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[p2535748]

There's some weird twisting of history in that twitter thread. As someone who was gaming in the early/mid 90's, the rise of the FPS is completely glossed over, and the death of the adventure game is treated as something that happened much later than it really did. I'll defend Gabriel Knight 2 forever, but that was 1995, and it felt like adventure games were declining even then. Grim Fandango, in 1998 was very obviously the death, but it was in decline long before that.

Additionally, yeah Myst was the best selling game of the 90's, but the impact of Doom was much larger (and I suspect sales figure don't capture the effect of the shareware copy of Doom). Everyone made Doom clones, and the FPS rush of the 90s is a real thing that wasn't "reviled" at the time. Doom was, if anything, even more praised than Myst was at the time. It's telling that CGW put Doom on the cover when they reviewed it, soemthing they didn't do for Myst. They called Doom "A virtuoso performance". This notion that people sneered at stuff like Doom when it released is just not true.

I grew up with adventure games, I love them immensely, but their death was not at the hands of early 00s gamer culture or GTA, it was Doom and the mid 90's that killed them off.

FWIW, I'm not defending OMM or the stuff the wrote here, just that I think there's some weird revision of history to fit a narrative in that Twitter rant.

 

[Marcel]

It was one person from SA who didn't like how strict its moderation was who created 4chin.

And that person poached many people who felt the same way which created a strong user base from the beginning.

 

[IamDodongo]

A lot of people seem to have totally forgotten that late 90s to early 2000s internet was a lot more of a wild west place with lots of gross out and offensive humor that people rarely got up in arms about and was extremely common place.

That's true, but it still looks ugly when we go back and look at it now. That's honestly why we should look. (Not saying OMM was a direct progenitor of GG or online hate groups though, because I don't know anything about them. That's a topic for someone else.)

The Internet of that time period was dominated by dudes who thought we had moved past being offended by things, because there was a low-level understanding that it wasn't a reflection of how we actually felt, or so I thought. It turns out it was just because the online community (especially the gaming community) was homogeneous as fuck.

As time passed, some people crawled further into their "anything goes" circles, at the cost of slipping further toward being hate group enablers. Others, as you can see on NeoGaf, went in the opposite direction and started to realize that words can hurt people who don't deserve it.

 

[Sini]

And that person poached many people who felt the same way which created a strong user base from the beginning.

Can't disagree with that.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

This is also true. I think it's hard to draw a direct link from OMM to GG for sure, but like others in this thread have said, I think OMM is a very good indicator of the type of internet culture that existed at that time that eventually crystallized into what became GG and other similar vile movements.

That's probably the best way to put it. Was it a precursor to Gamergate? Maybe. Faintly, at the most. But not much more than a lot of other very popular sites written by and aimed at young white men, appealing to their coarser, shittier natures.

We were a whole bunch of screaming pindicks back then, we really were. It's why a lot of us react so negatively to the concept of privilege now, when confronted with it. It gives our unearned, sneering entitlement from back then a name, and a lot of us (myself included) thought we could just sorta slowly stroll away from all that ugliness at some point and it wouldn't stick.

It's turning out that for a lot of us, it stuck pretty good, and we gotta work a lot harder to scrub it off.

I also don't think it's as much of a generational divide at play here as others are suggesting. For one thing - not enough time really passed. We're talking about at most, a span of 10-15 years. I've been online since I could get access, 1996. I'm turning 40 later this year. I'm an "old-timer" relatively. But I don't know that you could say a lot of the people who took our selfish, mean-spirited lead are of a completely separate generation who just picked up abandoned artifacts and began fashioning new weapons out of them.

Some of the more repugnant of us stuck around and helped train them. And I don't think that number is particularly small, either.

 

[maxiell]

The idea that people somehow didn't know what racism was twenty years ago is pretty amusing. I know it's hard to believe for some, but the war for equality goes back many, many centuries.

 

[Woo-Fu]

Everything on the Internet was a precursor to Gamergate if OMM was. People really reaching here.

I'm not that familiar with Gamergate but don't think there is much of it that doesn't fall under the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory.

 

[The Hermit]

I read Bill Murray and then I saw your avatar and was "WTF?"

