In the wake of my most recent blog post, I had this posted on my GB wall.

Slang_N_Bang posted on yukoasho’s wall.Mar 6, 10:28pm

It's video games, it's fucking video games. Stop acting like GG is about anything serious. It's about a so-called crusade in "Entertainment Reporting Ethics". ALSO CRITICS AND DEVS ARENT JOURNALISTS

I can't say I'm surprised that some people decided that venom was the best response. I also can't say I'm entirely faultless. I'd assumed that everyone had heard of the baleful "joke" that Tim Schafer made at the expense of women and minorities who don't agree with his ideology, and decided not to go on about it here. However, it seems I have to go on about it, so here goes.

At GDC 2015, Tim Schafer decided to, with all the subtlety and tact of a Tetsuya Nomura character design, mock minorities and women in the #NotYourShield camp by implying they were all sock puppets, fake accounts created by white male misogynists on behalf of #GamerGate.

Now, the reason I posted those other videos on my previous blog post was to counteract this assertion. There are more than a few women and minorities who don't agree with the ultra-leftist ideology that is being spewed by the anti-GG camp, and that none of them - none of us - are sock puppets. We exist, and we don't need Tim or anyone else telling us what to think, and what to believe.

Now, whatever view you may have on GG or Anita Sarkeesian or any other such topic is neither here nor there. However, I should hope that we all can agree that people who express their opinions and are willing to listen to others are at the very least entitled to have their existence acknowledged, are entitled to a place at the debate table. The present reality, however, is that there really isn't a debate table so much as an arena full of rabid dobermans on the far left and far right ripping into each-other, like every other debate in the modern United States, and arguably throughout the western world. I truly believe that we're at a point where no one really cares about the status of women and minorities in gaming anymore, and are instead using that talking point as a bludgeon to further deep-set political and ideological dogma. What more proof is needed than someone mocking women and minorities for not towing the company line.

And that it's this man in particular is especially harmful. While I've certainly got no attachment to his games, there are many others who love what this guy has brought to the industry with games like Grim Fandango, Psychonauts, Day of the Tentacle, Brutal Legend, and so on. Lots of people looked up to this guy, above all others, would be tempered and wise enough to be a unifying voice, rather than a dividing one. Instead, he goes up on stage at a prestigious event and opens up wounds that were on the verge of healing, and here we are again.

While I don't really have a "side" in the debate, I've never been shy in expressing my sympathies toward the #GamerGate and #NotYourSheild movements. It's no secret that modern games media is very chummy with developers and publishers, and is more likely to protect than criticize them. I find established reviewers to be less trustworthy with each passing year, and I often look to alternative media when trying to figure out issues in gaming from people without a clear political bend. As such, I've been called a misogynist among other things by any number of people, here and elsewhere. However, that comment on my wall strikes me as the most odd attempt to silence dissent.

Slang_N_Bang posted on yukoasho’s wall.Mar 6, 10:28pm

It's video games, it's fucking video games. Stop acting like GG is about anything serious. It's about a so-called crusade in "Entertainment Reporting Ethics". ALSO CRITICS AND DEVS ARENT JOURNALISTS

If what people are complaining isn't a serious issue, than why post this on my wall? Why shout me down if it's "just video games"? Is asking to be able to trust reviewer opinions too much to ask? Is expecting people like Patrick Klepick to give fair reporting to both sides of this or any number of issues a bad thing? And while I'm at it, why does gaming media get to call itself journalism when it wants to be taken seriously, but then retreat to being "bloggers" the instant hard questions come up? If this isn't really a problem ,and I'm just imagining things, why post something like this on my wall, instead of just leaving me alone?

Perhaps the anti-GGers protest too much?

In the end, I think that's all I ask. Not anything special, not any sort of elevated position. Just leave me, and people with opinions like me, to talk. A place at the table is all anyone wants, because no matter what some say, this is an important issue, and it deserves to not go away.