By David Futrelle
Last week, game designer and Gamergate nemesis Zoe Quinn publicly accused indie game developer Alec Holowka of being abusive during, and vindictive after, a brief relationship the two had some years ago. Several others stepped forward with similar accusations.
Now the story has gotten sadder and uglier: Holowka has reportedly died by suicide. And those we might call the Eternal Gamergaters have taken to the internet en masse to accuse Quinn (and in a few cases, Holowka’s own sister) of causing his death.
On Saturday, Holowka’s sister Eileen posted a note to Twitter announcing the shocking and unexpected death of her brother. Her statement was in many ways a remarkable one. While describing Alex as “my brother and best friend” and declaring that “deep down he was a person who wanted only to offer people care and kindness,” she also acknowledged frankly that he had led a troubled life and that she would “not pretend that he was not also responsible for causing harm,” a statement that seems to offer a corroboration of sorts for the accusations against him.
Anticipating the inevitable scapegoating of Quinn, Eileen went on to say that her brother had told her he “wished the best for Zoë and everyone else, so don’t use our grief as an excuse to harass people.”
“Nah we harassing her,” replied one Twitterer.
And indeed, few if any of Quinn’s enemies heeded Eileen’s advice. Almost immediately, social media sites were echoing with angry denunciations of the alleged “murderer” of Alec Holowka.
On Twitter, they were blunt and nasty with their allegations, trying to get hashtags like #ZoeQuinnBodycount and #ZoeQuinnIsAMurderer trending. Many took their hate directly to Quinn, who quickly deserted Twitter entirely. A sampling:
Others directed their anger at Eileen Holowka … for acknowledging the harm her brother had done to others and asking his fans not to harass Quinn. (Eileen has since locked her Twitter account.)
And of course some Eternal Gamergate grifters — and Gamergate-friendly journalists — jumped into the fray.
Note: I have obscured the picture that accompanied the Heavy article because it was a picture of the wrong guy. I should also note that, contrary to Ethan Ralph’s claim, Quinn did not accuse Holowka of rape.
There were a few on the other side of the political divide who said they were glad the alleged abuser was dead, but honestly I found more people complaining about the alleged vast numbers of those “celebrating” his death than I found, after much looking, actually celebrating his death.
While Quinn and to a lesser degree Eileen Holowka are, at least in the minds of the Eternal Gamergaters, the villains of this piece, I should note again that there were several other accusers. Not only that, but Alec Holowka’s former partners in the making of the celebrated game Night in the Woods also came out to say that they found the accusations believable. In a note to backers, Infinite Fall’s Scott Benson wrote that
enough of the allegations are extremely plausible and just about all of it we’ve corroborated with other sources. …
When people who have years-long real life experience with the guy, people who knew him in different situations, locations, ages, and contexts, all say the same thing, you can assume there’s more to this than you’d know from outside the situation, taking it in 280 characters at a time.
Suicide never has a single cause. It’s certainly plausible that the allegations from Quinn — and the allegations from others that folllowed or that Holowka suspected would be coming shortly — may have triggered his actions, but they didn’t cause them. We don’t know why he did what he did. We only know when he did it.
Suicide is a rash and almost always an impulsive act it is, as many have observed, a permanent “solution” to a temporary problem. If you ever find yourself contemplating suicide, please — please! — reach out for help. Call or text a hotline, contact a friend (offline or on), talk to a therapist. There are people out there who care and want to help.
I urge anyone who has been through a period of crisis themselves to post comments below listing some of the resources (online or off) that you have found most helpful.
I also urge everyone to think twice about any angry comments they might want to post, whether that anger is aimed at Quinn or either Alec or Eileen Holowka. I will be quick to delete any comments that go over the line. (And if you see some comment from someone else that goes over the line, please contact me.)
I’ve been watching the Twitter whiplash.
Originally the chuds were all cheering the outing of a “male feminist” as an abuser, only to switch into outraged grifter mode with breakneck speed.
It’s also been a time warp back to 2014 with people screaming about how she slept with guys for reviews. It’s startling, and also more than a little depressing.
Ugh. This is all awful. I’m a big Night in the Woods fan and have chatted with Scott Benson on occasion. I hope he and Bethany are OK.
