Ok, NOW, Ive managed to read through the whole thing, and two things come to mind...
1) Bob... you might want to take a bit of your own advice rather then letting your own personal political views get involved with everything you talk about. This is my problem with you (and admittedly, with James when he rears his ugly head... though arguing with him is double-pointless since you delete his posts.... and I wont argue with that either. It's just a waste of my time to reply to something that will be gone if Im not getting a chuckle out of it). Actually, let me just repost it:
Please... just stop this nonsense. THIS is part of the problem with the gaming community.
but also 2) While I do point to you, Bob, I also agree. As a community, we do have to grow up some. I point to things like the Retake ME3 movement and death threats sent to game writers, sometimes for things not even related to the game as key examples. These are real misbehavior of the community which we NEED to grow out of. As you so aptly put it... things where we need to be "nicer" to each other.
This probably deserves it's own article and I may write one up... but... first let me apologize for not getting through your personal rhetoric before. I still think it doesn't belong, but the bigger message was too worthy to miss for that.
Awww. I wonder if anyone will mention the death and rape threats against the women who have spoken up about the Penny Arcade's owners support for rape culture. I wonder if anyone will mention the fact that that PA's owners made a shirt with a rape monster on it to enable the rape culture bullies to harass and attack the women who dared speak up against their nerd failure.
Oh, speaking of the pro-rape culture environment over at PA....
Rape at PAX by a Pax Enforcer: http://www.thegameeffect.com/news/pax-enforcer-reveals-sexual-assault-by-fellow-enforcer
PA's endorsement of a rape card game where girls were kidnapped and in one case taken to a classroom by a tentacle for a "cram session." http://hexjackal.tumblr.com/post/23831510937/tentacle-bento
There is so much going on with PA's ignorance and unwillingness to work toward change. I don't think Mike is a bigot, but he is definitely ignorant and unwilling to learn, which means really he is almost no different than a bigot. Variation on a theme is the culture in PA it seems.
To quote above: "I think people expected more from the feminists though. They're supposed to be against all rape and rape cultures and rape apologists, but when they're crossed, it's ok to wish rape and death on your opponents."
My response: I think people expected more from PA, though. They are supposed to be a media empire that is worth millions and their owners like to run their mouths about all kinds of topics. They should be socially conscious with their privilege, money, and power within the community, but they have decided to sic the PA trolls, who advocate rape and murder, against anyone who stands up and speaks against their advocacy for and glorification of violence against women.
*rolls eyes* Ugh. I love to re-writing troll speak with a socially conscious perspective. It's what I desire to do each day. Not.
" you don't "battle" rape-survivors and women's rights activists the way you battle some asshole lawyer from Florida because they're not the same guys. Doing so makes you the bad guy even if you started out "right,"
You heard it here first! If you disagree with feminists you are a bad guy, no matter what the subject!
I love seeing a feminist try to defend rape threats.
Charitably, I'd hope that he/she would have a difficulty time resolving the two opposing ideas, but considering the speed at which the defenses come, I'm afraid that he/she seems practiced in hypocrisy.
Incoming troll translation into a more socially conscious perspective:
Troll Quote: " you don't "battle" rape-survivors and women's rights activists the way you battle some asshole lawyer from Florida because they're not the same guys. Doing so makes you the bad guy even if you started out "right,"
You heard it here first! If you disagree with feminists you are a bad guy, no matter what the subject!"
My translation: " you don't "reason peacefully" with a rape-warrior and men's rights activists the way you battle some asshole attorney from Texas they're not the same girls. Doing so makes you the fucked-up ho even if you started out wrong by daring to say no."
You heard it here first! If you disagree with men's activists you are the crazy ho, no matter the subject matter!
Troll quote: I love seeing a feminist try to defend rape threats.
Charitably, I'd hope that he/she would have a difficulty time resolving the two opposing ideas, but considering the speed at which the defenses come, I'm afraid that he/she seems practiced in hypocrisy.
My translation: I love seeing a male activist trying to defend rape aggression.
Charitably, I'd hope that she/he would have a easy time resolving the two supporting ideas, but considering the speed at which the offenses come, I'm afraid that she/he seems practiced in consistency.
