Worlds are colliding: Roosh Valizadeh, the reactionary, woman-hating pick-up guru, is starting a #GamerGate inspired game site, just as #GamerGate itself is descending into a morass of mutual recriminations and generalized douchebaggery.
Reaxxion – the title presumably a reference to Roosh’s neo-reactionary political views – doesn’t seem to have officially launched yet, but it is up, and looking a bit threadbare at the moment, with only a handful of articles posted yet. Billed as “a safe space for gamers who support #gamergate,” the site is an obvious attempt to cash in on #GamerGate anger. Roosh’s timing is a little less than perfect; he’s jumping aboard this money train as it seems to be derailing.
Roosh introduces the site in a post that is one of the most inadvertently ridiculous things he’s ever written. He begins by introducing himself, boasting about the page views his sites generate. And then he writes this amazing paragraph:
I have written well over one million words, but less than 2,000 of those have been taken out of context to paint me as an extremist, misogynist, and rapist, accusations that my friends, family, and women I’ve had relationships with can’t understand. I must state that I have never once committed assault against a woman or been accused of assault, but … such accusations are being used as weapons to marginalize speech.
Well, since he brings it up, I might as well quote the 311 of his words that have been, er, “taken out of context” to “paint [him]” as a rapist. In his ebook Bang Iceland, he recalls one of these. er, bangs:
While walking to my place, I realized how drunk she was. In America, having sex with her would have been rape, since she legally couldn’t give her consent. It didn’t help matters that I was relatively sober, but I can’t say I cared or even hesitated. I won’t rationalize my actions, but having sex is what I do.
The context for this passage? A book offering men advice on how best to manipulate women into bed, in Iceland.
Anyway, back to Roosh’s amazing little introduction. After some more complaints about the alleged evils of the SJWs, Roosh drops this little confession:
I’m not a gamer
I’m starting a video game site even though I haven’t played video games seriously since the year 2000 (Starcraft was my jam). I don’t even play mobile games. I won’t blow smoke up your ass by pretending I’m a gamer or have a deep commitment in furthering game technology.
Huh. A dude who couldn’t give two shits about gaming is starting a site to capitalize on #GamerGate. ETHICS, yo!
So why, aside from sheer opportunism, is Roosh starting the site? Well, as he sees it, he’s doing it to stand up for the rights of the truly oppressed.
I aim to protect the interests of heterosexual Western males, a category I’m in.
How are these poor creatures being oppressed? Well, as Roosh sees it,
The far-left is trying to censor and criminalize masculine behaviors that are normal. They want to relabel consensual sex as “rape” and relabel innocent flirting as “harassment,” and as I learned with #gamergate, they’ve successfully infected the gaming industry and gaming journalist sites by damaging the very nature of gaming development to fit their extreme political agenda. So while I don’t play video games, the idea of starting a pro-#gamergate site is compatible with my overall mission.
Apparently he wants to make video gaming safe for … date rapists? Sorry, date consensual-sex-that-has-been-relabeled-as-rape-havers?
He tells the sad story of his younger brother, an actual gamer who likes games with stories to them. If the evil SJWs get their way, Roosh warns, his poor brother will have to endure game narratives that include, you know, girls.
The infiltration of SJW’s into gaming may mean that my brother will have to put up with their narrative in his games. It may mean that his entertainment options become more limited because a developer was subtly threatened unless he inserted another “empowered female” in a game where such a character simply doesn’t fit.
We wouldn’t want to limit his brother’s choices, huh? Like the choices available in Grand Theft Auto V, in which players can switch between three different protagonists, none of whom are icky females.
Roosh acknowledges that he’s got an ideology of his own, but assures readers that he won’t impose it on them like those terrible SJWs do.
[I]f you don’t don’t agree with ROK, that’s fine, because Reaxxion will not try to jam ideology down your throat like the existing gaming sites. We won’t tell you to go to the gym and live in Eastern Europe to sleep with thin women, behaviors that I currently engage in.
But dudes, you totally should go to the gym and move to Eastern Europe to sleep with thin women instead of those uppity Western fatties. Just sayin.
Heck, Roosh’s site is so committed to not shoving ideology down anyone’s throat that it has a special page setting forth a list of prescribed “Reaxxion Community Beliefs,” which include:
1. Men do not become more violent, sexist, or racist because they play video games.Gamers should not be shamed for a hobby that does not cause harm to others.
And:
7. Heterosexual men should not be shamed for enjoying things designed to appeal to heterosexual men. There is non-harmful entertainment value in traditional story lines involving masculine men and feminine women.
Gosh, nothing ideological here!
And since Roosh isn’t going to try to push his ideology on anyone, his site will presumably extend its welcome mat to everyone, huh?
Oh, wait.
Our goal is simple: create a safe space for heterosexual males who play video games. We won’t exclude homosexuals or attractive women from commenting on our articles, and we sincerely hope they find value in what we have to say, but understand that this site will be written by male gamers for male gamers.
Oh.
