On Sadness

In the end, this project will alway be entwined with Zoe Quinn. To the detriment of the project message, this will always be the duality. But it’s not really Us vs Her, but rather the culture that has been created around women. In the end, this project is fundamentally about ideologies of how women should be treated.

We believe that a woman should be judged on her idea and what she accomplishes. Danielle M, the winner, has training in game design, but she didn’t have access to the resources to make sure her project was created the way she wanted. We gave her access to a team and resources to let the world see her idea, and we let the world see if they would be interested. We did all of this at no cost to her.

As our website reads:

“The purpose of The Fine Young Capitalists is to create the means for that production. To allow people who would not otherwise have access to the funds or labour to present their ideas, and be given the chance to have it judged on only its merits.”

As we clearly warned people:

Now, you have the chance to support the creators, and in doing so, the women in the videogame industry. If you choose, you can become a backer of any one of these womens’ games. We want you to be critical and judge which of the five pitches you think would be a success. You will get profit participation in the game for your contribution, as well as a copy of the game. Part of every dollar the game makes will go to a charity of your choosing.

The point was to transform the dynamic of how women were seen, to let people actually prove with their money that they believed women with creative ideas should be in the industry. As I said in several Tumblr posts, if it was possible for us to give back these profits, we would.

We are forming a business so that everyone can be supported. We’ve split that business between the woman, the production company, the backers, and ourselves so that we can run the contest again next year. Danielle receives the most of any person on the production, and has complete latitude on where she spends her money.

Danielle would be given her team to boss around. She would be given a female director, a female producer, as well as a female programmer if she so chooses. The project was always based on chance. It’s in our name, it’s a capitalist production, and she had to use our resources to make something for the benefits of everyone. We were betting on this becoming a success, as it would pave the way for inexperienced female developers to get into the industry, which would benefit everyone.

We had hoped that the community would embrace this radical idea, but unfortunately, it has not.

The route so popular in the community is the opposite; women aren’t judged on what they create, but who they are.

Our aforementioned opponent, for example, receives $38,124.48 per year in just donations. By her own omission (http://ohdeargodbees.tumblr.com/post/97275528664/depression-quest-donations), her game raised $698 over 6 months, or $1,396 per year, which gives her a ratio of less than 4%, and we support her endeavors. She is clearly earning more money on her project than any individual member on our team, and as capitalists, we salute her. She does not have to return any of the money of her backers.

All of “Social Justice Viv”’s criticism towards Danielle can be put towards Zoe. Zoe did not design her engine; she used Twine, which requires almost no real programming. 66% of her staff is male. She had far less experience in the field then Autobotika.

Surprisingly, she is held up literally as a symbol to other female developers, both in social networking and in print. Honestly, what is the difference between Danielle and her, other than Danielle’s lack of having a game created in Twine? (Something that honestly, if asked, we could probably create in a week.)

In the end it’s a story, or a narrative that has been spun around her, a narrative that causes people to support her out of the struggle she faced, both real and imaginary, but not the work she has created. And this is how the patriarchy wants to see a woman. Not as a source of power, or an economic force, but someone dependent upon them like a child.

The work is never in question – the person is. Luckily, the person in the current media narrative is attractive and media savvy enough to be exactly what the public wants. God help her if she ever deviates from that narrative. And God help her if she tries to make her own game for money.

We could address the ideas of how difficult it is for a South American production company (let alone one with a woman at the helm) to break into the North American market. We could bring up how important is for an artist to receive royalties based on their work, and how “Social Justice Viv” is asking Autobotika to give them back.

However, those are irrelevant to the main question of, “How do we know the game will be a success?” Quite simply, we don’t, and we’ve made it clear to people that they should only give money if they believe it will be successful. This is, after all, a radical experiment.

When it comes to marketing, as has been clearly shown, the entire video game industry seems to only care about a woman when the Internet harasses her. And thankfully, they apparently have the “queen” of them on their side to create drama when the game is released.

As to why we created the project, which is easily costing us over $20,000 dollars (which we will never recoup): it’s because of people like you – “Social Justice Viv.” People that we watch every day tearing women apart because they don’t meet some standard that you have set up, all the while acting as allies.

Your idiotic internet rambles don’t change anything. You could run your own design contest and give the women all the money. You could design your own game. You could do anything, but of course you won’t. We understand you have to feel better about yourself by hurting others, and we are happy to be those others.

In the end, if we weren’t here, all that would be left for you to bitterly tear at would be Zoe, and her sins are far worse than ours.

Anyone asking for a refund can contact support@thefineyoungcapitalists.com. Thus far, no one has.