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So you've probably noticed that I've changed the title to Gender Diversity / Politics in games. There's a few reasons for that. Obviously the Kickstarter was funded and the episodes (and counter episodes) have all been released and discussed. But this seems to have become the mega-thread for discussing feminism and gender politics in gaming related topics. So rather than close or split off the threads we'll still use this one for now. A few guidelines. -Some knowledge of past discussions is encouraged. If you come in here asking why Anita should be allowed to make her videos don't be surprised if other posters either tell you to read some of the earlier content (or even quote earlier posts.) -Robust debate is encouraged, abuse is not. Essentially if you're resorting to calling someone a c--- then you're not only bringing the thread down you're also admitting that you've run out of valid points. -No dogpiling. It's tempting to question someone over and over with a disenting opinion, sometimes though you're just going to have to agree to disagree. -No circular arguments for pages and pages. Again, see above. Sometimes you'll have to agree to disagree. If you can think of any other guidelines to add, PM me. There's a couple of other issues outstanding. The mods are currently discussing changing modding for politcal threads or moving all political threads to their own folder. If you have views on how this thread should be modded or where it should sit in the forum feel free to debate it in Announcements and feedback. (I'm not a mod so better to petition them than me.) Thanks again for the past few years of interesting discussion and debate. Original post below There's an interesting Kickstarter to fund a series of videos looking at tropes within videogames. And what's the problem with that? After all, culture should be studied. Furthermore she's looking at donations directly from interested parties. No-one could find that offensive right? It's not like she's sucking money from taxpayers, this is all user pays for content. And any study or critique should be welcomed as adding to the whole. Gaming has been around since the 60's and it's a sub-culture that should be studied and celebrated. Well according to http://www.rockpaper...s-the-internet/ http://www.newstates...e-anything-nice and http://www.metafilte...tgeek-critiques a minority group has raised an objection. That's right, middle class men believe that a feminst self funding a project that looks at some of the sexist tropes of videogames might be harmful to the culture and in a 'measured' response have urged Sarkeesian to perhaps think again and do something more constructive such as...well I'll allow RPS to do the round-up. For. Fucks. Sake. What a way to prove that gaming culture isn't infected by a misogynist streak a mile wide. I'd like to think it's getting better and we're getting more and more girl gamers joining the ranks all the time but shit, in my age group they've pretty much been driven to the edges of gaming culture. Because by the time you reach your mid 30's your tolerance for dealing with that sort of shit drops. I'm all for freedom of speech but I'm also all about the flip side. The consequences. I think idiots who want to threaten someone with rape over the internets should realise that they're leaving themselves open to criminal charges. So screw it. I'm dropping some cash on this just to spite the dickheads. Her Kickstarter is here http://www.kickstart...-in-video-games At least give it a look.

Given the confusion about whether or not Rockstar employees were forced to work overtime (paid or unpaid) and ethics of either persuading staff to work extra or forcing creatives to down tools I thought it might be wise to break out this thread for talk about this and previous instances (EA Spouse 2004, RDR Spouse 2010, Telltale 2018.) I was going to put together a megapost but this is moving so fast it's probably best to start talking about it here. Have at it!

In this BBC Newsbeat article, Dan Hay of Far Cry fame has said that "it's time for games to follow TV and film - and get political." After recent discussions on-and-off the forum about The Last Night and its political theme and whether it's possible to separate art from the artist, I now ask you: Do you think games should be political? Would you play a game that's heavily political, or would that put you off? Would you only play the game if it depicted a political stance in line with your own? Do politics have a place at all in the world of video games? What games do you know that are political and that you would recommend? So many questions! Discuss.

I was trying to think earlier about what new experiences or game genres we might see with the coming of VR and it occurred to me how good a really visceral first person boxing game could be in VR using the motion controllers. I'm really looking forward to driving in VR too and I've never been into either game type. What are you looking forward to playing in VR?

It's obviously escaped the notice of the powers that be, but we, England, are about to host THE OLYMPIC GAMES! Everyone everywhere is celebrating this wonderful event. Everyone everywhere it seems but rllmuk. It literally turns my stomach every time I log in here not to be greeted with some sort of Olympic ringed theme. Anyway, if there's anything I'm known for here it's my lack of photoshopping etc ability, so I'm unable to do the job myself. but it would be wonderful if someone could do an Olympic rllmuk logo, and then get it added to the masthead. Then we could all bathe in a warm and sticky Olympic glow no matter what thread we read. What say you, mates?