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from the harrassed-turtles-all-the-way-down dept.
As the March kickoff for the weeks-long 2016 South By Southwest (SXSW) festival approaches, its disparate sections—music, film, and interactive—have begun announcing confirmed panels, speakers, and showcases. SXSW Interactive appeared prepared to host a panel about the hot-button topic of online harassment and abuse, but that plan changed on Monday when a festival director officially announced that the panel, along with another tangentially related panel, had been canceled due to allegations of "numerous threats of on-site violence."
SXSW Interactive director Hugh Forrest posted the news at the festival's official blog, though Forrest didn't confirm whether the threats were linked to both panels that he confirmed received the axe: "SavePoint: A Discussion on the Gaming Community" and "Level Up: Overcoming Harassment in Games." After describing SXSW as a home for "diverse ideas," Forrest also described a desire to maintain "civil and respectful" dialogue.
"If people can not agree, disagree, and embrace new ways of thinking in a safe and secure place that is free of online and offline harassment, then this marketplace of ideas is inevitably compromised," Forrest wrote. "Maintaining civil and respectful dialogue within the big tent is more important than any particular session."
And then, just a few days later, we have this report that the panels were restored:
South by Southwest's organizers reversed course Friday and scheduled a summit about gaming-related Internet harassment, after criticism for canceling similar sessions at next year's event due to threats of violence at the festival.
"Earlier this week we made a mistake," Hugh Forrest, director of the SXSW Interactive Festival, said in a statement on its website. "By canceling two sessions we sent an unintended message that SXSW not only tolerates online harassment but condones it, and for that we are truly sorry."
[...] "While we made the decision in the interest of safety for all of our attendees, canceling sessions was not an appropriate response," SXSW's Forrest said, adding the organizers had worked with authorities and security experts. "Online harassment is a serious matter and we stand firmly against hate speech and cyberbullying."
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Vanderhoth on Monday November 02 2015, @02:29PM
This.
I've been playing for decades, women as playable characters has never been an issue. Even though the media would like people to believe it isn't the case, there are tons of awesome games that have always had multiple characters to select (male and female). Some of the largest franchises up until the recent FPS craze had female protagonist, and NO ONE CARED. Now it's either, "women aren't playable characters", which they often are, just likely not in this specific game. Or "Women aren't represented the way I want them to be, this is sexists"
You know why publishers are cautions about using women in their games? Because regardless of how they represent them SOMEONE will have a shitfit over it. Either she's a "fighting fuck toy", or she's a "Mrs. Male", or she's a "Damsel in Distress". You can't win.
NO ONE questions male characters getting shot, or brutally beaten to death, or sexually harassed in games. Most people friggin laugh at it, but throw a female character in there and a certain group of people (who don't even play the games they review) will lose their minds over it and the Game media will tank your reviews based on their input.
"Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 02 2015, @04:31PM
In the decades you played video games, they were mostly designed to appeal to men. Games were a lower art form and would often use stereotypes of gender and race probably on a similar level as most mindless action movies.
It seems that some people are really loosing their shit over the portrayal of gender/race in video games more than other entertainment, such as movies, books, and TV. I don't know if "gamers" are a much easier target to pick on or if it is related to how the players actively control and participate.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Vanderhoth on Monday November 02 2015, @05:32PM
Gamers have always been the default target by the media. Before video games it was pen and paper. Then it was games make you violet satanic worshipers. Now it's games make you sexists women hating harassers.
The media will push whatever they think will get them the most readers. Bashing gamers, who are part of an $80+ billion dollar industry, means there's no shortage of people to hate on.
"Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday November 02 2015, @07:45PM
They picked the wrong group this time. Unlike other media, the consumers of games are conditioned to win no matter how long it takes or how hard it is.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 02 2015, @10:13PM
Whoever has the MMORPG players is bound to win eventually.
It is probably more related to the stereotypical low social status video game players have. It is easier to pick on nerds, geeks, 12-year-old boys, etc. because everyone else is already conditioned to dismiss them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 02 2015, @08:43PM
Wait, this whole stupid thing is now about oppression of fictional women and not real ones? Fuck me in the goat ass, this is stupid.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Vanderhoth on Tuesday November 03 2015, @02:18AM
No, it's still about ethics in the media, but the media is throwing all the spaghetti at the wall to find something that will stick. How fictional women are represented is just another lazy narrative to get people mad and attacking gamers to keep them from organizing any meaningful discussion about the media. Instead it's just one dumb neck beard after another coming to white knight on women's behalf because they have no agency of their own to stand up to the big bad boys only gamer club. What's really funny is when one of these idiots gets in a fight with a female Gamergate supporter who tells them to piss off back to their Kleenex box... and they're promptly called gender traitors, sock puppets, or told they've internalized the misogyny.
Never a dull day in Gamergate.
"Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe