Originally posted by jocieB

blah, blah, balah, *runz*

:-P

Originally posted by Crazy_Stick

To attempt to label her unprofessional for writing an opinion column on a site dedicated to providing opinion for consideration is the mark of an agenda, be it personal or corporate. As a matter of fact this is her “personal” column for subjects of her choice. So, she was irritated by a horny net stalker and people’s misogynistic comments then made a sarcastic article of it to vent some frustration? If you don’t like it then don’t waste your own time just to be miserable. We are posting on a game site for fun and not engaged in activity for the betterment of humanity. This is a good thing since some people are obviously beyond reasonable hope.

 

It seems the best comment some of you have is that she has an unfair advantage in that she looks cute on camera and has cool bewbz to “control you” with. I guess it’s not fair for a rookie NFL quarterback to make millions because he has a stronger arm than you to throw a football with either. Nothing in life is fair, you make the best of what you have. Crying over your cards in Vegas won’t spare you losing the pot either.

 

The appearance of several “new” posters to this site that have created accounts for no other reason than to attack Pokket for this article is the symptom of either a single nut case with multiple alts in need of banning or of a sickness in society. Take your pick. Perhaps The Eye was right. You can learn all you need to know about humanity from reading the comments section on YouTube... (TSW)

To be fair I've never referred to Pokket as being unprofessional, just untalented. Also to be fair I also believe mmorpg.com is just using her for her popularity. Whether it has anything to do with being a non unattractive female makes no difference. 

     Despite my earlier criticisms of her, i actually think pocket is one of the better options in terms of what she does here. We have seperate tastes and standards in what we find apealing in games (she was trying to pimp SWTOR to people after all), but i think if we actually met, we would probably get along rather well. She clearly does feel genuine excitment when she enjoys a game and i dont find her to be the least bit fake in terms of her interest in gaming.

     Consider comparing her to say morgan webb of g4tv(or almost any of thier female staff for that matter). The differences are painfully obvious between them. Fortunately i see pokket as being on the clear opposite side of the scale from morgan webb in just about every way and thats a compliment. (I find morgan webb to be the worst example of a woman who is trying to appear as a legitimate gamer while trading on her supposed looks, and a dubious trade at that.)

     I just think this article was a step backwards for her. Maybe if the quotes she used genuinely reflected the flavor of the article it would have been better. Complaining of stalkers might have made more sense if that was somehow reflected  in the quoted posts that she chose to bring up. Instead she conflated negative opinions about her based on her apearance and lacking credibility in thier eyes, to spurned romantic interest.

Why take it all so serious people? loosen up a bit..

I think the article was pretty funny myself. lol

I hereby declare Shava's Law, which is that any discussion of women and gaming eventually runs into the dead end correllary of Godwin's Law that is the rough equivalent of a dickwolves trainwreck.

As folks earlier in the thread have said, no woman online should have to deal with abuse.  Period.  I've been online thirty years now, and it doesn't stop.  You grow a very thick skin, and you know -- that's not the solution.  It is not the solution for all minorities and women to grow used to being smacked on.  It's an interim therapy, like medicating a disease until you find a cure through research.  

Telling MLK that the blacks in the American south in the 60s should be at peace with their lot wasn't a great piece of advice then, and he and the SCLC didn't take it, and people didn't think he was wise or helping society then either, because he was asking the majority to change their behavior and way of thinking.  And there are still a great number of people who disagree with the results, but most younger Americans can't actually even model in their heads what the social reality was like in this country around race before 1964, so they feel like things haven't changed much.

It's the same with women.  Things have changed a lot, but not enough, and the time of change and chaos are hard on society.  You are part of those generations of social chaos.  Congratulations -- you are wedged, no matter what your opinions, in a culture war over these issues, and that's why even on a gaming forum, these things blow up.

As folks earlier in the thread have said, it's a joke son.  If you are taking it too seriously, you might want to reflect on why you have so much emotional charge on this issue.  Counseling, meditation, or medication might be called for if self-reflection doesn't work for ya.

We can also act as individuals -- and effectively as blocs, if not groups -- to make the games and our online communities better, and that's women, men, gays and allies -- anyone who wants these places to be better.

