Thoughts on gamergate

[metroid composite]

Sorry, but can you expand on what you found enlightening about the youtube video you posted?

Sure, and this gets a little bit into LGBT psychology.  LGBT is presented to the outside world as a united front, but there's a pecking order of how people are treated, who gets privilege, etc.  Gay men get more rights than lesbians.  Bisexuals get...in some ways more rights, in that they can "marry straight" but they end up disliked and resented by both gay and straight groups.  All three groups look down on trans.  Trans itself is not uniform in terms of rights.  Crossdressers get less rights than people who transition.  Trans people amount of human rights depends heavily on appearance.  And you can argue that appearance opens doors for everyone not just trans people, but not to the same degree; not on the level of kicking someone out of a restaurant or avoiding physical violence.

Grace had a serious inferiority complex.  She felt she was simply of a lesser caste than the famous women.  She found it hard to believe that they might have a rough life and be facing discrimination; she felt they had everything.  (They were born into a female body; how easy life must be for them).  And not entirely without reason--she most likely did not have the same level of privilege.  This opened up the possibility for resentment and ultimately dehumanization, not unlike the resentment leading to dehumanization you might have seen in, say, the French Revolution.

Of course, the reality, which she would later realize, is that their level of privilege is not as high as she thought it was.  The reality was that she faced online sexism as well, and didn't recognize it at the time or misinterpreted it as transphobia.  (She at some points makes the claim that online sexism is as bad or possibly worse than online transphobia).

But as with a lot of things in gamergate, perceptions, even if they are false perceptions not based on facts, can and have driven people to action.

[Cotigo]

Hm. Thanks for clarifying. It helps contextualize the video quite a bit.

[metroid composite]

So...one of the arguments within gamergate is whether or not games are political.  Which leads to me seeing links like this:

http://www.polygon.com/2014/12/12/7380831/UNICEF-video-game-stunt-south-sudan

I kinda do want that to be a real game, though. >_>


EDIT: couple more things I'll toss into these post for long term bookmarking.

Gamergate propaganda imagery (they are remarkably good at propaganda):
http://imgur.com/a/wHQbG/#5

David Jaffe criticizes gamergate from a different angle--namely that the leaderless structure makes engaging in conversation basically impossible, to the point that it's almost impossible to bring to the negotiation table:
http://nichegamer.net/2014/12/david-jaffe-interview-ethics-censorship-and-gamergate/

[metroid composite]

Chan culture writings, the revenge of the resurrection!  This time I was told by someone in gamergate that Man in Black's storify misses some finer points of the culture and I should read this.  Doesn't change my opinion too much, although there's more information I did not know:

http://kazerad.tumblr.com/tagged/anon-cultures/chrono

[metroid composite]

Was following this story from the start; glad it had a happy ending, because oh god when KiA turned on her it got pretty ugly:

http://www.reddit.com/r/GamerGhazi/comments/2pj6lt/why_i_left_gamergate_a_trans_womans_perspective/

For something a little more lighthearted:

http://i.imgur.com/gvfRDdA.png

[metroid composite]

Pretty good article as a response to people who get super offended by feminist criticism.

http://www.themarysue.com/its-ok-to-not-be-offended/

[metroid composite]

Brianna Wu on where she's going with all of this moving forward (basically plans to stop talking about it and giving the movement any attention):

http://spacechannel6.com/post/105699852558/our-tactics-for-gamergate-are-outdated

[metroid composite]

Nothing really to see here, just doing some of my own independent verification.

http://i.imgur.com/KukuEE3.jpg

Someone was claiming some of the tweets in here are falsified.  Let's see what I can find.

https://twitter.com/TheQuinnspiracy/status/439557804123095040
https://twitter.com/tfycapitalists/status/439560493250801664
https://twitter.com/AGBear/status/439561284024295424

https://twitter.com/legobutts/status/439563661967761409
https://twitter.com/TheQuinnspiracy/status/439564964102037504
https://twitter.com/thequinnspiracy/status/439565409780383744
https://twitter.com/thequinnspiracy/status/439565723996655616

Mmmm...some of these seem to only be retweeted, or things she replied to.  Which is...moderately dishonest but not hugely inaccurate.


