Argobot

That's definitely a new thing. Little nods like that make the Arrested Development superfan in me so happy.

You know, I would really love to read something, anything that could convince me that feminism isn't relevant any more, because that would certainly make my life easier.

I believe this is the edition of the book you need. It's 150 pages vs. 400: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cosmicomics-italo-calvino/1000419676?ean=9780156226004&r=1%2c+1&cm_mmc=AFFILIATES-_-Linkshare-_-GwEz7vxblVU-_-10%3a1&

Just want to say thanks to Jake and Chris for their really well-thought out responses to this whole thread, and reiterate that everyone should probably go back and read those posts before they keep criticizing this video for not checking all the boxes on a neverending list of expectations and requirements.

I don't want to pretend that liking or not liking this video is the total summation of where you stand on the 'is sexism good or bad' debate. There's much worse or much better material that already exists on this subject. But, not a lot of the better stuff gets the kind of attention this video series is getting, nor does it specifically deal with video games as a medium. I can see why someone would find it boring, but I'm also incredibly frustrated by that, because I honestly don't know how it could have been done better, in an attempt to appeal to people who might not generally think or care about this issue.

What really saddens me on the whole--'I understand this is an issue, but I don't feel the need to pay attention to it because it doesn't interest me,' argument--is that it unconsciously supports the status quo of the way our society is unequally structured. I think we can all agree that sexism is bad, but it's clear we all widely disagree on what level of attention we should give issues of systemic sexism. If you're able to ignore the kinds of pernicious sexism that this video is highlighting, that probably means you're not directly affected by it. Which, on the one hand, fine, I don't want to tell you what social issues you should or shouldn't care about. But on the other hand, saying you agree with an issue (in this case: sexism is bad), but then choosing to not evolve beyond that stance, makes it harder for any kind of lasting change to occur. I hate to bring a buzzword like 'privilege' into this conversation, but that is basically the definition of what privilege is: the ability to ignore social issues that don't directly affect you. (I'm not trying to single anyone out or call anyone a bad person--I just wish people would be a little more open to hearing critical analysis of issues that might not be directly relevant to their lives, but are certainly relevant to large segments of the population.)

Cool Spot HD remake is now also a mashup with Macbeth.

But video games are a visual medium, and a lot of the issues they have are represented purely by visuals. It would be incredibly boring to read an academic paper that describes a female character being punched and then carted away with her panties showing--it's much more powerful to have that visual for the reader/watcher to immediately see and process.

Whoops, two posts, got overly excited there.

Regarding the money: Even if it turns out that she pockets most of it for herself (which I seriously doubt), I personally would not care, as someone who gave her money. When this Kickstarter was just starting, I was planning on giving a small amount because I like her other videos. But when the Kickstarter created this huge backlash where people were actively trying to silence her (and silence is not an overstatment--there were people who were trying to flag the Kickstarter as terrorism or the infamous/disgusting example of someone making a game where you just punch Anita S. in the face repeatedly), I decided to donate more than I was planning on, as a way to counteract a lot of the hate that was going on. I assume that a lot of other people had the same reaction. To me, the excess KS funds are just a sign that people really take umbrage with hateful attacks that are targeted at a woman who is just trying to express her opinion on the Internet. I won't deny that there are larger issues with Kickstarter that will probably need to be addressed at some point if we're going to continue using it as a model, but I don't think FemFeq should be saddled with all that baggage alone.

Is there any support that the backers are disappointed? The reactions I saw from people who donated money were pretty positive (so now we're both basing the reaction to this video on anecdotal evidence). Also, this is the first video in an entire series, it seems a little presumptuous to call the whole thing a failure.

Yes, but where's the proof that she kept the extra money? The intention is to make a series of videos, so it makes sense that she wouldn't blow the whole amount on the first one. People donated well beyond this Kickstarters budget because they either liked what it was trying to do or they wanted to show support to someone who was being unfairly maligned by a minority of people. Why does it matter that she got so much money? No one seemed to care when Idle Thumbs exceeded their asked for amount, because people understood that it is expensive to record/host a weekly podcast and also have separate full time jobs. Why isn't the same understanding being directed towards the FemFeq Kickstarter? Note: I don't want to turn this into a whole Idle Thumbs vs. FemFeq Kickstarter argument, because that's not fair to the Thumbs guys. It's just a really easy counter-example for the larger point of many, many Kickstarters exceed their budget and essentially provide the same project they were originally planning on, with a few modifications, and it doesn't seem to bother anyone who donated.

Just muttering 'out damned spot,' to himself, over and over again.

The money issue is so strange to me, because it really seems like most of the people criticizing her for it are people who didn't actually donate anything. Her original asking price for this series was $6000, it only exploded to $160,000 because there was so much vitriol and attention directed at this Kickstarter. I donated money and really feel that it was well spent. It's very clear that the video has much higher production values than your standard YouTube fare. That extra money has had a real noticable impact, especially if you compare this video with her earlier stuff.

