Thursday 18 July 2013

FemFreq's Sources




It has recently come to my attention that, where it can be checked (cutscenes are usually the same everywhere after all and popular games have a million Let's Plays to hide in), a substantial amount of Feminist Frequency's video game footage isn't actually stuff she recorded herself. She's already just pretty much reading Tvtropes pages and Wikipedia summaries, but the game footage doesn't even come from her own camp and she doesn't cite her resources?

There's of course a disclaimer at the end of her video to declare all the footage as fair use, but it's still bad form to hide the fact that a lot of her footage is ripped straight from YouTube in, as MovieBob calls it, an "academic presentation", especially with the money she raised for the project and the amount of time it took to even release her first video. 

Information in the individual images should be enough to find the original video and the timestamp at which I screencapped them. Look for things such as the score counter, health bar or items the player character is holding. Some of these examples have been provided by Barfman over at MovieBob's blog at http://gameoverthinker.blogspot.ca/2013/03/overbytes-on-tropes-vs-women.html.

Note: the original comments on MovieBob's blog seem to have disappeared (which may be an honest error with his comment system). Screencap backup here courtesy of Jyagos: https://imageshack.com/a/JFQb/1

Anyway, make up your own mind about this. I'm just here to present the facts.

Also, this post might grow if I find more examples.

UPDATES:

I have been in contact with some of the channels hosting these Let's Plays and I have been informed she didn't ask for their permission or were made aware at all. Here's what I got back from cubex55, the channel hosting the vast majority of Longplays Anita used:



The List

Damsel in Distress Parts 1 to 3



(I fully accept that this one is questionable. I include it because the position the characters are in does vary depending on where you beat the boss and it also comes from cubex55 like most of the other examples listed here)





(That's the 1992/1993 Sega-CD version, not the 1990 DOS/Mac release)


(I guess that explains why she was unaware Zelda fights back against Ganondorf in Twilight Princess as well)






(The weapon gave it away, all the other Let's Players used a machinegun-like contraption)


(Explains why she mistakes Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2004) for Metal Gear Solid (1998))



The following footage was taken from trailer footage, and as such might not have strictly come from the source I found. I merely include these for the sake of completion and because they weren't obviously trailers (to me, at least). 

Zelda starring Zelda trailer

Hoard trailer


Ms. Male Character
(Which clearly should have been titled Ms. Adjective-Man >:C )

Giant Boulder of Death

Angry Birds Seasons "Hogs and Kisses"


Others
Crowd sourcing for more examples (Feb 14, 2014)


Even your fanart isn't safe

Princess Daphne by Tammy / Cowkitty




SuperClaire by Heather L Sheppard



I also talked to the original artist of the poster used in the Ms. Male Character video and received an e-mail asking me to include this statement:

"Although Anita did not ask permission to use the image, and she refused to remove it quoting 'Fair usage', we did eventually come to a compromise that she would credit and link back to my website in the video description, which she did do. 

However, in UK (my home country) law, 'Fair Usage' is not applicable, and instead we have this - http://pages.citebite.com/a2e3m4d8p2jxh
...which basically states that you must ask the creators permission, if you cannot find any rules on usage on the page you have found it, and if you are making and distribution copies of the work - she is distributing media that contains my work, which as I understand, will be available on DVD.

I do not want to attack Anita directly, I just want her, and every other person out there, to contact an artist, ask permission and credit them as per the artist's wishes. We work hard on our work, it would be nice to get a little appreciation for it."


Links to the Original Artist:



Criticism


"Half of those screens are from cutscenes"
That's why I specifically mentioned to pay attention to score, life and weapons the character might be holding. Yes, the scene from Violent Storm is a cutscene, but how likely is it that both the Let's Player and Anita got a life count of 0 and a score of exactly 2492500 by that point? 

"The screens don't match up exactly"
You people realize that Anita uses video footage and not screenshots, right? Which means that for a single comparison I have to line up both videos as closely as possible, which is incredibly hard to do. I also clearly provide timestamp and location of the source video so you can go check it out yourself. 

"I can't believe someone took 1000's of hours to research this"
More like, I happened to see the comment on Moviebob's blog, checked out the claims and decided to look a bit further into it and provided screenshots to have a clear reference. All of this took me, at most, 4 to 5 hours. You think I actually sat down to watch every Let's Play of a game just to find a single scene? Learn to search more efficiently. The majority came from the same channel anyway, it's not that hard to figure out where to start looking. 

"This is a derailment tactic"
No, it's a simple clarification on her sources as people were arguing about this anyway (doesn't that mean I stopped derailment?). Furthermore a proper sourcing on her part would ensure people can easily check Anita's claims for themselves without having to spend a fortune tracking down all of the games mentioned, which in turn would help to keep her honest, as we know she alters footage or leaves out context if it helps her narrative.
It's also something her backers should be made aware of for the sake of transparency, even if they don't care she used Let's Plays. 

"This doesn't mean she isn't a gamer!"
I also did not use this as evidence that she isn't a gamer or that she hasn't played any of the games pictured, at most I point out a couple instances where her lack of knowledge illustrates which games she clearly hasn't played extensively. If someone else makes this argument based on the evidence I provided, go take it up with them.

"This doesn't invalidate her thesis"
And it's not meant to. For criticism on her thesis, look for criticism on her thesis.


Responses


Much appreciation to Mundane Matt for making a video about this post.  


And since I have your attention, I'm going to plug The Gaming Goose's excellent response to Damsels in Distress.



Last updated: 15/03/2014

229 comments:

  1. If this doesn't prove she's an absolute fruad, I don't know what will.

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    1. OMG! It looks just like when I played that game! It totally couldn't be that she played the same part of the game I did, this thieving witch! I bet she doesn't even actually play video games or use YouTube!


      ^^^
      That is exactly what this sounds like.

      Delete
    2. In all of these pictures, everything or nearly everything is exactly the same as the ones in her video. Look at the Borderlands 2 one. You think by some coincidence she's playing as the same class, has the same class mod, has the same shield, is the same level and has the exact same gun (in a game where there are thousands upon thousands of different possible guns, shields and class mods)as the other player?

      It's not even a big deal, all she needs to do is say that she's using other people's material and hasn't actually played the games herself.

      Delete
    3. What are you on about you little turd.
      She raised fucking 150,000$ mate.
      She should at least play the games and upload HER footage.
      The footage is also traced exactly like the LPs so she must've:
      1-watched them and copied their every fucking move
      2-stole the videos

      "waaah i paid her money so shes right abloo abloo etc etc"
      ^^^^^^
      That is exactly what you sound like.

      Delete
    4. She has plans to sell DVDs, so 'fair use' goes right out the window. It's just theft, thanks.

      Delete
    5. Who the hell Undertakes a huge research project but doesn't document their findings ?... This isn't a study as it is one persons opinion being actively displayed, a study is a collective of opinions and analyses stretching into statistics. All her video series essentially is, is 1 Persons agenda laden opinion that cost you 160K.

      She used none of her own gameplay footage
      She used Wikipedia rather then spending money on interviews
      She didn't ask opinions of anyone else

      What kind of well documented project is that ?... All she's doing is telling people what they want to hear, which is what an idiot follows. Not even 6 Thousand dollars was spent on this project. If any school actually uses this to teach a class, they'd be the dumbest school on the planet. All feather weight information, Half truths, and blatant lies ?

