By David Futrelle
I recently appeared on the Australian radio show Stop Everything to talk about the poisonous legacy of Gamergate. (You can listen to the archived episode here.) So I thought I would expand a little on some of the notes I made for myself before doing the show, and get into a little more detail on some issues I wasn’t able to talk about during the show itself.
It’s been five years since the supposed movement for “ethics in gaming journalism” began in the form of a harassment campaign against game developer Zoe Quinn. The movement, such as it was, faded out some time ago. But its unfortunate legacies live on.
So how did Gamergate poison online discourse? Let me count (some of) the ways.
One: It turned political and cultural warfare into a game.
You may remember the infamous — and much mocked — copypasta that made its way around the internet in the days of Gamergate.
They targeted gamers.
Gamers.
We’re a group of people who will sit for hours, days, even weeks on end performing some of the hardest, most mentally demanding tasks. …
These people … think calling us racist, mysoginistic, rape apologists is going to change us? We’ve been called worse things by prepubescent 10 year olds with a shitty head set. …
Gamers are competative, hard core, by nature … this is just another boss fight.
Like most people who read this overblown rant at the time– and this is a drastically shortened version — I laughed. But it turns out that people who treat cultural warfare as a game to grind away at turn out to be remarkably … persistent adversaries. Something to (sadly) keep in mind the next time you’re swarmed by sockpuppets on Twitter.
Two: Gamergate weaponized lying and bad-faith arguments, helping prepare the way for our current, and seemingly endless, “post-truth information warfare,” to borrow a phrase from New Yotk Times writer Charlie Warzel.
As Warzel points out in his recent overview of Gamergate and its legacy, the movement began with a lie — with easily disproven allegations that Zoe Quinn slept with a journalist to get a good review for one of her games. (The guy in question never reviewed her game.) And it thrived by portraying itself, dishonestly, as some sort of campaign for “ethics in gaming journalism,” when in fact it was little more than a harassment campaign writ large, an online lynch mob with memes.
Three: it helped to further blur the line between politics and harassment.
While Gamergate, in theory, was a crusade to improve game journalism ethics and, more broadly, to rid the game world of the allegedly sinister influence of so-called Social Justice Warriors, in practice it was a harassment campaign aimed mostly at a small number of women who had offended self-described Gamers in various ways.
Obviously, Gamergate didn’t invent the online pileon, or smear campaigns in general, but it did make these strategies central to a certain kind of reactionary cultural politics. It’s a small step from attacking Zoe Quinn for her alleged Crimes Against Gaming to attacking Brie Larson for her cultural crime of portraying a comic book superhero while female.
And you can see the legacies of Gamergate clearly in the online, er, actvism of reactionary disinformation warriors like Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec who have launched sometimes remarkably successful smear campaigns against political foes ranging from Hillary Clinton to John Podesta. It’s hard to imagine Pizzagate and QAnon taking off as they have without Gamergate.
Four: It weaponized white male nostalgia for a past that never was.
Gamergaters regularly hearkened back to what they saw as a lost utopia – the days when gaming was allegedly a “safe space” for (mostly white) male geeks ostracized by the larger society. Never mind that girls and women (and people of color) have always been a large part of the gaming world. Never mind that putting playable female characters in some video games is hardly a threat to any male gamer (and one of the most pathetic things for grown men to become exercised over).
Five: It created a new and potentially lucrative career path for right-wing ideologues and grifters.
Who could have predicted that a weird, fringe movement as Gamergate could make so many media careers? Well, Milo Yiannopoulos, for one, and a whole host of rising YouTube stars like Carl “Sargon of Akkad” Benjamin. These new “harassment influencers” — to borrow the language of Syracuse researcher Whitney Phillips — lived lavishly on the Gamergate dole, and helped to inspire a new generation of right-wing grifters. Gamergate also helped to revitalize the flagging career of old-school ideological hacks like think-tanker Christina Hoff Sommers, who reinvented herself as the not-quite-hip-but-trying “Based Mom.”
Six: It opened the door for fascism.
In 1995, writer Umberto Eco sketched out what he saw as the essential characteristics of “Eternal Fascism.” Gamergate ticked off almost every box on Eco’s 14-point list. It was at the very least a fascist movement in embryo.
Like the original fascists, Gamergaters were driven by personal and social frustrations. They were obsessed with what Eco called “the cult of tradition” (in this case, white male nostalgia); with the “fear of difference” (in this case especially the feat of the female other); “with “the rejection of modernism (or in this case postmodernism); with the notion of “life as permanent warfare” (“they targeted gamers”).
