Extra Lives author Tom Bissell apologized to fans and critics earlier today in an open letter on Kotaku for a controversial remark in his review of Skyrim for culture blog Grantland. Bissell was called out by female fans for making an implicitly sexist statement in the opening of his review:
"If you have no idea what the Elder Scrolls franchise is, you are probably either (a) an adult woman, or (b) the sort of person who once beat up the sort of person who likes the Elder Scrolls franchise, so herewith a quick primer: Bethesda Game Studios made it; its genre is the genre that has elves; and its subgenre is the open-world RPG."
As you might imagine, many readers took the statement to say; "Skyrim is a game for boys, not girls."
In his apology, Bissell accepted the blame from his critics, citing an error in personal judgement. He notes that is not the first time he's run into problems with subtly sexist language before. He also clarified that the statement's misogynistic implications were unintentional and expressed his apologies. Bissell said:
"I know what's in my heart, both as a man and as a human being and as a gamer, and I know there's no conscious sexism there at all—conscious being the operative word. I'm a writer: it's my duty to listen to and either heed the call of or sternly defy my subconscious. In this case, as in the escort/model joke in Extra Lives, I heeded a subconscious part of my mind I should have quite frankly defied."
After all that, does Bissell's apology seem genuine to you? Do you think the comment was actually sexist, or simply an overreaction by zealous readers? Let us know what you think in the comments.
RogueCheddar December 1st, 2011 at 03:50 PM
Tough call. It's probably true that most adult women don't give a damn what Skyrim is, but to say so is walking a fine line. Then again, there are plenty of adult men who don't know what Skyrim is either. For decades gaming has been a boys' arena, and it can be tough to get out of that mindset. Regardless, I think everyone should climb down out of their own asses and relax a little bit.
Nigel December 1st, 2011 at 04:04 PM
I think it's just one of those situations where he made a (fair-ish) generalisation and got smacked by the PC police. I'd love to see the statistics on demographic takeup of Skyrim.. I'd bet every cent I have those statistics would substantiate those claims. Sure, women RPG gamers exist, but they are largely outnumbered by their male counterparts. It's not sexist, it's fair evaluation. But hey.. you can't say it, even if it does ring true.
Anon January 31st, 2012 at 04:19 AM
Actually, about 40%+ of gamers are female. So...
NotInTheFace! December 1st, 2011 at 04:06 PM
I think he was aiming for hyperbole but fell a few feet too short to get the joke across. It seems he's pointing out the geeky D&D-esque baggage that comes with the playing a fantasy RPG, the stereotypical fantasy fan being a male shut-in. Could have dodged a bullet by saying "you probably never (a) owned a twelve-sided die..." but got a little lazy and suffered a knee jerk critical hit with bonus damage to his career stat.
Alicat March 15th, 2012 at 02:46 PM
I'm an avid fan of TES (and have been for years). I don't really see how this statement is offensive. It's.. ignorant at best. But he's just making a joke. Relaaaaax!
khajiit sneak March 24th, 2012 at 11:28 AM
I'm an adult female who loves Skyrim and Tom Bissell's game reviews, and I laughed out loud when I read that line...because it's honest. I think the punch of the joke is in the "adult" part. There are a lot of female gamers now, but they are a younger generation. Your average 30+ (me) woman is not interested in the OCD maintenance of their imaginary armor inventory or endless lore of dragons and Dwemer ruins, because games as entertainment has been a boys club for most of our lives. Yes that should change, and is changing, but the joke is about reality, not what we wish was reality.