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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In my experience with academic competitive debating (i.e. what is practiced in schools as the “proper”, “artful” way of conducting a debate), the aim is not to change the mind of the opposing side, but rather to successfully convince the audience and judges that your argument is sound. Consideration of the other side’s viewpoints is useful only insofar as they directly undermine or contradict the points you are trying to make.
Also note that I said “sound”, not “factual”. After all, this isn’t a courtroom. The real-world impacts of topic of debate doesn’t matter; you are given a side and told to defend it. Lying is permissible if in the service of this, the more boldly the better. Who’s gonna call you out on it?
Basically, I’m unconvinced that this isn’t just a natural progression of “artful” debate.
@Ariblester
The thing is, none of these trolls have sound arguments. They would lose in any judged context. I’m not sure I understand how this is a natural progression. If it is, it is one that has completely changed the game and its criteria.
They don’t debate to persuade an audience. They debate to annoy and cause trouble.
In a debate competition, no one is going to fact check every single statement made. Your opponent is on a clock to get their point out as completely as possible, and calling you out eats into that time, which therefore incentivizes you to tell lies that are plausible enough to remain unquestioned until at least the end of the debate.
I’m saying that it is a natural progression because if you apply that same tactic in real life, all you have to do is to continue lying and triangulating such that your opponent can never pin you down. Any counterarguments are for the previous piece of evidence, not for the next whopper you’re gonna throw out, so listening to your opponent is optional.
@Naglfar
You’d be surprised by how many people are ignorant of just how deeply the government affects their lives. A lot of things are just taken for granted by the rugged individualistic types, who assume that things like clean tap water is something that naturally occurs.
I disagree. They are absolutely debating to persuade an audience, and it is working, judging by the amount of bitter young men who are radicalized by it.
I suggested a video series to you back near the start of page 2 (the alt-right playbook– don’t worry, it’s produced by a lefty, he’s just examining the methods employed by the alt-right). I think you might have missed it, because that’s right when the troll started being entertaining. I still recommend it. This video is relevant to gamergate and is a good place to start. http://youtu.be/wmVkJvieaOA
@Catalpa
So, Libertarians?
I should have been more specific. I meant the trolls here in particular. There really isn’t anyone here who would be radicalized by trolls. I know that trolls elsewhere are trying to persuade an audience, but here there just isn’t anyone they can persuade like that. Sorry that I wasn’t clearer.
@Catalpa
I watched the video. It explains a lot. Thank you.
Regarding the video, I can totally see that Jim did that same technique, where he would constantly change the subject rather than respond to us directly.
Unlike the trolls, I confess that there are some things I don’t know. Sorry if I have contradicted those more knowledgeable on these topics. Sorry if I came across as a jerk with any of my arguments.
The other day, a libertarian on Twitter told me he thought it would be pretty easy to get together with some other people and build a sewage treatment plant.
Libertarians never do explain why, if it’s so easy to somehow build a civilization with no government, they don’t just go do that on a private island somewhere.
@Naglfar
Don’t feel bad about sharing your views! Sharing our collected knowledge is how we grow. We all have areas where we can learn more things, and I don’t claim to be any sort of an expert on this, either. It would be mighty quiet around these parts if only qualified experts ever made posts. Talking about things is good! It helps us examine our beliefs and build a stronger understanding.
I’m sorry if my reply came across as hostile! I just wanted to share some of the things that I’d found.
@WWTH
They should make a reality show about that. Drop some libertarians on a desert island and broadcast the proceedings. I’d watch that, as it’d probably be at least a bit entertaining.
@Catalpa
Your response wasn’t hostile. I just reread some of what I’d written and realized that some of what I said sounded unintentionally rude, and wanted to make sure I didn’t offend anyone.
@ Schnookums Von Ghostface Fancypants Killer
Welcome back!
Same.
@Naglfar
You can fall into that mindset if you see everything as a game because games are all you ever see.
My dad argues exactly the same way as these trolls. Having a conversation with him (yes, even just a conversation) is a lot like talking to Jim here – he circles around, changes the subject, confuses lack of emotion with logic, etc. Of course, he was the oldest of 8 so I can see where he developed these tactics, I just wish he’d actually mature beyond that…
Libertarians have tried to build their own little paradises and they fell flat on their faces.
The Rise and Fall of the “Freest Little City in Texas”
https://www.texasobserver.org/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-freest-little-city-in-texas/
The Short, Unhappy Life of a Libertarian Paradise
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/30/colorado-springs-libertarian-experiment-america-215313
Atlas Mugged: How a Libertarian Paradise in Chile Fell Apart
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/bn53b3/atlas-mugged-922-v21n10
@weirwoodtreehugger: chief manatee
They tried that a few times. It’s never worked, largely because their “private” islands already belonged to someone else (so much for respecting property rights).
