So, I do loves me some video games. And video games occasionally deliver some truly stellar story-telling - none more so than the best adventure games. Little history here: point-and-click adventures were a crazy popular genre, back when I was a kid. They were all...
Deep Down Has No Female Characters
So I'm usually on the lookout for new games to play, and my preferred genre is and always will be fantasy adventure. There's something about hitting a horde of goons with giant, unrealistic stick-shaped weapons that really just gives me the warm and fuzzies in a way...
How to keep women out of gaming
Because people keep asking this question... "Why are there so few women in gaming? Why so few female game devs?" And inevitably, someone says some goddamn bullshit like "Women just aren't into gaming!" as if that's (a) a valid reason as opposed to random hand-waving...
Things I am not buying this week
Oh, it's a long list, believe me, but I thought I'd give a shout out to the stuff that I have made a conscious decision not to buy, as opposed to the stuff that I'm not buying because I can't afford it or I don't know about it or I have no interest in it. Grand Theft...
An Open Letter to Penny Arcade, from a Feminist Gamer
Hi Mike Krahulik,Seeing as Jerry doesn't say much, this letter is for you, more or less.I posted about the PAX thing already. You should go read it, maybe take notice of some of it. I read your apology on the Penny Arcade site, and it turns out that I got some more to...
Why PAX is no longer a safe space
If you've been around the video gaming related internets lately, you'll be aware of the re-emergence of the Dickwolves shitstorm. Here's a recap, for the interested: The recent controversy, i.e. Mike Krahulik is an asshole. The timeline of how it all went down The...
The PAX Survey of Video Game Characters
So, seeing as gender in video games is such a hot button topic right now, I spent some time at PAX taking a survey of video game characters. Here are my criteria: I surveyed every game I could find in the main hall of Penny Arcade Expo - floor 4 only, both sides of...
Making it Worse
I've long held a belief that talking about inequality in video games and pop culture matters, even though it seems like a relatively trivial thing in comparison to, say, world hunger. Mostly I believe that the narratives of culture - the greater stories and tropes...
The Mystery of Bayonetta
So, I've mentioned She With the Improbable Shoes before, but let's talk about her in depth. This, for all you non-gamer people, is Bayonetta. Yes, she shoots people with the guns built into the heels of her shoes. Yes, she's doing a boobs and butt pose there, and...
This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
[added by edit] Greetings, dudebros! It seems that this years-old article is still proving popular, and thus I have received some unsavory comments from men who are butthurt because I posted my personal opinion on my personal website. If you are such a man, please...
A Game You Can’t Win
Ever heard of Anita Sarkeesian? Long story short, she's a medic critic of popular culture as it relates to feminism and the effects of sexism. Her Tropes Vs. Women series on Youtube is still once of my favorites, because it actually does a very good job of breaking...
The Women of Borderlands
Take a look at the big image above. What do you see? What I see is a playable female character in a video game who is: not overtly sexualized, in a fighting pose, clothed appropriately for her class type, and showing about as much skin as the men, and the focal point...