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FBI Confirms Open Investigation Into Gamergate
v3rgEz writes In a terse form letter responding to a FOIA request, the FBI has confirmed it has an open investigation into Gamergate, the loose but controversial coalition of gamers calling for ethics in gaming journalism — even as some members have harassed and sent death threats to female gaming developers and critics.
Which ones are they investigating? The drama-mongers or the drama-mongs?
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
While GamerGate is about Ethics and putting a stop to gender Politics in games. There were a few Threats made.
I hope the FBI does look into who made the threats and charges pressed- I'd also be interested to find if any of the
threats were fabrications.
is technically challenging to do as the internet can be anonymous.
In many cases it is irresponsible journalism to assume it is "gamergate" launching the harassment campaigns since we know the SA/4chan professional trolls are antagonizing both sides to incite drama.
I knew we'd get this story, because it casts GamerGate as misogynists, and not the story about Brianna Wu being caught lying about the death threats.
Despite the former story being voted down and the latter being voted up. Because we can't have an unbiased discussion about GamerGate on SJWDot!
Stop lying that lie. For everyone else, please look at my post history for evidence refuting it.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
They weren't. A few women were criticized for their low quality argumentation and/or poor ethics and behavior, however.
There's a big difference to a general attack on women because of their sex and criticisms towards specific women for their actions, which the anti-gamergate side refuses to acknowledge. The former may or may not be misogyny (depends on the motive for the generalization), the latter certainly is not. The rest of it boils down to long term corruption in the media, from supposedly game focused, gawker-owned rags spending too much time on 'social justice' and attacking their readerbase, to the obvious bias in the mainstream media coverage (not that the mainstream media has ever really gotten gaming). Whenever a group becomes this large and amorphous, there are bound to be a few crackpots in the mix (and the feminists are quick to trot this excuse out when one of their group gets a little too blatantly misandric for the good of the their image) who say stupid shit. These comments really shouldn't be taken seriously, but today's media loves to drum up the fear angle by implying that those crackpots make up the majority position and people fall for it. Law enforcement loves it because it gives them justification to demand larger budgets and more unchecked power.
You should watch the last five minutes of this (supposedly a Gamergate letter sent to Brianna Wu). It's absolutely priceless:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
This isn't even the use of weasel words. The FBI is investigating *opponents* of GamerGate for lying about threats and third party trolls for making other threats while the summery claims the investigation is about threats made by proponents. I really, really hope whoever made the threats and whoever lied about them is caught. I hope this because I know damn well GamerGate did not make these threats.
The entire case against GamerGate is built of press pushing talking points off of empty claims made by professional victims. That's the start and end of the "threats and harassment" side of the story. Meanwhile a consumer movement against, ironically, corruption in the press is being libeled to suit political agendas.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
Your argumentation would work better if it wasn't based on ad hominems.
Anyone whose been following gamergate would know this by now. This is late October news. The FBI has also stated that some people named as hacking victims had in-fact hacked themselves. Didn't name names, but three names that come to mind are Phil Fish, Zoe Quinn and Brianna Wu.
Buck Feta. You know what to do.
They would know.
stage 1) collect sexist remarks
stege 2) ???
stage 3) profit
What's wrong with prostitution?
Slashdot's coverage of Gamergate has been abysmal. Every other summary has followed the template "harassment, misogyny, threats, harassment, misogyny, threats . . . oh btw Gamergate."
/. thread about the Gamergate scandal itself: the journalistic lapses, the universal news media blackout and user forum/comment censorship (including reddit and 4chan of all places), and the still-ongoing coordinated smear campaign that was launched on August 28 with the "Gamers are Dead" shotgun blast of hit pieces. All of those milestones should have gotten at least one article here each.
Sad as it is, this shitty summary is still the most "unbiased" simply because it straightforwardly mentions the movement as the topic of the discussion. The attempt to imply that the FBI said they were investigating pro-Gamergate people has already been destroyed in the comments (thank fuck users are still in control of the discussion here).
Four months later, there still hasn't been a single
wanton threats of rape and violence en masse are commonly concluded with investigation by law enforcement in the United States. a 'gate' assignment has been made to ensure commercial viability of the brand. no further concern for gender or sex should be considered applicant to this scandal as its now tabloid fodder to be adhered to with the most cursory of interest. please continue consuming slashdot beta and the slashdot store.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Can we please stop adding gate to the end of any controversial subject? It was barely clever the first time it was done and it's gotten to be pretty much the polar opposite at this point.
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
I can understand you want the conflict to just go away, but that doesn't mean both sides are without argument and are just assholes.
You forgot to add #ThinkOfTheWomen to your little hashtag list. At least then your posts wouldn't leak your obvious opinion on the issue you claim not to care about.
..and yet here you are, posting anyway. Thing is, the tempest entered the teapot from outside. Games are just one of the newer fronts on a much larger, ongoing cultural conflict.
Look, I've struggled to give even the modest semblance of a fuck about Gamergate, but every time I try to get a grasp on the story it zips away from my interest like a bar of soap covered in Astroglide.
Is it just that the name "Gamergate" sounds like it might be something fun, like a new console or VR headset? Then you look at it more closely and it just turns into the cognitive equivalent of white noise? What I've seen on it as it's filtered (unwelcome) through unrelated subreddits and other forums has been like catching chunks of a running drunken argument, and apparently it's one of the worst things ever to happen in the history of the human race or something? Seems like my games still work though.
Large amorphous groups like gamergate (and yes, feminist groups and organizations as well) all have a few crackpots making threats. I am sure a few will be found, but that does not alter the legitimacy of the arguments made. I wouldn't be so quick to believe what three letter agencies put out either, especially since they are beholden to political bodies with interests in specific outcomes for the sake of image.
Who are you to say what others can joke about?
Yes, even though some people were threatened, there's an investigation. Looks like the author wanted the issue to be ignored because some people are assholes. That would be like if you got your car stolen, and because your racist neighbor said, "I hope you catch that nigger so I can lynch him!", the investigation was dropped. Bribery is still illegal, even if other things are happening.
That was quite possibly one of the worst anonymisations of writer of all times.
Hope so, it's allegedly less painful when you relax.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Its about corruption, about members of the gaming press having relations, both physical AND financial, with game developers they were promoting, and about a secret Google group where the supposedly "independent journalists" were given marching orders and told what to push, what to ignore, and whom to attack. When the news came out? THIRTEEN gaming sites issued THE EXACT SAME STORY about how they didn't need gamers and that gamers were "dead".
If you would like corroboration you can start with this video that provides multiple links to back what I've written up.
