Is #GamerGate misogyny posing as concern for ethics?
Posted: 2014-10-13 06:11pm
This hashtag has been popping up in my Twitter feed for almost two months:
#GamerGate
I made the mistake of letting my curiosity get the better of me (Where's The Man In The Yellow Hat when I need him?) and tried to read up on what it was all about and now I am totally perplexed.
Apparently, a bunch of gamers are miffed that gaming sites and publications have gone on the take from the people who make the games -in other words, payola in the form of ad money, access and in one bizarre case, pussy. Supposedly this Two Minutes Hate against gaming sites and publications was about ethics in journalism, but it has now become a Two Months Tantrum against females who don't sit down and keep quiet.
Some blogger got all bent out of shape because (he alleged on his blog) his girlfriend -a game designer- had slept with other men (Given what a dickless loser the blogger had shown himself to be, who could blame her for looking for sexual satisfaction in the arms of a real man? Good for her!), including a writer for Kotaku in exchange for a favorable review of her new game. At this point, a bunch of adolescent wankers of all ages began harrying the newly discovered "Witch-Whore" with obnoxious and threatening e-mails, phone calls and Tweets. Those who stuck up for her were also flooded with hate spam, as was Anita Sarkeesian who, while little more than an annoying concern troll, was treated to threats and harassment.
Let's just say that if gamers ever wanted to shed the stereotype of being 300-pound mouth-breathing permavirgins with bad hygiene and worse social skills -especially with girls, the abuse and threats aimed at Anita Sarkeesian, Zoe Quinn and others who committed the heinous crime of gaming without a penis pretty much guarantees that particular blemish will last longer than the Mark of Cain.
On the other hand...
I do understand that gamers have legitimate grievances. As a movie buff, there are few things I find more irritating than a review or puff piece about a movie written by someone on the take from the production company or studio. Almost a decade and a half ago, Harry Knowles of AICN took careful aim and shot his tiny bit of credibility right off when he and the other twerps on his site went on New Line's teat. In exchange for advertising, access and "pwesents" (Knowles' term for the freebies New Line gave him), almost every film released by New Line got rave reviews and favorable puff pieces. Knowles even went so far as to try to get other sites to take down a satirical review of an upcoming movie because it annoyed the movie's director -and that director had just invited Knowles to the set. It never once crossed my mind to threaten Harry Knowles or his flunkies, and aside from calling him Fat Harry I can't recall abusing him verbally. Pointing out that his opinions on movies and his scoops are worthless because they're bought and paid for will suffice. Oh, and I'm definitely not hostile towards New Line since they only bought what was offered up for sale. The "corruption" is mostly on the part of Fat Harry. In other words, a sense of perspective is in order.
The hostility toward "social justice warriors" is also understandable. Quite frankly, when someone comes out of the woodwork to claim Jar Jar Binks is a slur against gay black men, or that Game of Thrones promotes "rape culture"; or they complain because comics, movies and video games aimed at adolescent boys are well, aimed at adolescent boys (guns, tits, explosions -big ones!), I want to buy a lifetime membership in the NRA. Sometimes "The Guys" just want to hang out, like their dads and uncles did with their buddies. They don't want female influence in their stag parties, let alone feminist influence. They want to drink beer, tell dirty jokes, talk about pussy, smoke cigars and bust one another's balls. Women can be an impediment to that.
I also understand how frustrating it can be when, during an online argument, someone uses nasty comments as an excuse to shut down the discussion when they know they don't have a leg to stand on. It's especially annoying when the internet is full of trolls who conduct false flag thread shitting like this guy. Simply put, the fact that a few assholes have flamed Quinn, Sarkeesian, et al with misogynist abuse plus death and rape threats shouldn't immunize them against all other criticism.
For example, a few years ago, the son of a famous FRPG designer made a thinly veiled threat against me on a gaming site, seconded by his brother on another board. While that was a clownishly moronic thing to do, it would have also been clownishly moronic for me to write off everyone who argues with me as being like those two geniuses. Now maybe it's just male privilege on my part or simple foolhardiness, but I never took threats from various internet tough guys seriously. Quite the contrary, I think it's hilarious. However, I do see why young women and girls being threatened so would be alarmed, no matter how pathetic the threats might seem -especially after Eliot Rodger.
