By Noah Royer Over the decades, gamers have been labeled many things. These titles consist of school shooters, terrorists, cultists, and most recently - sexists. It’s a bold and ridiculous claim, but culture critics like Anita Sarkeesian cling to it as if it were a fact. Gamers have always been at the forefront of name calling, and it’s odd that the people who speak out against generalizations are happy to paint gamers and the culture with such a broad brush. Even more bizarre is that popular sites such as Kotaku, Polygon, and IGN have seemingly betrayed gamers’ trust. They’ve published articles like “Gamers are Dead” and “The Death of an Identity”. With no allies, gamers had no way of combating these claims, and lies naturally became truth. These “truths” gained the attention of influential media outlets such as MSNBC, NBC, Gawker, and The Guardian. Naturally, gamers took up arms and created an online movement - #GamerGate. First of all, claims of gamers being inherently sexist has no scientific basis. Saying, “killing female NPCs makes you a misogynist!” isn’t a valid argument. Neither is acknowledging poorly written female characters. That’s a matter of creativity, or in this case, lack of. In fact, there’s websites dedicated to documenting the thousands of female characters in video games. Video games inciting violent tendencies on the other hand is more debatable. There are proven studies that suggests there’s a correlation between aggression and time spent playing video games, but none that prove that video games are the cause of violence. It isn’t inherently wrong to appeal to a certain demographic either. If the fan base consists of males, then it’s only reasonable to appeal to their tastes. The video game industry runs on a business model after all. It isn’t evil, it’s smart. Some would even argue that games content in and of itself is offensive. That’s ridiculous. Those people are no better than the ones who claim video games cause school shootings, and they should leave the industry alone. It’s also crazy to think that people buy into that logic, but it’s a prominent view in the media. If you do feel harassed, or bothered by someone, there’s always the option to block or mute them. It’s that simple. Don’t let the natural competitiveness of the community deter you from playing online. Remember to be a responsible and reasonable adult. Gamers aren’t terrible people, they’re a rather inclusive bunch and arguably the most diverse.
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Elena Caputo
Hi! My name is Elena, and I'm a senior at Wilson and one of the Editors of the Editorial section. If you have any questions or ideas or if you want to write, email me at [email protected]! Olivia MonosHello! My name is Olivia and I'm a junior this year, and one of the editors of the Editorial section! I'm really excited to write for the Paw Print again this year!
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