"Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

[Ben X]

I'm surprised she hasn't already used her connections in the Hernandez-Riendeau Cabal to become the sole host and change it into a Misandry 'Cast.

 

IDisLikE beingundermensTHUMBS

[Nachimir]

I spent some of the past day idly dipping into 4chan's "investigation". It is a weird nest of people arguing correlating their way to conclusions they've already drawn, and it very frequently dives right back into raking through people's personal lives. It's mostly sad to see, and occasionally funny: seeing a meticulously compiled imgur of twitter screenshots detailing who follows who on Twitter, and among the excited responses seeing "wow, the conspirators are inept as fuck!"

 

I'm sad at how fucked up it all is: in their crusade for "ethics", the methods of any of them working in public are mostly like toddlers finger painting, but in terms of the effects their actions might have on anyone, nothing is off limits. Speculation about who is doing what with whose genitals seems to be one of their primary methods. It has a sufficient dedicated mass of users that people work on it around the clock, and it has narratives in place that allow it to vigorously feed on itself if denied coverage or other forms of validation. The only light I've seen is that the most unhinged people also seem to be the most dedicated, probably making it inevitable that gamergate's long term adherents will be a self-marginalising group.

 

Yesterday they attempted Twitter flooding with loads of new/alt accounts, and it failed. I got approached by some and they were like creepy evangelists who opened with "do you like video games?" Today, the top search results for #gamergate are a bunch of jokes about it.

[Gormongous]

I'm sad at how fucked up it all is: in their crusade for "ethics", the methods of any of them working in public are mostly like toddlers finger painting, but in terms of the effects their actions might have on anyone, nothing is off limits. Speculation about who is doing what with whose genitals seems to be one of their primary methods.

 

I'm really curious about the fixation on sex. Is it because fictional media has taught them that corruption manifests itself primarily through sex, because they are inexperienced with sex and therefore mistrust it, because it's one of the easiest things to allege but one of the harder things to prove, or because of some other cause I haven't imagined? Actually, I'm sure it's any combination of the aforesaid for any one person.

[neonrev]

Personally, if crazy people are going to create these things about anyone they need to do it at a more legible resolution. I'm getting tired to straining my eyes to see what fresh insanity the day brings. Also of the days at this point. 

[Nachimir]

I'm really curious about the fixation on sex. Is it because

 

I don't know. I even saw a video response to this open letter which began with reading it out, misgendering the author as a woman, then straight into "It's interesting that if you look down the list of signatories, you'll see that Zoe hasn't signed it yet. I'm not saying she won't, just that as of now she hasn't. Not that this is all about her, but that's definitely interesting" then hamfistedly shifts into "Now lets go back to the text of this letter and unpack all of the things I find problematic in it".

 

Also:

 

 

 

it continues, and while trying to unpack why social justice isn't bad but why they hate people who want it, they're tantalisingly on the cusp of renaming themselves SJW+

 

Then there's this where one of them panics about their beliefs not attracting left-wing people.

 

Unless hackers feed them more private information, I can't see this group growing or doing anything other than losing momentum. They have no plausible promise to group members. Their stated fight has little connection to reality, is mostly being fed by wingnuts, exhibits an extreme "means justify the end" attitude, and spends a lot of its energy trying to rhetorically contort away from the actual obsessions and ideology underlying it. The wingnut beliefs will get stronger as they're starved coverage, but the group will get much smaller.

 

If you make games and ever speak about feminism, social justice, etc., secure your stuff if you haven't already.

[Merus]

I haven't been approached by any, but if I do, I'm going to try and piss them off by bringing up the Boston Marathon bomber. 4chan doesn't like Reddit, so I bet I can piss a couple of them off of reminding them when their hated also-fuckwit rivals thought they'd do some investigation and circlejerked themselves into identifying an innocent man who wasn't even involved.

 

The fixation on sex is, I think, MRA influence.

[BigJKO]

Also:

 

 

 

Hahahahaha!! Wow! Where are you getting this stuff?!

 

     

[Jordan A]

Come gather round children, it's high time ye learns;

'Bout a hero named "gamer" and a devil named "journs."

[Nachimir]

DMed. It's not that hard to find, but I'm not posting the link because leaving it out for potential trolling won't do any good.

[Hermie]

Yeah, from the people obsessing about the sex people do and do not have, it often comes down to them seeing sex as a commodity. They see wheel tracks and hoofprints, and think "Hmm, clearly someone has put the cart in front of the horse here."  

 

Like, either these people have a relationship to further their "agenda" through the other person, or they are two people who are passionate about the same subject, and therefore connect on an emotional level. 