      I'd feel sorrow for anyone who payed her to do this.

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    6. Wow, look at the dork trying to convince himself that he didn't get ripped off. Sucks to be you. Go ahead and defend that skeever-faced cunt. It won't make that gnawing feeling that "you've been had" go away. The $160k went to several high-end fashion stores and the local cocaine dealer.

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    7. Keep up the fight!

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    8. @ JB Edwards

      It's called stealing, dumbass. And go **** yourself for using "OMG"

      Delete
    9. This is just a pedantic whine, and is indeed a derailment tactic. None of these complaints about sourcing affect the cogency of her arguments. Thanks for being part of the problem just to scare up some page views!

      Delete
  2. Look at this misogynist feeling like he has to mansplain everything for us

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    1. Using Buzzwords doesn't make you any more right, cheif.

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    2. lol, the term mansplaination has to be the best evidence of how retarded feminests can be.

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    3. Someone should mansplain the term "plagiarism" to you.

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    4. Look at this retard feeling like they have to trollsplain everything for us.

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    5. Somebody should look up the word plagiarism, because this clearly is not it. Here's another "buzzword" for you, it's FAIR USE.

      Delete
    6. Wrong Unknown, she is planning to make Offical DVD's once it leaves youtube, it isn't fair use, and she never credited them or even told them of the use. Even if it is fair on youtube is it unethical nevertheless

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    7. Shhhhh...
      Don´t say anything, you´re just increasing the likelyhood of her avoiding lawsuits.

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    8. That the ulitimate defence for feminazi. Just say the person is mansplaining.

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    9. Mansplaining, second only to calling out strawman in a debate. *facepalms* I don't know why or how anyone can defend Sarkeesian these days with mansplaining as their last defense. The dumbest word on the planet.

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  3. Blatant Misogyny. Patriarchy's gonna Patriarchy.

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    1. You keep using those words...

      I do not think they mean what you think they mean.

      Delete
    2. Blatant trolling. Retards gonna tard.

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    3. Blatant professional victim and scam artist apologist. Retard's gonna retard.

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    4. So its ok for us to call out bullshit on someone, but only if its a male, got to love the double standard.

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    5. Acting stupid is gonna act stupid.

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  4. I have been spreading the word about this blog, people need to know about this

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    Replies
    1. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.822560-This-just-in-Anita-Sarkeesian-might-not-have-played-the-games-she-shown-on-her-videos
      I just added a forum post on the Escapist, I hope it helps you a bit

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    2. I like how everyone is nitpicking about how "What does this prove? Blah blah, your own bias" shit.
      It's like I can visually see them sticking their thumbs in their ears going "NYA NYA NYA CAN'T HEAR YOOOOOU"

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    3. Yeah. This shouldn't have to be controversial at all if Anita just added a small disclaimer at the end of her video or on her site.

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    4. It'd still be controversial seeing as she got paid a jack load of money to buy all these games that she hasn't played.

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  5. I don't think Antia is a good voice for women in the industry but this doesn't prove anything other than the fact she didn't capture her own footage. To speculate any beyond that is just that speculation.

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    1. It is. I have my opinions on this but my main goal with this is simply clarification and some acknowledgment for Anita's actual sources.

      Delete
    2. I disagree, I think it's indicative of a serious ethics issue with her and her work.

      She received 150 grand, and yet didn't upgrade her 'studio', is getting her backers to suggest games to cover, most of her script is from TV Tropes, and she doesn't even play the games she actually covers, hence numerous mistakes made in her coverage.

      Where did that money go? Why should we listen to her opinions on games she hasn't even played, and from some of her comments (like about Twilight Princess), haven't even watched?

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    3. She could have easily explained that she did not play most of these games or was so bad at them that she didn't want to display her skills and that therefore she showed the play of others mostly. But why didn't she do this? Is it a simple lapse of judgement? Or, the more likely explanation given all we know, she wanted to give the audience a false impression of what she can do and what she did. I think she knew that it would hurt her message if she told the truth, and so she did not. That is not wild speculation, it is the most probable explanation given all that we know. It all fits together nicely.

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    4. And you dont think she could use her money to hire someone who can play to teach her? or bought a book, like a strategy guide? there's tons of ways to get around the lack of skill in video games.

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    5. And before anyone says that we'd be griping about her doing that, no... Not really. It shows more integrity, and a better use of her money to buy strategy guides/hire players to help speed things along better then this...
      Not to say doing it THIS way is speeding things along.

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    6. The problem comes not from that fact that she uses others videos but the fact that this is another check list of things she has
      A. Lied about to her viewers. She claimed to have played these games before but is either picking bits out of a game that she HAS played and ignoring rest of the game beyond the small part she dislikes to credit herself. (Bayonetta is a good example, her 'facts' are wrong along with her knowledge of the common moves that are clearly explained in the game..and the fact that the character was created, casted and designed by a female...)

      b. Plans to use the videos to sell DVD's for the classroom. Not only are her facts incorrect but selling any part of these videos then turns into copyright.

      c. It raises even more questions as to where the $150K landed. She would rather rip videos off youtube and refuse to credit the creators then buy a simple capture card with a bit of the money (which would be using it for it's intended purposes..) and classic game to play it herself like so many unfunded creators on youtube do everyday.

      All of this proves how discrediting she is. She has lied, refused to source or credit her information and footage, and plans to sell the work of others for even more money. There is no real speculation anymore, she has lied heavily in her first 2 videos already, this puts a grey cloud over anything that comes from her mouth in the future.

      That and it's just one small reason why her videos are picking away at females in gaming resorting us back to 1992. Thanks....

      Delete
  6. Any idiot that watched her videos already knew that she didnt play them.

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    1. When I first saw em, I really though she did play through the games, I really did.

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  7. I bet she and her white knights will respond to this with the stock cries of "misogyny! misogyny! evil male chauvinistic pigs have no right to put the sources to scrutiny because she's a cute delicate infallible flower!"

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    1. I think I love you xD

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    2. Imagine how randy you would be if he were clever.

      The fact that she didn't personally record the game footage doesn't mean she's never played the game, and personally playing the game wouldn't even change whether the footage itself shows the thing she's talking about. You can SEE it. It's right there. It's relevant to what she's talking about.

      Delete
    3. Except for the fact that she makes blatantly incorrect statements about the context of the footage, things that happen in the footage. Couple that with everything being ripped from wikipedia/tropes, and it just stacks up to be not a woman who has gamed for a long time and is honestly tired with the system and more a woman who simply looked, saw some offensive material and went 'BOO, ALL VIDEOGAMES MAEK WOMEN LOOK BAD!' then went and got 150k so she could make subpar videos with no actual research behind them and look like they take no budget from what she earned.


      She's a fraud, a hypocrite, and a very bad person to hold up on a pedestal as the face of female gamers.

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    4. The fact that you can see small snippets of a much larger narrative doesn't really say much. There's such a thing as the "fallacy of quoting out of context", commonly known as "quote mining".

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    5. As I said in my videos, context means everything

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  8. I would love to blow a load right into her mouth.

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    1. Not helping men's case there, hot shot.

