When Did Gamers Decide Social Justice Was More Important Than Games?

Honestly, the gaming community is going to sh*t. I'm not talking about fanboys arguing back and forth, or trolls fanning the flames. I'm talking about the social justice warriors, and the idiot media that back them in their tireless, moronic crusades.

Right off the bat, before I go into the meat of the blog, I'm going to make one thing perfectly clear. Entertainment media is NEVER the place to make your social justice stand, or launch your political agendas. The fact that they can reach the masses is irrelevant. People want to be entertained, they don't want to be told how evil they are because they're straight white men, they don't want to feel bad for laughing at a joke that not everyone will get or think is funny, they don't want to have to think about what species of animal is in danger because a fictional character decided to wear non-existent fur. Entertainment media exists to entertain, not demonize.

Now that that's out of the way, the real issue that I'm on about with this blog is the stupidity of the people who are boycotting PAX due to a 3 year old comic. I'm not going to go into the details of the actual comic strip but suffice it to say, the comic strip made an incredibly mild and pretty lame rape joke. When the comic came out, it wasn't a problem and no one paid it any mind. Then, a few months later, a t-shirt line with Dickwolves on the shirts was released for sale by Penny Arcade and that stirred up a bit of controversy.

Fast Forward to now and the controversy has blown up to threats of boycotting PAX over a stupid comic strip.

This is the result of people thinking they can push their political correctness and political ideologies anywhere they want to. Jokes aren't allowed to push the limits any more or else we'll get another 12 video series by Anita Sarkeesian (whose whole operation is run, and was created by, her boyfriend. Link to that below) about how jokes like this further demean women (even though the comic didn't involve women), or articles from journalists talking about how disappointed they are with PAX and agree with boycotts, or Madam Sessler blowing something so ridiculously out or proportion that PAX (or something else) is forced to change just to stop the incessant whining.

It was the same thing with booth babes. Do you know how many people complained about booth babes? Sure, right now if you ask why you'll get the typical story of "they are just there to look pretty and don't know anything about the games" but dig far back enough and somewhere is someone saying booth babes are degrading to women and there's your start point.

So now, a yearly event for the gaming industry, is under the threat of boycott because of a comic strip that some people who don't have a sense of humour don't like? It's really come this far? This is absolutely ridiculous.

People should be allowed to make jokes without having to worry about the feelings of other people. If it's funny, then great, if it's not, then don't use it again. The attempt should never be forbidden because some person's sensibilities would be thrown out of whack otherwise. In fact, the late great Patrice O'Neal says it better on Fox which you can see right here.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

That video can definitely be applied to gaming today. How many times have you seen protests over GTA because it has something that some might consider too lewd? How many instances have we heard about where people are complaining about stupid trivialities because THEY PERSONALLY are offended? Offense IS A CHOICE! You CHOOSE to be offended by something. You can CHOOSE to NOT be offended and remove the power that that thing has over you.

When did gamers become less about games and more about political correctness and sparing everyone's feelings? Go play CoD online and you'll never see something like that but at PAX boycotts are being threatened over a lame, 3 year old joke? Rape Culture is a myth people. It was created by feminists to further their agenda of creating a matriarchy and making men look evil, which is why you will never see the term Rape Culture applied to men even though men can be, have been, and are raped just as much as women are though don't report it as often. Since Rape Culture doesn't exist and is impossible to exist (a debate that is a whole other blog entirely), how can the dickwolves joke be promoting rape culture?

Is this what gaming is going to become? Just a platform for every group that thinks it is entitled to whine about some perceived plight they allegedly have and thus censorship becomes dominant in the medium? Because that's what will happen folks. Gaming is a business, and PR is very important to business. Even if the developers, or in this case event promoters, don't do anything legitimately wrong, if enough people yell out in offense then unnecessary changes and censorship will happen to spare a PR headache and curb financial losses as a result.

Grow up and realize that you don't have to find every joke funny. If you don't find it funny, then that joke isn't meant for you. If you want to boycott something, boycott something worth boycotting, like anything that helps an unjust war to be waged.

We've all been able to come together and defend gaming from those who say it promotes violence and school shootings, yet this kind of thing destroys us from within? This world has taken political correctness and empathy way too far.

Anita Sarkeesian: The Early Years

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[PhantomTommy]

"Rape Culture is a myth people. It was created by feminists to further their agenda of creating a matriarchy and making men look evil, which is why you will never see the term Rape Culture applied to men even though men can be, have been, and are raped just as much as women are though don't report it as often."

