#the gist of it is i think he is an exceptionally well-written antagonist

[avephelis]

every day i grit my teeth and barely stop myself from making an essay length post on edward twilight, horror principles, and the treatment of sensitive topics in fandom spaces but we're not ready to have that conversation.

[smokeybrand]

Distract and Subvert

With the advent of Zoe Quinn releasing a book on her experience with GamerGate, and I can’t stress the “Her experience” part, I wanted to weigh in on the situation. To be honest, I was ignorant of Quinn outside of her role in exposing the way gaming media conducts its sordid business. I legitimately knew nothing about the harassment or whatever she had received, just that she was a sh*tty girlfriend that slept around on her dude, for nothing more than high marks of her sh*tty games. Anita Sarkesian is in there somewhere but I don’t know how. The gist of what I took away from my initial foray into GG was that there was wild corruption and conflict of interests within the gaming journalist communities. I’ve seen several videos about this and read even more article. As a gamer of some 30 years (I am old as f*ck), I knew that the industry was a little bit of a boys club in the regard. It made sense that gaming companies would placate reviewers with this and that. If you’ve ever worked at a GameStop, you saw this firsthand. I did. Swag days were the best! So Imagine my surprise when, as I dug further into this story, it morphed from the very real issue of ethics in gaming, to some wild ass third-wave feminist, quagmire.

Now, before the pitchforks come out, i want to say, I am, unequivocally, feminist. Just not this sad internet feminism that has saturated everyday media. My ideals stem from the fact I was raised by a bra burning hippie turned overworked mother. I watched her toil in her profession while people with much less experience, male and female, were promoted over her because of connections, looks, or penises. I spent ample time with my grandmother in her mountain residence, a place I considered a refuge from my abusive ass home, where I learned culture, commerce, and free thinking. Admittedly, my grandma was probably a witch but that aspect of who she was just made her all the more well-rounded I think. These women shaped my perception of what it meant to be a woman in America. What it meant to have to exist in a male dominated world. And it was sh*t. I knew that at 5 years old. I wanted more for my mother. I wanted more for my grandmother. I wanted more for all women in the world. I am a card carrying feminist raised by strong black, feminists. I legitimately don’t understand how women are treated so poorly. How can we belittle the women in our lives so aggressively? They’re our mothers, sisters, cousins, wives, and more. They’re partners in this thing we call life. Why are we treating them so differently? Why are we treating them as commodities instead of the vibrant creatures they truly are?

I would just like to reiterate, however, I find third-wave feminism to be ridiculous and often far more problematic than helpful but that’s a discussion for another day I think.

As I did my research and learned more about what GamerGate became, as opposed to what it started out as and should have actually been about, I found myself disgusted. Not with the perceived chauvinism or attacks against Quinn, but with the way the media so transparently tried to shift focus. Within a week, the issues brought up about the ethics in gaming journalism were lambasted into some big ass patriarchal conspiracy. And instead of reporting on the facts that certain individuals n the journalist community exchanged sexual favors or monetary bribes for advantageous reviews and articles, we get “no more ghurls in m’ games”! The speed of acceptance by the media spin was insane. Actual publications like the New York Times, not just IGN or Otaku, were publishing articles about the toxic nature of the gaming community towards women. The vast majority of these articles were written by the very same people the initial inquiries of GamerGate were trying to expose! Almost everyone missed that through and, instead of taking a good hard look at what it mean to be a journalism not just in gaming but in general, we get the villainizing of the male gamer, BY GAMING JOURNALISTS!! Literally, gamers call bullsh*t on your bullsh*t tactics, and in response, you use those same bullsh*t tactics to essentially divert attention from the fact they called you out on your bullsh*t to begin with!

I do believe there is a problem with the gaming community but that needs to be taken with a grain of salt. A lot of these aggressive assholes online are in the minority, they just have the loudest voice. The same could be said about and visible “movement”. No one wants to report on the intelligent debate because that’s not sensational enough. No one wants to talk about how things are actually improving in the gaming space or how we as a demographic are exceptionally welcoming as opposed to something like music or Hollywood. Yes, there is a very loud, very vocal minority that most people outside of the gamin culture take to heart. That gatorade douchebag playing COD that bashes women and teabags his opponents constantly or that fat, zitty, neckbear who’s playing some random RPG in the cold recesses of his mother’s basement. Those people exist, sure, but they’re not all of us. They are the problem though. It’s these type of people that the mainstream media focus on. It’s these characters that end up labeling and perpetuating suck ire from everyone in society who doesn’t game. It’s these characters that people like to focus on to villainize an entire culture. It’s the equivalent to saying all Muslims are terrorist even though the vast majority are not. Or that all cops are bad even though the vast majority are not. And while that demographic of gamer is very loud, there are those of  us decrying, just as loud, their actions but no one reports on that. The mainstream media pretends that the counter-voice is a hushed whisper because everyone wants to watch a crazy person be crazy. It’s that “he is NOT the father” mentality that permeates out society and it’s bullsh*t.