(this needs to be heard in your head in the Crock Hunter voice)
Oi! Look at this, guys and girls! It's a troll fight! These used to be very rare, but lately, the net's full of them as belligerent assholes have taken over the web. They will continue to circle each otha in a pointless attempt to mock the other out of existance.
Since this fight can not be won by either side, it will ultimately only end when the site owner kills it or everyone involved gets bored and decides to be belligerent elsewhere.
Fantastic analysis, Bob. My thought on why Mike brought it up again was that it was a battle he lost, and that has galled him since, hence ill-considered revisitation during "honest time". The sad thing is, in a day and age where every utterance from our public figures is scripted, polished and sanitized for you protection, I felt that panel was amazing in it's wart-and-all honesty, particuly Jerry's discussion on how he feels he doesn't pull his weight at PA. Too bad that is lost now amidst the hue and cry.
Incoming troll translation for a more socially conscious person.
Troll Quote: "Oi! Look at this, guys and girls! It's a troll fight! These used to be very rare, but lately, the net's full of them as belligerent assholes have taken over the web. They will continue to circle each otha in a pointless attempt to mock the other out of existance."
Translation: Oi! Look at this, gender-identified boys and girls. It's a fight between feminists and their opponents. They use to be very common, but lately, the internet's been full of rape culture. They will continue to bother feminists, and I will false equate the two sides as equally wrong, because feminism is pointless.
Maybe somebody oughta take those Penny Arcade guys around behind a woodshed and MAKE them rape-survivors so they'll know what it feels like to try to hold 10 lbs. of privilege in a 5 lbs. bag.
(continue the voice) Danga! Danga! Looks like Ive been noticed by the circling trolls!
True to their naitcha, the troll chose to try their circling on me rather then discuss any real issue, finishing off with a name-calling that they think would offend me. This is to try to make themself the dominant creature in the encounta.
Fortunately, I dont have to engage them, as I am secure in my place... and can just laugh... though that will likely just piss them off! Crikey!
I collect penises as trophies, and I'm coming for Bob's next, ever since his tawdry and rapey confession that he read books aimed at teenage girls so that he could coerce them into having sex with him. Makes me wonder if all this new feminism from him isn't a similar ploy. He's like Hugo Schwyzer, except really fucking fat and not as smart.
Fix the patriarchy in yourself, you cis-privileged pig, before you try to fix the patriarchy in the world.
Gabe has a long history of saying and doing terrible things. The Dickwolves thing is just the most visible part. Like the iceburg's tip, there is a ton more that people might not know about.
I tried to detail some of it in my own blog post: http://popularculturegaming.com/?p=619
Oh look, the comments section has mysteriously vanished yet again.
Well, I'm not going to type out my whole thing again, and will just repeat the 2 main points.
1- If gamers and the people who run Penny Arcade and PAX are such horrible people, why do press and pundits attend with a smile on their face? And where are all the rapes and beatings that should have happened if your constant accusations were true.
2- Why is it this is a news deserving of a lengthy post, but MGS character being redesigned for sexy cosplay isn't? I think both are storms in teacups, but at least be consistent with your BS radfem beliefs.
My post before was much longer, but I speculated that it was because one was a Japanese designer who made a retro classic, whereas this is evil westerners who make a comic Bob doesn't like.
I think this might also be why he hasn't talked about dragons crown, only shown a few clips while talking about sexism. This would also explain why he still defends Bayonetta, Mario and Metroid, why he still uses his "but" joke, and other problems.
Speaking of growing up. Maybe its time for America to grow up.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent"
The "dickwolf" controversy would never see the light of day in other parts of North America or the world at large because essentially americans tend to go through life like a exposed nerve while the rest of the world is more mature.
Outside of america people get that whats offensive is subjective and if you encounter something someone says thats offensive, you act like a adult and get over it. No ones ever been offended and caught cancer but the outrage over this event coming up again has alot of people acting like it does.
Its common in American media to focus on more of what someone says instead of what they do.
Its sad.
So its time for the culture to mature and grow up but not in the way you were writing. Essentially its time for American gamer culture to stop thinking they are the worlds default setting when it comes to morality.
"we're all still on the same page that using the word "culture" alongside gamer/geek/etc and talking about various nerd-substrata as though they were akin religious or national identities was supposed to be mostly tongue-in-cheek... right?"
