"Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

[Christopher]

I will say this for KiA: I have what I consider to be a distressingly/embarrassingly high amount of reddit karma points on KiA, which I have gotten entirely from posts strangling budding conspiracy theories in their infancy. I know it's a waste of my time and a pointless game of whack-a-mole, but it is possible to get through, change their narrative, and have them reward you for it with meaningless reddit points under the following conditions:

 

(1) You post within an hour of so of the OP, before a crazy narrative builds up. Once they've internalized something into their core belief system, it's too late.

(2) You write like a Vulcan, because reddit culture rewards a certain tone of "this-is-just-pure-logic" that is actually total bullshit but they eat it up.

(3) You just stick to factual corrections and don't mention that not only is this particular conspiracy about Anita Sarkeesian/Brianna Wu/Zoe Quinn wrong, but also that you think hate against Anita Sarkeesian/Brianna Wu/Zoe Quinn is misdirected in general. (This is really just a subset of the first point, which is that you can't challenge their core beliefs.)

 

Just to be clear, this is an absolutely pointless exercise and I know it. But sometimes when I glance over there to see what new insanity is building up, I give in to the urge to prune some conspiracy or another before it builds into a new harassment narrative. It can be done, but the timing has to be right and you have to learn to speak their language. It's kind of a shuffling deck chairs on the titanic situation though, because they're incredibly resistant to challenges to their core narrative.

 

None of this works on 8chan, obviously, where group consensus is created by who shouts the loudest and most frequently. There is a really significant cultural split between them in that way. A post debunking a conspiracy that might have been the most upvoted on a KiA thread gets shouted down and ignored 8chan.

 

. . . please nobody waste their time interacting with these people like I do, it's not worth it . . . 

[Akidu]

Thats interesting Christopher. Do you think there are many people who might not be as fanatical over there? I wonder if they could be convinced otherwise under the right conditions. 

[softmachine]

Well, I know that I'm not going to be the one to write a piece that magically ends gamergate but it is such a bummer waking up everyday and finding out this is still going on, it really makes you wish you could do something to help, even if it's only a little.

 

But yeah, even I lost faith on my idea after browsing KiA for a little bit, superficially it looks a lot better than 8chan but at a closer look, it's really not that different. 

 

 

Why, you must be a fellow German! :)

 

Brazilian, actually. 

[Mangela Lansbury]

But yeah, even I lost faith on my idea after browsing KiA for a little bit, superficially it looks a lot better than 8chan but at a closer look, it's really not that different. 

 

You can only see so many people say "top kek" about "shrill harpies" in games journalism in a thread about how feminist GG is before you just stop differentiating between the two.

[Christopher]

Thats interesting Christopher. Do you think there are many people who might not be as fanatical over there? I wonder if they could be convinced otherwise under the right conditions. 

 

I don't think they're less fanatical. I just think reddit culture is susceptible to a certain rhetorical style that makes it easier to mount a very specific kind of debunking. But it's precisely that same weakness to this rhetorical style that also makes it a hotbed for women-in-games-with-red-lines.pngs presented as insurmountable evidence of collusion. Stuff like this frequently rises to the top of the subreddit, for example:

 

[PSA] I am tired of our opponents claiming the favorable coverage of Quinn was debunked time and time again. Don't let them rewrite history. Whenever they try to polish that turd of a tale, drop this image on their heads.

 

No group who sees three words in a steam press release and Nathan Grayson providing a second hand quote from Zoe Quinn from another article as evidence of corruption is capable of being convinced. I'm being honest when I say that it's a total waste of my time. The core belief systems of being oppressed by ess-jay-dubyahs is so ingrained that the best you can do is stop one particular conspiracy theory from taking off in one specific instance. But like Remo said in the Idle Thumbs cast on this, it's like a hydra of misinformation where new heads just sprout up, no matter how many you cut off. 

[Merus]

I remember that Jeremy Parish would frequently canvas vox pops from the personal forum he runs. This is basically the same thing, except that Depression Quest is a genuinely notable game and so calling it a 'standout' is accurate. It is a standout. It's a Twine game on Steam.

[Deadpan]

I'm continually amazed that they seem to think that to avoid personal relationships influencing your writing, you apparently have to pretend the person in question and their work don't even exist. I mean, it's hardly uncouth to mention that Quinn made Depression Quest, even the worst of GG tends to agree that it is her game.

 

It's not like we can cover X giving a talk or Y showing off a new game and then claim that the stage was empty just because we talked to this person before. I keep imagining pictures of crowded halls at E3 or something with captions about Microsoft giving a press conference in front of NOBODY, NOBODY AT ALL, THERE WAS NOBODY THERE, NO NO.

