Some weeks I feel like the Rolling Stone magazine With Us, Against Us Threat Assessment. Take some time to catch up on this week’s news, then cheer up with something fun, like Color Sheep.
Barbie can be a game designer, but not a game developer
Last week’s fun was over the 2010 children’s book, Barbie I can be a Computer Engineer. After the Gawker post, the internet responded. Coder Kathleen Tuite created a web app, Feminist Hacker Barbie, to help folks rewrite pages showing Barbie as “the competent, independent, bad-ass engineer that she wants to be.” Oh and Mattel issued an apology.
.@pamelaribon Who needs Computer Engineer Barbie? JEM HAS BEEN CODING SINCE 1985. #tech #feminism pic.twitter.com/q5YDpuTBZg
— Kelaine Conochan (@Kelaine) November 19, 2014
IGDA endorses #gamergate Twitter blocklist and things don’t go so well
The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) added a new section to their website which includes resources for those dealing with online harassment. It also included a link to a third-party tool that folks could subscribe to to block harassers. Unfortunately, the tool itself has come under fire as approximately 10,000 people were listed including an IGDA chairperson and has since been removed from the IGDA site.
Read the disclaimer: *not* the @IGDA‘s tool or list. But like people, tools are imperfect; we’ve removed it for now. https://t.co/SYJlHdto0o
— Kate Edwards (IGDA) (@IGDA_ED) November 22, 2014
Homophobic mobile game Ass Hunter removed from Google Play The main point of the game was shooting naked men with a shotgun. Although the game has been around for years, it was only recently added to Google Play. Before it was pulled, it had been downloaded over 10,000 times.
Shoot the #Gays! Hell no! GooglePlay store pulls homophobic game #AssHunter http://t.co/q7sPALs3dG pic.twitter.com/reUvUZaXsd — Gay News Network AUS (@gaynewsnetAU) November 24, 2014