 

I wonder, as Merus, if these people are the same that go outside and only see women as a collection of parts to do sex to? That would explain how the second option above is inconceivable to them. 

[Nachimir]

It'll fall apart really soon, but that doesn't negate the most committed members as a threat to peoples privacy and safety.

 

A friend reminded me of this in response to those chat screengrabs: 

 

[JonCole]

I like how they're seemingly surprised that their movement is attracting only right-wing support, as though the basis of their "movement" isn't conservative bordering on fascist to begin with.

[Hermie]

I like how they're seemingly surprised that their movement is attracting only right-wing support, as though the basis of their "movement" isn't conservative bordering on fascist to begin with.

 

Yeah, I'm still unsure what they're trying to save "vidya" from. Diversity? Criticism? "having an opinion"?

 

 

 

From the guy wondering about the term SJW, it sounds like they're not quite sure either, just that it needs saving...

[Denial]

I'm really curious about the fixation on sex. Is it because fictional media has taught them that corruption manifests itself primarily through sex, because they are inexperienced with sex and therefore mistrust it, because it's one of the easiest things to allege but one of the harder things to prove, or because of some other cause I haven't imagined? 

 

Well, finance is difficult. Like, Gamsutra is owned by UBM Techweb . UBM also runs GDC. Look! The same organisation is paying journalists to write about developers, _and_ putting on an event which depends for its success on the attendance of developers!

 

If you wanted to build a conspiracy theory based on that, it would be childishly simple. But the people who are trying to build their brands on this stuff - the anonymous YouTubers and the basement-level bloggers - a) don't have the tools to put that together (which in this case basically means the focus to click on a few links) and b ) don't have any interest in doing so, and know that their audience has no interest in trying to follow that stuff.

[Twig]

From the guy wondering about the term SJW, it sounds like they're not quite sure either, just that it needs saving...

I can answer this!

 

They believe that the vidya (god is that really a word people use) are being corrupted by the SJW conspiracy. That includes things like this Zoe Quinn "she had sex with journalists!!" nonsense, as well as the general "SJWs are ruining games by making them what they shouldn't be", and what they should be is basically the vidya for the people who already play the vidya. There's a vast conspiracy! SJWs don't actually care about the vidya; they only want to bring down anyone who likes the vidya!

 

I think I got that right. I believe it's a combination of a bunch of white dudes afraid of change, afraid that the types of video games that exist today will go away, combined with a bunch of MRAs afraid of women, afraid that the matriarchy will come into power and murder all men.

[BigJKO]

Vidya!

 

[Hermie]

Heh, Denial just reminded me that some of the websites that are being "scrutinized"; Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer and VG247, are all owned by the company called "Gamer Network".

 

They have a similar "conspiracy" in that they also run EGX and Rezzed. If you want to talk conflict of interest, start there. 

 

 

(Conclusion: Nachimir is bias, don't trust him.)

[clyde]

It would be funny (but also potentially dangerous) if some of the female game-journalist started using their twitter account for an ARG intentionally since it's being read that way. I don't know what an appropriate final clue could lead to that would make them question what their gnarled priorities though.

[Nachimir]

Heh, Denial just reminded me that some of the websites that are being "scrutinized"; Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer and VG247, are all owned by the company called "Gamer Network".

 

They have a similar "conspiracy" in that they also run EGX and Rezzed. If you want to talk conflict of interest, start there. 

 

 

(Conclusion: Nachimir is bias, don't trust him.)

 

Haha! But am I biased full time, or just for the two times a year they hire me as a freelance curator? Also: Eurogamer/Gamer Network having "Gamer" in their names must be a very clever bluff set up many years ago.

 

Note: Gamer Network don't own RPS, they just handle ad sales for them.

[clyde]

I'm starting to think that additional disclosures of potential conflicts of interest wouldn't slow the invasion of privacy and mobbing. It's the thrill of the hunt. If journalists did provide additional disclosures, young sherlocks-in-training would just circle them in red, write "SEE!" beside it, and post.

I wonder if an actual ARG would fill their voids. Or maybe ARGs are exacerbating all this in the first place. Maybe they are addicted to the magical realism and agency of interactive viral marketing.

[Merus]

Make the ARG lead back to 4chan.

[JonCole]

ARG for Depression Quest 2.

[Nachimir]

[singlespace]

Look at the scandal the geniuses have uncovered now. Where will the corruption end?

 

What's the claimed potential downside? I don't understand the logic behind that one.

[James]

I'm really curious about the fixation on sex.

Could it be that the totally non-sexist medium they're so valiantly defending has left them ill-equipped to conceive of women in any other context?