Anti GG and GG aside, i feel like what can really be agreed apon is that Twitter really needs some more moderators or policing.

No it isn't, but some desperately want it to be for some reason I can't understand.

Wow that's absurd. How exactly is the GB staff supposed to teach people who think death threats are ok to see the error of their ways?

Actually, the whole reason the blog post was written was to warn people about the type emotional abuse Zoe had inflicted on Eron (the author). Since that post was made, evidence of journalistic corruption was exposed (that was not related to Zoe) and the narrative shifted.

Something has to be done about shit like this, makes me honestly rethink being just a name on a site, remove everyone's right to private information and people who say shit like that should have every detail of there lives posted.

Some goddamn accountability!

I wish there was something we could do. If I had the skills I would hack these people's information and make sure they're punished for it. Maybe these women should retweet the threats and we could drown said person's feed with positive vibes. I don't know. This thing is disgusting and it's hurting the entire industry regardless of what some men think sitting of to the sidelines afraid to help.

@jumbs said:

Well, this is a SSS. There are nutbars and lunatics that can't handle life in every hobby.

Don't feel ashamed of gaming or even "gamers." Just let the morons know that when they do something stupid, it isn't okay. Every community should moderate itself when it can.

@pepipopa:

I think if anything, this whole nonsense is giving us a good glimpse of why mob amateur investigative journalism is bad news. You can't trust every person that sees sensitive information to treat it responsibly and to withhold it until it's properly verified. In the case of "doxxing" and harassment you can't trust internet mobs to show restraint in who they choose to target and how they go about it.

This idea that "the journalists aren't looking into it so we have to" is such self righteous nonsense. Has it occurred to these folks that actual reporters have looked into many of the issues they raise and deemed them non-issues?

I will outright condemn any threats made towards people. Threats shouldn't happen AT ALL.

But blaming #GamerGate for all of this seems a bit premature. This could still be a troll just looking to cause chaos. The authorities are looking into all these threats, so let them do their job.

I still think GG is fighting for something that matters, and will continue to support it.

OK I genuinely LoL'd, haha thank you sir!

I don't understand why any of this is going on? Why is it a problem that women make video games?

you could concede the point that GamerGate has valid criticisms to be leveled at the industry and journalism, but the movement has been hijacked by reprehensible elements and lost the narrative. People with those concerns need to organize around something better than a hashtag that can be co-opted for all the wrong reasons.

It's the same reason brands need to be careful about the use of hashtags. I'm constantly tweeting about the horrible service I get at #mydunkin :)

Can't Twitter track down the people who make threats like that? IP Address, anything?

Mind blowing.

Or maybe just a self-examination on our over reliance on it. If it's so conducive to misuse by those attempting to silence than maybe the attempts to reclaim it are in vain.

"The most dangerous temptation is to do the right thing in the wrong way."

Yes. Twitter has a link when reporting harassment for police to contact them. The problem is that the worst actors out there will most likely go through lengths to cover their tracks, such as using proxies. This might also be why it's so easy for these people to create more accounts to continue their harassment once they've been banned.

ill post this here, she's sorry for calling out GB.

To the people who say they want a "Positive change in the industry": What positive change?

Removing social issues from gaming websites? That's not a positive change, that's a negative one.

I can only hope that if this becomes any worse than it already is, all the reasonable people for and against GG can put their differences aside about corruption or ethics or whatever and deal with this shit together.

Because whatever damage corruption in the industry is or is not doing, it's gotta be a microscopic speck next to the constant stream of this horrible attitude presented by internet douchebags. How is anyone supposed to discuss anything with this going on?

Do people honestly believe that saying stuff like this will somehow endear these people to their cause? I'm all about debate and I'd be more than happy to sit down with some of these people and have a civilised conversation with them, and at least maybe try to understand what they want (even if I vehemently disagree with them and will never give them what they demand), but this is beyond rude and it's stuff you should never say either on the internet, or to anyone in person.

These loonies certainly aren't the face of the people they're attempting to represent, and it's pretty god damn awful that when people talk about people who oppose the thinkings of Sarkeesian and other individuals on that side of the thought spectrum, these are the kind of people who instantly spring to mind, not the "Well, I disagree on this, because *3 paragraphs of well thought out discussion points*, but I do see what you mean by it, and by no stretch are you wrong" types.

I don't want the world to think that because I play videogames, that this is the sort of person I am. Is it too much to ask of these people, that I dunno, they can be assholes in their own right without using the rest of us as a crutch to somehow justify their behaviour, as if it makes it any less of a hurtful thing to do?

