Hello, boys and girls. My name is Allison Vermaak and welcome to:
#Gamergate 101
Let's start things off with a quick explanation of #Gamergate itself. If you're gonna go through all of the effort to read this article, then the least I can do is offer a definition. With that in mind:
#Gamergate: A consumer revolt of gamers and supporters alike that demand an ethical reform of the Game Journalism industry.
Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Even if there are supporters that have different end goals in mind, the demand for ethical reform is the one thing we're all fighting for. But, that's skipping ahead a little bit. Let's begin from the start and work our way up from there.
August 16th: Eron Gjoni posted The Zoe Post. Whether people like it or not, this is the point in time where the gaming industry would forever change. Not like anyone had a clue at first. The Zoe Post was nothing more than an ex-boyfriend airing details on his relationship with Zoe Quinn. As was usual for the Internet, word spread quickly and people began talking about it. Was it right to post? Should people even talk about it? Was he telling the truth about being abused? Your typical Internet affair, really. And nothing we haven't seen before. Just think of all the blog posts and articles where a woman takes revenge on her cheating ex. But then people noticed something. This Zoe Quinn woman... she was an Indie Game Dev. And Eron accused her of sleeping around on him with five guys, one of whom was a game journalist by the name of Nathan Grayson. People began asking one, very simple question: Was there a conflict of Interest?
The Quinnspiracy: People began posting under several hashtags on Twitter, one of them was #Quinnspiracy. They began demanding an answer to that one simple question. I was one of them, of course, and who could blame us? Gamers have been questioning the ethical practices of journalists for years now, and they were getting rather sick of being jerked around. Unfortunately, gamers got jerked around some more. Journalists were lashing out against anyone that dared to ask that question, websites weren't reporting on anything related to the CoI, forums and comment sections were being censored en masse and places like Reddit and 4chan were clamping down hard on all talk concerning Zoe Quinn, Nathan Grayson and a possibly grave breach of ethics. All because, from what they were saying at the time, this was nothing more than a large group of women-hating, white, male gamers that were harassing Zoe Quinn. Which was far from what was going on.
August 27th: Over the course of The Quinnspiracy, a youtuber by the name of InternetAristocrat posted several video's that went deeper in to the situation. Hollywood actor Adam Baldwin caught wind of these video's and tweeted them out under a new hashtag... #Gamergate. People saw this as a golden opportunity to move on from The Zoe Post and all those silly claims of misogyny and whatnot. Clean slate and a full focus on Ethics and Reform. Unfortunately, things didn't go exactly as planned. We moved on to #Gamergate, but journalists and their supporters only said "New tag, same people".
#Notyourshield: There's a stereotype that gamers are white, straight men who think women "have a place in the world" and that they don't belong in gaming. It's a nasty, awful stereotype that shouldn't even exist. And yet, journalists and their supporters seem keen on using it as a tool to deflect any and all things related to #Gamergate. Because they say that is exactly who #Gamergate supporters are. And that they, the journalists, are defending women and minorities from those "gamers". #Gamergate supporters didn't like that. Especially an anonymous user posting in a 4chan IRC. They suggested to use a hashtag and say they aren't a shield for journalists to use against real critism. 15 minutes later, #Notyourshield was tweeted out by a twitter user by the handle: @Ninouh90.
That is how it all started from my end of things. Just a regular unknown who got swept up in a controversy of epic proportions. But, as they like to say in #Gamergate: Trust that people talk to you in good faith, but verify the validity of their claims. If you feel like you can trust me, thank you for that honor. And if you don't: No harm no foul.
Additional resources:
"Gamergate in 60 seconds": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipcWm4B3EU4
Gamergate via KnowYourMeme: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/gamergate
NotYourShield via the Gamergate wiki: http://wiki.gamergate.me/index.php/NotYourShield
Factual Origin of Gamergate and NotYourShield: https://medium.com/@cainejw/factual-origin-of-gamergate-and-notyourshield-3948fa6e2334
"Giving Voice To The Voiceless": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzwGIHUCtjU
Now it's time I ask you a question: Which scenario do you think is more plausible? "Gamers from all backgrounds have banded together to harass a handful of women out of the gaming industry." Or. "Journalists were found out to be unethical and are lashing out at their accuser by fabricating a story to deflect attention away from what's really going on." You don't have to answer that question, yet. Because first, consider the following:
GameJournoPros: The GameJournoPros (GJP) is a mailing list created as a means for journalists to talk to each other. Officially, the mailing group exists as a means for journalists to talk to people who know what they are going through. A support group, of sorts. The only problem is that these journalists have used that group for so, so much more than just that. Ben Kuchera, a Polygon writer at the time of the incident, was pressuring the then Editor In Chief of The Escapist, Greg Tito, in to shutting down all #Gamergate discussion on their forum. Let me repeat: this is a journalist of one publication, trying to boss around an EDITOR IN CHIEF of another. Then we also have proof that the GJP conspired to and effectively did blacklist a reporter by the name of Allistair Pinsof. These journalists stand at the very core of all that is rotten in the American Game Journalism industry. Because think of it like this: They are using their soapbox to promote stories and ideologies they find to be acceptable. They collaborate to make sure everyone plays their game and that the only news getting out there is what they, as a group, have approved of.
