A Message from Library of Games

Library of Games, in response to the vile, misogynistic, and anti-Semitic response of certain segments of the gaming community to Feminist Frequency’s Anita Sarkeesian’s Kickstarter fund to create videos deconstructing sexist tropes in video games, has decided to donate $50 in order to show our support for her cause and our condemnation of the sickening response she has faced in the pursuit of her goal.

Ms. Sarkeesian decided to create a Kickstarter account in order to raise money for her video series Tropes vs. Women In Video Games which will explore twelve (previously five) different stereotypes that exist for women in video games. She posted a video supporting the Kickstarter on YouTube and was greeted with a pernicious and repugnant response from the YouTube gaming community. And while this is to be expected from the YouTube community (a community not known for their civility and tolerance) the reaction to this video was especially vicious, even by YouTube standards. They included not only sexists and anti-Semitic slurs, but also threats of violence and rape, as well as the defacing of her Wikipedia page.

It is Library of Games’ mission to start a different dialogue in the video game community, to break away from the “Bro culture” of video game journalism and the video game community as a whole. These attacks represent the consequences of a video game community that refuses to acknowledge not only its problem with sexism, but also with racism, anti-Semitism, and numerous other prejudices. Video games are consequently labeled as immature and the community is constantly derided as immature and loathsome. These attacks do the video game culture no good and are an embarrassment to all gamers, male and female.

Library of Games condemns these attacks as well as the overall chauvinistic attitudes which dominate gaming. We salute Ms. Sarkeesian’s efforts to shed light on the rampant sexism within video games and hope that, if anything comes of this awful incident, it is the start of a conversation which will lead to a more tolerant and respectful video game community.

Sincerely,
Team Library of Games