Law & Order SVU - The Gamergate episode - How accurately does it represent gaming to you?

It's not how gaming is shown in the mainstream media. SVU uses real life events as stories all of the time. They even had a Ferguson episode. This is just them ripping something out of the headlines.

It's super hokey, but whatever. It's Law & Order

also that first person shot was kind of funny

HOLY SHIT HAHAHAHAHA that was so ridiculous that it was actually funny.

The skeptical side of me feels like someone in the writers' room has one hell of a bone to pick with "gamergate," but I also feel like it could just be them ripping shit out the headlines, putting their own little SVU twist on it, and blowing it out of proportion. Either way, I don't really give a shit, but goddamn that was hilarious.

I watched it on Hulu the other day. About the only thing they got correct was that some women in gaming have been harassed and doxxed by terrible people.

I was a little disappointed they didn't call her a fake gamer girl.

I did enjoy the reference to Redchan.

Kinda funny that they got Toby Turner (youtube gaming personality) in there.

The whole thing was pretty dumb, but I don't suppose that's especially unusual for Law & Order. I wonder what the women who have been harassed online will make of it.

I can't tell if the Law and Order writers are terribly out of touch or if this is actually the mainstream perception of video game culture still.

Both.

Ice-T fucking talked about kotaku on national television the shark has officially been jumped.

So bad it hurts.

I think it's hilariously innacurate; that said, it's pretty on the nose as far as how certain people have tried to frame the issue, turning it into a battle of good, kind-hearted equality seeking saints against subhuman misogynist rape monsters who are simultaneously powerless and also imminently threatening. No room for nuance these days.

Obviously the writers took things into the realm of absurdity, but the beginning of the video certainly had some unsettling similarities to an unfortunate subset of gamers. Still, the show took it way, way too far to be considered anything other than a farce.

That actress's ability to say that her rapists "leveled up" with a straight face tells me that she's probably the greatest comedic performer of our time.

Pretty accurate I say. Last I checked every woman ever sucks and I'm a part of GamerISIS because of that. Acid Rain died for our gaming sins.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing when I heard that one.

That whole video is full of (unintended?) comedy.

I'm sick of campers too Ice-T

Ice T is an actor now?

He has been for years.

You have not seen Surviving the Game or Breakin' 2 Electric Boogaloo? Also I think his appearance in the Pimps Up, Ho's Down is brilliant performance.

Dick Wolf wrote the episode. I can't stress it out more. If you understoof that Penny Arcade reference that is...

Oh boy. I suppose this isn't too far from what the Colbert report did, but this actually made me laugh. The thing about all of this is the internet sort of emboldens every asshole (because there is less accountability) and encourages them to be more extreme so they aren't ignored. Not saying they are any way shape or form justified but it looks insanely stupid when you have a person act like that in real life.

@gorillamopena: the guy in the middle looks like sam lake

They... leveled up?

Is this fake? Like a Daily Show type of thing? It seems so...surreal

EDIT: Does the show typically have this bad of puns in it?

18% of people who voted have got to be kidding.

Seriously, this show was just bad. Forget whether or not they are being accurate to anything, there wasn't one legitimately good thing about this episode outside of its ability to be mocked. Erik Kain at Forbes has a fantastic article on this incredibly ignorant episode here. Erik Kain is one the few remaining people outside of Giant Bomb that I actually respect in the gaming press and he proved to me why, again.

Video game conventions, anime conventions, genre conventions...none of them are anything like what is portrayed in this episode.

@trafalgarlaw Not sure if joking? He's been acting since the early 80s. Maybe you were crackin' wise on his acting skills? Either way, he is an actor. I would say he's one of those actors who is only best in very specific roles though...

"Rape is a mod at lvl 16 at COBs". Look, without commenting at all on gamergate... That is the hokiest fake video-game sentence I've ever, ever heard.

@sammo21: Why did you single me out? I wasn't the one who asked if he was an actor.

@corevi: Sorry, I misread the post. Didn't see you quoting @trafalgarlaw, thought you were asking! I corrected it.

THEY LEVELED UP

At this point, seems like even the most ridiculously negative depictions aren't too far off the mark. People just can't make us stuff as shitty as what actually happens.

When serious shit needs to be discussed, there's nobody better to turn to than Dick Wolf and motherfucking ICE-T BABY

This was awful. Hilarious, yet awful. I probably shouldn't be laughing at such a serious thing but goddamn this portrayal belongs in a shitty comedy.

Rape = levelling up

No... no... no... I love SVU, but god damn it...

This is like the Reefer Madness of Gamergate.

Anything involving video games is hilariously terrible crap on this show. It has a long history.

The Michael Jackson SUV was better, can't wait for the Bill Cosby SUV.... Its a TV drama like Dragnet, I can't get butt hurt over a hobby I've had since the 80s from a mainstream media outlet.... Take rock, hip-hop or more recently electronic music, networks and hollywood basically take the hot topics and buzz to use as a backdrop for a story.... I think that it was ok for what it was, I'm more concerned the people won't let "gamersgate" die, more so the people who label themselves with the "gamer" term & still carrying the torch for it....

Lets face it "gamersgate" was many things (a feminazi witchhunt, sex scandal, call to arms for fair and balanced opinions/reviews/scores on the true games in "gaming" media.... take your pick) but one thing for sure we should just the it die already.........

I'm all for making fun of gamers because God knows we deserve it, but this was just dumb.

@undefined: Made it fifty seconds in before my typical SVU reaction kicked in and I felt equal mixes of anger and disgust. I think I break too easy.

