Is gaming a sport? Is gaming sexist? Of course there is! That's not to say that it's everywhere like everybody says it is. I feel like these topics are the types you need to do a little research in before declaring final position on them. You can find the articles here:
Should Video games be Considered a Sport?
How Sexist Is The Gaming World?
The article about pro-gaming described the main base of operations for a professional gaming team. Although they accurately described some MLG teams, it didn't represent the majority of Esport teams of the world. This makes some people who don't know much about professional gaming form a clouded opinion about it. I think that video games should not be considered or involved with sports. Even so, there's a reason for the word "Esport". To me, for something to be considered a sport it has to have a certain level of planning, strategy, and skill. Unfortunately the dictionary doesn't agree with most gamers and I, so that's why we developed the term Esports. MLG stands for Major League Gaming and hosts tons of gaming tournaments. Video games are an evolving form of entertainment and competition. It's time that others start believing that fact. If you're not convinced, check out these videos of competitive gaming.
Should Video games be Considered a Sport?
How Sexist Is The Gaming World?
The article about pro-gaming described the main base of operations for a professional gaming team. Although they accurately described some MLG teams, it didn't represent the majority of Esport teams of the world. This makes some people who don't know much about professional gaming form a clouded opinion about it. I think that video games should not be considered or involved with sports. Even so, there's a reason for the word "Esport". To me, for something to be considered a sport it has to have a certain level of planning, strategy, and skill. Unfortunately the dictionary doesn't agree with most gamers and I, so that's why we developed the term Esports. MLG stands for Major League Gaming and hosts tons of gaming tournaments. Video games are an evolving form of entertainment and competition. It's time that others start believing that fact. If you're not convinced, check out these videos of competitive gaming.
If you're not a big gamer, at least try watching this. This movie is about three professional Dota 2 players and their struggle. Not just their struggle to win a million dollar tournament, but also their struggle as actual people outside of the game world.
You may have noticed that these major teams don't really have any women on them. Some people will believe that this is because of a major problem in the gaming industry: Sexism
You may have never heard of Anita Sarkeesian, Zoey Quinn, or the whole #Gamergate controversy. You have probably have only heard about it if you're an avid gamer or if you've read the NY Times article. The media and journalism in the gaming industry is corrupt and has been for a long time. People who believe this fact use the tag #Gamergate for content that discusses this. Many game journalist are bribed by game developers to lie to their audience about games. An example of this is a incident that shall not be named where an indie developer, Zoey Quinn, convinced a game reviewer on Kotaku to give her game positive coverage. This is a terrible aspect of any kind of entertainment. Whether it's movies, games, or books, there will always be people who will do anything to get the media to give their content good coverage. I feel sorry for those who read this fake media and believe it because they don't know about the corruption. Why is this related to sexism in gaming? Some of the supporters of Gamergate have started their own campaign to discredit, intimidate, and threaten outspoken and popular critics of the gaming industry.
Anita Sarkeesian is a feminist and video game critic. She doesn't review games, she criticizes games that have sexism in them. This has caused her to receive many threats and a lot of hate. One example of this is when Anita had to cancel a speech at Utah State University when somebody sent her a threat that said
“This will be the deadliest school shooting in American history, and I’m giving you a chance to stop it,” said the email, which bore the moniker Marc Lépine, the name of a man who killed 14 women in a mass shooting in Montreal in 1989 before taking his own life.