EDIT: and in some ethics, 10 issues gamergate is not covering:

https://medium.com/the-internet-made-me-do-it/10-big-ethical-issues-in-video-games-that-gamergate-wont-touch-7a6884de87d0

[Grefter]

http://www.reddit.com/r/GamerGhazi/comments/2q5tt5/kia_is_losing_their_shit/

Fuck it, link straight to a Ghazi thread about it.  People defend 8chan in its entirety because it hosts the main forum of Gamergate.  People don't realize they you don't need to go all in on this shit.  Thread involves a guy losing all faith in the movement because he actually gives a fuck about children.

[Excal]

Yeah, the guy who did the article sure did a hit piece on 8-chan, but never once mentioned Gamergate as part of it.  Not stopping GG from throwing a fit at anyone linking to the article, or anyone within their own movement who think that child porn is bad.

On a side note, the guy who wrote the piece has been doxxed.

[metroid composite]

The good news is that a small number of them are speaking up...like this guy who got massively downvoted, told he was wrong:

http://imgur.com/eGyQFuE

And went to Ghazi to post "I didn't sign up for that sort of shit."  There's definitely quite a few who are leaving over this.

[Cotigo]

But guys we shouldn't be slamming proGG posters because they have some legit complaints

Attacking the other side won't get us anywhere. We should focus on the issues and not the people.

So lets open a dialogue with these people who are defending a board that hosts CP.

Because both sides have legitimate complaints.

Now if you'll excuse me I believe I ned to clean out my ears with a knife.

[NotMiki]

You don't HAVE to look at the trainwreck.  Hey look!  Flowers!  Sunshine!  Right outside your window!

EDIT: Just for the Zennys

[Excal]

To be fair to the people who said such things, I never expected Gators to sink this low and I've been pretty angry at their little movement since I found out what they were.  The only reason I can believe this is even happening is because I have seen it with my own eyes.

[metroid composite]

Yeah, going to second Excal here.  Early in the movement, I was genuinely giving them a chance, partially because there was so much misinformation, and partially because the people I spoke to seemed sincere, and partially because Totalbiscuit was a sensible spokesperson, so I could legit listen to him and think "well there are some crazy people in the movement, but Totabliscuit's demands are the demands of the sane people...and if it's like any normal group the sane people will vastly outnumber a few crazies."

But they have somehow gone steadily downhill from there.  Totabiscuit leaving, and there being no moderates to fill in for him (or at least no moderates with any appreciable amount of reach) was really the end of any sense of legitimacy they once had.

I didn't expect them to team up with Jack Thompson.
I didn't expect them to harass a woman over her dying dog or maybe I might have, but I wouldn't expect that harassment to go all the way to the top with their most legitimate reporter joining in.
I didn't expect them to defend child pornography, and to unironically ask the question What's wrong with nazis?  What's wrong with encouraging people to commit suicide?


EDIT: ladies and gentlemen, the great and wonderful feminist organization The Fine Young Capitalists:
http://thefineyoungcapitalists.tumblr.com/post/106016631460/how-do-you-feel-about-gamergate-now-outspokenly
"Not our problem"

[metroid composite]

Good video summarizing the ethics in journalism claims out of gamergate; nothing especially new here, just in video format.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy9bisUIP3w

[Fenrir]

Wait why is CP even an abbreviation?
Jesus Christ.