Its REALLY simple folks, some of the press is dirty, they are taking bribes, pushing political agendas, and while pretending to be independent they were actually running a little clic that went so far as to blacklist those that didn't "play ball" (which is illegal in several states) and when found out instead of doing what most corrupt groups do when caught, spinning and passing the buck, they went on the attack, while some of the "victims" who are accusing others of doxxing went out and shook down and doxxed fine young capitalists for money. This is ironic as many of these report to be "feminists" while fine young capitalists was an org trying to get female designed games made. instead after shutting them down one of those at the center of Gamergate pushed for a "game jam" for women with a Patreon account...that went directly into her personal checking account. They are also using the guise of "social justice" which in reality is self enrichment and hypocrisy but at the end of the day, when you strip away the "SJW" and "radical feminism" bullshit? Yep just about money, both the corruption in the press caused by and by certain women trying to use feminism the way Rev Al uses the black community. Sure you have a few in this that are so far left Karl Marx would go "Damn comrade, dial that shit back a bit" but as with so many scandals in the end? yep its about $$$
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
There is no media blackout because the media does not care. How could you even condense this whole shit show down into a one minute news story? Outside of the gaming community nobody really cares.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Giving sex or blow jobs for preferential treatment is not a problem. However, a journalist not disclosing that he was receiving a blow job from the subject of his review while writing it could be considered an ethical breach.
Of course, the same goes for any other more common methods of obtaining promotional preferential treatment, such as donating copies of games, travel or hardware. The producer of the product has rarely made any commitment to limit how they encourage promotion of their products, but the journalist does implicitly make a commitment towards their readers to perform their job with a certain level of professionalism and adherence to good journalistic practices, which is where the ethical problem appears.
Whether anyones genitals are involved in any step in those chains is frankly irrelevant.
Everything regarding this story points to the fact that everyone involved at any level with "GamerGate", from the shills, the journalists, the trolls, and the gamers, is just a STUPID LOSER!!!
Wow, HOLY FUCK!!
First the whacked the game scene and now they wanna whack the metal scene
http://www.metaltalk.net/colum...
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
How internet fighting works:
http://www.smbc-comics.com/ind...
Pretty much this. To be honest, even if someone were was living with and screw and getting supported by the person being reviewed, I wouldn't give a damn as long as was a fair review and it was disclosed. Like that Christian reviewer thing "A 8 for controls, a 7 for graphics, 8 for plot for a technical 8... and a -5 for sacrificing babies to Satan, for a weight score of 5.5"
Amusing how the journo sites suddenly were mostly 'all from promotion team' adverts when forced to disclose.
As one of the few conservatives left on /., I can only agree fully with what the above smelly hippie has to say.
Back when Jack Thompson was the Anti-gaming Asshole in Chief, the Penny Arcade guys had a brilliant idea about that, and the Childs Play charity was born. We need a similar idea here. I had hoped that fine young capitalists might be that, but they really don't seem to have their act together, much as I like their intentions. Anyone else have a clever idea for a grand gesture?
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Haha, thanks for posting. That was just pathetic!!!
Gamergate is a conspiracy theory (although to be fair ethics in game journalism are non-existent). Anti-gamergate is made up mainly of those rich middle class women who think that nerds who have been picked on their entire lives for being nerds are somehow opressing them. The media sides with the media of course.
Gamergate is made up mostly of kids who fling slurs that would make a sailor bluch around on XBox live, and anti-GG seem surprised when their slurs and insults that usually shut down their opponents bounce off. Gamergate, on the other hand feels that they are each owed a personal explanation for each and every point made by any of the main anti-GG side.
I'm leaving out a lot of the more unpleasant aspects from both sides.
Dude, the entire industry is dirty. Here's a tip: if you're worried about ethics start boycotting every video game.
It's funny how when it comes out that a gaming company acted unethically Gamergaters suddenly lower their standards by a few notches rather than give up their favorite toys.
"That shit" is a lie. It didn't happen. There was no review, positive or otherwise, and the only thing the journalist in question ever wrote about her was BEFORE any relationship (and also wasn't a review).
What started gamergate was a hateful ex-boyfriend making up the above lie and promoting it on 4chan.
Calling something "social justice" does not immediately relegate it to obscurity. "Social justice" is just a term to mean "admit less-than-stellar behavior towards minorities or the underrepresented, and earnestly try to improve it". Unless you'd call Rosa Parks a SJW you really should stop trying to use terms like that pejoratively - it makes you look like a tiny-minded, scared child, who is worried their favorite toys aren't as awesome as they always thought, and lashes out at anyone who might point that out to them.
Excellent summary. What it boils down to is that some people were criticized, and they defended themselves by claiming these were attacks on their gender. The reason is plain and simple: They could not credibly defend themselves against the criticism itself, so they used misdirection and made it a gender-issue. Predictably, a lot of people with no clue whatsoever about what was going on then jumped on those criticizing, as apparently criticizing a person of female gender is an attack on them all...
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I disagree. Ignoring the SJW works pretty well. After a while even the dumbest person sees that they are a force of destruction and contribute nothing positive as all.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
At least one person was doxxed and threatened. She reported this to the SF police and they passed it on to the FBI. I don't know whether this is the FBI's open case, but it's not a "bunch of twits throwing virtual cow patties at each other".
Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
epyT-R, I also seem to remember you making many utterly misogynistic posts in the past, such as "women shouldn't/can't be scientists" and so on, so it's not really surprising that you'd be complaining about people calling other people out for being narrow-minded and intellectually lazy. When you're being socially unjust, I guess people looking for social justice are your enemy, hence your tirades against them.
However GamerGate started it's continuation is fueled entirely by real proven instances of corruption and collaboration in the press. By pointing out over and over "the review never happened" opponents avoid the many, many legitimate complaints GamerGate has. After all that has happened it's almost disingenuous to point out that the review never happened, like a "white nationalist" pointing out minor arguments over how many thousands of Jews died in a particular camp.
It's true that review never happened but a good deal of favoritism did. More to the point GamerGate is about lies, blackballing of journalists, hiding of poor behavior, lack of enforced ethics policies, and other malfeasance. Wu and company are only relevant to the extent they are focused on to the exclusion of more important topics.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
Excellent summary. What it boils down to is that some people were criticized, and they defended themselves by claiming these were attacks on their gender. The reason is plain and simple: They could not credibly defend themselves against the criticism itself, so they used misdirection and made it a gender-issue. Predictably, a lot of people with no clue whatsoever about what was going on then jumped on those criticizing, as apparently criticizing a person of female gender is an attack on them all...
I think this is the best summary ever of #GamerGate. There are several books worth of stuff happening as a result of this, but this is the point of origin.
a general attack on women because of their sex...may or may not be misogyny
Actually, that is pretty much the definition of misogyny.
.: Semper Absurda
No one cares either.
Some Media Whores got some attention. BFD.
The game we play didn't come out this year, in some cases, this millennium.
