Thanks for the thoughtful response! I really hope it didn’t sound like I was saying that Tomodachi Life or any sim game like it actually does approximate the experience of being a parent. I have no idea what that’s like. If anything, the “important lesson” it helped me realize was that if I’m doing stuff in my life…

Nailed it.

Yes, we’re talking about the same Kotaku, a news and opinion outlet like any other that will have successes and stumbles along the way. I agonize about stories all the time, some I wish we did better, some that we’ve had to run despite a lot of resistance from people involved who didn’t want us to tell a fair…

It’s funny how GG is trying to spin it as “different political opinions are banned!” or “Leftists kick girl gamers out! Misogyny!”

Whelp this got depressing real fast.

The worst encounter I’ve ever had with a troll was just after Hurricane Katrina. I’m a New Orleans native and when I returned home 8 months after the hurricane, I had been living in Huntsville Alabama, a friend and I we’re playing Project Gotham Racing on the 360. Now I very rarely ever play games online because of…

The worst trolls are the griefers, imo. People who do exploitative, trashy stuff to people trying to have a good time.

This is a large part of why I like playing video games. I have since I was a kid with Colecovision and plan to for a long time. I get just as much stimulus, if not more, out of a video game as I do with books and movies. I just had a daughter 6 months ago and I plan on introducing her to video games.

So as a straight white male I should only want to play as straight white males? Holy shit, I had no idea. Brb, deleting my black femShep.

Really, what are you so afraid of when it comes to this discussion? Are you afraid white males are going to be removed from games and gaming culture completely? I mean, really? What's so threatening to you about diversity in the medium? Nobody is vilifying white males, as players or as characters. Some of us just…

but the outright opposition to the very process of discourse is sickening and a reminder of why I so rarely identify myself as a "gamer".

Except that there are massive portions of art, literary, and film criticisms that deal with how different groups (race, gender, etc) are treated in such creative works. Accepting games as art means not plugging your ears every time a game is critiqued for its representation of a certain social group. Freedom does not…

Honestly I'm usually tired of hearing about it but for me it's because of how it is presented. Here Stephen presented the issue in a professional way and not trying to incite page clicks or baiting hate from the comments like other sites and articles usually elicit. Thanks Mr. Totilo for a good read and I hope this…

"That's what I'm reading here."