Calm. the Fuck. Down!!

Okay, this is gonna be a tough post to write, mostly because I'm worried it might start far too many arguments and I'll get stuck right in the middle, understand that I'm not trying to do that, I'm not making this post to hop on any bandwagons, and I'm certainly not writing it to accuse or offend anybody, that said, when it comes to the issue of sexism in video games (and to be honest, all over the internet, it seems), I really have just one thing to say about it, and I wanna say it very loudly and clearly:

Just chill the fuck out already!

You see I'm kinda getting tired, exhausted even, because the way this thing is going, it's gonna get to a very ugly place very, very soon. in fact, I think we're almost there.

I might be getting ahead of myself here.

The issue of sexism in video games has been building up for a while now, I think it started all the way from the Crossfire Incident, when the fighter game community was egged by one of the male contestants to deride and verbally abuse one of the female contestants so much so, she just exited the room altogether due to her discomfort. That was horrible thing, and even I shook my head disapprovingly at the whole fiasco.

Then I believe there was the Hitman: Absolution trailer where people were up in arms about sexual portrayal and physical abuse of women, I really was just scratching my head at this one, maybe I'm just more unfazed by that because of my particular taste in movies and games, maybe it's my love of cheese in media making me more forgiving, but I found the trailer amusing rather than mean spirited.

then there was the whole Anita Sarkeesian controversy, this is the point in time when my brain was telling me that it might be wise to jump for cover, since a shit storm was in the brewing.

While I don't condone the sort of bashing that occurred there, it's because I'd rather not condone any kind of bashing period, and not just because it's directed at someone who has a specific set of genitalia, that and I find it kinda disheartening how much money her kickstarter got knowing fully well that it wouldn't have done so well if not for this controversy, it felt like people were guilt tripped into this whole thing, not saying she guilt-tripped people into this or even that she didn't deserve to make her funding, mind you, but the amount of bashing that happened was kinda making the paranoid side of me suspicious.

And of course let's not forget the whole Tomb Raider business with Laura Croft needing to be protected, I'm sure that guy at least got a mouthful back at the boss' office, rightfully so.

Heck, not even our own Destructoid isn't safe, when their own Ryan Perez started directing some very offensive comments towards popular geek actress and voice-over artist Felicia Day, he was promptly relieved from his responsibilities when he continued directing the comments, this time going with a kamikaze style spray and pray mentality at whoever was trying to talk some sense to him.

The actual incidents themselves are fine, but what's really been bugging me is the community response to all of this; it's like people are going batshit insane here.

And this is where I finally get to the point of this post; people need to relax already.

Now before any of you start banging on your keyboards so hard that the keys start flying around, I like to say that I'm directing this whole message to both sides, yes, both the people vehemently trying to undermine and understate these incidents and the so called "feminists" who are raving like lunatics at even at the slightest mention of the keywords relating to these issues, even in jest.

The reason behind my fear here is that I've seen this kind of thing before, very recently and even here in the video games community, I've seen it when we were under attack from all the politicians demanding to take down video games for corrupting the youth and turning them into avatars of decadence and violence, except this time around, we've pretty much just divvied up and took both sides of the argument, continuing to snap at each others' extremities.

That's why I'm so worried, because either side "winning" here is a definite loss for the video game community in general, with the vitriol just building up more and more, it becomes very hard to reach an amicable agreement on the issue, and we essentially lose the privilege of enjoying the point of view of the side that ends up being the "villain" of the argument, both sides getting pushed forward by a desire to have video games grow up, yet forgetting why and even how to grow up.

That's the thing about shit-storms; no matter where you stand, it's always messy for both parties and really, everyone is wearing that sour look on their faces even if they've proven their points.

really, I don't want anyone to stop discussing things and I don't even want people to stop arguing, even that is good, I just want people to stop being so sensitive and touchy to the point of screaming, calm the fuck down, and act like sensible adults.

Basically, I just want people to stop screaming bloody murder, because I'm getting a massive headache...