 

[Rookhelm]

I feel like at some point "shock humor" eventually became "people actually believe this", which I guess is the problem when humor like that gets normalized.

 

[benicillin]

I feel like at some point the "shock humor" eventually became "people actually believe this", which I guess is the problem when humor like that gets normalized.

What you're describing is essentially the evolution of 4chan.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

I'm not that familiar with Gamergate but don't think there is much of it that doesn't fall under the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory.

Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory was disproven maybe less than a year after it was introduced.

It's deader than fuck by 2017.

Hell, Krahulik himself disproved it multiple times over shortly afterward.

 

[Slayven]

I feel like at some point "shock humor" eventually became "people actually believe this", which I guess is the problem when humor like that gets normalized.

Been saying that for years. You got a whole generation raised on 4chan, not being in on the joke and thinking it was normal.

 

[IamDodongo]

I feel like at some point "shock humor" eventually became "people actually believe this", which I guess is the problem when humor like that gets normalized.

I think that's a great way to put it.

 

[City 17]

No, the quotes in the OP are very specifically picked to show off the absolute worst of the site. Not defending that part, but this article started with a conclusion (OMM helped create GG) and went backwards from there to find support for that.

Pretty much, the author has a clear ulterior motive and has looked at anything (and there's a huge amount of stuff to look for) to find some quotes that might fit his agenda.

OP should link the RPS article re OMM as it shows many haven't even heard about them:

The Remarkable Notability Of Old Man Murray

 

[Incendiary]

Yikes.
I mean, I agree with some of his points, but this just reads as "games were better when there were only REAL gamers, and we were inclusive of everyone! Except if you were poor. Or in a 3rd world country. Or didn't like adventure games. Or had some disability that impaired your enjoyment of the games we liked." elitist bullshit.
I wonder if the writer foams at the mouth when he thinks about mobile games.

He has some good points and I think what he says is worth reading and talking about, but he definitely packaged it in an elitist vibe that rubs me the wrong way.

If he'd talked more about the streamlining of the industry in the early-to-mid 00s, along with rising costs leading to less risks, as well as the viable platforms for smaller developers and unique games disappearing, instead of "wow games in the 80s and 90s were great but man consoles ruined everything by becoming POPULAR" it might be a better read overall.

 

[Glen Tennis]

I disagree here man, I think nowadays you get that instant feedback wherever you say something controversial. Forums, twitter, facebook, youtube, and even in person...the world has never been more forthright in expressing their offence.

For me, both sides need to exist...distasteful people will always be around, and there will always be offensiveness in the world. Just like a home-schooled kid with hippy dippy parents who let them "express themselves" will be eaten alive in the real world, because they've never experienced controversy and criticism.

It comes in waves anyway, currently we live in times of super sensitivity, and there will be a pushback to that along fairly soon. Every generation pushes against what was there before, be it a punk culture or a nanny culture.

I don't disagree with you, everyone for sure is more trigger happy to express their opinion on any given matter. I guess what comedians get when they fail on stage is the opposite of 'reaction' that is just dead silence, which what I've heard feels awful. I don't know if you can get that exact feeling on the internet.

I feel like at some point "shock humor" eventually became "people actually believe this", which I guess is the problem when humor like that gets normalized.

I think this is somewhat true.

 

[plagiarize]

Been saying that for years. You got a whole generation raised on 4chan, not being in on the joke and thinking it was normal.

I guess it's sort of like Alf Garnett (Archie Bunker for you US types) or even... like... that pub landlord comedian. Where people seem to miss the joke after a while.

Distasteful. Embarassing by today's standards. Yeah, I mean I haven't looked at the site in years, but comedy today isn't what it was then. For good reason.

But Old Man Murray was a fictional character. That's how I always took it. He's literally called 'Old Man' and I always thought he was meant to be an Alf Garnett type... yelling about how things used to be, being sexist, etc.

Was Alf Garnett a precursor to anything or a reflection of type of person that already existed?

 

[traveler]

Pretty much, the author has a clear ulterior motive and has looked at anything (and there's a huge amount of stuff to look for) to find some quotes that might fit his agenda.

OP should link the RPS article re OMM as it shows many haven't even heard about them:

The Remarkable Notability Of Old Man Murray

Added.

