Post 8

#GamerGate continues to move ahead. It's been around for the better part of 5 weeks with an ardent look at corruption between game developers and game "journalists". The developers are frequently indie devs who are looking for a way to better market their new product, which is a fair desire when you're a small fish in a vast ocean. Where it falls apart is on the game "journalists", whom take the opportunity to help friends, family, or lovers with the marketing, by writing reviews and articles favourable to the game. Immediately, anyone with journalistic integrity would question this practice (at a minimum!) and be understood as being someone who does agree with that such actions. That, however, has not been the case. Since the GameJournoPros email list was leaked, we've seen an internal shift of individuals who are willing to speak anonymously on the issue, who are against it, but fear reprisal from both sides.

Firstly, these anonymous dissenters are concerned about their jobs and maintain bridges within their "profession". This is a legitimate concern, considering the nature of the planning that has been going on in the GameJournoPros forum: coordinated attacks, article launches, community agreed blacklists, and the spreading of lies about the #GamerGate side. Which is the second side: the fear those who support #GamerGate will attack the dissenter. In a MundaneMatt article, he quotes a source who is in this very position. The game "journalist" openly stated that he feared his bank account would be hacked and his credit ruined if he spoke out. Hopefully people recognize that his is utterly stupid. If this source were to go public in support of #GamerGate, why the fuck would #GamerGate supporters attack him? It doesn't make sense.

What I would like to focus on is the nature of beast, and I do not go about this lightly. When you have a whole industry attempting to work as one mind then you have collusion. Collusion is a series crime in the United States when it comes to industry, but even the law doesn't view game "journalism" as worth looking into. However, it is important to note that collusion is a deeply corrupt practice, and legality aside, the philosophical and moral objections to it are well founded. The coordinated article launches by the GameJournoPros group is an unsettling look into what groupthink will do. The positive I can take from this is the actions look like a cornered animal. It will require continual coordinated efforts by the GameJournoPros to withstand the calls against them by #GamerGate, a practice which will not last. Even with the fear of reprisal over dissent in that community, after the first brick falls, the rest of the wall will quickly crumble.

Now, this goes onto the next question: why would someone care about collusion in game "journalism"? It's simple: I do not like being told I am something which I am not. Period. These "journalists" have made claims that they represent real gamers. A hilarious claim considering GameJournoPros had a coordinated article launch which we saw at least 10 articles released on the same day claiming "Gamers are Dead" or "The End of Gamers". Moreover, when you have a tool (or boss-wannabe) like Ben Kuchera, who, in the link shown, attempts to brand all male gamers as aggressive, sexist protectionists who actively work on keeping women away from games (I'm assuming in any and all formats). While there can be some people out in the wild west of the internet who might hold those actual beliefs (i.e., actually sexist) or are just trolls (i.e., sadistic narcissists), the majority of gamers I know are only looking for a community to play in. That community can be comprised of anyone. If the game itself is good then gamers will play it. Good is subjective, however, meaning that some people will prefer some games while others will flock towards other games. Sure, you can do some analysis on this and see women frequently play phone-based games like Candy Crush Saga while men prefer to play games such as Grand Theft Auto. These points do not detract from the fact that community is sought after, and not just one that is misogynist males only.

There is significant problems with the GameJournoPros side of this. They are corrupt, in collusion with one and other, and coordinated. They are speaking a message about people for whom they do not know. This message is slander in nature. They refuse to engage in a discussion on this, staying far and away in their ivory towers. When another well articulated point is made against GameJournoPros, they react by yelling "oppression!", "misogyny!", or in general deflecting the criticism by writing a story about how a female game dev was doxxed or threatened. (I'm not discounting that these things do happen. Of course they do. Just don't create connections where there are none; doxxing happens because someone is a shitty human being, not because #GamerGate wants to destroy someone. I'll get to that in a minute.) It cannot be considered fair practice to never address criticisms in an open and transparent manner as a journalist. These "journalists" run and hide behind the perceived suffering of others, which they then hijack and co-opt into their flawed world view. Ultimately, the influence from the baseless and inane 3rd-wave feminism has seeped into the world of game "journalism", stolen it from discourse, and is attempting to weaponize it against the consumers of the very media that these "journalists" cover. That's why we fight back.

There is no leader in the #GamerGate movement as the people who support it would be willing to go in on this fight alone. We are that passionate about this. There are, however, many key figure involved in this. MundateMatt, Internet Aristocrat, Thunderf00t, among many others. All of which have been vocal in their opposition to GameJournoPros. Importantly: these people have come out against equally shitty behaviour on their own side, such as threats and doxxing. The #GamerGate movement wants to convey to the other side that their behaviour is inherently wrong and destructive, which can only be done through reasoned discourse, the cultivation of facts and evidence against them, and continual pressure to have these sites respond to the claims made against them. It should go without saying that actions such as doxxing or threats do not help the cause and hinder the efforts of whatever side is engaging in the acts.

This was an unedited rant. @nrokchi