Shrub

Just posting here to let everyone know that I’ve written a post about sexism in Stardock’s new game Elemental: War of Magic over at Better by Design : Stardock’s Elemental and what it says about the state of games Here’s an excerpt:

The Unit Design chooses facial features (eyes, face shape, skin color, etc) randomly, but allows you to customize [...]

Some of you might notice that the blog has a new look; this is because I’ve moved over to WPMU and am using the new default WordPress theme. Still busy with school, still no time to blog, though. Sorry! PS. For the first time in the blog’s history I’ve enabled user registration, so if you’re [...]

Some of you might notice that the blog has a new look; this is because I’ve moved over to WPMU and am using the new default WordPress theme. Still busy with school, still no time to blog, though. Sorry! PS. For the first time in the blog’s history I’ve enabled user registration, so if you’re [...]

This site is currently under construction, however user registration has been enabled.

In Kotaku’s grand tradition of shoddy reporting and lack of any decent research, Brian Ashcraft has written an impassioned but so supremely hypocritical article on the RapeLay controversy ( link roundup ) that I felt compelled to briefly bring this blog temporary out of retirement in order to take it down. Since this topic is triggering, the rest of the [...]

I know this blog is in retirement (my internet time these days is practically nill), but when I saw Meloukhia’s An Open Letter to Feministing (hat-tip: Hoyden About Town) I had to cosign it.

Yes, it’s that important.

admin wrote a new blog post: Welcome to Shrub!

Welcome to Shrub.com. This community is still under construction.

  1 year, 4 months ago · View

First off, it has been noted that the de-ranking wasn’t limited to GLBT issues and erotica, but also notably affected books on disability and sexuality as well as feminist books, books on sexuality, and books on topics such as suicide prevention and rape. In terms of the massive PR fail that has been going on, Amazon went [...]

So, I’m sure everyone has heard by now, but Amazon has recently made the decision to remove the sales rankings of so-called “adult” books in order to ensure that they don’t show up in some searches (like the default search ) and bestseller lists. Their rationale? The censoring books primarily written by and for queer people (and, [...]

Dear Nice White Gamers , I am glad that you, unlike the Not Nice Gamers, understand that we don’t live in a post-racial world. It’s nice that you’re able to see the the word “racism” in the same paragraph as “video games” and not launch into the “it’s just a game!”-type knee-jerk reactions that can be summed [...]

So. My life is super busy, I rarely have time to update, moderation has become a chore that I take care of only once a few weeks, and I really don’t have the time and the energy to deal with the abusive comments that I get on a regular basis. I’m thinking that it might [...]

Although I had never heard of Graham Linehan before, he’s apparently a writer for some fairly popular UK comedies, including one called The IT Crowd . Now, apparently there was a recent episode of that show that included a sub-plot involving a transwoman named April. The plot was basically that Douglas, the Asshole of the show, goes out [...]

I know I haven’t been around much; my life is busy and I don’t have the time to blog that I used to. Unfortunately, this probably isn’t going to change anytime soon. Anyway, I’d just like to highlight a post I read today, The Importance of Leadership on Gaming Websites . Excerpt:

The point of all of this [...]

Just wanted to take a moment out of my busy schedule to wish everyone a Happy Halloween!

I have an Xbox 360. I want to buy more games. I mainly play sports (basketball and baseball) games and I have little interest in shooters with more guns, more blood and guts. I was perusing Amazon and I came to this conclusion: Jesus H there is nothing to buy. I thought Left 4 Dead [...]

I have been a semi-regular reader of the blog Feminist Gamers since its conception, but after reading this post I don’t think I’m going to be going back there anytime soon. I admire that Mighty Ponygirl wants to foster a stronger bond between feminists (don’t we all?) but I disagree with her chosen methodology. If we’re [...]

Bitch might now have enough money to publish last month, so they’re seeking donations. If they don’t raise $40,000 by October 15. If it sounds like a lot of money, it is. But it takes a lot of money to run a print magazine. I’ve signed up for a year’s subscription and donated $30. What are [...]

Melissa Batten was a Software Development Engineer for the XBox team. Before that she was a Harvard-educated lawyer who worked as a public defender, handling domestic violence cases, in North Carolina. She was also a victim of domestic violence (DV). Her abusive husband killed her a few weeks ago in a murder-suicide after she had moved [...]

I am not a regular reader of The New Yorker , but I have never been a huge fan of their cartoons. Some of them have made me chuckle, some of them have made me roll my eyes, and many more have just provoked a, “Okay…” kind of blah reaction. But, I [...]