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Polygon NEWS REVIEWS FEATURES VIDEOS FORUMS OPINION PLATFORMS MORE ALL FORUMS > META GamerGate: On Vengeance and Escalation By David Zhou on Oct 19, 2014 at 5:03p @dz First, GamerGate supporters absolutely, 100% engaged in systematic harassment and abuse of women in the games industry and press. This harassment didn't start with GamerGate, and will likely not end with GamerGate. Many of the same people who have been harassing Anita and other women as part of GamerGate have been doing it for years prior But, beyond harassment, I think there's something interesting to think about as it relates to GamerGate as a thing, and why they always seem to be so angry: the GamerGate approach to formulating responses that value vengeance, perceived justice, and escalation. Getting Even and Getting More Than Even ve arc of many popular games follow this pattern: a wrong is made against the The na protagonist, the protagonist is angered and wants revenge, in the act of vengeance the protagonist discovers more wrongs, the protagonist's acts escalate in scale and effect until the game finally culminates in an all-out "final boss" battle where everything is on the line It's an pattern that is attractive for pretty basic reasons. It puts the player on the side of justice. It serves up constant helpings of righteous satisfaction. It consistently escalates the stakes to impart the importance of player actions. But most importantly, there is a prevalent trend of not just stake escalation, but also one of weaponry. In games, you don't just want to match your enemy, you want to destroy your enemy. You want to overpower them, to bring the bigger weapon, to deal more damage in a trade of blows, to exploit structural weakness. A disproportionately excessive response is not only fun in games, but also many times explicitly encouraged When Leigh Alexander wrote her "Gamers' are over" piece, the response wasn't just an equivalent article expre goal was to n This was not seen as an unjustified o vengeance: Gamasutra published an article critical of 'gamers', therefore we must shutdown Gamastura so they they no longer have the power to ever publish a piece that is critical of ing disagreement, but rather n where the t disprove Alexander's article, but to forcibly shutdown Gamasutra as a who rwhelming ction, but rather as a proper, righteous act of Co a mome some of the goals that many GamerGat upp orters have unified o mailing spon advertisers because they felt a bunch of articles were unfairly criticizing gamerS Donating to TYFC because it appeared that Zoe Quinn didn't like thenm Emailing Dell and denouncing the statement of a Dell executive who is in no way related to the gaming press or the game development industry Donating to anti-bullying charities because two Gawker employees-who do not write for Kotaku or generally cover games -- made some admittedly ill-worded and ill-timed tweets. That last item is telling. GamerGate supporters have spent the past few da o Gawker. Not bec ng i ny explicit breach o ethics, but because two Gawker s unrelated to the gaming press made some sarcastic, mocking tweets in their dir They have been emailing Gawker adve they have moved to dir ers and asking if they 'support bullying'. M ng f the brands and compai nd associated with Gawk revenge in line with the other acts listed. A tive who nr ampaigns to, w e the Del a public apology? Not only would any per i any way, shape, rm affec game n think many GamerGate supporters have an endgame scenario in mind when engaging in email campaigns. Or, at least, not one that reflects on the core rhetoric of GamerGate: that of ethics in games journalism. I've said it elsewhere, but I'd like to say it here too GamerGate is not a movement based around ideals, but a movement based around revenge. Its actions are not acts in the service of a erarching goal, but acts in the service of vengeance. Its ndgame, as described by a scalated destruction, where targeted outlets are stripped of advertisers, of readers and ather than rhe ne ethical ne able to the moveme uppor

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GamerGate: On Veangence And Escalation. By David Zhou. 10/19/2014


