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[RalchAC]

Why is it called Gamergate? These things happens all the time. What makes this something that's about gaming?

Because WaterGate is really iconic and everything is about "ethics in games journalism" because this woman decided to have sex with a reviewer in order to get positive coverage and increase sales of her free game.

Or so they say. There have been many articles that prove that this hasn't happened, but they still use it as an excuse to give their harassment campaigns some legitimacy.

Personally I find it embarrassing that this movement references in any way one of the biggest achievements in the history journalism.

 

[TatteredHat]

It's a win in the sense that the other party's goal was to use a large legal fund to keep dragging it back into court for the foreseeable future so that it would keep resparking the issue, and her goal was to make it stop.

When you have a limited budget for legal action, it's always worth bearing in mind what your actual intention is, which might be being regarded the 'victor', but it might be just getting closure and being able to move on instead.

Ah, if that was the goal then good for her, hopefully she finds some peace now.

 

[redcrayon]

Ah, if that was the goal then good for her, hopefully she finds some peace now.

It's a tough one- I think most people, feeling the initial sense of wrongdoing done upon us, might want the other party finally defeated in detail and humiliated, or at least publically recognised as being 'wrong'. After months of dealing with or being accused of all that shit herself, with no sign of a clean victory in sight but at least a 'moral' victory of a restraining order having been given for a while, no wonder she wants to stop at this point and stop giving the vindictive idiot the oxygen of raking over everything in court time and again when he seems to have the will, the budget and the benefactors to do so. More power to her elbow, I hope the shitstorm moves on, I'm sure they'll find another target to amuse themselves with before long. Wankers.

 

[PataHikari]

I feel like that summary is only succinct if you already understand it.

I don't get what's so hard to understand about "harassment campaign"

 

[MihowZa]

Whelp, after reading pg 1 I can see where truth lies and where the truth hurts. I'll read through the rest of the pages but I can't imagine what can be said to bypass what I've already seen.

 

[besada]

I know nothing about Gears of War and not interested at all in it. You know what I do when I see its thread pops up? I don't click on it. If for some reason I become interested enough to click on it, I'd read the entire thread or at least some pages of it. If after that I'm still interested enough to even want to know more or comment on it, I'd certainly wouldn't post "you know, people, I have no idea what this game is" and leave it at that, as if I was incapable formulating even the slightest of logical thought and had more interest in seeing my own post up there rather than the actual thread subject. And that's just a game, not a subject I actually know is charged with a lot of tension.

Because it's basic courtesy.

God bless you, Scrooge McDuck. May your tailfeathers always be stiff and your pool of gold inexhaustable.

 

[Mub!]

To a person who's not had contact with american culture in a decade-ish this all seems like a strange Mike Judge film.

I genuinely can't believe video games lead to all of this mess. It feels like some sort of dark comedy.

I just want all this to end and everyone to just talk about how cool video games are again.

 

[captain_skyhawk]

Seem's like her ex has fucked up his life in a way he never intended. How is this guy ever going to find work or date anyone again?

 

[Izcarielo]

I thought I was the only one... and I post on GAF almost every day.

Me too haha
I remembered when the whole thing started here on Gaf: a huge thread was opened and i tried following it, but after a while the amount of info there was so big i couldnt follow it 😞

 

[danthefan]

Anyone who doesn't understand what it is should read the initial blog by the ex boyfriend which kicked the whole thing off. You will quickly see what a piece of shit he is.

 

[- J - D -]

Good god the internet exists! A monolith of enlightenment that mankind has created for itself to seek information, a mortal Promethean gift to ourselves to answer the nigh unanswerable! To light the darkness that is our ignorance! You jokers coming in here post about not knowing what Gamergate is, fucking look it up.

If I have to read another "I have no idea what Gamergate is lol" post, I'm going to kill myself, and by kill myself, I mean sit here at my keyboard and brood for a few minutes while I type words into a thesaurus.

Also, congrats to Zoe Quinn.

 

[Least100Seraphs]

My understanding: It's about someone who used her influence with multiple men to get positive game reviews, then hid behind feminist flags when people called her on it.

Hmm, not really. It's actually this big thing that started in August of 2014... you know, the same month and year that you registered your account.

 

[Ri'Orius]

I thought I implied that it was what I was referring to initially. Laws actually being broken.

What you said initially was that people should lose their jobs over this. That's not a judicial punishment, that's what happens when someone gets witch hunted on the internet. If you want to amend your position to be "I wish the people who broke laws were properly prosecuted and faced the appropriate penalties the justice system imposed," then go ahead. But your original post was quite clearly "I wish that these people would be exposed and lose their jobs," which to an outside observer is clearly talking about extrajudicial punishment.