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    2. Yeah, a hot shot, all over her face. Seriously, she and her ilk want all the respect in the world but offer none. They expect the respect to be handed to them instead of earned.

      I dunno about you but I have a heaping helping of respect for a lady who's willing to please me. I think most men do and there's nothing wrong with an adult relationship like that.

      Also, she's a huge cunt and I hope it gets in her eye.

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    3. Nice Ad Hominem there cheif Faggot

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    4. You too, shitbird.

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    5. She's fucking ugly, just look at these eyebrows and shitty makeup.

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    6. Even if you change the insult to shitbird, you're still pretty damn obvious.

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    7. I think if you told her that you'd like to cum on her face she'd say "no," just like absolutely every other girl you ever wanted to have sex with. If despite her "no" you'd still like to do it, then there's a four letter word starting with "r" I'd like to point your attention to.

      Delete
    8. RING!
      Great idea, Anon. Give her a ring and ask to marry her first, then blow a load in her face!

      Delete
    9. Women are more likely to rape than men and are mor likely to get away with it.
      FACT

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  9. There is a greater issue here than just ripping the videos. It is one of conformation bias. She is finding evidence to fit her argument instead of gathering evidence, analyzing that evidence, and then forming an argument. The games in the videos may very well have bigoted or stereotypical views on women, but what is lacking is a sense of context or perspective that only comes with experiencing the game first hand or in completion.

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    1. She's always done that though... The problem is proving that she's doing the half ass attempts she's always done is pretty much preaching to the coir at this point. I'm more put off by the fact that people are still claiming that she's still doing a good job in spite of this evidence.

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    2. People be dumb.

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    3. Yep... and now Mirrors Edge is going to suck cause of that.

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    4. This whole blog post is conformation bias!!

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    5. All feminism is just finding evidence to back up their argument. In their own words, the feminist research is done with the assumption that women are victims before any datapoints are gathered.

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    6. ^ Didn't USE to be that way though- at one point feminism meant something... Now people that normally agree with what feminism USED to mean don't wanna associate with those that have usurped its meaning.

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  10. BTW, Vicsor: I was wondering if you were made aware of a tweet response she did to someone who asked her why she was accepting donations long after she achieved her goal. She supposedly deleted it, and the one who asked the question saved a screenshot, and I have a copy if you need, but her answer was essentially "Cause men make more money then me".
    Just something I wanted to throw your way if you wanted it.

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    1. I'd certainly like to see it, if you have it available.

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    2. That would certainly be interesting.

      I'm a bit skeptical about Twitter messages made by her though. The 1000 dollar shoe thing was apparently just Photoshopped.

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    3. https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1002962_10151688901570479_300047044_n.jpg Well, for what it's worth, there it is. Though, I do understand your skepticism. Problem is you know how she is with regulating comments, and that means that ANYTHING can be denied as fake by any thumbs-in-ears supporters.

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    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    5. Also found out Der Marc also responded to it:
      @femfreq (sorry, wasn't aware) well, you got now quite a bit more than many people get _per_year_

      Delete
  11. The sad part is that she still has $150k. I feel bad for the author because, by penning this piece, he obviously committed multiple acts of rape

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    1. You'd think so going by her fanbase, yeah.

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  12. This article is sexist and misogynistic consider yourself reported sh*tlord

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    1. Wow... Some people need to take a chill pill. Where's the sexism and misogyny there chief? Someone criticize your deity and suddenly it's sacrilege?

      Grow up and stop acting like a child.

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    2. You can always tell it's just the one person having a big tanty meltdown in comments sections when they keep repeating the same insult.

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    3. Nothing's going to happen because he did nothing wrong and you wasted your time reporting him. Deal with it, fool.

      Delete
  13. Seems to me that this whole argument for equality in the medium is pointless. There are games produced with women in mind and they don't sell because they're garbage. It is a man's product, plain and simple.

    There are plenty of men who enjoy things typically associated with women, there are plenty of women who enjoy things typically associated with men. They're willing to accept the mediums and activities for what they are.

    I don't really care one way or the other, products that I enjoy will always be produced, just because they can't enjoy some of them because there's a female as a story element who needs rescued, the trope of all story tropes for as long as there has been language and stories, suggests the problem is theirs.

    I'm not going to stomp into their theaters and demand their dramas have more explosions, I'm not going to bust into a Victoria's Secret and picket it because they don't sell boxer shorts or under shirts. If I don't like something I don't participate in it and find something better to do with my time.

    If they wanted to make a movement that matters, they'd put all this money and energy towards developing their own game that they think meets their criteria of equality, releasing it and, were it successful, start it into a trend-setting franchise.

    Bitching just doesn't do any good, and near as I can tell, that's all that any sexist movement does.

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    1. Now that is smart. Completely agree to that one

      Delete
    2. Asking for less sexist videogames isn't like bursting into a Victoria's secret and demanding a pair of boxers. It's more like going into a clothes store and asking why the women's section is so much larger and more varied than the men's section, even though everyone likes to have nice clothes. c:

      Delete
    3. It's easy to say that when the majority of the media is already catering to your demographic. Think back to the 50+ years ago when there was almost no positive representation of minorities on television. Would you not consider the argument of "hey, why don't black people develop their own television shows and start their own television stations?" to be racist? While it's certainly true that women in today's society have more influence and power than black people in the 60's, it's still not close to the level of men, especially white men.

      Delete
    4. Ever hear of BET?

      Besides I would say that in today's society women have just as much or even more power than men because most men will do whatever they can to please women. So even if a man is in "power" he will usually cater more to women than men. There are clear examples or this. Prostate cancer is much more prevalent than breast cancer but breast cancer gets much more coverage and funding. Even the NFL (something overwhelmingly geared towards men) goes out of it's way to spread breast cancer awareness. Men are also overwhelmingly convicted of crimes more often than women. I could go on but the point is if this were really some male dominated patriarchal society made by men for men at the expense of women then you would think that men would have it a lot easier in this world.

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    5. Where's your proof of any of this? Considering the 2-to-1 ratio of breasts to prostates, I find it hard to believe that prostates have a bigger chance of cancer.

      Delete
  14. Get the owners of the accounts to get her videos taken down for infringement.

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  15. Take her to court

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  16. I still can't believe you guys paid 160000$ for youtube poop

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    1. Keep in mind only 6,968 people gave her money. That's a small group in the gaming community.

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    2. And I doubt even that many people all were gamers.

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    3. Exactly. I have a friend who loves her and no doubt gave her money, but has no idea about gaming. I feel that most people just agree with her because the word "feminist" is in her channel name.

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  17. I like anita, she's helping to set feminism back a decade with each shitty video she makes.

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  18. This only becomes a problem if she monetizes the series. Selling DVDs, as you said, would be a problem, Otherwise, youtubers using Let's Play footage in reviews is exceedingly common, and not a surprise. It's more common that people recording their own footage, by a long shot. So yeah, the problem is only with monetization. Also, this comment section is awful, it's amazing how every comment section about Sarkeensian devolves to misogyny and strawman, even when she's doing other something lots of other youtubers of all genders and for many reasons have been doing forever.

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    1. She was payed fucking 150.000 to make her shitty videos.