Additional resources:
Twitter thread containing various URl's: https://twitter.com/NinthEchelon/status/567054503288250370
Just One More Thing: #Gamergate has uncovered so much more than just the GameJournoPros. We've also done so much more than than that. We've discovered that Game Journalists have a knack of not disclosing that they were close friends, living with or even dating the subject they were writing about. Then there's the fact that they are willingly looking the other way when it comes to corruption within the Indie Games Festival. Let's not forget about discovering that journalists are willingly not fact-checking if it involves furthering an agenda? Or how about all of the Ethics Policies that happened because of #Gamergate? Then there's the various charities and good causes we've donated to. Oh, and the developers, journalists and outlets we've supported because they were doing what's right.
Additional resources:
List of #Gamergate Achievements: http://wiki.gamergate.me/index.php?title=GamerGate_Achievements
#Gamergate charities: http://gamergate.me/charity/
A Review of Games Journalism: http://press.gamergate.me/dossier/
#GlobalGamergate: http://ninthechelon.tumblr.com/post/107918720928/globalgamergate
"If it's not about Ethics...": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy9bisUIP3w
A Call for Reformation to all Independent Game Developers: http://roguestarslade.tumblr.com/post/104633458705/a-call-for-reformation-to-all-independent-game
And that, boys and girls, is #Gamergate and #Notyourshield. Supporters are in it purely to see a reform, others want that and a full apology from everyone involved on the side of journalists. Then there are people who stand by gamers because they have a personal interest through someone they know. Others are in it to support #Notyourshield. Some see gamers square off against Far Left Ideologies and they want to win this fight so they have a win too. There are also people who are in full support of reforming games journalism but who don't wish to out support for the hashtag. And yes, there are trolls and assholes who use the hashtag to harass. But, here's the thing ... since the very start, #Gamergate has said that we do not condone harassment of any kind. And since the very start, #Gamergate has done all it can to try and stop harassment and to support victims of harassment. But, in the end, we can't stop the trolls from using the hashtag as much as we can stop them from using the Internet. In the end, think of this: You remember that Law & Order: SVU episode "Intimidation Game"? That episode represents EVERYTHING the press has accused of #Gamergate of being. The writers of that episode based it off of the #Gamergate wikipedia article, which was written by anti-#Gamergate and uses anti-#Gamergate sources. You do the math, dear reader. And don't forget to trust, but verify. Because there's still so much more that I haven't discusses here yet. A lot of it is in the Addidional resources I provided throughout the article, but that still doesn't cover all of it. As of writing, it's been over 7 months after all.
#Gamergate: A consumer revolt of gamers and supporters alike that demand an ethical reform of the Game Journalism industry.
Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Even if there are supporters that have different end goals in mind, the demand for ethical reform is the one thing we're all fighting for. But, that's skipping ahead a little bit. Let's begin from the start and work our way up from there.
August 16th: Eron Gjoni posted The Zoe Post. Whether people like it or not, this is the point in time where the gaming industry would forever change. Not like anyone had a clue at first. The Zoe Post was nothing more than an ex-boyfriend airing details on his relationship with Zoe Quinn. As was usual for the Internet, word spread quickly and people began talking about it. Was it right to post? Should people even talk about it? Was he telling the truth about being abused? Your typical Internet affair, really. And nothing we haven't seen before. Just think of all the blog posts and articles where a woman takes revenge on her cheating ex. But then people noticed something. This Zoe Quinn woman... she was an Indie Game Dev. And Eron accused her of sleeping around on him with five guys, one of whom was a game journalist by the name of Nathan Grayson. People began asking one, very simple question: Was there a conflict of Interest?
The Quinnspiracy: People began posting under several hashtags on Twitter, one of them was #Quinnspiracy. They began demanding an answer to that one simple question. I was one of them, of course, and who could blame us? Gamers have been questioning the ethical practices of journalists for years now, and they were getting rather sick of being jerked around. Unfortunately, gamers got jerked around some more. Journalists were lashing out against anyone that dared to ask that question, websites weren't reporting on anything related to the CoI, forums and comment sections were being censored en masse and places like Reddit and 4chan were clamping down hard on all talk concerning Zoe Quinn, Nathan Grayson and a possibly grave breach of ethics. All because, from what they were saying at the time, this was nothing more than a large group of women-hating, white, male gamers that were harassing Zoe Quinn. Which was far from what was going on.
August 27th: Over the course of The Quinnspiracy, a youtuber by the name of InternetAristocrat posted several video's that went deeper in to the situation. Hollywood actor Adam Baldwin caught wind of these video's and tweeted them out under a new hashtag... #Gamergate. People saw this as a golden opportunity to move on from The Zoe Post and all those silly claims of misogyny and whatnot. Clean slate and a full focus on Ethics and Reform. Unfortunately, things didn't go exactly as planned. We moved on to #Gamergate, but journalists and their supporters only said "New tag, same people".
