Tom Mcshea Pushing his Agenda

I will almost always have the option to play a character of my gender, as most protagonists or heroes will be male by default.

Ya know Its rare I can make a chunky or fat character that represents me and who I am. So imma go and preach about it cause fat people are not represented well in games............ I swear some of these lines are just eh.

@hernandezzzz: I don't like his reviews either, but i wouldn't want him to lose his job over it. I feel like online harassment is just driven by the anonymity behind it, which is pretty much the internet as a whole. As you said, everyone gets harassed.

Are you 10?

I have every right to criticize his work, and even go as far as to say that he's not suitable for it.

And that's all I'll say about this.

Ah for Christ's sake.

I love Tom.

Actually, we can blame the industry in general.

As an example, thinking a little more about "gamer cred", I recall E3 booth babes hired to help promote whatever games there are. Barring Nintendo, most of them knew very little about the actual game and were there to "simply look good (because we don't want people looking at our rushed E3 demo)". This established at a high level the idea that women don't actually play games. Through E3 media coverage where we see booth babes "simply look good" and often the guys doing the actual talking, the sentiment that women don't actually play games seeps down to the lower levels. Embarassing to say, but I still have a bit of internal shock whenever I hear of a female playing games because "That shit's impossible! You lie! Where's your gaming cred, yo?"

Now, we can say the real problem is under-representation in the industry; that there's simply not many women at the high level in the first place, but shit like this isn't encouraging more women to join the industry and that's a problem in itself.

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As a side note, could you edit the title and make sure it stays that way? I'm sure we both agree Tom's not spreading any lies here.

Not suitable for the work? Becuase he gave a game you put too much emotional stock in a score you disagree with?

I don't agree with many reveiwer all the time. Having played FC4 for more than 10 hours, i disagree with Kevin about it being a 7, but i still respect him alot. And truly trust VanOrd to give me a quality RPG review.

While one may not see eye to eye with every review a person makes, to claim ones layoff is for the best is truly moronic. And if you find yourself disagreeing with every review Tom put out during his time at GS, you'll find the majority do not. Because, has i said, different people will agree and disagree on different times.

So, yeah, 10.

Ahaha, what I found interesting was how the title mentions white male gamers but only a few seconds in after the time-marked start a black guy chimes in. Did someone relabel the video?

@Technoweirdo: so then the the industry itself has been misogynistic at times, and the bad apples are misogynistic all the time, but let me ask you this, what end game would the anita's and Tom McSheas and Carolina petites of the world consider victory? More female leads? More of a female industry presence? Like, what are they fighting for?

I just watched the video... Theyre making their frustrations known, but what is the end game? Control of the art? Because if that is the case then gaming is dead... Control art and kill it at the same exact moment.

Yeah I'll change it.

I get the sentiment you are going for from the context of your post, but I think the word you were looking for was "vilified".

butthurt OP

Yeah, OP mad

The thing is, I wouldn't even mind a female lead in a GTA game. **** there's some badass female characters in every type of media especially in Anime.

The Japanese get alot of flack for objectifying women, but holy shit if we could get a lead like Rebecca from BlackLagoon, that would be someone who would fit right in.

Yea its funny since even though anime does some pervy things with some female characters I still think they have a much higher female cast list then other media. Thankfully they do turn out some great female characters such as Revy from black lagoon. Hell if anything the majority of the female cast in the series is pure badassness. Just revy is my favorite.

That is not his worse,actually giving beyond 2 souls a 9 was...

The same could be said about porn.

Remember when tim schaffer was a well respected figure in the gaming community? Y'know before he pissed it away and cozied himself up with the Sanfrancisco hipster indie clique

@uninspiredcup said:

My friends; I see a huge paradox.

We have both gamespot and IGN staff members on celebrity feminists "Anita Sarkeesian" youtube channel; attempting to inform us cretins in a self important "save the world" manner.

But, the very workplace they inhabit/ed; inherently drives and promotes sexism. Woman are quite literately eye catching objects to be leered at.

I believe this is what they call "hypocrisy".

for the first time in ur life u are correct.

#well done

I didn't want to watch the video, but it sounds like some white knighting going on, amiright?

True anywhere on earth this isn't a moral issue it is a fiscal issue. There's money and views somewhere to reward towing the line and bitching about grade-school bs.

Women don't need a shield from trolling and flamebaiting. This is the internet, get over it.

Does Tom Mcshea have a youtube channel or is he part of some other gaming site, now?

Shouldn't this be in the gamergate thread?

Either way, what McShea said is an undeniable fact. This strange phenomenon of having to prove "gamer cred" is something that happens almost exclusively with female gamers, not male gamers.

Also, LOL at the butt-hurt fanboys still sore over their favourite over-hyped games getting "McShea'd" with "just" an 8. These fanboys need to grow a back-bone.

Apparently, he's now joined IGN:

Tom McShea is Writing for IGN Now

am i the only one that sees no video link?

So much tasty butthurt over one persons opinion.

@jsmoke03: Me too. I'm quite confused.

Ah, title's changed. Good. Thanks, Eroica. Anyways...

This video's end game? A better community. It's a lot like the 12 steps. Step 1: Admitting you're an alcoholic, only we're trying to get people to admit they're sexist.