Gamergaters worshiped “action for action’s sake.” They were forever in motion, constantly on the lookout for things to be ostentatiously offended by. They were obsessed with conspiracies, and in retrospect it seems all too obvious that they were primed to go from imagining games journalist plots to embracing outright antisemitism and the mythical notion of a Jewish scheme to lead the west into “degeneracy” through so-called “Cultural Marxism.”
I could keep going, but you get the point: Gamergate was, in its very essence, a deeply fascistic movement. It helped to bring about the revival of fascism in American and world politics today, and gave the new fascists many helpful techniques to use in promoting their brand of hate.
Gamergate takes Karl Marx’s famous pronouncement on history repeating itself and turns it on its head: It began as a farce, at least for those who were not its direct victims — but its legacy has been one of outright tragedy.
NOTE: I did a somewhat more extensive catalog of the ways Donald Trump matches up with Eco’s 14 points here. It’s a little outdated in terms of examples (I wrote it just after the 2016 election) but its general points still stand.
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@Naglfar
I think it depends on the environment. In an arena where we have the power to shut down the trolls if they get too odious, where dealing with and breaking down their shitty beliefs is the purpose of the site, engaging with them is, in my opinion, the best option. It’s a good way to learn and develop, and to display good information to lurkers.
However, we can’t forget that the trolls, too, are speaking to an audience. And in other areas, like, say, Twitter, where it’s significantly easier to consume something short, quippy, and wrong than it is to read a detailed rebuttal of a stupid argument, well… The trolls are at an advantage. And engaging with them may serve to spread their beliefs, (and bring them to the attention of The Algorithm), rather than dismantling them. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t engage with the bad-faith arguments themselves, just that involving the trolls themselves may not be the best idea.
For a better explanation, I recommend the videos made by Innuendo Studios on the alt-right playbook, specifically this one:
http://youtu.be/wmVkJvieaOA
Batgirl was clearly talking about Borderlands in the context of being “one of the most successful game franchises out there” while still being inclusive. No offense, but I have heard of Borderlands, but have never heard of The Longest Journey until now.
And to discount the work of the men and women who have worked on the Borderlands series solely due to the shitty behavior of their CEO is rather disrespectful. Who’s shooting the messenger here?
Cool! You managed to get verifiable proof that the not a single line of source code for the game was written, and not a single art asset for the game was ever created?
@Naglfar: Anita said in the beginning that she wasn’t a fan of video games and she said right after the Boogie incident that she just used gaming as a vehicle for social justice. I don’t care anyway, I still see these women as grifters. One sad thing is that Anita won’t even pay Carolyn Petit a living wage, she’s working for Anita on a volunteer basis. So that’s another trans person at risk, and being gay myself, I actually feel bad for her.
As of now, I don’t support harassment of Anita, Zoe or any other people involved with GamerGate. I make the choice whether to buy a game and that’s it. I do think part of the problem is gaming becoming too mainstream but diversity isn’t the problem, it’s games becoming extremely dumbed down and the overload of microtransactions.
Most people that were involved with GamerGate on both sides are largely irrelevant and I hope it stays that way. I actually prefer it that GamerGate has died down. Some people are trying to resurrect it like the guy that wrote this article, but too many people are freaking out about Trump for the majority to care, so.
A Noyd…
It’s probably been said already, seeing the number of comments… but WoW was really a friendlier sphere than most. MMORPG’s have had a very broad fanbase compared to most games.
Just saying, you might be surprised. No one but old WoWheads will be playing classic 🙂
@Jim
Maybe this will clear things up, if you actually read it. In case you don’t feel like clicking over, I’ll quote it here:
If Carolyn is working on a volunteer basis, it’s because she chose to volunteer. Anita didn’t enslave her. Carolyn is a freelance journalist, much like David Futrelle, and make her own choices. Oddly, I see a lot of people make this argument that Carolyn is not being paid, but Carolyn herself has never complained to my knowledge.
Then maybe you should stop supporting a movement that existed to harass them.
If it’s so irrelevant and you hope it remains so, why are you still here? If you prefer that it died down, why are you still trying to defend it?
Did you actually read the article or post or anything Futrelle has written about GamerGate? He’s most definitely not trying to resurrect it.
Video games have always been mainstream, you dingus. I had an NES in the early 90’s when I was a kid and I literally only knew one kid that didn’t have one and wasn’t interested in getting one. Everyone played Nintendo. The nerds, the cool kids, girls, boys, everyone. You are not special because you like video games and you never were. If you want to be special, I’m sorry, but you and your fellow gators are just going to have to actually do something special.
Anyway, here’s the full debunking of the “actually it’s about ethics in games journalism/actually it’s about censorship” talking point.
https://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/2014/09/08/zoe-quinns-screenshots-of-4chans-dirty-tricks-were-just-the-appetizer-heres-the-first-course-of-the-dinner-directly-from-the-irc-log/
You’ll notice that this post is 5 years old.
