GamerGate thread

[archibaldcrane]

Brill, you don't understand - people are OUT TO GET HIM

[Tokitoki]

Yet again, I ask you. Have you ever played this style of game before regularly?

I get this same impression from some of the posts.

I've been very outside this whole thing, trying to keep up, but never getting really involved in any of the discussion. I'm not going to go tinfoil hat over some butch Russian lady being added to a TF2 clone. In TF2 you don't identify with your characters, you pick what the team needs unless you really suck with what is lacking. "Bland and boring" is kind of what they are. What TF2 did to change things was add additional equipment, fashion pieces, and events that made each of your classes something you put effort into.

I feel like a butch Russian lady is a stereotype in itself that some people would try to fight, no? While I understand some people are definitely going to worry about the appearance of their characters, that's not really what this kind of game is about. In fact, you're not even going to see what you look like most of the time since it's an FPS.

[Mazmaz]

I had a great post

lol

[Vandalhart]

Okay, so this thread hasn't been active for a while and I saw some stuff to post so here goes.

It appears that the pro-gamergaters that felt the movement was about journalistic integrity feel they have completed their directive.
There's a few opinion videos I've seen, but I won't bother posting them. Their main reason for feeling this way is that most of the big sites have updated with an ethics mandate and started posting relationships with anyone that may affect their judgement of an article or game.

Here's a few articles/statements on ethics policies from companies.
http://blogjob.com/oneangrygamer/201...rsy-thank-you/
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/arti...f-The-Escapist
https://archive.is/7PhcD
http://kotaku.com/a-brief-note-about...tak-1627041269


Nathan Grayson has started to do it, (above the 2nd image in the article):
http://kotaku.com/if-you-die-in-this...ver-1690928265

Leigh Alexander has even begrudgingly added disclosure to a more recent article.
https://twitter.com/Nero/status/582300228172255233


To me, this is common sense, and good news. I'm more disturbed by what transpired at the Calgary Expo last weekend. Here's an article about it:
http://supernerdland.com/welcome-to-...badger-affair/

I, personally, don't believe the article is that slanted or pushed to extremes.

[Salodin]

Feminist gonna fem. I can't believe theirs no recourse for HBB.

[Blubbartron]

The single most poignant sentence in that article:

Safe space culture is fundamentally unsafe and programs meant to encourage inclusion are fundamentally being used to create exclusion.

This is absolutely true. Safe space culture completely negates open and free speech. If you aren't 110% on the side of the people whose space you're in, then you're literally Hitler. There is no such thing as objectively criticizing statements or beliefs in these safe spaces. Anything that can be construed as attacking, will be construed as attacking, and that's not "safe".

[tyven]

here is my question: After all this, do you think we can expect to see a shift in the way gamers identify politically? Now BG is my only gamer centric community but to me it has always seemed overwhelmingly left and still does.

But after Brietbart carried the gg torch coupled with the war on SJWs and "liberal dems", do you think we can expect to see the waters muddy and become more balanced or was GG too niche to really cause anything like that or are the people that hate SJWs sane enough to not do something so silly?

JUST CURIOUS IS ALL

[Darus Grey]

here is my question: After all this, do you think we can expect to see a shift in the way gamers identify politically? Now BG is my only gamer centric community but to me it has always seemed overwhelmingly left and still does.

But after Brietbart carried the gg torch coupled with the war on SJWs and "liberal dems", do you think we can expect to see the waters muddy and become more balanced or was GG too niche to really cause anything like that or are the people that hate SJWs sane enough to not do something so silly?

JUST CURIOUS IS ALL

It's already balanced in a sense, just not along the same political axis that many cultures do(left vs right), gamers as whole seem very very libertarian , the confusion with briebart and such is that well the "right" includes libertarians in their sphere, politically libertarianism spans both left and right on an entirely different axis.

These kind of battles are generally pretty rare historically, but you see them in some countries where essentially all the parties are leftist and then they divide among different ideology because they mostly agree on a fundamental left baseline.

So this in my mind was never a right vs left thing, gamers as a group are observably overwhelming leftist, but also with a very very strong libertarian bent, well the new SJW crowd represents leftist authoritarians.

[archibaldcrane]

Gamers like the parts of libertarianism that mainstream or tea party righties hate, so no, gamers won't be moving from the mainstream left anytime soon.

[Blubbartron]

I think we're starting to see some pushback against authoritarian beliefs in different areas. It's kind of a perfect storm of authoritarian bullshit in many different places that's causing people to open their eyes. You've got government surveillance exposed for just how invasive it is, more and more documentation of cops running amok abusing their authority, and SJWs/tumblrinas making asses of themselves on the sociological front.

That said, I think gaming is going to continue to get worse under the ironically oppressive thumb of SJWs. The same could be same of most corporate ventures. SJWs are well-versed in creating shitstorms out of nothing, and corporations do not know how (or if it's even possible) to distinguish between their consumers and 3rd parties sticking their annoying fucking noses in. Because of this, corporations will continue to kowtow to SJWs in order to prevent "PR nightmares" that honestly are unlikely to impact their revenue in the least.

