GamerGaters claim they’re on the side of truth and righteousness, but they sure do love monologuing like cartoon villains.
They claim to be shocked by alleged evidence of journalistic collusion, yet they happily plot strategies and “operations” together both in secret and in broad daylight. They claim to be about ethics, but regularly employ not-so-subtle subterfuge to try to disguise their carefully coordinated propaganda campaigns as spontaneous uprisings.
This week, GamerGaters on 8chan launched a new “operation” to win over the hearts and minds of the masses on Tumblr. And it’s as ethically bankrupt as anything they’ve ever done.
Operation Firefly, as it’s officially known, is an attempt to take the GamerGate “fight” to a “new frontier.” Tumblr. As the originator of the initiative explains it in a somewhat less-than-stirring manifesto:
In recent weeks the revolt has been getting bogged down in a stalemate. Useless drama and e-celebrity happenings are sidetracking us and sapping our strength. We’ve become demoralized and are losing momentum. …
Time for a new frontier, a new fight, a new chance to spread the truth.
Apparently, the GamerGaters are beginning to realize that their current strategy of being dicks to people on Twitter isn’t paying off quite as well as they had hoped.
While Twitter can be considered an important part of the movement, it is one of the worst places to focus our efforts. Too much time, energy, and attention is currently being wasted there. … The only things twitter is good for are out-of-context quips and angry outbursts.
Twitter is wearing us down, and it’s becoming a red herring/albatross around our neck. It’s time to use our limited resources where they will be more effective.
So they’re Tumblr-bound.
As a group we’ve done a horrible job at reaching out to others and spreading our message. That’s a problem. Instead of waiting for people to come to us, we need to go to them. That’s why we need to go to Tumblr. Going forward, only 25% of the people who are currently on Twitter should continue to post and debate there. 25% should redeploy to fight on Youtube and defend our home turf while the other 50% should go to Tumblr.
But isn’t Tumblr full of, you know, girls? Well, yes, but even this obstacle can be surmounted with some calculated pandering.
Most users on Tumblr are teenagers between 12 and 20, and most of them are girls. They are very interested in fandoms, anime, and other memes. … A good idea would be to use popular anime characters and pokemon to get the #Gamergate message out. Another idea would be to create crossover fanart with Vivian James in it.
That’s right: use an imaginary girl to win over the real girls. Just try to avoid being too logical, because, as everyone knows, girls don’t logic.
Tumblr enjoys appeals to emotion. While rational debate is important, make sure you are making it personal.
And remember to use GamerGate’s “female and minority” members as your shield! Oh, sorry, as your totally not a shield.
A major effort will be spent on pushing our female and minority voices to the forefront via #notyourshield. the goal is to discredit and debunk the narrative and shut it off at the source.
Operation Firefly doesn’t have to limit itself to the GamerGate hashtag on Tumblr. Go ahead and flood all discussions of vidya games with your propaganda. Just don’t make it too obvious, guys!
In order to be effective, you must also talk about Gamergate in other relevant hashtags, such as popular video game titles like “Mario”.
And make a bit point of pretending to be a victim. Sorry, not pretending. Authentically being a victim.
Tumblr is a different place than what you’re used to, so take time to lurk if you must. You are the victim in order to gain sympathy and support.
Remember to support your comrades!
Any time you see a pro-gg post, you need to follow the poster and reblog it in order to signal boost. This increases solidarity and cohesion. Build numbers and stay in contact with each other.
Just don’t lay it on too thick with your propagandizing, lest the Tumblrites catch on to the fact that you’re part of an invading propaganda army. Maybe reblog some kitten pics too.
It’s important to be a real person and not some faceless nobody. This means you should round out your blog by reblogging interesting content you like from other, non gamer-gate related things.
And try to lay off the scary skull imagery.
[T]umblr enjoys relatable and homely things. Consider when conveying your opinions to produce approachable and likeable art pieces. Look at the “art motivation” comics, high reblogged and non sexual fan art, cute stories and the like. …
Don’t be afraid to turn Vivian James into Hello Kitty or a pony.
When cynically setting up a throwaway blog to spread GamerGate propaganda, try to avoid looking too much like a GamerGater cynically setting up a throwaway blog to spread GamerGate propaganda.
[H]aving a profile say why you love video games, why you’re a decent person and concluding with “I am a person and I support gamergate” will show you’re human. … If you are making a new account, don’t choose a name that has anything to do with video games or gg.
Yeah, the “Tumblrinas” will never be able to figure out what’s going on.
Oh, and do your best to not make it too obvious what a hateful dickweasel you really are.
[T]alking like a cunt can be really fucking hostile even if it sharply nails the point. I get some of you guys enjoy the shitslinging language and the fuckyouisms of the prominent youtuber, but it’s not inviting. That’s not to say you have to read like a Disney script, but the language you use will be one of the deciding factors in who you appeal to.
Sounds like a foolproof plan!
On 8chan, some of the regulars put forth suggestions of their own.
CUTE KITTENS ASSEMBLE!
Meanwhile, another 8chan anon tried to convince the GamerGate invaders to ix-nay the ane-Bay memes, at least on Tumblr.
So, y’know how Bane is basically the mascot of GamerGate in the chan community? He’s a good fit: A brutal revolutionary and since he’s a Christopher Nolan character, he’s automatically a man’s man, which for some reason appeals to a community defined by their love of a sedentary hobby. …
Bane will not work on tumblr. He’s a bad guy. He’s all big and beefy and while some subset of tumblr’s mostly female audience will like him, most prefer dexterous pretty boys (hence the neverending love for Benedict Cumberpatch and David Tennant).