Unrelated but I went to see 8chan. There's a suicide related board where you get banned for posting anything anti suicide like
"Hey you could do X instead of trying to kill yourself" *USER WAS PERMA BANNED FOR THIS POST*
Some dude went "Hey guys I could make you disappear! PM me!" and some were like "Uuuh k but no torture allright" and the guy was like "Yeah yeah allright"

Some guy tried to not masturbate for 150 days on a motivation forum, here is everything that happened:
- He was thinking about sex all the time
- His work was a lot worse because he was perpetually horny
- He only saw women as vessels to get sex
- He got laid way more because he really was desperate for sex
- He broke the rules and masturbated once, and immediately began to have "beta thoughts" like seeing women as fellow humans
- He had premature ejaculation now
His conclusion: Totally awesome guys, because more sex

[Grefter]

So it is more easily lost in sea of acronyms by search engines.

[Dark Holy Elf]

I read Fenrir's post and I was all "I have no idea what CP even means". Now I put two and two together and I wish I hadn't.

[metroid composite]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CULPtbETOL8

Mike Cernovich and Chris Kluwe are debating right now.

EDIT: Archive of the debate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CULPtbETOL8

EDIT: gamergate felt they had lost the debate and...now Chris Kluwe has been doxxed:

http://www.reddit.com/r/GamerGhazi/comments/2qwb0y/chris_kluwe_has_been_doxxed/

[metroid composite]

A man in black's writings on chan culture, now in article form:

http://boingboing.net/2014/12/31/how-imageboard-culture-shaped.html

EDIT: just storing this here mostly; Arthur Chu is a really good writer:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/03/cover-ups-and-concern-trolls-actually-it-s-about-ethics-in-suicide-journalism.html

EDIT2: this article is also quite good:

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2015/01/why_gamergate_failed_a_look_back_at_2014s_most_ridiculous_movement.php

[Hunter Sopko]

Probably one of the better articles I've read about this ongoing subject.

http://www.newstatesman.com/laurie-penny/on-nerd-entitlement-rebel-alliance-empire

[metroid composite]

Meanwhile, Intel budgets $300 million for diversity, cites gamergate

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/technology/intel-budgets-300-million-for-diversity.html?_r=0

In October, though, Intel unwittingly became a villain in a controversy over the treatment of women in gaming, which has come to be known as GamerGate. A loose-knit brigade of Internet users lobbied the company to pull an advertising campaign on the game website Gamasutra because it had run an essay attacking the male dominance of games culture.

Intel, which was caught off guard by the ensuing controversy over its actions, eventually resumed advertising on the site. Mr. Krzanich said he used the incident as an opportunity to think more deeply about the broader issue of diversity in the tech industry. The issue resonated with him personally.

“I have two daughters of my own coming up on college age,” he said. “I want them to have a world that’s got equal opportunity for them.”

Also cites FeministFrequency directly (along side other feminist advocacy groups.  I'll vouch for the Anita Borg institute and the Grace Hopper conference at a glance):

https://twitter.com/smashtic/status/552642918255562753

EDIT2: and apparently some people on Ghazi were informed this was coming months ago
http://i.imgur.com/UPhhctw.jpg?1


EDIT: something old, but a rebuttal to the hour-long videos calling Zoe Quinn an emotional abuser:
https://medium.com/@Buttulism/the-tools-of-the-enemy-15c282c71132

[Lady Door]

Total tangent, but I am tired of the parent argument coming into play when advocating for change. Don't get me wrong; I'm glad to have support for change no matter what the reason for it (well, almost no matter the reason - intent does matter).

Why does this stuff only happen because "I have two daughters"? Why not want it because, you know, women are people too? Why does it take until it's personal to see that there's little reason not to lift everyone up and even less to put them down just because they're different? :|

I haven't heard a peep about GamerGate in my circles since the massive info-dump about it weeks back. I'm a little sad it's so quickly dissipated in my own damn office of gamers, but hey, I'm working for a company that is 40 men and 11 women, 3 of which are in admin/HR, 3 in marketing/PR, and only 1 of which is an engineer.

[Excal]

Given what they're up to these days, not talking about them while they're dying is probably for the best.