 

[Gestault]

I think this is an example of what happens in a generation that assumes it "moved past" being influenced by their media grows up in the thick of it. Social hang-ups and hostility get absorbed/normalized by people who may not have even had them in the first place ("just here for the laughs"), and magnified in people who had that inclination in the first place ("he says what we're all thinking").

The original authors don't have to have any plan or intent for this to happen, but it's a natural process in the way ideas are shared, especially cross-generationally. And honestly, it's why I think age-gating (in terms of parenting, not an actual enforcement system) is so fundementally important. Also, get off my lawn.

 

[espher]

I never actually read Old Man Murray but from what I'm seeing here it's very much part and parcel of the aforementioned Wild West era where shock humour and ridiculous things like this were part and parcel (including in other media, I might add). The me of fifteen or twenty years ago wouldn't post, read, or say the same things today that I posted, read, and said back then (much like the me of then didn't say things that were taboo then but weren't twenty years prior to that).

Obviously, some people "grew out of it" (or, like me, were just being the late 90s/early 00s equivalent of the modern day "ironic edgelords" at the time and were never really buying in), but there are definitely some that didn't - in my circles, there were a lot of people that fit that archetype that were playing it for 'laughs', but there are also one or two (who I no longer associate with) who played it straight and have gone on to be MRA/GG types.

The same sort of thing seems to have happened with other sites (4chan and YTMND), where you have one 'era' of user of the site that feels the later versions took it 'too truthfully' and missed the humour in it, and what was once an internet cesspool for one reason is now an internet cesspool for an entirely different (and ostensibly much worse) reason.

Edit:

I think this is an example of what happens in a generation that assumes it "moved past" being influenced by their media grows up in the thick of it. Social hang-ups and hostility get absorbed/normalized by people who may not have even had them in the first place ("just here for the laughs"), and magnified in people who had that inclination in the first place ("he says what we're all thinking").

The original authors don't have to have any plan or intent for this to happen, but it's a natural process in the way ideas are shared, especially cross-generationally. And honestly, it's why I think age-gating (in terms of parenting, not an actual enforcement system) is so fundementally important. Also, get off my lawn.

Yeah, I think there's a bunch of this here, too. I was a bit on the older side and played it for laughs, but the people in my circle of friends (generally friends of friends with a few years between us) who were at a more impressionable age at the time are the ones that tend to have really embraced it and been 'defined' by it, so to speak.

 

[Woo-Fu]

Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory was disproven maybe less than a year after it was introduced.

It's deader than fuck by 2017.

Hell, Krahulik himself disproved it multiple times over shortly afterward.

You can't disprove it, you can only prove that it doesn't apply in specific cases. That doesn't prove that it never applies. I personally know a number of people it describes perfectly when comparing their offline and online personas. Internet anonymity---more specifically the feeling of---has been empowering people to be assholes in ways they never would be in real life since the dawn of the 'net.

Of course the major personalities in Gamergate no longer have anonymity. The mass of people being labeled though, most of them still do.

 

[bufkus]

I've read Old Man Murray and found the site to be insightful and humorous.

If you think OMM's anti-Roberta Williams rant is "insightful and humorous" then there is something wrong with you. OMM is complete shit.

 

[inky]

Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory was disproven maybe less than a year after it was introduced.

It's deader than fuck by 2017.

Hell, Krahulik himself disproved it multiple times over shortly afterward.

Yup, anonymity doesn't count for shit. A bit of privilege is all you need, and sometimes not even that.

 

[Nairume]

You can't disprove it, you can only prove that it doesn't apply in specific cases. That doesn't prove that it never applies. I personally know a number of people it describes perfectly when comparing their offline and online personas. Internet anonymity---more specifically the feeling of---has been empowering people to be assholes in ways they never would be in real life since the dawn of the 'net.

Of course the major personalities in Gamergate no longer have anonymity. The mass of people being labeled though, most of them still do.

At what point do the exceptions stop being exceptions? When you see as many people on Twitter and Facebook, including the President of the United States, being fuckwads despite their comments being tied to their real names and portraits, it gets increasingly hard to say that Fuckwad Theory only just sometimes doesn't apply.

