Beyond the Blackbox: Repurposing ROM Hacking for Feminist Hacking/Making Practices - gender binary vs. gendered binaries

[ducktales4gameboy]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this (e: it wasn't) but a good chunk of the older sect of the emulation/retrogaming community is getting mad about rat king politics due to it (rightfully so, it's fucking unbearably bad):

Beyond the Blackbox: Repurposing ROM Hacking for Feminist Hacking/Making Practices
http://archive.md/oT0fv

 

[TiggerNits]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but a good chunk of the older sect of the emulation/retrogaming community is getting mad about rat king politics due to it (rightfully so, it's fucking unbearably bad):

Beyond the Blackbox: Repurposing ROM Hacking for Feminist Hacking/Making Practices
http://archive.md/oT0fv

Hegemonic masculinity owns pretty hard imo

 

[Sexy Senior Citizen]

This reminds me of what happened with the Linux community. When feminists/LGBTWTF+/NPC groups complained that Linux's rules of conduct were discriminatory, older members of the community (realizing what would inevitably happen) threatened to pack up and go, and prohibit Linux from using the code they wrote- code necessary for running Linux.
The NPCs cannot survive in a given community on merit alone, so they must use some other attribute (gender, sexual orientation, etc.) to force their way into various communities. Some things never change.

 

[Ineedahero]

Was that written by machine learning? It certainly doesn't read like a human wrote it. Do you have any examples of people getting the shits?

 

[Some JERK]

Remember that statue of the Fearless Girl that was installed directly in front of the Charging Bull statue in Manhattan? This is just more of the same stupid 'woke-coattail-riding'. You find an established thing that is popular and successful and then take a defiant position against it, framing it as some kind of injustice while making yourself out to be a hero. When you get rightfully called out for your obviously dishonest cheap shot, you get to rack up even more points by claiming the patriarchy is attempting to silence you.

 

[REGENDarySumanai]

Meanwhile on RHDN, said article has members of the community mocking it.

 

[XYZpdq]

So now when you patch wilfred brimly into some old NES game you need to offer multiple genders?

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

This reminds me of what happened with the Linux community. When feminists/LGBTWTF+/NPC groups complained that Linux's rules of conduct were discriminatory, older members of the community (realizing what would inevitably happen) threatened to pack up and go, and prohibit Linux from using the code they wrote- code necessary for running Linux.

Also what's currently happening with the Minecraft community with Notch not being allowed at the ten year celebration.

 

[SiccDicc]

Also what's currently happening with the Minecraft community with Notch not being allowed at the ten year celebration.

To be fair I doubt he wanted to go anyways. He's an introvert.

 

[ducktales4gameboy]

Was that written by machine learning? It certainly doesn't read like a human wrote it. Do you have any examples of people getting the shits?

The RHDN post that RegendarySumanai linked seems to be patient zero for the article reemerging given that it was originally posted a year ago. I've just seen the article and RHDN thread linked and argued about in a couple discords today and originally posted it in RK general due to it being an interesting/nauseating curiosity that I didn't think was worth a thread on its own.

 

[dopy]

the greatest romhacks have already been released (rockman 4mi and rockman no constancy) so it's no big tbh.

 

[NerdShamer]

Never figured that feminism would be this autistic, but then I remebered that TERFs exist.

 

[Coolio55]

Jesus christ this is both insane and hard to read. Great.

At one point it starts talking about how cartridges are deliberately designed to be anti consumer and how screwdrivers and drills are deliberately designed to be hard to use for women. I am not making up any of this but I don't blame you for not reading it as this whole fucking thing manages to be almost completely unintelligible.
I wish academics would quit their obsession with using big words and maybe understand that not everything needs to be analysed psychologically to an autistic degree.

also LOL Dr. Floppy gets a mention

 

[Shroom King]

Jesus christ this is both insane and hard to read. Great.

At one point it starts talking about how cartridges are deliberately designed to be anti consumer and how screwdrivers and drills are deliberately designed to be hard to use for women. I am not making up any of this but I don't blame you for not reading it as this whole fucking thing manages to be almost completely unintelligible.
I wish academics would quit their obsession with using big words and maybe understand that not everything needs to be analysed psychologically to an autistic degree.

also LOL Dr. Floppy gets a mention

I skimmed through it and there are 2 paragraphs about how the employees assembling the PCBs for video games in Asia are overwhelmingly women (and even migrant women). Yet this is "problematic" because the work is monotonous or something, so the fact that women are better at this than men is somehow brutal misogynist oppression.

I think the article is giving me a small aneurysm.

 

[garakfan69]

I haven't read all of it yet because too much of it might break my brain.
But this is absolute gold.