Are you serious?

[DragonKnight]

Yes, I am serious. Rape culture is a myth, and look at the people who try to use it for their own needs.

[Software_Lover]

Tell that to the millions of boys/girls abducted every day for.................. rape.

I understand where you're coming from though, but this is one area I can't agree on. My church, right now, is build a building called Tabathas House. We will be giving shelter to women who have been rescued from these sex (rape) houses. many, like the Castro case, prisoners for years.

Sex trafficking is real. I'm a little iffy on the whole "rape culture" as you are, but I haven't done enough research on that matter to say either way. But something has to be done.

[DragonKnight]

Rape Culture isn't sex trafficking. Rape Culture, as defined and used by those who wish to use it, is the social promotion, and therefore by extension "acceptance" (even if slightly) of rape. Sex trafficking is a real problem, but in a world where a man can go to prison and be marked for life for being falsely accused of rape, no one can say that rape is promoted or accepted at all.

Just because someone tells a rape joke, like we have done in online games or on sites like these, doesn't mean rape is being promoted or is socially acceptable.

Sex traffickers need to be punished though.

[SilentNegotiator]

"Sex trafficking is a real problem, but in a world where a man can go to prison and be marked for life for being falsely accused of rape, no one can say that rape is promoted or accepted at all"

Adding on that, I studied criminal law for a short stint and it is unbelievable how many rape convictions are purely based on the alleged victim's account. And I'm not just talking about backalley rape where someone finds the victim bruised and unclothed with a man running away in a black and white striped t-shirt and ski mask, I mean instances where the people know each other and there is plenty of reasonable doubt as to what happened in the encounter. When people change their mind in the middle of sex and don't properly show that they want to back out, it can warp their account of what happened. I know that it's often very tough to find additional evidence, but that's no cause to ignore reasonable doubt.

The only rape culture I see is a culture of people that want to convict at any cost and I think that outweighs any supposed "acceptance" of rape that exists.

[SeraphimBlade]

I'm with Tommy here. Stopped listening to everything you said right there, and I'll be blocking you later.

I guess I've chosen to be offended. You seem like every bit the conspiracy theorist you make women like Anita Sarkeesian out to be. Free speech and everything, but now you just seem like another nutbar who think women are out to take away his fun.

By the way, rape is considered a women's issue because, while men can be and are raped, women are nearly incapable of being the perpetrator. They are almost without exception the victim. I don't know where you're getting your numbers. Maybe, MAYBE it does happen to men a fair number, but it's almost never committed by women. If I wasn't at work right now, maybe I'd look up statistics, but you know what? You're not worth the trouble anyway.

Grow up or get the hell out.

EDIT: You know what? I should have stopped at the headline. I mean REALLY?! You think that isn't a case of just having your priorities straight?!

[DragonKnight]

You clearly need to do research because your knowledge is lacking.

"but now you just seem like another nutbar who think women are out to take away his fun."

No, not women in general. Women in general aren't like Anita Sarkeesian or the children boycotting PAX. Those people are trying to ruin our fun as much as Jack Thomson and his crusade against GTA was, or Fox News and their attack against Mass Effect. The people, like you apparently, who choose to be offended rather than be adults and let things go. Hell, most rape victims don't actually want to be out in the spotlight the way these people use them.

"rape is considered a women's issue because, while men can be and are raped, women are nearly incapable of being the perpetrator."

That is laughably ignorant. Women are completely capable of being the perpetrator. Unlike women, men actually have a biological mechanism to induce erections by force. If you don't know what that is, look up how David Carrdine died. Rape is also not solely limited to sex by way of physical force.

"Maybe, MAYBE it does happen to men a fair number, but it's almost never committed by women."

And? Rape is rape no matter who is committing it to whom. It isn't a crime that discriminates no matter what feminist agenda and mangina apologisers wish to claim.

"Grow up or get the hell out."

Ironic. You chose to be offended because of who and what I called out and threw a tantrum in the comments, you are quite clearly a person who also doesn't have an adult sense of humour given your presence here, and yet I'm the one that's supposed to grow up and get the hell out.

If you can't handle that people don't need to be made to feel like they're terrible people because they enjoy an innocuous joke and feel like the people boycotting PAX are right, kindly join the other Puritan/Pro-Censorship individuals in their sterile lives surrounded by plain white walls and leave the rest of us alone.

[SeraphimBlade]

I meant that part about blocking you, so I hope you're not trying to address me in that post. Don't waste your bubbles. :)

[DragonKnight]

And yet you replied to me. I don't care about bubbles.

