So often, when anyone calls for greater diversity in video games, their requests are met with one very common answer: “You want something different? Make it yourself.” These days, we’re told, anyone can make a game. It’s so easy. The tech requirements have been reduced to almost nothing; with a […]
Games and Culture
337 posts
We’ve talked a lot over the past few weeks about #gamergate, Anita Sarkeesian, and Zoe Quinn. Recently, they were accused of lying about the threats they were receiving, and of course we have all been accused of trying to kill the entire gaming industry. Zoe and Anita have had to […]
Episode 85: Down the Rabbit Hole and Back Again: More on “Gamergate” and Women in the Gaming Community (“Save As” to download or head over to iTunes to subscribe) In this episode we talk about “gamergate” and community building among diverse gamer populations.
As we have seen over and over in the past week, feminist are rarely, if ever, in full agreement on any topic. We may have general goals that we share, for example full equity for women, but as for how we go about that, it varies. I have even seen […]
Yesterday, I got sucked down the rabbit hole of watching anti-Sarkeesian YouTube videos. Many of the arguments against her are laughably ironic, but one in particular stood out to me as not ironic, but just sad. In the video, Anita was accused of shutting down the conversation because she has […]
At a faculty picnic last week I was asked if I was a gamer by a very well-meaning (but completely out of the loop) fellow faculty member. I almost laughed- it’s been a pretty rough few weeks in gaming culture and I know this faculty member didn’t have any idea […]
Game critic Anita Sarkeesian and her family were driven from their house earlier this week after she received a series of extremely violent sexual threats towards her and her parents. The week before that, game developer Zoe Quinn (creator of Depression Quest) had her personal life (both real and imaginary) […]
It’s been a rough week. As I started trying to compose this week’s post, I knew wanted to talk about comments. I wanted to use this story as a lead-in to my conversation: The Real Problem with Sex Workers in Video Games. I wanted to talk about women’s voices and […]
After months of being a homeless transient, often literally living in a van, down by the river, I have a home and an internet connection. I have really missed blogging and podcasting with you folks for the last couple months, and I’m ready to come back with a vengeance. Ok, […]
Feminist work in game studies is sort of like playing golf. You hit 20 bad shots to every good shot, but that good shot is what keeps you coming back. You finally squared your hips correctly, didn’t take your eye of the ball, the WHAM! It goes soaring across the […]
Let me start by saying something that anyone who has ever listened to our show already knows…I Hate Pink! I have hated pink for so long and with such passion that I can no longer remember if I have always hated pink or if I hate pink because of all […]
Here at Not Your Mama’s Gamer we spend a lot of time talking about the unfortunate side effects of being a woman passionate about the video game industry. Obviously for good reason, there are constant struggles in our quest for equal AND correct representation in video games that need to […]
Sam and I just had an article released in ADA: Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology. You should definitely check it out, but in the mean time, here are a few choice excerpts to keep you excited. Essentially, what we were trying to do is name a feminist practice […]
Episode 56: What’s Passion Got to Do With It?: On Men Doing Feminism (“Save As” to download or head over to iTunes to subscribe) The episode where we discuss whether or not men can do feminist work. Come on and join in on the discussion. Let’s have a little fun. We talk […]
Episode 43: It’s All About Me: Narrative Modding, Feminism, and Games (“Save As” to download or head over to iTunes to subscribe) The episode where we talk about narrative spaces outside of games and how they can be feminist tools. Yeah, and there were pandas…lots of pandas. Links of Note: Get […]
This post is about some recent activity that has been flourishing because of a blog post by Nice Girl on the blog Nice Girls Like Sex Too. The blog post, titled “The Dark Side of Geek Feminism” reports the perception of one woman on attending OSCON (a foss conference). Rather […]