I stopped being that optimistic when I saw the PC Master Race schtick being used unironically for the 300th time
***
Regarding the strip itself; it's joke was indeed first and foremost about ludo-narrative dissonance, but it was also a jab at the many people who play this game with its elaborate and complex backstory and don't give a fuck about said backstory so long as they get their loot and XP.
And the fact is that their lack of concern about what does not directly affects them in the game *like a very bleak backstory- reminds me of the people in meatspace whose reaction to warnings about the prevalence of unpunished rape can be summarized as "Well, I never raped nor deliberatly helped known rapists therefore I earned my upstanding citizen credentials so stop bothering me".
Of course, the penny arcade duo did not think about it themselves, and that's quite the missed opportunity on their part, as it was not hard to defend this strip in a way that was neither flippant toward rape survivors nor left room for questionning the intent of the strip: "Of course it's a rape joke! You don't like us laughting at it? Look at all the tyrants, the murderers, the bullies humanity has engendered over the centuries, look at the countless cowards who collectively were three orders of magnitude stronger than said bullies, tyrants and murderers but could not be bothered to challenge them so long as they did not suffer directly from them: we point a finger at them and laugh because it our way of saying tp the worst of humanity "We despise you and your lackeys more than we fear you": so let's keep on making rape jokes until the poltroons who enable the rapists become so sick and ashamed of their ridicule that they'll finally grow a spine "
Sure there would still be criticism about the style, the tone, whether the hoi polloi can "get it right", but the backlash would have been smaller and the penny arcade duo would not have become against their will idols of the women-hating underbelly of the internet.
24 comments:
Might be worth mentioning Krahulik's little "trans-gate" incident where he once again said something stupid and then doubled down on it...
I wonder if anybody will mentioned the death and rape threats the Penny Arcade authors received over these comics.
That makes them automatically right and their opponents an unhinged, fringe minority who want to shut down the discussion, right?
Ok, NOW, Ive managed to read through the whole thing, and two things come to mind...
1) Bob... you might want to take a bit of your own advice rather then letting your own personal political views get involved with everything you talk about. This is my problem with you (and admittedly, with James when he rears his ugly head... though arguing with him is double-pointless since you delete his posts.... and I wont argue with that either. It's just a waste of my time to reply to something that will be gone if Im not getting a chuckle out of it). Actually, let me just repost it:
http://redsectorshutdown.blogspot.com/2012/07/politics-in-video-games.html
Please... just stop this nonsense. THIS is part of the problem with the gaming community.
but also 2) While I do point to you, Bob, I also agree. As a community, we do have to grow up some. I point to things like the Retake ME3 movement and death threats sent to game writers, sometimes for things not even related to the game as key examples. These are real misbehavior of the community which we NEED to grow out of. As you so aptly put it... things where we need to be "nicer" to each other.
This probably deserves it's own article and I may write one up... but... first let me apologize for not getting through your personal rhetoric before. I still think it doesn't belong, but the bigger message was too worthy to miss for that.
-Megabyte
Awww. I wonder if anyone will mention the death and rape threats against the women who have spoken up about the Penny Arcade's owners support for rape culture. I wonder if anyone will mention the fact that that PA's owners made a shirt with a rape monster on it to enable the rape culture bullies to harass and attack the women who dared speak up against their nerd failure.
Oh, speaking of the pro-rape culture environment over at PA....
Rape at PAX by a Pax Enforcer: http://www.thegameeffect.com/news/pax-enforcer-reveals-sexual-assault-by-fellow-enforcer
PA's endorsement of a rape card game where girls were kidnapped and in one case taken to a classroom by a tentacle for a "cram session." http://hexjackal.tumblr.com/post/23831510937/tentacle-bento
There is so much going on with PA's ignorance and unwillingness to work toward change. I don't think Mike is a bigot, but he is definitely ignorant and unwilling to learn, which means really he is almost no different than a bigot. Variation on a theme is the culture in PA it seems.
Yes, blame the rape victims.
To quote above: "I think people expected more from the feminists though. They're supposed to be against all rape and rape cultures and rape apologists, but when they're crossed, it's ok to wish rape and death on your opponents."
