I’m Out Of It For Awhile And Everybody Gets Delusions Of Grandeur
From an otherwise interesting story on Gawker (who are the boss of Kotaku) :
Gawker Media’s gaming site Kotaku, says editor Brian Crecente, goes out of its way to stop boy’s-club coverage. Both sites have enjoyed years of rising traffic.
(emphasis mine.)
The above NSFW link (hint: it has boobs) brought to you by Mr. Crecente, two weeks after the Gawker story was published.
Update: Pensive Harpy has a little to say about it too.
February 12th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Yeah… but that link also includes a video of a fat guy in his underwear playing video games. The whole point of the Hot Tears of Shame series is to see people embarrass themselves. It’s not just, “Hey, boobs! High five!!” He even recommends the fat guy over the Penthouse girl.
But I check the site fairly often (as I still think they’re by far the best source of gaming news), and I don’t see this kind of thing happen that frequently anymore. Looking at it now, I see a story about anime characters in maid costumes on coffee cans and… some sort of mahjong porn a few pages back. I’m not sure that this kind of thing makes them sexists, though.
But I’m not sure why they bother defending themselves. That’s just seems like its asking for more trouble. I mean, if their blog’s going to cover games from Japan, or just gaming in general, it’s inevitably going to end up dealing with this sort of thing all the time. The vast majority of the people playing video games are going to be men, so half naked women just sort of come with the territory.
I just don’t think they should be scared about creating a “boy’s club”. They certainly shouldn’t be trying to exclude women from their site, but I don’t see a problem with appealing to their audience. Looking at the most read articles and the kinds of comments they attract, they’ve already got one anyway. Either way, I think people might be over analyzing the thing too much. It’s just a gaming blog. If CBS news was doing this, that’s one thing. But the internet’s a big place.
February 13th, 2008 at 5:52 am
Come on. Seriously.
That’s sort of like patting someone on the shoulder because he doesn’t hit his wife that much anymore. When you do it at all you create the environment. In this case it creates an exclusive “boys only” environment.
Although I and others have criticized Brian for creating a “boys only” environment, it’s Brian himself that is violating his own stated goal. If the Editor of Kotaku is going to say that he goes out of his way to avoid creating a “boy’s club,” then I think it’s fair game to call him on it when he’s obviously lying.
February 13th, 2008 at 6:33 am
This. Although taking a look at the NSFW link, I would say that it feels more like a gentlemen’s club than a boys’ club.
Re: anime characters in maid costumes, my only comment is that at in America you really only hear about the stereotypical “young girl in maid costume.” Believe me, the real dark underbelly (or in this case, the dark potbelly) of the anime culture is the “fat middle aged man with unshaved legs in maid costume.”
The otaku subculture is soul-shredding.
February 13th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Ah, God. I check the site today, and the first thing I see is a big picture of the crotch of some girl in X-Box panties. Thanks a lot Kotaku. Way to back me up…
February 13th, 2008 at 11:36 am
I’ll try not to be smug.
Damn.
February 14th, 2008 at 3:05 am
Today in breaking video game news: Japan has turned the game Shinobi into a fetish porn! Stunning! Thanks Kotaku…
February 18th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
YA RLY.
February 26th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
It’s been almost two weeks now. Don’t make me get out the stick again.
February 26th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I hope she’s okay, actually. Hopefully she’s just trying to sort stuff out with her personal life, and hasn’t fallen off the face of the earth.
Also, writing a comment on a blog with a Wiimote is a huge pain in the ass.