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    2. Why don't you make such a big fuss about "The Hangover" or any Ben Stiller movie?

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    3. If you recall, the backers who pitched in $250 or more are getting the DVD set, and these shorts are supposed to be part of school curriculums. At least if I recall correctly.

      That could push this past Fair Use, because there are some products being made that could be sold regarding these videos.

      Delete
  19. Let me guess your one of those WHAT ABOUT TEH MENZ MRAs who hate women.

    Fucking fair use, shitlord. Stop hating on someone who actually is trying to change video games so that they are not such sexist pieces of patriarchal shit porn degrading to women. Keep on going with your impotent rage while I drink your delicious neckbeard tears.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Funny how people complaining about stereotypes always tend to think in stereotypes.

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    2. "impotent rage" "neckbeard"

      Well that isn't sexist at all...

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    3. Obvious troll post is obvious.

      Delete
    4. Wow, it's a troll invasion in here! It just hurts so bad to realize you wasted your time and money on this folly, doesn't it? Deal with it.

      Delete
  20. Speaking of sources, looking at her game collection:
    http://evfxonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/sarkeesian-video-games.jpg

    Shows that she has the Wii version of Twilight Princess.

    But isn't the Wii version a mirrored version of the Gamecube one? Looks like that shows and explains another issue as well.

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    1. Yeah, the HUD made it clear it was the GameCube version. Had it been the Wii version I might not have found it so easily. GC Twilight Princess Let's Plays seem to be fairly uncommon.

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    2. I think they mirrored the wii version because they wanted Link to be right handed as most people are right handed. You know, using the sword hand and all.

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    3. She has a lot of games in those stacks with strong female characters... She mentioned mirrors edge but not Portal? Even Portal 2 keeps the female protagonist... At the end of the day it's hard to believe her points on "sexist games" when all she is doing is finding small segments of very long games that support her point...

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    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  21. MundaneMatt here...

    IT'S HAPPENING!

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  22. This bitch is trife.

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  23. Not going to edit the post for this but I thought MovieBob's defense of her costs is pretty funny in light of this.

    "most the MASSIVE amount of game footage looks to have been captured from either original sources (I'm assuming MAME or download-service copies for the retro stuff) - which requires both expensive equipment and the expense of the systems and games themselves."
    http://gameoverthinker.blogspot.be/2013/03/tropes-vs-women-launches-first-episode.html#idc-cover

    Yeah ... that didn't exactly happen.

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    Replies
    1. LOVE to see Moviebob revisit that with this new knowledge, but you know he isn't going to.

      Delete
    2. Oh wow, that fucking MovieBob.

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    3. To Movie Bob, I say "Fuck you, suck it" I pretty much lost respect for him when he said that her video was acedemic leveled, I would understand him defending her as I admit the attacked (that flash game punching her for example) was a bit unwarrented, but him calling her video acedemic, thats nothing but an insult to anyone who thinks he has any credibilty.

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    4. Given that all of Escapist magazine is pretty much kissing her ass to varying degrees, I sort of wonder if it's actually his opinion, or if it's some sort of joint agreement to not actually do the job of covering news with an unbiased opinion.

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    5. They took down the forum I posted showing this evidence....I suppose it was to stop a flame war, but it isn't fair as if I put up a forum post about something else and even less contriversal, it would be up.

      Delete
    6. Honestly, they're just suck ups, far as I've seen... I've seen a few people say it's our fault as gamers for making her big, and that we will never be denied a job cause we don't look like Kratos, and then we got Moviebob, but I've never seen anyone saying anything that hasn't been said by a white knight.
      Honestly, I wish a REAL feminist would talk about sexism in the gaming industry, using interviews of people in the business, or SOMETHING that's REAL research.

      Delete
    7. There's a reason they suck up to her. She gave them a pre-packaged press release of her being a damsel in distress. Now I used to respect Moviebob before this entire fiasco. Nowadays, not so much. From what I can surmise, he hated the fact that his own views on this subject were vastly different from the public's and wanted Anita to be the one to bring up this topic, hoping that she'd do it justice.

      It didn't. He's back where he started where people don't like him for saying this was academic and he isn't well liked for anything besides his movie reviews.

      For Jim, he's always been a populist. He goes for the shallow and easy explanations, not bothering to do actual research into these topics. And this fell into his lap. But when he's faced with actual evidence of how manipulated this story was? His reaction is to ignore it.

      So in other words, they're the gaming *press* not gaming *journalists*.

      And if you want to hear real feminists? Listen to Extra Credits, which is where Anita got this topic in the first place. Or listen to Brenda Brethwaite. Anyone but this girl from Sarkeesian Inc, who's in the business of being a gaming version of Jennifer Posner.

      Delete
    8. Those extra credits guys are geniuses. I also like this guys report: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcWDofncTg8 which actually seems way more academic.

      Delete
    9. Wow... moviebob seems to have a lot of the pricing wrong.The MAME stuff is freaking FREE. Video capture software that will cap the screen and sound while playing it is relatively cheap (FRAPS is $37 for the bought version). Wooooo a whopping $37 in costs!

      As for recording current gen consoles... The capture device is max $250 (That's what my HDPVR was, I do not have the *cheaper* HDPVR 2 that can record HDMI). Each console is around $300 for the standard versions. A little extra, like $20, would need to be spent on the component cables for the PS3 (the HDPVR 2 actually comes with a set, however). If on a Mac, then a little extra (up to $75) for programs like EyeTV to record with, since the capture equipment does not come with Mac software. And you do not need a massively powerful and expensive computer, I record on a 4 year old iMac.

      So far we're up to max $887-$907 before tax.

      Decent HD video cameras? Start at $200 go to over $1k for home stuff.

      Lighting is around $300 for everything, sometimes more, sometimes less.

      Mics can vary, but as cheap as $100.

      We still haven't even hit the $6k asked for. And we haven't bought any games.

      He talks about paying people to help out... her own Kickstarter vid shows that she supposedly edits the videos herself. And it's not that hard to be your own director and such.

      In short, he's a tool.

      Delete
  24. The question I would like an answer to:

    Is she taking footage from male LPers' videos? Because that seems an awful lot like they're coming to her rescue by providing it free to use.

    Almost as if she had put herself in the position of... a damsel, of some sort.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dude, logic called, she said you're grounded.

      Delete
    2. Nothing I love more then logic LOL

      Delete
    3. that would be remarkably similar to how she got her kickstarter funded in the first place. she posted her bullshit to 4chan, they trashed her, and she turned around and used 4chan as evidence that "gamers are all woman hating misogynists."

      she is literally nothing but a damsel in distress.

      Delete
    4. Not just that... her Kickstarter video was the only video she allowed comments on. She probably trashed herself on 4chan just to fan the flames of controversy and play the victim.

      Delete
  25. The comments on this page are great.

    "What? You have evidence of wrongdoing on Anita's part? MISOGYNY! SEXISM! FUCKING MRA SHITLORD!"

    Remember, if you aren't with them, you're against them. And if you're against them, that makes you a terrible, awful human being because they said so.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sad part is as a result of this mindset any pointing out of her flaws is preaching to the choir. Only people who'll genuinely listen are people who already know shes a sham.