My response: I think people expected more from PA, though. They are supposed to be a media empire that is worth millions and their owners like to run their mouths about all kinds of topics. They should be socially conscious with their privilege, money, and power within the community, but they have decided to sic the PA trolls, who advocate rape and murder, against anyone who stands up and speaks against their advocacy for and glorification of violence against women.
*rolls eyes* Ugh. I love to re-writing troll speak with a socially conscious perspective. It's what I desire to do each day. Not.
" you don't "battle" rape-survivors and women's rights activists the way you battle some asshole lawyer from Florida because they're not the same guys. Doing so makes you the bad guy even if you started out "right,"
You heard it here first! If you disagree with feminists you are a bad guy, no matter what the subject!
I love seeing a feminist try to defend rape threats.
Charitably, I'd hope that he/she would have a difficulty time resolving the two opposing ideas, but considering the speed at which the defenses come, I'm afraid that he/she seems practiced in hypocrisy.
Incoming troll translation into a more socially conscious perspective:
Troll Quote: " you don't "battle" rape-survivors and women's rights activists the way you battle some asshole lawyer from Florida because they're not the same guys. Doing so makes you the bad guy even if you started out "right,"
You heard it here first! If you disagree with feminists you are a bad guy, no matter what the subject!"
My translation:
" you don't "reason peacefully" with a rape-warrior and men's rights activists the way you battle some asshole attorney from Texas they're not the same girls. Doing so makes you the fucked-up ho even if you started out wrong by daring to say no."
You heard it here first! If you disagree with men's activists you are the crazy ho, no matter the subject matter!
Troll translation.
Troll quote: I love seeing a feminist try to defend rape threats.
Charitably, I'd hope that he/she would have a difficulty time resolving the two opposing ideas, but considering the speed at which the defenses come, I'm afraid that he/she seems practiced in hypocrisy.
My translation: I love seeing a male activist trying to defend rape aggression.
Charitably, I'd hope that she/he would have a easy time resolving the two supporting ideas, but considering the speed at which the offenses come, I'm afraid that she/he seems practiced in consistency.
(this needs to be heard in your head in the Crock Hunter voice)
Oi! Look at this, guys and girls! It's a troll fight! These used to be very rare, but lately, the net's full of them as belligerent assholes have taken over the web. They will continue to circle each otha in a pointless attempt to mock the other out of existance.
Since this fight can not be won by either side, it will ultimately only end when the site owner kills it or everyone involved gets bored and decides to be belligerent elsewhere.
Let's get a closer look!
-Megabyte
Holy shit that's not even in the same ballpark as what he said.
Get thee back to tumblr, foul wastrel, before a pox descends upon thou and thine.
Fantastic analysis, Bob. My thought on why Mike brought it up again was that it was a battle he lost, and that has galled him since, hence ill-considered revisitation during "honest time". The sad thing is, in a day and age where every utterance from our public figures is scripted, polished and sanitized for you protection, I felt that panel was amazing in it's wart-and-all honesty, particuly Jerry's discussion on how he feels he doesn't pull his weight at PA. Too bad that is lost now amidst the hue and cry.
Incoming troll translation for a more socially conscious person.
Troll Quote: "Oi! Look at this, guys and girls! It's a troll fight! These used to be very rare, but lately, the net's full of them as belligerent assholes have taken over the web. They will continue to circle each otha in a pointless attempt to mock the other out of existance."
Translation: Oi! Look at this, gender-identified boys and girls. It's a fight between feminists and their opponents. They use to be very common, but lately, the internet's been full of rape culture. They will continue to bother feminists, and I will false equate the two sides as equally wrong, because feminism is pointless.
This is getting too easy MRAs. Try harder.
Maybe somebody oughta take those Penny Arcade guys around behind a woodshed and MAKE them rape-survivors so they'll know what it feels like to try to hold 10 lbs. of privilege in a 5 lbs. bag.
I gotta say the trolling here is quite sublime, I have no idea who's trolling who!
(continue the voice) Danga! Danga! Looks like Ive been noticed by the circling trolls!
True to their naitcha, the troll chose to try their circling on me rather then discuss any real issue, finishing off with a name-calling that they think would offend me. This is to try to make themself the dominant creature in the encounta.