In my experience, the gaming community is very inclusive; very welcoming, even if your point of view runs contradictory to the overall consensus. Where else can someone like a Zoe Quinn or an Anita Sarkesian even find an outlet for their preferred voice, as problematic or volatile as they can be. Let them try that sh*t in the Hollywood arena. They’d be mercilessly drowned out in second. But, within the gaming community, they’re allowed their voice and perspective. And admittedly, some of their arguments are legitimate, albeit embellished. For every cheesecake representation of the female form, there is one that is equally strong and compelling. For every Princess Peach, you have a Samus Aran. For every oversexualized Tifa Lockhart (a personal favorite of mine, by the way) you have an equally compelling Aloy (Another favorite of mine). I don’t think it’s a huge issue that DOA: Beach Volleyball is a thing. I do believe, however, we need more games like Horizon that showcases the strength and willpower of a strong female character where the polygon count in her bust isn’t even an issue to begin with. Women protagonists don’t always need to be sexy spies, or sexy ninjas, or sexy anything. We need to better represent a realistic female voice in our games. That doesn’t mean you have to adjust the polygons to look like Lena Dunham instead of Scarlett Johansson. Female characters can be every bit the badasses the male ones are, and still be considered classically or ideally attractive. And if you don’t believe so, go make a f*cking game reflecting that. That is the beauty of the gaming industry; Anyone can create whatever they want as long as they have the tools to do so. So stop complaining and point fingers. Get out there and create the change you want.

I got a little sidetracked from my initial point but I felt elaborating on those two points, the toxicity of the online gaming community and perceived sexism and objectification of women in gaming, were necessary to clarify my position on the overall Gamergate fiasco. I’ll probably write at length about their issues at another time but my point in all of this is, look what just happened. I wrote about two polarizing topics within the community right now and you’re feeling some kind of way, most likely. That’s exactly what happened with Gamergate. That’s exactly what these “Journalists” did. By deflecting their responsibility for their sh*tty actions, they created and entirely different beast. A rampant monstrosity that is poising the culture as a whole. Instead of taking the call to heart, these assholes desired to attack, and we’ve been wounded ever since. Should those discussions about sexism and abuse have happened? Absolutely. But definitely not in the toxic, antagonistic nature that they are being shouted about now. What started out as a call for accountability from the gaming community toward the gaming journalists, turned into a crusade against women by those destructive stereotypes of gamers, designed by gaming journalists to deflect the initial call for responsibility and reform. Now Zoe Quinn is releasing a book, in partnership with Anita Sarkesian (you had to know they would find themselves into this situation even more so than they already are) that will probably change the narrative further, shifting focus even more from the core issues we all wanted to showcase.

Let me be clear:

What happened to Zoe Quinn was sh*tty and no one should have to deal with that, period. Regardless of how you feel about what she did beforehand, how she went about promoting her game, or who she did or didn’t sleep with, Zoe Quinn did not deserve the vile treatment she received.

While believe Anita Sarkesian is a detriment to both feminism and gaming over all, I understand and accept the fact that the conversation she started needs to be had. Even if Sarkesian’s way of talking about it might turn off a lot of people, myself included.

We as a community need to be better at calling out the bullsh*t we see be it hypocrisy, abuse, harassment, or the like. It’s not a boys club anymore. It’s an entire living culture that has ebbs and flows. We need to accept hat and open ourselves up to growth. The old ways should be left in the past and newer, better ones created was we move forward, together. Vagina and penises, alike. Or, you know, whatever you identify with.

Gamergate was never a “it’s me or them” situation that i turned out to be. It was a legitimate movement to change something that had been crippling the growth of our community for years. What it turned into was something even worse at the hands of the people who we wanted to change by shining a light on there shortcomings. Instead of accepting that criticism and look inward as a means of self evaluation, they lashed out at the very people who support them. Distract and subvert; a model on destabilizing whole countries that is actively working in America as we speak. The insidiousness of this shift in message perpetrated by those already branded guilty was incredible to see. These people would do anything to preserve that status quo. The episodic nature and ultimate dismissal of the core issues within Gamergate are, in themselves, the problems that gave rise Gamergate in the first place. The fact that no one seems to want to acknowledge any of this is completely wild to me and indicative of symptoms proving that the problems will continue. As long as we in the community continue to fight about polygon tits and 12 year old assholes, the real issues will ever find resolution.