[Gormongous]

I'm continually amazed that they seem to think that to avoid personal relationships influencing your writing, you apparently have to pretend the person in question and their work don't even exist. I mean, it's hardly uncouth to mention that Quinn made Depression Quest, even the worst of GG tends to agree that it is her game.

 

It's not like we can cover X giving a talk or Y showing off a new game and then claim that the stage was empty just because we talked to this person before. I keep imagining pictures of crowded halls at E3 or something with captions about Microsoft giving a press conference in front of NOBODY, NOBODY AT ALL, THERE WAS NOBODY THERE, NO NO.

 

Ah, that's why the mainstream gaming press is so enthusiastic when a triple-A game comes out, even if it's been reported to death for years in advance. To preserve their impartiality, they had to suppress the memories of all those previews and interviews after writing them, so it's a huge surprise for them when this massive game comes out. GTA V, with three characters and forty-nine square miles, who knew! Where'd it even come from?

 

On a less keen note of ridicule, it really is bizarre to have so many people demand repeatedly that journalists not use anything that could possibly result in superior coverage of games. No personal relationships allowed, no fancy writing allowed, no critical frameworks allowed, no references from other games or media allowed, no overlooked titles or perspectives allowed... Seriously, when will journalists get the hint that their job just entails rewriting press releases in long form for previews and feature lists in long form for reviews?

[Deadpan]

Not even rewriting them, really. At the height of this, there was this site promising straight access to the unassailable truth of press releases, launched by people who were seemingly surprised to learn that such things exist and they had wasted their time reading critical news sources instead of listening directly to marketing departments. I wish I could remember what it was called, but I lost track of all the terrible "gonna fix games journalism" sites that sprung up in the last six months.

[Vainamoinen]

No group who sees three words in a steam press release and Nathan Grayson providing a second hand quote from Zoe Quinn from another article as evidence of corruption is capable of being convinced.

 

Worst. corruption. performance. ever.

[Apple Cider]

I commend you Christopher but if that's how you want to use your free time, go for it. I could not even come close to being assed to go onto Reddit given the site's penchant for subreddits that also fondly like to talk about how to abuse women.

[BigJKO]

This is the first time I notice toblix is in the Depression Quest credits. Why aren't you a notorious GG target by now, toblix? Is it because you're secretly a GG spy?

 

I'm onto you.

[Vainamoinen]

Heh, was just thinking about taking the latest Sarkeesian video right to a gater forum. "Hey, look, she's talking about games she likes, about positive examples, in a whole new series of gaming positivity!"

 

That certainly would have exposed a lot of bigotry, but would have helped no one. :(

 

Yet here it is for your enjoyment. In my personal opinion, it's a good one and a great pick, and I say that with ample dislike for Sword & Sworcery's gameplay.

 

[Problem Machine]

Apparently Randi Harper got swatted today. I gather the only reason they didn't come in weapons-ready is because she filed a report about possible swatting beforehand.

Scary shit.

[Vainamoinen]

Another round of talking about remote terrorism instead of the issues in video games. Congrats, gaters.

 

Your guide to classifying gater replies:

 

"Gamergate didn't cause that" — max. gater IQ 70 points

"It wasn't gamergate people" — max. gater IQ 55 points 

"This is unrelated to gamergate" — max. gater IQ 40 points

 

FUCK GAMERGATE. That is all.

[Denial]

I wish I could remember what it was called, but I lost track of all the terrible "gonna fix games journalism" sites that sprung up in the last six months.

 

AttackonGamers, maybe? I think I remember seeing a tweet from those guys saying "I've been neglecting my journalistic practice while watching YouTube videos. Time to put up some press releases!" and basically dying inside forever... Although TBH that is basically what a lot of sites do, either directly or with a minor overwrite, so it seems a lot more benign, in a keeps-them-off-the-streets way, that the conspiracy theorising and unsourced accusations of other parts of the Gamergate Press. 

[Irishjohn]

Randi Harper and Boogie had a bit of an interaction on twitter where he was attempting to show support but she had to point out that his mentioning of her alone drives lots of terrible people to her feed.

 

Not sure what that guy is up to; last time I checked he was one of those guys who genuinely completely misunderstood gamergate and was pushing the "we want better games journalism" angle. It was a bummer, but at least he's pointing out SWATting is terrible. Kind of a low bar, I guess...

Although it's weird, his tweet against SWATting basically argued it's bad because it puts the cops in danger as well as the target. Then again, it's a little unfair to be nitpicking on individual tweets, especially when the intention seems to be good.

[Merus]

Another round of talking about remote terrorism instead of the issues in video games. Congrats, gaters.