You’re getting wank gifs because we already refuted your tired ass arguments a long time ago. There’s no need to revisit it all. But if you want an intelligent argument, there you go. Read the post, read the linked IRC logs and read the comments. I know you won’t, but it only took me a minute to find it. Sorry, you lose.
You wanker.
Cool. I can only assume that by adding the preposition of “as of now” to this statement, that you previously did support the harassment of the targets of gamergate. And that you are aware that they were harassed.
And yet you claimed that nothing bad happened to them? Do you not consider harassment something bad?
@Jim
How does it feel to know that people like you have made her famous?
@Catalpa I supported debate, not harassment. Anita refused to debate anyone so that may have intensified the harassment, who knows?
I’m not gonna keep on speaking on this anyway because it’s a years old controversy. Like I said, all the people involved in GamerGate are at the end of their careers and rightly so. I guess people like Anita got what they supposedly wanted, games can’t really have sex in them anymore. That being said, I don’t think that was Anita’s aim anyway, he goal was to make money lol.
I care about gaming going forward and right now the gaming industry is in a state. It’s not like gaming going as mainstream as it is has made it better. Smaller studios and devs are the only ones doing anything interesting.
< Grognard> Son, I’m old enough to remember when you lot stole the term ‘gamer’ from us, on account of you were the mainstream, and we were still a buncha nerds. Now that we’ve gone mainstream too, y’all’s complaints about how ‘gamers’ are treated sound even more hollow and weaksauce. ‘Us’ here is tabletop rpg/wargame players, the original gamers. And, while there’s absolutely no question that gamer culture has has a lotta problems with misogyny and racism, we’re actively working to address those, and the pissants who want to keep on being bigots are increasingly relegated to the fringes of tabletop gaming. And tabletop gamers have greeted their increasing presence in the mainstream by actively seeking to be more inclusive. So, basically, shut your N00b mouth about how gamers are treated, now or in the past. </ Grognard>
@Jim
Debate on what exactly? You’re still blaming Anita for her harassment. She refused to debate her attackers because they weren’t willing to hear her side and didn’t care. Case in point: did you actually watch all 18 Tropes vs Women in Video Games videos? If not, how is that a debate? A debate where you don’t listen to the other side is not a debate, it’s a rant.
Actually, Anita’s book is still selling and she still has a podcast, as well as numerous public speaking gigs. Zoë now has a comic publishing company and Brianna has taken up politics. It doesn’t seem their careers are over by any stretch.
That isn’t what Anita wanted in the first place. She wanted games to feature better representations of women. Which you would know if you actually watched her videos rather than Sargon or Thunderf00t’s deliberate misrepresentations.
I don’t think that was her goal, but you and your fellow Gaters definitely helped her in that regard.
Interesting, then, that two of the main targets of GamerGate were indie developers. If you actually care about small studios and devs, stop attacking them.
Then maybe stop speaking on it.
Nobody is entitled to a debate just because they want one. Nobody is required to debate tedious bigots in order to be taken seriously.
Who gives a flying fuck if you wanted Anita to debate Gamergaters? And no, harassment is not appropriate punishment for refusing to debate someone.
If you don’t like videos critiquing sexist tropes in videogames, don’t watch them. Problem solved.
Yes, responding five times in less than twenty-fours hours totally shows that you’re not responding. (And don’t care.)
As does responding twice after you said this:
And yet we’re still responding. It’s like you don’t want to have a debate.
Of course, dear. We believe you. (And it has nothing to do with the fact that you haven’t been able to refute a single point anyone’s made in this thread.)
Bless your heart.
Incorrect. The Witcher 3 is a game that had plenty of sex in it, and it’s been incredibly popular and well received, to the point that they’re developing a tv series off of the games (and the books).
Not that sex in video games is something that was the point of either gamergate or Anita’s analysis.
@Hippodameia Oh I think I have refuted plenty. Again, I’m not the sad act that posted this blog 5 years after GamerGate. I honestly don’t know why I did respond, because you lot tend to be the most braindead, unable to think for yourself humans on this earth. I’ve not said anything untrue, and I’ve not said anything particularly offensive, but it still sends anyone responding to me here foaming at the mouth.
@Jim
You are correct that you are not a successful journalist. You are the sad act who is trying to troll here but persuading no one.
I don’t know why you did either. Maybe you confused this blog with r/KotakuInAction.
I think you just described GamerGaters and the political right as a whole pretty well. We’re not the ones making the same erroneous arguments justifying harassment 5 years later.
Except for all the things we debunked. I knew you wouldn’t read the links, but still felt there was a chance you would come to and see the error of your ways.
You repeatedly said you don’t care anymore. If that’s so, please stop trying to plead your case. We’re not buying.