 

[disap.ed]

I feel like that summary is only succinct if you already understand it.

This.

It's a group of manchildren who like the status quo and harras women.

I understand that much, I still don't get why it is named GamerGate?!
They are a**holes first and firemost, I don't get the link to games.
Them being gamers is not the problem here, or do I miss anything?

 

[krang]

I don't get what's so hard to understand about "harassment campaign"

Well yes, I get that bit. It's more about the who and why and what happened to kick it all off, and why there's so many people involved.

 

[Doctor Ironic]

Seem's like her ex has fucked up his life in a way he never intended. How is this guy ever going to find work or date anyone again?

He completely intended all of it.

If he wanted to find work or get a date, he could easily go work at acclaimed game developers Running With Scissors or Spicy Horse, or perhaps date an anti-feminist woman.

 

[Rocwell]

Good for her, it's a shame that this will probably do very little to curb the harassment she gets from these GG dbags.

 

[Coxy100]

Anyone who doesn't understand what it is should read the initial blog by the ex boyfriend which kicked the whole thing off. You will quickly see what a piece of shit he is.

I am one of those doesn't really understand what gamergate is - I've read bits here and there on wiki but it seems so unbelievable to me.

Just did a bit of research on the ex - read his original blogs. Chris who has that much time to write like that? I know if I split up with my wife - no matter what she has done to me - I wouldn't be writing about it on the web for god sake...

I feel so sorry for Zoe - sounds so nasty what she has been through.

 

[itsgreen]

Good for her.

Congrats.

 

[Nozem]

That banned junior post on page one was quoted 46 times. Surely there are better ways to handle shitty posts?

 

[Fantastapotamus]

I understand that much, I still don't get why it is named GamerGate?!
They are a**holes first and firemost, I don't get the link to games.
Them being gamers is not the problem here, or do I miss anything?

The whole thing about GG, at least that's what they claim, was "Gamers vs. Press" at first because the press was all evil and corrupt and didn't report on the private life of one small indie game developer who had an affair. The ex-boyfriend mentioned in this thread is the guy who started the whole harassment movement, the name came a bit later on.
It might as well have been called "Pressgate" but I guess "Gamergate" sounded cooler (that was also the time when the "Gamers are dead" article popped up, so that might have something to do with it).

IIRC some actor (I think one of the Baldwins? Might be making that up though) coined the phrase on twitter and it stuck.

Something I've been wondering ever since GG started shitting up everything:

Is it still possible to have a real discussion about ethics in games journalism in a post-GG world? Is that topic now endlessly linked to them? I don't agree with the harassment/sexism/misogyny bullshit that group propagates, but I think there are still discussions to be had about ethics, but those discussions need to be fully removed from GG... Don't know if that can be done though.

It absolutely is, it's just much, much harder since "ethics in gaming journalism" basically became a running joke.

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

This.



I understand that much, I still don't get why it is named GamerGate?!
They are a**holes first and firemost, I don't get the link to games.
Them being gamers is not the problem here, or do I miss anything?

Many of the women being harassed the most are video game devs and critics.

The harassers are people who openly identify as gamers and obfuscate their intentions under smokescreens like the "it's actually about ethics in games journalism" line of talk.

The roots of the incident spring from various gaming sites and boards like Kotaku, NeoGAF, 4chan's /v/, etc.

IIRC some actor (I think one of the Baldwins? Might be making that up though) coined the phrase on twitter and it stuck.

It was noted right-wing loon (and not-an-actual-Baldwin) Adam Baldwin, who made the hashtag the day before all the "Gamers are dead" articles started up while linking to a proto-GG conspiracy video.

 

[krang]

Gamergate is so far removed from that, with a focus so obviously about feminists and SJWs and so on. They never once piled on some publisher or anything along those lines. It always comes back to defending our manly games from those SJW harpies.

The actual discussions about "ethics in games journalism" have continued just as they did before, during and after GG. The only difference now is people avoiding that particular loaded phrase.

GG is afraid of the impact on how testosterone-fuelled games are?

 

[Dunkley]

No, that's not an excuse.

I know nothing about Gears of War and not interested at all in it. You know what I do when I see its thread pops up? I don't click on it. If for some reason I become interested enough to click on it, I'd read the entire thread or at least some pages of it. If after that I'm still interested enough to even want to know more or comment on it, I'd certainly wouldn't post "you know, people, I have no idea what this game is" and leave it at that, as if I was incapable formulating even the slightest of logical thought and had more interest in seeing my own post up there rather than the actual thread subject. And that's just a game, not a subject I actually know is charged with a lot of tension.