I guess someone, somewhere, cares about these "Journalists" enough to send death threats; I can't possibly see why.
New games are horribly crippled compared to the past; It would be nice to see a new shooter without micropayments, and including a level editor.
Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
> and about a secret Google group where the supposedly "independent journalists" were given marching orders and told what to push, what to ignore, and whom to attack. When the news came out? THIRTEEN gaming sites issued THE EXACT SAME STORY about how they didn't need gamers and that gamers were "dead".
A discussion group for journalists in a particular field... shocking, oh wait, all journalists in all fields have had those for decades, long before the internet they had forums like that via other means.
Journalists have been building relationships across publications and collaborating in this manner for-ever, it actually makes journalism STRONGER.
The only plausible explanation for you thinking this one is a scandal is:
1) You're an idiot who didn't know that this has been standard practise since Ben Franklin published a newspaper
or
2) You know that but are hoping WE don't, and want to deceive us.
Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
ALL OF THIS.
This is exactly why Gamergate exploded in numbers.
It all started out attacking some awful excuse for a game on Steam that attempted to be deep and meaningful, but ended up being awful.
Then, the developer cried "sexism!" and played the victim card SO HARD.
Then friendships were found between a few reviewers and her, which caused an even larger shitstorm.
Then the rest of the bullshit happened, fake relationships, fake harassment, fake death threats, fake screenshots attacking and threatening to attack her (like those faked images from uh, wizardchan or whatever it was, OBVIOUSLY forgetting archivers exist) and so on.
The claims that only white fat virgins were pro-gamergate, shot down, and then them saying images were faked, how people were PAID and so on. YES, SERIOUSLY. PAID. This is how far these morons will go in order to try squash any criticism against them.
OH, let's not forget where she publicly attacked a charity to get more female developers in to games dev, that bit ALWAYS ends up forgotten.
I sat and watched that crap as it was happening, her and her group of friends all gloating about their success on twitter during it all.
The ONLY people that have genuinely been harassed during this are all the people supporting gamergate, all by her and her group of "hacker" buddies doxxing everyone that even shows any negativity to her movement, or follows the people in question.
People have been fired. People have been accused of rape. People have had massive amounts of shit sent to their houses that they never wanted, I'm sure some people even got swatted.
People against GG that were in positions of power elsewhere, such as game jams, were threatening to give all games by male teams bad reviews, RIGHT ON TWITTER, then came that delusional terrible programmer that wrote the blocklist for twitter and got trolled by allowing a troll himself on the whitelist! And who did that block? Oh yes, literally anyone that followed anyone relating to GG, or mentioned GG, so, loads of people that had nothing to do with it, because "gotta silence everyone!", you know, because censoring things on your computer means NOBODY ELSE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD CAN SEE IT. (this is the sort of people we are dealing with here)
I seriously do hope the FBI find those fake threats and the few possibly real threads that seem to be coming from a guy in Brazil. (probably a botnet node)
This shit really needs to be dealt with already since the only people suffering are gamers.
These people aren't gamers, Anita couldn't even mention a single game in an interview when she done an entire piece on game sexism. How pathetic. (not to mention every single one of her points were destroyed many times over)
But of course, let's not forget, this is just attacking females.
All those females that are actually guys employed at many news sites, or post on twitter. I can literally name 4 females in gamergate and the rest are guys that are hitting double digits now. Soggy knees indeed.
I notice that all your links are to poorly made YouTube videos. Taking the first one, the links you claim back you up are actually just links to more YouTube videos, a document on Google Docs that is unverifiable, a seemingly unrelated WaPo editorial about a spat between journalists and bloggers, and a Gamasutra article that they clearly state was written by community member and not their own staff and which seems to be mostly irrelevant.
Your claims are built entirely on top of other unfounded claims and extremely weak evidence. That basically sums up the entire GamerGate movement, from the original lies about Zoe Quinn onwards. There are some genuine issues with games journalism, although why that surprises anyone I don't know because no aspect of entertainment journalism has much credibility, but those points are lost in a sea of bullshit now.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Fortunately, no-one ever game sex or blow jobs for preferential treatment. I guess GamerGate is over now, right?
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Its about corruption, about members of the gaming press having relations, both physical AND financial, with game developers they were promoting,
We already found out that this was a non-story, so why are you repeating it? zzzzzzz
When the news came out? THIRTEEN gaming sites issued THE EXACT SAME STORY about how they didn't need gamers and that gamers were "dead".
So you're offering as evidence your lack of understanding of how "news" works today? I guess you haven't heard of a wire service, either. Hint: It's how news is made.
Its REALLY simple folks,
Some people are making mountains out of molehills.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
the journalist does implicitly make a commitment towards their readers to perform their job with a certain level of professionalism and adherence to good journalistic practices
And that level is very, very low. Pretty much all sites inflate scores so that they will continue to receive review copies. As you say, whether genitals are involved is totally irrelevant. It's beyond hypocrisy to make this moment the stand against the lack of integrity in games journalism when there has never been any to begin with. Games journalism was born at a time when journalism in general had already become grossly commercial, and it set out to emulate it as closely as possible. The games magazines followed the format of the sports magazines, which were already about selling you shit. It would be shocking if it had not come out to be horribly corrupt.
The fact that sex was the tipping point proves just how pathetic the gamergaters are. If they could get laid, they'd be less jealous. They should spend less time hating, and more time hustling.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
After all that has happened it's almost disingenuous to point out that the review never happened, like a "white nationalist" pointing out minor arguments over how many thousands of Jews died in a particular camp.
Hmm, evasion, godwin... BINGO! Man, this thread has been pay dirt.
It's true that review never happened but a good deal of favoritism did.
Welcome to commercial journalism! Boy, have you ever picked the wrong place to make your stand.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Well, that was mostly the cynic in me writing, but on the other hand, isn't a threat made against a single individual typically handled by the police? Why would FBI feel the need to get involved? Or is this on of the "because it happened on the Internet it's different" kind of situations?
Government agencies overstepping their boundaries and getting involved in things that aren't their business is certainly a reason for concern.
Why what police force get involved when...
This is a basic, 50,000 foot view; it's not intended to cover all the details, and corrections gratefully accepted, but I believe this covers the gist of it...
It's pretty clear that the threats, particularly against the appearance of Anita Sarkeesian at Utah State University were, at a minimum, interstate.
When the threats cross a state line, the move from local police jurisdiction to federal police (FBI) jurisdiction, since police forces may only operate within their own jurisdictions. If the crime spans larger jurisdictions, such as adjacent cities within a county, or adjacent counties within a state, then it may be handled by an inter-agency task force. If it gets bigger than that, then the next larger jurisdiction encapsulating the jurisdictions involved takes ownership. The jurisdictions and agencies, are as follows:
Within a city: The city police force
Within a county: The county sheriff
Within a state: The CBI (California Bureau of Investigation - agency name varies by state)
Interstate: The FBI
International: Interpol
Within these classifications, inferior jurisdictions are often acted to cooperate/participate in the investigatory legwork, arrest operations, searches, evidence gathering, forensic work (autopsy, crime scene investigation, and so on).
