On the latest podcast the crew somewhat addressed the whole Gamergate thing in some small fashion and its left me wondering.

First off, I really feel it super awkward and a response to the MSNBC thing, also, a little half assed. They said, For what purpose is there to be evil to other people, basically. Like, yeah I think any adult in the world knows that being mean and abusive really doesn't do much, well except for those that have a misguided idea that fear will drive those they hate away. But I feel like they said a whole bunch of nothing in that whole segment.

Yet I got pretty annoyed and angry, maybe not at the crew themselves, but I always get annoyed by the thought, This is a discussion for another time. Like, I always respond, when will it ever. Next Week? Next Year? Never? Am I foolishly hoping that some kind of actual worthwhile discussion will ever happen? Should I just quit now?

I agree with the ideals of what Gamergate is suppose to be. HOLD IT. If you're going to say that its suppose to spread Misogyny and hate, and abuse and harassment, just stop. Not one in their right mind that actually believes themselves to be some sort of decent human being (which I do, though I think others would be against that thought) would believe in those ideals. What gamergate is suppose to be about, is the idea of the value of ethics in Games Journalists, and how the culture and practices of the Games Journalists industry seems to go against that. Or it so seems.

First off, I don't believe anyone is against those ideas. I don't think anyone is like, YEAH UNETHICAL BUSINESS WHOOOOO!!!!! So if that's the idea behind GG, then why would I be scared to associate with it? Because of what it means to the people I respect and the people in the industry I hope to one day be apart of. I want to have my opinion stated, I want to have a decent conversation, I feel I could do that without looking like some MRA asshole wanting to scare all the women folk away, which I assume a lot of people view those that support GG are like.

The fact that Jeff and Brad just brushed aside my opinions because of some asshole minority, which they are. One person can Doxx someone, one person can send death threats to cause them to run from their homes, its possible, it doesn't require a legion of 4 hundred thousand strong to doxx someone. It was some frustrating to hear that, and for the first time I feel so isolated in my opinions on video games. I feel because I have a moderate opinion, I am completely isolated.

Here are some things I would like to state,

The idea of a Gamer to those from 4chan/8chan is one that appreciates gameplay and mechanics above all else. That's why they hate Gone Home, that's why they hate Depression Quest.

If you think that the only reason this whole situation started is because of a blog post a disgruntled ex posted, than your naive in thinking that was nothing more than a tipping point in the years of mistrust that Journalists had built with the audience, warranted or not.

Finally I just want to address this because I'm a greedy narcissist and for once want people to see my opinion, I want to make a statement about Zoe Quinn.

I do not like Zoe Quinn, not because she is a women or she made some strange indie game, but because I feel she is using her stance as a leader of Women's rights in Video Games to push her own agenda. Which seems strange since that's what she is praised for, but I think her own personal agenda is not as beneficial to women as it might seem. I'm talking about The Fine Young Capitalist incident. In which the TFYC created a competition in which women submitted their ideas for games and the winners would work with professionals to create those games, to promote women in games and get them actually involved in the game creation process. The rules stated what the meant by what it means to be considered a women, and they went out to various LGBT and Trans Organizations to find what they would considered to be classified as a women. Basically that the person who officially declares that they are a women then they are allowed to enter the competition, they set a certain date in which you can declare to be eligible for the competition. So that those that don't have the money to have an operation, can still be entered into the competition.

Zoey Quinn was asked to support the fundraising and exposure to the Game Jam and after looking at the rules, she found some parts to disagree with it. One I think there was a communication error about what they considered a women and Zoey believed that it was unfair to those that didn't have the money to have an operation, and the fact that the women would not be adequately paid for the sales of the games. That is that the women is paid 8% of the profits and the rest would go to charity. Zoey decided to "sabotage" by defacing them on twitter and promoting her own Game Jam instead. When the TFYC tried to reach out to other news outlets to cover the story and to help them, the website responded with, Zoey says this isn't feminists and is wrong, so we wont cover it. There's a bunch of stuff levied against her that makes her supper suspect. I'll post a link to an interview with the TFYC that goes into some detail about it.

That event is what got me into the gamergate thing in first place, and why I don't like Miss. Quinn. Obviously, take everything with a grain of salt, but that is what I've come to personally.

I don't think this topic will stay open for long (if you do trash it Mods at least message me with Rosebud so I know you read the whole thing), but if it does, I hope I can get some kind of discussion going about my personal feelings on GG, how I think 4chan/8chan is misrepresented, and issues like, Massing Censoring really is never the answer, even if you believe you have the moral high ground.