Brace yourself, because there’s really no way to prepare you for how terrible this song is.
The lyrics are a bit difficult to figure out using, you know, your ears, so watch this in fullscreen mode so you can read them.
And no, this isn’t a joke. It’s a serious song made by serious #GamerGaters on 8chan. See this thread, or the GamerGareSings Twitter, for more details.
They are hard at work on more of these. A lot more. Here are a couple of works-in-progress. Put them in your ears if you dare.
Do they have a GamerGate version of Bohemian Rhapsody? Why yes, they do.
Do they have one dedicated to their imaginary girlfriend, Vivian James? Why yes, they do.
Wash all of this out of your brain with some awesome music from Kiss!
If only Kiss really did sound like this. If only the GamerGaters sounded like this!
@cupisnique
A dude (was it Dan Golding? I can’t even keep track any more) wrote an article titled “Gamers are Dead”, or something along those lines. Leigh Alexander wrote a similar article around the same time, and even though she never used the phrase “gamers are dead”, GamerGate decided that:
a.) She did write “Gamers Are Dead”
b.) She meant that they are literally dead
c.) Being called literally dead is an insult of the highest orderer and something to get really, really angry about
They simply cannot get over it. They genuinely believe that they are oppressed by the very notion that they are no longer the sole target market of video games, and that some game journalists are merely suggesting that maybe the industry doesn’t need to cater directly to them 100% of the time. And thus, GamerGate.
I don’t know who this “RamTheDragon” is but…by God, I just want them to stop…
That is bad. But this is worse. Somehow, Paul Elam must be behind it.
http://youtu.be/GgU2LEPdpMc
What would they do if they couldn’t play their precious vidya for a month? If they couldn’t look at their circlejerk forums? Would they develop as humans? Is that even possible at this point? How are they so unbelievably butthurt over a hobby? I just don’t understand. I just don’t understand.
What’s really disturbing is if it’s not parody, it just drives home how detached from reality they are. Everything is a game. It’s about raids and taking out bosses. I mean, I play games but I never think of the real world as a game (except when I contemplate painting my cat like Pikachu).
I think Vivian James should be rescued from that song as well.
Wow. The lack of self-awareness of these guys is staggering. And I’m pretty sure that Jonathan Coulton wouldn’t be all that supportive of their “cause.”
They’re unable to comprehend Art – it’s why they think Anita Sarkeesian’s videos are “redfems subverting the industry” when, really, a person is pointing out fictional tropes that can be seen as sexist given their context.
It was particularly aggravating when fans of characters like Zelda and Peach acted personally insulted (nevermind characterization never came into her analysis) and were dumb enough assholes to claim that: 1) her views on the damsels in distress tropes reflected her views towards real people, and 2) she’s “totally wrong” about either being damsels in distress.
Obviously neither of them make sense, but what can one expect? They’re unable to analyze fiction on any intellectual level and almost entirely about how it made them personally feel. Anyone who actually appreciates Art in a cerebral way wouldn’t send you death and rape threats for coming up with a critique they disagree with – they’d simply explain why they disagree, like a decent human being.
Augh! Portal is a feminist game! All the characters are women! GladOS is literally a rendition of Venus, suspended upside-down, and the story is about her ensnarement within an institution. Portal (and its sequel) is *thick* with feminist symbolism and thought. They picked probably the *least* sensible song to ape.
I made it exactly five seconds into the video before I noped out. Terrible lyrics, tone deaf in more ways than one, and a mockery of an amazing game and ending song.
So glad my browser can’t handle the song-cloud embeds…
re:Still Alive parody
For the record, a member of Anonymous/Project Chanology [NotAnonymousGreenie] did a version first (w later approval from Valve) during the 2008 protests against Scientology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSN1eHKRTOE
The fact Gamergaters, a cancer of the Internet, are co-opting Anonymous tactics and memes makes me want to SCREAM.
I liked the line where they pretended to be insulted by people calling them cis men.
There’s the editor’s introduction to Zoe Quinn’s Cracked article that so beautifully sums it up:
vbillings:
Earlier today, I saw a gator use the actual words “when we win at GG”. It was probably the most telling tweet I’ve seen so far.
Oh my god, SHREDS! 😀
This meme is 7 years old and every Portal meme was run into the ground within 12 months of the game’s release. Not only is this thing incomprehensible (and probably just preaching to the choir) but it’s a riff on a song that’s years past its prime in terms of popularity.
