Gamergate for dummies..part 1

[badbabysitter]

I'm a gamer chick.. have been since I got introduced to Fallout 3 back in 2008, I may come a little to the table for some of the hardcore geeks out there.. but I'm a gamer none the less


If you've been watching the news or are a gamer, you've probably heard of GamerGate by now

what exactly is it.. well.. I'll try to put my spin on it, if that helps

( BotanyBoy, please note there will be a lot of words.. and I know how much they hurt your head so bad, so you might want to stop here and just call me names now)

GamerGate did not happen over night.. yes, there were certain events that acted as a catalyst... but it is rooted in the most terrible of all things to an isolated community.....change

Once upon a time gaming was something that was relegated to consoles and marketed for the largest demographic of those that played console games.. and that's where our stereotype of the gamer is isolated.. the lonely nerd who uses games a refuge from the world

But as consoles became cheaper and widespread, games were now stretched across the internet and you can play them on your phone. The sterotype no longer stands true... everyone is potentially a gamer

This leads sompe people to argue over what a " real " gamer is.... which is implausible to say the least.. as games do not belong to one set group of people..they belong to all

This leads to resentmet at these johnny come lately's to the world of gaming.. they bring in new ideas and new games.. games which many of the old school do not like.. and so they are considered " wrong"

now back to GamerGate

the catalysts

at the begining of the year, web game developer Zoe Quinn released a mediocore game calle Depression Quest... the gameplay was nothing to write home about.. but the content and how it was dealt with ( depression and mental health) got high praise from many video game critics in light of the then recent suicide of Robin William

there was the standard back lash " how dare a woman design a game about mental illness " ( yeah, that was real).. and " how can you give this a good rating and not Bayonetta" ( which was a very common one.. and not at all related)

this just helped stir the restment pot of " how dare critics gve good reviews to games I dont like and bad ones to those I do"

and this would have probably faded away into obscurity... fi something didnt happen

and that something was her exboyfriend being a dick

Zoe Quinn's ex went and posted online an 8000 word diatribe about the evils of his ex girlfriend and how she had slept her way with a bunch of guys to get good reviews.. and that she shouldnt be able to get away with it

the backlash was quick and horrible.... her accounts were hacked, she was " doxxed" ( her personal private information ie home adres phone number), she recveived death threats, nude photos were passed around of her, her parents received threatening phone calls


the thing was... none of it was true

the ex even made a half assed apology later.. but it was done.. GamerGate had started

those who were part of the harrasment campaign now championed themselves as warrirors fighting against corruption in gaming

yes, there certainly is corruption in gaming journalism.. just as these is any industry... but they have never explained how attacking Zoe Quinn is fighting the good fight

 

[Super-Surprise]

You and mike yates would hit it off well!

 

[Stewart_Pidd]

so who shot JR bro?

Stew

 

[CandiCame]

You and mike yates would hit it off well!

OMG that's so true.

 

[CandiCame]

And I wouldn't call Depression Quest mediocre at all. I fucking love that game, for a text adventure.

And secondly, THIS. This is a good representation of sexism in gamer culture. Focus on real shit like how a woman's perceived sexuality can negatively effect her career instead of pointless bullshit artists bullshitting.

And thirdly, this entire thing was weird for older people, not just older gamers, because it was watching a "scandal" about electronic developers, on a fully electronic medium, become a clusterfuck. Like you could watch the clusterfuck slowly happen and go, "Jesus Christ what the fuck is wrong with you people?" And what was exceptionally odd, is that if you look at the statistics of people who were harassing her, something like 47% were FEMALE. I thought that was weird when I was researching abortion protesters too. In horrible, horrible things that you expect to be mostly male, you still find women. And that's WEIRD to me. That's like meeting a black mormon. It's like... What are you doing? What what what are you doing?

And there's no real way to stop it. You can bitch people out but once that idle wave starts there's no way one person, not even the person it's directed toward, can stop it. And some people act as if cyber bullying isn't a real thing, but when you're a game developer, and your bread and butter is tied up in the digital world, this shit can fuck you up. These people are obviously batshit insane, and now they have your fucking address. Can you imagine how fucked up that is?

Frankly, I never cared if she fucked the guy or not. Because that's a bitching game. If you fuck a chick, great. If that chick makes an awesome, all be it super fucked up, game- bonus. Should you write reviews for people that you've fucked, even in a hypothetical? Frankly, I don't care. She's not curing cancer she's making a goddamn simple computer game. Yes, journalism ethics are... a thing, I'm sure. But not one that I care passionately about. I mean, if I did I'd be more concerned about the fact that Fox news exists than whether or not two people I don't know were fucking. But I've never been on to care about sex I wasn't involved in.

 

[Libsam]

I don't know what the fuck Gamer Gate is...

Just wanted to say Hi to babysitter. Another Gamer Grrrl here!

My first PC game was Diablo in 1999, then D2 in 2000. That's where I learned I like PvP.

Dark Age of Camelot was a huge game in my life and I'm currently waiting on Camelot Unchained to release in a couple years (hopefully).

 

[CandiCame]

She got it mostly right. After that this stupid dick who calls herself 'feminist frequency' tried to cling desperately to this poor girl's problems for the publicity, but that's not really important.

I'm a third generation gamer so I don't remember my first game. My grandma and mom had Atari and Intellivision and such, but I don't really remember anything before the SNES and Genesis era. I was huge into Mario and Sonic, ToeJam and Earl. When I was in the hospital I played the fuck out of Zelda 3 and it remains my favorite game to this day. I'm currently playing Sims 3 again, because I got 4 but it was buggy as hell. And ever so slowly going through FFA. I'm way behind the times. The gf just finished Outlast:Whistleblower and I think I might be in love with Eddie. He can cut my dick off any day.

Oh Eddie... you'd be such a terrible father...
http://th03.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2014/130/b/4/outlast_wb___eddie_gluskin_the_perfect_groom_by_deathsfugitive-d7hw75d.jpg

Edit: Also you're really bad at biology.

 

[CandiCame]

Cracked: Video Game Reviews for a post-gamergate world