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Gamergate (harassment campaign) Article Talk From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Gamergate (disambiguation). Gamergate or GamerGate (GG)[¹] was a loosely organized misogynistic online harassment campaign and a right-wing backlash against feminism, diversity, and progressivism in video game culture. [2][³] It was conducted using the hashtag "#Gamergate" primarily in 2014 and 2015.[1][4][5][6] Beginning in August 2014, Gamergate targeted women in the video game industry, most notably feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian and video game developers Zoë Quinn and Brianna Wu, among others.[7][8][9][10][11] The harassment campaign included doxing, r--- threats, and death threats.[12][13][14] Gamergate proponents ("Gamergaters") stated that they were a social movement, but lacked well-defined goals, a coherent message, and leaders, making Gamergate difficult to define.[15][16][17] Gamergaters claimed to promote ethics in video games journalism, claimed to be protecting the "gamer" identity, and opposed what they asserted as "political correctness" in video games.[18][19][20][21][22] Read Date Target Gamergate, online harassment campaign in 2014-15 that targeted women in the video game industry. The attacks were attributed largely to white male right-wing gamers who railed against the rise and influence of women and feminism in the industry. Gamergate served as a recruiting tool for the growing alt-right movement and helped spur the online “Pizzagate" conspiracy theory, which soon spawned the wider QAnon conspiracy movement. …………………………....…..……….…..... Attack type Victims Motive View source Inquiry XA 28 languages ✓ Perpetrators Internet trolls, particularly from 4chan, Internet Relay Chat, and 8chan View history Tools ✓ Gamergate August 2014 - 2015 Women in the video game industry See all media Online harassment campaign Zoë Quinn, Anita Sarkeesian, Brianna Wu, and others Gamergaters created conspiracy theories falsely accusing Quinn of an unethical relationship with video game journalist Nathan Grayson.[23][24][25] More broadly, they alleged unethical collusion between the press and feminists, progressives, and social critics.[17][26] [27] These claims were widely dismissed as trivial, conspiracy theories, baseless, or unrelated to actual issues of ethics in gaming and journalism.[28] [29][30] Gamergate supporters frequently denied that the harassment took place, falsely claiming it to be manufactured by the victims.[31][32] Misogyny anti-feminism anti- progressivism FBI investigation Gamergate has been described as a culture war over cultural diversification, artistic recognition, feminism in video games, social criticism in video games, and the social identity of gamers.[28][33] [34] [35] Many supporters of Gamergate opposed the increasing influence of feminism and so-called "social justice warriors" on video game culture. [2][36] Gamergate led figures both inside and outside the gaming industry to focus on methods of addressing online harassment, ways to minimize harm, and prevent similar events. [37] [38] [39] [40] Gamergate has been viewed as a contributor to the alt-right and other right- wing movements.[21][41] Video game developer Brianna Wu
Jalen Hutchinson Studied Culinary Science at Culinary Institute of America (Graduated 2014). Author has 304 answers and 740.1K answer views. 5y Not that I care that much either way, but it did expose a lot of corrupt game developers and game journalists. X Journalists would make claims of people like Anita Sarkeesian "playing video games all her life" when she openly admitted many times she is not a gamer and only starter recently (when it wasn't for an interview). Various developers trading sex or money for good reviews got exposed, journalists who accepted got exposed. People became a bit more critical about supporting a game just because the developer has a victim complex stating tat their game could have only failed because of sexism, instead of their own poor developing skills. What really sealed the deal was opposition often faking their own harassment. Anita sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn have been caught multiple times screenshotting "harassment" while showing that the harrasser's account name in the login. Or when someone called the police to help Sarkeesian against a "very real threat" she was posting about, only for police to find the harasser's messages were coming from her IP address. I just want honesty from the community, and the lies were mostly exposed by the "dreaded" gamergate. 1.3K views • View upvotes 26
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TheLurknessMonster
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TheLurknessMonster

"Did you hear about those GGers? They donate to charities!"
"Those sick bastards!"

That's what I imagine a conversation between these journalists goes like.
But in all seriousness, if you have a problem with people donating to charity – even if the reasons aren't 100% pure – it's time to reevaluate your life choices.

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Our Guy
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Our Guy

This crap again. "Gamers act in the way they've been programmed to by games". We say that's bullshit, and are sick of being told we've been brainwashed by a bunch of assholes who want to control the narrative and, well, brainwash people.

Thanks for the fuel, though. It'll help keep those fires burning. It may be a long, cold winter at this rate and we need to keep warm.

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