Question that were never asked to us, that are relevant to the conversation.

Why are you working with Colombia?

Colombia is a developing economy and has begun investing seriously in high tech job like media production. Colombia has excellent tax credits when it comes to media production, especially when it comes to the hiring of young workers. It’s a great investment opportunity for everyone.

But specifically when it comes to video games, Colombia also has a graphic style that is both unique, but approachable to the western world. The countries culture is a blend of an extremely diverse group of people but hasn’t really reached mainstream acceptance in North America.

Despite this though, Colombia isn’t able to support its own indie game culture internally. There simply aren’t enough game consoles or personal computers that can support game makers. As such projects like TFYC allow them to gain access to the North American market, get more experience in the market, make contacts, and allowing them to have an easier time making future games.

Was working with South Americans an issue for Gamergate.

Despite it being clearly listed that our production company is in Colombia and Lola Barreto announcing the project, no member of GamerGate has commented negatively on the production staff being from Colombia. And several has asked if they could do interviews with Autobotika’s staff, and several have asked how their style will affect the work.

Our issue with #GamerGate was how it affect developers in the indie scene. Inevitably speaking a South American production company is going to have less access to media through conventions due to the cost of travel and devaluation of their dollar. This makes it difficult for them to be part of the North American indie scene. Combine this with cultural barrier and the inability to hire proper PR professional and you can see that South Americans are at a disadvantage especially when there is an in crowd giving preferential treatment inside the circle.

Isn’t it more important for countries to focus on lower income job.

Yes but…

People in lower income bracket inevitably require more government support, in the form of government services. Despite the tax credit provided by the government Autobotika adds more to the tax base, than most manufacturing job. The largest expense in video games is labour, which is invested locally. There are very few equipment, material cost in this sort of a production that Autobotika hasn’t already covered. Video games in general are an excellent export to raise tax revenue which can be spent on social services internally.

We don’t see it as taking money away from social services and low-income jobs, in point of fact members of TFYC can donate their profits to not for profits programs that focus on that. It’s building a base for employment in the country to raise the tax base.

Can you talk about Feminism in Colombia and why it wasn’t reference in the project?

Generally, it’s important to understand that gender norms differ from region to region. This controls how women present themselves. In Colombia, violence is a much more present reality
with 50 per cent of guerrilla combatants being women (http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4286). This kind of harassment and violence was deemed to overshadow TFYC’s message of inclusiveness. Especially since because of the lack of police presence and a greater level of violence it would overshadow the very real problem that exist in the North American game industry. We actually did want to engage in discussion about harassment in the industry, but the level of harassment is completely different from country to country.

There is only so much surrealism you can take in your daily life. TFYC is quickly bringing me to that limit. But before I step off the deep end let me help #Gamergate with one last thing.

The issue that you guys/girls/otherkin/whatever are having problems within the video game journalism industry is something called “Kingmaking.”

So let’s get some history in 1983 there was something called the “Video Game Crash” also known as “Atari Shock” in Japan. It was for lack of a better word a massive recession in the video game industry that happened between 1983-1985. The video game industries revenue basically went from $3.2 Billion to $100 Million over the course of two years.

This was caused for a bunch of reasons, the largest one was that the industry got flooded with poor quality games, that saturated the market. The major reason for this was that so many games were being made, that the majority weren’t worth buying. And even games that were marketed well and should be good games like PacMan and E.T. were subpar. This eroded consumer confidence, preventing the market from growing and caused the crash.

This is why the first Nintendo in the USA was sold with something called a R.O.B. which was a robotic toy that was attached to the machine. This made it look less like a video game console and more like a toy. Yes part of the key to the first Nintendo’s success was to make it not look like a video game console. To prevent another video game crash, Nintendo actively worked with third-party software developers to allow them to make games but under Nintendo’s terms. Each Nintendo Cartridge has an authentication chip which would interact with the console,  this was called the 10NES and would prevent games that Nintendo had not approved from running on the console.  