      Delete
    2. That's the main issue I have with Anita Sarkeesian. Instead of actually discussing this and debating on strategies on how we can improve the role of women in media, she has instead basically just set up a personality cult around herself in which she's the only voice that matters.

      Her supporters think of everything as an attack on her person. Well yeah, that's what happens when you are more important than what you preach.

      Delete
    3. Yeah, in that sense, she's sort of become completely untouchable in their eyes... I guess she stole some of Mohammad's goo from that one South Park episode.

      Delete
  26. For posterity, I'm putting Barfman's comments here since Moviebob has deleted his comments in the past. Given that information, I do NOT trust him at all on this. Again, this is to look at Barfman's posts and those he responded to:

    Barfman - I have another thing that bothers me about the video, mostly about the origin of the clips she used. Remember that she asked for money in the first place so she could acquire research materials and games and stuff.

    Did she actually record those video clips of the games in questions? For example one of the games she showed, Joe and Mac, she used the arcade footage of the game. Some games, like Violent Storm and Haunted Castle, are arcade ONLY. Did she actually buy an arcade board of those games? Or did she just download MAME and pirate the ROM? Or did she take some other person's youtube video and splice it into her own?

    I highly doubt she bought an arcade unit and changed out PCBs just for a few clips of intros and story segments, and games like Haunted Castle, Violent Storm, and Joe and Mac are very expensive and rare these days, going upwards of $300 each. It's not that she couldn't necessarily afford them, but some of them are pretty rare and hard to come by.

    Since there are no real gameplay clips of these games, I can't say for sure if she just didn't steal some guy's Let's Play of a game for her own use. However, for the Splatterhouse clip, it is of the PC Engine version of the game, and there just so happens to be a Let's Play of that game on Youtube. The position of the boss character Jennifer for that story segment is reliant on where she lands after being completed.

    Compare the Splatterhouse clip around minute 13:00 of Anita's video to minute 14:52 of cubex55's video:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOG6F7B2S2Y

    You'll notice that they are identical. Rick is crouched to the right in both, Jennifer lands in exactly the same spot in both (compare the relation of the couch to the left leg of the monster.) Also notice that for some inexplicable reason, Anita has cropped out the score and extra life bars on the top and bottom of her clip of Splatterhouse, without any real reason to. Furthermore, if you compare the clip of Violent Storm in Anita's video around minute 12:00, and compare it to minute 35:37 of this video:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGl4iJUnw_w

    You'll notice that the scores and life counters are the exact same. So unless she just happened to have the exact same playing experience as that player in that video, getting the same score and losing exactly as many lives as he did, which is highly unlikely, then she just stole this guys video.

    I'm afraid there might be a shady realization dawning here. Either she pirated the SHIT out of some arcade games while asking for money to buy them, or she just outright stole, without credit (no mention of Youtube members in the credits), some Youtube videos made by people who are probably unaware that she used them for a project she made $160,000 on.

    She does have a fair use claim at the end, but does that count for copyrighted material that has been pirated? If she was just going to pirate arcade ROMs, why did she ask for money to buy them with? And if she just used other people's Youtube videos, why did she not give them specific credit at the end? And if she was just going to use youtube clips, why did she ask for money to buy video games as "research material?"

    Lots of more interesting questions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SpecterVonBaren - Interesting. Even though this doesn't point to her not using the money for research, it does show that she might not be using the money to get footage at least or perhaps just not in all cases. This is just the first video after all and in the case of Violent Storm, as you said, it is arcade only so acquiring footage elsewhere would likely have been the better course.

      Delete
    2. Barfman - At first I thought she covered her bases on that since most of the game clips were essentially story segments or advertisements or beta footage or something like that. I mean the burden of proof would have been on a critic to prove that she didn't record those clips her self.

      But now that at least two of the clips are proven to be from other Youtube users videos, I'd say the burden of proof switches back to her and her supporters. Prove that every one of those clips isn't either from a Youtube video or a pirated game. Remember this is what she got the money for. To buy these games and do this research. Not to pirate games and/or use other Youtube videos without giving them credit.

      Also, the clip from Phelios around minute 12:00 of Anita's video. Compare that to cubex55's video at the 4:07 mark. Once again, the same score. You're telling me she couldn't find a Genesis and a copy of Phelios used from Ebay? You can find one right now for $10! Where is the money being spent for "research?" Didn't she ask for the money so that she could get games for research? That's THREE clips.. Wait a minute. Check out minute 12:22 of Anita's video versus 1:38 of this video:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKeHSiBzE4A

      Again the high score at the top is the exact same! And again, it's from cubex55's channel! She's not even giving credit to the guy who's essentially done all the work for her! Are all the clips in her video simply from Youtube? Why did she want $6,000 to "buy games?" Much less $150,000. Does cubex55 know that channel's videos are being used for this amount of profit?

      Oops, forgot the link to cubex55's video for Phelios.
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMihPEyJXF4

      Holy crap AGAIN! Compare the clip of Time Crisis II in Anita's video around 12:20 mark to this video at the 24:27 mark:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7nwv0CQWrE

      Again! Same score, same cursor movement, and again from cubex55's channel! You're telling me she couldn't find a cheap PS2 and a copy of Time Crisis II? There's one for $8 on ebay, and one for $1.50 on amazon! Wasn't this part of her project trailer video? That she needed the money to buy the games for research purposes? And she won't even get these cheap games? Where the hell is the money going?

      [There was a criticism of another here, but it's not needed...]

      Anyway I only spent about 5 hours looking into this. I just noticed that any video that has a score or gameplay footage can be traced back to a single youtube account, which hosts the videos of several Let's Play video makers (or longplay, as the case may be.)

      But instead of trying to find some fault with an inconvenient truth, what do you, or anybody here think about this? IS it right for her to have simply summarily lifted clips of these videos instead of doing original research? Is it right that she does not credit these individuals in her references, especially after she got such a windfall for this project? Does she ethically, if not legally, owe them a little bit of the money she's generating off of their efforts?

      This is supposed to be academic style project, yes? Imagine somebody turned in a paper along with their research materials and sources, and you notice that the handwriting on all the research is completely different, and at the end of the paper she gives no sources for where she got this material, nor any sources for that matter. What kind of grade should she get?

      Heck at the end of the video, she doesn't even credit TvTropes.com, the website she is basically reading out loud VERBATIM in her video. This is horribly unethical, considering she raised A LOT of money to do this "research."

      Delete
    3. Ah, thanks. Yeah, it's probably for the best to back these up if he deletes comments.

      Delete
    4. I want us to go on record, we are not fighting her because of what she says, we say these because what she is doing is unethical and is not the kind of video making that is acedemic.

      Delete
  27. Half of all gamers currently are females, the bulk of her videos should address games that have come out recently but the bulk of the games she covers in her videos are of snes-64 era which completely contradicts her points because simply back then older horny males was the target audience simple as that. We should care more about the depiction of a stereotypical gamer to people who aren't gamers, they see a raging 15 year old boy high on energy drink trolling noobs on cod. This depiction makes it hard for me a 15 year old boy who can't stand cod but loves great games such as oblivion, portal and adores small indie games such as thomas was alone. There is the real problem, as there is no real problem with women in video games, for god sake go and play mirrors edge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Half of all gamers? You got a source for that figure, captain?

