Anita Sarkeesian, Video Game Rape Culture, and Why Online Harassment Is Not a Joke (long screencap)

[jeff47]

15. You're talking about a group that has little social skills and you're threating

their primary escape from the world where the jocks get all the hot chicks. At least, if we're to believe the stereotype.

Your typical hardcore teenage gamer isn't going to parties because they don't have the social skills to be in the "in" crowd. So they play games that spend a lot of time building up your ego because you're the savior of the kingdom/world/galaxy. Being good at games also gives them an area where they finally excel compared to normal people. It's a pedestal similar to the star football player. And there's hot virtual chicks fawning over you when you feel that real life women aren't at all interested in you. It's essentially the inverse of their normal life and a powerful escape.

I know it was fantastic when I was a geeky teenager with very few friends and was utterly convinced I was unappealing to the opposite sex because I wasn't a jock.

Projects like this threaten that world. You're basically threatening to take away drugs from drug addicts - they're going to lash out. (And I don't mean it's addictive like drugs. It's an escape like a high is.)

If there's any consolation, the vast majority of typical hardcore teenage gamers are only delayed in social development, not crippled in social development. They'll pull their head out of their ass during their 20s, return to being a "normal" human being, have a normal life. And Laura Croft having a large rack will not be a good enough reason to play a game.