It aims to be a place where men can be themselves without SJW infiltration, judgement, and influence. In the year 2014, surprisingly, there are very few spaces for men online where their message isn’t attacked by white knights, man-haters, and SJW’s. I know an unmet need when I see one.
Finally, men’s voices will at last be heard!
And unlike some gaming site, Roosh’s Reaxxion will be all about ethics. Heck, he’s even got an official Ethics Policy setting forth how totes ethical his site will be. For example, he pledges that Reaxxion
won’t attempt to ruin individuals or companies. Any critical story is based on facts and properly sourced. We don’t publish articles with the intent to incite a mob.
So, no ruining or mob-inciting. I guess that’s better than the alternative.
We don’t bully, harass, threaten, SWAT, or dox anyone. Contact us if you see such activity in the comments.
Wait, what? You feel the need to announce publicly that you won’t SWAT people? That is, you won’t maliciously call 911 and report an imaginary crime in order to get a SWAT team sent to your victim’s house? Is this something that happens at other game sites? I mean, does Kotaku regularly send SWAT teams to harass makers of games they don’t like?
We will not publish clickbait with the intent to outrage. Authors will have 100% belief in what they write. Contributors who are found to be “trolling” will be blacklisted.
Yes, the dude behind Return of Kings, the publisher of pieces declaring that tattooed women are “broken” and offering “5 Reasons To Date A Girl With An Eating Disorder” is telling us that he’s not going to publish “clickbait with the intent to outrage.”
Anyway, Roosh apparently feels he’s got all he needs to run a totally kickass gaming site for cool dudes. He’s got a publisher – himself – who knows nothing about gaming. He’s got that ethics policy. He’s got a stable of expert writers … oh, wait, about that. Apparently he might be a little light on writers.
[S]end us your submissions. We want you to inject your DNA, your ideas, and your stories into Reaxxion. Instead of trying to silence you like the other sites, we want to make your voice louder, even if you are not a “professional journalist.”
Yeah, there’s no possible way Roosh’s site could turn into a complete fiasco that embarrasses everyone involved in it. Or is there?
Well, everyone involved would have to be capable of feeling shame and I can’t see that happening
Also Final Fantasy VII? Really? That game’s dated pretty badly. That’s the kind of choice that someone who hasn’t played anything made in the 21st century would pick oh wait sorry that’s what Roosh said in his opening manifesto.
Yeah, that “top 3 OF ALL TIEM” is definitely frozen in a PlayStation-era mindset. It’d be like saying that “The Crow” or “The Matrix” is the best action film ever; sure, they’re solid (and maybe even groundbreaking) movies, but …
I would also be a dissenter, and further, for my money, those aren’t even the best games in their respective series. Link to the Past over Ocarina, MGS3 over MGS1, FF9 over FF7…
OH SHIT Y’ALL, NEW TOP THREE.
What a dopey f’n idea. Let’s take this vast library of video games and arbitrarily decide what the best three are. While we’re at it, let’s do the best three movies, songs, and books of all time. Only three!
Pardon my vitriol, but that kind of tripe seems like an exercise for the intellectually bankrupt. I wouldn’t even want to try naming the top three movies/game/songs/books in a variety of genres, much less try what these gooblords are up to.
@Kim,
Sure, I take your point. Some of the early criticism of Destiny has been that it does not have a strong central narrative and is not very character driven. While I get that this is important for some people, I tend not to gravitate to the kind of gameplay and this aspect of the game does not bother me. However, I do think that the ability to design a character to look like yourself or to look however you want is a great addition to the game and much better than having a static character that will only appeal to a portion of players.
Am I the only one who reads Roosh’s stupid site name as Relaxation?
*gasp* Someone doesn’t like Ocarina of Time! SJW IDEOLOGUES! OPPRESSION! PREPARE TO BE DOXXED! ANITA SARKEESIAN DEMON HORDES! QUINNSPIRACY AT IT AGAIN!!!
I love Ocarina Of Time (except for THAT FUCKING WATER TEMPLE ARGHBLARGHWORDS), but Twilight Princess is my favourite. Which reminds me, I need to replay both and Wind Waker before the Majora’s Mask remake comes out…
… Yeah, I have nothing to add to the discussion about Rooshbag’s scam, but Zelda is almost as much of an MtSJR Signal as Portal is. =P
@Mwa
Oh totally – every game of that has character creation should have lots of options. I certainly like RPG style games (WoW and Skyrim have claimed a lot of my time). I just hope they don’t stop there where it’s relatively easy – I know it will take a while for other games because of the inertia of the industry similar to what is holding hollywood back.
“The infiltration of SJW’s into gaming may mean that my brother will have to put up with their narrative in his games. It may mean that his entertainment options become more limited because a developer was subtly threatened unless he inserted another “empowered female” in a game where such a character simply doesn’t fit.”
It’s an absolute epidemic! I once played this game and I was an absolute badass who killed all the things, because I am a MANLY MAN of MANLINESS who kills all the things, but then at the end of it they said I was a guuuurrrrrlll! It was called “Met”-somthing, “Metra”? “Metrol?”
