SusurrusParadox: On top of that the allegedly ethical Gamergate group seem to fairly regularly engage in sexist/homophobic/transphobic shit, which is just bloody disappointing.
(Granted some of them are at least trying to present a face of "Honestly, we're not bigots. BUT GET YOUR DAMN REPRESENTATION AND EQUALITY AND STUFF OUT OF OUR GAMES" when.. y'know, there are enough games to go around really?)
Quit pissing and moaning and getting so damn OFFENDED that people don't like being disregarded, disrespected, & generally marginalised.
I'll bite.
We can sit and blame Gamergate for terrible behavior all day, but it is disingenuous to pretend this sort of behavior is not coming from both sides at the same time. I have seen hatred and sexism spewed by all kinds of people on both sides of the fence. The anti-Gamergate side though especially likes to ignore the many moderates that are out there, focus only on the most vile people who do exist purely to troll others, and make sweeping generalizations that these people represent the majority of gamers when they obviously do not.
If you want to talk about people being disregarded and marginalized, let's do that. I'm a female gamer and I have been for over a couple of decades now. I have attempted to speak up to defend the hobby I dearly love against this new crowd of chronically offended people, but guess what, I'm being disregarded and marginalized by them. I have been insulted, told I harbor internalized misogyny, told I am naive by a journalist, or outright told I am lying and really a man. For people who want to speak up for women and promote their voices, they are doing a fine job of silencing them. The only ones that get a voice are those that fall in line with a certain narrative. To hell with the rest of us apparently. Does this seem right to you?
SusurrusParadox: They're fucking videogames, for fuck's sake. They're supposed to be harmless fucking fun!
Agreed, so why are we getting all bent out of shape? If they are harmless, as you yourself claim, why are people flipping out over all the little details they can find and trying to shame developers? I can honestly say there have been times I got annoyed with a game (usually overabundant cursing or religion bashing), but there are so many different and wonderful products out there, I never have trouble finding something else that suits me instead.
I am also a little saddened by the general behavior of people, mostly because I see them as where I once was. I generally played anything, but I remember when I heard about sex cards in The Witcher, I was immediately turned off. I thought what a juvenile game, and I am better than this. I was really wrong though. I gave it a try, found out I could avoid most of that crap to start with, and I found an amazing game in the process. I went so far as to read the books and play the second game.
People need to learn not everything is an attack against them, to relax a little, and maybe discover something amazing along the way. It was the best damn thing I ever did when it comes to video games. I wasn't really offended by stuff, but I admit I could be more on the conservative side of things at times. Yet, I would have missed out on so many wonderful games and moments if I kept focusing on the pointless little things than the awesome adventure that awaited me.
SusurrusParadox: Try considering that more diverse videogames aren't actually the end of the world because it means MORE GAMES and MORE STORIES and MORE STUFF.
I honestly do not believe people are against diversity, although thanks to everyone shouting at each other, the message has been muddled. I think people are simply tired of being pointed to as the villains. For thirteen years I have been friends with a group of wonderful gamer guys who are as nice as can be, and I have met a ton of other awesome people along the way. Yet, all I hear is about how terrible my friends are according the media. Their "reality" does not match up with decades of my own experience, and I imagine that is what is frustrating so many gamers. The media looks at trolls, makes generalizations that all gamers are crappy people, and constantly reminds them of that. That is just not cool. Click-bait journalism sucks.