What evidence of journalistic corruption was exposed? As far as I know, nothing of note has been exposed by gamergate.

@monkeystick:

Twitter's inability to actually police harassment is hilariously bad.On sunday anita got spammed by some random asshole that he was going to murder her.

Pro gamergate and antigamergate people went in there mass reported him and it took about 8-10 hours for twitter to actually do something.The account must have gotten reported 5k+ times.

After the spammer saw that gamergate people were defending anita the guy spammed and threatened people on the tag also.

Crazies gonna crazy.

As much as I find this stuff disgusting, it is super unfair that some women in this industry are going out of their way to somehow connect a site like Giant Bomb to the harassment problem. I realize that they deal with a lot of shit and some have issues with Giant Bomb due to the all male staff, but enough is enough.

Thanks Patrick. Honestly, we need more of this. Giant Bomb is a powerful voice amongst enthusiasts and when you've youtube personalities and television stars (who will not be named) actively promoting this so-called "movement," it makes GB coming out and drawing a line in the sand all the more important.

God, I was so disgusted when Zoe, Brianna, Leigh, and Jenn posted the personal information of Milo "Transgender People Aren't Humans" Yiannopoulis and he had to leave his home to contact the FBI.

That's totally a thing that happened.

Nothing is wholly isolated to anything, but there has been a clear surge in the amount of harassment directed towards women in gaming lately. And it's been especially directed at those that are vocal proponents of feminism, critical of the depiction of women in videogames, or outspoken against gamergate. Harassment can happen to anyone but that doesn't mean that everyone gets it equally.

I am happy to see GB post this article.

Thank you for posting this Patrick.

And then nothing happened following those threats. I almost feel sorry for those people, being so powerless that they feel the need to vent in this fashion. Y'know, except for the part where they're disgusting human beings.

@otakugamer said:

Maybe... I would say, maybe, they are trying to achieve not being harassed 24/7 and being sent death threats that involve personal info?

Also, no person is unbiased. Everyone has their point of view, that literally affects every single thing they do.

Wow. I had been mostly oblivious to this whole thing, but after hearing about it on today's Scoops/Wolf I decided to look into it a bit. I had no idea that this stuff was getting this dark. It is unbelievable that there are this many people so misguided that they can't treat people with common respect and equality. I don't understand what the point of all this is though. What is there to gain by attacking these people online? I mean what can we possibly accomplish for gaming as a whole by making it a point to attack people who are equally as passionate as we are?

I'm glad Brianna saw Patrick's tweet about this article. I think we have a pretty great community here fighting against all the hate and bullying. I think it would be great when it's all calmed down a bit for Brianna Wu to be on the morning show with Patrick and Alex. I just hope these people sending these messages get what they have coming to them in the end.

Whether you support the alleged agenda of GamerGate - to expose supposed corruption in the gaming media - or not, it can wait. Women being driven from their homes under threat of death cannot and should not be condoned a moment longer.

Thanks @patrickklepek, for making it further known that there is simply no place in our industry for this kind of behavior.

@tekzero: What is there to defend? Why would anyone defend the harassment of another individual?

GamerGate was poisoned from the VERY BEGINNING. It was never fighting for something that matters. That was not the goal and it hasn't made any progress toward reaching that anyway. Stop defending a broken movement.

Patrick,

I am so sad to hear this happened to Brianna. However, I am happy that there are journalists like you who help raise awareness to the issue. The truth is, most gamers (and most people for that matter) are good, honest, descent folk. It's too bad that haters have to come out and, God forbid, threaten people! This is absolutely insane! All over a video game! Or a personal belief! Or social commentary! It's especially sad to see that females have been targeted lately. But I think this issue is much bigger than just gender. As you are very well aware, game developers of all genders, nations, creeds, religions, races, etc have been attacked over games. Persecution of any kind is sick and wrong.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There was an article posted on Kotaku I think where a (LDS) member shared how he was pleased with how the Fallout games (New Vegas) dealt with the subject of the Mormon religion in video games. But all the comments were filled with hatred towards the man and the Mormon religion. I too have experienced a lot of persecution, mostly online, over my religion. People have these ideas in their heads about what Mormons are. Or what Catholics are. Or what gays are. Whatever group of people, you name it. And they attack them because of false assumptions. The truth is, I don't have seven wives and I don't hate gays. Nor am I wearing a pair of magic underwear (they're just garments representing commitment to God and so on). I have nothing but loving kindness towards all races. If people would just take the time to get to know others and see that we really are not all that different, instead of judging them, I feel like the world would be a better place. Gamers from all walks of life ought to respect one another. I respect all gamers and all people from all walks of life. Seeing assholes treat good people like this really hits heart home. Because I know how it feels to be attacked. And you do too, Patrick... internet jerks are, well, a bunch of jerks! I don't know what drives them. Attention? Indifference? In my experience, a lot of people attack others because of traditions handed down by their fathers. Or in other words, how they were raised. That doesn't excuse them though.