But then, who would be the ones to study this field or others like it, if we were to sever the link between political activism and academic theory? It's true that women's studies programs are basically 99.99% composed of feminists (and note I don't say females, I say feminists), because I seriously doubt that someone who doesn't support or is interested in feminist theory would want to study it academically. Is that a conflict of interest? Perhaps. There's certainly an incentive for feminist scholars to highlight issues of sexism whenever possible. Does that mean they let their politics get in the way of their research? Well, I'd argue no more than any other person. Academic study doesn't exist in a vacuum, everyone has a political belief system, and whether they recognize it or not, that influences how they perceive and interpret information. If you had people who didn't believe in feminism as a political movement studying it academically, I don't think they'd be anymore objective in their research, they just might not conclude that sexism is as big of an issue or as prevalent in society as someone who identified or supported feminism. Its true that some feminist scholars overreach in their conclusions because of their activism, but the sad thing is, they usually don't have to overreach far to prove their thesis. There are so many pernicious examples of this stuff that there's no need to over exaggerate to score political points. I really don't think there's anything intellectually dishonest about calling anything in that video 'regressive crap,' because that's what it is.

As someone who reads a lot of feminist critical theory, none of the general points brought up in the video were new or revealing, most of the interesting stuff was in the details. The intro bit about the character redesign of Crystal was really fascinating and also really depressing. I don't watch videos like this because I need convincing that female representation in media is messed up--I already know that. I watch videos like this because I'm interested in critical theory, especially when it's well-researched and about cultural subjects that I have an investment in. It's true that there have been hundreds of articles written about women in media, but that has usually only focused on TV/movies/books. Video games have been a generally underrepresented area of study, so projects like this are doing something slightly different than traditional media studies. I think there's a lot of value in this series and others like it, even if you already know or agree with all the issues that are brought up.

Yeah, that was pretty much the best way to start the series off. Really excited to see the second video where she talks about more modern games.

You can't change the landscape, but the game lets you build roads across chasms or uphills. Personally, I'm ok with not being able to alter the landscape like you could in previous SimCity games, because my first instinct is to just completely flatten a territory. Being forced to build a road up a mountain is so much fun.

That's fair. I'm just overreacting to a lot of the criticism I saw about Kentucky Route Zero/Proteus, which has made me a little too sensitive to hearing something called 'pretentious.' Just need to take a step back and remind myself that not everyone will enjoy something that I really liked (and I really liked Kentucky Route Zero.)

This is something that I've had more and more of an issue with lately. It's really true the labels hipster/pretentious have become these catch-all-terms for describing something that a person doesn't like, to the point where both those words have become extremely devalued and meaningless. It has become a really lazy way for people to criticize something, without having to come up with an actually critique beyond: 'I don't like that, so it's bad' or 'I don't like the type of people who like that, so it's also bad.' Personally, I loved Kentucky Route Zero and was completely sold on everything it was trying to accomplish, especially its atmosphere. My friend however, was never sold on the writing or the gameplay mechanics of the game, so he didn't connect with it in the same way that I did. I can understand why someone wouldn't like that game for those reasons, because at least they're actual flaws that you can highlight and discuss. Just calling it 'pretentious' is a nonstarter to any kind of meaningful discussion.

No real spoilers for Kentucky Route Zero besides what happens at the very beginning and a minor easter egg, no spoiling of Thomas Was Alone. There is however, a random spoiler (?) for Shadows of the Empire and general Star Wars Expanded Universe plot details (the best part of the whole podcast in my opinion, because I too enjoy reading wikipedia entries on Expanded Universe stuff).

But if you start playing on a particular server, any cities you build will remain there, correct? I started playing on NE 2, got kicked off when they were doing their updates, and haven't been able to get back on. I eventually made it on to one of the European servers, but it had no record of my previous game. Also, now when I try and load the game, there aren't any servers listed as available to play on.

I was really hesitant to watch House of Cards at first, because shows/movies about politics have a tendency to really over dramatize and exaggerate how that stuff really works (note: I have never seen the West Wing, so I don't know if that show succeeds in being more realistic than others). House of Cards won me over, however, because it wasn't afraid to show the boring, negotiation side of politics. Making Kevin Spacey be the Majority Whip instead of Speaker was such a smart move, because I can guarantee that the majority of Americans don't know who the Majority Whip is or even what the Majority Whip does, so the show had more flexibility in setting Spacey up as a powerful, but largely background figure. I was so in love with the first few episodes showing how little exchanges on things like which Navy bases get funding or specific details about unions in an education bill, can have these huge ripple effects that aren't immediately apparent to everyone involved. I was so completely invested in the show and Kevin Spacey's early scheming, that I didn't even mind when it went a little of the rails towards the end. When you realize what Underwood's real endgame is, I was willing to believe that he would do anything to get there.

Snow day in DC means that I'm able to get on the servers while most people are at work. When I can actually play it, this game is so amazing. My only complaint so far is the inability to really micromanage your cities budget. SimCity 4 let you set the money allocated to your power plant, school, fire station, etc, but as far as I can tell, the only real control over the budget you have is raising/lower taxes or just completely shutting off a service.

Unreasonably happy that this is your first post here.