#Gamergate goes off the deep end

[sbr]

I thought all this was over one of her online pieces on how video games positive female characters, and have game development and narrative were all directed at a single market of consumer, the adolescent male.  Or is that a different female that was threatened?

That stuff is all being conflated into one hyperfocussed misogynistic howl of shit-fuelled rage. Any woman in games saying anything about women in games in any shape or form in a public space right now is getting targeted by a coterie of hyperactive trolls.

derspicey, I know your instincts are the same as mine, but trust me, don't bother expending one ounce of energy defending these "gamers".  Whatever you think of Zoe Quinn, or Anita Sarkeesian (and to be clear I'd never heard of either of them until this "story" broke), they didn't deserve what's happened to them.

Here's Quinn's own account of what it was like (written for cracked.com, because, well, fuck you that's why (seriously I have no idea)):

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-things-i-learned-as-internets-most-hated-person/

So if I'm understanding these new (to me) terms correctly you are firmly on the Social Justice Warrior side in the struggle against the Misogynerds.

[Jacob]

Just stay ignorant it is a giant waste of everybody's time.

I think you're right.  I was just caught off guard by the whole thing as I haven't paid much attention to the "gaming world" lately.

Yeah, it's only worth paying attention to if it affects you personally or professionally, or if you're into internet culture wars for a laugh. Otherwise, you're best off ignoring it IMO.

[derspiess]

Hmm, seems like this is a win for her.  Assuming her skin is thick enough to absorb the abuse she's taken (which I still do not understand the motivation for but whatever), she has gone from a nobody who hasn't really done anything to a celebrity victim.  Not something I'd relish, but for her I'm guessing it will create some opportunities-- possibly lucrative.

[Jacob]

So if I'm understanding these new (to me) terms correctly you are firmly on the Social Justice Warrior side in the struggle against the Misogynerds.

Do you even have to ask? 

But yeah, to use your terms - while I have some quibbles and bones to pick with the Social Justice Warrior crowd re: videogames, the Misogynerds are so egregiously obnoxious that those disagreements are set aside for some other time.

Mostly I've been ignoring the whole debacle to the best of my ability, but it does kind of affect my business and my social space to some extent, so I have to pay a bit of attention.

[Barrister]

Hmm, seems like this is a win for her.  Assuming her skin is thick enough to absorb the abuse she's taken (which I still do not understand the motivation for but whatever), she has gone from a nobody who hasn't really done anything to a celebrity victim.  Not something I'd relish, but for her I'm guessing it will create some opportunities-- possibly lucrative.

I don't see how.

[Jacob]

Hmm, seems like this is a win for her.  Assuming her skin is thick enough to absorb the abuse she's taken (which I still do not understand the motivation for but whatever), she has gone from a nobody who hasn't really done anything to a celebrity victim.  Not something I'd relish, but for her I'm guessing it will create some opportunities-- possibly lucrative.

It may generate some opportunities, but given that it started because someone couldn't handle her breaking up with them, it is at best a sliver lining to a shit-coloured storm cloud. It's kind of like "hey, you may have some PR opportunities after the KKK burned down your house. Good for you!"

As for Sarkeesian, she set out to do some criticism of games. Like I said, I have some bones to pick with her analyses and general approach from what I've seen so far, but that pales in comparison with the thoroughly terrible response she has generated from some quarters. Unfortunately, the responses have proven her rather pedestrian point and the points of a number of people way more to the left of her as well. If you can't even talk about "hey, a bunch of the stuff in games is kind of sexist and unfriendly to women" without getting death-threats and getting stalked, then that seems to rather prove the need of having those conversations, even if I'm not a super fan of the messenger or how she delivers her points.

[Malthus]

Hmm, seems like this is a win for her.  Assuming her skin is thick enough to absorb the abuse she's taken (which I still do not understand the motivation for but whatever), she has gone from a nobody who hasn't really done anything to a celebrity victim.  Not something I'd relish, but for her I'm guessing it will create some opportunities-- possibly lucrative.

While I strongly doubt this is the road to any sort of riches, there is something in it potentially for both sides - the trolls get access to the publicity and attention that they crave; the feminist gender warrior gamers get their theories validated by the mass Misogynerd attack, and also publicity for said theories.

