Dear gaming community

You have a great blog, and I really enjoy reading it (have been for some years). But if I may, I?ll respectfully disagree on some of your points today.

?Heck, some people actually started a petition on Change.org in order to basically drive a small-press publisher out of business. [http://www.change.org/petitions/mongoose-publishing-stop-publishing-james-desborough-rape-supporter]?

You are pushing a lot. The petition is asking two or three companies (Mongoose Publishing, Steve Jackson Games, probably Wizards of the Coast too; it?s in the letter, but not in the ?petitioning? field) to stop publishing stuff written by one man (James Desborough). It is basically sending a letter tell them that : ?Until game companies apologize for publishing such hateful material and openly condemn James Desborough, they will not receive our money.? If the petition is successful, the one person that could be driven out of business by this petition is James Desborough himself, not any company.

You say that ?[w]hen there?s some cause for concern, it?s ok to point it out and talk about it, but obviously people have become quite oversensitive recently. Sometimes I feel like there?s a witch hunt going on and everyone tries to be the better witch hunter.? This petition is not a witch hunt. If someone is writing stuff condoning rape and sexist behavior (this is a legitimate ?cause for concern?), letting the companies publishing his work know you are boycotting them because of it is the sensible thing to do : it is basically pointing it out to talk about it (?we think it is unacceptable. What do you say??). It is far, far different from calling someone a ?woman-hating monster? because he plays (not even produces, plays!) a game that ?features artwork with a chainmail bikini?.

A good community should be open to criticism. It should strive to do better. The same goes for artists (why the chainmail bikini?), publishers (why not explicitly ask for ?no chainmail bikinis?), and authors (why not some powerful, not-sexualized female characters?). In our gamer?s community (as in a lot of other communities), there is some sexism that needs to be adressed.* Often, of course, no one tried to be sexist, but it is nonetheless.** And telling people and companies ?this is unacceptable. I won?t buy it, and you should adjust to make your stuff acceptable? does not amount to censorship.

Let?s not make a strawmen of those criticism by reducing them to some haters rant.

?
* One example among a lot : I sent a letter to Paizo to let them know that this was ridiculous (http://paizo.com/image/content/Secondary/Dynamite/PathfinderComicsIssue1-AltCover.jpg). An excerpt : ?Put aside the huge breasts, put aside the huge cleavage almost showing her nipples that goes down almost to her belly button, put aside the fact that she is showing a lot of skin overall. The problem here is not that she is not wearing pants, shorts, or mini-short; it that on top of that, she is not even wearing any underwear. The only thing that hide her vagina is a thin band of cloth that flaps in the wind. This is not, in any sense, a combat-ready outfit. It is not even a ?not-pole-dancer? or ?not-ready-to-have-sex-right-now? outfit.? I got an answer : ?It?s a fair criticism. I hope that the depiction of these women in the comic itself is better able to meet your approval.?
** See the story around the last ?Hitman? trailer. I?m sure they are honest when they say that they ?wanted to make something cool, it wasn?t the intention to stir up anything. It was never the intention to provoke people with it.? This does not mean that it is not sexist (so the assassins-nuns has to wear some S&M lingerie under their robes to make it ?cooler?. No problem there, right? If they were friars in S&M outfits, that would be just as cool, right?)
http://www.develop-online.net/news/41039/E3-2012-IO-apologises-for-Hitman-trailer. For a wider discussion, read http://www.themarysue.com/the-all-too-familiar-harassment-against-feminist-frequency-and-what-the-gaming-community-can-do-about-it/

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