[smokeybrandcompositions]

Distract and Subvert

With the advent of Zoe Quinn releasing a book on her experience with GamerGate, and I can’t stress the “Her experience” part, I wanted to weigh in on the situation. To be honest, I was ignorant of Quinn outside of her role in exposing the way gaming media conducts its sordid business. I legitimately knew nothing about the harassment or whatever she had received, just that she was a sh*tty girlfriend that slept around on her dude, for nothing more than high marks of her sh*tty games. Anita Sarkesian is in there somewhere but I don’t know how. The gist of what I took away from my initial foray into GG was that there was wild corruption and conflict of interests within the gaming journalist communities. I’ve seen several videos about this and read even more article. As a gamer of some 30 years (I am old as f*ck), I knew that the industry was a little bit of a boys club in the regard. It made sense that gaming companies would placate reviewers with this and that. If you’ve ever worked at a GameStop, you saw this firsthand. I did. Swag days were the best! So Imagine my surprise when, as I dug further into this story, it morphed from the very real issue of ethics in gaming, to some wild ass third-wave feminist, quagmire.

Now, before the pitchforks come out, i want to say, I am, unequivocally, feminist. Just not this sad internet feminism that has saturated everyday media. My ideals stem from the fact I was raised by a bra burning hippie turned overworked mother. I watched her toil in her profession while people with much less experience, male and female, were promoted over her because of connections, looks, or penises. I spent ample time with my grandmother in her mountain residence, a place I considered a refuge from my abusive ass home, where I learned culture, commerce, and free thinking. Admittedly, my grandma was probably a witch but that aspect of who she was just made her all the more well-rounded I think. These women shaped my perception of what it meant to be a woman in America. What it meant to have to exist in a male dominated world. And it was sh*t. I knew that at 5 years old. I wanted more for my mother. I wanted more for my grandmother. I wanted more for all women in the world. I am a card carrying feminist raised by strong black, feminists. I legitimately don’t understand how women are treated so poorly. How can we belittle the women in our lives so aggressively? They’re our mothers, sisters, cousins, wives, and more. They’re partners in this thing we call life. Why are we treating them so differently? Why are we treating them as commodities instead of the vibrant creatures they truly are?

I would just like to reiterate, however, I find third-wave feminism to be ridiculous and often far more problematic than helpful but that’s a discussion for another day I think.

As I did my research and learned more about what GamerGate became, as opposed to what it started out as and should have actually been about, I found myself disgusted. Not with the perceived chauvinism or attacks against Quinn, but with the way the media so transparently tried to shift focus. Within a week, the issues brought up about the ethics in gaming journalism were lambasted into some big ass patriarchal conspiracy. And instead of reporting on the facts that certain individuals n the journalist community exchanged sexual favors or monetary bribes for advantageous reviews and articles, we get “no more ghurls in m’ games”! The speed of acceptance by the media spin was insane. Actual publications like the New York Times, not just IGN or Otaku, were publishing articles about the toxic nature of the gaming community towards women. The vast majority of these articles were written by the very same people the initial inquiries of GamerGate were trying to expose! Almost everyone missed that through and, instead of taking a good hard look at what it mean to be a journalism not just in gaming but in general, we get the villainizing of the male gamer, BY GAMING JOURNALISTS!! Literally, gamers call bullsh*t on your bullsh*t tactics, and in response, you use those same bullsh*t tactics to essentially divert attention from the fact they called you out on your bullsh*t to begin with!

I do believe there is a problem with the gaming community but that needs to be taken with a grain of salt. A lot of these aggressive assholes online are in the minority, they just have the loudest voice. The same could be said about and visible “movement”. No one wants to report on the intelligent debate because that’s not sensational enough. No one wants to talk about how things are actually improving in the gaming space or how we as a demographic are exceptionally welcoming as opposed to something like music or Hollywood. Yes, there is a very loud, very vocal minority that most people outside of the gamin culture take to heart. That gatorade douchebag playing COD that bashes women and teabags his opponents constantly or that fat, zitty, neckbear who’s playing some random RPG in the cold recesses of his mother’s basement. Those people exist, sure, but they’re not all of us. They are the problem though. It’s these type of people that the mainstream media focus on. It’s these characters that end up labeling and perpetuating suck ire from everyone in society who doesn’t game. It’s these characters that people like to focus on to villainize an entire culture. It’s the equivalent to saying all Muslims are terrorist even though the vast majority are not. Or that all cops are bad even though the vast majority are not. And while that demographic of gamer is very loud, there are those of  us decrying, just as loud, their actions but no one reports on that. The mainstream media pretends that the counter-voice is a hushed whisper because everyone wants to watch a crazy person be crazy. It’s that “he is NOT the father” mentality that permeates out society and it’s bullsh*t.