Sarkeesian's end game? On top of that, better game writing. I wouldn't call that control much like how criticism in general is not control, but I digress. She can attack game writing from a feminist angle and is very successful at it, but the solutions don't necessarily have to serve feminists only. Take a look at Women as Background Decoration for example where non-hostile NPCs, often women, are given three seconds of life before being harassed/abused/assaulted/killed, etc. The solution? Giving these non-hostile NPCs more than three seconds of life. Take a look at Trails in the Sky. It doesn't tackle these issues whatsoever, but I use it as my go-to example of good game writing because what it does is simple but brilliant: Give even the most minor of characters an arc. As the main plot progresses, so too do their arcs and while they may be insignificant, being able to follow them to the end makes them detailed and makes the world feel more alive than any "background decoration" could have.

to be honest iv never seen the gamer cred thing be female exclusive. Since iv seen it done to guys as well. One of the reaction iv seen that has to do with gamer girls that I dont see with guys is the "really you play games?" not in a negative way.Its just a geniral surprise reaction since male gamers are much more common then female gamers.

Is there supposed to be a video?

I do not disagree with everything said, I disagree with the kind of future alot of the people with this agenda wants. I also do disagree with some of his points.

I would want more diversity in games, I do NOT want the kind of games we have not to be altered or changed, on average that "block" of people want it all changed. I simply want additions.

Alot of the points they make only seem to cover AAA games, since alot of indie annd lower tier games does indeed have a more varied representation. So basicly I feel they often Refer to the AAA industry in general? Even within the AAA industry they are often called wrong tough, and by stats they are, the amount of women that Works in the field is increasing, likely at the same pace as more women gets interrested in gaming.

I do NOT want politacally correctness in gaming, the artistic vision of the makers are sacret, if they offend, then let them offend, it is not up to anyone to question that, all we should do is simply judge the product as a Whole. Just like I dont want politically corectness in movies or music, or books, even art. Political correctness would kill off the genre just you Watch.

I want the best people to get the jobs in the industry, I do not care about the gender, it is as simple as that.

About female gamers? well my steamlist have around 33% women, across a wide range of games. I rarely see those getting harassed, mainly because in games the gender, physical ability and to a certain point mental ability is completely irellavant. The skills in the game is all that matters. I am quite certain most have the same views, since there is rarely questions about them when we play, no comments about thier sex, or skills, all that matters is that they can fill the roles they chose. They are simply the team mate to the right or left of you, that you need to have faith in.

The overwhelmingly negative reaction some people get to what these people state, and the outright will to even engage in conversations or debates with them, is odd. While I dispise some of the methods they have used, if the net is to be believed, they are no better then the naysayers that act like religious fanatics screaming "Blaspemy" with all their might. Conversation to begin with would likely have made this a very different subject overall, with a very different tone.

But to be honest alot of this conflict have been 2 sides equally fanatical standing on each side of a fence, screaming and threatening, Pathetic.

Add to that that alot of the conflict have been about the subterfuging of some media outlets and the distrust of said media outlets, and you have a clusterfuck.

BTW: I agreed with most of his reviews ;)

He stopped being a well respected figure in the gaming community for having an opinion?

Some of you people need to grow up.

nothing to do with SW

The whole topic as a whole is childish. Gamers need to grow up instead of acting like self important brats.

Hilarious, but ew.

I don't see a video TC.

@LJS9502_basic: ya know what it is for me... Its not that there isnt some really dark corners of human waste infecting our hobby, it's that I don't like being preached to about it. I don't exhibit negative behavior in gaming and hold no prejudice to any gamer yet this has become an industry wide issue. No one ever stands up and defends the gamers who actually love this hobby for the right reasons. The jack asses always define the group anD that sucks.

He gave TLOU a 8? What a generous guy.

What's going on? There's no video in the OP. :/

@uninspiredcup: indeed, good post, the problem is they'll doll up Naomi kyle in a skimpy outfit and puff her lips etc, push her out in front of the camera to deliver gaming news and tell you you're a bad man for having impure and sextet thoughts about her. To see past the outside to see the oppressed gamer within. It's all too generalized and non specific for me.

If they want my respect in this crusade to change the gaming culture, address the ones that need to be addressed.

yeah what vid r you guys talking about?

their whole point is stupid, it goes beyond equal rights, they want to kill sexuality and that is just stupid, humans are by nature sexual creatures, we think in sex, and not only men, woman too all day, as i see feminazis are garbage that feel rejected and want everyone to be that way- not to mention that both genders are not equal, so why should they be threated equal, example if i had an office i would hire the most competent people, man or woman, but if i was in charge of a more physical job i would hire all males, and then be called sexist because males are stronger and that's a fact.

Basically this

Having lots of female characters doesn't mean that the gender is being represented well.

feminazis don't want to be represented well, they want every woman ever portrayed to be flawless and ugly because obviously that is how it is in the real world.

Boy yall must really hate Tom if you're gonna talk about a non-existent video!

Let him spread his agenda, whatever. He was and still is a terrible reviewer.

RE: Where's the vid at?

Here.

For the record, the title of the video is "25 Invisible Benefits of Gaming While Male". Not white. :P The same thing happened with me and most of the Internet. >.>

Yep. Always the jackasses. That's why we have cops and that's why cops have internal affairs. If no one cracks down on shitty behaviour, that behaviour just makes everyone look bad and things slowly tear themselves apart. Unfortunately, gamers are far more integrated with the Internet than most and the Internet isn't very well policed. In that case, gamers need to police themselves because no one else should nor will.

There is no need to defend yourself. It's the pieces of shit that need to defend themselves. If anything, you need to attack.

I don't see a video.