Something has shifted with GamerGate recently, a movement I won't declare "dead," but one that is certainly transforming into something its instigators certainly didn't intend.
No, I'm not talking about a shift away from ethical issues in games journalism to misogyny and harassment (which, if there even was a shift, happened long ago). Rather, I'm talking about how the movement has transformed from what was supposed to be a self-serious push for change, "protecting" games from feminists and the media members who would support them, into something that's become simultaneously both a meme and that's given an enormous platform to the very people GamerGate members have been trying to silence.
The meme? That would be "Actually, it's about ethics in video game journalism," which has inspired its own Tumblr page (those damn feminists and their Tumblrs!), a Hitler-dub video and even its own parody song. It's a war cry that has been turned into a running joke, which is something that will tend to steal the thunder from your movement, no matter what it's about.
But the second accidental result of GamerGate is that the feminist critics and developers they've been trying to silence have been given an absolutely enormous amount of airtime across mainstream media outlets as a result of their harassment. This perhaps culminated last night when Anita Sarkeesian was invited on The Colbert Report to explain GamerGate to him, and the interview concluded with him shaking her hand and declaring himself a feminist.
Photo: Anita Sarkeesian
Sarkeesian, Brianna Wu and Zoe Quinn, the holy trinity of GamerGate villains, have all gotten their names in print or their faces on air from outlets from the New York Times to MSNBC (Sarkeesian also recently penned her own NYT op-ed). Each of these women has gotten a chance to spread their message to far more than just a few thousand
I don't mean to suggest GamerGate is being a positive force for change on purpose, as these women have been given so much attention after having to endure weeks and months of death and rape threats. I'm not sure any amount of airtime or Colbert Show appearances is worth that. But all of this is to say that the angrier the members of GamerGate have gotten, the further away they are from reaching their goals.
For the "moderate" crowd who genuinely believes this is about "ethics in video game journalism" and seems determined to splinter and destroy the games press entirely, GamerGate has only brought these journalists closer together and more united against the wall of hatred many of them now face each day. GamerGate has turned to "neutral" parties like YouTube's
And then there's the crowd who totally doesn't hate women in the industry, just everything they say and stand for and produce. But again, the very women they've tried to silence have gone on to have their profiles raised to unimaginable heights. From the very beginning, it's been hateful trolls who have propelled Anita Sarkeesian from random person trying to make a YouTube video series for $6,000 to penning NYT editorials and guesting on Colbert. Obviously she's a great critic as well and her actual supporters have helped her rise also, but without all the hate she's endured, it's likely she would never become the industry icon she currently is today.
This is why you hear claims of "false flag" attacks all the time, when 4/8channers realize that their dastardly plans to silence these women have gone awry, so really it's them faking death threats against themselves to raise their profile and attract more media attention. This is of course a complete and utter lie, but these groups can't police themselves effectively at all, and it only takes one of their craziest members to sign up to Twitter and unleash another torrent of threats. Many members may realize all their goals are slipping away, but they can't do anything to stop it other than invent fiction about the other side.
While I think the photo above of Sarkeesian in Colbert's chair is one of the most iconic images to come out of GamerGate, the other is below.
It was taken by NYMag's Adrian Chen, who followed around 8channers and GamerGate supporters as they met up in real life, got drunk and partied at a strip club.
It's taking the mask off to realize that these "haters" are largely just kids. I'm in no way mocking their appearance because I was one of these kids years ago, awkward and often alone, and enamored with a dozen different nerdy pursuits, video games included (note: I am still awkward and love all the same nerdy things). The same is true for many other developers and games journalists today.
But back then, the internet wasn't as much of a widespread place to vent anger, and connect with others who wanted to vent the same sort of anger as you. I will admit that while I wouldn't have made death threats against anyone, if given anonymity and a chat board filled with other pissed-off loner types like me, I probably would have said some pretty terrible things for a laugh or to fit in.
I think it's great that these kids have a place to get together and share common interests, but the problem is that the common interest in this case is the pure, unbridled hatred of "feminazis and SJWs." While presumably they could all just get together in a group like this and play some video games they like, they're banding together to discuss how their war on SJWs can progress, and rant about how they ruin everything about their beloved hobby. Their common cause is literally hate, which is why GamerGate is so often viewed as a hate group. They're not burning crosses of course, but they have banded together for the express purpose of persecuting a particular group.
I recently read another NYT op-ed that wondered if video games could survive GamerGate after it's put such a black mark on an industry that up until this point appeared to be thriving.
To me, it's never been a question. GamerGate has been a hugely negative movement, but in the end, has only strengthened the resolve of those it's tried to target the most, game journalists and female industry figures. It is tragic that some women have been chased out of the industry or deterred from joining because of GamerGate, yet I do not believe that will be some long term, lasting shift. Women will continue to enter the industry to make great games. Developers will continue moving toward making a wider variety of games, not just shooters, and not ones where women are nothing but sex objects. We've already been on that path for some time, and GamerGate has done absolutely nothing to derail it. The movie industry has Michael Bay's Transformers movies and also August: Osage County. There's nothing stopping gaming from expanding beyond a constant string of explosion-filled blockbusters and into more nuanced fare. One does not need to replace the other. They can both exist simultaneously, which is something these "SJWs are ruining gaming" folks don't seem to grasp.
As for "ethics in video game journalism," that's certainly an important aspect of the industry, but the examples that have been brought up so far have been either untrue or impossibly minor offenses. And from time to time there will be serious ethical breaches from specific people at specific outlets, as is the nature of any form of journalism, yet that doesn't need to bring about condemnation of an entire industry. If this myriad of voices requesting "better" games journalism believes they have solutions to the problems that exist in the industry, I hope they can turn from complaining on Twitter to making their own outlets and attempting to fix what problems they see (be they real or imagined).
I don't know when or how GamerGate will officially end. But when your rallying cry has become a meme and your most hated figures are garnering support and sympathy and having their message broadcast to the entire world, I think it's hard to imagine you've accomplished any of your goals.
