#Gamergate goes off the deep end

[Agelastus]

Those registration code pop ups usually are only relevant if a game makes you register it either for multiplayer (e.g. the Wargame series) or if the developers make you register the game with them, too (e.g. Ubisoft). And then you'll only need it once, too.

You can deactivate them, and if a game actually asks for them, you can still look up the code in your library.

Yeah sounds like the real problem here is that Age is a very silly man.

I prefer "single-minded".

[Barrister]

But if you want try to delve into the motivations, here are a few bits to delve into:



Here's a manifesto to enjoy: http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/printthread.php?t=217525

Both of these just leave me scratching my head.  They're total non sequiturs - the arguments have absolutely nothing to do with what the #gamergate people are doing,

And here are a couple of counterpoints:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/16/of-gamers-gates-and-disco-demolition-the-roots-of-reactionary-rage.html

But this just seems bizarre.  It's trying to connect #gamergate to the anti-disco backlash of the late 70s.  That's from just the beginning of my pop culture awareness, but I didn't recall any such racial bias in favour of (white) rock over (black) disco.  It was just one of those cultural things - disco had become so popular, so fast, that it ceased to be cool.  It's just a really tortured analogy.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/gamergate-is-an-attack-on-ethical-journalism/

This.  This I agree with.  It's not about journalistic ethics.  It's about wanting to dictate what can and can not be discussed.

To me - and I obviously have my own sets of bias etc - it doesn't seem to be primarily trolling, but rather a reactionary mob with a few bits of legitimate complaint mixed into a giant ball of incoherent rage.

I guess you and I are in agreement then.  It's not trolling - it's not being done "for the lulz".  There's enough people spending an inordinate amount of time on this there's some genuine emotion bound up in it.  But it's just emotion that has no reasoned, ethical basis for it's justification.

[derspiess]

http://reason.com/archives/2014/10/12/gamergate-part-i-sex-lies-and-gender-gam

[Malthus]

To me - and I obviously have my own sets of bias etc - it doesn't seem to be primarily trolling, but rather a reactionary mob with a few bits of legitimate complaint mixed into a giant ball of incoherent rage.

Here's a compromise - let's have the authorities arrest the people making death threats etc. - and then, at their trials, we can ask them. 

[Martinus]

I tried but I still can't find enough strength in me to feel an interest in this.

[Valmy]

I tried but I still can't find enough strength in me to feel an interest in this.

Why in Hods name would you try to feel an interest in something this stupid?

[grumbler]

I tried but I still can't find enough strength in me to feel an interest in this.

Why in Hods name would you try to feel an interest in something this stupid?

I still find myself unsure of which side is "gamergate" and un-motivated to find out.

Sorry if this is making people you know unhappy, Jake.  It seems the veriest storm in a tea cup.

[Jacob]

http://reason.com/archives/2014/10/12/gamergate-part-i-sex-lies-and-gender-gam

Reasonably written. I disagree with a number of points and interpretations, but it's certainly reasonably written. The problem with gamergate is that any semblance of reasonable points is being drowned out by a whole bunch of vile shit. The signal to noise ration is very very low.

Basically, your link says "it's not about this toxic shit, it's about these important things." The problem is that the vast majority of the stuff coming out of gamergate is either toxic or non-sensical like the stuff I linked above. And the rage about "credibility" and "SJW" and "corruption" is completely misdirected in terms of things that have an actual impact on the game industry.

A good summary here: https://plus.google.com/+DavidHillJr/posts/fT3tNRVWL3o

A couple of days ago, I posted an email from the San Francisco Police Department verifying a police report placed by Anita Sarkeesian. Why? Because a muckraker accused her of lying, and drummed up a BUNCH of hate. His message had over six hundred reshares. His thread had dozens of people talking about how she needs to be imprisoned, how she needs to be shot, and how she's... you get the picture. So, I fact-checked. And I posted the results of that fact-checking. Did I get six hundred people recanting their threats, insults, and accusations? No. I got a couple dozen people threatening me, and a fuckton of people insulting me for DARING to fact-check a journalist. When, mind you, the Gamergate movement is supposedly about holding journalists accountable. Do you know how many messages came up to the effect of, "Oh. I shouldn't have jumped the gun and accused her without the facts?" None. None at all.

So understand why a lot of us say, "This group of people is toxic." It's because a large majority of what we're experiencing is people doing very toxic things. There are some reasonable voices. But from where we stand, they're a stark minority. The movement is about accountability and ethics in journalism, yet the ONLY reaction I got from fact-checking a journalist was hate, denial, threats, and insults. From where I stand, calling Gamergate toxic and hateful isn't a far stretch at all, because it appears to be doing toxic and hateful things.

[grumbler]

To me - and I obviously have my own sets of bias etc - it doesn't seem to be primarily trolling, but rather a reactionary mob with a few bits of legitimate complaint mixed into a giant ball of incoherent rage.

Here's a compromise - let's have the authorities arrest the people making death threats etc. - and then, at their trials, we can ask them. 

Or, we could not bother to ask them at their trial.  That would work for me, as well.

[Jacob]

Both of these just leave me scratching my head.  They're total non sequiturs - the arguments have absolutely nothing to do with what the #gamergate people are doing,

It does have a lot to do with what gamergate is doing, in that it's representative of the incoherent arguments they're putting out for their theoretically non-hateful points.

But this just seems bizarre.  It's trying to connect #gamergate to the anti-disco backlash of the late 70s.  That's from just the beginning of my pop culture awareness, but I didn't recall any such racial bias in favour of (white) rock over (black) disco.  It was just one of those cultural things - disco had become so popular, so fast, that it ceased to be cool.  It's just a really tortured analogy.

I didn't think I'd find a lot of takers for that here
... and I'm not completely sold on it myself.

This.  This I agree with.  It's not about journalistic ethics.  It's about wanting to dictate what can and can not be discussed.

I guess you and I are in agreement then.  It's not trolling - it's not being done "for the lulz".  There's enough people spending an inordinate amount of time on this there's some genuine emotion bound up in it.  But it's just emotion that has no reasoned, ethical basis for it's justification.

Yeah, same page here.

[Jacob]

To me - and I obviously have my own sets of bias etc - it doesn't seem to be primarily trolling, but rather a reactionary mob with a few bits of legitimate complaint mixed into a giant ball of incoherent rage.

Here's a compromise - let's have the authorities arrest the people making death threats etc. - and then, at their trials, we can ask them. 

Sure!

[Jacob]

I still find myself unsure of which side is "gamergate" and un-motivated to find out.

Sorry if this is making people you know unhappy, Jake.  It seems the veriest storm in a tea cup.

Yeah, it really should just be dumb-ass internet drama, but when it starts into pretty average people getting hatemail and death threats it kind of crosses a line for me. As long as it's just people calling each other names on twitter and FB and whatever I don't really care, but when there's doxxing and harassing emails and phonecalls etc it's at a new level, especially when it gets directed at people I'm close to.

[Jacob]

Or, we could not bother to ask them at their trial.  That would work for me, as well.

That also works for me!

[Razgovory]

I do not understand "gamer" culture at all.  Not least because there is a "gamer" culture.  Hell, When I was in middle school I tended to keep my interest in computer games secret lest I be mocked for it.

[Razgovory]

But if you want try to delve into the motivations, here are a few bits to delve into:

I know I'm not the smartest guy here, so maybe it's just me, but that makes no sense.  I can't even follow the logic.