      Delete
    2. It's actually 45% according to The Entertainment Software Association, and neglecting details such as what types of games they play. I do personally notice a vast majority of that 45% NOT complaining that they wish those games were more suited to their gender though.
      They're just playing and loving the games. :3

      Delete
    3. Yeah, the ESA study included casual games and I don't think they looked at dedication to gaming.

      I mean, that statistic is all well and good but it's useless either way when you want to focus on "core" games.

      Delete
    4. It also doesn't work if you attack the games that girls DON'T play. That's like going into a romantic comedy and complaining that their's no killer aliens.

      Delete
    5. Exactly. Should there be games girls specifically would want to play? Absolutely!

      Does this mean we have to change games like Dead Or Alive? Hell the fuck no.

      Delete
    6. Yeah, why are girls not complaining? I'm sure nobody would harass them, nobody would obsess about every single detail of their claims and nobody would call them just casual non dedicated gamers anyway and.. oh wait.

      Delete
    7. ^
      Problem is nobody's taking about THAT aspect. If they DID we might have some actually substantial changes instead of just one rich "Feminist in name only" ranting to the internet that "This fictional character is sexist cause I said so" while she counts her money.

      Delete
  28. If feminists dislike video games, then why do they play them?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Patriarchy.

      Delete
    2. Because you can enjoy a thing while being critical of it at the same time. And because games are not an uniform entity, thank god. Games are a modern medium that can be used in different ways. Reinforcing cultural stereotypes is one of them - and that's where feminism steps in and tries to explain to you why false stereotypes are a bad thing.

      Feminists don't "dislike videogames". They dislike poor treatment and portrayal of women, which fuels these stereotypes.

      Delete
    3. Funny thing about feminists: That's a word that's ALSO used in different ways. Hence why a lot of people calling themselves feminists don't like Anita representing them.

      Delete
  29. I wonder if Anita will admit to using game footage not her own, only to make excuses for doing so, with her sycophants accepting it and doing the same. Then what would be the point of hiding her sources in the first place?
    According to her Kickstarter, backers will get "access to some research materials."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If they donate 25$ or more. (Forgot to add this.)

      Delete
    2. Yeah, I don't get that. Her sources shouldn't be a secret anyway.

      This really shouldn't have needed to snowball into the controversy it is now if she had just been more open about what she was doing.

      Oh well, we'll see how and if she responds.

      Delete
    3. Wow, so if I had payed 25$ I would have been given a link to those LPs? So great!

      Delete
    4. Makes me wonder when the people who were supposed to get DVD's of this series are going to get them.

      Delete
    5. I expect the DVDs to come out sometime next century after Anita stops working for EA.

      Delete
  30. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  31. LOL. I just love it when all of these Anita apologists & her white knights cover their ears while refusing to hear the truth about her.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Although I haven't played many of these games, what I remember from similar 8/16-bit titles is that the 'cutscenes' and in some cases parts of gameplay looked rather consistent or the same across playthroughs. And some of the screenshots look similar but not exactly the same. Still, as long as there are ones that are exactly the same your point is proven - and there are. Which is good ;)

    ReplyDelete
  33. Why hasn't anyone called Kotaku, Destructoid, IGN, and etc about this? This is news people!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Escapist shut down the discussion on this so there goes Destructoid as well. Kotaku isn't credible and IGN is just too bought off to really worry about this. But right when her next video comes out, I'm sure that this will pop up. I expect the next video to take longer because the responses to her nonsense are getting more sharp and focused.

      Delete
    2. What a bunch of pussies. It is even worse that Jimquisition has backed off cause apparently,he felt bad over feminists being offended by some of his past videos.

      Delete
  34. Replies
    1. I dunno, maybe people who don't wanna just sit on their asses and dismiss everything with a simple "Who cares".

      Delete
    2. That exactly what I say (initially) when some feminist "my c*nt as an emotional crutch" hag bitches about non-existent sexism.

      Delete
  35. I had this in the post but I'm putting it here instead because it is irrelevant to the information above:


    UPDATE III: I don't think a lot of people realize that the thread links that provide a substantial amount of traffic get linked back to me. However, let me just get this out of the way since I noticed this came up a few times: this did not take "1000's of hours of obsessive research". As I mentioned earlier, some of these examples came from a guy who already figured out most of them come from cubex55 channel, so I already knew where to look first. It's also not very hard to figure out that when Anita uses footage of Salvador on a section featuring Angel in Borderlands 2, that's probably what I'll have to look out for. I'm not going to sit through entire Let's Plays just so I can 'smear Sarkeesian', I'm not that insane. I merely found something I thought was funny and decided to point it out because nobody else had done so (well, aside from Barfman). This took me a grand total of 3-4 hours to compile including the examples I added after I launched this post. Seriously, people, if you think it takes 1000 of hours to take 18 screenshots, learn how to search faster.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. well keep in mind these are the people who think that spending over a year to half ass the history of dinosaur planet is reasonable

      Delete
    2. I never said you did a 1000 hours, but I do know you spent a lot of time finding the stuff

      Delete
    3. Well, I mean the people who try to chastise me for personally attacking Sarkeesian (as if asking to properly cite your sources is a personal attack) who then hilariously go on and try to psychoanalyse me in the worst way possible.

      Delete
  36. I don't know why this shocks people. It only makes sense she wouldn't capture the footage herself. I am not defending her. I made a video response to her as well. Check it out if you like.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She certainly won't.
      No video responses, no ratings, no comments.
      About the only way to communicate with her is if you kicked in monies and can message her, which OH BY THE WAY THE SHEER AMOUNT SHE GOT WHICH AMOUNTS TO JACK-SHIT (SORRY, I MEANT JANE-SHIT) IN HER VIDEOS IS WHY PEOPLE ARE "SHOCKED".
      Kickstarter is not about "fund my life". Shit like this damages the crowdfunding model altogether. Anita is a successful con-waamin.

      Nobody's actually shocked, this is just confirming what anyone interested and with a free mind already suspected.

      Delete
    2. Responses from all camps have been fascinating. Personally I just did this because people didn't seem to be aware of it (neither was I, I genuinely thought all that time and money went into recording game footage where she could) and I wanted to see some actual honesty.

      For as far as I care, this particular issue can easily be resolved with a simple "my bad, I should have been more clear" from her side. The implication that I'm somehow claiming she didn't play any of the games is false, although it's clear she did talk about a few games she knew little about.

      Delete
  37. This is just further proof that when dealing with Ms. Sarkeesian, anyone trying to respond to her may not dealing with an honest person. Her videos would do poorly if they were term papers. I assume that she spent the bulk of her adulthood in college if she has both a Bachelors and a Masters degree, and her videos are structured much like a college student's term paper, specifically, a persuasive essay, except for the failure to cite sources, which would net her a failing grade and, very likely, a plagiarism accusation.

