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(10/11/18 8:47pm)
by Shwetha Sundarrajan
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte's editorial board.
Back in September, conservative writer Mark Judge was accused alongside Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford. It turns out that Judge is also a staunch supporter of Gamergate, the widespread online harassment of several women in the gaming industry.
For those who’ve never heard of #GamerGate, proponents of the controversial online movement claimed they only dealt with ethics in game journalism and with protecting the "gamer" identity. Although the movement has resulted in the sustained harassment of several prominent female game writers and creators such as Zoë Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian, supporters like Mark Judge argue that their movement is strictly advocating for a victimized demographic (white men) and fighting against corruption in game journalism.
But what does Mark Judge have to do with #GamerGate?
This July, Judge wrote a scathing article on feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian, #GamerGate, and feminism, branding Sarkeesian’s entire message on female representation in the gaming industry as political correctness.
In Sarkeesian’s three-part video series Damsel in Distress: Tropes vs Women in Video Games, she argues that “the damsel-in-distress trope disempowers female characters and robs them of the chance to be heroes in their own right.”
While Sarkeesian uses plenty of examples ranging from Starfox to Legend of Zelda to prove her point, Judge still characterizes her arguments as “overly broad, deceptive, and full of specific errors.”
Judge goes on to outline the strategy of Sarkeesian and other “social justice warriors” as “raising an issue, shame critics by appealing to emotion, bully, express a lot of rage and personal hurt, guilt opponents into acquiescence, then move on to the next target.”
Whereas in reality, the situation is reversed. It’s people like Judge and Youtubers such as Repzion and AlphaOmegaSin (who he mentions in the article) that shame and bully women like Sarkeesian for expressing their opinions.
In backlash for her video series, Sarkeesian has been the target of thousands of death and rape threats, account hackings, and a barrage of abuse on her social media platforms.
In a Tumblr post regarding the harassment she received, Sarkeesian addressed her haters with a short message and posted several tweets directed to her account.
“I’ve been harassed on a daily basis by irate gamers angry at my critiques of sexism in video games. It can sometimes be difficult to effectively communicate just how bad this sustained intimidation campaign really is,” Sarkeesian said.
In light of the Kavanaugh hearings, society has seen how entitlement plays a fundamental role in the thinking of powerful men such as Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge. In Judge’s follow-up piece Why Do Feminist Video Game Critics Want to Ban Male Fantasies? Judge alleges that Sarkeesian, “wants to ban men from having sexual fantasies.” He goes on to commoditize women, trying to justify his argument. “So, when guys play video games, they like to fantasize about enduring hardship and making it through difficult obstacles to be rewarded at the end (or sooner) with the attention of a gorgeous, sexy woman? And this is a problem?”
Yes, Mark Judge, it is. According to a study done by Case Western Reserve University, researchers found that “entitled men were more likely to endorse views of women as manipulative, deceptive, and untrustworthy -- attitudes, which past research has shown are predictors of violence toward women.”
And Judge sure seems to think Sarkeesian and all other “social justice warriors” are out to ruin video games for males. “It seems increasingly evident that Anita Sarkeesian, the feminist critic of alleged sexism in video games, wants to ban men from having sexual fantasies,” Judge said.
Gaming is often seen as a male-dominated field which makes it difficult for women to break into the market as developers and critics. Even the few women who work in the gaming industry are bullied and harassed by their co-workers and the public. In an article from the Guardian, experts weighed in on the lack of inclusivity in the gaming industry.
“Gamergate is an example of the shortcomings,” says Damilola Odelola founder of another diversity initiative, Blackgirl.tech, which provides free workshops introducing black women to technology, including virtual reality and coding. “There was a public outcry, but the issue wasn’t addressed properly by the industry. The reaction felt superficial.”
While society as a whole is seeing a push towards equality between men and women, #Gamergate and the Kavanaugh hearings show that we still have a long way to go.
(10/11/18 4:00pm)
by Katherine Simon
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
In an era where media has made great leaps and bounds with positive representation of social minorities and making sure sensitive subjects are handled tactfully, it can be really frustrating to see ignorant writers producing problematic content despite the strides toward a more progressive media landscape. No film encapsulates this frustration better than Netflix’s Sierra Burgess is a Loser. To give a quick synopsis, the film centers around high school student Sierra Burgess, an unpopular student who is constantly bullied for her appearance and social awkwardness. One of Sierra’s bullies, Veronica, decides to give Sierra’s number out to a guy named Jamey, telling him that it’s actually her number. Once Sierra and Jamey start talking, they start to hit it off and Sierra has to keep Jamey convinced that he’s dating Veronica in order to keep the relationship afloat.
When the film was released, a lot of people were upset with the movie’s insensitivity towards LGBT and disabled communities, romanticism of catfishing, and the overall poor quality of the film’s writing—to the point where a petition to get the film removed from Netflix has gained over 6000 signatures. While I do consider myself to be anti-censorship and believe that online petitions are easily one of the most egregious forms of online slacktivism, the film itself is still extremely problematic and, even if it’s too late to remove the film, it still deserves of all the criticism it’s received.
