There’s no getting around the fact that the current mood in America is… tempestuous, to say the least.
While a great many people around the world were shocked that Donald Trump was actually voted into the most powerful office in America, we can’t ignore the fact that it’s what a massive number of Americans actually wanted.
Sadly, this massive divide in voting habits has caused all manner of finger pointing and blaming, with popular DJ Moby (of all people) calling out videogames (of all things) for being part of the reason that Mr Trump is now President Elect.
Back in October, Moby put out a piece on The Huffington Post, called ‘When The Media Accept Misogyny, We All Lose’.
In truth it was a genuinely interesting article, with some valid points. Yes, the media can (and often does) normalise awful treatment of women, but to throw a bucket of piss on videogames seems unfair, and frankly, it’s an archaic view.
Here’s what he argued:
I was at a friend’s house and his kids were playing video games. I learned from his 10-year-old son how profitable it was in the video game to have sex with a prostitute, and then kill her and take back the money that you’d just paid her for sex. When you have kids in middle America growing up listening to misogynistic music, and playing misogynist video games, and watching misogynistic TV and movies, is it in any way surprising that they grow up and respond warmly to Trump and his misogyny?
Leaving aside the fact that a company like Rockstar Games (I’m assuming Moby is referring to GTA) would probably be horrified if they thought anyone voted for Trump because of them, I feel I should point out the same thing gamers have to point out whenever we’re linked with violence or other unsavoury things – it’s just a game.
I’ve gunned down hordes of innocent folk in videogames, but not once gotten the urge to pick up a semi-automatic and head down the high street to cause carnage in real life.
If one can’t separate what is acceptable in reality from what is acceptable in a digital world, then one has serious problems beyond videogames.
There’s no denying sexism is still a massive issue across the world, but to pin the blame on videogames and equate the gaming world with the rise of Donald Trump just isn’t helpful.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.