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Facebook clarifies what you're allowed to post on its social network
Facebook's content guidelines have sparked confusion, to put it mildly -- a lot of people are unsure as to whether or not they have to use their legal names, or whether it's safe to post breastfeeding photos. At last, though, the social network is clearing the air a bit. It just posted new Community Standards that don't change the company's stance, but should remove some of the gray areas. For one, it's emphasizing that you only have to use your "authentic identity," not the name your government recognizes -- important if you identify with a non-traditional gender. Facebook also clarifies that you can mention hate speech for the sake of social commentary, and refines its views on harassment, nudity and what happens to your account when you die. A few sections are completely new, such as one explicitly forbidding revenge porn and other forms of sexual exploitation.
Facebook lets you specify any gender you want
Facebook already has a range of gender options for those who don't fit neatly into male/female categories, but it just took that accommodation one step further. Much like Google, Facebook now lets you specify any gender you want -- you're not limited to the social network's definitions. As before, you can choose who sees that sexuality in case some of your visitors are less tolerant than others. The move won't please those upset with Facebook's real name policy, which sometimes makes people use names that are out of sync with their sexual identities, but it's at least a step in the right direction. [Image credit: Facebook]
Google Plus lets you define your own gender
Facebook gave its gender non-conforming users a better way to express themselves early in the year, and now it's Google's turn. An update to Google+ rolling out over the next few days will let you type in a custom gender for your social networking profile instead of having to settle for "other" -- you won't have to constantly explain yourself just because you don't fit into the male/female binary. You can also choose a pronoun, and it's still possible to limit who sees your gender. This is a small tweak to the code, but it should make a big difference if you haven't been comfortable with your G+ identity so far.
Men detail male gamers' privilege on new Feminist Frequency
Hoping to hear from the other side of the gender aisle, Anita Sarkeesian has turned over the latest episode of her controversial Feminist Frequency video blog to a few dozen men who explain all the little, unspoken positives that come along with having a pronounced Y chromosome in the world of video games. [Image: Feminist Frequency]
OKCupid test lets you choose nearly any sexual identity
If you don't conform to historical definitions of gender or sexual orientation, online dating can be tough. You frequently have to shoehorn yourself into a category where you aren't comfortable, and you'll probably get many unwelcome advances. OKCupid should soon have a fix, however: it's testing an update that dramatically expands the range of identities you can associate with your dating profile. You can declare yourself as gender non-conforming or pansexual, for example, rather than having to choose from binary options like male/female or heterosexual/gay. The site is only showing the new options to a subset of its users and hasn't said if or when they'll be available to everyone, but it might not be long before you'll have an easier time finding partners that accept who you are. [Image credit: Alamy]
Swedish trade group proposes sexism ratings for games
Sweden-based industry trade group Dataspelsbranchen is researching a new content rating system for video games based on promotion of gender equality. The proposed ratings system, inspired by the Bechdel test, will examine how in-game female characters are portrayed with regard to equality and diversity. The group recently received a 272,000 kronor (nearly $37,000) grant from Sweden's government-funded Vinnova agency to further its research. "I do not know of any other project in the world asking this question and of course we want Sweden to be a beacon in this area," project manager Anton Albiin told Swedish publication The Local. "Of course games can be about fantasy but they can be so much more than this. They can also be a form of cultural expression - reflecting society or the society we are hoping for. Games can help us to create more diverse workplaces and can even change the way we think about things." The group's research follows up on recent concerns raised by Anita Sarkeesian and other media critics, who highlight the one-dimensional treatment women characters often receive in video games. [Image: 2K]
Report: Men play more MMOs, FPSes; women rule mobile, RPG
Men and women enjoy video games, but some genres tend to attract one gender over the other, SuperData Research finds in a 2014 US study provided to Joystiq. Women compose 57.8 percent of the mobile market, 53.6 percent of the RPG market and 50.2 percent of the PC market (including social games), the report says. The study finds that men make up 66 percent of MMO players, 66 percent of FPS players and 63 percent of digital console players. The data was collected in several separate studies in 2014, each with a minimum sample size of 1,000 respondents. SuperData defines its terminology and methodology here. This study comes on the heels of SuperData Research's 2014 MMO market report, which placed League of Legends as the No. 1 game in the company's MMO category, which included MOBAs, MMOFPS games, MMORPGs, online racing games, online sports games, online sci-fi games, virtual card games, social sims and virtual worlds. In that study, SuperData found that among US players 18 and older, 22 percent of players were between the ages 26 and 30, and 20 percent were between the ages 21 and 25. The average player salary was $55,000, and the overall gender breakdown was 60 percent male, 40 percent female.
What happened to all of the women coders in 1984
In 1984, women stopped pursuing Computer Science majors at American universities. From 1970 onward, women had composed an increasing percentage of Computer Science majors, but something happened in 1984 and that number began to drastically fall, an occurrence at odds with other tech fields. This trend has continued into the 2000s, and today women make up roughly 20 percent of Computer Science majors, as opposed to the 1984 high of about 37 percent. NPR's Planet Money team of Caitlin Kenney and Steve Henn dove into the data to uncover what went down in the mid-80s to drive women out of the field. "There was no grand conspiracy in computer science that we uncovered," Henn said. "No big decision by computer science programs to put a quota on women. There was no sign on a door that said, 'Girls, keep out.' But something strange was going on in this field."
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's gender divide
When I sit down to write an installment of this column that is strongly critical of Guild Wars 2 -- a game I love, in case that was ever in doubt -- I try to follow a simple format in order to keep my criticism from turning into a venting session. That format is to establish that there is a problem, explain why it's a problem requiring a solution, and finally to offer any ideas or suggestions I think might be useful to that end. I do this because I want my articles to be helpful on some level to both ArenaNet and other fans, and while blowing off steam is excellent for the bilious humors, it's not so great for creating actual change. Sometimes, though, the only suggestion I can offer is to please stop doing something because the fact that it's a problem is reason enough for it to require that solution. This is especially important when the issue isn't gameplay or monetization but rather something that personally affects me and the people I play with. As a warning, several of the source links in this article lead to discussions of graphic and disturbing language and events.
Facebook now lets UK users choose from over 70 gender options
Four months after it did so in the US, Facebook is now letting UK users choose new gender options. After working with two UK organisations, Press For Change and Gendered Intelligence, the social network added over 70 new terms, allowing you to select one of the new custom genders or add your own. Users can also choose a preferred pronoun: male (he/his), female (she/her) or neutral (they/their), which is reflected in birthday notifications and suchlike. As with all profile information, Facebook lets you hide anything you're not comfortable with sharing and says it will not disclose gender selections to advertisers. To update your profile, click the 'About' tab, then hit "Edit" next to the "Gender" option in the "Contact and Basic Information" section.
Legend of Zelda producer says female Link theories are rumor
Game trailers have a way of getting people buzzing, and the presence of a new Legend of Zelda game at E3 stirred up noise louder than a bumblebee alarm clock. As fans searched every frame for detail, one particular question began to circulate: "Was that a girl we saw in the trailer?" According to series producer Eiji Aonuma, the answer is no. Interestingly, it was Aonuma's own comments that fueled the speculation fire: "Another interesting comment I've heard, quite frequently actually, is that, 'Oh Link's a woman. Link is female now,'" Aonuma told Game Informer. "That might be something that consciously we kind of did, but not to say anything specific – I am not saying anything specific – but, I am hoping people continue to comment, and I will continue to follow the fan comments and reactions to the trailer." However, Aonuma clarified to MMGN that his comments were made "jokingly," and that the rumor has taken off more than he intended. That said, Aonuma told MMGN he hopes players won't get caught up in the sex of the legendary hero. "I don't want people to get hung up on the way Link looks because ultimately Link represents the player in the game," Aonuma said. "I don't want to define him so much that it becomes limiting to the players. I want players to focus on other parts of the trailer and not specifically on the character because the character Link represents, again, the player." [Image: Nintendo]
The Daily Grind: Do you mask your gender when playing MMOs?
Last month, Polygon published an article about the invisible privileges some gamers enjoy without realizing it. The author, Jonathan McIntosh, included among those privileges the idea that men "probably never think about hiding [their] real-life gender online through [their] gamer-name, [their] avatar choice, or by muting voice-chat, out of fear of harassment resulting from [their] being male." Granted, he was specifically talking about gender; plenty of men online have every reason to hide aspects of their identities to avoid being harassed on the basis of their nationality or ethnicity or religion or handicap or sexual orientation or age, for example. But gender itself is generally pretty safe for straight male gamers compared to female gamers. We've asked before whether you roll characters that match the gender you identify with in the real world, but today, we're expanding that question: Do you go out of your way to hide your gender when you're playing MMOs? Do you avoid voice-chat, lie about your name, or alter your avatar choice, as McIntosh suggests, to avoid the potential for harassment? Or are MMO players just more socially well-adjusted than the typical gamer such that this is less a problem for us? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Gender in World of Warcraft
Sometimes I flail around to try and come up with a way to start talking about a subject. So this time, I'm just going to go straight to the link - this article by Slate about why people play the characters they do in World of Warcraft, especially the genders they choose, interested me. One of the reasons is because it confirms with actual research an argument I've heard a lot as I've played the game. To quote the article: Because players see their avatars from a third-person perspective from behind, men are confronted with whether they want to stare at a guy's butt or a girl's butt for 20 hours a week. Or as the study authors put it in more academic prose, gender-switching men "prefer the esthetics of watching a female avatar form." This means that gender-switching men somehow end up adopting a few female speech patterns even though they had no intention of pretending to be a woman. There's more to it, though - what I really find interesting is that when men choose to play women in game, (which they do far more often than women do - 23% of men play female characters, while only 7% of women play male characters) they tend to start talking like women, or at least, like what they believe women talk like. But the paper discussed that while the men use language that fits their stereotype of what women behave like, they can't emulate how women actually move their characters in game. Men, according to the study from Information, Communication and Society that prompted the article, tend to stand further away from groups, back up more often, and jump more often, and this behavior doesn't change when they're playing woman characters. I find the study a little limited. There's a lot more to gender and identity than it covered. But I do find it interesting that so many male WoW players play as women, for the reason that's been accepted all along, but in a way no one expected. The idea that these men, deliberately or not, emulate how they believe women communicate while playing a character that is one, whether or not they actually do communicate that way, but are betrayed by a kind of body language unique to the game world is fascinating. I'd love to see more work done on this. Why do so few women play as men? Why do those women that do play as men make that choice? What about gender identities that aren't so binary, how do the differences between cisgendered and transgendered players factor into it? In a way, World of Warcraft can serve as a distillation of the real world (remember the corrupted blood plague was used by researchers to model how virus outbreaks work in the real world) and I'd like to see more work done on it. With thanks to my nemesis Chase for the tip
Oculus Rift Gender Swap aims to unravel identity, intimacy, respect
Gender Swap is an experiment by interdisciplinary art collective Be Another Lab, as part of its open source art project, The Machine to be Another – and it uses the Oculus Rift to transport people into bodies of the opposite gender. Two participants strap on the Oculus Rift with first-person cameras mounted on top, and each person receives the visual input from the other person's camera. A woman will look down and see the body of the male participant, and he will see her body. Both participants then begin moving, slowly and in synchrony, feeling their new bodies and moving with new limbs. They first agree on movements they won't make, but after that, they have to remain attuned to one another's motions to get the full gender-swapping effect. Watch a video of Gender Swap in action below the break – heads up for nudity. The Machine to be Another has spawned multiple Oculus Rift projects, including some where one person tells a story of hardship, body issues or joy while the other participant is in his or her skin. "Designed as an interactive performance installation, the 'Machine' offers users the possibility of interacting with a piece of another person's life story by seeing themselves in the body of this person and listening to his/her thoughts inside their mind," Be Another Lab explains. With Gender Swap, Be Another Lab aims to "investigate issues like gender identity, queer theory, feminist technoscience, intimacy and mutual respect."
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar's great big sexist elephant in the room
There's a subtle problem in WildStar that we've all seen lurking around the edges. It's not huge, and it's not glaring, but it's there, and it's pretty obvious. It's the elephant in the room, and much like the traditional elephant, it's something absolutely no one wants to actually point out because it is not fun to point out. But it's pretty obvious as soon as you look at the races that the male Mechari are built like linebackers and the female Mechari are wasp-waisted blowup dolls in a permanent pair of heels. I've been a fan of WildStar since its first teaser trailer, and while I'd hoped for detailed character customization, the beta came without any body sliders or any other options for customizing a character's build. And while the Mechari are easy to cite as problematic (mostly because none of the other women has high heels as part of her feet), this sort of subtle and passive sexism weaves its way into the game on a consistent basis.