The problem is both very much bigger than you -- but how you deal with it is a personal responsibility.  You have the choice to be a decent human being when you are online.  You have the choice to seize teachable moments, or let others be bullies and jerks.  You have the choice to use mechanisms (as in SWTOR) to remediate jerks by excluding them using game mechanics (see http://bit.ly/SWTORpiggies) in some cases.

Even though i didn't read the article, I would like to share some thoughts...

From what ive read and seen you seem to uphold a good level of ethics and professionalism when you conduct interviews and reviews(ie don't use the boob tactic to get more views) and i think this is integral especially for females to support there works integrity.

But to completely discredit your 'appeal' as a female in a mostly male driven market is just ridiculous. im sure the ppl at mmorpg.com saw the $$$ potential of having an attractive female do columns, But the best thing you can do to help your cause is always conduct yourself with professionalism and ethics.

I am conflicted about this article because im yet to see an article by mikeB (or other male mmorpg representatives) saying how many women he has to beat off with a pole.

Unless mike is going to do one to "restore the balance"?

I am always sorry when 'anonymity' allows idiots to....well, be idiots.

That said,  the quality of the article is rather poor as satirical writing goes. Thus while the subject matter may be near and dear to the author (and even accurate in general), it is not particularly good. Good writing = good read. Bad writing = detraction from the statement  trying to made.

MMOs have a heavy (at times) personal/social aspect but this article is far less about gaming (pros OR cons) and more about social networking and general net social 'rules'.

I could sort of understand when this site dropped from MMOs 100% of the time and added the section on FPS/RTS games but this article is stretching the 'connection to games' a bit too far.

If this article was published on a different site, by an anonymous author, it would probably loved it, and supported the message. But not this time, for at least these reasons:

- This is not directly related to gaming, so I don't think it has anything to do on this site.

- MMORPG.COM never was a feminist site, and I hope it never ever will. Nothing against their "war", but this isn't the proper channel.

- The author has used her good looks to get where she is now, there's zero doubt about that. And by promoting herself like that, she should understand the position it puts her in, or else she isn't very bright.

Just a few things, but I could easily list more. Bottom line is, a /fail considering who posted it, and which site it's on.

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Originally posted by jocieB

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Originally posted by Hrimnir

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Originally posted by lizardbones  

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Originally posted by Hrimnir Yeah, althought the article was mildly amusing, i just have no pity whatsoever for attractive women in modern western society.  They can continue to tell themselves that it was their hard work and determination that got them where they are, but they are fooling themselves.  I'm not saying pokket or any other attractive women don't or didnt work hard, but they severely downplay the role their looks had in getting them where they are.

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You don't have to feel sorry for anyone. Most women neither want, nor do they need your pity. Just don't be a misogynistic @ss on internet forums.  

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I love how much women throw that term around (and it is spelled with a Y btw), and most don't have even the slightest clue what it means.

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To be fair, you did just bunch up all women in a would-be-offensive statement.  Demisogynise that and get back to us.

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Originally posted by WhiteLantern

Nice! If I weren't happily married, I'd try all of those things! Where were you when I was dating? I needed all the help I could get!

Happy Monday, Pokket.

Oh don't let that stop you just use them all on yoru wife, bet it would make her love you even more then she already does. -runs to a dark corner to hide,a nd watch the fallout.-

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Originally posted by Netspook
If this article was published on a different site, by an anonymous author, it would probably loved it, and supported the message. But not this time, for at least these reasons:

- This is not directly related to gaming, so I don't think it has anything to do on this site.

- MMORPG.COM never was a feminist site, and I hope it never ever will. Nothing against their "war", but this isn't the proper channel.

- The author has used her good looks to get where she is now, there's zero doubt about that. And by promoting herself like that, she should understand the position it puts her in, or else she isn't very bright.

Just a few things, but I could easily list more. Bottom line is, a /fail considering who posted it, and which site it's on.

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So it means in the end, i should stalk that person?  Oo

Haha, I guess there are different peoples.

Ah..  I've seriously considered rolling male characters because of all the BS.  I really hate cross dressing in games though.  I eventually stopped calling people out on the "oh, you're a girl playing a game - you must be fat and ugly" crap, it's just not worth it.  I shouldn't have to provide a photo (which they'll claim isn't you anyway) to prove I'm worthy of respect.  I'm a rogue with more dps ourput and HP than your sorry ass, that's enough.