(10/11/18 6:45pm)
Jordan Rhodes is a senior english major who writes "Shepard’s Corner" for The Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Jordan at jbrhodes@bsu.edu
(10/12/18 3:00pm)
Kennedi Barnett is a sophomore journalism news major and writes "Kennedi’s Kaleidoscope" for The Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Kennedi at kpbarnett@bsu.edu.
(10/10/18 8:55pm)
In this week's episode of How It's Played, we are discussing cross-platform gaming. Sony finally caved to allowing cross-platform gaming in Fortnite. What does this mean for the gaming community? What all does cross-platform entail? All of this and more on this week's episode of How It's Played.
(10/07/18 8:00pm)
by Ian Roesler
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
4chan is one of the most ubiquitous websites on the internet. It is the stereotype of the internet. The most internet place on the internet. Take all the mundane parts, all the weird parts, all the racist, sexist, etc. parts, and put them all on one website and presto chango, you have 4chan. The website also shows what we as humanity can accomplish when we work together.
(10/05/18 4:26pm)
by Baylie Clevenger
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
Shane Dawson has had a long career with YouTube and, over time, he has become one of the most popular creators with more than 17 million subscribers. Over the last few years, his content had matured and gotten more serious. He went from skits with little to no meaning to hard hitting docuseries like “The Truth about Tanacon” and “The Secret Life of Jeffree Star.”
These docuseries have been highly controversial as the people who have been featured, like Jeffree Star and Tana Mongeau, have been the faces of huge controversies. Dawson is continuing this theme with his new series, “The Mind of Jake Paul.”
This has been no less controversial as Jake Paul is one of the most talked-about internet personalities and people have incredibly strong opinions about him.
When Dawson announced that this new series would be about Jake Paul, the internet was set ablaze with opinions about his decision. People took to social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter to express their lack of support for this upcoming series.
(10/04/18 1:00pm)
Justice Amick is a senior telecommunications journalism major and writes “Pencil Shavings" for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Justice at jramick@bsu.edu.
(10/04/18 6:00pm)
John Lynch is a freshman Journalism news major and writes “Manifesto" for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to John at jplynch@bsu.edu.
(10/03/18 7:00pm)
Derivative: Adjective, Imitative of the work of another person, and usually disapproved of for that reason. To take it straight from the dictionary, a derivative work is something that we’ve seen time and time again, to the point of being shunned for its’ lack of innovation. Nowhere is this more commonplace than the horror genre. For every movie about a mythical serial killer, you get sixteen more trying to ape its’ success. For every movie about evil aliens trying to exterminate the human race, you get twenty different movies sent to theaters because they gave their alien one more antenna than the one before it. For every movie about a haunted doll, a cabin in the woods, a haunted house…you can guess where it goes from there.
(10/03/18 4:00pm)
Disclaimer: This review is of the Android version and was conducted on a Samsung Galaxy S6
(10/03/18 1:00pm)
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode of God Friended Me.
(09/29/18 9:33pm)
For people who were in the know, 2017 was the year of Brockhampton. In a span of six months, the self-described “boy band” released three albums, Saturation, Saturation ll, and Saturation lll, filled with some of the most charismatic, catchy, wonderfully produced hip hop of the decade.
(09/28/18 6:46am)
Blake Williamson is a junior journalism major who writes "Blake's Beats" for The Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Blake at bdwilliamson@bsu.edu.
(09/28/18 4:00pm)
This review is based off the Xbox One version of the game.
(09/28/18 1:00pm)
Guerilla Toss is no stranger to new-wave and art pop, but on ‘Twisted Crystal’, they expand their sound on all fronts with surf rock sounds, chopped up, vaporizing synths, and drum machines that make up a truly unique production. All the members bring something new to the table in each song with entertaining performances that feel fresh and exciting. In only half an hour, Guerilla Toss takes you on an adventure through space and time.
(09/27/18 6:16pm)
by Tanner Kinney
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
Warner Bros. has a problem. The market is booming with superheroes and superhero accessories, with Marvel making a killing, and pseudo-superhero films fairing pretty well too. Meanwhile, DC was recently coming off the Christopher Nolan Batman films when this trend started, and so they attempted to keep that style. As it turns out, audiences don’t react well to dark, gritty, confusing, and boring superhero films. They managed to squander one of the most anticipated film concepts with Batman v. Superman, and not even their big ensemble Justice League movie did well. Now, with news of various characters like Batman, Superman, and The Joker getting recast due to their original actors abandoning the project, it seems like DC’s ship has holes that can’t be plugged by CGI lips and reshoots.
Can Warner Bros. still save their superhero goldmine? Or has it already gone too far towards collapse that it can’t be saved? Let’s examine what DC has coming up soon, and if there’s even a slim chance that they can start making money again.
(09/27/18 3:30pm)
Stephanie Amador is a senior photojournalism major and writes “Café con Leche” for The Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Stephanie at skamador@bsu.edu.