Heroes of the Storm game director apologizes for insensitive remarks regarding sexualized character designs
It's not often that you can feel uncomfortable pauses via text, but a recent interview about Heroes of the Storm managed exactly that. When asked about the character design of the upcoming game's female characters, game director Dustin Browder responded with: "We're not running for President. We're not sending a message. No one should look to our game for that." This went over about as well as you would expect, especially in the wake of World of Warcraft's next expansion's story getting billed as a "boy's trip" (and being portrayed as such in promotional materials). Browder has issued an apology for his statement, claiming that the topic is a serious one and that Blizzard is sensitive about how it portrays its characters. No part of the apology actually addresses the issue in any more detail, although Browder does insist that the team wants everyone to have a character to identify with and enjoy. Whether or not this will result in more discussion of this serious topic or any changes to character designs remains to be seen.
Prime World defies gender stereotypes in latest update
In a stunning twist of irony, Prime World is now challenging gender stereotypes by adding effieminate males and burly females for the upcoming NA and EU release. Producer Marc Singer commented on the new customization options: "We want to give a lot of skin options that are not just hairdos and color changes. We want to completely shift them from one spectrum to the other. We want effeminate males and we want burly, bulky females. We want animal-style stuff and old women and young kids." Singer said that this was part of a game-wide effort to combat tired portrayals of sexy girls: "A lot of games nowadays are very over-sexualised or male-centric when it comes to character pools. When you have over-sexualised characters, when you have male-centric hero pools, that's not something that the Russians are concerned about, because culturally for them, it's not a big deal. And even in parts of Europe, it's not a big deal either. But in the US, it's a very big deal." This change is ironic because the MOBA is perhaps best-known for originally forcing gamers to play their gender and incorporating gender-specific abilities and buffs, including a team-wide defensive buff if a female was part of the squad. Nival later decided to (mostly) remove these features for the NA/EU release, although gender locking is still part of the experience.
Prime World devs tackle gender issues, hero prices
The folks over at Nival have posted a quick dev diary that addresses some of the biggest player concerns with its still-in-beta MOBA, Prime World. The studio wants players to know that matchmaking is being refined, an EU server should solve European lag issues, a report system is on the way, and hero prices are under review (though the team seems generally happy with them). Perhaps the most interesting tidbit is Nival's decision to nix all gender features from the game. Prime World has been the subject of some controversy due to its treatment of gender; male and female characters have different abilities that operate in relation to their gender and the gender of other heroes, and player hero choice is determined by the gender established either on the player's Facebook page or Prime World account. Nival explained that the decision to remove gender-specific features will soon be discussed in greater detail in a separate post. [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
Prime World patch slips you some skins
Call out "New skins! New skins!" to the MOBA crowd and just watch as they come a-runnin'. Nival's added a bunch of new skins for Prime World with its patch 9.10, giving additional looks (and gender options) to familiar heroes. Patch 9.10 has a ton of changes beyond just the cosmetic. There are talent and skill changes, of course, as well as a search feature for co-op challenges, challenge quests, and new monsters. The team also explained a rather major change to the battle start UI: "In the future, we plan to add new features, like playing against bots in other modes, as well as new modes. The interface in its recent state was overloaded, and it was not wise to load it even more with new elements. The new interface, however, will spare us many troubles in the future." [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
Returning to Prime World in its English open beta
Back in April, I had the opportunity to explore Prime World in its Russian beta. Now, the game is in open beta for English-speakers, so I wanted to update my impressions. Unfortunately, Prime World has developed less than I had hoped in the interim. For example, the screenshot above shows off my mate's Prime World home in contrast with the one I showed you last time. My friend is a bit of a nature lover, so I told her we'd try the red team this time. It's a lovely layout, but this playthrough marked the first time I've seen it because we couldn't see each other's bases -- just as in the old Russian beta. Playing with other English speakers this time instead of Russian players means I could have chatted about this with them about it but for the game's deafening loading screens (no, really, take off your headset when loading a match; volume control is mute or nothing). A lot of the non-MOBA complaints from my last review sadly still hold true, as do a few issues with the tutorial. While the new additions to the game greatly increased my satisfaction with the combat parts and I want to talk about the new game modes, I still must readdress my issues with the game that haven't changed at all.
