8 ms·
Texas Battlefield 3 launch LAN bans women from attending
- Ronkdar 15y agoHow exactly does one get into a launch party? Because if they're letting in 15 year-olds, sure there's going to be spiteful words. I always pictured these sorts of things having more mature crowds, but maybe I'm wrong. My strategy, instead of excluding women, would be to make it a 21+ event (or maybe 18+), as well as kicking out anybody who doesn't abide by decency standards.
- rick888 15y ago"kicking out anybody who doesn't abide by decency standards." I think they probably figured out that that would mean kicking 99% of the LAN party out.
- Ronkdar 15y agoFair enough. In that case, stipulate that "Heated banter should be expected. If you can't handle that blah blah." Basically, there's better solutions than the shotgun approach.
- dlikhten 15y agoAre women incapable of understanding that people can be a-holes especially in an unregulated "sporting" competition? Lots of a-holes out there. Just put a warning, let women know, and offer advice if necessary. This is just plain ol' wrong. It's EA so I'm already boycotting it. :P
- rick888 15y agoI think they are fully capable of understanding. But I can guess that the LAN party probably gets tons of complaints regarding assholes and women every year and just decided to put a stop to it. Just look at a site like Reddit (which probably is the same demographic as a LAN party). As soon as a women appears, the assholes come out.
- ceejayoz 15y agoI suspect after a few percent get kicked out the other folks would improve their behaviour.
- burgerbrain 15y agoThen it probably should not be held. What kind of person even wants to host an event for a bunch of immature teenage gamers who can't handle the presence of a female?
- rick888 15y agoThe problem is that many gamers fall into this category.
- ceejayoz 15y agoWhich is a problem to be fixed, not a quirk to be tolerated.
- icebraining 15y agoAnd how exactly do you propose to do that?
- ceejayoz 15y agoExpect decent behaviour, and expel those who cross the line. Teenagers are fully capable of learning to behave in public.
- burgerbrain 15y agoExactly, stop catering to the (apparent) animals.
- yummyfajitas 15y agoWe already have a nontrivial number of women only events in technology. What's wrong with a men only event?
- cosgroveb 15y agoBecause the only reason they are doing this is because they can't be bothered to force their male attendees to adhere to a standard of common decency. They would rather remove the need for them to be good human beings. Also it is tantamount to blaming women for the men's behavior. It is not uncommon for minorities in any group to be encouraged to show solidarity (women only events in tech for instance) while the same is frowned upon for the privileged majority.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- JeremyBanks 15y agoMen are not a majority in the United States. No, but men are a supermajority among gamers, or in the tech community. That's what he was referring to.
- diolpah 15y agoFair point. Parent post removed.
- sp332 15y agoIn FPS games, maybe. But overall, there are more adult women playing games than boys under 18, and women make up about 42% of all gamers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_games#Demographics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_games#Demographics
- ceejayoz 15y agoMinority status can indicate a power imbalance, not simply a numeric one.
- cosgroveb 15y agoLet's also ban anyone with darker skin from attending because we know that the typical gamer can't help but use the "N" word too. Brilliant reasoning. Edit: Did anyone downvoting me bother to read the article? This is exactly the reasoning they are using to ban women from this event.
- Shenglong 15y agoCountered - I was thinking sarcasm along these lines too.
- aberkowitz 15y agoYou probably got downvoted because you repeated the article and didn't add anything. I come to comment threads for original discussion.
- cosgroveb 15y agoI added an illustrative analogy that wasn't in the original article. Maybe it was too obvious? Thanks for the feedback. Edit: Since we're getting pretty deep in the comments here and the timer is in effect... To joshuacc: I did miss that line. Looks like the parent here is right I didn't add anything to the discussion. Thanks!
- joshuacc 15y agoPerhaps you missed this in the original article: I wonder if this party would so outwardly ban any black gamers from registering. Because it would be so, you know, uncomfortable to hear them being insulted.
- cosgroveb 15y agoYou're absolutely right, I did miss that line when I read the original article.
- NickPollard 15y agoAs far as I can tell, this is not in anyway affiliated with or sponsored by EA or DICE. Is that correct? Just want to make sure people don't automatically leap on the BF3 link and blame the publisher or developer, when this appears to be a privately run event.