Exceptions:
When a crime occurs on a federal lands or reservations, the FBI always has jurisdiction. For "indian reservations", investigator power lies in both the FBI and in the tribal police force (depending on the nature of the crime).
When a crime occurs on a military base, the investigatory power lies within the branch of the military; for most crimes, this is the MPs or Military Police. For more serious crime, or crimes involving military personnel not on base, or non-military and military personnel both, it goes by branch of service:
Navy, Marine, Coast Guard: NCIS - Naval Criminal Investigative Service
Army: USACIDC or CID - Criminal Investigation Division of the Army Provost's office
Air Force: AFOSI or OSI - Office of Special Investigations
Generally, anything involving a civilian, or occurring off base, ands up being a joint investigation with local authorities, which can include authorities in other countries (e.g. naval bases in Japan, air force bases in Germany, etc.).
For terrorist threats, USDHS - DHS - the Department of Homeland Security - gets involved. They are probably already involved in the Utah State University threat. At that pint, they can call on the capabilities and services of agencies such as the DOJ (Federal Marshals office), the NSA (which is allowed to operate domestically), the CIA (which is allowed to operate extranationally), the DIA (which is allowed to operate with regard to foreign military), and so on.
All in all, the more something escalates in terms of geographic reach, or in terms of threat level, the higher up the food chain you go, further and further into territories where you do not want to be. At some point in the escalation process, you get to the stratospheric regions where people simply "disappear" (otherwise known as "extraordinary rendition").
Does that answer your question?
Post a link to the positive review she received due to her relationship with a journalist. I dare you. I double dare you.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Using the asperger's spectrum as an insult while accusing us of being intolerant? Wow you're an asshole and a hypocrite. You'd fit right in at Gawker Media - you know, that company whose editor-in-chief uses "neuroatypical" as an insult.
So why is the OP assuming it was the alleged death threats against Gamergate critics being investigated and not the ones against supporters (i.e. Mike Cernovich being allegedly SWATted) or the alleged blacklisting of certain journalists coordinated through GameJournoPros or similar threats by IGDA about developers who speak out in favor of Gamergate?
Exactly, I really hope they find people who were engaging in criminal behavior so both sides can move on and continue engaging in the debate if gaming is an appropriate platform for broadcasting feminist agenda.
>>>FBI confirmed somewhere else that at least 2 of the feminists in distress have sent death threats to themselves and then pretended it's gamers doing it.
If this is true, that would very very damning. Who was involved? Do you have any proof of this, like links to FBI reports?
While the male developer's company is facing a massive boycott and advertiser writing campaign for closing ranks around him among other things. The death threats to Quinn predated the Gamergate hashtag, and if you go to any Gamergate site they'll talk about how they're trying to sink Kotaku.
and fuck, I meant male journalist's company. Don't see an edit button.
This is an issue I truly believe socialists like myself and conservatives like yourself can come together on because NOBODY likes corruption, manipulation and hypocrisy and that IS ultimately what "Gamergate" is about.
Just don't label the SJWers as "radical left" okay? They have about as much to do with the left as Rev Al has in common with MLK, its about co-opting for the purpose of self enrichment, its about a handful of women who have figured out how to use the guise of feminism to put money in their bank accounts, see Zoe Quinn killing Fine Young Capitalists so she could push a "Women's GameJam" that went straight into her personal checking account, or how Anita Sarkeesian went from being a telemarketing shill to being the Andrea Dworkin of video games, at the end of the day its about stealing an idea, perverting it, and making bank off it.
But just as I wouldn't try to paint all conservatives with the same brush by saying all conservatives believe like Rand Paul that you should be able to discriminate against other races as long as its under the guise of private business, I would hope that you would afford those of us on the left that believe in safety nets for the poor and fairness in everything from taxes to political power and lump us in with those that say every ill of the world is because of white straight penis holders.
At the end of the day I think we can BOTH agree that political agendas don't belong in gaming, nor do we need a gaming media clic that is corrupt to the core and THAT is what BOTH sides need to be focusing on, the fact that you had 13 websites putting out the exact same story almost word for word within a few minutes of each other, that this very same media was covering up the fact they had both physical and financial interests in the games they were promoting, and that those with a political bent that both sides would rightly label extreme was using this podium to silence and blacklist those that did not support their agenda or at least pay lip service to their beliefs. This level of corruption simply cannot be tolerated and we in the gaming community and the Internet community in general should accept nothing less than the gamejournopro writers no longer being in gaming media and the websites they worked with going under because this level of collusion and corruption must NOT be allowed to spread, lest it taint and infect all those around it.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
You are purposefully ignoring the elephant in the room. In which world do you find even remotely NORMAL that a joke of a game such as "depression quest" gets reviewed on multiple serious gaming sites and gets greenlighted on Steam?
Simple - they played the "game", found out how much it absolutely sux, and thought, "That's it??? Well, that was depressing. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!"
So here's the evidence of gender bias - if a man had released this pitiful turd, he would have been roundly criticized, and that would have been the end of the story. Because it's a woman who committed this piece of drek, critics of the game are labeled misogynists. Everyone piles on, utter confusion results, and people try to profit from this to get their 15 minutes of fame. After all, the bigger the "war", the more "war profits", so it's to their advantage to stir the pot.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Little known fact is that while she was waiting at the bus stop Rosa received a death threat tweet on her iphone, which caused her to flee her normal seat and move to one where she couldn't be found. If she had called Uber instead history would have been different.
Actually, it's about adjusting your meds.
Produce a link to the 'review' of Zoe Quinn's game, or STFU.
If I have to choose between an SJW and the typical Barrens chat troll, I'll take the SJW every time.
And yet, strangely, he's correct!
Pretty much.
When the news came out? THIRTEEN gaming sites issued THE EXACT SAME STORY about how they didn't need gamers and that gamers were "dead".
Actually, one issued the story and then others responded to it, many of them jumping on the same bandwagon. It's like seeing something in the NYTimes, then subsequently the WaPo saying, "The NYTimes reported X. We believe X'."
I mean, hell, if you're going to call that a conspiracy, then you just issued a similar story, so mark it up to 14.
The status quo in game journalism is laughably corrupt writers taking money for reviews and writing puff pieces on their buddies, and Gamergate are the only people I see making any effort to change that. Know of any other groups doing that? I'd be glad to join them, although I'm sure the gaming media will tar them with the same guilt-by-association and misogyny allegations that worked so well on gamergate.