#Notyourshield: There's a stereotype that gamers are white, straight men who think women "have a place in the world" and that they don't belong in gaming. It's a nasty, awful stereotype that shouldn't even exist. And yet, journalists and their supporters seem keen on using it as a tool to deflect any and all things related to #Gamergate. Because they say that is exactly who #Gamergate supporters are. And that they, the journalists, are defending women and minorities from those "gamers". #Gamergate supporters didn't like that. Especially an anonymous user posting in a 4chan IRC. They suggested to use a hashtag and say they aren't a shield for journalists to use against real critism. 15 minutes later, #Notyourshield was tweeted out by a twitter user by the handle: @Ninouh90.
That is how it all started from my end of things. Just a regular unknown who got swept up in a controversy of epic proportions. But, as they like to say in #Gamergate: Trust that people talk to you in good faith, but verify the validity of their claims. If you feel like you can trust me, thank you for that honor. And if you don't: No harm no foul.
Additional resources:
"Gamergate in 60 seconds": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipcWm4B3EU4
Gamergate via KnowYourMeme: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/gamergate
NotYourShield via the Gamergate wiki: http://wiki.gamergate.me/index.php/NotYourShield
Factual Origin of Gamergate and NotYourShield: https://medium.com/@cainejw/factual-origin-of-gamergate-and-notyourshield-3948fa6e2334
"Giving Voice To The Voiceless": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzwGIHUCtjU
Now it's time I ask you a question: Which scenario do you think is more plausible? "Gamers from all backgrounds have banded together to harass a handful of women out of the gaming industry." Or. "Journalists were found out to be unethical and are lashing out at their accuser by fabricating a story to deflect attention away from what's really going on." You don't have to answer that question, yet. Because first, consider the following:
GameJournoPros: The GameJournoPros (GJP) is a mailing list created as a means for journalists to talk to each other. Officially, the mailing group exists as a means for journalists to talk to people who know what they are going through. A support group, of sorts. The only problem is that these journalists have used that group for so, so much more than just that. Ben Kuchera, a Polygon writer at the time of the incident, was pressuring the then Editor In Chief of The Escapist, Greg Tito, in to shutting down all #Gamergate discussion on their forum. Let me repeat: this is a journalist of one publication, trying to boss around an EDITOR IN CHIEF of another. Then we also have proof that the GJP conspired to and effectively did blacklist a reporter by the name of Allistair Pinsof. These journalists stand at the very core of all that is rotten in the American Game Journalism industry. Because think of it like this: They are using their soapbox to promote stories and ideologies they find to be acceptable. They collaborate to make sure everyone plays their game and that the only news getting out there is what they, as a group, have approved of.
Additional resources:
Twitter thread containing various URl's: https://twitter.com/NinthEchelon/status/567054503288250370
Just One More Thing: #Gamergate has uncovered so much more than just the GameJournoPros. We've also done so much more than than that. We've discovered that Game Journalists have a knack of not disclosing that they were close friends, living with or even dating the subject they were writing about. Then there's the fact that they are willingly looking the other way when it comes to corruption within the Indie Games Festival. Let's not forget about discovering that journalists are willingly not fact-checking if it involves furthering an agenda? Or how about all of the Ethics Policies that happened because of #Gamergate? Then there's the various charities and good causes we've donated to. Oh, and the developers, journalists and outlets we've supported because they were doing what's right.
Additional resources:
List of #Gamergate Achievements: http://wiki.gamergate.me/index.php?title=GamerGate_Achievements
#Gamergate charities: http://gamergate.me/charity/
A Review of Games Journalism: http://press.gamergate.me/dossier/
#GlobalGamergate: http://ninthechelon.tumblr.com/post/107918720928/globalgamergate
"If it's not about Ethics...": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy9bisUIP3w
A Call for Reformation to all Independent Game Developers: http://roguestarslade.tumblr.com/post/104633458705/a-call-for-reformation-to-all-independent-game
And that, boys and girls, is #Gamergate and #Notyourshield. Supporters are in it purely to see a reform, others want that and a full apology from everyone involved on the side of journalists. Then there are people who stand by gamers because they have a personal interest through someone they know. Others are in it to support #Notyourshield. Some see gamers square off against Far Left Ideologies and they want to win this fight so they have a win too. There are also people who are in full support of reforming games journalism but who don't wish to out support for the hashtag. And yes, there are trolls and assholes who use the hashtag to harass. But, here's the thing ... since the very start, #Gamergate has said that we do not condone harassment of any kind. And since the very start, #Gamergate has done all it can to try and stop harassment and to support victims of harassment. But, in the end, we can't stop the trolls from using the hashtag as much as we can stop them from using the Internet. In the end, think of this: You remember that Law & Order: SVU episode "Intimidation Game"? That episode represents EVERYTHING the press has accused of #Gamergate of being. The writers of that episode based it off of the #Gamergate wikipedia article, which was written by anti-#Gamergate and uses anti-#Gamergate sources. You do the math, dear reader. And don't forget to trust, but verify. Because there's still so much more that I haven't discusses here yet. A lot of it is in the Addidional resources I provided throughout the article, but that still doesn't cover all of it. As of writing, it's been over 7 months after all.
Yeah that sums it up pretty well.
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