Originally posted by @KRG
Lol, that thread was funny. But yeah, you aren’t wrong.
Gamer culture in general, is garbage. It’s hobbyism turned into a worship of consumerism. Too small an audience has been pandered to for too long, leading a small, but vocal group to think they are the most important thing in the industry.
Think a lot of it depends on where you start from. Back when I was a nipper, it really was quite an amateur and fledgling industry that didn’t seem as rampantly commercial. Two colour ads in the back of a specialist magazine, for many publishers. In that context, your assessment could be seen as a result of the gamer matching, or at least reacting, to the hype machine. They’re part of it, and if you believed them, you’d think that gaming existed to serve them. It doesn’t; it’s far bigger than that now.
I love my games, but god do I despise a lot of what it entails. Sexism, racism and an over-reliance on violence are so heavily ingrained that it is just disturbing. Any attempt to make comment on that, or suggestion that maybe we can do better is usually met with harrassment and death threats - totally disproving the idea that’s there’s too much violence in the gaming world.
I do think that’s changing. For starters, I think gaming is more a universal thing now - not just associated with geeky male loners, although that stereotype was never entirely true in any event. Common, but not across the board.
Can you imagine any other fanbase spawning anything as ugly and disgusting as Gamergate? Imagine getting death and rape threats for daring to write an article criticisng the new Muse album. Or being driven from your home for suggesting that perhaps the portrayal of women in the latest Transformers film could be a bit better.
Nope, and wouldn’t want to. But I think the disrespect toward women comes from a panoply of influences, including porn, etc.