So what can GamerGaters do to get around the Bane ban?
[O]ur tumblr mascot needs to be Katniss. She’s in an upcoming movie which means even tumblrites with extremely short attention spans know about her. She’s a revolutionary fighting against a corrupt government. She’s a teenage girl which makes her easier for the average tumblrite to associate with her. On tumblr, GG is Katniss.
Uh oh, nobody tell Vivian James she’s got some competition.
So how is the invasion going? Well, if you go to the GamerGate tag on Tumblr, you will indeed see a bunch of GamerGate spam in it.
So by GameGate standards, I guess they are WINNING.
@wordsp1nner but tumblr porn is… really weird. Not better, just… weird.
Oh my god.
That one jackass we’ve been talking about getting exported from South East Asia, his strategy was “Tamagotchi pikachu [sexual assault].”
GG’s actual strategy that they’ve actually talked about is “Tamagotchi pikachu [SEA LIONS].”
That is kind of unbelievable.
@Puddleglum: Welcome to Tumblr, #GG. Hope you like AU furry buttsechs!
Cyberwulf: Piss off.
You know, given the overall brain melt that tumblr can be, I have to wonder how many warriors for ethical game journalism they will lose to the enemy.
@Falconer, it’s like an introduction to cyber surrealism. With body parts.
Psst, gaters: if you plaster Vivian James all over your insidious takeover, everyone will know it’s you.
I love how GGers go through the effort of making “Vivian James”, who’s supposed to be the good, safe kind of female gamer—doesn’t call them on their bullshit, doesn’t assert herself, just wants everyone to “shut up and game”—and the first thing a bunch of those idiots do is start drawing pornographic pictures of her. And not just porn, but bondage/rape/degradation porn.
How pathetic are you, that a fictional girl who was literally designed not to offend your sensibilities is still so threatening that you have to assert yourself by objectifying and degrading her?
#FreeVivianJames
She’s still the shadow of girl. That’s literally all it takes.
I don’t actually think they feel threatened by her, so much as they feel entitled to her. Which, given that she’s fictional, would not be intrinsically a problem. The problem in this instance is the part where she represents “real gamer girls” to them.
By putting her into degradation porn, they are putting “real gamer girls” into degradation porn, out of a sense of entitlement.
I said in another thread that Vivian James is a black monolith of meta, and I stand by that statement.
Puddleglum: I’m sure there are a lot of GGers who drink deep from the PUA/MRA trough and would love nothing more than to be surrounded by a bunch of Vivians.
I used to work with a woman who is a gamer, and the group of gamers that she hung out with as a teenager was horrible. Her nickname among the group was “2” because she was the second girl to join their group. Yeah, they couldn’t even call her by a real name.
That’s one of the reasons why I find the whole “Literally Who” thing so abhorrent. You really can’t dehumanize someone any more than by referring to them as if they don’t actually exist.
Vivian James can be controlled. Cartoons don’t do annoying things gamers don’t like, such as break up with men and sleep with whoever they want while focusing on their own career goals. No seriously, real women suck, amirite, duders?
But their little mascot is a revelation because she’s wearing casual street wear and not a steel thong and matching breast plates? See guys, gamers are so totally enlightened.
I really shouldn’t try to do graphics (but I can’t help myself).
https://imgflip.com/i/dyb6f
tiko72: I think they really believe that they are fighting a real war. Their endgame is to push “SJWs”, feminists, LGBTs, and anyone who doesn’t fit into their pitiful idea of what it means to be a capital-G gamer completely out of their world.
If they had their way, all of Kotakus and Escapists and IGNs would do nothing but talk about how f*cking AWESOME the new Assassin’s Creed is going to be. Pre-order the DLC and check out the outfits you can dress Bayonetta up in! Jiggle physics are awesome, lulz! Bring back booth babes! Dickwolves for everyone!
There’s a real Goofus and Gallant feel to Vivian James. She exists solely as an example of how to behave, usually juxtaposed with an example of how not to behave. Except, of course, she’s only aimed at women.
They’ve “deployed” their heads squarely betwixt their flanks. Battlefield strategy fail!
So, basically, they’re trying to invade the girls’ clubhouse in retaliation for the girls invading “their” clubhouse. But first they have to coach each other on how to pass as a decent human being, like Professor Higgins.
“When feigning pain, refrain from Bane and try not to be a shitstain.”
Buttercup – This internet, I give it to you.
Skye: I always pictured Katniss and her family as Métis. Thus her sister’s blonde hair.
tiko72: All the overblown war metaphors would be hilarious if it weren’t just so pathetic.
@Puddleglum
That’s adorable and made me laugh so much!
@Jay Elmore.
Oh definitely,It just cracks me up the way they talk about it. I wonder if they have sweating brows and the sound of crickets playing in the background while they’re planning their campaigns.
Kinda related brain bleach.
Hope that embeds.
ya know, the longer these guys go one, the more I understand the concept of salting the earth….
Tumblr is swarming with intelligent, hilarious, progressive *gasp* girls. They’re going to have to tone down their hateful language just a bit. I don’t think they’ll last very long. Plus they’re going to run smack-bang into LokiXThor fan art and run off screaming.
Haha, I’m going to get in on this action.
personally I’m just amused they don’t realize that people on tumblr have been aware of and making fun of them for months now. if they try this it’s going to be the funniest thing in the universe