[Koul]

I think things will end up balancing out. In time, developers will learn who and who not to listen to or engage with. I also have faith that the SJW crowd will end up imploding on itself because regardless of what people say or think the SJW movement is based on conversation control and censorship. If they can't even be assed to have a mutual conversation with opposing viewpoints, the movement is doomed.

Trolling and harassment are sadly the shitty biproduct of open communication. Having an event at a convention and when it gets to the "ask the audience" portion and all the questions were pre-screened. That's not an ask the audience. That's not free speech the way I see it. That's, again, controlling the narrative and the conversation which I will never support.

If people do support that way of operation, I'm curious on the justification. Spare me emotion-based responses about hurting peoples wittle fweelwings.

[archibaldcrane]

Well, doing it at a convention is a way for the organizers to control the message for the corporate interests involved. It makes perfect sense for them.

I guess I'm not sure what you're asking.

[GoggleHead]

here is my question: After all this, do you think we can expect to see a shift in the way gamers identify politically? Now BG is my only gamer centric community but to me it has always seemed overwhelmingly left and still does.

But after Brietbart carried the gg torch coupled with the war on SJWs and "liberal dems", do you think we can expect to see the waters muddy and become more balanced or was GG too niche to really cause anything like that or are the people that hate SJWs sane enough to not do something so silly?

JUST CURIOUS IS ALL

Honestly I think the bulk are still gonna lean heavily to the left, we'll just see people becoming a bit more guarded about drinking any koolaid that's getting handed out. A lot of people seem to be going "holy shit, I'm a dirty communist and I'm getting called a republican? WHAT IS THIS SHIT?"
I think people's politics will remain fairly stable but with a great deal more skepticism for anything coming from the far ends of the political spectrum. I think that's a great thing. Opening people's eyes to the reality that their "side" can do harm is a huge victory for more moderate viewpoints and civil discourse. If extremism dies down we can all find more common ground on all kinds of issues, gaming or otherwise, and maybe even see compromises that lead to an improvements for everyone.

[Vandalhart]

Just a note, apparently Milo Yiannopolis (I may have spell that wrong) has said that a lot of developers or studios have reached out to him and said that they really support the feelings of the Gamergaters but are unable to say anything for fear of the backlash it may cause. I can source the comment but I'd have to go back through a Google Hangout with Sargon of Akkad.

[Teryu]

Yeah that thing is like two and a half hours long.

[archibaldcrane]

When you say "feelings of gamergaters" do you mean that game devs and journos are too cozy, or that feminist SJWs are attempting to ruin games?

because i mean those are two wildly different feelings

[Vandalhart]

I think both just being able to speak out in general. Let me search through the video. I know it was in the first hour and a half or so. I just watched it the other day.

http://youtu.be/DzK7VqGfGSs

It's a little after the 22 minute mark. It's only a few minutes long. When I tried to copy the link out of the youtube app it didn't keep the timestamp.

You may want to jump back a few minutes to see the topic of conversation. No worries if you don't I know both of these individuals aren't everyone's cup of tea.

[Mazmaz]

here is my question: After all this, do you think we can expect to see a shift in the way gamers identify politically? Now BG is my only gamer centric community but to me it has always seemed overwhelmingly left and still does.

But after Brietbart carried the gg torch coupled with the war on SJWs and "liberal dems", do you think we can expect to see the waters muddy and become more balanced or was GG too niche to really cause anything like that or are the people that hate SJWs sane enough to not do something so silly?

JUST CURIOUS IS ALL

BG is brogressive. See here for explanation:
http://www.reddit.com/r/news/comment...9fyk?context=1

[MF Perm tha Fineass]

When you say "feelings of gamergaters" do you mean that game devs and journos are too cozy, or that feminist SJWs are attempting to ruin games?

because i mean those are two wildly different feelings

You ask for a hamburger, I give you a hamburger. You raise it to your lips and take a bite. Your eye twitches involuntarily. Across the street a father of three falls down the stairs. You swallow and look down at the hamburger in your hands. I give you a hamburger. You swallow and look down at the hamburger in your hands. You cannot swallow. There are children at the top of the stairs. A pickle shifts uneasily under the bun. I give you a hamburger. You look at my face, and I am pleading with you. The children are crying now. You raise the hamburger to your lips, tears stream down your face as you take a bite. I give you a hamburger. You are on your knees. You plead with me to go across the street. I hear only children's laughter. I give you a hamburger. You are screaming as you fall down the stairs. I am your child. You cannot see anything. You take a bite of the hamburger. The concrete rushes up to meet you. You awake with a start in your own bed. Your eye twitches involuntarily. I give you a hamburger. As you kill me, I do not make a sound. I give you a hamburger.

[archibaldcrane]

Delicious.