The big losers are us, for spending any time thinking about it. 

[CountDeMoney]

So if I'm understanding these new (to me) terms correctly you are firmly on the Social Justice Warrior side in the struggle against the Misogynerds.

Do you even have to ask? 

But yeah, to use your terms - while I have some quibbles and bones to pick with the Social Justice Warrior crowd re: videogames, the Misogynerds are so egregiously obnoxious that those disagreements are set aside for some other time.

Mostly I've been ignoring the whole debacle to the best of my ability, but it does kind of affect my business and my social space to some extent, so I have to pay a bit of attention.

I can appreciate the Misogynerds and why they are the way they are, I really do. 

After all, most of them--I said most, Jacob--were the outsiders, the dweebs, the outcasts, the ones that would rather spend a week at Computer Camp or play AD&D while the Alpha Betas beat their asses after Phys Ed because they couldn't climb the ropes.

The guys that never got dates, never went to homecoming or even prom, sucking down a liter of Mountain Dew and some Ho-Hos at lunch while plucking away at their coding, huddled together at a corner table in the cafeteria because there was safety in numbers.  Plotting.

There was an understanding that these guys were going to have their own industry, one built upon servers and coding and other assorted nerdstuff that only they understood, and it was freely given by the very jocks that abused them and the girls that scorned them because, yeah, Versailles was wrong.  But now, giving away an entire technology to them at Munich, we see the true misogynistic monsters they've are, fueled by the perceived wrongs and slights of the past, all of them are having their revenge and there is no way to stop their war machine now. 

No Girls Allowed in the Wolfsschanze's data center.  And they mean it.

[Jacob]

I can appreciate the Misogynerds and why they are the way they are, I really do. 

After all, most of them--I said most, Jacob--were the outsiders, the dweebs, the outcasts, the ones that would rather spend a week at Computer Camp or play AD&D while the Alpha Betas beat their asses after Phys Ed because they couldn't climb the ropes.

The guys that never got dates, never went to homecoming or even prom, sucking down a liter of Mountain Dew and some Ho-Hos at lunch while plucking away at their coding, huddled together at a corner table in the cafeteria because there was safety in numbers.  Plotting.

There was an understanding that these guys were going to have their own industry, one built upon servers and coding and other assorted nerdstuff that only they understood, and it was freely given by the very jocks that abused them and the girls that scorned them because, yeah, Versailles was wrong.  But now, giving away an entire technology to them at Munich, we see the true misogynistic monsters they've are, fueled by the perceived wrongs and slights of the past, all of them are having their revenge and there is no way to stop their war machine now. 

No Girls Allowed in the Wolfsschanze's data center.  And they mean it.

The misogynerds aren't really the developers of games, though, they're one subset of the consumers of games (plus a few culture war media trolls in it for professional reasons).

[CountDeMoney]

I don't care, I just wanted to write that.

[Jacob]

I don't care, I just wanted to write that.

I appreciated the craftsmanship and narrative structure, tbh.

[merithyn]

Hmm, seems like this is a win for her.  Assuming her skin is thick enough to absorb the abuse she's taken (which I still do not understand the motivation for but whatever), she has gone from a nobody who hasn't really done anything to a celebrity victim.  Not something I'd relish, but for her I'm guessing it will create some opportunities-- possibly lucrative.

Someone called a University and threatened mass murder if they allowed one of these women to have a talk there. These women's home addresses are handed out like Halloween candy. They are getting calls to their personal phones with threats of murder and rape, making sure that they mention the women's addresses in the calls so that they know that the callers are serious. Two women, gaming journalists, had to quit their careers due to fear for themselves and their families.

This is a hate group unhinged. This isn't just some obnoxious trolling.

[derspiess]

it's hateful and ugly, I won't deny that.

[Legbiter]

Saarkeesian has a legit hustle, get money from being the angry femcunt via donations, the attention that hog Quinn is getting for sleeping with all those moist-eyed herbs for her shitty "game" is baffling to me, on the other hand. Maybe just gas the entire Tumblr user base and call it a day? 

[Jacob]

This is a pretty good summary of the course of events: http://deadspin.com/the-future-of-the-culture-wars-is-here-and-its-gamerga-1646145844