GamerGate: Gaming's Angry Summer part 3

From the safety of Twitter and 4chan the GamerGaters were ready to launch more attacks against independent female game developers. Other than Phil Fish the group only attacked women in this campaign and this is strange considering I told you last time they were fighting for the same ends as the feminist groups they attacked! they both wanted gender equality in gaming and yet were, in effect, at war with each other! Well, before we get there we still have three more prolific victims to look at first...

Brianna Wu was an independent game designer and co-owner of the game studio Giant Spacekat. She too saw her home address and personal information leaked online after she mocked GamerGate, she then became the victim of death threats on Twitter and 8chan. Despite fleeing her home with her husband she made a stance against the threats to her saying that she will not be silenced. She announced an $11,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of her attackers and even set up a legal fund to help developers who have been harassed online! Harassments such as "swatting" (which is a horrible act that I will make a separate post about, but for the purpose of this post just know that it has serious implications for people being "swatted"!) which was coordinated on 8chan. By April 2015 Wu had dozens of documented death threats and Silicon Valley investor Marc Andreesen offered a $10,000 for information leading to the conviction of those involved in the threats. Finally we're seeing steps in the right direction! Brianna Wu finally making a stand against the GamerGaters but we still have a long way before we can resolve this war. Giant Spacekat withdrew from the PAX East 2015 Expo Hall after the management of the event failed to return her calls. But Wu had yet more to gain, her work had gained the attention of the public and Giant Spacekat's first game: Revolution 60, saw a huge increase in sales! However, Wu went on record saying that the financial benefits of these increased sales didn't outweigh the huge expenses to combat the harassments.

The next prolific victim was actress Felicia Day who wrote on her blog of her fears of GamerGate retalliation if she spoke out against the vile campaign. As a result her home address was posted in the comments of that blog post (comments in a blog?! What kind of black magic is this?!). But she isn't the only famous face to have spoken out against GamerGate, actor Wil Wheaton and former NFL player Chris Kluwe also posted crticisms. But they didn't get any backlash from GamerGaters. And finally the third prolific victim was popular YouTuber Boogie2988 who had his home address leaked in the comments of his video n the subject with a threat to his wife's life! But this wasn't the GamerGate supporters, a third faction in this war has emerged! Anti-GamerGaters have joined the war and are devoted to attacking GamerGaters by threatening their lives! So know we have a three sided war with unfortunate souls like Boogie 2988 caught in the crossfire. GamerGaters ans feminists fighting for the same cause but still at war with each other, could it be that the Anti-GamerGaters are supporting the side to restrict gender equality in gaming? Who do we side with? We're caught in a crossfire as is the video game industry. Every side wanting something but won't be happy with the result. Think back in history to the Treaty of Versailles, the Big Three (Four if you count Italy but we'll stick to three because that way it paralles this situation better) all unhappy with the resulting Treaty. France wanting it harsher and both Britain and the US thinking that it was too harsh (but only a bit too harsh for the Britiain). Where do we go from here? Where does my false E.T. review come in? Did 4chan actually do anything? Twitter did but much too late! All of this in the coming posts as we continue to try and wrap our heads around the whole affair!

#GamerGate #quinnspiracy