[SeraphimBlade]

Before I walk away altogether (for all I know, you've blocked me too by now):

Women didn't need to invent rape culture to make men look evil. Men like you are doing that just fine on your own.

[SilentNegotiator]

"rape is considered a women's issue because, while men can be and are raped, women are nearly incapable of being the perpetrator. They are almost without exception the victim"

Men are often the victim of rape from other men. Just because women aren't usually perpetrators of it, doesn't mean that they're alone in being victims.

[theEx1Le]

I'm sorry, but your comment is full of complete ignorance it is baffling how you can even string together a reason to consider Dragon a nutbar as you put it.

I do not agree with what he said but damn if he is right on one thing. People will read up to a point in a joke or article, make a judgement and then either ignore the rest out of offense or look at the rest through ignorance tinted glasses, pushing their view onto others without having or wanting objectivity. Enjoy your bubble my friend, ignorance is bliss eh.

EDIT: I would also like to point out that I have always been against the use of rape terms by gamers. It never felt like it fitted the context of what was happening, from a call of duty lobby to the comic strip your talking about.

[SilentNegotiator]

In any case, things like "dickwolves" don't encourage "rape culture" anymore than Fred Sanford "coming for Elizabeth" trivializes how people view heart disease.

People, that don't have sticks in their rears, know the difference between a joke and reality. We can laugh about wolves made out of erect penises torturing cartoon prisoners and cry when a real person is the victim of rape.

[zerocrossing]

I'll say this, it's gotten incredibly difficult to differentiate between those who have genuine concerns, and honestly want to do real good by trying to change gaming culture for the better, from those who have a personal agenda and/or want to enforce their ideals on others regardless of whether or not there is any real harm being done to begin with.

And another thing, telling rape jokes isn't the same as condoning rape, same goes for racist jokes, not condoning racism, gay jokes not promoting homophobia and men/women jokes not inherently being demeaning to the opposite sex.

They're all jokes after all, so nobody is supposed to be taking them seriously, often the only ones taking offence to such jokes are those who have an agenda and/or aim to profit from doing so.

[DragonKnight]

THIS! A million times this. If I could agree with you a million times I would. Dickwolves is just a joke. It's not even funny, but not in the sense of offensive it's just lame. It's joke. People need to get over it.

I don't know why people think they can turn any avenue of entertainment into a launchpad for political agendas. Half the time you look at people who complain about this and the only response that can be mustered, at least by me is "*sigh* Really?"

[zerocrossing]

Really surprised how much controversy came about because of something so low brow and lame as "Dickwolves" I mean I get the joke and all but it's not my kind of humour, that doesn't mean other people can't enjoy it though.

Cause like you say, it's joke, just that, nothing more...

[-Gespenst-]

The notion of free speech, as you understand it, is completely and utterly untenable on a world populated by millions of people. Part of what it is to be human is to live in a world with billions of others, and so you simply can't just do and say whatever you please. It's wilfully ignorant and irresponsible. Humour and satire has it's place, I'd never dispute that, but there has to be a line. In no situation can actual rape be considered a good thing or something to be made light of. (Note that some of the fetishes of the BDSM community are NOT the same as rape)

[-Gespenst-]

Some things simply aren't suitable for joking about though. You have to make an effort to empathise with victims. If a whole culture is making jokes about rape, it means that in that culture, people find rape to be suitable as comedic fodder, which is highly inconsiderate to rape victims who certainly exist in great number, within that very society and culture. You get a culture of trivialisation.

The problem with this is that, to people who ever never experienced the horrors of rape, the reality of it becomes shaped by the jokes about it. The reality of rape is replaced in people's minds by the "joke reality" of it- they pad the issue with humour. In a culture where rape is trivialised so pervasively, you get a false understanding of rape; you get people who find it hard to think about rape without laughing. If rape is actually seen as something that non-serious, it't not that much of a stretch to suggest that such an understanding could influence rape statistics for the worst. Not to mention that people will do anything to "fit in", and if rape is the trending thing to joke about, people are going to start parroting that in their social desperation.

There's also this- a less abstract and more immediate effect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

[DragonKnight]

I can see your point, but I think you're exaggerating a bit. Society won't ever view something as serious as rape by the lens of comedy. It will always be viewed by the lens of law. The real danger to rape trivialization isn't jokes, it's the pitiful sentences handed out for rape.

For example this...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...