    But then, Ms. Sarkeesian has nothing to prove to me. She doesn't have anything to prove to me or anyone else who disagrees with her. However, since she did raise over a hundred thousand dollars, I feel that she does have to answer to her supporters, mostly those who supported her financially, and most especially those who gave a lot. I'm guessing with a number like $158,922, at least a few people gave a hundred dollars or more. That's one thing out of several things about the whole thing that are really irritating to me. The fact that she made that much and has done, seemingly, not as much as the price demands. The other two things are the fact that Ms. Sarkeesian claims that her videos are classroom-worthy when they'd probably get laughed out of a classroom, and, for a problem I've had since her older videos, she seems to either get facts wrong, or she seems to completely omit facts in order to prove her point. That's probably the worst part of it. She claims that her videos have academic merit when, at least to me, they do not.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Hmm, quite interesting that she has taken this from LPers.

    I can understand that she does it though. Why play through a whole game if you just need the one scene?

    Some of these games might be hard to get by as well.

    She did at least credit the games in themselves. It is not like she has used the voices of the people doing the lets play. She is basically just using the in-game footage.


    It is kinda like, you write an article where you use a quote from an author, and I take a picture of that exact sentence where you use that quote.

    Does that make sense to anyone?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't have an issue with her doing it at all. I just think it's a fair thing for her to briefly mention that she's doing it.

      Lots of people thought the time and money went into searching for these games and then recording the footage (MovieBob certainly did, so did I). I just wanted to show that, at least for as far as recording the footage goes, this wasn't the case at all.

      Delete
  39. I offer this for your entertainment: how Anita Sarkeesian simply does not understand the words she is using.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVFLCpz8_jc

    ReplyDelete
  40. I'm currently writing my official response to her videos, it'll probably still take a while until I'm finished but here's something hilarious I realized after reading the script of her first episode again.

    "However as soon as she transforms back into her more stereotypically feminine form of Princess Zelda, she is kidnapped within 3 minutes. Literally 3 minutes, I timed it."

    Remember that part in Ocarina of Time? That wasn't a simple cutscene, that was dialogue you had to manually skip, meaning it's not going to be literally 3 minutes for everybody and putting a time measurement on it is quite useless. Somehow I suspect on the Ocarina of Time longplay on cubex55's channel that scene takes exactly 3 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Duuuuuuuh... Still don't meen she not play game u hator *drools over keyboard* Patriarchy! (/sarcasm)
      Honestly, sad part is it still isn't to help anything...

      Delete
    2. I checked- it was about 3 minutes in that one video. Not perfectly accurate, but much like you don't know how long it takes to go through the cutscene, I didn't know where she started and stopped exactly.

      Delete
  41. This is actually very informative, thank you.

    I've been talking with people about the ethics (or lack thereof) Anita uses. I've been watching her videos for a while, as I'm very interested in feminist theory and how it intersects with media. That being said, it's pretty clear that she's one of the worst people to do this sort of series. I've seen far less professional looking videos that actually address issues with representation of women in games instead of.. well, whatever it is that Anita does. It's certainly not good scholarship. She brings up some good points sometimes, but it's always bogged down in lies of omission with everything else.

    The issue of her taking footage form LP's was something I thought was splitting hairs until I read this. I really wish the people who used that as a 'silver bullet' against her series having any merit took the time to explain what was so problematic about fair use of LP's; mainly, the possibility that she actually didn't play the game.

    Thanks for the informative post.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Stupid, lying whore, I hope she gets sued. Somebody needs to complain to google about this shithead.

    ReplyDelete
  43. I think she did not have any games used in her research picture with games

    ReplyDelete
  44. I've written my thoughts about why she didn't give credit.

    http://angelitabanitacarolita.blogspot.ca/2013/08/why-didnt-anita-give-credit.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same number variables pretty much give it away that she stole them. AS soon she starts selling her videos on DVD, that Fair Use protection is gone.

      Delete
    2. She can't sell them unless she gets Licensing for each game character and IP in the video. That's where the meat most documentaries is spent when it deals with other corporations works. This is also probably the reason she doesn't want commercials to be played in the videos, because you know in a hot second Nintendo along with other devs would pull rank on her since she is basically rallying misguided people against their products.

      Delete
  45. I like how the pic of her with games I could see loads of games which feature strong female characters Portal 2 left 4 dead mirrors edge to name a few, and I also like she uses gears 2 Dom having to euthanize Maria and states this empowers men when it's seen in gears 3 that it destroys him emotionally and hmmm didn't i see gears 3 in her pile of games so she clearly didn't play that
    also her copy of the orange box is french I don't know her but I'm not sure how much you can get from a game in another language

    ReplyDelete
  46. None of this invalidates her thesis though. Complaining that she didn't record her own footage is like complaining when an academic quotes a book they read in the library instead of buying a copy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If I was making an argument against her thesis, this would have been an argument against her thesis. This is a clarification on her sources and an appeal to be more open about them.

      Delete
  47. You know what,after watching these videos,I'm going to play each and every single one of these games listed as a giant "fuck you" to Anita and as a bonus,can get sources to back up on the sheer amount of cherry picking she does in these videos of hers and how much shit she actually is.

    Feminists are going to call me an agent of the patriarchy or whatever generic feminist rebuttal #386732. Ah fuck it!!!! #Sarcasm #ForthePatriarchy

    ReplyDelete
  48. This is silly to no end and shows a lot of ignorance and bias.

    1- There is little to no proof that Anita did or did play these games.
    "BUT IN THE VIDEO, THATS CLEARLY NOT HER PLAYING".....
    So you're saying that because the video is not of her playing, you have evidence of her not playing? No. Again, there has been NO EVIDENCE PRESENTED that proves she did or didnt play the games. You would think, after many video rebuttles, blog post, and rage forums, someone would have some evidence that she didnt play the game.


    2- Anita is NOT a video producer. If you have ever sat down recorded and edited a video, you'd known how much it would take to create one. I assume (based on my knowledge of video production) that Anita handles the research work, the analysis, and probably plays a game to get a feel of it, and even at times, watches videos of others playing it, or cut scenes. She probably does this on her time, theres probably not a person to sit there and record her playing these games. If there was a recording, it probably wouldnt be that interesting. I'd imagine shes not really great at the games, nor does she play the game for fun, its mostly for research. Theres probably a lot of pausing for not taking and a lot of standing still. What matters if that she has the information about the game.

    When she records the analysus, she probably leaves the other person in charge of video editing. She might even hand that person her footage and notes. Whether or not the editor uses them is another thing. And with free use (especially for education purposes), it doesnt really matter who was playing the game. I'm pretty sure the player has less influence about the storylines than they think.

    3- Her 'not playing the games' (which there is absolutely NO proof of) does not make her analysis any less valid. Lets say she didnt play the game, and watched someone else play it. Does that invalidate are argument? Her analysis are sound and solid arguments. If you played the game, you'd know exactly what she means.

    This is a classic case of deflection. Trying to discredit a sound argument by discrediting her character.
    If she played the game and didnt have footage of her playing it would be "OH SHE CANT BE RIGHT, SHE HAS NO EVIDENCE"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1. Please point to where I say I have evidence that she doesn't play games. At most I point out that she probably didn't play *some* of them extensively enough in instances where she's clearly unfamiliar with the story of the game. (Or where she mistakes a 2004 game with one from 1998)

      2. Okay, and?

      3. I do not say that it does and I have pointed that out repeatedly. Jesus Christ, how hard is it for you people to understand that I'm just saying she should be more open with her sources? That's not even an attack on her character, that's asking for professionalism. It seems to me you are the one thinking her argument stands or falls with this, not me.

