“If you’re trapped in the dream of the Other, you’re fucked.” – Gilles Deleuze
This thread is typical of the sorts of conversations that arise when discussing women in games (or [insert controversial topic that threatens status quo]). People start bickering over terminology, the credibility of the original content, the relevance of the critique, edge cases, exceptions, and so on and so forth. It’s incredibly tiresome. It strikes me, further, as in some ways quite misguided and unhealthy.
GIlles Deleuze was in many regards a very unconventional philosopher. He has this notion of the line of flight, whereby you leap out of a paralyzing discourse into a new system of thought. He hated the petty quarrelling that would ensue as people dissected the minutiae of different systems of thought and argument. He would merrily discard an entire thread or idea to pursue something new and interesting, the moment he smelled the jackals closing in. In fact, it was sort of a philosophical imperative for him to do so. To get bogged down in these sorts of debates is tantamount to intellectual death. We stop moving forward. We bunker down, entrenched in our own views. Worse, we become beholden to the terms of someone else’s toxic dream.
Who cares whether Anita’s work is ‘well researched’ or ‘credible’? Does it resonate with you? Clearly it does. That’s enough. What difference does it make that the term ‘mansplaining’ is offensive to some? Let them be offended! We have work to do.
Let’s create the games and the works that reflect our own dreams. We owe the detractors nothing. Your thoughts are free. Choose your own discourse. When things start to smell of rot, ditch 'em. Invoke the line of flight, and make something beautiful.
