When I first heard about Anita Sarkeesian’s Tropes Vs. Women in Video Games initiative, I was somewhat apprehensive. I have previously been somewhat critical of her work, not so much for her message, but for the logic of some of the arguments. My concern was that the subject she was tackling and the attention she was getting was too big for her to screw up. Her insanely overfunded Kickstarter meant that the world would be watching. If done well, her commentary could become a touchstone for well considered game design. If done poorly, it could de-legitimize the whole argument and take the teeth out of what I believe to be a growing and positive movement towards equality in gaming.
I am, however, breathing a tentative sigh of relief. Her first episode is up and it’s pretty solid. Admittedly, the topic of damsels in distress is sort of low hanging fruit, but I think that was intentional and probably a good choice to get things rolling. Overall the video is full of facts and examples and obviously thorough research and what opinion is there is reasonably supported and not terribly preachy.
Good on you Sarkeesian. I don’t envy your position. Keep up the good work.