The rapist got 30 days in jail. 30. And the child committed suicide as a result. This shows potential rapists that they can get away with the crime with but a slap on the hand and does far more damage than any rape joke does.

Trying to turn something that may be controversial into a joke is actually a method of removing the power of fear and control it has over people. It's the same thing with black comedians who want white people to be able to use the N word without fear of reciprocation so that they in turn may be able to say whatever they want. It isn't about trying to offend, it's about trying to remove the power of that offense.

A rape joke will rarely be funny because it's not something that's generally considered to be funny. The only time a rape joke is funny is when a master comedian has spent a lot of time perfecting it to be funny. But just because a joke isn't funny doesn't mean we have the right to demonize people for the attempt of making the joke. If we did that throughout history, we'd never have humour at all.

You wouldn't be able to tell a "A Catholic Priest and a Jewish Rabbi walk into a bar" joke. You wouldn't be able to talk about your nagging wife or idiot husband because it'd be deemed as denigrating that gender. So the choice has to be, do we censor ALL jokes because someone might be offended, or do we expect people to be adults and realize that a joke, so long as the intent isn't to purposely offend or anger, is a joke and you don't have to laugh at it but you shouldn't be allowed to tell someone they can't say it?

[-Gespenst-]

Well anything that treats the reality of rape disproportionately is bad really.

Also, why should people not fear rape? It's a dreadful thing? Society should fear it and do everything in it's power to remove it. Also, to joke about sensitive things in order to neutralise their sensitive content doesn't seem positive to me. Spouting the n-word so irresponsibly and without consideration for the past and the violent history of the word doesn't at all seem progressive. It is to me a kind of selectivity or a naivete, and is kind of irreverent to those who suffered across history- it does them a huge disservice. You shouldn't really try to erase these atrocities from cultural memory. It guarantees their recurrence.

I'd also question the assumption that comedy needs sensitive material to be funny. That certainly isn't true, and it's a pathological trend in comedic thought. We've acquired that particular sense of humour somewhere down the line.

Also, this isn't really about censorship. Censorship implies some sort of agenda. It implies a discursive boundary within which control and power can be exerted over others. This isn't about that. This is about responsibility, the consideration of others, and empathy. It's about attending to and adjusting our language. In fact, though he's not a scholarly figure, Jim Sterling says it well here:

http://www.gamingaswomen.co...

I know you won't appreciate the sexism theme, but Jim makes a pretty good point that encompasses all such social movements.

Actually I'll just quote him: "As far as how it’s felt, I’d have to say there’s an energizing element to it. People believe that choosing your words to be more gender-neutral, elimating words that can be uniquely insulting, is “censorship,” that it restricts how you write and speak. Far from it, it’s only encouraged me to be more creative, to seek a fresh presentation and open myself up to a whole new vocabularly."

[ohyousillypotato]

and people ask why more girls don't play video games. it's because when we try to participate in the community, we're met with awful, misogynist bullshit like this. wow. the scum of the earth on the front page of n4g. it's sad to see the state of things these days.

[zerocrossing]

Your comment might have more weight behind it if your account weren't only created moments ago...

See, this is another issue here on N4G, users creating multiple accounts in order to go about spreading their personal opinions and faulty ideals, making it seem as if many others share them.

[ohyousillypotato]

this is my first account, i made it so i could reply to this post. simple as that.

[DragonKnight]

Honey, I'm not stopping you from playing video games, you are. Both of my sisters, and my niece, are avid gamers and that's because I encouraged them to be.

Learn what misogyny means before you use it against someone and learn to let things go. Women gamers are great, feminists using gaming as a launchpad to whine about everything and throw out buzzwords like misogyny is not a great thing.

You want to participate in the community, then participate. Censorship is not participation, it's control. What you're really saying is you want to participate in such a way as you don't have to be exposed to certain elements. Well I'm sorry but everyone has to deal with things they would rather not deal with and when it's something minor and stupid like dickwolves, you have to grow up and move on.

Imagine what the world would be like if every person were followed by a psychic censor who'd shock them just before they said something that might offend someone regardless of intent. Does it sound fun to you to live in a world where the ground is broken glass, and you're barefoot and have to be careful of the weight you put into your steps?

