Insane Difficulty: #GamerGate—A long-time-coming wake up call? - Insane Difficulty

Ah yes, #GamerGate. The current talk of the gaming town. While we here at Insane Difficulty are primarily concerned with making awesome mods, none can ignore the current flaming shadow-flare wave of... fire that is the #GamerGate controversy.

For the sake of staying informed (and forming your own opinion), you should definitely read:

• The Subreddit Kotaku In Action, which tracks the on-goings of #GamerGate and game publications.
  
• A Pro-#GamerGate Article — FEMINIST BULLIES TEARING THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY APART
  
• An Anti-#GamerGate Article — 'Gamers' don't have to be your audience. 'Gamers' are over.
  
• Another Anti-#GamerGate Article — Gaming Is Leaving “Gamers” Behind
  
• A Neutral Article — #GamerGate – An Issue With Two Sides

Click here to view the article

As of right now I'm in the "apathy" corner, aka "why the hell is this a thing, and talking about talking about it is a silly notion grumblegrumblegrumble."

I know that it started out with an angry ex boyfriend putting a bunch of revenge-oriented statements about the girl who made Depression Quest, a "game" (web-based choose your own adventure, wherein you're depressed, woo) and since then it's erupted into... I don't know any more.

Even the neutral article doesn't really describe the heart of the issue; it's all meta-talk.

I'm very much on this side of thinking. I'll post more thoughts later but this is a good listen for anyone interested in the topic as it goes over what has happened.

I'm glad this isn't an article taking sides; I was purposely avoiding writing one on the subject (though I had the urge to) simply because the issue itself is about as convoluted as Octomom's birth canal.

philsov, on 29 September 2014 - 12:56 PM, said:

Seriously. I couldn't give less of a shit about whatever is going on, or why anyone cares.

Kjata, on 29 September 2014 - 02:07 PM, said:

Gotta second this.

Hart-Hunt, on 29 September 2014 - 02:23 PM, said:

Third. I haven't bothered to check it out. I'm not saying it is unimportant, but that it has appeared so from the little I've heard, and that it thus hasn't made me go look it up. A mere "meh" from my corner, I guess.

Honestly, I can't go anywhere without hearing or seeing stuff about it, so even if I didn't care, I can't really escape it.

Advent, on 29 September 2014 - 02:39 PM, said:

The only places I ever see anything about it are Cracked and here.

I'm exposed to it a lot on Facebook, among other things.

I think I saw an article about this a little while ago. I read a small amount of it, thought "This is bullshit" and closed it. To this day, I don't really know what the fuss is about, even after reading two or three of the things linked in the original post here.

auraplatonic, on 29 September 2014 - 01:56 PM, said:

I gave that video 90 seconds and I'm no closer to understand wtf the controversy is. wtb cliff notes instead of drone through a 30 minutes video of random voiceovers -_-

Ludovician, on 29 September 2014 - 04:31 PM, said:

I think the fuss is some shit about sexism.

On one side it's sexism, on the other side it's the fact that game journalists and developers are too buddy buddy, which is the exact opposite of how it's supposed to be.

Get a copy of a game to review, and you end up giving it a (rightfully or not) shitty review? You won't be getting one the next time around, because they know you're not gonna twist it in their favor.

There are obvious issues no matter what side of GG you stand on.

Advent, on 29 September 2014 - 05:32 PM, said:

Oh, that's what its about. The "i never read game reviews cuz they are worthless" problem.

Pretty much.

philsov, on 29 September 2014 - 05:17 PM, said:

That's just for comedy, the rest of the video is just him talking about the issue. Once he actually starts talking that's all there is.

Advent, on 29 September 2014 - 05:32 PM, said:

How is the other side of that sexism? It seems like two completely different axes...

I might be a wee bit off base with this, but this is as I understand it, phil:

The source of the entire thing is that Zoe Quinn, a no name indie developer of that Depression Quest game, slept with five dudes -- all game journalists or otherwise in the gaming industry (I think it was just journalists, and of course these dudes didn't just happen to be in the industry, either) while in a relationship. Her boyfriend (ex?) wrote an angry rant about it (I mean really, who wouldn't be pissed off about that), and it sparked the entire thing.

The sexism part of it is a bit of the above combined with the social stereotype that real gamers (the culture) are all misogynistic fucks. Radical feminists, like that creature Anita Skarwhat'sherstupidface, take this opportunity to jump on the culture as a whole and further perpetuate that stereotype.

Honestly, I can see where the stereotype comes from, but from what I know about football fans, at its core you can easily apply it to both cultures. Radical feminists are throwing an oil tanker on the fire in order to make it out as this massive issue when it's really not, in my opinion.

It's very confusing, I'll agree, and once again I am not proclaiming this as fact, but from what I've seen and heard over the past week or two, this is how I understand it.

tl;dr: SJWs make a mountain out of a molehill, gamers don't like being labeled something we're not, and are not comfortable with game journalism being married to game development.

Edit: Something else worth mentioning: conversation surrounding this has gotten so hot that it's been banned in most areas of the net it comes to. moot, being the SJW he is, replaced almost all 4chan mods (anyone who disagreed with him was instantly banned from the IRC where they were discussing it), and there was a massive exodus of users from 4chan to 8chan, which is where a lot of the dialogue takes place. So, if you want to get some perspective, that may or may not be a good place to look.

This post has been edited by Advent: 29 September 2014 - 07:15 PM

So basically, it has nothing to do with video games. I was right to stay far away from it, it's none of my interest.