I notice that all your links are to poorly made YouTube videos. Taking the first one, the links you claim back you up are actually just links to more YouTube videos, a document on Google Docs that is unverifiable, a seemingly unrelated WaPo editorial about a spat between journalists and bloggers, and a Gamasutra article that they clearly state was written by community member and not their own staff and which seems to be mostly irrelevant.
Aside: what the hell is up with that? Linking to a 15 minute YouTube video that, by definition, takes 15 minutes to sit through, rather than a five page article that can be skimmed in two? And the videos don't even use the medium to show graphics or charts - they're generally just some talking head in front of their computer's webcam. Are the pundits of this new generation illiterate, and can't simply write down what they want to say? Or are they assuming that their audience is illiterate?
Yes, you are mistake.
There was NO fucking review nitwit..
Riiiggghhhhhtttt
He has a link to a youtube video!!
Wow, that's real inclusive of you.
I'm glad the FBI is investigating. They don't know whether alleged threats and harassment are *real* threats and harassment without investigating. Since there have been allegations on both sides, hopefully they investigate both sides. And hopefully those who made false accusations will be prosecuted along with those who made real threats. We shouldn't put up with threats, harassment, or dishonest allegations of crimes. And I trust the FBI won't just be reading message boards and MSNBC articles in their investigation.
I expect, however, that when prosecutions start one or both sides will start whining.
So all the threats were fake? No one threatened to shoot up a school (you know, the very reason the FBI is involved).
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
Who said I was trying to be inclusive?
Oh, so you're just a dick.
Yep, I'm not sure how you can "restore ethics in video games journalism" when it has never existed in the first place.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
I'm firmly on the side of "let me enjoy my games".
Imagine, if every time you sat down for dinner some obnoxious person started to yell at you about starving Nigerian children. Annoying? Well, this is how gamers see SJW.
[..]. instead after shutting them down one of those at the center of Gamergate pushed for a "game jam" for women with a Patreon account...that went directly into her personal checking account. They are also using the guise of "social justice" which in reality is self enrichment and hypocrisy but at the end of the day, when you strip away the "SJW" and "radical feminism" bullshit? Yep just about money, both the corruption in the press caused by and by certain women trying to use feminism the way Rev Al uses the black community. Sure you have a few in this that are so far left Karl Marx would go "Damn comrade, dial that shit back a bit" but as with so many scandals in the end? yep its about $$$
This kinda is why I just flat-out automatically drift to the other side when 'social justice' and 'radical feminism' start being bandied by one side--I don't disapprove of the goal or anything, it's the failure to self-police and deal with internal corruption that ultimately drove me away. I've been told repeatedly that oh they totally do it, but had to point out that it's absolutely necessary to do it where people can see. If you fail to make sure people know it's done?
Public callouts are essential to protecting against the same sort of thought that produces the 'thin blue line,' where you defend any and all members of your group against what you know are corrupt and may even privately disapprove of entirely.
But this is a problem even with the honest ones: nobody dares tell them what you suggest Karl Marx might do, nobody quite seems to even dare suggest that actually it's getting hard to support either side as they're both coming off as equally bigoted really, and they keep drifting more radical (and less logical) without any apparent awareness that they're in an echo chamber nor that they're basically behaving like a fundamentalist religion that merely happens to be secular--dogma sans theology, with no tolerance whatsoever for even innocent questioning of the dogma.
Other than the mountain of IRC logs and screencaps proving that this was, from the start, a way to hide attacks on women behind something lofty as "ethics in game journalism", what is the point of gamergate?
Literal proof we've had since the first weeks that this was ALL to hide a campaign of harassment, and your proof of a few MSPaint conspiracy images now disproves them all?
It's depressing to see people like this, those that fall hook line and sinker that they're fighting for something important, when really they are just fueling a campaign of harassment.
Even on Slashdot, that's full of a fair amount of kids who think like you, has modded you a Troll. How strong is your cognitive dissonance here?
You've gone from maybe having a shred of an argument to now just parroting what someone has called you out on instead of debating the point.
Run along now and try to find some kids stupid enough to believe your lies. Perhaps try arming yourself with some MSPaint images!!
There is a reason you posted this Anonymously.
I don't disagree with what you say, just one piece.
It is the Autism Spectrum, of which Asperger's Syndrome is one condition. The current DSM no longer has any of the sub catagories of Autism, it is now all just called Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Yes, I have Asperger's Syndrome (as diagnosed many years ago), but I don't use it as a crutch or excuse.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
There is a reason you are posting this Anonymously.
SJW = Social Justice Warrior.
They are people who see Racism and Sexism in everything except themselves.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
So all the threats were fake? No one threatened to shoot up a school (you know, the very reason the FBI is involved).
You mean the threat that was classified as non-credible?
Om, nomnomnom...
It's a terrible summary. Here's what happened:
Zoe Quinn's jilted ex boyfriend made a blog post accusing her of stuff. There was a vague accusation that she slept with a journalist in return for good coverage of her game, but it turned out to be untrue. That didn't stop GamerGate repeating the lie over and over and over again though, and using it to justify their "corruption in gaming journalism" angle.
Anita Sarkeesian made some videos about how women are often portrayed poorly in games. GamerGate went ape shit over this and accused her of all kinds of things, most notably defrauding her Kickstarter backers (note that she delivered the promised videos) and of organizing a vast false-flag operation against herself. There has been a little bit of thoughtful criticism of her work, but most of it is just ranting. She largely ignores the rants, except for documenting them to use in her talks.
So basically GamerGate is based on a lie that is still being perpetuated long after it was debunked (see the other comments), and rage against women pointing out that games could do a little better when it comes to female characters. When asked about the corruption angle most GGers steer away from Quinn now, but point to articles about how gamer culture has become toxic because apparently disagreeing with them = corruption.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
"Femenist agenda?"
Are you dense or do you not understand gaming isn't a zero-sum game? You can have a billion more ladies making games and that doesn't mean games like Hatred or Call of Duty are going anywhere.
I know that. I even meant that. This is what I get for not proofreading. Sorry.
There is a reason you're posting this Anonymously, and that reason is because this is a lie, provable since the first week of GamerGate.
You are mistaken.
(there was no review kid)
(thanks for playing)
(go find someone as naive as you to peddle your lies to next time)
this post proves that gamergate is ultimately about the gamer community's inability to cope with new ideas, history and understand things written by human beings.
For a group of people concerned with ethics and integrity, rewriting history is sure first nature to you guys. Zoe Quinn never killed TFYC to advance Rebel Jam. She made a couple of standalone tweets and engaged in some conversations on twitter about how shitty TFYC's plan was and how awful the profit sharing is. Also, TFYC was always about profit, so I don't know why people think they're some kind of charity. They're not. It's a whole duplicitous mess.