Every video game console, since the Nintendo has integrated some type of content management system or DRM to police what software would run on their device. This artificially increases the barrier to entry to make a game on the system, as a method of protecting the consumer from poor games. It’s not perfect of course but arguably speaking there is less shovel ware on a console then there would be on the Apple Store.

So the PC doesn’t have any of this content management system stuff. Anyone can make a game on the PC, some of which are great, some of which are horrible. Because the barrier to entry is so much lower, most indie developers start there. The problem is being found in the market.

Now the previous KingMaker for the PC gaming scene was something called Steam. Steam is a digital content delivery service, I.E. a digital store. It used to be getting on Steam was a big deal, and it acted as gatekeeper to getting your indie game sold. This was good and bad, as many good games never managed to get on Steam for a variety of reasons, and a few horrible games managed to get on Steam for very bad reasons.

Steam is slowly opening its’ gates to allow more games on the system. In the coming years, Steam will be transitioning to an open gate policy, or for their system to be seen as a platform for any game designer to host their game. This has the potential to cause another indie game crash as the market gets flooded and consumer’s can’t find the quality among the crap.

The last KingMakers left are the journalists, with such a giant market they have the ability to push eyeballs to your product. To use their audience to make your game a success or a failure. What #GamerGate is about, is the general public becoming aware of the backroom deals of the last kingmakers in the indie video game market. And showing how a small group of friends have a remarkable amount of pull over what get’s made and where it is discussed. Gaming journalism has responded by attempting to discredit the public. Which is an interesting strategy to say the least but has successfully avoided discussing the real issues.

For the people still reading, anyone that is worked in media production has probably fallen asleep at this point, as this isn’t news. If you enjoy sausage don’t watch it being made. If you want to pretend that all you have to do to be a success in the gaming industry is to make a good game, please don’t ask me my opinion on Santa Claus. The fact that no one has mentioned the subtitle of TFYC’s name and how appropriate it is to the production of media has always confused me. In the end this is not a business that attracts people with integrity.

Both gamers and journalist you are both about to enter a time that could be very bad for both of you. The last time there was no gatekeeper for the videogame market it was destroyed. This time it will not be the entire video game market, AAA development will always go on with it its’ multimillion marketing budget, but there is the possibility of what could be a real indie game crash, and one that the industry may not soon recover from. You are having the discussion of what the relationship between journalist and developer should be, before Steam opens the gates and all hell breaks loose.

In the end, what TFYC was supposed to be about, was creating an alternative stream for people to make media, that was not profit driven, and was based around giving exposure to the new artists, and having the fans share not only in the process but the money generated. It was a good way to give a small number of underrepresented people the option of showing their ideas. We expected light media coverage, we got a media blackout and criticism from a kingmaker.

I would suggest the journalists and the gamer public actually discuss the real fucking issue about the indie game scene. Because if we don’t come to some answer there  won’t fucking be one.

The finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist - Charles Baudelaire

Patriarchy isn’t a social construct about hating women. Every step it takes, it does so to protect her in it’s own perverted way. When women are told they must cover their hair or their face, they are told it’s for their own safety. When women are told what they can do with their own bodies, it’s because they don’t have the experience to make the choice for themselves. Like an overprotective father that locks his daughter in her room, it destroys her potential with it’s own fear.

There has been a lot of criticism in the games industry about gamers. They say the community is dead, that the culture is to be erased. A criticism of an apparent faceless mass of pure anger that is directed clearly at woman. A criticism that does not appear to flourish in the community of #GamerGate except in an ever shrinking small percentage of it‘s member. As people keep speaking out this narrative slowly burns away. But the question is why is this story repeated.

None of the individuals that are so often brought up in these article make games. They may educate, or they may inspire. But they do not create, they do not lead, the patriarchy is not required to give up any of the control that it so jealously holds on to. Instead it increase it’s power through fear.

No one is writing about what these women’s next games will be, mostly because they aren’t working on one. No journalist is doing a series on female indie developers so people can support them. The only thing they are doing is using these victims as props to attract viewers to their articles and continue the narrative. To scare away any future woman who would actually like to destroy this gender imbalance.

Audre Lorde said “They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change,” because if you bring about actual change the patriarchy actual loses power. And then we all advance as a free society.


