I typically reserve this face for when I've had too much to drink but today, I'm making it when I read the comments and emails.
For the site, today should have been about congratulating the Gamettes who took time out of their busy schedules to promote themselves for our Gamette of the Year contest. It should have been about congratulating Jade and Katrina for their efforts and for thanking them for the photos they shared with us. Instead, it marks two firsts for me.
It will be the first time I’ve ever disallowed comments on a post as well as the first time ever that I will not be replying to emails sent to myself and the site.
We’ve been overwhelmed by the support and enthusiasm we’ve seen from the fans of the Gamettes in this year’s contest. It’s amazing how many of you took the time to show the ladies some love by stopping by the page, voting, and/or using the various social networks at your disposal to promote them. We’ve seen links coming from just about everywhere and you’ve proven that there truly is a world wide web when it comes to just how far away you can be and still show your support.
All of that being said, however, we’ve determined that the best course at this time is to disallow comments on the announcement post and just let the announcement stand on its own. For one thing, some of them were getting a little personal and for another, they were getting completely off the topic of congratulating the ladies. We’re all for free speech but we’re not going to sit by and condone verbal attacks on others by allowing them to continue.
What can I say about the emails, though? Some of our readers took the contest a little too personally. I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing but we’re talking about some serious hate mail here and I’m no stranger to hate mail. We’re not the most sensitive bunch on the planet here at BusyGamer but the sheer amount of these types of emails this time around is a bit surprising. For those of you who are writing in to congratulate the girls, I’ll make certain your kudos are passed on but I’ll be sending most of these emails straight to the trash.
It isn’t because I don’t want to address the issues you’re all writing about. I can assure you we’ve considered all of the factors in regards to the voting this year and I appreciate the advice on how to conduct the contest but in all honesty, the final decision on how the contest runs is up to us. We don’t owe anyone an explanation about how it’s run. Some of you think it’s a glorified popularity contest and you wouldn’t be completely wrong. But it’s how we chose to run it and yeah, we’re going to deal with the fallout. I’m not, however, going to let the fallout from our choices be taken out on the Gamettes.
This seems somehow appropriate...
As I said, I’m no stranger to the hate mail. I’ve had complaints about the types of girls we choose to feature, the fact that some of the girls aren’t even “gamers??? despite the fact that the website has “gamer??? right there in the URL, or even about our drinking habits. So let’s just address some of those concerns in bulk.
First off, we don’t randomly choose the ladies. They come to us and express an interest in being a Gamette. We verify they’re involved with some aspect of geek subculture and work with them at their convenience. If our roster is full for the year, we ask their patience and see if they’d be interested in being a Gamette at a later date. We love to talk to the geeky women out there and we love to share their sexy geekiness with our readers. In the end, however, they determine the amount of time they want to invest in and with us. We promote any events they may be associated with, ask our readers to show them support in any undertaking they are involved in, and promote the women in general.
Are the Gamettes a marketing ploy? You’re damn right they are. We’re well aware that some of our readers visit only to see who the latest Gamette is and if/when an existing Gamette puts up a new pictorial. We’re well aware that some of our readers could care less what we have to say and just want to see the next sexy lady who has chosen to be a Gamette.
Our interviews with them aren’t exactly something we do with a straight face. We ask weird questions and they answer however they want. In the entire three years we’ve been doing this site, we’ve seen maybe a grand total of ten questions go unanswered. If that doesn’t show patience and humility on the part of the ladies, I don’t know what does.
As for the fact that some of the women aren’t “gamers???? I’d invite some of you to sit in on a few conversations with the Reckon Crew. We’re passionate about a lot of nerdy things, not just video games. We’re passionate about music, comic books, SciFi movies and shows, women, and going to conventions just to mention a few. We don’t confine ourselves to one small aspect of the geek subculture, we enjoy it all. Why wouldn’t the women who choose to represent us reflect that passion? Why would we ask them to limit themselves to only talking about video games when they mention us in the same sentence?
Then there’s the behavior of our core group, the Reckon Crew. We drink hard, we talk shit to people we’re friends with, and we’re generally the last ones to leave when there’s booze involved. Do we encourage this behavior in others? No. Will we try to talk you into drinking with us? Oh, yeah. Unless you’ve said right up front that you don’t drink or condone drinking, we’re going to buy you a drink when you sit down with us at the bar. Does that make us bad people? Maybe, but we’d like to think we’re just enjoying ourselves without doing so at the expense of others.
We’ve been called assholes. We’ve been called jerks. We’ve even been called pimps and it wasn’t meant as a compliment. At the end of the day, though, we’re still the same group of guys who sat down and decided to write about things we were interested in and see if there were ladies out there who might be interested in the same things. We’ve always suspected they were out there and we’ve been overjoyed to find out that not only are they out there but that they wanted to be recognized for their nerdcore beliefs.
It all boils down to this… you don’t have to agree with the way we do things, you don’t even have to like them or us. You can rant and rave at us all you want, we’re used to it. Hold a grudge against us, throw a beer bottle the next time you see us, whatever you want to do. We’ll still be here tomorrow. But when it comes to the Gamettes, they’re here because they want to be. I won’t let this site become a venue for belittling the women for their interest in a culture that is typically male driven.
So instead of a picture of a pretty girl gracing our front page, you get a picture of my ugly mug. I figure that even if my words aren’t enough to make my point, maybe that particular image will. Don’t worry, though. Once we’re certain our point is clear, we’ll get back to our regularly scheduled awesomeness.
Gritskrieg – End of Line
If you’d like us to pass on some praise or congratulations to the ladies, you can email us at admin@busygamer.com and we’ll be happy to forward your email on. Derogatory or inflammatory emails will be printed out and used to line a bird cage.