And there was this other game where they tried to tell me women could climb and shoot t-rexes and raid tombs. I was so offended I shut the playstation down after I completely finished the game and found all the secret area’s.
Goddamn SJW’s, infiltrating games and founding some of the most popular franchises in history just so they can push their narrative.
“Snrk. Yeah. Gamergate is starting to resemble a game of Dwarf Fortress in the early stages of a tantrum spiral.”
Urist McGamer has gone berserk! “It’s all about ethics in Dwarf Journalism!”
Although to be fair, Dwarf Ethics prevent them from butchering and eating sentient creatures, which makes them significantly more consistent and well-defined than GamerGate Ethics.
I loooooove Ocarina of Time but to be honest I lean more towards Majoras Mask. That game is one of a kind. Twilight Princess is a great game, but not quite as great.
Btw, two very VERY underrated Zelda games are Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages.
I loooooove Ocarina of Time but to be honest I lean more towards Majoras Mask. That game is one of a kind. Twilight Princess is a great game, but not quite as great.
Btw, two very VERY underrated Zelda games are Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages.
Suddenly I have an idea for a game: Hygiene Quest.
These degenerates never cease to amaze me. They really do believe that they are victims. It boggles the mind…I’m just…..
I currently have more than 100 games on my Steam account and have been playing video games since I got my first Commodore 64 more than 30 years ago. … I say this not to brag, but to deflect any hate.
I’ve only ever played the first Zelda game.
Please don’t hit me.
OMG! Hygiene Quest! Brilliant.
“The infiltration of SJW’s into gaming may mean that my brother will have to put up with their narrative in his games. It may mean that his entertainment options become more limited because a developer was subtly threatened unless he inserted another “empowered female” in a game where such a character simply doesn’t fit.”
Because the kinds of games that cater to a primarily dudebro audience are SO well-known for their deep, character-driven storytelling, that would SO negatively impact the overall entertainment value of the game if a randomly selected half of the NPC models were palette-swapped to look like women, amirite?
Yeah somehow I think the GGers would call any 1) story-based game 2) where an empowered woman character made sense “not real gaming.”
Hygiene Quest!
But that would still exclude poor Rooshy. There isn’t a setting easy enough for him to play.
Really real HardCoreGamerz apparently don’t have the skills to move past twitch-shooters.
I’ve been gaming since the they “ported” Space Invaders to the PET 2001,and these guys are boring me. Gaming has never been “male” territory, and I’ll be damned if these shitweasels are going to ruin gaming
Hygiene Quest would confuse them… first they’d need to look it up on Wikipedia. How about one where they play one of their own neurons, looking for company?
Isn’t Roosh the one who wrote about what à pain it is to maintain his personal hygiene just for women, like clipping fingernails and wiping his own ass?? I know its here somewhere, maybe filed under ‘entitled babies but certainly under PUA. Definitely not ready for Hygiene Quest.
And kittehserf, the name reminds me of some men’s shower gel with matching aftershave that smells like a combination of sweat socks and kerosene.
In not terrible video game news, I was playing Wasteland 2 recently, and I noticed something really small that struck me as pretty cool: Many of the descriptions of characters will explicitly point out that a certain character is white. You know, “Colonel Jones is a tall, scraggly-bearded, white man who looks like he’s seen the underside of too many bar stools.”
Small tiny thing, but I liked that. Not the default.
Um, Doosh? I believe the word you’re looking for is “harmless”. “Non-harmful” sounds awkward, and the “non” is easily dropped. It’s kind of like advertising a can of tomatoes with “Fewer Insect Eggs” on the label.
Also, what is the entertainment value of boring, traditional roles? I was going to type something more insightful, but the whole topic is just so eye-glazingly BORING.
But hey! Rooshie has some tacky “bang” books to sell the Cheeto-eaters, who probably haven’t been out of Grandma’s basement in a dog’s age. No doubt he expects to make a killing, and sees this as the perfect intersection of their otherwise divergent interests.
I guess the world really isn’t ready for a first-person asswiper.
kittehserf and zennurse – Reaxxion sounds to me like some douchey brand of extreme gum, with flavors like “Icy Ball Bearing” and “Citrus Vortex”.
Though it could also be an irritating rash caused by contact with Axe body spray (and its clientele).
I love Windwaker. I really like the open-world exploration and nooks and crannies to discover. I also like Pokemon, which is the JRPG that has gotten me the most attached to my parties (I really like Johto for similar reasons to Windwaker, but Unova is based on NYC and has a lot of Pokemon I like). Fire Emblem is great for its large casts of characters that all get development, I’m fond of visual novel-style games like Ace Attorney and Dangan Ronpa, and I’m rambling aren’t I. I don’t really like FPS games, so I guess I’m not a real gamer, even though my DS library is huge and not even the totality of all my games.
What about unattractive homosexuals?