A Game Developer's Open Letter to Anita Sarkeesian

Essentially, in this video I ask Anita to engage with me in a public discussion or debate regarding sexism in video games.

Think she'll do it?

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Liana K’s Gamer’s Guide to Feminism series:    • A gamer's guide to feminism introduction  

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PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT:
 
Dear Ms. Sarkeesian,

I’ve been making video games professionally for over 20 years. In that span, I’ve worked on over two-dozen different game titles. Most recently, I was a Game Director as part of the Billion Dollar Disney Infinity franchise for four different playsets.

In the wake of the cancellation of Disney Infinity, I’ve been enjoying a bit of a sabbatical where I am free to speak my mind about various video game related topics. One of those topics is sexism in video games. And, of course, thanks to your visibility and your Tropes vs. Women YouTube series, your name comes up frequently. Because most of the titles I’ve worked on have been family friendly, you haven’t had anything to say about them and so I have no personal axe to grind with you.

However, as I’ve engaged with the community on the sexism in games topic, I’ve noticed something interesting. Although you’ve been generally well-received by the mainstream press, the majority of both gamers and game developers, like myself, tend to view your representations of the games you’ve discussed as being very skewed. And, hence, we’ve tended to regard your consequent criticisms anywhere from suspicious to being outright false.

I think this is something of a shame because, as a commercial art form that has now eclipsed all others in terms of reach and worldwide sales, video games are a worthy subject for criticism. A genuine, insightful, and well-informed feminist perspective on games and the gaming industry would be welcome.

Unfortunately, Anita, your approach appears to be alienating the preponderance of those who should be the most interested in what you have to say: the gaming community itself. Rather than seeing you as an insider, who is seeking to provide valuable insights to improve and educate the community, we tend to see you as an outsider who is deliberately misrepresenting things in the interests of self-promotion and profit.