[ohyousillypotato]

i know exactly what misogyny means. it's your understanding of the concept that i'm calling into question. you say that rape culture doesn't exist, that it's just angry feminists trying to make men look evil. if you can't see any misogyny in that statement, then you're a lost cause.
i see that you talk a lot about "growing up". but the thing is, a huge part of growing up is learning in which situations your opinion matters. as a man, your opinion on what women should be angry about isn't important. this isn't to say that you're unintelligent or that you don't matter as a person- just that there are topics that don't affect you in the way they do others. for example: i'm white, so my opinion on whether or not other races should be offended by a "dumb joke" is moot. i've never been subject to the same experiences that they have, just like you've never had to deal with rape culture like women do.
if someone tells you that what you said is offensive, what you should do is apologize and try not to make that same mistake again, not cut them down and label them as oversensitive or bitchy. the thing about a community is that, in order for it to function well, everyone in it has to respect one another. the complete lack of respect for women's opinions in the gaming community is appalling. you say we should just ignore the bad parts, but it's hard to participate when the vast majority seems to be actively fighting against your participation.
and i'm not your honey. don't patronize me.

[LoveOfTheGame]

@ohyousillypotato

"i see that you talk a lot about "growing up". but the thing is, a huge part of growing up is learning in which situations your opinion matters. as a man, your opinion on what women should be angry about isn't important."

Yet here you are, a women, giving your opinion on why he should not be upset about this.

If all we ever do is think of each other as separate groups that should alienate everyone else who are not the same, we will never gain an understanding and push society forward as a whole.

But, I guess your ideas make sense, I mean look at all the trouble Lincoln caused by having an opinion about slavery. Thanks to him the Black community is in a much worse place./s

[-Gespenst-]

Wow... "Honey"? Really? Talk about patronising. Why would you use that word? Are all women children to you? It also has sexual undertones. Very sleazy. How can you not see / hear that?

It's not proper in this discussion to start using words like that. It trivialises the whole thing- makes it seem like it's not a big issue and that the girl is somehow being immature or something.

To be honest, you usage of such a word is very telling about how subconsciously and unwittingly you fit into the whole gender debate. Where you even thinking when you used that word?

[rainslacker]

I don't mean to trivialize your arguments, because you make some fair points. But who is asking why more girls don't play video games? That to me implies that there is a significant number of people who are accepting of having women play video games, which really goes against your claim that the community is misogynistic.

I found zero's and dragon's reply to you to be rather condescending, so I'll put my opinion out there.

Gaming is a community. Trying to force a change by expecting wide sweeping changes to social issues that exist everywhere isn't going to work the way it's being done now. Things like this take time, and the individuals that dragon addresses in his blog tend to do so in a way that puts everyone on the defensive.

There is a lot of crap that people, regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation have to put up with when it comes to gaming, but what I've found in these discussions is that they tend to generalize everyone into a single group. Almost the entire community is being made out to be the oppressors of women, homosexuals, minority races, etc.

The fact that you dismiss others opinions because we are not subject to the same things and therefore could never understand such things is rather insulting. One does not need to be able to have the ability to experience a horror, to be able to empathize with what it may mean to another person. They may never fully understand how it feels, but more people have respect for others than those that go out of their way to be offensive. The fact(by your assertion) that there aren't more women gamers is because they don't take the time to actually find the people who will respect them, and instead blame their woes on the entire community.

Also, point of fact, women make up over 50% of the game players in world. Men just tend to be more vocal, and spend more money on games. If you want change, if you want this misogynist view to go away, maybe stop hiding away from the community and speak your mind. You want men to understand women to make your gaming better? Then give them a reason to respect you. Respect is earned, not given. If you want every troll and ass-hat on the internet to respect you, then none of these internet crusaders will help you, because it will never happen, and it is exactly what dragon said...a political agenda being pushed into our entertainment, and something I want nothing of because, to date, none of the arguments have been worthwhile, meaningful, or even convincing. As a woman, you should demand better, because it's plainly obvious that it is entirely ineffective.

Otherwise, welcome to the community. Speak your mind. But if you go on the offensive with every comment, don't blame others later for them being rude to you.

[Garrison]

I've wondered after just reading the intro to this garbage how did it even get approved. I wont even go into details on how utterly idiotic this line of thinking is. I'm just hoping that anyone who reads it fully understands that this knucklehead doesn't represent in any way shape or form what N4G readers think.
Looks like one of those cases in which the author actually came up with the childish idea that he must enlighten us with his truthful and honest self-serving ideal of what to feel about entertainment and its reasons for existence.
Nothing to see here folks.

[thorstein]

I agree. When he said being offended is a choice... I can "choose" not to be offended? I can choose not by child porn or child rape? (Sandusky of Penn State)

That is a seriously flawed line of thinking.