 

[KarmaCow]

You can't disprove it, you can only prove that it doesn't apply in specific cases. That doesn't prove that it never applies. I personally know a number of people it describes perfectly when comparing their offline and online personas. Internet anonymity---more specifically the feeling of---has been empowering people to be assholes in ways they never would be in real life since the dawn of the 'net.

Of course the major personalities in Gamergate no longer have anonymity. The mass of people being labeled though, most of them still do.

The reason it's inconsistent is because it's not anonymity that empowers people to be shitheads, it's the lack of consequences. The internet didn't create this mindset, it just made it easier for any dipshit without money or power to make the consequences of their fuckery disappear.

 

[DocSeuss]

I think that the article is extremely poor--it describes two situations and completely fails to prove its actual claims. All it has is "some dudes said some mean shit on the internet a long time ago, and some dudes said some mean shit now. Are the two related?"

And then there's this: the author actually asked a "did you stop beating your wife yet?" question. Like, wow, how did the editors let this happen? Better sites would never have let this piece fly.

Here's a great tweet thread on the article: https://twitter.com/retroremakes/status/885231593501143041

The author also takes some quotes out of context. Like, when they called Roberta Williams a "pompous fucking bitch," it wasn't just some random thing. It was because Roberta Williams said some truly offensive things about what kind of people were playing video games, how stupid they all were, and

If a man had said it, Old Man Murray would have taken him to task in just-as-colorful language. In fact, the author acts as if Old Man Murray only treated women this way. Go read their utter demolition of Jase Hall or Seamus Blackley. It was equal opportunity snark.

The links are tenuous at best "people were edgy on the internet," and the author tries to make square pegs fall in round holes, and does literally nothing whatsoever to actually prove his claims.

If you think OMM's anti-Roberta Williams rant is "insightful and humorous" then there is something wrong with you. OMM is complete shit.

One key element of her thousand year reign of terror is the manufacture and distribution of monstrous, awful computer games such as King's Quest One, Two, Three, Four, Six, Seven, Eight and especially King's Quest Five. Roberta Williams' career has taken a nosedive lately. Obviously, the force behind this downturn is the benevolent hand of God. However, true to her nickname - the Father of Lies - Mrs. Williams presents an alternate explanation:

Back when I got started, which sounds like ancient history, back then the demographics of people who were into computer games, was totally different, in my opinion, then they are today. Back then, computers were more expensive, which made them more exclusive to people who were maybe at a certain income level, or education level. So the people that played computer games 15 years ago were that type of person. They probably didn't watch television as much, and the instant gratification era hadn't quite grown the way it has lately. I think in the last 5 or 6 years, the demographics have really changed, now this is my opinion, because computers are less expensive so more people can afford them. More "average" people now feel they should own one.

First of all, I feel compelled to rebut her clearly in the rough language of "average" people: Fuck you, you pompous fucking bitch. To recap: Roberta Williams' failures are in no way her own fault, but are due to the fact that you, dear reader, are an uncultured dimwit. This kind of reasoning is symptomatic of clinical depression and a warning sign of potential suicide. Picture me with fingers crossed. And blaming the mighty Television for what ails you is meaningless psuedo-intellectual babytalk, the equivalent of easily influenced people of "a certain income level, or education level" blindly repeating "You go girl!" and "Don't go there!" It's an absurd, apocryphal notion she appropriated from some facile hippy deconstruction of the world, circa 1983. Dumbass.

...

Why can't Quake players ever be this eloquent? I guess perhaps Bride Of Satan, Roberta Williams, has a point. As a community, we need to read more. I've decided to lead by example. Here is a summary of my current reading list

[here he posts a bunch of porn]

Nah, this is good shit. Classism one of the worst, most insidious things in existence today. It deserves to be ridiculed.

The entire point of his piece, and the reason he's so acerbic throughout, is because he's mocking the absurdity of Williams' claims. He tears her ideas apart bit by bit, building up until he sources quotes from the King's Quest fan community, which is supposedly, according to Williams, so much more intelligent than shooter players. They're horrible and offensive, so, of course, he takes it to the comedic extreme by literally just going "I guess I'm too dumb to understand this simple shit" and posting porno mag covers. It's comedy at its best.

