Godwin's Law Strikes EverQuest Next

Not accusing anyone of anything with this. Thought it was funny. Personally, I'm adopting a wait-and-see approach, there is a lot to look forward to with EQNext. I'll just leave this here:

VotD: Tropes are Tools . . .

. . . But are these the right ones for the job? If someone asked to you build a chicken coop, would you bring your monkey wrench and plumber's putty? No, you'd probably bring a hammer and saw or maybe a drill and screwdriver.

Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency has published another video on Tropes vs. Women, this time with even darker themes than simply Damsels in Distress. This one's just a bit longer than the last one:

Unfortunately, the controversy surrounding Part 2 is even more interesting than the video itself. Apparently the trolls are so threatened by Ms. Sarkeesian's videos that they abused the YouTube flag system in an attempt to silence her. Justifiably, both ratings and comments have been disabled for the video on YouTube; though I am sure the troglodytes are frothing elsewhere on the Web. Copperbird draws an apt parallel between the reaction to Ms. Sarkeesian's video series and the reaction to the Female Suffragist movement around the turn of the 20th Century. The antics of the opponents of Feminist Frequency only underscore the importance of her message. I saw some videos that raised reasonable counterpoints to Part 1 right around the time of its release. That is the way to have a debate about the tropes in video games and other storytelling media. By trying to silence someone you disagree with you are only showing that you have already lost the debate.

Videos! Much Ado About Nothing? or Maybe Something More Serious

So a couple of great videos dropped in the last couple days, and if I had not been awake at 4:30 this morning, I might still have missed them both.

The first video is the first installment of Anita Sarkeesian's Tropes vs Women in Video Games series that generated so much froth during its Kickstarter. Seriously, just for making the observation that there are several common tropes in videos (and other storytelling media) that are sexist, Ms. Sarkeesian had her Wikipedia page vandalized, had an atrocious video game made of her, received misogynistic comments, and threats of rape and murder, along with attempts to publish her home address on the Internet, enabling any truly demented individual to make good on the threats. It's ridiculous, not the least because she's correct.

The turbulence surrounding Tropes vs Women in Video Games is one of the incidents that inspired some of my editorials about sexism this past summer, and culminated in the questions about online insults the gamer survey Sctrz and I conducted. I watched the video this morning. Nothing really surprising in Ms Sarkeesian's analysis, but I hope that calling attention to it will create some change in the game field. A really kickass Zelda or Peach who can rescue herself would be awesome.

In lighter news, Joss Whedon has apparently helmed an new film of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. It's been shown at a few film festivals, but this morning was the first I'd heard of it, thanks to Dusty Monk on G+. Y'know? Thinking about it, this is an interesting juxtaposition of videos, since MAAD is basically about the value of the virginity of Hero, a Damsel in Distress who must be "rescued" from her alleged dishonor. Hmm.

As you may guess from my chosen avatar in the column to the right, I am very excited to see this when it gets general release. I just hope it is as good as Branagh's version—if which you have not seen, I'm afraid we can no longer be friends.

Video of the Day: I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing)

This morning I woke up and checked Twitter as is my wont. A link to this song was right near the top. I hope you enjoy this delightful performance by the multi-talented Commander Chris Hadfield as much I did. The Wexford Gleeks and Barenaked Ladies are awesome, too. It sounds a bit glib, but the song really did bring a tear t'me eye.

Growing up, inspired by Star Trek and other shows, my best friend and I dreamed of becoming astronauts on the space shuttle and touching the sky. Cmdr Hadfield and his crew-mates really have. He also posts amazing photographs of terrestrial regions taken from the cupola of the ISS. If you're not following him on Twitter, you're definitely missing out.