Nearly 1K developers sign letter to end intolerance in the games community

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Grand Master

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Nearly 1K developers sign letter to end intolerance in the games community

 

Over 600 games developers and publishers have offered their signature to an open letter aimed to end hateful speech and harassment within the games community.

 

The letter, written and published by indie game designer Andreas Zecher ? best known for his work in indie outfit Spaces of Play ? reads:

 

"We believe that everyone, no matter what gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or religion has the right to play games, criticize games and make games without getting harassed or threatened. It is the diversity of our community that allows games to flourish.

 

"If you see threats of violence or harm in comments on Steam, YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook or reddit, please take a minute to report them on the respective sites.

 

"If you see hateful, harassing speech, take a public stand against it and make the gaming community a more enjoyable space to be in."

 

Those interested in signing the letter are asked to send a tweet to Zecher with their first and last name, and specify their company, indie studio or university name. The open letter now includes signatures from BioWare's Aaryn Flynn, Riot Games' Alex Lehmann, Epic Games' Anders Howard, Electronic Arts' Andrea Benavides, Infinity Ward's Brian McDonald, Insomniac Games' Joel Bartley, Crystal Dynamics' Andrew Dovichi, among others.

 

Zecher's letter follows the release of a new episode of Feminist Frequency's Tropes vs. Women in Games, looking at the Women as Background Decoration trope, which creator Anita Sarkeesian described as "largely insignificant non-playable female characters whose sexuality or victimhood is exploited as a way to infuse edgy, gritty or racy flavoring into game worlds. These sexually objectified female bodies are designed to function as environmental texture while titillating presumed straight male players."

 

Sarkeesian recently revealed that online abusers had driven her out of her home, stating on her Twitter account: "Some very scary threats have just been made against me and my family. Contacting authorities now," she wrote on Twitter last night.

 

She later tweeted, "I'm safe. Authorities have been notified. Staying with friends tonight. I'm not giving up. But this harassment of women in tech must stop!"

Check out our recently published opinion piece An Awful Week to Care About Video Games for more details on these recent events.

 

Source: Polygon

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GotBored

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Seems pointless but it costs them nothing and it makes them look like they are doing something.

 

Oh and for that Anita person who is with that feminist movement, its seems that lots of people are upset with her because she took donations (Over $160,000) to help support her feminist movement but she hasn't done anything with that money so people think she just scammed them. I don't know if the threat she is getting is from them but it seems likely to be a donator who may be agitated with how his/her money is being spent.

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Vandalsquad

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This feminist movement **** in video games has to stop. Please just leave my games allowing me to kick ass and saving the women in distress alone.

 

We've had female leads that kick ass, we've had male leads that kick ass. This very vocal minority will bring in changes to games they have never or never had the intention to play. The day I can't pick up hookers in GTA or Saints will be a very sad day indeed. 

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Seems pointless but it costs them nothing and it makes them look like they are doing something.

 

Oh and for that Anita person who is with that feminist movement, its seems that lots of people are upset with her because she took donations (Over $160,000) to help support her feminist movement but she hasn't done anything with that money so people think she just scammed them. I don't know if the threat she is getting is from them but it seems likely to be a donator who may be agitated with how his/her money is being spent.

She's been making a video series with the donations, the latest instalment in which got her death threats.

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taim

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This feminist movement **** in video games has to stop. Please just leave my games allowing me to kick ass and saving the women in distress alone.

 

We've had female leads that kick ass, we've had male leads that kick ass. This very vocal minority will bring in changes to games they have never or never had the intention to play. The day I can't pick up hookers in GTA or Saints will be a very sad day indeed. 

Hopefully we'll be able to pickup johns in future games.

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Lovell

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They decided to bully a website of sad lonely depressed anti social virgins because of 2 posts they sit there and cry about online bullying whilst being bullies themselves who repeatedly managed to censor a lot of websites and we all know how much the internet loves censorship, there not being attacked by people because there women they're being attacked because there either liars, corrupt or just general ######.

 

You tell someone online that your disabled they'll call you a retard tell them your black they'll call you a ###### tell them your a woman they'll call you a ###### tell them your Muslim they'll call you a terrorist tell them your Jewish they'll make Holocaust jokes, the internet is filled with despicable ###### who are given anonymity and have no repercussions for being ######, and just the same as life people only ever pay attention to that small minority of idiots and then use said minority to tar an entire group of people eg the daily mail and Muslims. 

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Brendeth

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See this is all well and good but publishers and developers will continue to make for their markets. So as long as people support these tropes, they will continue being used - it's just how business works unfortunately.

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Athernar

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The irony being the "industry" and their supporters have been perpetrating the vast majority of the abuse, sending death threats to children, body shaming, comparisons to ISIS, doxxing and harassing women with dissenting opinions.

 

To borrow a classic RadFem meme, if you're supporting these corrupt individuals, you're basically raping women.

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spaceelf

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900+ could be classed as nearly 1000, 950+ definitely is near 1000 but 600 is not anywhere near.... headlines like this make me severely question the quality of the reporting of the original source..

 

Update: Since publication, over 2,000 game developers and publishers have offered their signature to the open letter.

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123456789A

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She's been making a video series with the donations, the latest instalment in which got her death threats.

 

Easy solution to this... people need to stop donating and she needs to find something else to do with her time.

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spaceelf

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Easy solution to this... people need to stop donating and she needs to find something else to do with her time.

Whether that's true or not (based on this thread alone I highly doubt it) there's no excuse for death threats over a diffference of opinion.

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T3X4S

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They decided to bully a website of sad lonely depressed anti social virgins because of 2 posts they sit there and cry about online bullying whilst being bullies themselves who repeatedly managed to censor a lot of websites and we all know how much the internet loves censorship, there not being attacked by people because there women they're being attacked because there either liars, corrupt or just general ######.

 

You tell someone online that your disabled they'll call you a retard tell them your black they'll call you a ###### tell them your a woman they'll call you a ###### tell them your Muslim they'll call you a terrorist tell them your Jewish they'll make Holocaust jokes, the internet is filled with despicable ###### who are given anonymity and have no repercussions for being ######, and just the same as life people only ever pay attention to that small minority of idiots and then use said minority to tar an entire group of people eg the daily mail and Muslims. 

I think censorship is necessary for people who dont know the difference between there, they're, and their.

Im kidding !!!  ;)

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123456789A

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Whether that's true or not (based on this thread alone I highly doubt it) there's no excuse for death threats over a diffference of opinion.

 

Yeah the death threats are over the line. Best thing to do is to ignore feminists. They can't be reasoned with.

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T3X4S

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Yeah the death threats are over the line. Best thing to do is to ignore feminists. They can't be reasoned with.

Exactly !  Tell them to shut up and get back in the kitchen ! 

(I'm totally kidding)-

Hey, parenthesis look like boobs in a way... just sayin'

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Luc2k

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I wonder how many signed for fear of losing their jobs and/or being shunned by the industry..

 

I also wonder if anyone actually verified Anita Sarkeesian's claim. Call me cynical, but she tweeted before calling the authorities (if she called at all). I'm not inclined to trust the words of the feminist buzzards circling gaming, not without actual investigative journalism.

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