I guess my question is:
Do the #GamerGate crowd really have legitimate issues, or are they just misogynist swine?
#GamerGate
I made the mistake of letting my curiosity get the better of me (Where's The Man In The Yellow Hat when I need him?) and tried to read up on what it was all about and now I am totally perplexed.
Apparently, a bunch of gamers are miffed that gaming sites and publications have gone on the take from the people who make the games -in other words, payola in the form of ad money, access and in one bizarre case, pussy. Supposedly this Two Minutes Hate against gaming sites and publications was about ethics in journalism, but it has now become a Two Months Tantrum against females who don't sit down and keep quiet.
Some blogger got all bent out of shape because (he alleged on his blog) his girlfriend -a game designer- had slept with other men (Given what a dickless loser the blogger had shown himself to be, who could blame her for looking for sexual satisfaction in the arms of a real man? Good for her!), including a writer for Kotaku in exchange for a favorable review of her new game. At this point, a bunch of adolescent wankers of all ages began harrying the newly discovered "Witch-Whore" with obnoxious and threatening e-mails, phone calls and Tweets. Those who stuck up for her were also flooded with hate spam, as was Anita Sarkeesian who, while little more than an annoying concern troll, was treated to threats and harassment.
Let's just say that if gamers ever wanted to shed the stereotype of being 300-pound mouth-breathing permavirgins with bad hygiene and worse social skills -especially with girls, the abuse and threats aimed at Anita Sarkeesian, Zoe Quinn and others who committed the heinous crime of gaming without a penis pretty much guarantees that particular blemish will last longer than the Mark of Cain.
On the other hand...
I do understand that gamers have legitimate grievances. As a movie buff, there are few things I find more irritating than a review or puff piece about a movie written by someone on the take from the production company or studio. Almost a decade and a half ago, Harry Knowles of AICN took careful aim and shot his tiny bit of credibility right off when he and the other twerps on his site went on New Line's teat. In exchange for advertising, access and "pwesents" (Knowles' term for the freebies New Line gave him), almost every film released by New Line got rave reviews and favorable puff pieces. Knowles even went so far as to try to get other sites to take down a satirical review of an upcoming movie because it annoyed the movie's director -and that director had just invited Knowles to the set. It never once crossed my mind to threaten Harry Knowles or his flunkies, and aside from calling him Fat Harry I can't recall abusing him verbally. Pointing out that his opinions on movies and his scoops are worthless because they're bought and paid for will suffice. Oh, and I'm definitely not hostile towards New Line since they only bought what was offered up for sale. The "corruption" is mostly on the part of Fat Harry. In other words, a sense of perspective is in order.
The hostility toward "social justice warriors" is also understandable. Quite frankly, when someone comes out of the woodwork to claim Jar Jar Binks is a slur against gay black men, or that Game of Thrones promotes "rape culture"; or they complain because comics, movies and video games aimed at adolescent boys are well, aimed at adolescent boys (guns, tits, explosions -big ones!), I want to buy a lifetime membership in the NRA. Sometimes "The Guys" just want to hang out, like their dads and uncles did with their buddies. They don't want female influence in their stag parties, let alone feminist influence. They want to drink beer, tell dirty jokes, talk about pussy, smoke cigars and bust one another's balls. Women can be an impediment to that.
I also understand how frustrating it can be when, during an online argument, someone uses nasty comments as an excuse to shut down the discussion when they know they don't have a leg to stand on. It's especially annoying when the internet is full of trolls who conduct false flag thread shitting like this guy. Simply put, the fact that a few assholes have flamed Quinn, Sarkeesian, et al with misogynist abuse plus death and rape threats shouldn't immunize them against all other criticism.
For example, a few years ago, the son of a famous FRPG designer made a thinly veiled threat against me on a gaming site, seconded by his brother on another board. While that was a clownishly moronic thing to do, it would have also been clownishly moronic for me to write off everyone who argues with me as being like those two geniuses. Now maybe it's just male privilege on my part or simple foolhardiness, but I never took threats from various internet tough guys seriously. Quite the contrary, I think it's hilarious. However, I do see why young women and girls being threatened so would be alarmed, no matter how pathetic the threats might seem -especially after Eliot Rodger.
I guess my question is:
Do the #GamerGate crowd really have legitimate issues, or are they just misogynist swine?