 

Your guide to classifying gater replies:

 

"Gamergate didn't cause that" — max. gater IQ 70 points

"It wasn't gamergate people" — max. gater IQ 55 points 

"This is unrelated to gamergate" — max. gater IQ 40 points

 

FUCK GAMERGATE. That is all.

 

I'm going to be the buzzkill here: quite apart from all the other problems with IQ, implying that gamergaters can be classified by their IQ does disservice to the mentally disabled who can work out pretty easily that things like Gamergate is wrong. Gamergaters aren't disabled, they're fuckwits.

[JonCole]

It's getting increasingly hard to follow all of these things, from what I understand the whole Randi Harper saga from yesterday is actually a lot longer and just terminated with doxxing stuff. This is my perceived timeline of the events -

1. Sophia Banks, a trans lady, was calling out Chobitcoin, a cis (or maybe self-hating trans? I have no idea) female GGer, for being a rapist. Apparently Banks was told by a friend of hers that Chobitcoin had raped a trans person (this part is easily the hardest for me to understand, as I have no knowledge of any of these events and everything surrounding it is hearsay). Also, it's pretty clear to me that Chobitcoin is pretty transphobic which adds another dynamic to this thing.
2. Randi subtweeted Banks, saying that it's bad to accuse someone of rape without evidence.
3. Banks responded, saying that requiring evidence of rape plays into the rape culture that oppresses all women.
4. Many feminists saw this as Randi supporting a transphobic person supporting rape culture, thus backlash.
5. Randi doubled down, rebuffing pretty much any anti-GGer who had a problem with what she did.
6. Somebody doxxed Randi, who the hell that would be is a mystery to me. It could just as easily be a crazy aGG, a spiteful GG, a false flag GG trying to shit on aGG, etc.

Anyways, while I'm obviously against SWATing and doxxing, my perception is that Randi did some bad shit yesterday that is kinda being overshadowed by the clearly tragic, incredibly predictable other bad shit that happened to her. What significance this has is beyond me, but I feel it's worth knowing if you want to actually parse this whole thing.

[Christopher]

Not sure what that guy is up to; last time I checked he was one of those guys who genuinely completely misunderstood gamergate and was pushing the "we want better games journalism" angle. 

 

You're giving him too much credit. Last fall he was up in 8chan posting with the scum of the earth in heinous threads primarily dedicated to harassing Quinn/Sarkeesian/Wu, for the explicit purpose of giving the movement moral support. Yes, it's an anonymous message board, but he was so sure that he wanted everyone to know he was doing that that he verified that it was really him on his twitter feed. Total Biscuit did it it too. I watched both of these things happen in real time.

 

Both of them knew exactly what this was, and always have since the beginning. The only real credit you can give Boogie is that he has tried to distance himself from it because it was a terrible fit for his "I'm-a-nice-guy" persona, whereas it's a perfect fit for TB's "Bill-O'Reily-of-video-games" persona.

[Deadpan]

it seems a lot more benign, in a keeps-them-off-the-streets way, that the conspiracy theorising and unsourced accusations of other parts of the Gamergate Press. 

 

It's certainly a better use of their time than some of the other stuff they get up to, but those sites contribute to abuse of writers either by openly using people under the pretense of getting paid later or by just copying what they've seen on big sites as if they could compete on news writing. In a sense, this is getting angry at people for not realizing immediately what I had to spend some time learning too, but then that wisdom is already out there and here's a movement that's really doubling down on sticking their fingers in their ears and ignoring anything people who are part of the "system" have to say.

[Apple Cider]

Chobitcoin posted a pic of herself with an assault rifle in the #TransDayofVisibility and joked about making it #TransDayofRemembrance , not to put too fine a point on it. 

[Merus]

I don't get the sense that Harper is defending Chobitcoin for any reason other than she's being accused online under semi-dubious circumstances. Like, she's willing to demonstrate that she's awful, isn't that enough?

 

This is one of the reasons why I think 'I don't like what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it' is bullshit in practice: there is no appropriate response for words we believe cause harm to society, because we cannot, in practice, differentiate between words we think should not be said that we're still going to allow to do harm and words we think should not be said that we want to keep unsaid.

[Gaizokubanou]

Clearly not all 'speech' are equal (not talking about values before I get quoted out of context )... like imperative statements are closer to action than say, normative statements.  I think distinctions can be made through those categories.

[Reyturner]

Anyways, while I'm obviously against SWATing and doxxing, my perception is that Randi did some bad shit yesterday that is kinda being overshadowed by the clearly tragic, incredibly predictable other bad shit that happened to her. What significance this has is beyond me, but I feel it's worth knowing if you want to actually parse this whole thing.

 

Wait, what bad shit did Randi do?