How I feel about women in media -- and some of my personal experiences being one -- was the focus of the talk I gave last month in Toronto at TIFF Nexus, and the video of my keynote is finally online for you to watch! Bear with me: I was incredibly intimidated by the amazing honor of having been invited to speak, and I don't speak so fast nor drop so many 'um's during the talk as I do in the first ten minutes, ha.
During the talk I namecheck Harmonix's Matt Boch, since I was so struck by what he said at NYU's PRACTICE event about gender as performance in Dance Central. Although unfortunately I didn't get that quote down in my initial coverage of his lecture then, ultimately I followed up with him for a larger interview on what exactly that means, and that's now up at Gamasutra, too -- his perspective is fascinating and I highly urge you to read it.
UPDATE! Kirk Hamilton responds at Kotaku, with 'On Playing Dance Central 2 while male.'
Those Harmonix folks are seriously cool people, by the way, as I had the fortune to observe when I was invited in to do an in-depth studio profile that ran in OXM back in the summer. Check it out if you missed it the first go 'round.
Also, toward the end of the talk I paraphrase a Seth Killian quote from PRACTICE regarding misogyny in the Street Fighter community, and the actual quote plus context in Stephen Totilo's coverage over at Kotaku.
On the subject of cool people, my friend Denis Farr writes a follow-up at Kotaku about some of his thoughts since the time he first spoke out on the site as a gay gamer who has experienced homophobia (trigger warnings for such, natch), using this Blizzcon incident as a launching point. He is brave and honest and both of his articles are worth your time.
I have absolutely no time for nor interest in the kind of people to whom these voices and perspectives are somehow unwanted (I mean, I'll forgive you if you don't sit through my whole keynote, but you get what I mean). Games are for fun, we can play, etc., but as in all things we should all aim to be the kind of people who care about where one another are coming from and who are willing to listen.
That seems really, really basic to me.
[Today's Good Song (via thisismyjam.com, use it!): An unexpectedly awesome cover of Neil Young's 'Down By The River' by the Dutch Rhythm & Steel Show Band)]
6 comments:
Yeah people can be jerks out there. I think as a community we should not divide but unite as well. Being at MAG Fest at the national harbor really made me feel great to be a gamer. Everyone was nice and didn't matter how bad or good you were at games.
As someone wisely put it recently, bringing more inclusiveness to gaming - and challenging the increasingly angry and territorial status quo - is, at its heart, something many gamers are already used to: a great big level grind. It might seem like we're doing the same thing over and over with little result, but that gold Chocobo we're eventually going to get? TOTALLY worth it. Thanks for helping to provide the Sylkis greens.
Zeio Nuts
Your articles covering Harmonix gives a lot to think about, so much depth there, ty for sharing it. The TIFF Nexus keynote's humour had me chuckling a long time 'boys clutching their joysticks'. Your experience as a gaming journalist adds so much value to our understanding of the industry, keep up the good work Leigh and the 'converts' will follow ;)
Uuugh. I couldn't read through that entire cringe-worthy Kotaku article. The amount of people who feel their privilege is under attack by any progress towards equality is sooo depressing. I'm glad people such as yourself routinely speak out against such bullshit. I try to do my part, but it really is exhausting.
I just thought that I would drop by to say that I really enjoyed your keynote. Thanks for making it so personal.
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