To open the video game cartridge or break the black box, hackers/users must have the proper tools and knowledge of these tools. The first step of ROM hacking is to detach the screws located on the back of the game cartridge. These screws vary in number, size and shape and therefore the hacker must know type of screwdriver needed for each cartridge type.1The tools and the knowledge about their use is deeply tied to problematic assumptions and practices of the gendered division of labor. Traditionally, women were thought to be responsible for household chores, childrearing and other ‘care’ based tasks, while men’s primary household responsibilities including repairing broken things, taking care of utilities, and overseeing any construction. As such tools used for repair and construction, such as screwdrivers and power tools, have become a ‘symbol of masculinity’ that helps cultivate ‘‘masculine legitimacy of skilled labor’ in the homes and for men to retain ‘the aura of pre-industrial vocational masculinity’’ (Bardzell et al. 2011, 373). The man’s role as domestic handyman is reinforced by the screwdriver design itself, as many drilling tools are too heavy or too large for women to use ( 375). These assumptive design practices demonstrate a reoccurring theme throughout hardware examination: that the tools required for ROM hacking are almost always designed by men for men. Along with the ROM hacking methodology, I propose the use of alternative tools to help preclude the gendering of handyman labor. For example, researchers have developed a screwdriver that considered the different needs of male and female users in terms of form, function, awareness, anticipation of use, and context of use (Bardzell et al. 2011). The resulting tool, the Significant Screwdriver, was a well-received prototype that made explicit expressions of care and love (374). Thus, the tools as well as the hardware requires consistent interventions that consider those excluded, whether through technical know-how or physical strength.

ROM hacking is sexist because you need a (sexist) screwdriver to open up the cartridge.

 

[Marissa Moira]

I haven't read all of it yet because too much of it might break my brain.
But this is absolute gold.

ROM hacking is sexist because you need a (sexist) screwdriver to open up the cartridge.

Just order the screwdrivers off of amazon, they're like 5 bucks for the two most common weird screwdriver heads.

Sexism isn;t stopping you from ordering shit on amazon.

 

[garakfan69]

Just order the screwdrivers off of amazon, they're like 5 bucks for the two most common weird screwdriver heads.

No, you see screwdrivers were designed by men. That means women can't use them as they're "too heavy or too large for women to use".
This is how they're proposed non-sexist screwdriver looks like:


Apparently they don't know that you don't need an electric screwdriver for cartridges or maybe non-electric screwdrivers just look too phallic.

 

[Meaty Spaghetti]

i rather see romhacking be this

Shitty Toilet Racers

http://www.baddesthacks.net/?p=3175

www.youtube.com

ROM Hack Showcase - SNPCFF1337

THIS VIDEO IS NOT FOR KIDS AT ALL. PLEASE DO NOT FLAG. THANK YOU. This is a gameplay video of Dr. Floppy's hack "Super Nazi Penis Cartel Freedom Fighters 133...

www.youtube.com

Wilford Brimley Battle (RCR) - NES gameplay

http://gameblorg.com/nes-reproductions/ A complete playthrough of Wilford Brimley Battle - a ROM hack for River City Ransom, played on a modified RCR cart to...

www.youtube.com

Rockman 4: Minus Infinity — Hard Mode no Damage Run (Tool-Assisted)

Hack's Author: Puresabe Minus Infinity isn't just an ordinary hack. Tons and tons of ASM modifications were made to Rockman 4 that it's even hard to believe ...

www.youtube.com

Super Mario Bros. 3Mix World 1

Oh boy! A NEW Mario 3 Hack! and Good is NOT enough to describe it! Description from Romhacking.net: "Super Mario Bros. 3Mix is a large-scale hack that change...

www.youtube.com

works of art and total conversions, not what mario's gender is

 

[NerdShamer]

I haven't read all of it yet because too much of it might break my brain.
But this is absolute gold.

ROM hacking is sexist because you need a (sexist) screwdriver to open up the cartridge.

Remember when feminism actually meant something important? Because I don't see a lot of women complaining about working in a factory during WWII.

 

[Rei is shit]

No, you see screwdrivers were designed by men. That means women can't use them as they're "too heavy or too large for women to use".
This is how they're proposed non-sexist screwdriver looks like:
View attachment 771843

Apparently they don't know that you don't need an electric screwdriver for cartridges or maybe non-electric screwdrivers just look too phallic.

I looked up this paper, you can read it here; https://ewic.bcs.org/upload/pdf/ewic_hci11_s7apaper3.pdf

Essentially they took an off the shelf screwdriver and added a bunch of sensors to it like an accelerometer and a thermoresistor. This was done so the screwdriver could create some goofy visualization of its use. Why is this a less gendered screwdriver? Because it allows men to have a visual readout of the manly handyman work they've done, and then..... well it will make the world more equal!

Seriously just skim though that paper. I think whoever was behind it was having a giggle on the universities dime.