(09/25/18 4:30am)
by Matthew Yapp
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
Our world is filled with heroes. Men and women in capes with god-like powers protecting the innocent from the clutches of evil. Unfortunately for us, all those heroes happen to exist on the pages of comics or on the big screen.
Far too often it feels like the real people we interact with are playing super-villains, egotistical maniacs terrorizing our life for reasons that we just can’t quite sympathize with. At least that was the case for me. Many of my early years were spent in anguish giving me a tragic backstory that would make even the likes of Batman feel bad for me.
I won’t bore you with the details; however, to lay the scene you need to understand that in my adolescence, I was crushed by a sense of doubt and self-hatred that was reinforced by my surroundings. This left me unsure about a lot of things; the main one, however, was always, “What am I going to do to not turn into the people who’ve hurt me?”
(09/25/18 4:26am)
by Tt Shinkan
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
Comic books play a huge role in my life. They’re the reason I love to draw, why I workout, why I try to be the best person I can be. I’ve loved superheros ever since I can remember. Today, comic book movies are just as popular as that stupid Fortnite dance. Everyone has seen at least one Marvel movie and can say they’re a fan of a certain character.
Everyone who knows me knows I’m a huge Wolverine fan as well as an even bigger X-Men fan. I can tell you probably all there needs to be known about the misfit mutant team, but the number one reason why I like them is because they are different. They were born with this unique gift. Every character has this power that makes them unique as well as having something that drives them to be a hero. I feel like I related to them simply because I’m a little different. I’m a girl who enjoys boyish things. Actually, I was a huge tomboy when I was younger. I still consider myself one, but I have since become more “girly” and I really enjoy dressing in cute outfits. Of course I love wearing graphic tees and baseball caps. I embrace the things that make me different, much like these mutants embrace their extraordinary abilities.
However, I can remember a time in my life when comic movies and comics in general weren’t as popular as they are today, and I was actually pretty embarrassed to like them, since girls my age weren’t typically into them. For that, we’re going to have to take a trip back to 2009, back when this girl was just starting the most awkward time of her life: middle school.
Okay, let’s face it, middle school isn’t the best three years of any of our lives. We’re still figuring out who we are as an individual, not to mention puberty. And with those things comes the need to fit in much like how at first, newly fledged mutants want to be normal. Middle schoolers are mean little creatures; they’ll make fun of those not “popular” and “different”. I was one of those “different” girls back in middle school. In elementary school, everyone knew I was into superheros and that I loved Wolverine, but now that I was in a school that contained kids from all three Munster elementary schools, there were a lot of people who didn’t know me. And much like a mutant kid hiding their powers from everyone, I then had to try to hide something that I loved so much. Something that makes me, me. And let me tell you, it was hard.
I felt really weird wearing a simple superhero T-shirt around school because I was afraid people would think I was weird. People already thought I was a bully simply because of my athletic body type. Of course that quickly ended after everyone learned how friendly I was, but me trying to build up enough courage to embrace my comic book love took some time. After tests and during study hall when I didn’t have homework to do, I would read one of my graphic novels. X-Force was my favorite series at the time because it included two of my favorite heroes: Wolverine and X-23. I would bring in one of the hardback graphic novels to school, but take off the cover because I didn’t want anyone to see me reading it. All of this sounds stupid right? Well, it was, but because I felt so weird being a girl who liked something that was meant for boys, I felt like I needed to hide it. I was essentially hiding my mutant power from the world.
But just like Professor X confronted new mutants and took them to the X Mansion, I too, had my own X Mansion: art class. Art class allowed me to be myself. My teachers, much like the Professor, encouraged me to draw what I wanted, and what I wanted to draw were superheros. My 6th grade art teacher even bought a Marvel calendar because she knew I would like it. Most of my projects incorporated some form of comic book related subject matter. Did the kids in my class make fun of me and mock me for it? Sorta. Did I care? Nope! I was finally in my element and I was finally able to embrace what made me, me.
I was put into Honors Art for the rest of middle school, and the teacher for it was a huge advocate for my superhero-inspired artwork. Much like a veteran X-Men helping a new student with their powers, he would help me with the different projects we had to do and figured out ways to incorporate a hero element into them. Today, I’m thankful for both of my art teachers for allowing me to come out of my shell.
By 8th grade everyone knew about my love for comic books and no one cared anymore. The Marvel Cinematic Universe was just starting to become mainstream, and more and more people were getting into comics. In fact, people would ask me about the characters featured in these movies. And by high school, I felt like a fully fledged X-Man. Showing off my powers to a world that treated me as their equal.
Looking back at this experience, I’m glad I experienced it. Much like every great origin story, a hero has to overcome an obstacle in order for them to become someone everyone instantly feels safe as soon as they arrive. I’m not saying that everyone feels like that whenever I show up somewhere, but everyone does know that they can truly be themselves around me, because I’ve known what it’s like to be different. I know it’s impossible to be an actual X-Man, but I like to think of my experience as a real life comic book origin story. I embrace the things that make me different, and I have comic books to thank for that!