Sometimes things are clearest in the rear-view mirror. An event is shrouded in chaos initially, and only when the dust settles is its true form revealed. Gamergate is one of those events. Gamergate seems a confusing array of actions and counteractions. The #gamergate movement is leaderless, its members disorganized and largely anonymous. Its supporters and critics range from lone Twitter users and hackers to paid writers and large corporations. Perhaps it is best if the phenomenon were considered all the way from the beginning.
The Beginning
Zoe Quinn was no stranger to online harassment: her early-2013 indie game Depression Quest made her the target of hate mail. However, things took a sharp turn for the worse in August 2014 when Quinn’s ex-boyfriend, Eron Gjoni, published a 9000 word post full of alleged details of her intimate life. Deep in this sprawling blog post, Gjoni claimed that Quinn had slept with video game journalist Nathan Grayson so that he would write a positive review on Kotaku for Depression Quest.
The fact that Gjoni’s claims were false (Grayson never wrote a Depression Quest review) did not stop users of 4chan’s videogame board from starting to harass Zoe Quinn. She received rape and death threats over the phone and online. Hackers shared her personal information and leaked emails and nude photos. The growing mob also targeted Quinn’s family and friends. The first few times Quinn claimed she suffering harassment, her critics tried claiming it was faked. They responded by continuing to threaten Quinn.
Zoe Quinn did not back down, however. She continued to speak out against her harassers, and made it a point to document their transgressions.
When asked what all the fuss was about, Quinn’s haters claimed they were seeking to improve ethics in games journalism. Actor Adam Baldwin tweeted in support of this movement, coining its current name: #gamergate.
Escalation
At about this time, large websites were starting to notice their infrastructure being used for nefarious ends, and tried blocking discussion of Zoe Quinn. Even 4chan, well known as a cesspool of anonymous anarchists, decided to ban supporters of #gamergate. This backfired enormously, as #gamergaters took the bans as a sign that their viewpoint was being suppressed. There were even claims that Zoe Quinn was controlling these sites behind the scenes.
Other prominent women in the games industry were also targeted. Brianna Wu made a series of memes about #gamergate which ridiculed the great inconsistencies of the movement: namely, that people truly worried about ethics in journalism would not resort to harassing their opposition. Brianna Wu was then sent numerous threatening tweets, emails and phone calls. A Twitter account named “Death to Brianna” made Wu’s address public, forcing her to flee her home.
Anita Sarkeesian, was (and still is) examining how women are portrayed in video games via her YouTube series Tropes Vs Women in Video Games. She was already a victim of online harassment, but threats against her intensified when #gamergate gained ground. Several other women in games journalism and game development were also harassed: some of them (such as Mattie Brice and Jenn Frank) quit the industry entirely, disgusted that the reward for their work was an excess of hate mail and abuse.
The hashtag #notyourshield soon started to trend on Twitter. It was, on the surface, a movement by pro-#gamergate ethnic minorities, speaking out on how people were misusing social issues to push political agendas in the games industry. However, by silently observing and making screenshots of a number of chatrooms, Zoe Quinn revealed that the #notyourshield movement was largely fabricated: quite often, supporters of #notyourshield were white men with sock-puppet accounts.
A number of games journalists wrote articles about how the “gamer identity” was both shallow and highly inaccurate. These articles were written within days of each other, but shared a similar themes: the games audience is far more diverse then before, the old focus of the industry on high-income men doesn’t have to continue, and most people who play games do not identify as “gamers” any more. #Gamergaters saw this as another conspiracy and began sending letters to the firms that advertised on games journalist websites. This movement, called “Operation Disrespectful Nod”, was actually mildly successful: Intel pulled its advertisements from the game site Gamasutra, and suffered criticism from anti-#gamergaters as a result.
“But it’s about ethics in games journalism”
The #gamergate party line (to the extent that one can exist) is that their movement is really about ethics in games journalism. Apparently, only a minority of #gamergaters engage in harassment, and the real issue is the fact that games journalists don’t adhere to the standards set by “real” journalists.
There are even claims that #gamergate does not condone harassment. On one hand, harassers who support the movement are not castigated for their actions. On the other hand, how is an anonymous mob spread out over several dark corners of the internet supposed to police itself? The ultimate result of all this chaos is that harassers have benefited from the movement far more than moderates truly concerned about journalistic bias. Games journalists operate much the same as they did before.
This leads to another issue with this view of #gamergate: games journalists have acted against the interests of their readers for many years now. In the 21st century, all news is free and advertising-supported, to the point where even mainstream news outlets publish advertisements disguised as articles. Websites desperate for page views sacrifice quality for search-optimizing buzzwords. And of course, advance reviews of blockbuster games often cause a ratings boost or two. These problems have always existed, but apparently people only care when women’s personal lives are involved.
Not all #gamergaters seek unbiased games news: some of them wish to remove all discussion of race and gender from the games media. Ultimately, this is simple whining: games and their audience have become more progressive and varied, and #gamergaters are stuck in the past.
The Future
#Gamergate is ultimately a hate movement with the thin veneer of a rights movement. Moderates who participate hoping to actually improve games journalism will be disappointed; #gamergate is a vehicle for misogyny and the stunted development of games as an artistic medium. #Gamergate takes on the disguise of a revolution, when in fact all it has achieved is a repeat of the past, a horrid attempt to make video games continue to cater to the stereotypical audience of angry men. Things certainly look bleak in the present for women in game development. However, #gamergate is a change-resistant minority: as gaming becomes more mainstream, time is not on their side.
Leave a Reply