GamerGate: Gaming's Angry Summer part 2

Last time I wasn't clear on who the GamerGaters were, the GamerGaters are the ones who launched the hurtful campaigns against Zoe Quinn but believe it or not they have good intentions, sort of. But today will be focused on a very old can of worms being opened up, one that has lingered over the industry throughout its history, right through everything we have discussed so far and in the future! And this time the worm is biting back...

Zoe Quinn was not the only one to have experienced severe backlash from the GamerGate issue, take Phil Fish: his personal information was leaked all over the internet as he tried to stand up for Quinn. Even documents regarding his company, Polytron, forcing him to sell the company and leave the video game industry for good. GamerGaters, still not looking like the good intentioned soldiers I made them out to be, well not yet but under no circumstances do I condone their actions thus far or what is a bout to come to light as we reach the worst threat they could give: the mass shooting. An internet war? It's sounding more and more like a real war as a new group enters the fray in the form of Feminist speaker Anita Sarkeesian who ran an award-winning YouTube series known as Tropes vs. Women in Video Games. This series is devoted to analysing sexist stereotypes in video games. She became the next victim as her attackers felt her series was being too unfair, she received death threats, her personal information was leaked online including her home address. Like Quinn, Sarkeesian was forced to flee her home.

So let's recap quickly, Zoe Quinn was attacked because, in essence, her game Depression Quest got good reviews and Anita Sarkeesian was attacked because people thought she was a bit unfair. Geez! It doesn't take a lot to rile these guys up! Skip forward to October, which would make this less Gaming's Angry Summer and more Gaming's Angry Autumn but whatever, as Sarkeesian is forced to cancel a public speech at the Utah State University after the school received multiple threats which claimed affiliation with GamerGate. One threat mentioned a repeat of the Ecole Polytechnique massacre, a mass shooting in 1989 motivated by antifeminism. This shows just how serious these so called "Social Justice Warriors" were and how far they would potentially go. Due to this Worldwide media finally caught wind of GamerGate and even the FBI began an active investigation into the mass shooting threat.

The war know has two sides: Feminists and GamerGaters but what if I told you they were fighting for the same cause? It's preposterous to think, right? Gamergaters are actively attacking women in the gaming industry and even those who want the same ends (I think by this point it's safe to say these guys have no clue what they're doing). But now the can of worms has been opened and the eyes of the world are watching this war we are far from the end, more people are yet to be attacked and more damage is yet to be done to the video game industry. And finally we are yet to see the identity of the "gamer" called into question as well as the ethics of gaming journalism but we'll save all of that until later...

#quinnspiracy #GamerGate