Monday, August 13, 2012

Wherein I Have An Opinion About 'Girlfriend Mode'


It would be nice if we could correctly acknowledge that the term 'girlfriend mode' is sexist, offensive to a lot of folks, and long past ready to be put out to the 'shit we will be embarrassed to admit we ever said' pasture while also having the stones to admit there is a still valid reason the term was coined in the first place.

We should be able to embrace and push forward a change in the way we talk about games in the interest of inclusion,fairness, kindness, and respectability for ALL gamers (and all people) while still being able to openly acknowledge that the vast, vast, vast majority of adult women want NOTHING to do with a game like Borderlands 2 (or a game like God of War or Twisted Metal or Gears of War). Anymore than the vast, vast, vast majority of men have any interest in watching a show like Project Runway or reading a book like The Notebook or Twilight.

Political Correctness has been 90% fantastic for our society because before you know it, it stops being 'politically correct' and -rightly so- simply becomes folks being treated with respect. But the remaining 10% has really done a hack job to our culture, neutering the fuck out our ability to acknowledge things as the way they truly are.

David

1 comment:

illuminatia said...

But women do play games. A lot. More than you know, obviously. I play online with loads of other women and girls everyday. And we play Borderlands (and CoD and BF3 and yes, God of War, Skyrim, Uncharted, Mass Effect - we play everything. Our numbers are growing as is our frustration. And there would and could be more of us playing if women, both real and imagined, weren't ignored, ridiculed, dismissed, objectified, sexualized and basically treated like shit by companies, by other gamers and by games journalists.

And you don't get to decide what qualifies as being treated like shit. We know when we are. And then we leave or get angry. You don't get to decide when or if our demand for equality and respect has gone "too far". I think you mean well but you are missing the point.