I am 100% okay with calling someone a 'pompous fucking bitch' for saying that their smart games aren't doing well because "computers are less expensive so more people can afford them. More "average" people now feel they should own one." We should kill and eat the rich.

 

[RubberJohnny]

That was basically the general internet culture at the time, that sort of bro-y edgy insouciance. If you had a site that was normal you'd basically be raided and mocked, or SA Helldumped or whatever.

In retrospect the democratisation of the internet to normal people through stuff like facebook was the best thing to ever happen to it, now people can just fucking be normal adults talking like they do in real life.

 

[MC Safety]

If you think OMM's anti-Roberta Williams rant is "insightful and humorous" then there is something wrong with you. OMM is complete shit.

Did you read the critique?

My favorite line: "I've been taking Spanish lessons, which I think is famous now."

 

[angelic]

I guess what comedians get when they fail on stage is the opposite of 'reaction' that is just dead silence, which what I've heard feels awful. I don't know if you can get that exact feeling on the internet.

true, good point, there is no equivalent.

 

[Kai Dracon]

The flaw in the Fuckwad Theory is that it's not just anonymity that's required to trigger bad behavior. The deeper cause is a perceived lack of consequence for being a monster.

The reason why Your Inlaws On Facebook post insane racist rants attached to their real names and smiling photographs? They're surrounded by people like themselves, their Facebook feed is tailored to reinforce their views and protect them from other parts of culture, and so they feel there are zero consequences to grotesque behavior and beliefs.

It doesn't require privilege in a traditional sense because the structure of the internet and now modern social media invites such behavior.

 

[purpleblastoise]

Did you read the critique?

My favorite line: "I've been taking Spanish lessons, which I think is famous now."

Wolpaw once called Williams a “pompous fucking bitch” and “the woman who invented human suffering.” He then speculated that she was mentally ill and openly hoped she'd commit suicide.

Some great critique.

 

[TissueBox]

I feel like at some point "shock humor" eventually became "people actually believe this", which I guess is the problem when humor like that gets normalized.

If true, irony really is the darkest of wits.

 

[Barry Burton]

Nah, this is good shit. Classism one of the worst, most insidious things in existence today. It deserves to be ridiculed.

Yep. As does that long Twitter rant in the OP dubbing this article as misogynistic, which couldn't be any more disingenuous.

 

[traveler]

I'm not a fan of Roberta's attitude either- it definitely deserved criticism and ridicule is fine, but the lengths he goes to in that article are too far. They can both be wrong; it doesn't have to be one or the other.

 

[jtb]

It's always interesting to me to see how reactionary video game and internet culture is. I wonder why that is.

I dunno if it was a precursor to GG but if this thread is any indication, it's not going anywhere anytime soon!

Yep. As does that long Twitter rant in the OP dubbing this article as misogynistic, which couldn't be any more disingenuous.

lol

Nah, this is good shit. Classism one of the worst, most insidious things in existence today. It deserves to be ridiculed.

The entire point of his piece, and the reason he's so acerbic throughout, is because he's mocking the absurdity of Williams' claims. He tears her ideas apart bit by bit, building up until he sources quotes from the King's Quest fan community, which is supposedly, according to Williams, so much more intelligent than shooter players. They're horrible and offensive, so, of course, he takes it to the comedic extreme by literally just going "I guess I'm too dumb to understand this simple shit" and posting porno mag covers. It's comedy at its best.

I am 100% okay with calling someone a 'pompous fucking bitch' for saying that their smart games aren't doing well because "computers are less expensive so more people can afford them. More "average" people now feel they should own one." We should kill and eat the rich.

Truly 'A Modest Proposal' for the internet age.

lol

 

[Aselith]

This is such a weird nonsensical stretch that OMM was somehow a precursor to GG. It also says something that the people in this thread most angry/ offended are also admitting this is the first time they've heard of them, or never read the site.

I don't think the writers themselves are gater types but certainly the culture of misogyny and political incorrect jokes that people felt comfortable making then led to the cesspit that later created GG.