@Naglfar The funny thing is, before GamerGate I wasn’t on the political right lol, I was left leaning/moderate. Liberals going batshit crazy basically made me switch from supporting Democrats to supporting Republicans. I know y’all like to pretend like GGs were radicalized, but if it anyone did the radicalizing it was SJWs.
I don’t give a damn about Quinn or Sarkeesian. As of now their careers are over. They’re no longer largely relevant and are only hanging on to their last little bit of fame given to them by people through pity.
Again, y’all, as in the left, love to inject politics into everything, including entertainment. I guess you think it will pull more people over to your “side,” but sadly all it’s ever really done is ostrasize people further.
I’m only responding now because I think it’s funny, not because I actually think I’ll get anything coherent or rational from y’all.
Well, it’s not true that GG was ever about ethics or censorship. It’s not true that gaming is only recently mainstream. It’s not true that we’re foaming at the mouth. Trust me, bro. If we were really mad, you’d know it.
@Jim
Nobody has ever kept you from posting a response video to any of the Gamergate targets. Actually, thousands of those have been posted. Most of them were not worth taking seriously.
At this very moment, Steam is selling literal Hentai games on the storefront! On what Planet are you currently on?
Weird that that is suddenly not OK. Whenever I complain that my games are filled to the brim with boring, same-face and model-body characters, I always hear that it’s OK because companies want to make money and sexy characters sell. Double standard there?
Then why do you know so incredibly little about it? Gaming has been “mainstream” ever since the SNES came into everyone’s home, arguably earlier.
Huge gaming studios ruining stuff isn’t new either. Do you remember Bullfrog? Westwood? Yeah, big companies eating up the small ones isn’t some “new development” and Gamergate sure as heck didn’t boycott Infogrames for dragging Atari’s name through the mud. Hey, where are you guys now, when it turns out all those companies are abusing the heck out of their programmers? Gonna demand “debate” from 2K Games for working their programmers to death?
And if you like small studios so much, hey, Zoe Quinn is a pretty small developer, right?
I think you responded because your ego is bruised because it turned out, you were the asshole in this case.
I actually believe that you believe every single word you say. You’re just so hilariously wrong in every conceivable way
Ooh, Jim’s even done the “I wasn’t a right-wing troll until you leftists FORCED me to become one.”
Sure you were, Jimbo. I find that as plausible as your claim not to care about the issue while posting every few hours.
oh yeah ,because you guys on the right never take something like the heroes of the new Star Wars movies consisting of a Woman and a black man and go on a rant about SJWs and femnazis are ruining your fandom.
Ooh. The ever popular “criticizing Nazis turned me into a Nazi!” defense.
And before you start having a tantrum over being called a Nazi, you are a gamergater, a Republican and just admitted you were radicalized. So yeah, you’re a fucking Nazi. You said you were gay, and you’re supporting a party that is currently enabling an administration that just argued that civil rights doesn’t apply to you. All because it gave you a sad that somebody made some YouTube videos critiquing video games from a feminist perspective? What the actual fuck is wrong with you? Read your history, sweetie pie. Right wing authoritarianism never, ever turns out well for gay people.
@Allandrel I mean you’ll hear that from a lot of people. Are you denying that liberals took a hard left in the last decade? I’m LGBT myself and even I know it.
@TheKND OK I should respond to this post because it was actually a decent one. You’re right, Steam has Hentai games and I’m glad, they should be able to have those games right?
Gaming has become more mainstream over the years. It became completely mainstream when Call of Duty and the Wii became a thing, so. Before that it was still niche but the PS2 began to change that, at least more so than previous generations, and that was in part because it had a cheap DVD player as part of the console.
I don’t care if games have different kinds of women. The issue is that if a mainstream game had anything “offensive” in it like so called objectification, a feminist would probably complain and have it removed. Ion Fury was just sanitized of so called homophobia, although I didn’t care myself about it until the studio decided to self censor.
My ego isn’t bruised and my views on gaming haven’t changed. I think gaming is in a shitty place right now and it’s in part because the industry is trying to appeal to too many people at once and it’s not working. Are feminists anywhere close to being the target audience right now lol?
@Jim
Oh yes. We have such radical ideas as not sending death threats to people we don’t like. Or radical principles like opposing fascism. Of course, we are definitely the radicals here.
If you don’t give a damn about them, why do you keep bringing them up and slandering them? I’m not going to debunk the end of career argument again, you can scroll up to see my response.
This is a political blog. Of course there are politics in it. If you wanted a nonpolitical discussion, try reading something else. On second thought, you’d project some imaginary agenda onto it, so maybe not.
We respond because your disconnect from reality is humorous. I don’t think there’s any chance of rational discourse here, it’s just a fun exercise to break down what you say. Projection is strong with this one.