Jun
8

Making the Point for Us: Tropes vs Women In Video Games WTFKery

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I almost didn’t get around to posting today – after all, copy edits needed to be handed in and the Guild Wars 2 Beta is live and that’s what I’ll be running off to do in a bit. However, I did want to mention the Kickstarter project by Anita Sarkeesian: Tropes vs Women in Video Games. The idea is fairly broad and fascinating – but simply put, she plans on doing a series of videos based on the way women are portrayed in video games. (Which I ranted about a bit earlier this week.) I love playing video games but I’m regularly disappointed in the limited and limiting ways women are represented.  This video project will explore, analyze and deconstruct some of the most common tropes and stereotypes of female characters in games.  The series will highlight the larger reoccurring patterns and conventions used within the gaming industry rather than just… Read more
Jun
7

Word Whore ~ Fox and Willow Thursday

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Usual weekly updates today – first off I’m over at Word Whores talking about my favorite B-movies. (Which just happen to be werewolf flicks from the early 80’s. Give me some beasties and buckets ‘o’ gore and I’m all set. ) Otherwise Page 12 of Fox & Willow is up today, so do check it out. 😀    … Read more
Jun
6

Women and Violent Video Game Portrayals

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I’m actually going to throw in a bit of a trigger warning on this post- there’s definitely some less than pleasant topics here. Anyway, as most of you know I’m a fairly avid gamer – but I tend to stick with RPGS for the most part, simply because I enjoy them. I like seeing my choices influence game events, I like getting to develop relationships with NPCs…and I like the ability to play a woman character that isn’t simply there to cater to the male gaze. Some games are more successful at this than others, but it’s an ever changing medium and things are slowly changing for the better. Slowly. But the last few weeks have been a step backward for a few reasons. The thing is, like a lot of other male-dominated media (comic books, for example) – women tend to either be merely eye candy, or shoved into… Read more
Jun
5

Breaking the 4th Wall

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It occurs to me that I tend to break the 4th wall quite a bit in the Abby books. Not that it’s a bad thing, per se – but particularly in this third book, there seems to be more open winks and nods to a certain group of readers in various places. (Mostly gamer sorts, of course).  And not that it has anything to do with the story directly – some of it is subtle and some is pretty blatant, but none of it is required to understand the story as it stands. I could remove it completely and not really change anything. It’s probably a no-no, much like the using of contemporary song titles or technology or brand names. It’s something a lot of writers face – particularly if they mention modern current events (9/11, for example). It can be tricky to pull off and sometimes you run the… Read more
Jun
4

Philly Comic Con Highlights and Random Updates

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Okay – lots to talk about from this weekend! First off – Comic Con – we only went for Saturday and Sunday, but that was plenty of fun, particularly with the kids. (They only last so long, however, so I highly recommend doing the VIP thing if you can swing it. Not having to wait in the cattle lines to get in was worth its weight in gold, particularly on Saturday morning.) Anyway – we got in about 10 AM or so and most of the day was spent doing the Chris Hemsworth VIP thing – my passes allowed for a signing and a photo op, but with such a high profile celebrity, the lines form really early, and so you still have to wait. So – first thing was getting Lucy’s hammer signed – took us about an hour, but we got through the Line okay. Lucy made a… Read more