who are talking about this issue in inflammatory ways. Kishonna Gray, Carolyn Petit and a couple others have their perspectives offered without filters or contexts and what they say isn't an unflinching look at a gross subculture. It's a narrow band perspective of what they want to see, and what they want to be mad at. Yes those problems exist and should be dealt with but refusing to see the forest for the trees is not helping anyone
Mind giving some examples? I’m genuinely curious about those mass campaigns you brought up.
Which begs the question why are you giving polygon, a venue with literal allergy to the truth or any kind of objectivity advertising revenue so they can continue to bend over and spray their bullshit over anyone unfortunate enough wander by. Are you really that bored? Cause ain't shit constructive going to come out of any conversation involving this site or its desperate need to construct an alternate imaginary reality.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.