Agreed. I personally can't trust sterling after i started noticing a pattern of not covering inconvinient stories, like jason's fans giving other journalists r threats for putting out conflicting stories on cyberpunk developers.
Vindicates Gamergate tbh, just exposed all these censorious entities and journalists that ran cover for the companies like Blizzard who, lest we forget, was the first big AAA studio to publicly denounce GG. Turns out anti-GG people just love to project what they knew was happening and shifting the blame onto some neckbeards and incels.
Erik, great Article and I think it truly reaches why people are angry at not only the gaming press but press as a whole. They no longer serve the people, they are just a mouthpiece for power. Either the power of a corporation, billionaire, or government. The news media will cover every little outrage piece about some Tweet but won't ever hold a politician to the fire about a decision, or question them why they aren't doing something. Games media is just that on a much lesser scale. They won't bite the hand that feeds them.
Great article! It pretty much said what my idea of the whole GG drama was all about in the end: Pigs in the mud - Take a side and you just get dirty. Hence the shower analogy felt so spot on.
As a dev of 20 years, i wouldn't even know where to start fixing it. I'm on my way out now and focusing privately on little indie projects. It feels smaller, more welcoming and more rewarding. I'm hardly playing big releases anymore. Life is too short to play another multi-million-dollar clone. And you don't need millions to create a fun game.
As much as game companies deserve criticism for poor treatment of workers, this is orthogonal to why women are less prevalent in the games industry.
If you want to be in the games industry, all you need is to develop a skillset and find a way to use that skillset to make a game. No clique or social network can stop you. There are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of developers, mostly men, who go this route.
Exactly! Video gamers are no more responsible for the unequal treatment and harassment suffered by women in the industry, than moviegoers are responsible for Harvey Weinstein!
Jim Sterling goes a bit far when they say the games industry is unsalvageable. There are some fairly achievable and straightforward reforms which would make a massive difference! Unionization is a good start. So would be passing legislation banning arbitration in employment disputes (or minimum in cases of sexual harassment). And placing the burden of proof on companies to justify hiring and pay disparity for like work.
If you want to "burn it down" as Sterling apparently wants, you'd need to completely rewrite and reconceived notions of intellectual property, and restructure the corporate form in law.
Which I'm totally in favour of by the way! Corporations should be accountable to their workers, not faceless shareholders. And IP laws as currently envisaged, are just a a tax on the poorest in the world in favour of the richest corporations!
Jim Sterling is a sad old man in a wig
That's just bigoted, and unhelpful!
There are plenty of valid criticizms of Sterling. None of which have anything to do with them coming out as trans/nonbinary.
Agreed. I personally can't trust sterling after i started noticing a pattern of not covering inconvinient stories, like jason's fans giving other journalists r threats for putting out conflicting stories on cyberpunk developers.
Vindicates Gamergate tbh, just exposed all these censorious entities and journalists that ran cover for the companies like Blizzard who, lest we forget, was the first big AAA studio to publicly denounce GG. Turns out anti-GG people just love to project what they knew was happening and shifting the blame onto some neckbeards and incels.
Erik, great Article and I think it truly reaches why people are angry at not only the gaming press but press as a whole. They no longer serve the people, they are just a mouthpiece for power. Either the power of a corporation, billionaire, or government. The news media will cover every little outrage piece about some Tweet but won't ever hold a politician to the fire about a decision, or question them why they aren't doing something. Games media is just that on a much lesser scale. They won't bite the hand that feeds them.
Great article! It pretty much said what my idea of the whole GG drama was all about in the end: Pigs in the mud - Take a side and you just get dirty. Hence the shower analogy felt so spot on.
As a dev of 20 years, i wouldn't even know where to start fixing it. I'm on my way out now and focusing privately on little indie projects. It feels smaller, more welcoming and more rewarding. I'm hardly playing big releases anymore. Life is too short to play another multi-million-dollar clone. And you don't need millions to create a fun game.
I know this article is last year but this happened:
https://www.eeoc.gov/what-you-should-know-about-eeocs-settlement-activision-blizzard
As much as game companies deserve criticism for poor treatment of workers, this is orthogonal to why women are less prevalent in the games industry.
If you want to be in the games industry, all you need is to develop a skillset and find a way to use that skillset to make a game. No clique or social network can stop you. There are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of developers, mostly men, who go this route.
Exactly! Video gamers are no more responsible for the unequal treatment and harassment suffered by women in the industry, than moviegoers are responsible for Harvey Weinstein!
Jim Sterling goes a bit far when they say the games industry is unsalvageable. There are some fairly achievable and straightforward reforms which would make a massive difference! Unionization is a good start. So would be passing legislation banning arbitration in employment disputes (or minimum in cases of sexual harassment). And placing the burden of proof on companies to justify hiring and pay disparity for like work.
If you want to "burn it down" as Sterling apparently wants, you'd need to completely rewrite and reconceived notions of intellectual property, and restructure the corporate form in law.
Which I'm totally in favour of by the way! Corporations should be accountable to their workers, not faceless shareholders. And IP laws as currently envisaged, are just a a tax on the poorest in the world in favour of the richest corporations!