As you can tell, there are people who despise Anita Sarkeesian but there are also people who love her. I fall somewhere in between. she makes frequent videos about the portrayal of women in gaming. Just by watching her videos and taking her word as the truth, you might think that she has a pretty good point. The truth is far from that. She generalizes all of gaming and blows everything out of proportion. On her youtube channel
One example of this is when many people bashed a new game called Assassin's Creed Unity. What was the reason for the hate that this game received? Out of the four playable characters in the game, none were female. Many female gamers and feminists were angry about this. It might not make sense to me because I'm male but that doesn't excuse their hypocrisy. The majority of gamers (who are male) could make the same argument that video games with female protagonists like Tomb Raider or Metroid that don't give us the option to play as a guy. Don't misunderstand my view on this subject because I support equal rights for women in every aspect of life and also gaming. It just irritates me when people criticize games or game developers for being sexist when I'm 110% sure that they're not even putting much thought into the genders of their characters while developing the game. I think all game developers should make games in the mindset that there are also female gamers playing their games but at the same time I don't think that they should have to give up their creative freedom to please a few people on the internet. With that in mind, many game developers are doing that! At first glance it might seem that video games are not for girls, especially with the harassment they receive, often in online games. Harassment was a big problem a few years ago but it has died down significantly. In addition there's been a sudden rise of games with strong female protagonists.
Gaming has been considered a sport by many people and has been more welcoming to women in these past few years. You should take the words of people like Anita Sarkeesian lightly and instead listen to the words of actual female gamers who have personally experienced these problems and really don't have a problem with the gaming industry.
You may have never heard of Anita Sarkeesian, Zoey Quinn, or the whole #Gamergate controversy. You have probably have only heard about it if you're an avid gamer or if you've read the NY Times article. The media and journalism in the gaming industry is corrupt and has been for a long time. People who believe this fact use the tag #Gamergate for content that discusses this. Many game journalist are bribed by game developers to lie to their audience about games. An example of this is a incident that shall not be named where an indie developer, Zoey Quinn, convinced a game reviewer on Kotaku to give her game positive coverage. This is a terrible aspect of any kind of entertainment. Whether it's movies, games, or books, there will always be people who will do anything to get the media to give their content good coverage. I feel sorry for those who read this fake media and believe it because they don't know about the corruption. Why is this related to sexism in gaming? Some of the supporters of Gamergate have started their own campaign to discredit, intimidate, and threaten outspoken and popular critics of the gaming industry.
Anita Sarkeesian is a feminist and video game critic. She doesn't review games, she criticizes games that have sexism in them. This has caused her to receive many threats and a lot of hate. One example of this is when Anita had to cancel a speech at Utah State University when somebody sent her a threat that said
“This will be the deadliest school shooting in American history, and I’m giving you a chance to stop it,” said the email, which bore the moniker Marc Lépine, the name of a man who killed 14 women in a mass shooting in Montreal in 1989 before taking his own life.
As you can tell, there are people who despise Anita Sarkeesian but there are also people who love her. I fall somewhere in between. she makes frequent videos about the portrayal of women in gaming. Just by watching her videos and taking her word as the truth, you might think that she has a pretty good point. The truth is far from that. She generalizes all of gaming and blows everything out of proportion. On her youtube channel
One example of this is when many people bashed a new game called Assassin's Creed Unity. What was the reason for the hate that this game received? Out of the four playable characters in the game, none were female. Many female gamers and feminists were angry about this. It might not make sense to me because I'm male but that doesn't excuse their hypocrisy. The majority of gamers (who are male) could make the same argument that video games with female protagonists like Tomb Raider or Metroid that don't give us the option to play as a guy. Don't misunderstand my view on this subject because I support equal rights for women in every aspect of life and also gaming. It just irritates me when people criticize games or game developers for being sexist when I'm 110% sure that they're not even putting much thought into the genders of their characters while developing the game. I think all game developers should make games in the mindset that there are also female gamers playing their games but at the same time I don't think that they should have to give up their creative freedom to please a few people on the internet. With that in mind, many game developers are doing that! At first glance it might seem that video games are not for girls, especially with the harassment they receive, often in online games. Harassment was a big problem a few years ago but it has died down significantly. In addition there's been a sudden rise of games with strong female protagonists.
Gaming has been considered a sport by many people and has been more welcoming to women in these past few years. You should take the words of people like Anita Sarkeesian lightly and instead listen to the words of actual female gamers who have personally experienced these problems and really don't have a problem with the gaming industry.