Yesterday, we talked about today’s relaunch of Offworld as a site dedicated to women and minorities in gaming, but we didn’t talk much about why that’s a good thing, or rather, a necessary thing. Since the announcement of the new site, I’ve been watching social media discussions around the move, which is either a blessing, because it means a whole pile of so-called social justice warriors will be all in one place and can be blissfully ignored, or it signals the apocalypse, because it means straight white cis-men are being discriminated against and that Leigh Alexander and Laura Hudson are attempting to steal the narrative from everyone who isn’t exactly like them. Oh, and some people said, oh, how cool! Something different from the standard gaming site that may enough backing and power behind it to build a larger audience (spoiler: I am one of these; aren’t you surprised?).
I find it unusual surprising tiresome wearying not at all shocking that we are again faced with a moving goalpost when it comes to how gamers who want diversity in all aspects of the industry should react. Want something different? Better representation in games, in coverage? Do it yourself, we’re told. But when someone does it’s racism, it’s discrimination, it’s not inclusive, it’s crazy, evil, stupid, laughable, actionable, and everybody’s gonna get sued.
Starting a site to spotlight the voices of and issues that concerns marginalized groups is not discrimination. It isn’t oppression. No one is taking the right of expression away from white men on the Internet with a creation of a site that focuses elsewhere. When Offworld launches, every other gaming site in the world will not suddenly be silenced. Nor shall the vast spaces of the Internet. There will be no rift in the very fabric of reality itself, I (can almost) assure you.
Nowhere in any of the announcements has anyone said this is the platform for all women and all minority gamers; it is a platform. No one is chaining anyone to this website and blocking Kotaku (or KiA, if that’s your jam). Read it or don’t, as with any other site.
But to say it’s a bad idea, to say we don’t need a major site that focuses on something other than the same old approach to gaming? That’s crazy to me. That’s laughable. Why?
More? Check PC Gamer, IGN (you’ll have to look them up), etc., etc. What we don’t see in these images is sexuality, background, education, or other invisible factors. We don’t know political leaning, thoughts on favorite cheeses or best Beyoncé song. We can’t make judgments about gender or even racial makeup, which is why I haven’t added commentary. I’ve also stripped off the names. I present, instead, simply the pictures of staffers of major gaming sites, when and where I could find them. If available, I used Twitter or LinkedIn photos. I won’t break them down into statistics, as others have done, because that requires judgments as well. I’ll just leave this here and say, we can all do better, by opening up to allow more diversity of voices. Creating new websites and new approaches is one way to do it. When we create new platforms, who loses? Someone, anyone, please tell me — what is lost?
Nothing. No one loses. And I’ll say this: I have been a harsh critic of the industry over the years, just as I have been a staunch fan. But these problems of representation exist in all forms of media — there is no equal representation anywhere, but in gaming, it feels like we’re working toward it. Gaming enthusiasts are smart, driven, tech savvy, and opinionated, and I believe we’re going to keep building more and better platforms. This industry has been a hub of constant flux since its birth. Why would that stop now?
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