As the internet got more and more widespread and democratized, people became more aware of other groups and people with disabilities, etc and the politically incorrect stuff got more and more unacceptable and people that couldn't become better got pushed into small, tight knit groups like 4chan and such.

I don't think OMM is a precursor to GG so much as it had a common root in the sickness that was the Wild West internet. It was a beautiful thing but also a deplorable thing.

 

[PillarEN]

1. No

2. I had forgotten about this site for almost a decade until this thread brought it up.

 

[Tain]

Back when I got started, which sounds like ancient history, back then the demographics of people who were into computer games, was totally different, in my opinion, then they are today. Back then, computers were more expensive, which made them more exclusive to people who were maybe at a certain income level, or education level. So the people that played computer games 15 years ago were that type of person. They probably didn't watch television as much, and the instant gratification era hadn't quite grown the way it has lately. I think in the last 5 or 6 years, the demographics have really changed, now this is my opinion, because computers are less expensive so more people can afford them. More "average" people now feel they should own one.

lol holy shit

ok yeah I'm totally on board with this:

I am 100% okay with calling someone a 'pompous fucking bitch' for saying that their smart games aren't doing well because "computers are less expensive so more people can afford them. More "average" people now feel they should own one." We should kill and eat the rich.

 

[Barsinister]

I don't feel compelled to post often, but here are my thoughts on this topic.

Whatever one puts into a thing, that is what they should expect to come out. Hate will breed hate no matter the intentions,

Whatever one thinks about the most, defines who they are. Serial killers often are described as "normal" when asked about by neighbors. It's what they think about that makes them serial killers.

Take from that what you will.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

FWIW, I'm not defending OMM or the stuff the wrote here, just that I think there's some weird revision of history to fit a narrative in that Twitter rant.

I feel like at some point "shock humor" eventually became "people actually believe this", which I guess is the problem when humor like that gets normalized.

The reason it's inconsistent is because it's not anonymity that empowers people to be shitheads, it's the lack of consequences. The internet didn't create this mindset, it just made it easier for any dipshit without money or power to make the consequences of their fuckery disappear.

Sounds about right.

Nah, this is good shit. Classism one of the worst, most insidious things in existence today. It deserves to be ridiculed.

The entire point of his piece, and the reason he's so acerbic throughout, is because he's mocking the absurdity of Williams' claims. He tears her ideas apart bit by bit, building up until he sources quotes from the King's Quest fan community, which is supposedly, according to Williams, so much more intelligent than shooter players. They're horrible and offensive, so, of course, he takes it to the comedic extreme by literally just going "I guess I'm too dumb to understand this simple shit" and posting porno mag covers. It's comedy at its best.

I am 100% okay with calling someone a 'pompous fucking bitch' for saying that their smart games aren't doing well because "computers are less expensive so more people can afford them. More "average" people now feel they should own one." We should kill and eat the rich.

Is this for real? I mean, if he had just said "fuck you, you pompous bitch", maybe you'd have a point, but he then went on to hope she commits suicide and posts... porn for whatever reason? You don't think that it's going a bit far against someone who made a tone-deaf comment towards FPS gamers?

 

[jtb]

Aw, isn't it cute how men in the gaming community can invent even the thinnest and dumbest pretext for playing the victim.

"someone called my videogamez dumb. DIE IN A FIRE YOU CUNT! btw let me remind you how i only view women as sexual objects"

what? she deserved it

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Edit: Additional context- twitter discussion from author on early '00 gaming culture: https://twitter.com/NowIsNotGood/sta...78809124573186

This thread seems to completely ignore console gaming....

like it jumps from niche PC adventure and RPGs as representative to all "gamers" to GTA III?

Like where is the NES, SNES, Playstation Era where there was the explosion of sexist and male dominated gaming market.

I do think he's generally right about the switch to overt sexism happening in the early 00s. But I think that's just the internet and the sudden anonymity when ranting online rather than the games market or GTA driving it.

