/u/thegaminggoose responds to Anita Sarkeesian with research and production

rogersmith25 · 2013-07-27T13:52:28+00:00

Here's the /r/videos submission http://np.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1j03db/hi_i_made_a_video_response_to_anita_sarkeesians/

cc /u/thegaminggoose

EDIT: also note this was relevant to AMR so I guess by the transitive property of circlejerks it must be relevant to MR

rogersmith25 · 2013-07-27T16:15:39+00:00

I wrote gaminggooose a message on his /r/videos submission and I'm interested in what you guys think... here it is:

I think it's sad that this video has gone largely unnoticed while Sarkeesian's have blown up in views and backer money.

I thought that your video was extremely well-done, but I would like to offer you some constructive criticism which (I hope) will help get "part 2" more views...

First of all, I really appreciate a few key points about your video:

1) Statistics: The fact that you used real data (statistics) and not anecdotal evidence to justify your points. There is underrepresentation of females in games, but Sarkeesian's video only cherry-picked examples that fit her ideology. By citing studies which contain real statistical data (ie. women are the player character in X% of games) you can actually make a convincing point.

2) Natural Selection: Another point I really liked was the acknowledgement that this is (sort of) a "chicken & egg" issue - Is the games industry "sexist" because they forced women into damsel roles? Or is it more likely that many stories were created and the games that became popular were emulated?

3) Balanced perspective - Arguing against Sarkeesian's videos without actually denying the issue was perfect. Many of us dislike Sarkeesian for her poor rhetoric and poorly researched content and not because there aren't some issues that could be better addressed by the games' industry.

My criticism is largely structural. I think that a slight change to the organization of your video would make it more palatable to an easily distracted audience. Remember you're dealing with a group of people who is probably "watching" your video while surfing reddit... and that we've probably only seen the Sarkeesian video once (if at all).

Criticism:

1) Unclear connection to Sarkeesian refutations: The hardest part for me was remembering exactly what Sarkeesian had said in her videos and which points were made. I understand the desire to not spend too much time talking about her, but I found it difficult to remember the arguments that you were refuting. I watched her video months ago and so either clips or quotes from her video are required to set the stage for making your point when you make a specific refutation.

2) Structure: Similar to point 1, I found it difficult to know when you were refererring to a Sarkeesian point and when you were simply doing a better job of outlining the history of the trope that Sarkeesian neglected to introduce. It felt a lot like you wanted your audience to read between the lines when you needed to make your point much more explicitly. I felt like you would benefit from a more structured design to your content.

3) No recap: Once again, similar to the above point, I felt like your video could have used a bulleted recap of the previous points. It's not that the video had poor flow or lacked clear points, just that your video was longer than a typical TV show and your points would hit home better and be more memorable if you had a point-by-point recap of the refutations and evidence that you gave over the course of the video.

4) Occam's razor: I felt like you came so close to, but didn't actually say, the simplest explanation for this whole controversy - that more men play games. Sarkeesian's argument is that games are made for men, so women don't feel "welcome". Right now, women make up "50%" of gamers, but the content they consume is very different. The "core" gamer fanbase, the console gamers who play Halo and Call of Duty, is ~80% male; the female fanbase is disproportionately represented in social games, facebook games, The Sims, mobile games, and Wii Sports.

The games that Sarkeesian's criticizing have a huge majority male audience. And that isn't because of "sexism". If you look at "toy preference" among children (and even young primates!!) boys overwhelmingly prefer mechanical toys like trucks, and girls prefer social toys like dolls. The older arcade games you reference are essentially the "ultimate" mechanical-type toy, so it's not surprising that more male gamers gravitate towards them.

So you have an audience of males... which leads to more male player-characters... you have more female love interests... (and since the kidnapped loved one is a classic story-telling element)... you have a higher percentage of kidnaped women...

Anyways, I hope that my comment is helpful. I just want to conclude by saying that I thought the video was well-done and well-researched. I congratulate you on your accomplishment. I hope you continue to make videos like this.

And I would be very interested to hear from you on whether you think this was helpful of if you think I'm way off-base...

Thanks.

Rikkushin · 2013-07-27T16:23:34+00:00

People responding to Anita Sarkeesian is exactly what she wants

Feminists will always agree with her, so by giving her attention, you are just increasing awareness for feminists. Just ignore her

boppinrobin · 2013-07-27T21:51:39+00:00

I tried, but I only could make it through about ten minutes of that. He really needs to edit it down to focus on the key points, talk slower, and enunciate. He clearly knows a lot, but he's trying to fit way too much in, and it's hindering, rather than enhancing his message.

If this is specifically a response to Anita (who I haven't watched), he needs to mention what point he's responding too, and then respond.

2013-07-27T21:48:07+00:00

I think this guy deserves the $150k over Anita. I would be much more open his videos than hers.

baskandpurr · 2013-07-27T14:03:16+00:00

[permanently deleted]

anal_cyst · 2013-07-27T19:36:03+00:00

this vid (aside from a few minor criticisms) was amazing and I'd love to see more.

2013-07-27T15:17:10+00:00

Pawned/owned.

Title	/u/thegaminggoose responds to Anita Sarkeesian with research and production
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	43
Comments	32
Date	July 27, 2013 1:51 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1j5raj/uthegaminggoose_responds_to_anita_sarkeesian_with/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/uthegaminggoose-responds-to-anita-sarkeesian-with.1167808 https://theredarchive.com/post/1167808

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