Ostracisation

A lot of people are assigned boxes or labels in life, usually by themselves or by others. A lot of the time people who don't really know us, will decide for us who & what we are. In school there's usually some sort of group segregation, based on primarily exterior principles. You play sport, you're a jock, you make out a lot if you're a girl, you're a whore, you don't play sport but like computer games, you're a geek.

Gaming has its own categories, though it is entirely innocent. You're a hardcore gamer, oh no wait you're more casual...ah you only play the Sims, well that doesn't count. Overall it's not that offensive to discuss what type of gamer you are. Then there’s gaming topics outside of what adorns our shelves, focused on heavy hitting taboos & controversies, such as violence, sexism & sexual orientation.

But for every topic that has been written or spoken about focusing on sides & hearing arguments from people in various camps, there doesn’t seem to be much recognition for people who don’t fit into any labelled system, either by choice or simply naturally. There’s an assumption (that can sometimes be undoubtedly accurate) that people who don’t really scream “I’m geek/jock/nerd/boring/*insert ethnicity*/loner/hardcore gamer/gay/straight/ ect” automatically are exempt from feeling neglected, demeaned or misrepresented.
That really isn’t the case at all.



I can only really focus from here on out on myself & try & explain my own feelings. There’s a great freedom in not fitting a mould designated to you by society, but that doesn’t mean you don’t sometimes suffer feelings of hurt or exclusion even if there’s nothing obvious about you that would provide reason for small minded or unsure folk to actively or passively make you feel like you’re a black sheep.

Being a woman amidst sexism
I read many articles, especially on here regarding the sexism that is quite prominent in whatever shape within the gaming world. I despise degradation in general, regardless of your gender. But sometimes it’s not always black & white. Sometimes there are many facets & for every wrong done by someone, the rights are overlooked. Playing devils advocate can get you in more trouble than adhering wholeheartedly to one side of an argument. I see sexism in gaming alone, but in truth I have had very little thrown at me. In fact I can’t recall a real moment where a negative judgement was passed over me based on the fact that I play games & have a pair of (crackin’) boobs. To be honest, I’ve asked guys I’ve met if they play video games & found it weird when they say no. So while it’s not the same as the “oh lol you must only play girly games” or “show us ur tits, not ur crap shooting skillz”, I’ve made a judgement based purely on a gender.

I could & have played games in the past where the designs of females were quite atrocious & reeked of designers who haven’t had the best luck with women or have some issue with them, but it’s never really made me bat an eyelash, unless it goes somewhere further. Yet people might say to me that unless I feel the same disgust on the same level as them, I have no real right to talk & that I am doing my own ‘kind’ no favours. Not speaking up against EVERY issue does not correlate with disinterest or blindness, but in fact gives me more fuel & passion for issues that I do speak up against. Yeah you can highlight every single example of sexism within gaming, but if one example is that too much cleavage was shown in one scene of a game, then you’re wasting time that could be use to focus on games were more disturbing moments are found. Nothing is cool about House of the Dead: Overkill decision to have a butchered giant vagina as a boss. Focus on that nastiness against women and not on Bayonetta’s hairy (clothed) ass.


House of dead image is too vile, so have some Ace Attorney cuteness

My sexuality is me
Gay, Straight or Bi. Those are the main sexual orientations & they’re pretty basic in their meaning. Right?
Well no, there is so much more than those 3 & so much more contained even within those alone. The only way someone should be labelled is if they themselves chose to be. See I’m pretty gay. Like G-to-the A-to-the Y. But automatically people will assume that that makes me 100% lesbian or if I say I’m gay but am open to being with a man, I must be bisexual. I don’t label myself because none properly fit, gay is the closest but I like who I like.


No Glowbear. You must only ever pick one for life. Only ever one!

Tossing aside the ridiculousness of telling anyone what they are, there’s a snobbery within the world of people who are similar to you but judge you because aesthetically or politically you do not share the same principles. I was talking to someone about certain gay gaming characters and they said that games need to cater every sexuality. Now that’s fair enough but I decided not to fully side with that & ask “why must games put so much emphasis on sexuality at all”. Suddenly I was told that because I was not a furry or whatever and didn’t ‘look gay’, that I would understand. I’ve been in situations where I’m in a room full of gay women, who all look the alike & assume I’m straight based on the fact that I don’t look like them. Ostracisation is not limited to those that aren’t on the inside, but also to that seemingly aren’t on the outside.

Mass Effect is a game that may have lapsed in male gay representation until the 3rd part & then given one option to appease, but if you strip that away & focus on how it showed sexuality in general, it’s pretty cool. A big song & dance is not always needed to earnestly represent a ‘group’. To even say group adds segregation. Mass Effect managed to have a host of characters become intimate with each other with different genders and races & not make a big deal out of it. The world didn’t care. No one picketed or marched when Liara and Female Shepard got together, no one even made obscene schoolboy gestures. Not highlighting something can be more progressive than getting sensational about it. Being yourself without forcing rainbows out of your ass (though if they come naturally that’s pretty sweet) is healthier all round.





Pasty Hate
I have never suffered any form of racism based on the colour of my skin, but I have heard some awful unintelligent, effort lacking nonsense because I’m Irish. Most of it is in jest, most of it is lame, and some of it is down right offensive. Anyone can suffer bigotry based on their geographically origins or the look of their face, there’s no one rule or legitimate subsection. Yes there are degrees in which certain acts of bigotry are more harmful and long-lasting, certainly more abhorrent, but taking a step back from extreme examples, everyone else’s plights are not susceptible to less importance.
PhilKenSebben did a nice blog post which can be found here regarding all things racial in video games. I gave my own two cents, focusing on something I could talk about and be aware of internally, as opposed to the broader more common areas of racism that are evident and discussed more eloquently by people other than myself.

The basics of my participant in his write up was focusing primarily on accents and how little effort people put in to do an actual Irish accent. There’s also this mentality that Irish people are stupid or elongated drunken fairies. Alas I am not a fairy




So just because someone is outwardly reflective of those that usually suffer some form of aggravation or abuse, doesn’t mean that they aren't ostracized nonetheless. Behind closed doors and all that. When we talk about the taboos of video games, there can be some that exist and hold as much meaning even if they’re not harked about. Just bear in mind, the unstigmatised can be stigmatised.