- almost 15y agoThat is an important point and should be clarified in the blog post. Whoever organised this event are being (quite rightly I would say) made to look like massive douche-bags and it seems a little unfair for it to be people or organisations who aren't actually involved to the be ones getting the blame.
- NathanKP 15y agoFrom what I can see it looks like the event is being put on by an online forum called Powers Gaming. It also appears that because of the backlash they deleted their old information thread about the party, and recreated it today with nothing but a "Coming Soon" message. Old thread: http://www.powersgaming.com/showthread.php?742-Battlefield-3-Launch-Party-INFORMATION http://www.powersgaming.com/showthread.php?742-Battlefield-3... New thread: http://www.powersgaming.com/showthread.php?785-Battlefield-3-Launch-Party-INFORMATION http://www.powersgaming.com/showthread.php?785-Battlefield-3... If I was EA or DICE I would not be happy with this negative buzz about the game, especially as it makes BF3 players look pretty bad. (Or at least this group of them.)
- Udo 15y ago> women are disallowed from attending in order to protect them from misogynistic insults Fundamentalist religious societies often use the same line of reasoning: women are not allowed to walk around unveiled or allowed to do pretty much anything because they are powerless and ostensibly have to be protected from society as much as society needs to be protected from the unrest their public presence causes. The deeper "logic" here is that women are held responsible for the abuse they are provoking just by being around, and also that they're somehow not mature enough to handle themselves. This is exactly the same reasoning as banning, say, black people on the grounds that they might cause unrest among KKK attendees who might be present. In one line: this is the most insultingly stupid thing ever and it's happening not only in Texas but all over the world. I just wish it didn't happen in so-called free societies at all.
- gaius 15y agoSo long as there are women-only gyms, scholarships, etc this argument falls a little flat. In other words, you can't have your cake and eat it.
- ajross 15y agoThere are women who actually want to attend the LAN party (as evidenced by the fact that they used to be allowed, were present, and "caused problems"). Are there really men who really want to get into Curves? If that demographic exists, then sure: open the gyms! But honestly, it seems like you're just nitpicking here because you don't want chicks at your LAN party. Some of us find that pretty hateful.
- gaius 15y agoNah, I'm nitpicking because I truly believe in equality. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. If a "women's" gym is the closest to his house and has the equipment he uses (e.g. I didn't know treadmills were gender-specific) then why shouldn't a man go? His money's the same as anyone else's.
- 15y ago
- andreyf 15y agoIt basically is saying that the organizers either don’t want to put the effort into policing language at their event, or don’t trust the men to be mature and responsible enough to adhere to event policies. I'm not sure if "or" is the right word there...
- justathought 15y agoIs this immature and inconsiderate of women and does it reflect poorly on the LAN? Absolutely. Are they within their right to do so? Absolutely. People get up in arms about stuff like this because they're offended that people would so boldly exclude someone, but the key here is that it's a private event. Don't like it? Don't support them. Or, create your own private event with any rules you see fit. As a nonreligious white male, I'm also excluded from minority scholarships, many religious private colleges, jobs with many religious organizations, being a waiter at Hooters, and plenty of other social groups, simply because of my personal beliefs or race or gender. Women also can't join the Augusta National Golf Club (home of the Masters) for similar reasons as this, but I don't see that on the frontpage of HN.
- nate_meurer 15y ago> "it's a private event. Don't like it? Don't support them." This is a classic refrain of apologists for bigotry. I belong to a country club that officially excluded blacks up until the 60's, and did so unofficially for years after. The policy changed under pressure from the community, which included bad publicity, public embarrassment, and disdain directed at individual club members from people on the outside. Public scorn for the organization prevailed over the objections of assholes who said, "it's a private organization! Go make your own country club!". Eventually, Augusta may repent of gender discrimination due to similar pressure. And it still won't make the front page of HN because it has nothing to do with computers.
- vidiviciveni 15y agoIt's true, though, that it was the "bigots" that formed the events and clubs that you mention in the first place. You can't escape that fact.
- icebraining 15y agoI think that's the point: using social pressure instead of legal. Parent's statement - it being a private event - does not necessarily conflict with embarrassing and disdaining the members.
- 15y ago