[rainslacker]

You don't choose whether you're offended or not, that tends to be a subconscious thing in most cases based on your own experiences. How you handle that offense is what I think he was trying to get at.

I don't particularly agree with him on all his points, if any on the main subject, but I do feel that he is right that there is way to much politicization going on within the community, or rather with those that wish to take advantage of the community for their own purposes.

I think the fact that he focused on one particular subject, kind of made it so people made up their minds on what he was trying to get at overall, at least I assume. That is, people don't really have a right to say what we are allowed to laugh at or believe just because it doesn't fit into their own perceptions of the way the world should be. Those kinds of discussions are left for philosophical debate.

Change is needed when an -ism becomes discrimination. To date, I'm not aware of any game of merit that actually discriminates against anyone. Outside of a**holes in general, I'm not aware of anyone that actually discriminates against others, just says disrespectful things, which you can CHOOSE to ignore or address.

[LostDjinn]

Welcome to the world.

People will force their agenda onto anyone they feel they can through any means available. It's how people work. It's why gaming can't just be about games. It's why people can't be equal. It's why people take offense at jokes (although in this case it depends on how tasteful the joke is).

We all have sensibilities and we all have lines we don't like crossed. Some people are genuine and sincere with the way the address mature topics and can discuss them. Some people are childish and incapable of adult discourse. Some completely invalidate the subject by using it to further some unrelated goal (money, influence, etc.) which diminishes it's impact.

Point is that people are people and you can call them out for their actions. You can agree with them. You can dismiss them but ultimately the only persons behavior you're responsible for is your own.

People (and I mean all people) just need to show a little more respect to each other and a lot of the worlds problem would be far easier to deal with.

Edit: One to many "needs" (I had to get rid of it). I didn't want to come across as too needy. :P

[The_Klank]

This is my opinion, jokes are jokes, that's it,
Rape jokes is a big topic in comedy circles
here http://www.youtube.com/watc...

This is a topic that's bigger than just gaming.

[DestinyHeroDoomlord]

Best comments section ever, you know with everyone using big words and all...

[coolbeans]

-When it comes to what inspired this whole thing (one of the PA guys saying that pulling said joke and it's apparel was a mistake), I'm kind of surprised that's cropped such a response since it was just playing with the silly name-game designers use for MMO's or regular RPG's (girtheagle, tonguehawk, etc).

-"Rape Culture is a myth people. It was created by feminists to further their agenda of creating a matriarchy and making men look evil, which is why you will never see the term Rape Culture applied to men even though men can be, have been, and are raped just as much as women are though don't report it as often."

A little bit of right, a lot wrong, some up for debate.

The first key issue is the "furthering their agenda of creating a matriarchy" part. You see, when you look at the history of how this subject was actually tossed away in the mid-1900's (I think 50's or 60's), it's not surprising to see second-wave feminists bring this into light. You can look up old states' records to see just how often the criminal proceedings took their sights on the women and HER behavior ("prostitute looking for it," "she had it coming with her apparel," etc.) rather than the assaulter. I'm pretty sure New York State's incarceration rate of rapists was such a low number during a certain timeline because of that outlook on the issue by judges and juries. Having that group of feminists make books that would disclose first-person accounts of these ordeals is what brought on the understanding of how it's more about power and control more than anything else.

And seeing how the reaction and research to this type of stuff catapulted great ideas like rape crisis centers and heightened awareness of the issue, it's bunkum to claim the whole rape culture myth (I'll admit, smarter people than I with more research on this HAVE challenged it) was some kind of grand conspiracy to get fems one step closer to a matriarchy.

Men "can be" part is absolutely correct. The "have been" and "are" can be real toss-ups when considering how many are believed to be unreported so I'm not sure how you can be that confident especially when all compiled evidence I've seen disproves those assertions.

-"Just a platform for every group that thinks it is entitled to whine about some perceived plight they allegedly have and thus censorship becomes dominant in the medium? Because that's what will happen folks." etc.

A.) To pretend getting some invalid or valid criticism about offensive, stupid, etc. content by a minority of people can lead to censorship being dominant in this industry after the likes of Brown vs. EMA or the boundaries games (AAA or no) have pushed recently is stretched to say the very least.

B.) Games are also officially considered art as well. And if an artist has a pushing-the-envelope idea that may turn some heads or lose him/her money, can't we just as easily predict he/she will hold true to the original look under scrutiny in the name of artistic vision? Or if it actually was changed AFTER seeing/hearing said scrutiny, isn't it also possible to assume the artist themselves have had a change in perspective instead of pandering/selling-out?