Anita Sarkeesian has released the long-awaited first installment in her new, improved “Tropes vs Women in Video Games” series. Sarkeesian sought $6,000 on Kickstarter to produce slicker versions of her earlier, DIY series, and she was smeared by vile, angry gamer-dudes who created games where you could beat the crap out of her for the sin of identifying as a feminist and daring to question the portrayal of gender in games. The happy ending to this shameful episode is that her Kickstarter became a good-people vs goons plebiscite, and would up raising $158,922.
The first installment is “Damsels in Distress,” and is a smart, well-researched, wonderfully presented history of the woman-waiting-for-a-hero trope through gaming history. It’s just in time for International Women’s Day, and is a wonderful kickoff for a new series.