(I think also Japanese games are a large driver as there was a large explosion of games with overt "sexy characters" which drove the perception of games as being "for men" though the west was doing it too with Tomb Raider)

 

[Tain]

Is this for real? I mean, if he had just said "fuck you, you pompous bitch", maybe you'd have a point, but he then went on to hope she commits suicide and posts... porn for whatever reason? You don't think that it's going a bit far against someone who made a tone-deaf comment towards FPS gamers?

having not read the OMM article in question (at work), calling this a "tone-deaf comment towards FPS gamers" is being insanely generous to someone complaining about gaming being taken over by the Stupid Poors.

but yeah, the rest of the stuff you describe as being in the OMM article does sound dumb as hell.

 

[NathanS]

Yikes.
I mean, I agree with some of his points, but this just reads as "games were better when there were only REAL gamers, and we were inclusive of everyone! Except if you were poor. Or in a 3rd world country. Or didn't like adventure games. Or had some disability that impaired your enjoyment of the games we liked." elitist bullshit.
I wonder if the writer foams at the mouth when he thinks about mobile games.

Looking deeper he seems to be a fan of mobile games

 

[jett]

Never heard of OMM before, but that article was interesting, and considering how so many "big names" speak highly of it and its influence, it seems it was really popular, and it undoubtedly set the grounds for the shitshow we currently go through. I've lost all respect for Wolpaw.

That was really good article honestly, had never heard of Scorpia before. That's pretty intriguing.

 

[Budi]

Aw, isn't it cute how men in the gaming community can invent even the thinnest and dumbest pretext for playing the victim.

"someone called my videogamez dumb. DIE IN A FIRE YOU CUNT! btw let me remind you how i only view women as sexual objects"

what? she deserved it

No, Roberta Williams explained the decline of adventure games by lowly educated (too dumb for her higher art) console gamers with poor jobs. Is this when PC master race began? I mean, you have to see why her comment can be seen as offensive. The response was offensive too though. It's fair to say that the gaming demographic has changed, but to pin it on low education and income seems pretty bad to me. It wasn't games she called dumb.

 

[Aizo]

Was Old Man Murray a precursor to Gamergate?

I thought it was going to be about this Murray before opening the thread, and then I saw your avatar. What's going on here? Some sorta weird meta-joke?

 

[Mael]

This thread seems to completely ignore console gaming....

like it jumps from niche PC adventure and RPGs as representative to all "gamers" to GTA III?

Like where is the NES, SNES, Playstation Era where there was the explosion of sexist and male dominated gaming market.

I do think he's generally right about the switch to overt sexism happening in the early 00s. But I think that's just the internet and the sudden anonymity when ranting online rather than the games market or GTA driving it.

(I think also Japanese games are a large driver as there was a large explosion of games with overt "sexy characters" which drove the perception of games as being "for men" though the west was doing it too with Tomb Raider)

Console gaming at the time was irrelevant to the discussion because they weren't viewed as "real games" anyway.
In a 'it's cool you got something to amuse your lil bro with' like Lego Duplo or something.
Although we have a thread out there about how console warrior were always a thing.
I think the whole discussion is interesting, not because of the link between GG and whatever that old site (that the only good thing RPS showed was that men leads in the industry liked).
I think the interesting discussion here is more that there was no stigma for video games as a whole as this male dominated power fantasy for immature racists to harass people on the web... and kids.
Console gaming was for simple games for simple gamers and were too unsophisticated for the kinds of game that were advancing the medium.
And the sophisticated games were played by an older and more diverse population of gamers too.

 

[Mechazawa]

Whatever decent point could've been made about the early internet's shock jock humor and what sort of bedrock it might've eventually laid down for GG, is completely fuckin' blown by how terribly written this article and it's tenuous connections are.

This entire thing reads like some angst over OMM's worse writing and then bizarrely, violent shooters, with GamerGate as a hot button issue that they decided to half-heartedly and sloppily shove in to give the article some relevance. And I really can't stress enough how little this article seems to actually give a shit about discussing gamergate despite wanting to make the connection.

 

[Mzo]

That article is some pretty bias garbage, especially leaving out the reason why the joke, exaggerated fucking comedy article was written about Roberta Williams in the first place.

Are people really reading OMM and taking it at face value as something an adult really believes and says? Jesus Christ, what happened?

Exaggeration is a part of humor. Saying that the person who produces cheap toilet paper is basically Hitler is funnier than just saying politely that you would prefer not to buy cheap tp in the future. It's not literal.