Journalists: Ignore #GamerGate and #NotYourShield at your Peril

From GamesReviews:

"The story behind #GamerGate and #NotYourShield is tough to pin down exactly, because there's various origins depending on who you ask. It's either the cruel march of the misogynists, a group of white men tired of having to share their entertainment space with a set of fragile girls and "people of colour" who just want to have a tiny corner of the industry to call their own, or it's a demonstration of how the gaming industry is already a melting pot of ideas, and that this is some attempt at an acknowledgement of a press that has tried to distort the facts to their own gain. The truth is, it doesn't matter what started it, what matters is how it's dealt with, and so few journalists are doing it right."

[annoyedgamer]

I miss the days when games were made fun. If this continues the industry will crash. Some say indies will save it but judging by the latest revelations they are not immune from corruption.

[matgrowcott]

There's still some great stuff out there. Countless indies are desperate for gamers to check out their work, all of it well worth playing.

There's not really a way to change that for the vast majority of them though, sadly. You just have to be willing to check out something a little vaguer from time to time.

[annoyedgamer]

I will check out anything to support creativity. Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is my latest. But I must be honest if I had not gotten it for free I may not have played it.

I hope SQ Enix does well because they are doing a good job diversifying their titles. Same goes for CD Project Red.

[Godmars290]

The industry will not crash from this.

It'll crash from large publishers trying to justify increased prices for game with increased costs to make games. Slicing up games, which were already arguably complete, further for DLC and/or introducing unnecessary levels of microtransactions. Things which have been done before, complained about vehemently, and yet is still being considered and attempted again.

Meanwhile, all this SJW BS will result in is a slew of pseudo-intellectual indie title with artificially boosted review scores. A new elitist sub-term for gamers. And of course gaming in general seen as immature by the general public while the people responsible continue to manipulate the system for their own benefit at the expense of the majority.

[Blacktric]

"Some say indies will save it..."

Indies will be saved when this reaches its goal. The nepotism going on with the whole IGF debacle proves it.

Maybe then we can get some good indie games on Steam that aren't anything like Depression Quest or Gone Home and deserve a spot to be there.

[3-4-5]

If your not about the Truth, the whole truth, and nothing by the truth, I can't really take your opinion seriously as a Journalist of any kind.

* Too many people calling themselves "journalists", who aren't as smart as they think they are.

[ZoidsRaven]

All of this controversy proves that gaming "journalists" are not yet ready to be taken seriously (I'm almost thankful, we couldn't really talk about corruption without this Quinn BS).
The sooner they act respectable, the sooner they will be treated respectable. A good start, would be to boycott "social justice" whiners in masses.
They are just Jack Thompson but with a neo feminist agenda.

It's like Jack Thompson gave us Zoe Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian as a personal 'F-U' letter for failing to prove that games are responsible for violence.
Now it's sexism instead of violence. Same $h!+, different @*$h0|è. 7_7

[Nerdmaster]

I have no idea what this "GamerGate" is. I tried reading an article about it, but instead of saying "this and this happened", it went on about sexism and whatnot and I was like "OK, but what the hell is GamerGate??".

EDIT: read the article and I still don't know what it is. Can someone please tell me in a few words?

[matgrowcott]

It's kind of a mix of a number of things, and it moves fast, which is why there's so many different takes on it.

Simply put: a certain group of gamers are upset about journalistic practises and standards across a number of the bigger sites. Not unusual. It was made worse this time because of the involvement of Zoe Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian. Some journalists rallied to defend the developers against a small minority by attacking the majority of gamers.

Again, not a huge deal. The Gamers can say they're annoyed and move on. BUT, they did that, and far too many journalists stuck to their guns, actively downplaying the complaints and even insulting those making them.

At the same time, a small group of individuals (some that are almost certainly fabricated by supporters of the women mentioned above) are making life difficult for any journalist or SJW involved, which in turn is making them feel like they're vindicated in their actions. Add in a few people quitting their jobs out of anger, and suddenly insults are flinging left and right.

And here's the problem, these dual narratives - over journalistic standards and whether the gaming world is misogynistic - are never touching, so you've got two sets of people arguing with eachother over different issues. And when someone suggests they actually pay attention to each other, you end up with "THAT'S NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT. THEY'RE JUST LYING TO LOOK GOOD."

There's a bunch of stuff I'm missing, but that's it in a nutshell.

[Nerdmaster]

Thanks, you gave me some understanding about the situation, but it still feels like it's more trouble than it's worth to fully understand it.

I read some gaming sites and I watch some Youtube gaming channels, but I never saw anyone talking about it. In fact, I had to search for the hashtag on Twitter to find anyone using it. I don't know if these articles are trying to make it look bigger than it really is, or if I just don't read enough people comments.

[matgrowcott]

@nerdmaster

It's huge, but it's also a big internal issue within the industry where people either don't want to give it the time of day or are worried about being branded poorly if they support it.

Again, these are things that are going to contribute to it being insanely long-lasting.