In terms of being incapable of basic comprehension, when the articles were going out saying, "Gamers are dead." they meant, "The idea of 'gamers' being the core audience for games is coming to a close and people making games should be more broad minded."
What this was interpreted as was, "Gamers are scumbags and we should shut them down."
When Anita Sarkeesian posted videos about how sexist tropes are being used in video games to reenforce sexist ideas in our culture became, "Video games make you sexist and you should avoid them at all costs."
Political agendas ARE in gaming. Gender politics IS here to stay and was here from the very beginning. I mean, I can point to an incident during Street Fighter v Tekken's hype phase where Sanford Kelly verbally abused a woman who was a competitor using awful gendered language. If you don't think that's not gender politics at play, then you're an idiot.
What it comes down to is, gamers don't want to have to feel uncomfortable about anything and will use anything they can to justify their selfish outrage. Somehow Anita and Zoe and Brianna criticizing games and the games industry as being sexist is restricting freedom of expression but Mass Effect 3 having a less than satisfying ending is enough to get gamers riled up and demand Bioware they change it.
It's a mess.
Give up. Learn to read a book. get a liberal arts degree. get the stick out of your asses and understand that there is more to life than your own narrow understanding of it.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
So cutting out the important part of the sentence to make your point is a valid arguing method now?
Criticizing someone who happens to be female for things that have nothing to do with her being a female could be misogyny, but is not guaranteed to be misogyny.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
Holy shit is this how you defend your argument?
Ignoring the fact, invoking Godwin, trying to change the subject.
Wowowow. And people eat this stuff up don't they?
I assume the 13 in your username is either the year you graduated highschool, or your current age; because the inability to see that this is an issue larger than some kids fighting in comment sections speaks volumes of your knowledge on the subject.
Thank you for sharing your empty comment, do you have a blog I can subscribe to in case I want to hear how little you care on other subjects? Perhaps a twitter account?
And your only response is "Yes, well, but not ME." This makes your claim to support ethics amazingly hollow.
I wish I had mod points or you posted with a real account because this post is a pretty good summary of the all the terrible people supporting GamerGate and their reasoning.
Sorry, but your right to harass and harangue me ends when I tell you it does.
If you insist on carrying it further, be prepared for the repercussions.
You still have the right to free speech. You simply don't have the right to force people to listen to your drivel.
And yes, I'm one of those people who, when they say "Leave me the fuck alone or I'll blow your head off." MEANS "Leave me the fuck alone or I'll blow your head off."
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
would you? somehow, I doubt it, since you obviously don't believe your own BS.
I've played the game. As games go, it's not that great, in part because (SPOILER ALERT) it appears to be set up so that you can't win.
OTOH, it's a pretty realistic depiction of what it sometimes can be like to live with depression.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
I would also point out the school shooting threat against the Utah university.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
I disagree. Not all women are feminists, and getting more ladies into game development is not even one of the goals of these feminists. Their goal is to turn all gamers into feminists, and impede any gaming that isn't conforming to the dogma By force, if necessary.
What started gamergate was an ex-boyfriend with the maturity level of a 12-year-old who couldn't deal with the fact he'd picked the wrong woman to have a committed relationship with, and who thereupon decided he needed to whine to the whole world about it in mind-numbing detail, seeking to ruin her name in public and naming every other name he possibly could. Including names of other lovers who'd not done him any wrong and maybe didn't even know he existed. That fact he claimed that he was doing it to "protect others" just served to add a veneer of disingenuity (if he didn't really believe his own claim to this effect) or attention-seeking (if he did).
Sexual matters between consenting adults are and should remain private. Adults do not air such matters in public.
I tend to think if it'd been the other way round, and she'd named a slew of his other and/or former lovers, she'd have been dismissed as a jilted ex-girlfriend who couldn't keep such matters private as they should have been kept, and that would have been the end of it.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Parent wrote:
There's a big difference to a general attack on women because of their sex and criticisms towards specific women for their actions, which the anti-gamergate side refuses to acknowledge. The former may or may not be misogyny (depends on the motive for the generalization)
The "former" applies directly to the phrase "a general attack on women because of their sex" (emphasis mine). The elided part of the sentence has no bearing on this fact.
Criticizing someone who happens to be female for things that have nothing to do with her being a female could be misogyny, but is not guaranteed to be misogyny.
The parent specifically refers to a "attack on women because of their sex," which explicitly has to do with their being female. The parent doesn't say "criticizing...for things that have nothing to do with being female," it says "attacks...because of their [female] sex." Hope that clears things up for you.
.: Semper Absurda
Social Justice Warriors, deciding who counts based on progressive stack, Social Justice Warriors, if you don't think like us we are on the attack!
We are narcissists and Captain Planeteers, with our heads firmly up our rears, we think the world is black and white, and if you have a vag then you'e always right!
/sung to the tune of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers", be sure to post your own version when a SJWer tries to ruin a thread near you!/
What SJWers prove is that they FEAR a free market because they know the mainstream isn't gonna buy shit non-games like Depression Quest so the ONLY thing you can do is try to attack and legislate and ban that which you cannot hope to compete against. Why are you so afraid of competition? Is it you are sure your ideas are that intolerable?
We have the emails showing collusion, we have the evidence of their blacklisting those that don't tow the party line (illegal in several states, where is the investigation into this?) and we have plenty of evidence of self enrichment such as Zoe Quinn and the Gamejam that went straight to her personal checking.
They tried to compete in a free market, they failed, now they try to build rep by playing the victim card, they are the Rev Al of feminism, and you can kiss their ass all you want but in the end if you are a cishet you simply don't rank in the progressive stack, you are the enemy. But luckily for the rest of us its still a capitalist country and the free market WILL win. Kotaku is bleeding money, the viewership plummets, many of those on gamejournopro shall likely lose their jobs, it will NOT save those sites, and those that try to Rev Al feminism like AS and ZQ will have their support and opportunities dry up, see how quick EA put out a press release saying they would NOT be having anything to do with AS who had been insinuating she would consult with them.
If you are not afraid then let the market decide, we will see if your ideas are acceptable or foul. Considering both the left and right wings can agree that SJWers are narcissist whiners nobody wants anything to do with? I have a feeling we both know what the outcome of your toxic beliefs are, hence the calls for banning and attempts to silence those who don't support you.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
That's not the status quo. Right now it's the Game Journo Pros clique "deciding" all that and then getting oh so angry that gamers don't take kindly to being called "dead".
Your focused on a very narrow kind of gaming, and frankly nobody gives a fuck about that sort of political statement except SJWs. Ultimately I think that's the root of the gamergame fight:
SJW: Politics! Identity! Identity politics!
GG: Fuck off, we don't care about that stuff
SJW: See! Oppression! Misogyny! Identity politics!
GG: No, seriously, fuck off! We just play games for the game mechanics, the presentation doesn't really matter.*
SJW: Now we see the violence inherent in the system!
*There are actual academic studies to back this up. E.g., gamers pick an avatar/character based on in-game performance, not on any sense of identification with the character.
Heck, I remember the days of Quake 2, back when that was gaming, when everyone used the female character because her hit box was a bit smaller than the male. 0 fucks were given about gender identity in that choice.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Aside: what the hell is up with that?
There's this subcommunity of " 15 - 25 year old male gamers" that gets their game info from youtubers. Gamergate "personalities" tend to be the sort of guys who do those let's plays and youtube game reviews who go by "nicks" not their real names. So it's "totalbiscuit" says this, or "poopoodie" says that.
THIRTEEN gaming sites issued THE EXACT SAME STORY about how they didn't need gamers and that gamers were "dead".
Define "gamers".
I read some of those articles (which weren't exactly the same) and some of what they were basically saying was:
Those young male gamers that think of themselves as the "real gamers", are actually only a small part of gaming as a whole. They think they own the term, but they're wrong.
That's what they were saying.
The funny thing is that you are way off. Statistics about gamers show that they have significant disposable income, often families and the "basement dweller" type basically does not exists. I think people with your broken "understanding" of things have become entirely obsolete.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
And yes, I'm one of those people who, when they say "Leave me the fuck alone or I'll blow your head off." MEANS "Leave me the fuck alone or I'll blow your head off."
And when you blow someones head off for "not leaving you alone", you get sent to prison for 1st degree murder. Because shooting someone you disagree with who is not physically threating you with bodily harm is a crime.
There is people that understand what is going on, and then there is people like you. Pathetic. But keep pushing your lies, you are just getting more and more obvious every time.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
However, if one day I fire up Civilization or Diablo and find that I'm required to attend some form of "sexual harassment" training before I'm allowed to play a round or two, and IF (big if) I learn that it's only because of my assigned gender at birth and those who have the legal status of female aren't required to take sexual harassment training,
Come on, you know that's not going to happen.
Another trigger would be if I log on to Star Citizen (assuming they ever release the female avatar they promised) and I find that I am unable to select a female avatar and I am forced to use a male avatar because of my assigned gender at birth.
That's not going to happen either.
But who cares... look at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, the attacks on TFYC, the continued transphobia of feminism.
The 70's rad/separatist feminists, are not all feminists. There's plenty of trans friendly feminists, I know, I'm transgendered myself.
we live in a society with "rules and social niceties".
Some people might be aspiea or sociopaths or psychopaths or just be self-absorbed selfish jerks. They might feel those rules are wrong or don't apply to them
But they still do, and people will expect them to follow them.
You can make jokes.... but that doesn't mean there won't be social consequences. You tell racist jokes, you might find people not wanting to hang around with you. You tell a rape joke and people who have been raped or who know those who have. (I know people who have been raped)....will show their displeasure.
Simply put, control your jerkass behavior.
No ones stopping you from enjoying your games. Why do you think you are being stopped?
Their goal is to turn all gamers into feminists, and impede any gaming that isn't conforming to the dogma By force, if necessary.
Whose goal? And where did you get such an idea? No one is saying that they should stop making CoD or LoL or whatever it is you play.
I missread his comment. My bad.
I thought it said the latter, and missed totally the latter part of the statement.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
It's a bit difficult to refute a threat of murder or rape, and complaining about them seems to me entirely justified. The FBI will probably figure out where some of them came from, and some people are likely to be in serious trouble.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
Insofar as they apply to gamergate as a whole and not some assholes we ban on sight, your harassment claims are false, but if they were true that still wouldn't make your spreading hate speech about autistic people okay. That said, your behavior is echoed by the outlets Gamergate is boycotting, which is the main reason I've gotten involved in the advertiser writing campaign to begin with.
Why is Gawker Media describing Gamergate as composed of "angry Sonic the Hedgehog fans"? (We didn't organize on a sonic forum, it's not a best-selling game or franchise this decade, it hasn't been involved in a censorship controversy - but there is a stereotype that Sonic fans are autistic!) Why is "neckbeard" used to mean misogynist in anti-gamergate circles? Why were the gamers are dead articles filled with stereotypes of nerds that just so happen to describe people with aspergers'? Why are 4chan terms okay when applied to people on the autism spectrum but not to women or people of color?
Autistic people are not your shield.
The authorities have long had an interest in shutting down video gaming. Naturally they welcome Gamergate.
Using the 'your intolerance of my intolerance is intolerable' card is what's dickish.
GamerGate isn't an echo chamber. GamerGaters do in fact question each others positions and claims. And sometimes find them wanting, as in the case of a pro-GG person who claimed he was physically assaulted and forced out of the apartment he shared with his girlfriend because of his pro-GG stance.
It's not surprising GG has a bad reputation; when you fight the press you can't expect anything but bad press.
Except that it wasn't coined as part of that particular bit of chan drama. It came up a month later -- coincidentally, just as the "gamers are dead" articles came out.
No one objects to women making games. But who was it who ran a successful campaign to get GTA V pulled from Target Australia because, specifically, of misogyny?
I'm not talking about "my intolerance" I'm talking about using terms like "sperglord" and "asperger's patient" as insults you ableist piece of shit.
You make and play the kind of game you like, and we'll make an play the kind of games we like, OK? There's room on Steam for lots of games.
get a liberal arts degree
I'd prefer a job instead, but hey: to each his own!
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
You apparently didn't read what I said. I wouldn't be shooting you for disagreeing with me. I'd be shooting you for assaulting me.
As for "physically threatening". I've alive, you're dead. Whose testimony on the subject is going to be believed?
Think of it as "The Golden Rule, with a lead binder"
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
It's beyond hypocrisy to make this moment the stand against the lack of integrity in games journalism when there has never been any to begin with. Games journalism was born at a time when journalism in general had already become grossly commercial, and it set out to emulate it as closely as possible. The games magazines followed the format of the sports magazines, which were already about selling you shit. It would be shocking if it had not come out to be horribly corrupt.
I would agree, and frankly I don't think it's the pay-per-review that's driving the gamergaters, as that issue is hardly new. I think they're getting triggered by these largely corrupt journalists attacking games, content and gamers, and the well known corruption is simply an easy and legitimate target in a two-sided shit flinging contest.
The fact that sex was the tipping point proves just how pathetic the gamergaters are.
I don't think the allegations of sex really were that important, the only extent to which they seem to have mattered at all was through the Streisand effect. Getting a private matter like that shut down is probably entirely possible if there aren't a host of high-profile and relevant tangential matters that will quickly start surfacing, and once you try shutting those down there's not going to be any tacit 'private matter, take it elsewhere' support from 99% of somewhat decent people.