In my experience, the gaming community is very inclusive; very welcoming, even if your point of view runs contradictory to the overall consensus. Where else can someone like a Zoe Quinn or an Anita Sarkesian even find an outlet for their preferred voice, as problematic or volatile as they can be. Let them try that sh*t in the Hollywood arena. They’d be mercilessly drowned out in second. But, within the gaming community, they’re allowed their voice and perspective. And admittedly, some of their arguments are legitimate, albeit embellished. For every cheesecake representation of the female form, there is one that is equally strong and compelling. For every Princess Peach, you have a Samus Aran. For every oversexualized Tifa Lockhart (a personal favorite of mine, by the way) you have an equally compelling Aloy (Another favorite of mine). I don’t think it’s a huge issue that DOA: Beach Volleyball is a thing. I do believe, however, we need more games like Horizon that showcases the strength and willpower of a strong female character where the polygon count in her bust isn’t even an issue to begin with. Women protagonists don’t always need to be sexy spies, or sexy ninjas, or sexy anything. We need to better represent a realistic female voice in our games. That doesn’t mean you have to adjust the polygons to look like Lena Dunham instead of Scarlett Johansson. Female characters can be every bit the badasses the male ones are, and still be considered classically or ideally attractive. And if you don’t believe so, go make a f*cking game reflecting that. That is the beauty of the gaming industry; Anyone can create whatever they want as long as they have the tools to do so. So stop complaining and point fingers. Get out there and create the change you want.

I got a little sidetracked from my initial point but I felt elaborating on those two points, the toxicity of the online gaming community and perceived sexism and objectification of women in gaming, were necessary to clarify my position on the overall Gamergate fiasco. I’ll probably write at length about their issues at another time but my point in all of this is, look what just happened. I wrote about two polarizing topics within the community right now and you’re feeling some kind of way, most likely. That’s exactly what happened with Gamergate. That’s exactly what these “Journalists” did. By deflecting their responsibility for their sh*tty actions, they created and entirely different beast. A rampant monstrosity that is poising the culture as a whole. Instead of taking the call to heart, these assholes desired to attack, and we’ve been wounded ever since. Should those discussions about sexism and abuse have happened? Absolutely. But definitely not in the toxic, antagonistic nature that they are being shouted about now. What started out as a call for accountability from the gaming community toward the gaming journalists, turned into a crusade against women by those destructive stereotypes of gamers, designed by gaming journalists to deflect the initial call for responsibility and reform. Now Zoe Quinn is releasing a book, in partnership with Anita Sarkesian (you had to know they would find themselves into this situation even more so than they already are) that will probably change the narrative further, shifting focus even more from the core issues we all wanted to showcase.

Let me be clear:

What happened to Zoe Quinn was sh*tty and no one should have to deal with that, period. Regardless of how you feel about what she did beforehand, how she went about promoting her game, or who she did or didn’t sleep with, Zoe Quinn did not deserve the vile treatment she received.

While believe Anita Sarkesian is a detriment to both feminism and gaming over all, I understand and accept the fact that the conversation she started needs to be had. Even if Sarkesian’s way of talking about it might turn off a lot of people, myself included.

We as a community need to be better at calling out the bullsh*t we see be it hypocrisy, abuse, harassment, or the like. It’s not a boys club anymore. It’s an entire living culture that has ebbs and flows. We need to accept hat and open ourselves up to growth. The old ways should be left in the past and newer, better ones created was we move forward, together. Vagina and penises, alike. Or, you know, whatever you identify with.

Gamergate was never a “it’s me or them” situation that i turned out to be. It was a legitimate movement to change something that had been crippling the growth of our community for years. What it turned into was something even worse at the hands of the people who we wanted to change by shining a light on there shortcomings. Instead of accepting that criticism and look inward as a means of self evaluation, they lashed out at the very people who support them. Distract and subvert; a model on destabilizing whole countries that is actively working in America as we speak. The insidiousness of this shift in message perpetrated by those already branded guilty was incredible to see. These people would do anything to preserve that status quo. The episodic nature and ultimate dismissal of the core issues within Gamergate are, in themselves, the problems that gave rise Gamergate in the first place. The fact that no one seems to want to acknowledge any of this is completely wild to me and indicative of symptoms proving that the problems will continue. As long as we in the community continue to fight about polygon tits and 12 year old assholes, the real issues will ever find resolution.