As for perception of gaming culture, I don't trust mainstream media anywhere to display the finer points of this in a completely fair and truthful light. But on the other hand, I also think that some of the real-life GamerGaters wouldn't hesitate to act on some of their more... extreme threats, if given the chance. So perhaps that part is - in a theoretical, sad way - true...? I don't think there's been any actual assaults on women attributed to GamerGate, but then I'm terrified to look.

Holy Jesus, I lost it at the real life first-person rooftop showdown.

I am convinced that SVU takes place in some alternate Earth where modern games never advanced past the early 2000s and gamers are able to plan and execute intricate kidnappings on the level of The Joker. If this was accurate the episode would've started and ending with the cops reading forum posts and going "Man, fuck the internet"

Honestly I'm surprised with how much it got RIGHT. I kinda wish they would hammer on the point that this is more mental illness then a direct result of playing video games. And the idea that these guys are trying to "recreate the game" is laughable.

But shit... the language they used? "slut, SJW, politically correct" I think they nailed that part. I just wished they went into what causes this behavior a little bit more, it's nowhere as simple as "just video games."

I mean, sure, I'm pretty positive no one has been kidnapped and then raped live on twitch. But if you don't think some of these real life women are getting threats like this on a constant basis, then you are f-ing kidding yourself.

This is awesome

That would require us to possibly feel bad about something that may involve something we like or enjoy tangentially. Which to gamers is like pulling teeth.

It's like one guy from the 90's during the "Let's try to appeal to the kidz with the hip and the hopz and the totally down slang wordz." manged not to get fired somehow and wrote this 'yeeeeah gamer termz! This is how you young people are huuuuuuuuuuuuh?"
What show was it that had the guy hide secret code in a copy of Prince of Persia and the girl see's the game being played and then starts to ghost play the game with her hands in the shape of a controller? Was it this show too? What absolute garbage.

It definitely accurately represents how a lot of coverage of GamerGate/gaming culture has regulated to at this point in time.

I laugh every time that girl says "They leveled up" with a straight face. I don't care who you are or how seriously you take all of this, that line is hilarious.

I used to be right there denying the effect media had on us. The point that I don't think is clear, the part that doesn't come across right, is that it is NOT the unreal fantasy elements of media (be it games, movies, tv-shows) that have the greatest effect on us. It's those elements that more closely resemble our real life that start to mess with our perceptions. It's the human characters, the dynamics between them and their relationships that SUBTLY can color our perceptions.

No one is saying you are going to shoot a fake video game gun and then not be able to tell the difference between killing a real person and a character on a video game. No one is saying you are going to hadoken Chun Li and then you won't be able to stop punching women in real life.

But if you see movie after movie and game after game where the man is the one who is always taking charge and saving the day. And the women are always helpless and cannot defend themselves, then maybe that starts to color your perception. How many new fictional characters are we exposed to versus how many real life people and situations? I absolutely think it has a real effect.

Look at high school. Why are football players popular? Why? Why do some students look up to them? Why do some resent them? Why do some want to be them? In no small part, I think it's because that in the 14 years leading up into high school, we are bombarded with media that shows how cool football players are. We see countless movies and tv shows that show football players as the top of the social order. We are exposed to the NFL, to the Super Bowl and see how those men are celebrated. And as freshmen, since we have not experienced high school before, we enter with those preconceived notions. But is art intimating reality? Or is reality imitating art? We know media is not real. We know it's just a caricature. But I think it's hard to figure out exactly how much of it is fake, especially the younger you are. Part of it looks close enough to reality, or even to our perception of reality, that we accept it. Maybe we accept it by inches, a little more each time we are exposed. I absolutely think it has a real effect.

I know this has gotten ramble-y and rant-y, but I really think it is worth exploring the effect media has on us. Just ask yourself this, how many non-gamers are going to watch this episode of SVU and think this is exactly what gamers are like? Even though they know SVU is a TV show? It ain't zero.

Seems accurate to what the games media thinks about gamers. Amusing stuff!

They went to an absurd level, but the language and some of the harassment (Comments and Swatting) were accurate.

"They leveled up" is RIDICULOUS!

You can all think that this is the product of a writers room dictated by a bunch of out of touch TV executive suits, and you're probably right, but the optimist in me thinks that there're some god damn comedic geniuses writing for L&O:SVU. Like, holy shit that was hilarious. Kind of offensive, but come on though. Like, no one in their right mind would come up with those hokey (fantastic) one liners and not think they were totally absurd. You'd have to be completely delusional

Either way, it gave me a good laugh. I think I'll watch it again!

Some of the language was fairly accurate but it was obviously exaggerated to an absurd degree, which is what SVU does for every "topical issue" episode.

I think there's really something to how games as media specifically affect consumer/player perceptions.

The direct control and the reaction to every player action is extremely important in how different games are to other forms of entertainment, like books or movies. Every action a player takes is catered to with direct feedback by the world and its characters. The more direct immersion of games is compounded by the popularity of generic protagonists (or customizeable protagonists) that actively invite a player to picture themselves as that character. It's kind of like a constant ego stroke, as the game has to constantly realign around the player.

Not every person who plays games has a problem distinguishing reality from fiction, but some do. And if someone grows up saturated in media that is constantly working to align to their every action, taking that experience and applying it to life seems like it would be unhealthy.

Certainly there are a wide variety of games (many of which do not have generic protagonists, many of which more actively antagonize), but how people interact with media is important, and games are unique in the level of control they offer those who interact with them.

And I agree that perceptions of social norms creep subtly and easily in from all forms of media.