I’m waiting for it.  The sound of the hammer, or if you will, the other shoe.  The moment when the pundits, perhaps even one of those fellows running for President, takes this new ball and runs with it.

I’m angry, I’m upset, and I’m genuinely worried.  We are close, so achingly close, to having video games accepted as real artistic expression, and then this has to happen.

I don’t watch “Cross Assault”.  I do play fighting games, but only casually, and only against someone sitting next to me in the room, or against the computer.  I had no idea who Aris Bakhtanians was until yesterday.  But then I read this article by Ben Kuchera at The Penny Arcade Report, and I saw red.

I did a little more reading about the subject, and yes, it seems that Aris Bakhtanians really did seem to think that it was not only acceptable, but somehow a moral imperative that the women who choose to participate in competitive fighting games be treated like gutter shit.

What. The. HELL?  What is wrong with these people that this even makes a shred of sense?  Have we made so little progress over the last century that people still need a basic explanation that sexism, misogyny, and gender-based hate are NOT OKAY?  I shouldn’t have to spell this out, but it certainly would seem that there are those among us who revel in this hate.  I wish I could honestly say that this surprises me, but it doesn’t, which just makes it worse.  But the real problem is the wider context.

We, the gaming population, have now been represented on television by “one of our own”, spouting hate and bile that cannot be excused by any rational or reasonable human being.  I worry that it’s only a matter of time before someone decides to play the Jack Thompson role anew,  grabs the microphone and screams from shore to shore, “WE TOLD YOU SO.”  That video games beget violence and hate.  That gamers are socially maladjusted creatures of loathsome bile, who deserve pity at best, and a padded cell at the mental hospital at worst.   That all of our claims that we’re normal people, and that the games we love so much could ever aspire to be called art, is all a hateful sham.

Gamers have been quietly enduring scorn for awhile now.  ”Murder simulators”, “brain-numbing”, “wastes of time”, we’ve heard all the reasons why games are somehow horrible, and why we’re horrible for wanting to play and appreciate them.  We held on, we kept going, and we’re still here enjoying our games.  Some of us with some resources have founded charities like Child’s Play (thank you, Mike and Jerry) that not only proved that gamers could contribute positively to the larger community, but that they could use games themselves as the method of helping others.  The question of “are video games art?” isn’t immediately laughed away, but generating real and thoughtful discussion with the likes of Roger Ebert.

If we as a gaming community do not immediately repudiate and refute Aris Bakhtanians, then we will allow him to define us to the larger cultural world.  If that happens, then we’ve lost.  None of the gains we’ve made will mean a thing, because all the average American will know is that gamers are the ones who think gang-rape jokes made to a woman’s face are funny.