Because it's basic courtesy.

Completely agree, although it still saddens me that one stupid post like what you are commenting on can steer the entire threads direction far away from the actual subject at hand, which basically just accomplishes as much for discussing the subject as the initial uninformed posts themselves does.

And that is a pity considering just how big the news actually is, considering even while the trial is just considered moot, her ex did just keep the trial running as a device for terrorizing her, and in that regard I think it is fantastic that Zoe Quinn no longer has to put up with that stuff.

I just wish the same could be said for just about everything else in her life, she really deserves a rest at this point after enduring being terrorized by her ex and his hate mob over the course of two hard years.

My deepest respects go out to her and everyone else this hate movement targets, and while it's only wishful thinking I do hope at some point they can have better days again where they don't have to worry about a mob effectively trying to destroy their life every single day.

That banned junior post on page one was quoted 46 times. Surely there are better ways to handle shitty posts?

I mean yeah people are fed up with 2 years of uninformed posts like that, but I mean after that amount of time surely you'd guess people would also know the mods will take care of these users without being handwaved over or pettily reminding them of their junior status.

At least personally I think it's a waste to derail the topic at hand simply to collectively attack someone over an uninformed post that gets them banned regardless of reaction.

 

[Carcetti]

No, that's not an excuse.

I know nothing about Gears of War and not interested at all in it. You know what I do when I see its thread pops up? I don't click on it. If for some reason I become interested enough to click on it, I'd read the entire thread or at least some pages of it. If after that I'm still interested enough to even want to know more or comment on it, I'd certainly wouldn't post "you know, people, I have no idea what this game is" and leave it at that, as if I was incapable formulating even the slightest of logical thought and had more interest in seeing my own post up there rather than the actual thread subject. And that's just a game, not a subject I actually know is charged with a lot of tension.

Because it's basic courtesy.

 

[CyanideFuse]

I still till this day don't know what gamergate is.

Same here. I am not going to ever bother to understand or even show an incline of interest as to what it is. Life is too short and I would rather sit and watch dust build up on the floor before spending any of my time on whatever-the-fuck-it-is.

Edit: Just to add this is not making light of the shit that people have suffered because of all this. I mean I don't give a toss about the used and sticky handkerchiefs that set up the cult or whatever.

Edit: scanned a few comments explaining and I still don't get it. I would feel more at home on bloody Saturn than this planet.

More edits:

Id ask if you knew that you fucked up, but that's clearly an alt, so I'll just assume you're shit posting for the sake of shit posting.

This is what gamer gate is and is not
http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=135783202&postcount=5

I read through this and it terrifies me because I am currently making strides in developing a game (who knows if it will come to anything but I am making decent progress) and I am weighing up as to what I do if it ever comes to anything half decent; I am tempted to say my partner made it and not me for reasons...

 

[guggnichso]

And there I thought they finally stopped hating on Zoe and instead started running the Trump campaign, yelling "cuck cuck cuck" at everyone.

 

[Steve.1981]

I'm very happy to hear that Zoe Quinn has won any kind of victory against that cunt. Good for you Zoe. Damn him and damn the people who support him.

Oh and of course, fuck gamer gate.

 

[SomTervo]

On-topic: fantastic news

misogamy

Is this like the lifestyle choice that consists of trying to ruin other people's relationships?

"No, no, I don't have a girlfriend. I'm a misogamist. BTW, you should break up with your gf"

 

[Moonkid]

I understand that much, I still don't get why it is named GamerGate?!
They are a**holes first and firemost, I don't get the link to games.
Them being gamers is not the problem here, or do I miss anything?

I notice some people have already responded to you, but I just wanted to add that the link to video games is a fundamental one. I'm sure someone else could put it more eloquently, but attributing their abhorrent behaviour to them being innately assholes is a little reductive. It certainly can be seen as a prerequisite, especially for the more active participants of the movement, but the fact is they came from within the gaming community and that being gamers was, and is, central to their identity. I'd like to clarify that I'm not claiming them playing video games caused them to behave and think the way they did, and sadly continue to do so more discretely, as that is preposterous. If that were true, I think this thread would look very different and we'd all be spreading the vitriol and ignorance we're condemning and have no tolerance for.