We are at over 40K now, and I’d like to thank /v/ and all the member of #GamerGate for being the only people wise enough to want to smash the Patriarchy.

From TFYC - #Gamegate

People seem to think I’m a nice person. I’m not, in the end I’m a business person. TFYC was not done for profits but to change the industry in a way that benefited both me and the entire game industry. I felt that if more women were making, even if I did this first task for free, in the end it would help me professionally in the long run.

Without naming names, someone wanted to do a GameJam that everyone could work in. And when they contacted us we wrote a letter so we could mend fences and work together.

I asked a television producer if they would like to do a GameJam as a means of giving press to new IndieDeveloeprs. They said Yes as long as I brought an audience. The problem with doing a GameJam that is on television is the cost. Every viewer we bring offsets that cost. People running the GameJam will have to be paid. I’m sorry, but this is the world we live in. I’m not asking for donations, I’m asking for assurances that you would watch the event and you will work with us to make it happen.

It will be on both television and streamed online.

The reason for writing the letter to mend fences was so both sides of GameGate could focus on the game. Since the letter has been written they have not gotten back to us and we feel it was all a ruse.

If you would support this event email admin@thefineyoungcapitalists.com

Or Tweet to @TFYCapitalists

We need to show Sponsors, that this movement is not about hate, and that people would watch it.

Below is the proposal, let’s work together to make sure it’s done right. I can not guarantee anything, in the end raising money is difficult and organization is difficult. But if you truly believe that people care enough to watch such an event. And don’t mind if sponsors are treated fairly. Then if you provide the audience we will provide the event.

Nothing in this proposal is written in stone, it is our first draft of many that we want to work with the community to create. And I can’t promise you it will happen, but I can promise you, that you will be fairly represented.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18a0kT1saWAQrB_okWmidy7vz2F14gcl3hAtGk9Ce4TE/edit?usp=sharing

Reblog this with notes, or just make your suggestions as a questions, so I can make sure everyones suggestions are taken into account

So we reached our goal yesterday, and we hopefully will have a video up thanking everyone today. The limiting factor is simply that Autobotika is in crunch time for a deadline. But now that we’ve reached our goal I want to talk about why it matters and why we have to tell people we reached this goal.

The entire Toronto part of TFYC believe that societies preferred gender relationship is for the man to be in control and the woman to be in a subservient position. It’s important to understand that both men and women feel this way. And it’s because of how we socialize women.

We ask boys what they want to be when they grow up, we ask women who they are going to marry. A boy is taught that the only thing that matters is what he does, a woman is taught the only thing that matters is who she is. This is bad for men because we are telling them their feelings don’t matter, this is bad for women because we are telling them their accomplishments don’t.

Women can work as teachers, women can work to promote other peoples ideas, women can work for charity but they should not work for their own gain or profit. And if they do they should hide it from the world.  If you read any of the articles that have been written about gaming in the last few weeks you’ll see the media is constantly trying to make women aware of that fact. The gaming community is out to get them, and the only way to market yourself is to not focus on the games you make, but who you are.

What TFYC was supposed to be about was destroying that idea. Not only that women can accomplish things in video games, but more importantly that men would support them. That happened, men supported women not because they were was hot, oppressed, or had an amazing backstory. They did it just because they liked her idea.

What makes me sad is still, this is a message that no journalist seems to want to write about, even in contrast to what is going on. Talking about the harassment in the industry is extremely important but providing solutions is far more important. The Fine Young Capitalists was one solution, there are others that are hopefully better.

The reason we aren’t getting press is not because of our association with #gamergate, the reason we aren’t getting press is not because of our stupid name. We aren’t getting press because saying women can make games doesn’t generate clicks unless there is a woman who is telling an emotional story. To the journalist the game is simply the header for the personal drama.

I don’t want to live in a world where the first thing a woman working in games is judged on, is how she looks or who she is. I want her to be judged on her game. You helped to make that world.

We’ll have more announcement today, but I just want to make it clear to everyone that supported us, you sent a message, even if people are too scared to repeat it.