As far as inane way of trying to get a girl.. as someone said, don't forget to shower her with in game items - extra points for giving her starter gear without bothering to check and see she has dungeon items already.  And make sure to group with her and treat her like a frail little thing that can't play for crap - especially if in doing so you end up nearly wiping the group repeatedly and having her need to pick up your slack for being a terrible player.

All that said, I met my fiance playing WoW.. he applied to my guild and whispered me because he assumed I was the rogue class leader.  I wasn't, I was 2nd in command.. but that's really the way to do it, boys..  show some respect, don't be jackasses, judge a gamer girl on the same scale you judge the guys.  If we suck then tell us, if you want to be nice about it then tell us we suck and offer suggestions on how to improve.  If we rock then tell us we rock or say nothing at all beyond that hard mode raid invite.  Don't assume because we're female we're automatically bad at playing video games - we're not.  I am slightly better at mmo style games than my fiance, he is much better at real time stategy than I am.  We're abotu even on turn based stategy.  He's slightly better at 1st person shooters and I am slightly better at 3rd person shooters.

Originally posted by jocieB

Originally posted by Hrimnir

Originally posted by lizardbones

 

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Originally posted by Hrimnir
Yeah, althought the article was mildly amusing, i just have no pity whatsoever for attractive women in modern western society.  They can continue to tell themselves that it was their hard work and determination that got them where they are, but they are fooling themselves.  I'm not saying pokket or any other attractive women don't or didnt work hard, but they severely downplay the role their looks had in getting them where they are.

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You don't have to feel sorry for anyone. Most women neither want, nor do they need your pity. Just don't be a misogynistic @ss on internet forums.

 

I love how much women throw that term around (and it is spelled with a Y btw), and most don't have even the slightest clue what it means.

To be fair, you did just bunch up all women in a would-be-offensive statement.  Demisogynise that and get back to us.

So all women are attractive?  And all women live in western society?  I must need to google the meaning of all.  And as for the Y comment, i will admit i made a mistake on that.  Because i am one of those guys who is willing to admit when i'm wrong.

And please, explain to me what a "would-be-offensive" statement is.  Is that a statement that you can interpret however you want so that you can be offended by it?

As always there are two sides to every story. I think Pokket does a good job of bringing up a controversial subject that will get a lot of views, which is exactly what any entertainment site needs. So not only is she attractive but she knows what buttons to press. Nice going girl!

I think the point a lot of men are missing here is that this is ENTERTAINMENT. And as a non mega star rock artist can attest too: in entertainment packaging is everything. As a man I feel just as much pressure to be good looking and attractive as women do in music. In the music industry it is even less about content and skill, and more about looks and “gloss”. This is also true of sales proffesions, news anchors, politicians, and movie stars. Good looks sell, that’s just the facts.

This is not really Ppokkets fault, but she and others need to realize that some of her success (not all) is attributable to her attractiveness, and in particular in a industry that is traditionally male dominated this difference is going to be more poignant. So I think everyone just needs to cut her some slack, since this is just the way life is. In music I would like to think my craft is what matters, but in reality experience has taught me that it is not necessary talent that makes it, its a combination of talent with attractiveness, knowing the right people, resources, and good ole blind luck.

As far as the internet stalker goes, this is part of being a celebrity, albeit a minor one. Talk to any attractive actor or musician and they all have stalkers, men and women. The internet just makes it a whole lot easier for said stalker to do their thing in anonymity.  

It was an amusing read, yet sad but not surprising at the same time. No path worth taking is ever going to be easy. I think many of these negative commentors attacking your gender do not seem to realize there are different forms of adversity for someone in your position. This very thread is indicitive of that, yet they do not want to acknolwedge it.

To the haters, an attractive woman isn't some rare mythical creature on this world. You strip that away since it is common, then you have the reality of the situation. Just like in anything in life, Pokket had to compete for where she is. She's here because she was capable of siezing the opportunity, and stood out from the rest of the competition. It's naive to think that landing a job for a gaming site (or anywhere for that matter in this economy) did not have some level of competition.

Moving on from that, I just wanted to show my support, and wish you the best of luck on forging ahead! Keep up the good work!

edit: I had to double space the paragraphs because it came out as a wall of text for some reason D: