GamerGate

[treowtheordurren]

I couldn't find any issues discussing the topic in my admittedly brief keyword search, so, I thought I'd ask: where do you, denizens of the Nexus, stand on the whole GamerGate movement?

 

Some background, for those uninitiated:

 

On September 17th, game dev Eron Gjoni created a Wordpress blog titled "TheZoePost," in which he alleged, among many other things, that his ex-girlfriend Zoe Quinn engaged in a handful of affairs with gaming industry insiders. For proof, Gjoni submitted what are now known to be undocumented chatlogs in which Quinn confessed to these affairs.

 

These affairs are significant because of the conflicts of interests they would entail. One of her alleged partners was gamedev and panel judge Robin Arnott, whose panel awarded Quinn's game "Depression Quest" a cash prize and an accolade displayed on the game's store page. Another was Kotaku journalist Nathan Grayson, who was involved with Quinn platonically (they spent a weekend or so in Vegas together with other devs) when he published an article spotlighting Quinn's game out of another 47 or so, and was involved with her romantically just a few days later. The exact timeline regarding their relationship is a bit hazy, but the one I presented is the one confirmed both by Gjoni and Kotaku EiC Stephen Totilo.

 

Shortly after the post went up, youtuber MundaneMatt created a video about it. It was promptly taken down by a user named "zoe quinn," via a false DMCA claim. A recently leaked series of conversations from a mailing list containing over 160 industry figures (including PR reps from Bungie and Ubisoft) reveals that various editors from various sites were urging other editors, admins, etc. to forbid discussion of the issue. Ben Kuchera of Polygon was a particularly loud voice in all of this, urging Greg Tito of the Escapist to delete a heavily moderated forum thread discussing the issue. Similaly, a 25,000 comment thread on Reddit about the topic was routinely and indiscriminately purged.

 

More details about Quinn were unearthed (namely that she potentially faked an earlier harassment case that garnered her the publicity necessary to get her game Greenlit and that some of the publications that ran the story were perfectly willing to do so without checking its authenticity as it supported their agenda; she also crashed a pro-woman charity game jam on the false grounds that it was exploitative), as she was something of a focal point early on before any real movement had taken shape. Unfortunately, a lot of harassment was directed towards Quinn as well. It's suspected some went so far as to dox her, though the phone numbers released didn't actually connect to her or anyone related to her.

 

Next, twelve different websites released twelve different articles declaring the death of the "Gamer" subculture, referring to gamers in such flattering terms as "shitslinging hyperconsumers." These articles were all released within a 48-hour period and some were remarkably similar to one another. With the recent exposition of the GameJournoPro mailing list, it's not unreasonable to assume that this was some sort of coordinated effort on behalf of the sites involved.

 

Phil Fish, an ardent defender of Quinn since the beginning of the controversy, had his company Polytron hacked, and its financial records were exposed. He has since withdrawn from the industry and is trying to sell the rights to his IP Fez. Regarding Fish, it was discovered that, prior to creating Fez, he was funded by several members of what would later become IndieFund. It's basically an unorthodox investment group that supports indie gamedevs. What's notable about this is that several of the people who funded Fez were judges of the Indie Games Fest, where Fez was not only entered twice (the only other game to do that was also IndieFund backed), but won twice as well. It was also guaranteed its second entry, as the previous judges (who supported Fez the first time) selected the next set of entrants. Furthermore, Fez won Indiecade's "best in show"-type award. Indiecade's head judge, who is allowed to moderate each individual juror's review, was another member of IndieFund. All of this occurred one month prior to the release of Fez, generating some intense hype for the game. Accusations of racketeering were levied, and the authorities were at one point contacted. No word on how that's since progressed, although there's some pretty solid evidence against the IGF and Indiefund.

 

But back to GamerGate. Following the wave of articles, actor Adam Baldwin created the hashtag #GamerGate, comparing the cover-up to the Watergate scandal. On twitter, figures like Devin Faraci, Editor of Badass Digest, and Leigh Alexander, PR Agent and EaL of Gamasutra (yes, she is both a PR agent for gamedevs and writes articles on games; I know, it's crazy sketchy) compared the GG crowd unfavorably to ISIS and laughed about how they would "crush the dreams" of aspiring devs and journalists in support of the movement, respectively.

 

Kotaku journalist Patrica Hernandez was revealed to have provided positive coverage of her roommate's and lover's works without disclosing either of those relationships. Brad Wardell of Stardock expressed his dismay at how journalists were completely eager to write attack ads about the sexual harassment case he was involved in a few years ago but were completely unwilling to discuss any of Quinn's supposed flaws (Wardell was acquitted and the plaintiff was required to issue a public apology for making the accusation).

 

Several journalists and judges (Ben Kucher among them) were found to be donating to Quinn's Patreon account, effectively funding her. These financial ties were not disclosed in any articles they wrote about her, or when they judged any of her work. Kotaku has since revised its ethics policy regarding Patreon donations, as has Polygon and the Escapist. Defy media as a whole has an entirely new ethics policy, shaped around issues raised by the GamerGate front.

 

Unfortunately, a great deal of harassment has been levied at Quinn and others, especially during the inception of the movement. At one point, rape and death threats were directed towards Anita Sarkeesian from a throwaway Twitter account. Much of the gaming press has extensively publicized these threats. On the other hand, some figures who oppose the movement have made similar threats, one directed towards a thirteen year old boy. The journalists who published the mailing list was sent an unmarked, filled syringe in the mail, thus far the most physical form of harassment perpetrated.

 

With that out of the way, let's discuss!

Edited September 25, 2014 by DonutsStrongJaw

[JimboUK]

I won't condone the threats Quinn received, that was unacceptable. The criticism she got for her role in this and for then hiding behind claims of misogyny was well deserved. Quinn, that list of so called "journalists" and the other social justice warriors involved in this should be ashamed of themselves for using something as serious as misogyny as a cover for their corruption. Thankfully many female devs have stood up and made it be known via #Notyoursheild that they're also appalled at Quinn and the others. What this whole sorry saga had proved is that you cannot trust the gaming press at all, something most of us knew already, what we didn't know what just how close these "journalists" are to each other and some developers. Some leaks via Breitbart of all places.....

 

Exposed: The Secret Mailing List of the Gaming Journalism Elite

 

'They're On To Us': Gaming Journalists Respond to Critics in Newly Revealed GameJournoPros Emails

 

The List: Every Journalist in the GameJournoPros Group Revealed

 

The whole thing stinks to high heaven.

 

[brokenergy]

LOL "gamergate"! "gamergate"? You guys are crying over "gamergate" and take word of a vindictive ex who obviously has a issue over his girl friend not loving him more? Do you know how silly that sounds in context of the amount of reaction it received? Do you realise why people who do not game as much treat adulr gamers like kids? Do you actually know what Conflict of Interest even means? And then you have the gal of calling all those who stand up in defence of Quinn and others as people who should be ashamed? Oh and what does "SJW" suppose to do as an insult? People don't have the right to point out the horrible discrimination and stereotypes in gaming as if gaming should not be changed for the better? Do you realise how stupid gamergate is and how much "evidence" you really have? Do you?

 

 

Because "gamergate" is a bad attempt of "trying" to "fix" gaming journalism without understand what and how reviews and journalism actually works. It is a gateway for guys who feel threatened by women and minorities coming to their own turf and challenging problematic aspects in gaming culture, development and design. It is a scandal, where anons come and threaten women on twitter for criticizing things about their favourate games and get away with it. It is nothing more than a rabble trying to look like a group of conserned citizens, worrying over Conflict of Interest without realising how journalism actually works and lashing out onto people who are not of their own kind. That's what "gamergate" is and that's why it infuriates me when people try to make "gamergate" into something that it really isn't. If you want more ethical standards for everyone, that's great! Let's start by not latching onto every single detail over an ex's blog and then barraging people with disgusting messages of hate. Let's start by actually listening to people who are critizing content and understanding why that content is questionable. Let's start by realising what genuine Conflict of Interest is before crying out like a battle cry. Let us start by cleaning up our own house as gamers, before when attack others.

 

Before I leave this conversation, I am going to give several links because it seems like there are some people who think that people are against "gamergate" horrible campaign to destroy gaming, when they not and that "gamergate" is sorely about about better standards in gaming journalism, when it isn't. I hope that people who are looking into this thread realise how digusting "gamergate" really is and realise what it really stands for.

 

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/09/08/videogames-are-for-everybody/

 

http://jamsponge.tumblr.com/post/96445431133/we-want-to-talk-about-improving-games-journalism

 

http://deathofgamergate.tumblr.com/post/96929549057/why-gamergate-is-destined-to-fail

 

http://badassdigest.com/2014/08/26/video-games-misogyny-and-terrorism-a-guide-to-assholes/

 

http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/22/5926193/women-gaming-harassment

 

http://www.polygon.com/2014/8/19/6002893/plague-of-game-dev-harassment-one-year-later

[Marxist ßastard]

On September 17th, game dev Eron Gjoni created a Wordpress blog titled "TheZoePost," in which he alleged, among many other things, that his ex-girlfriend Zoe Quinn engaged in a handful of affairs with gaming industry insiders.

I'm confused. You knew this is a month-stale controversy manufactured by a bitter ex, yet you wrote a 1,000 word essay about it anyway? Edited September 24, 2014 by Marxist ßastard

[treowtheordurren]

LOL "gamergate"! "gamergate"? You guys are crying over "gamergate" and take word of a vindictive ex who obviously has a issue over his girl friend not loving him more? Do you know how silly that sounds in context of the amount of reaction it received? Do you realise why people who do not game as much treat adulr gamers like kids? Do you actually know what Conflict of Interest even means? And then you have the gal of calling all those who stand up in defence of Quinn and others as people who should be ashamed? Oh and what does "SJW" suppose to do as an insult? People don't have the right to point out the horrible discrimination and stereotypes in gaming as if gaming should not be changed for the better? Do you realise how stupid gamergate is and how much "evidence" you really have? Do you?

 

At least one of the affairs has been confirmed, meaning that the ex's word is at the very least partially sound. The movement itself has long since moved past Eron's claims, focusing instead on the connections between the journalists themselves. And, considering that there are some pretty unethical practices going on (and these have been verified as well), there's a basis for some legitimate concern. Part of the reason the movement has become as fervent as it has (and this fervor I disagree with) traces back to the string of insulting and condescending articles published by several tech/gaming news sites. There's no easier way to start a consumer revolt than by actively insulting your target audience.

 

As a radio journalist, I can tell you that financial ties, like funding sources regardless of interest in profit, constitutes a potential conflict of interest. The fact that these ties went undisclosed is genuinely unethical in regards to journalism. Do you know what a conflict of interest is? And I don't know about you, but I think anyone who engages in doxxing and harassment should be ashamed. Both sides are guilty of that, however.

 

Because "gamergate" is a bad attempt of "trying" to "fix" gaming journalism without understand what and how reviews and journalism actually works.

 

How do reviews and journalism work, then? Would it've been acceptable for Roger Ebert to review a movie after sleeping with that movie's producer or director and not disclosing that relationship? Would it be just as acceptable for Ebert to have been a part of a group of reviewers that regularly discusses what movies they're going to review and not disclose his involvement with that group? Again, the practices employed by some journalists is unethical, and should be outlawed and policed. I don't see how ethical standards that are applicable in other media aren't applicable here.

 

 

It is a gateway for guys who feel threatened by women and minorities coming to their own turf and challenging problematic aspects in gaming culture, development and design.

 

Then how do you explain #notyourshield, or posts like this? There are several prominent figures that are not white cishet males that support the movement, like Devi Ewer, academically accredited feminist C.H. Sommers, and others. You're making a ridiculous over-generalization by claiming the movement is for and by white males.

 

Unless you'd care to disprove the existence of the GameJournoPros mailing list, where there's obviously a concerted effort made to influence consensus, or somehow demonstrate that figures like Leigh Alexander running a gamedev PR Agency and writing articles about games and gamedevs, you cannot dismiss the accusations of ethical lapses. And unless you can point to widespread harassment perpetuated by the movement following the string of anti-gamer articles, you can't continue to claim the movement is entirely about harassment.

[Marxist ßastard]

And for gods' sake stop calling it a "movement," this is like the pimply teenage boy version of Benghazi.

[JimboUK]

It's been enough to make IGNs Matt Clark lose his mind...

 

http://i.imgur.com/SvpY5vp.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/fNHNNcY.png

 

@Nero is the journalist (actual journalist) who published the mails and details of that Google Group, he has also received unwanted things through the mail.

[bben46]

My personal reaction? Meh

 

My reaction to the rest of the gamer so called 'press' reactions? :rolleyes: They are making a mountain out of a molehill - and are treating a vindictive spat between ex lovers as serious news. :pinch:

 

Yellow journalism at its worst, suitable for the sensationalist magazines you see at grocery store checkouts.

[HeyYou]

My personal reaction? Meh

 

My reaction to the rest of the gamer so called 'press' reactions? :rolleyes: They are making a mountain out of a molehill - and are treating a vindictive spat between ex lovers as serious news. :pinch:

 

Yellow journalism at its worst, suitable for the sensationalist magazines you see at grocery store checkouts.

Well, its not like I have any respect for the gaming "press" in any event. This is just further proof that they don't deserve any.

[JimboUK]

My personal reaction? Meh

 

My reaction to the rest of the gamer so called 'press' reactions? :rolleyes: They are making a mountain out of a molehill - and are treating a vindictive spat between ex lovers as serious news. :pinch:

 

Yellow journalism at its worst, suitable for the sensationalist magazines you see at grocery store checkouts.

 

It's what the spat is hiding that is important, they've been colluding with developers and each other to mislead consumers and their readers, I think that's pretty serious in anyones book. Most of us already knew ethics were almost nonexistent in gaming "journalism" but I doubt anyone knew quite the scale of the corruption though. There also something that affects us all, that's the attempts to politicise games by these social justice warriors.