Fortunately, I dont have to engage them, as I am secure in my place... and can just laugh... though that will likely just piss them off! Crikey!
- Megabyte
I collect penises as trophies, and I'm coming for Bob's next, ever since his tawdry and rapey confession that he read books aimed at teenage girls so that he could coerce them into having sex with him. Makes me wonder if all this new feminism from him isn't a similar ploy. He's like Hugo Schwyzer, except really fucking fat and not as smart.
Fix the patriarchy in yourself, you cis-privileged pig, before you try to fix the patriarchy in the world.
Holy shit this is too funny.
Gabe has a long history of saying and doing terrible things. The Dickwolves thing is just the most visible part. Like the iceburg's tip, there is a ton more that people might not know about.
I tried to detail some of it in my own blog post: http://popularculturegaming.com/?p=619
Oh look, the comments section has mysteriously vanished yet again.
Well, I'm not going to type out my whole thing again, and will just repeat the 2 main points.
1- If gamers and the people who run Penny Arcade and PAX are such horrible people, why do press and pundits attend with a smile on their face? And where are all the rapes and beatings that should have happened if your constant accusations were true.
2- Why is it this is a news deserving of a lengthy post, but MGS character being redesigned for sexy cosplay isn't? I think both are storms in teacups, but at least be consistent with your BS radfem beliefs.
I actually came in predicting the MGS stuff would be a new topic myself, Sabre. Glad Im not a betting man.
-Megabyte
My post before was much longer, but I speculated that it was because one was a Japanese designer who made a retro classic, whereas this is evil westerners who make a comic Bob doesn't like.
I think this might also be why he hasn't talked about dragons crown, only shown a few clips while talking about sexism. This would also explain why he still defends Bayonetta, Mario and Metroid, why he still uses his "but" joke, and other problems.
Speaking of growing up.
Maybe its time for America to grow up.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent"
The "dickwolf" controversy would never see the light of day in other parts of North America or the world at large because essentially americans tend to go through life like a exposed nerve while the rest of the world is more mature.
Outside of america people get that whats offensive is subjective and if you encounter something someone says thats offensive, you act like a adult and get over it.
No ones ever been offended and caught cancer but the outrage over this event coming up again has alot of people acting like it does.
Its common in American media to focus on more of what someone says instead of what they do.
Its sad.
So its time for the culture to mature and grow up but not in the way you were writing.
Essentially its time for American gamer culture to stop thinking they are the worlds default setting when it comes to morality.
"we're all still on the same page that using the word "culture" alongside gamer/geek/etc and talking about various nerd-substrata as though they were akin religious or national identities was supposed to be mostly tongue-in-cheek... right?"
I stopped being that optimistic when I saw the PC Master Race schtick being used unironically for the 300th time
***
Regarding the strip itself; it's joke was indeed first and foremost about ludo-narrative dissonance, but it was also a jab at the many people who play this game with its elaborate and complex backstory and don't give a fuck about said backstory so long as they get their loot and XP.
And the fact is that their lack of concern about what does not directly affects them in the game *like a very bleak backstory- reminds me of the people in meatspace whose reaction to warnings about the prevalence of unpunished rape can be summarized as "Well, I never raped nor deliberatly helped known rapists therefore I earned my upstanding citizen credentials so stop bothering me".
Of course, the penny arcade duo did not think about it themselves, and that's quite the missed opportunity on their part, as it was not hard to defend this strip in a way that was neither flippant toward rape survivors nor left room for questionning the intent of the strip:
"Of course it's a rape joke! You don't like us laughting at it? Look at all the tyrants, the murderers, the bullies humanity has engendered over the centuries, look at the countless cowards who collectively were three orders of magnitude stronger than said bullies, tyrants and murderers but could not be bothered to challenge them so long as they did not suffer directly from them: we point a finger at them and laugh because it our way of saying tp the worst of humanity "We despise you and your lackeys more than we fear you": so let's keep on making rape jokes until the poltroons who enable the rapists become so sick and ashamed of their ridicule that they'll finally grow a spine "
Sure there would still be criticism about the style, the tone, whether the hoi polloi can "get it right", but the backlash would have been smaller and the penny arcade duo would not have become against their will idols of the women-hating underbelly of the internet.
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