Welcome back, my friends, to the harassment that never ends.
It’s not news that GamerGate is fading – the media hubbub has died down, and the last I checked the volume of Tweets to the #GamerGate hashtag has dropped to only about a fifth of what it was in its glory days.
But it’s too soon to say it’s over. Because while the number of Gaters has shrunk, the harassment of GamerGate’s targets goes on, and on, and on. Indeed, for the three “Literally Whos” who’ve been the central targets of #GamerGate harassment little has changed. The death threats, the rape threats, the insults, the harassing Tweets and comments and emails and phone calls all continue.
And then the Gaters accuse the “Literally Whos” of faking their harassment in a bid for sympathy and cash.
Let’s look at each in turn:
1) Anita Sarkeesian
Sarkeesian, the cultural critic whose harassment started years ago when she first announced her plans to make a video series on sexism in video games, recently posted a week’s worth of harassing and threatening Tweets directed at her; there were more than a hundred of them, including numerous death and rape threats, suggestions that she kill herself in the most painful way possible, and assorted other abusive comments bristling with hatred and misogynsitic slurs.
2) Zoe Quinn
As Sarkeesian sorts through her Twitter notifications, game developer Zoe Quinn tries to figure out how to continue her life and her career in the face of unrelenting and irrational hostility and harassment. In an eloquent meditation on the subject on her blog, she writes
I’ve been trying to take a day to just be a regular person, recenter myself, and have the energy to get back to work with the same enthusiasm I tend to have, but every attempt gets cut short by some fresh, new, horrible news about someone trying to get into my accounts, a new asinine conspiracy theory being used as an excuse to dox people I went to high school with, friends freaking out because anonymous message board people are talking about how to mail them bombs, or just another death threat. At least the death threats have become somewhat routine.
Stalked by a restless mob of haters, she’s constantly under the microscope, her every utterance picked at by her critics looking for anything they can use as fodder for their increasingly baroque and fanciful conspiracy theories; as she puts it, she’s faces, every day, “a mob of Nerd McCarthyists nipping at your heels and spinning up TMZ-style blog posts every time you fart.”
Indeed, Quinn recently found herself accused of terrorism for making a joke on Twitter suggesting she planned on “burning hollywood to the ground” if an upcoming episode of Law & Order SVU loosely based on GamerGate ends up having a victim-blaming plot twist.
Do these people honestly believe that Quinn is really planning on burning anything to the ground? I don’t know, and I don’t think it even matters to them; it’s just another “crime” to add to Quinn’s GamerGate rap sheet.
I can only assume that GamerGate will go after the imaginary Hollywood director “Alan Smithee” next; after all, he’s credited with directing the 1998 film Burn Hollywood Burn. Come to think of it, Public Enemy had a song with that name as well.
3) Brianna Wu
Meanwhile, game developer Brianna Wu is facing an even creepier threat: a disturbed and delusional “GamerGate vigilante” who bombarded Wu with a succession of threats that alarmed her enough to contact the police – then, en route to her house, he flipped the Prius he’d stolen from his mom on an icy highway. And yes, this really happened; he posted a video of himself having a screeching meltdown on the side of the road next to a wrecked Prius balanced on its side. (I’m avoiding his name because I honestly don’t want to give him any more publicity.)
He claims that he meant Wu no harm, and merely wanted to challenge her to a “street race” to which she never agreed – apparently thinking that if he scared her enough to flee her home on her motorcycle this would count as a race.
But he also apparently sent a friend to try to “disable her comms” (communications) – the friend evidently never arrived – and tried to convince an online acquaintance with a gun to accompany him for this “op.” Thankfully, the acquaintance refused, and posted what he said was their chat to a message board devoted to trolling. An excerpt:
[2:52:07 PM] [name redacted]: SHE IS WORKING WIth the National Social Justice Party to stop gamers!!!!
[2:52:35 PM] [name redacted]: I SENT ELI UP TO DISABLE HER COMMS WE DONT HAVE MUCH TIME BEFORE SHE ASKS FOR REINFORCEMENTS THOUGH AND I NEED YOU FOR BACK UP!!