Re: sponsors
I think the Gators are trying to do to various gaming journalism sites what was done to Glenn Beck on Fox News. If the parent company finds it difficult to find anyone willing to advertise on their website (or during Beck’s program) it becomes uneconomic for those websites (or Beck) to exist (or remain on air). Basically, you use economics to shut down your opposition. They have had some limited success with Intel removing ads from some websites. It doesn’t seem to have gone much further, though.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/03/tech/gaming-gadgets/intel-ad-gamasutra/
Thank god for a mute button. There’s something to be said about every single lyric in the damn song. They call themselves fakes, portray themselves as a group not morally equipped to handle the power they hold, and admit to doxxing just in the first verse.
And if they made a mistake about who the “you” referred to in the first verse, it still doesn’t make sense because they claim that “you” made a neat game and “you” made shit games. Plus they practically take glee in the doxx info with the line “So we’re GLAD we got spurned. Think of all the shit we learned ’bout the journos who are still alive.”
Fucking creepy, that juxtaposition of journos (who they think are corrupte) with death and with doxxing.
They seriously care more about aping the original song than making any sort of sense. They apparently can’t write lyrics that expand beyond one-liners, so the overall messages are completely scrambled or way too self-aware to be on purpose.
How could anyone listen to this and think it was a good idea?
The thing is no company is going to fall for that shit again. The marketing people at Adobe and Intel got far more shit for seeming to cave to GG than they did from GG for the original “offences”. Marketing people in these big companies talk to one another about the industry and events within it (OMG COLLUSION!!~!~!~!) so they now know the tricks that are being used to make GG seem like a bigger demographic force than they actually are. A sad side effect of this fiasco is that companies are going to be much more skeptical of “consumer feedback” in the future.
A few links related to this:
Mozilla’s chairwoman says writing about GamerGate was “a mistake”
How Brands Should React To GamerGate: Don’t
Brand management after Operation Disrespectful Nod: A Brave New World
For real. They picked a theme song from a character that was visually designed to represent a bound and gagged, upside down woman. Sums up their movement better than they thought.
@Scildfreja, the amazing thing is that ‘SJW’ themes and approaches are ALREADY part and parcel of games – even the AAA blockbuster titles they jizz over – and they don’t get it. Assassin’s Creed IV, for example, where Our Pale Male Hero treats an escape black slave as a respected equal, has discussions about white privilege, respects and teams up with women pirates without treating them as potential romances or feeling friendzoned, and where the bad guys are slavers. Or Saints Row IV, a loud cars loud showoff boobs and bullets game that lets you make your character as a fat black lesbian and the game is exactly the same Or heck, every BioWare game. (Does this mean these games are free of problems? Of course not; and the industry has a long way to go – but look at where the trend is going.) Games like the new Duke Nukem which explicitly catered to the type of guys who want an unapologetic phallocentricityfest? Not so good on the sales.
Meanwhile, GGers are bleating because they’re afraid someone will get gay radfem cooties all over their latest boring Call of Duty knockoff. They’ve already lost. They just don’t want to admit it, because they can’t grasp that real life does not have Undo or Reset to Saved Game options.
Holy jesus monkey on moonbounce shoes on a trampoline on mars.
They have something like 75 other parody songs in the works. You can see a list of them from the “song info doc” in the 8chan thread. Each one has links to the lyrics, and every single one I clicked on was awful.
There was a parody of Mulan’s “Reflections” that actually included the line “I will sniff your farts.”
Say what you want about gamergate, but they can fucking mobilize to create a whole mountain of excrement in record time.
On top of the, er, ‘creativity’ of twisting a couple of lines from a song that was overplayed virtually before it was even released, sung from the perspective of an amoral villain, I just want to voice my opinion that calling games “vidya” is the stupidest thing ever.
Actually that’s a good point. How well do the games that cater specifically to the insecure wannabe bro’s with an epic sense of entitlement sell? Duke Nukem is one and apparently that didn’t exactly light up the sales charts. What about other games aimed at a similar demographic? And how do those games sell in comparison to games that were specifically targeted at an audience that wants strong female and POC characters, interesting storylines, and so on?
Companies want to make money, so if there’s more profit to be made from catering to the evil SJW crowd than there is to be made catering to the angry Fedorakin, well, there’s your answer in terms of how likely gamergate is to get anywhere.
Tinyorc, yeah, the tweet I saw about Anita Sarkeesian being in her “monster form” was what made the epiphany for me. Like, guys, she’s not Ganon. She’s a human being. That’s the most upsetting part for me. I love games, and these people are making them terrifying.