This Gamergate thing

[Arwon]

Yeah I read it. It was fine. You people are being *ridiculous*. Is the argument now that people who write about games should be nice to them? Because ethics? I thought the whole issue was devs and journos being too cosy? This bloke clearly isn't too cosy with devs.

And that tweet? He's *correct*. Women and PoC cop a lot more crap for the exact same opinions and arguments. I've been on the internet with an interest in sport, politics and games long enough to know that.

 

[jackelgull]

I trust "video game journalists" about as far as I can throw them. Calling them journalists is an insult to journalism. If I want to judge a game, I trust Let Plays or reviews by gamers who prove they are worth listening to. Which is why the whole premise of Gamergate is flawed- why care about something that never existed, that's a joke to fool the inexperienced? I just don't see the point.

 

[caketastydelish]

What's hilarious about gamergate is they've only given attention and fame to those they're trying to destroy. I wouldn't have even heard of Anita Sarkeesian were it not for them talking about her, and all of a sudden she exploded all over the internet thanks to gamergate.

Sexism and racism in games is a thing, but I'm cynical that pointing out that they're sexist or racist will actually change it. People have been doing that in other forms of media (books, movies, etc) for years and as far as I can see it hasn't made a dime of a difference. It probably won't make much difference for this either.

edit: I'm not sure the specifics of Sarkessian's actual arguments, but her wikipedia page which shows how 'gamergaters' reacted proves they pretty much have the mentality of a 5 year old.

 

[Arwon]

I trust "video game journalists" about as far as I can throw them. Calling them journalists is an insult to journalism. If I want to judge a game, I trust Let Plays or reviews by gamers who prove they are worth listening to. Which is why the whole premise of Gamergate is flawed- why care about something that never existed, that's a joke to fool the inexperienced? I just don't see the point.

They're about on par with sport journos, music journos, film journos. Reporting on something that inherently doesn't matter, nearly always as enthusiasts of the topic.

 

[downtown]

I think we're really underselling what games journalism is supposed to be if we limit it to just game reviews.

 

[Kyriakos]

I trust "video game journalists" about as far as I can throw them. Calling them journalists is an insult to journalism. If I want to judge a game, I trust Let Plays or reviews by gamers who prove they are worth listening to. Which is why the whole premise of Gamergate is flawed- why care about something that never existed, that's a joke to fool the inexperienced? I just don't see the point.

Should be noted, though, that 'games journalism' was already a euphemism back when people actually were paid to write for printed computer game magazines.

It is just that now, with all that online, the level has fallen even lower

And indeed, youtube videos about a game already show you all you would care to know.

 

[Arwon]

And yet things like Extra Credits exist

 

[Oruc]

And yet things like Extra Credits exist

Exactly, can't be many things lower than that.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

What's hilarious about gamergate is they've only given attention and fame to those they're trying to destroy. I wouldn't have even heard of Anita Sarkeesian were it not for them talking about her, and all of a sudden she exploded all over the internet thanks to gamergate.

While you have a good point in general, Anita Sarkeesian was already quite a controversial figure long before gamergate even started. This is just another thing she managed to latch onto.

 

[Senethro]

While you have a good point in general, Anita Sarkeesian was already quite a controversial figure long before gamergate even started. This is just another thing she managed to latch onto.

What do you mean by "latch onto"? You think it was all a deliberate ploy?

 

[Hygro]

While you have a good point in general, Anita Sarkeesian was already quite a controversial figure long before gamergate even started. This is just another thing she managed to latch onto.

As someone who has only seen her main couple of videos on VG sexism, her "controversialness" is a bit of a mystery. She's literally saying "these games are fun, in isolation it's all fine, it's okay to like these games, but taken together, there is a sexist trend and this is what that trend is."

I don't get it.

 

[caketastydelish]

I've never seen one of her videos and it doesn't matter. These gamergate people have outright given her death threats and have apparently made horrible remarks, probably 10 more* than whatever she said even if she's annoying.

edit: *10 times more.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

I'm just saying that the controversy surrounding her, and her subsequent notoriety and fame/infamy, began long before gamergate was even a thing. At most you could say gamergate prolonged her 15 minutes of fame, but it's certainly not the source of it.

 

[Kyriakos]

Given this is the internet, it is likely that in 2 years or something this issue will be another dead meme and a collection of fossil threads in social warrior forums..

Sarkesian is not an intellectual. I don't mean by that - of course - that one must be an intellectual to have a view, or write stuff. I mean that it is just another incredibly bloated non-issue.

Up to the late 90s, when the internet was either not yet existent or not as popular/formed up as now, such non-issues were having a small gateway into teen films.
Now they are over the web.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

I've never seen one of her videos and it doesn't matter. These gamergate people have outright given her death threats and have apparently made horrible remarks, probably 10 more than whatever she said even if she's annoying.

There's been doxxing and death threats and lies on both sides. There's also been loads more people NOT doing any of that on both sides. Pretending that there is no good behaviour on one side, and no bad behaviour on the other, is just blinkered and disingenuous. It's not even remotely plausible that that would happen when you consider that there is no actual formal organisation on either side, it's just a bunch of twitter hashtags that anyone can use. There's no formal membership, there's no vetting, there's no proof of identity, nothing. How is something like that NOT going to attract trolls? Have you met the internet?

Anyway, all the Wikipedia articles on this whole matter are incredibly biased and if you use those as your only source of information then... well... what can one say.

 

[Hygro]

Normally I understand where "The Other Side" is coming from but in this case I still see literally zero link between the expressed purpose of those leading the gamergate charge and what they're actually doing. That in between area, can someone who takes them more seriously explain it?

Anyway, all the Wikipedia articles on this whole matter are incredibly biased and if you use those as your only source of information then... well... what can one say.

Help me out, manfred

 

[Manfred Belheim]

Why? It's not my business. I have my own opinions but they're unlikely to tally with anyone's on here and I'm not really interested in getting into it.

And is there some sort of significance to your font size change?

 

[useless]

Pray tell, how are the wikipedia articles "biased"?

 

[Manfred Belheim]

Well, by exclusively telling one side of the story? Is that not the very definition of biased?

 

[jackelgull]

They're about on par with sport journos, music journos, film journos. Reporting on something that inherently doesn't matter, nearly always as enthusiasts of the topic.

The difference between something like film and video games is that medium is taken seriously. I mean people call films "masterpieces" and there is a sort of consensus on what films are considered masterpieces. Few people consider video games high art worthy of being put on the same level. If there's one thing I hope from this deeper look into the video game industry it's that video games finally be taken seriously as a medium in its own right.