[2:52:52 PM] FlyAwayNow – Matthew.N: What? You want me to bring my rifle or what?
[2:53:05 PM] [name redacted]: YEA JUST LIKE IN PAYDAY 2 DUDE ITLL BE SICK
[2:53:36 PM] [name redacted]: IN CASE SHE SHOOTS AT MY CAR I CANT GET BULLET HOLES IN MY MOMS CAR SHE ILL KILL ME ESPECIALLY BECAUSE I STOLE IT
[2:54:10 PM] [name redacted]: WERE GONNA STREET RACE HER SHE WONT BE ABLE TO DRIVE IN THE STORM SO WE WILL BE ABLE TO WIN EASY AND TAKE YOUR RIFLE IN CASE SHE SHOOTS US TOO
[2:54:32 PM] FlyAwayNow – Matthew.N: You’re not laying a hand on my gun.
[2:54:42 PM] [name redacted]: ILL DRIVE YOU SHOOT
And now he seems to have convinced himself that Wu somehow sabotaged his car in an attempt to “assassinate” him. From his video:
I honestly don’t quite know what to make of the threatener or the threats. His behavior is so strange and erratic and almost literally unbelievable that it would be easy to dismiss him as a troll.
But then there is that wrecked Prius. And several years worth of videos on Youtube that suggest either that he’s sincere — or that’s he’s the most dedicated troll since Andy Kaufman’s fake comedian alter ego Tony Clifton, who somehow managed to survive Kaufman’s death.
Is GamerGate responsible for his actions? On the pro-GamerGate subreddit Kotaku In Action, the regulars largely dismissed the threatener as a troll; one accused Wu of being “a disgusting human” for publicizing the threat and being “so quick to paint him a Gamergate supporter.” Never mind that in the video the threatener repeatedly describes himself a “#GamerGate vigilante,” and that he would not have chosen her as a target had she not already been subject to months of vilification from GamerGate.
GamerGate, which is quick enough to take credit for charity work done in its name, shies away from taking responsibility for any of the terrible shit anyone does in its name. And in recent months many of the remaining Gaters seem to have stopped even pretending to care about the victims of GamerGate harassment. Indeed, @_icze4r, the former head of GamerGate’s much-vaunted, now-abandoned “Harassment Patrol” was one of those who egged the threatener on with a jokey supportive Tweet.
It’s a dangerous game they’re playing. As Wu notes
Someone is going to die from your recklessness if you don't look in the mirror and understand the consequences of your choices.
— Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) February 1, 2015
What any of this has to do with “ethics in video games journalism” I couldn’t tell you.
I just got finished reading up on Conners including a wiki that is solely devoted to ridiculing him. As far as I can tell, trolls have been causing him to have on camera meltdowns for at least two years. I am pretty certain that they have masqueraded as Wu both in Skype chats and through texting him. He talked about wanting to race Wu and then he received a text from a person claiming to be Wu naming a place the race would happen. From what I’ve read, he is extremely gullible AND paranoid and his rants make “sense” in this context.
After reading up on him, I don’t know whether he is a genuine threat to Wu but he talks in military jargon about running ops on her so I can see why she would be concerned. Learning that he has been a standing target for internet trolls who continually egg him on and encourage him in his conspiracy theories, I think they are both targets of online harassment.
I had to leave the KiN reddit thread. Every time people say “she’s making it up for attention” I picture a bully yelling “stop hitting yourself”. It makes me want to jump up and down on something. Just over and over and over and over. I think you can guess what.
“Holy shit, that dude is effing insane. How in the hell does he think he’s going to win a race against anything using a Prius?”
Is it really that hard to avoid ableism after it’s been mentioned once before?
@dudeinthewoods I think this guy is actually mentally ill.
@dudeinthewoods
I’m very sorry for my insensitivity. This kind of language, and this kind of mentality, has been a part of my environment for so long that I don’t at first sight notice how my words affect others. I want you to know that I sincerely have nothing against people with disabilities, mental or otherwise, especially since I have struggled with some myself. I will pay more attention to what I say in the future, but please feel free to call me out on my stupidity if I cross the line again.
http://deaglenation.tv/operation-wupoclapypse-manifesto-full-disclosure-on-gamergate/
This is another take on the events on his OWN website.