Regarding the topic of debate tactics shifting ever since Gamer Gate:
Well, no, that is sophistry in its very essence, and sophistry has existed since ancient Greece. It also expands accross all cutures and nationalities.
Just this morning I was “debating” my uncle, a psychiatrist living in Brazil, who voted for Bolsonaro. He refused to concede a single viewpoint and kept on shifting the goalposts:
He started off with “Lula burnt more trees!” and by the end of it he was pretty much advocating for the deforestation because “Europeans should reforest their territory instead of living off of us”.
It’s not about convincing anyone, it’s just an excuse to preserve the hierarchy. Bolsonaro was also announcing a goddamn genocide too. Said indigenuous people should adapt to the will of the majority or disappear.
Ran into this:
https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/21/20812153/youtube-gamergate-education-classroom-teachers-misinformation-reddit-twitter-online-harassment
Seems topical here, and in this thread particularly.
Meanwhile, what do we do about Bolsonaro? If anything, he needs to go even more than Trump does, and that despite lacking (to my knowledge) nukes.
Honestly, I would suggest war. His approval rate in Brazil has climbed to 53% and there are massive protests against him.
I know that it is against the rules to advocate for violence on this blog, but the stakes are way too high right now. If he doesn’t stop then the entire survival of our species is at risk. We cannot be “polite” about this.
Even if the casualties are in the hundreds of millions, the risk is still far higher if nothing is done. The planet could become permanently uninhabitable. This shit is giving me anxiety times 1,000 and I nearly had a goddamn stroke last week over this, despite being in my early thirties.
I should note that the smoke spread to Buenos Aires, Argentina and the entire city had to keep their windows closed. Here in Peru we had an abnormally warm week right in the middle of August, our coldest month of the year during the coldest winter ever recorded.
This has to be stopped, by any and all means necessary.
So, speaking of gamer gate, the games dev community is having a #metoo moment on Twitter right now. And of course the garbage humans are rushing to defend the offenders they’ve probably never heard of before this and demanding due process and innocence until proven guilty (while making wild, unsupported claims about the victims, of course).
@kupo
And by “innocence until proven guilty” what they means is, “innocence despite all evidence to the contrary, because American courts actively work to preserve the interests and privilege of White men”.
After the whole Vic Mignogna incident it hardly surprises me. There is a thread out there somewhere with over 50 pages of well documented sexual harrassment and inappropriate behavior, coming from the disgraced voice actor, involving multiple sources as well. And yet people still actively harass the accusers and companies that avoid the guy as if he were the Plague.
CW: sexual harassment and assault
@Diego
I mean, one woman had screenshots of a text conversation where the dude admitted to his behavior, informed her of rubbing his erection up against her that she was previously unaware of (she hadn’t noticed the erection), and admitting that she told him no and swatted him away several times, and they still acted like there was zero evidence.
Hahahahahahahahaha! Oh, the best breakdown and flounce I’ve seen for a long time, I have to say. Oh, Jim. So angry, yet so wrong.
I believe it was your comment Hippodameia. You predicted all of his next bullshit talking points and he was so angry (and shocked, and utterly bewildered and not in a good way) that you already knew so much about him, everything in his head, and that made him so angry. These people always think they’re so unique and special. That did make me laugh, a lot! That tickled me in a way few troll flounces do. Good job everyone. What a fast decline of a troll.
*looks up Vic Mignogna scandal to see why the name is so familiar*
NOOOOOOO!!!! Not (the English version of) Edward Elric!!!! D: I like that/those series!
;_;
@Redsilkphoenix
Yes, the FMA dub was good but there the sub is better. Also, it’s ok to separate the person from the product. It’s not as if his voice acting was pivotal to the series success. No, that honor belongs to Hiromu Arakawa, who managed to craft one of the best, if not arguably the best, plotline, ever devised in a single history; with all the mistery, suspense, character growth, emotional investment, and hands down the smoothest devising and tying up of loose ends I have ever seen in a lifetime.
The latest news on the video games #meetoo front is about one of the cofounders of Crash Override.
https://twitter.com/UnburntWitch/status/1167204022664589318?s=19
@kupo
Zoë Quinn also said that they had been abused by Alec Holowka.
https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/8/27/20835249/game-developers-sexual-assault-publicly-accused-allegations-metoo