Anywho, to understand GamerGate's origins you have to look no further than the video game community itself which let's be honest, was an exclusive club for guys and in some respects still is (not to downplay all the positive progress made). It was made by men, marketed by men, for men. Again, I'm not making a causal link between their gender and their behaviour either. It was this insular environment of overwhelming monotony which helped foster the beliefs, attitudes, values, etc that would surface in GamerGate. I think missing this part out conveniently sanitises GamerGate in a way, it's too simple to just call them assholes and call it a day. I mean obviously who would want to share even the smallest association with a group such as this, but we shouldn't forget that GamerGate is video game's ugly bastard child. GamerGate is a prime example of how video games aren't "just video games", and that they shouldn't be viewed exclusively as the innocuous, neutral past time many of us like to believe they are. In other words, video games don't exist in a vacuum. I hope I'm not coming off as accusatory or that you feel attacked, quite often I see people feel persecuted whenever video games are discussed beyond their immediate context as entertainment or art-form.

edit: Almost bottom of the page, eek.

 

[SlipperyFishes]

This.

I understand that much, I still don't get why it is named GamerGate?!
They are a**holes first and firemost, I don't get the link to games.
Them being gamers is not the problem here, or do I miss anything?

Noted extreme right wing dipshit Adam Baldwin gave the movement that name when he came out in support of her ex. People flocked to it and took the name on like a badge of honour.

Because it was a bully campaign that revolved around one person who made a video game it was labelled as such by that now Z list actor.

 

[klaushm]

Id ask if you knew that you fucked up, but that's clearly an alt, so I'll just assume you're shit posting for the sake of shit posting.

This is what gamer gate is and is not
http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=135783202&postcount=5

I knew GamerGate. I knew about their accusations, their threats, but didn't know the full extent of their bullshit. Thanks

 

[JimmyJones]

Something I've been wondering ever since GG started shitting up everything:

Is it still possible to have a real discussion about ethics in games journalism in a post-GG world?

Yes, but not on gaf.

 

[PtM]

I feel like that summary is only succinct if you already understand it.

Yeah, the Wikipedia page probably got fought over until it didn't tell much.

Something I've been wondering ever since GG started shitting up everything:

Is it still possible to have a real discussion about ethics in games journalism in a post-GG world? Is that topic now endlessly linked to them? I don't agree with the harassment/sexism/misogyny bullshit that group propagates, but I think there are still discussions to be had about ethics, but those discussions need to be fully removed from GG... Don't know if that can be done though.

There's a thread, with no GG talk allowed:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1024915

 

[Chip N Chance]

I still till this day don't know what gamergate is.

This. I guess i'm not hardcore enough of a gamer to care. I do know that people are being harassed, and she won a case against one of the attackers. So thats good.

 

[Llyranor]

Good.

If people are still confused about GG, it is the "States' rights" of the gaming industry. They use a cause that on paper might sound like it could be worth rallying for, but in reality it's only to oppress/harass a minority group.

 

[Bert]

Serious question: why aren't these threads in OT? Seems to have very little to do with, you know, gaming. Just a chance for virtue signalling/misogyny.

I'd wager no more than a handful of people of GAF have ever met the people concerned and can offer a reasoned view. Can't we just leave it alone? Seems like these threads are just wastelands of banning and accusations, hardly healthy discussion. Keep the SJW vs MRA shit on Twitter where it belongs?

I've probably offended someone with this post, but I really see little debate or evidence just two sides shouting "No you're a monster!" At each other.

 

[arturo2666]

For anyone who doesn't know what Gamergate is: did you know there's a fairly lengthy Wikipedia article on it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamergate_controversy

The first paragraph summarizes it in the most succinct way possible:

Just to add on to this, if anyone wants a larger breakdown of the events transpired, I found a lot of insight in the "Why Are You So Angry" videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y8XgGhXkTQ.

It theorizes a bit on motivations and psyches of those involved with the movement, and is for the most part very very good.

 

[arturo2666]

deleted

 

[Gattsu25]

No, that's not an excuse.

I know nothing about Gears of War and not interested at all in it. You know what I do when I see its thread pops up? I don't click on it. If for some reason I become interested enough to click on it, I'd read the entire thread or at least some pages of it. If after that I'm still interested enough to even want to know more or comment on it, I'd certainly wouldn't post "you know, people, I have no idea what this game is" and leave it at that, as if I was incapable formulating even the slightest of logical thought and had more interest in seeing my own post up there rather than the actual thread subject. And that's just a game, not a subject I actually know is charged with a lot of tension.

Because it's basic courtesy.

Great post.