This is all very disorienting. For me personally it’s all making less sense the more I find out :/
David–would you please add “crazy” and “insane” to the comments policy? There’s a tiny chance it might stop one or two people from using it, and then threads would stop getting derailed every single time over language rules.
If not at least we could point to it and say “Shoulda read the policy.”
“http://deaglenation.tv/operation-wupoclapypse-manifesto-full-disclosure-on-gamergate/”
Oh wow.
Now I fully understand the need to avoid remote diagnoses based on internet postings. I hope I’m not stepping out of line therefore when I say this reminds me very much of a particular type of vexatious litigant we encounter in the law.
I’m not saying that this chap is like that but there is a condition called ‘querulous paranoia’ where sufferers exhibit behaviour very much like this.
If this is out of line mods, feel free to delete.
Paleo Cream Puff – thank you for that link. It was a very good look into this man’s mind.
I just don’t have enough whiskey in the house right now.
The rest of it is quite scary, but this?: “I CANT GET BULLET HOLES IN MY MOMS CAR SHE ILL KILL ME ESPECIALLY BECAUSE I STOLE IT”
I am envisaging a barely legal driver high on energy drinks. It would be funny but for all the rifle talk.
What is wrong with these deranged manchildren? Especially Mr. Crashing-My-Mommy’s-Prius-On-An-Icy-Road-Is-Obviously-An-assassination-Plot. To think that screeching cretins like this are out to hurt women over video games is mind-boggling. I’m at a loss for words.
http://www.donotlink.com/dh8f
Here’s a donotlink version of that last link. I figure some of us would like to click on it without helping this dude.
As for the link itself: Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.
This guy legitimately thinks that Brianna Wu agreed to street race him and now he’s being unfairly attacked because he “made fun of her on the internet”.
I’ve previously expressed my puzzlement as to whether MRA types actually believe what they are spouting and actually want something or whether they are purely motivated by hatred of women and a wish to see them suffer.
Having gone through some of Dave’s articles I’m now pretty much convinced the motivation is pure hatred for its own sake.
With some of the younger MRAs though I think their may be a naive belief in the ‘justness’ of their position. I’m still not sure about these two in the Wu-pocalypse link. They may be harmless fantasists BUT they set off so many red flags it would nigh on foolish not to take the risk seriously; especially bearing in mind the potential consequences.
The woman involved must be, justifiably, terrified.
If this situation is not addressed by at least performing a more thorough risk analysis (say via ‘MOSAIC’) then the outcome could be horrific and no one in authority who is aware of the background would be able to claim that such an outcome was anything but completely foreseeable.
If this were happening in England there would be action that could be taken with regard to getting the authorities involved. I hope the woman concerned is getting the best possible advice as to what steps she may be able to take in the US.
This is America. We don’t treat the mentally ill, we just throw them in prison.
“We don’t treat the mentally ill, we just throw them in prison.”
Same here, and this is from our *conservative* government’s prison minister!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31027549
Agreed, if he goes to prison he’s going to wind up horribly abused and he’ll come out in worse shape then he went in.
I see in his manifesto that he claims military service and PTSD from Iraq. Why hasn’t he or someone close to him contacted Veterans Affairs?
“Or is that what unicorns are? I was never clear about those.”
That’s still around? About a year ago some of joked about how going a day without ableism would be like finding a unicorn, it was. I think my stable had a dozen unicorns in under two weeks.
Hopefully my iPad feels like behaving and I can post an actual comment, but first — * hands whiskey to Robert*
Okay then, as one of the resident crazies around here, and a former psych major, this guy can have the psych appointment for Wendesday that I just cancelled. Actually, no. Because she’s an intern, and 30 tops, and I made a comment about it being annoying that I can’t see the door, but I guess it makes sense that the desks are on the far wall. And she commented about her it bothers her too, because it means she could end up with a big guy being dangerous and between her and the door. So no, I wouldn’t want this guy between my psych and the door! Which kinda says something — I do think a psych visit would do him some good, but the way things are set up here that’s doubtfully gonna happen.
