I guess I'll say this about the gaming metoo stuff:
When you have any field that has incredibly unbalanced representation in hiring, and one group is incredibly dominant, you will get abuses of power. And wanting games to be more like movies brought the rot of the film industry.
When you have any field that has incredibly unbalanced representation in hiring, and one group is incredibly dominant, you will get abuses of power. And wanting games to be more like movies brought the rot of the film industry.
There is a tendency to look at any woman who enters a room in a gaming space like food. And JUST enough of those women did go ahead and sleep with those guys, so those guys started ostracizing women who didn't put out. (I didn't, so I had no defenders)
You feel it in certain encounters. The guy gradually realizing that nope, not gonna happen, and him gradually losing interest in everything about the conversation. It's kind of pathetic the way these guys try to swagger around a room, openly looking to hook up.
It's still a minority of devs, and oddly, some of the people recently accused did NOT give off that vibe. But perhaps they were just better at reading when a woman is just NOT interested. But this crap will continue until sexuality is not demonized overtly in gaming.
If you can't say "yes" to sex without being demonized, that means you really can't truly say "no" either. All sex feels coercive and you end up feeling bad afterwards. Or you feel bad because too many dirtbags make it clear they are only interested in sex, not skills.
Granted, the number of badly behaved devs is still quite small. Most devs are good people with families, etc. Maybe their marriages would be more healthy if they weren't crunching - JUST SAYING. Separating families like that takes a horrible toll on relationships.
Gaming needs better work life balance, period. And dev teams might have to be chaperoned if they can't moderate their alcohol consumption at conventions. Embrace that we are nerds, stop trying to reclaim the college glory years you never had, and keep it in your damned pants.
I have NEVER understood this "unless I have sex all the time I'm not a man" attitude. Guess what? Women like me are not impressed by that behavior. But, right, women like me aren't relevant, because we are not potential booty calls.
Gaming needs a massive dose of sex positivity, NOW. Everyone needs to feel more empowered about sexual choice. Because I am WORN OUT with the yearly cycle of these stories and I know I'm not alone. It's awful for everyone, not just women.
