Support NeoGAF

[Lupingosei]

There was a new study about the topic and again of course it somehow proved the notion about toxic masculinity in gaming. However, it seems the study was nowhere close to academic standards and people start to calling it out.

There was an article in Psychology Today about it.

Video Games and Masculinity

A new report argues that sexualization and violence in video games are harming players—particularly boys. But is the evidence on their side?

www.psychologytoday.com

• There is little evidence linking video games to "toxic masculinity" or sexism toward women.
• Moral panics and prejudice toward gaming communities remain common.
• A new report repeats familiar patterns of moral panic and misinformation about games and gamers.
• Advocating for egalitarian representations of women in games is a worthwhile cause, but it must be undertaken honestly.

I can recommend this article just because of gems like this alone

The authors try to assess toxic masculinity with a measure of unknown validity and imply games reinforce toxic masculinity because, in action games, many male characters act tough, express anger, or take risks. Some negative statistics appear overdramatized: for instance, claiming that female characters were 35 times more likely to be sexualized than male characters, despite that sexualizing of either was remarkably low (3.5 percent vs. .01 percent). Results for revealing clothing were more convincing (24.6 percent v 2.3 percent) but still suggest that even revealing clothing for female characters is less common than most people likely expect.

But that is not all. The author highlights the worst parts of the study quite accurately.

There’s also a survey of boys, which seems more a missed opportunity than anything else. No validated scales are employed, nor were there checks for unreliable or mischievous responses (when, for example, participants give extreme answers to be funny). Thus, we don’t know how much of the data is accurate and how much is misleading.

Experiences of bullying appeared to be relatively uncommon (14-27 percent across ages and types). Nonetheless, the authors employ hyperbole, claiming, “Indeed, these [gaming] spaces are rife with identity-based harassment and bullying that reinforce elements of toxic masculinity.” Any bullying is bad, but the report provides no evidence that gaming spaces are more toxic than anything else online, ranging from meltdowns among young adult fiction writers, online knitting communities, or even among scholars who study video games. Some people (male and female) behave badly online, with no evidence that their behavior is linked specifically to video games.

Unfortunately, anti-media pressure groups have a long history of dubious claims trying to tie video games to societal ills. With this report, in my view, the Geena Davis Institute harms its own credibility by indulging its own prejudices of the gaming community. There’s nothing to see here, and we can all move along.

Games media probably will not care, neither the people on Twitter who even sometimes claim we have to "follow the science". But maybe it is good to know, not everybody in science shares the same opinions.

 

[The Cockatrice]

It's not as bad as twitter warriors make it out to be but it's still bad and anyone who disagrees is fucking clueless or ignorant. Just put your wife/gf/mom on any multiplayer game and have her talk into the mic. Enjoy the results.

 

[yurinka]

Great Psycology Today article, nice to see they debunk very biased reports full of bullshit, as usual in sjw gender related stuff.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

It's not as bad as twitter warriors make it out to be but it's still bad and anyone who disagrees is fucking clueless or ignorant. Just put your wife/gf/mom on any multiplayer game and have her talk into the mic. Enjoy the results.

My last 4 years playing Fortnite random queue has been great. People act like normal people in 1 on 1, or small group settings. Games like Overwatch or CoD on the other hand...

 

[jaysius]

This doesn't hold a candle to the SJW manifesto, for such "enlightened" people they barely read or use any facts, complete supposition and logical fallacies is how they role. One of them introduces a new logical fallacy then it becomes gospel.

This SHOULD change the Sarkesians tune but won't because they don't go by "fake"(this is a very credible source) BIASED(this is an unbiased source) opinions, also I'm not sure if some of those SJWs really know how to read, very few know how to form opinions of their own.

 

[CherryFalls]

Being 'toxic' is more fun though, so even if it was true it's not a bad thing really.

 

[Pejo]

Games media probably will not care, neither the people on Twitter who even sometimes claim we have to "follow the science". But maybe it is good to know, not everybody in science shares the same opinions.

You saw how they shifted the focus of gamergate from "ethics in game journalism" to a message of "gamers hate women and minorities". There is literally no chance that they self reflect about this.

I love the rebuttals though, it's always refreshing to see somebody actually looking at the data objectively instead of trying to push agenda.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Gender studies are not science. It's entirely made up bullshit and people in academia are circlejerking around that bullshit.

(First I wanted to say social sciences are not science but that's slightly more controversial )

 

[MikeM]

If they wanted to really assess toxicity, study the effects of instagram on people of all ages.

 

[Hari Seldon]

The soft sciences are filled with bullshit like this. The simpletons that get tricked into paying money to a university thinking they are getting a science degree are just being taught how to spin mathematically incorrect statistics into whatever conclusion they want to achieve.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Being 'toxic' is more fun though, so even if it was true it's not a bad thing really.

Aw man, I miss going to internet cafés to play CS with the other folks while calling each other names. Good times, nowadays people are too fragile to have that kind of fun.

 

[dcll]

Gtfo to anyone who uses toxic masculinity

 

[Blood Borne]

Gtfo to anyone who uses toxic masculinity

Agreed. Gaslighting garbage. Very sexist.

 

[Unk Adams]

It's not as bad as twitter warriors make it out to be but it's still bad and anyone who disagrees is fucking clueless or ignorant. Just put your wife/gf/mom on any multiplayer game and have her talk into the mic. Enjoy the results.

Put your wife/gf/mom on Twitter or Reddit, give an unpopular opinion and see how nasty the same type of people who criticize "toxic masculinity" are. They make the idiots that you find on COD look nice in comparison. Gamers are a scapegoat. The same people talk shit about gamers being a problem are far worse and way more hateful.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Put your wife/gf/mom on Twitter or Reddit, give an unpopular opinion and see how nasty the same type of people who criticize "toxic masculinity" are. They make the idiots that you find on COD look nice in comparison. Gamers are a scapegoat. The same people talk shit about gamers being a problem are far worse and way more hateful.

No doubt theres garbage people in both camps. Sad world.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

How do they even define "toxic" masculinity?