The world should be a descent place. I have always been afraid to say "I'm Mormon" even here on Giant Bomb. But when that whole Twitter thing blew up when Dan and Jason got hired and Jeff wrote that article... that Giant Bomb is an inclusive place... I felt like I could be open about my religion. While I am not very active (attending church) I still have my beliefs. I'm glad Giant Bomb is a safe place with rad duders and dames. My heart goes out to Brianna and any other person affected by this horrific display of cruelty. I for one try to abide by the rule: love and respect everyone. You don't know what every man or woman's story is. So we should treat others with kindness. I can't stress enough how happy I am that Giant Bomb is an inclusive place. Thank you for raising awareness Patrick. Nevertheless I end this post saddened for Brianna and hope that all goes well for her. As well as Zoe and others who have been attacked. It's real sick. Thanks Patrick and God bless.

You know what could avoid/limit BS like this? Not having a movement entirely based on a hashtag. Get a website and membership log and stated set of goals and beliefs. I disagree pretty vehemently with the Gamergate people and what they adhere to as "facts" and I get that I'm not going to change their mind. But if you don't want to be associated with harassment and death threats, make yourself accountable. Website, membership log, statement of goals and beliefs. Not hard.

Journalistic integrity folks

@alwaysbebombing said:

This is probably an over-simplification of the issue. Some people (fringe nutbars) don't like that women make video games. Some people don't like social criticism of their games because we can't talk about anything anymore without getting up in arms, and those people don't have the critical thinking skills to respond to this criticism. Some people don't like some of the criticisms that some critics make, but those people and which criticisms they argue against are so varied as to be uncoverable here.

What this person is doing that harassed this developer is thinking that he's striking back against a movement that he sees as some form of oppressiveness - which, as we know, is not true, but this guy sees change as "oppression." It happens.

Personally, I welcome change and diversity in gaming. That's how art grows and sustains itself. That doesn't mean that I agree with all of the social criticism of games, but bring 'em on! Real art needs to weather these sorts of discussions about what it is and what it says.

Seems like so much of this shit happens on twitter. Twitter is a horrible thing, and full of so many assholes, and I don't know why so many people use it.

I wonder if he's even a Gamer. I think GamerGate has reached a point of critical mass where it's drawing in non-gamers who want to cause trouble. Or rather, he-man woman-haters who don't give a damn about games.

@patrickklepek: It would exist in a very similar form if it had been some other event that kicked off this landslide... this is a result of things that have been brewing for YEARS, and only continues to get more heated because of the attitudes held by many people in the press. You honestly think if the name changed, the sigma wouldn't follow? "You're just those whiners that hate women anyway." It doesn't matter what the hashtag is called or what kickstarted these events.

-----

I've gotta be honest, I'm disappointed in you, Giant Bomb. I was hoping you wouldn't take the easiest way out of this and actually look further into the issue (or leave it alone), and all the comments here are making me kind of sick. I'm so tired of people right now pretending other people don't exist and aren't worth anything. I'm losing respect for so many writers I used to admire because they're taking an arrogant, "I know better than you" stance and it's honestly really depressing.

NO ONE deserves harassment, END OF STORY.

Anyone with a Twitter account, please join me in adding some positivity to the lives of these victims. Send some posts their way letting them know we love them!

Or do whatever you want.And escapist and kotaku changing their policies clearly has changed nothing.

At least check stuff before you write the words.

I stopped paying attention to this, but no matter what hunting people down and threatening them if unacceptable. I do think that games press is pretty corrupt and some dark shit goes on, thats why I'm on GB. I trust GB. If anything her calling out GB for 'not doing anything' made me dislike her massage. Calling out people is similar to a bully tactic, LOOK AT THEM HE'S NOT DOING ANYTHING YELL AT HIM. It's stupid

@mrfluke said:

Good on her, but her claim that Giant Bomb was not covering the gamergate controversy was already false. Patrick has been on it ever since it happened.