That banned junior post on page one was quoted 46 times. Surely there are better ways to handle shitty posts?

It's a tired formula that's been repeated over 200 times already. It's one of a few formula that gets repeated ad nauseam whenever a thread gets posted with one of the targets for gamergate in the thread title:

make throw away account on neogaf with the hopes of becoming a martyr for the cause → Post libelous information (that was even verified as a lie on day one) as if it were true → get banned for posting character assassinating factually incorrect libel and contributing to a trend of harassment against someone in the industry (against the TOS) that even a second's perusal of google can show was bullshit to begin with → brag on your social media platform of choice that you have become a martyr

People would have more patience for it if it wasn't the 200+th time that they've seen that exact scenario play out.

We've seen the people gloating on their threads/subreddits/subverses/imageboards that they got banned for doing the above. We've seen the accounts with 0 posts before diving into this bullshit pattern above. It's tiring and after a certain point, people stop giving a shit about caring to engage with people whose sole goal in posting on NeoGAF is getting banned so they can then show their friends that they got banned. Fuck them.

 

[Audioboxer]

If I'm honest even I didn't have a centralised idea of what the fuck GG was/is. All I really knew is shitty people attached themselves to it and I never gave it another second of my time. All I remember was something to do with Baldwin and finding it a confusing mess back then and never reading about it again. Unless it was random insult fests I stumbled across but that just appeared as people throwing shit at each other never really explained GG. No one I know who games or any of my friends have ever spoken about it. I'm guessing it's still pretty much an American thing? I'm in the EU, UK to be precise.

Interesting to read more from the posts in here.

Just to further on from this, I've done a lot more reading. As I said I knew about the Baldwin guy (remember being sad as I love Firefly), and I knew about the initial "games journalism ethics" chants from when it originated, which I now know without a doubt are complete bullshit. However I didn't know how dark the rabbit hole went till reading more in this topic and man is it fucking depressing.

I understand now why whenever I've said I enjoy listening to someone GG seems to get behind why it's been met with hostility. I mean I'm torn as if someone isn't necessarily part of GG just has had the pleasure of that "community" backing them, I still find value in hearing and debating their opinions, but I sure as hell now understand the toxic response to anything GG seem to get behind (Person I'm referring to directly is CHS, as while I disagree with some things she says, I've enjoyed the debates on campus free speech, but I am now a little disappointed she's spoken about GG).

Still, jeez, fuck the internet. It's really awful the amount of cretins that exist online solely to be abusive and seemingly think they are right and being progressive.

Good job Zoe won this case. I guess some of my ignorance is just not following the topic all that closely after it first started, and as I said above not being American and having precisely 0 friends whoever mentioned, discussed or even knew what GG was.

 

[Steejee]

Good for Quinn. Seems like somewhat a small victory in the grand scheme of things, but at least it's something.

 

[nkarafo]

All this time i thought "gamergate" was a gaming website or something.

 

[Gattsu25]

All this time i thought "gamergate" was a gaming website or something.

No, that's "Gamersgate" (with the S) which IIRC is a key seller for PC games (I don't use key sellers so not really sure)

 

[univbee]

Every time gamergate stuff comes up, I just think of that Law and Order SVU episode.

I finally watched it for the first time yesterday on a general SVU binge and I'm still somewhat flabbergasted that it's a real thing that I didn't hallucinate.

 

[Audioboxer]

No, that's "Gamersgate" (with the S) which IIRC is a key seller for PC games (I don't use key sellers so not really sure)

Yeah from Sweden, started in 2006. Man they must have had spikes of traffic over the years not knowing why lol.

 

[Woody Invincible]

All I know about Gamergate is that it seemed to start with Zoe making a shit game, sleeping around, and then Phil Fish getting called all kinds of names for sticking up for her.

 

[Deleted member 10571]

All this time i thought "gamergate" was a gaming website or something.

Just in case that you're not driveby posting: That's gamersgate.com and I bet they're reeeeally happy about the naming choices of internet hate groups.

Edit yup i should have F5'd lol. Sorry for being lttp.

edit ffs that guy above me

 

[univbee]

Yeah from Sweden, started in 2006. Man they must have had spikes of traffic over the years not knowing why lol.

Oh they know, and have been quite upset about the accidental association. I'm actually surprised they haven't changed their name yet.

 

[Audioboxer]

Oh they know, and have been quite upset about the accidental association. I'm actually surprised they haven't changed their name yet.

Ah, interesting to know, and understandable. Had never been to the site or heard of it till the GAFer above posted it and I looked it up on Google.