Oh, and careful with the hustling suggestions, that's gonna get the SJW's on your ass for being a redpiller.
No worries, I had to read it a few times too - the claim is so outlandish.
.: Semper Absurda
There's no reason why, for example, her boyfriend at Kotaku couldn't raise his hand at a meeting and say, "Hey, how about this game Depression Quest that my girlfriend made? I think someone should review that. Not me of course, because I am filled with integrity, but one of you should give her some free press."
What you're not getting is that this would be an example of relatively high integrity in the entertainment media. Most of it is much sleazier. A favor for a friend is the cornerstone of successful business. The benefits are intangible in this case, because you [allegedly] can't simply buy that kind of press from that particular outlet. But most "news" is simply something some corporation wanted published, and it often gets reprinted without meaningful comment, let alone changes. The parallel to law is, pretty frankly, disgusting.
The flip side to your argument is that nobody should ever say anything nice about someone they're screwing if they are a media personality, right? But since the internets have made sure that everyone knows who you were inside last night if you are even remotely worth trolling, we all have plenty of disclosure anyway.
That this moment is the "gate" of gaming journalism is deeply embarrassing, and what's more, it has guaranteed that gaming journalism is going to go through another era of embarrassing corruption — not the kind where someone helps a friend, but the kind where review scores are just made-up bullshit. This is what tells us that Gamergate is in fact simple petulance. There has never been integrity in gaming journalism, and you guys (yeah, you've found a handful of women to ally themselves with your "cause", congrats) are upset now because some sex was involved. Usually, it's just the typical ho-hum giving games a free pass in the form of undeservedly high review scores so that more free review copies will show up, which has led directly to the generally pathetic state of new game releases where they don't work for large numbers of subscribers until a patch cycle has passed and so on. The reviewers give a free pass to poor quality and we all "suffer", at the first world level anyway in this case. That's not to say that nobody should be incensed about the lack of ethics in gaming journalism, only that even if all the gamergater claims were true this would still not be the most egregious example of its lack going on right now. You would still have, for example, the entire mainstream gaming press. And by the way, the reason they're not sounding off on this whole rant? They're happy that you guys are distracting the people's gaze away from them, and clouding the whole issue of journalistic integrity with this nonsense non-story. Indeed, if the mass media et al have noticed this flap at all, they must be breathing a sigh of relief that calls for journalistic integrity at the grassroots level are currently being linked with sexism — due to some sexism.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Having a game of Civilizations where the best way to achieve victory is through scientific exploration IS a political statement.
The best way to achieve victory in Civ is to crush your nearest neighbors early in the game, and expand into their territory. That's true whether you're pursuing the scientific game (either for eventual economic or space victory) or the military conquest victory.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Don't try to blow this off as some kind of SJWer bullshit. I believe those people actually exist, but I don't believe as many of the people you think are that are in fact that. I think gamergate is bullshit, and I have had passionate argument about how the name "feminist" is sexist and had to personally field the arguments about how it's not sexism if you're on the more oppressed side. Well, I could see how that could seem true if one doesn't own a dictionary... but let's face it, 1) the core claims of Gamergate have now been shown to be overblown at best, 2) there is no public evidence that any of the claims of harassment or threat at question were fabricated, only speculation, and 3) gaming journalism has long been corrupt, and even if all the initial claims were true, this would have been a minor example. So, being prepared to have a massive fight about it (even putting the discussion of threats and harassment aside for the moment) is fairly pathetic.
Do you really find it hard to believe that these death threats are genuine? I don't mean to imply that they are genuine in the sense that they will be acted upon, but that's not actually necessary for them to be an attack, is it? In fact, depending on where you live, it often is not. It's not okay to tell people that you're going to kill them if you could carry out the threat, because of the real psychological impact that has. We don't want a society of fight or flight. Being able to relax once in a while is, in fact, one of the primary goals of civilization.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The initial claim turned out not to be a simple quid pro quo. The person who gave the favorable mention of Depression Quest turned out to have been mentioned in the credits for the game, however. He gave a mention to a game he was involved in the development of. This is certainly less headline-grabbing than sex-for-coverage, but I don't think it's any better. Either way it's a tempest-in-a-teapot at that point... but the more people started looking, the more rot they found.
It's clear at this point that there's a group of "gaming journalists" who give favorable reviews to their friends and political allies while giving unfavorable reviews to others on the same bases. And who are contemptuous of gamers, though that's not in itself unethical.
There's little public evidence on either side about threats and harassment. The most well-investigated threat (to Anita Sarkeesian) seems to have been from someone in Brazil who she already knew about and has been threatening her since long before GamerGate got going.
A lot of the so-called harassment is just people responding publicly to statements made publicly. That's not harassment. Dot-mentioning someone on twitter is not "harassment". Making a response video to someone else's video is not "harassment".
As with harassment, a lot of these so-called death threats don't even fit the form. They count things like "I hope you die" or "Go kill yourself" as death threats, when they're clearly not. Some of these death threats were actually threats and actually happened, but "someone sent me a death threat therefore my opponents are wrong and evil" still doesn't hold together.
Corruption is just fine, it is human nature...
They are, not through direct regulation (though, this is coming in countries like Sweden), but by social shame. Feminist pseudo activist are seen as messiah spreading the gospel, demonizing every one opposing them.
See above. Campaign in Australia which lead Target to stop sell of GTA. If I want to run a prostitute network in a game, why shouldn't I be able to ? I've already killed thousands in FPS, became a tyran and commited genocide in classical RPG...
You haven't got the slightest idea whether I'm ableist or not, but feel free to fly your intolerance flag high!
Ignoring them only works until they get the attention of someone bigger than you, like your boss or the government. Then the crocodile tears become toxic.
Except that it's come to mean "If you don't agree with my self-established victimhood you're a hater." You're welcome to change out 'hater' for the equivalent ad hominem for the attribute of the group or individual under 'attack.'
Regardless of which group they are claiming victimhood for, SJWs largely operate with the same strategy: drum up some controversy with fallacious appeals to gain notoriety and then label any criticism they get as bigotry (you just hate women/gays/whatever). I'm pointing out the hypocrisy that results from this behavior. All you're doing is calling me names because you don't have an argument. Equating rosa parks, who was resisting bonafide caste restrictions, with the bs of sarkeesian/wu/zoe quinn and friends about video games is crazy.
I don't think you get what 'misogynist' actually means. Criticizing specific women for their stupid statements is not misogyny. If they were all replaced by men making the same stupid comments, I'd make the same criticisms. What I don't get is why there are so many men like you who will white knight for them no matter what, often without even having complete understanding of the situation.
Correct. Welcome to orwellian newspeak. The terms end up meaning the opposite of their true meaning.