The freedom to create without hate!
My second piece on #game gate takes us further from the source than the last. To many of you that will probably be a bit of a relief as we’ve all had our fill of Orwellian styled censorship and sex scandal gossip. (Though frankly, #gamer gate is more about exposing collusion, nepotism, and cronyism as opposed to getting juicy gossip on who is banging who) Forbes recently did an article on how The Escapist’s #gamergate forum thread was ddossed shortly after Greg Tito had an argumentative conversation with Ben Kuchera. I will let the article more or less speak for itself!
Personally I’ve been thinking about the ramifications for creators. People like myself who sort have been under an oppressive shadow for a few years now. If you remain confused on what I’m talking about,it revolves around issues such as Kotaku trying to shame Dragon Crown’s artist George Kamitani and someone involved with The Halo franchise calling out Hideo Kojima on misogyny (Exact words being sexist man baby) just because he did not like the character design for Quiet. Furthermore I can attest that the indie scene is a bit of a bear trap as well in which most games with sex appeal come under immediate scrutiny. (Unless the indie game maker in question happens to be great at public speaking and advertising to the point his or her racy designs will be overlooked entirely.) There was even a little outburst about the sexy characters in Skull-Girls until it was discovered one of the artists and the head animator was in fact a woman. (Mariel Cartwright)
Before it’s mentioned, I do not think every game in existence should have bikini armor, tight camel-toe exposing spandex, or ridiculous breast physics. Simultaneously it is a design choice that should be accepted as there are already games that take themselves more seriously which offer realistic alternatives to what these more sexually explicit games tend to focus on. Variety and diversity are positives, yes? Sometimes it’s nice to get lost in a good story ala Bioshock Infinite but sometimes it great to laugh at the absurdity and kinkiness of something more like Lollipop Chainsaw! There’s no reason why both games cannot exist in the same space.
My beef? I’m tired of the shame-tactics. Personally I “like” making my female characters as risqué and arousing as possible. No, you do not have to like it. However, I am at least asking I be allowed to show my works without someone accusing me of being a horny immature man-child or a woman-hater.
For me art is my way to vent. Realism? I get plenty of it on a daily basis. Furthermore, Bi-polar disorder (which I‘m diagnosed with) tends to be coupled with hyper-sexuality, a condition where someone thinks about kinky fantasies more frequently than the average person. So instead of snorting blow and buying hookers my solution is drawing hawt tits and asses. Instead of using someone to get off (possibly hurting them in the process) I create worlds inhabited by an assortment of sexy and lethal heroines and villainesses. No, it doesn’t exempt me from being a pervert but at least I’m a pervert who can sleep easy at night!
I just hope when the dust and debris settle from #gamer gate that creative people will be able to make what they want under much less duress!
Judging a creator as a human being based on his or her creations is not the right way to go about an analytical critique.
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