      The bias, ignorance and jumping to all the wrong conclusions is on you here.

      Delete
    2. Your stupidity is painful

      I won't even try to argue with the first and third point, as you do bring up some good points, however there is one key problem with your second (for this I suggest playing Phonixe (SP) Wright Music for this) You claim it is fair use to use other people's videos. Ok thats good, however fair use will go out the door the moment they are put into the class rooms, as they are now in the public, they have been put into DVD's perhaps even sold to schools. On those DVD's are footage that do not belong to her, she never asked to use it, nor did not credit the creators, heck she could get in trouble for using the Images of the many IP's for her series if she sells DVD's unless she pays a large fee for the rights.

      Basically if it was an educational video it would fall under the same standards as one, meaning citations, and crediting material, something she does not do. So please tell me how you can defend her. If you wish to continue to play a White Knight to her Damsel in distress, please continue, otherwise please leave and perhaps leave a little wiser.

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  49. Wow look at all this debate.

    I wonder what will happen if Vicsor makes a post about the latest thing about how Anita isn't actually a gamer.

    Seriously I am not saying anything because I am going to remain neutral on this.

    Also. To anyone who says "Man has feelings hurt, mansplain" Isn't Viscor a female?

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  50. Rhe fierce debate on the blog, means that the post is very intriguing.

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  51. https://medium.com/pop-of-culture/1bc7bdbd217c

    I wrote an article on Anita Sarkeesian and cited your website, I hope that's alright.

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  52. fuck this bitch, hope she dies choking on a chainsaw

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  53. Just like Justin Bieber is aimed at retarded little girls to make a lot of money, Anita Sarkeesian has found her own "audience" and sucks them dry.

    Not a big deal to me, because these people are retards anyway, its natural selection at its finest.

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  54. Lifting footage from longplays doesn't make her arguments any weaker; YT is a big free source for raw video footage.

    Asking for original footage for this is kind of silly. Its just really interesting that she didn't play and record any of these games.


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    1. The text I wrote up there isn't decorative.

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    2. Lifting footage from YT video's is no big deal for a random blogger with a chip on their shoulder. However Ms. Sarkeesian is not that. she has presented and defended a masters Level Thesis in a "research" field, and been awarded a Masters Degree as a result of that research presentation.. As such she has most certainly been highly trained on the procedures, purpose and ethics of adequately sourcing all materials used. Failing to do so in a presentation for which she solicited funds in this manner is a gross ethical violation. Made more so by the fact that the video's she used were clearly marked as to the terms and mechanisms by which they could be used. And the requirements for doing so were minimal at best. The content creators simply wanted to be credited for the content they created. For you or I this is an innocent mistake. For a credentialed research professional? This is plagiarism in its worst form. Anita had the training to know to look for any terms. And she had the knowledge that she needed to properly provide credit. This is basic academics. Failing to follow the most basic requirements of what she is seeking to do calls into question the care, proper thought and validity of everything else. And just looking at Viscor's arguments published above, and in a few other postings, I think it's clear that a fairly valid case can be made along those lines.

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  55. I don't think Anita is a good representation of a feminist--people like her are the ones who get feminists bad reputations in society, when all they really want is to be seen on an equal level as men. She takes minor situations in games and blows them out of proportion, saying that they represent misogyny and are cruel/abusive to women. I'm a female, and I've never really felt offended by the female roles in any of the games she spoke of.

    Also, if she had so much money collected for the making of this, would it be that hard to pay off some of the makers of the "Let's Play" videos, buy the game herself, or get somebody else to play it for her and summarize/record it? She is losing a lot of her credibility, if she even had any in the first place, by not stating her sources or simply saying, "The game footage in this video is not mine, and all rights belong to the owners." And while I have not received confirmation on either of these points: 1.) I've heard she is planning to sell her three-part "Damsel in Distress" as a DVD and 2.) The "Fair Use" section on the YouTube Terms of Agreement does not protect that. Also a huge blow to her credibility and reputation, which from what I gather, was never that great to begin with. I've also heard that none of her studio accommodations or other video/recording areas and situations seemed to get better, which raises the question: What did the 150-160k she raised go to?

    I also had an issue with her using the term "patriarchal" (at least, I remember her using that term). If she really wants to see a patriarchal society, she needs to take a look at countries where women are not allowed to speak, get jobs, drive, or even eat with their husband; that is real patriarchy. Her saying that patriarchy in video games equals patriarchy in real life seems to mirror those who say violence in video games equals violence in real life. To both of these, the same point can be brought up: What video games were people playing a thousand years ago? Back then there was still patriarchy and stomach-churning violence. She is right that media can affect our culture, but I think she blew it largely out of proportion.

    Also, even though this article speaks of her lack of sourcing and taking video footage from other people and not what she said about the games themselves, I think what she said about the 2012 game "Dishonored" is an extremely far stretch. First of all, the Empress dies protecting her daughter--does that seem like a weak way to go, protecting your child? And the daughter, Emily, was at the most, what, 14? She was small and facing, if I remember, two grown men? Of course she'd get kidnapped. Second, the game itself is not really about rescuing a distressed damsel, although Emily does need help more than once; it is about Corvo overthrowing a tyrannic government. Also, while one could speculate that Emily is the daughter of Corvo, the protagonist, there is scant evidence to back this up. In fact, I believe that some of the only evidence is the teased, but never confirmed, romance between Corvo and the Empress, and the short bio on Emily about how she has spent her whole life under his guard and care. It would seem that Anita said this to make the game match up with her little "Wife is murdered, daughter is captured" tirade. (Sorry if there are any incorrect pieces of info in there, I haven't played "Dishonored" in quite some time).

    In conclusion, I think Anita kind of set herself up for all this criticism--she didn't cite her sources, and gave what many say is untrue information/plot details on games, hinting that she herself did not play them or thoroughly research them. And while I know I am very late on the happenings of this article, I only recently watched "Damsel in Distress" and became aware of the mixed (well, mostly negative) feelings about it. Sorry if this was long-winded/boring.

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    1. My question is why with all that is she's getting away with it? I mean, this IS stuff that the average person knows, yet they're always willing to give her a pass. It's scary.

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    2. Probably because they're scared that if they call out a raging feminist for wrong-doing, take down the video, or demand her to give credit where it is due, they'll get thrown down as "misogynists" and "women-haters" and every other name in the book.

      Also because it seems like nobody is really take her video seriously anymore, so now, to deal with it would seem like a pain.

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  56. So many white knights it hurts...

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  57. posted this here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/no-right-answer/8643-Is-Anita-Sarkeesian-Wrong

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  58. Thank you for your well done research. It's appalling how low Anita sinks.

    It's also appalling that this isn't somehow evidence about her true nature. Anita has turned many game journalists into fanatics. It's no longer about reason.

    On the positive side: this actually exposes the true hypocritical nature of sexism since you can't have a rational debate about Anita or the current feminism debate nowadays on any level because it either is about a woman or about women in general so either automatically makes it already true and valid by itself.

    I'm just wondering how much longer this farce will last.

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  59. HEADS UP she also stole the art for her logo http://cowkitty.net/post/78808973663/you-stole-my-artwork-an-open-letter-to-anita

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