Gatekeeping ・・・ Elitism and the Cycle of Rejection

May 31, 2015 — 1 Comment

There’s a very vicious cycle we constantly face in the gaming community. Actually it pretty much permeates through all alternative pop culture (I really don’t want to call it ‘geekery’ because…ugh).

Here’s a classic example:

Person A complains they can’t find anyone interested in X, they meet Person B who shows passing interest in X. But they don’t know everything about it. Person A will be snide about how they really don’t like X or they would know this or that about it. They assume they’re in a position to pass judgement.

I’m guilty of this. I’d say most enthusiasts are. I’ve done this with music, TV shows, games, anime…you name it. I’ve been a repulsive elitist, and it really isn’t that self-satisfying, because you’re terrified of running into someone who might actually know more. You’ll meet your match. It’s tiring to have to constantly be the know-it-all. Continue reading

The Quest for Legitimacy ・・・ Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Girly Games

May 10, 2015 — 2 Comments

When I was in year 6, I had a Tamagotchi and a Digimon. I loved both, the Tamagotchi was cute but the Digimon was cool. Those terms seemed mutually exclusive. I once had a fight with a boy I sat next to in class because ‘the Digimon is for boys’. I nearly hit him.

‘I have both. I’ll play with whatever I want.’

I wanted the best of both worlds, I wanted cute and cool. Why should I have to choose? It was seemingly impossible for an eleven year old girl to find something that catered to both desires. Cute things were too kiddy, and cool things were always solely aimed at boys or girls much older. I got really suckered into everything Pokémon because the characters went on fun adventures and there were some cute Pokémon, but also some very cool ones. Continue reading