nerdgirlarmy.com

In the wake of Left4Dead 2 being refused classification in Australia a lot of facebook groups and forum threads have sprung up to wail and wring their hands but some groups have decided that what they really need is public protest - with gore.

Facebook group "Gamers for a proper rating system in Aus" (one of dozens of similarly titled and focused groups) is planning an EPIC ZOMBIE LURCH to get gamers out of the house and raise their decomposing fists to the skyand tell the Attorney General that we want an 18+ rating for games.

The cynic in me wonders if the organisers are also wanting for some brains as traipsing around the city covered in muck may not be the best way to tell the AG that we're grown-ups and can choose what games we want to play.

In the words of one of the event organisers: we'll be meeting up at the Hyde Park war memorial at around 11, and making our way towards Town Hall at 11:30.
After screwing around for as long as we think is necessary, we'll be heading down George street, and up Ultimo Rd to Darling Harbour, where screwing around will re-commence.
From there, it's down Pyrmont Bridge, and down Market St back to the Hyde Park fountain.

Reverse discrimination doesn’t actually make me feel better as a female nerd, and I really wish that management and the media would get that. Artificially boosted female numbers at a geek related event are just that, artificial, and that makes me less inclined to approach the event. Don’t even get me started about putting in chicks that don’t know the content material. The AMD booth babes at SydNova this year were enough to make me want to stab someone with a video card.

Without so much as a warning Good Game TV the Australian show “by gamers for gamers” put out a press release about a change of presenter. Now Junglist, the previous presenter, has been around since the inception of the show and is exactly what I like in your average gamer, a little bit awkward, obviously fond of a night in with some pizza and Pepsi and amusingly approachable. Junglist’s reviews were well balanced and wonderfully entertaining. Sure, the early shows were a bit painful but as he and Bajo have finished those quest chains, earned the XP and upped their skills the presentation has been wonderful. The interpersonal play between the two is just the type of onscreen chemistry I love in a nerd show. Messing with that chemistry is poor form, it’d be like taking DiggNation and replacing Kevin Rose… why would you do it when you know you’re going to alienate most of your audience?

Why? Because apparently they need more chicks.

Now I’m sure that Hex is a lovely lady, and she does actually seem to be a gamer which is a start, but really the whole addition seems really forced and as a female gamer I am embarrassed not empowered by this forcible replacement. Why even replace Junglist in the first place? Why not put him as a regular reporter? We’ve already got the awkward presentation skills of Rei to attend to, why not add Hex as an additional female backup?