Cuz diagnosibly mentally ill or not, there’s definitely something off here, and having someone to listen who isn’t part of the GamerGate echo chamber would likely be a good thing.
Dudeinthewoods — cuz the VA don’t care. From what I’ve heard they’re great at physical issues (like pecunium managing to lodge a glass shard in his foot), and rubbish at mental health. And there’s no pill or quick fix of PTSD, it’s pills for symptom management and talk therapy, so the VA might just be low on resources? (That PTSD comment comes from personal experience, but they’ve got are anti-anxiety drugs and a nifty off label drug to help with the nightmares)
As bizarre as the video is, the part I really can’t get over is the way the GamerGaters on Wu’s Twitter keep insisting she made it up and/or is only reporting it to get attention. They are posting this DIRECTLY UNDER THE VIDEO.
If there are unhinged dudes collecting guns and crashing stolen cars around my house because they think King Koopa told them to kill me, you’d better believe I want attention paid to that. Wouldn’t you?
Yeah I know, I’m a Canadian Vet with PTSD. Ours isn’t as bad though. I thought there might be an emergency mental health referral service or that they could at least refer him to a local support organization.
I used to volunteer for OSISS, a joint venture between VAC and DND that was supposed to provide an environment for those of us with PTSD and other stress injuries to get together and socialize. It quickly became house calls to troops in the weeds of PTSD.
It was a terrible job, DND just paid lip service to it, but it’s amazing how many former troops are out there suffering.
“the VA don’t care” I don’t think that’s true. But not enough people in Congress care. They never seem to grasp that if you have a war, you’re going to have disabled veterans. If you were going to prudent, whenever you start a war, you automatically appropriate money — barrels of it — to build new VA facilities and build up your staff to handle the cases you’re going to generate. But voting to spend taxpayer money on that is never as popular as voting to spend it for the bloated costs of the next big weapon system, part of which will be built in your district, and whose builder will be glad to contribute a small slice of their profits to your next campaign.
The VA was run by the same people who ran the Iraq War, more or less. It shouldn’t be any surprise that the results are poor.
You can make a certain argument that if you build up too much during and right after a war you’ll be too big if there’s an extended period of peace (world’s biggest IF). But then you make other plans, like community treatment facilities for outpatients, and you hire contractors. If you can fight the war, you can take care of the people who were hurt in it.
Support the Troops is great — until you have to spend money on the ones that get hurt in the process.
Wow. He’s claiming that SHE has been harassing HIM? O_O
shartheheretic
Yup. Brianna Wu has been stalking, harassing, and challenging random internet individuals to street races. All because he “made fun of her on the internet”.
And apparently she sabotaged his mom’s Prius that he stole and crashed, but didn’t want bullet holes in.
And he’s not trying to kill anyone, despite the fact he’s going on with “Operation Wupocolypse”. Nope. Not threatening at all. [/sarcasm]
The whole blog post reads like a damn conspiracy theorist’s fever dream. Apparently, Brianna Wu is a transwoman who makes lots of money because of trust funds from rich parents and they paid her way through college, and WHAAA WHAT ABOUT ME, THE DISABLED VETERAN WITH PTSD?!?!?
Wait…he has a list of things people can “take out of context” because he thinks we’re all just going to twist his words, when all we have to do is just have people read his damn blog post. The whole thing is damning.
All I can say is: This guy desperately wants attention.
“All I did was joke around about how I’d beat the crap out of you, and wave around guns while talking about how I’d like to punch you in the face! You don’t get to say if that’s threatening or not! FREEZE PEACH!”
On a related note Dave, I’d love to see you lay into Adam Baldwin’s role in GamerGate. He’s proven extremely slippery with his rationalisations and responsibility for his part in this whole shitstorm. There’s even been a recent petition to cancel his invitation to the SupaNova conventions in Australia. I’ve never seen anyone in the geek media community so actively antagonise and abuse their own fan base. He frequently links to and RTs many leading GG-ers (including Thunderf00t, InternetAristocrat, and fellow Breibart slimeball Milo Yianniopoulos), but seems to willfully evade any responsibility for his actions.