@Alexis Filth
And I think that this is the crux of the issue that exposes the intentions, goals and points of these aforementioned chuds and their ilk. A youtube essayist called Innuendo Studios actually has a video detailing the long lines of right wing neo-reactionary retorich and actions, in particular the alt-right crowd.
And in this case, to make a long story short: it’s because these hate mongers, in all likelyhood, or a least a strong ammount of them; don’t earnestly hold sincere belief; they are behaving and acting out of self interest in order to watch specially selected parts of the world burn.
Innuendo Studios actually has a lot of interesting essay videos and he shows his research, but his videos series on Female Charicters in movies, Gamergate and in particular his series “The Alt-right playbook” are interesting video essays and compelling deconstructions of the subjects they broach as a left wing progressive pov looking in.
Although I think that of his videos on “the alt-right playbook”, the video titled “The Card Say’s Moop’s” might be the more apt in this situation. I’d recommend giving all his videos on the topic a look from start to finish but “The Card Say’s Moop’s” video might be the more apt for this particular scenario: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMabpBvtXr4
Fuck, she just can’t get a break, can she?
GAH! Correction: THEY can’t get a break.
I’m sorry.
Heyyy…..just a reminder that Quinn’s pronouns are they/them.
This article and the previous one have intermittently misgendered them, including in the titles. Not deliberately, I’m sure, but please can you fix this, David? I’ve seen commenters on the previous article make the same request. Since the focus of guttergrate was (is) overwhelmingly hatred of women in the supposed “male space” of video games, and Zoë has been such a prominent target, I still find myself reflexively thinking of them as “her” in the context of these developments sometimes myself. But that’s not accurate. Corrections, please?
—
I do hope Zoë has the support network/resources they need to cope right now. I’m sure it’s unimaginably difficult regardless, and they’ve been through more than enough without having to wrestle with the shithead brigade accusing them of being a murderer, for fuck’s sake. And they were already dealing with the difficulty of coming out about this abuse AND the mindfuck of learning that another friend they trusted with their life is also an abuser. Ugh.
Eileen did everything she could to express the complexity of this situation, both showing deep respect and trust of her brother’s accusers and making it clear that his death devastated her. The last thing she needs now is a bunch of toxic frogoids making her life more miserable.
What a mess. In the unlikely event that Eileen, Zoë, or anybody else being bombarded with threats over this situation is reading this: so many of us want nothing but healing and peace of mind for you. Thousands of us are wishing you well and hoping for your safety and recovery, even if we’re being out-shouted by hateful bullshit right now. You are not at fault for anything that happened, and you are loved and appreciated.
Amazing how these guys believe they know more about the case than the people closest to it.
Mels, sorry, I’ve fixed the pronouns. I was careful to try to get them right in the posts themselves then my brain went to mush writing the headlines I guess.
Wait….
Do incels really want to give the hated female so much power as to say men are weak enough to not even be responsible for their own thoughts of self harm? Because if that’s the case, men are too emotional to be president and all that silly nonsense. Yeah, bad plan.
Seeing what happened after Holowka’s death, I would say:
No matter how hard and shameful the situation is, no matter how difficult it seems to appear presentable before yourself and others, don’t do it. This is what happens next, and you won’t be there to give your version.
@David – Thank you!
@Ucalegont – Are you…lamenting the loss of Holowka’s ability to give his “version” of events? Am I reading your comment correctly?
These morally bankrupt ghouls condemn Quinn for allegedly causing Holowka’s suicide by speaking about the abuse she faced, yet I am 100% certain that if their unending harassment caused Quinn to harm themself (which I sincerely hope it does not and, and that Quinn is in a safe and supportive place right now) they would be cheering and celebrating their disgusting “victory”.
Sure, they might deny any harassment on their part occurred in more public channels, but in their more private little ratholes they would be having a self-congratulatory little party. The death and suffering of other people is just a tool or a prize to them.
@TacticalProgressive, @Catalpa
Sounds about right for this death cult.
At this point, the GamerGaters aren’t even pretending it has anything to do with ethics in journalism. They are straight up admitting that their goal is, and has been, harassment and harm to others.
I hope Zoë is ok, and I hope they don’t commit suicide. I also hope that this shitstorm dies down as soon as possible, for Zoë’s sake and for the other women who are getting attacked again.
I wonder if Donald Trump will weigh in on this. I sincerely hope he does not, but knowing his love of Twitter, he might. Unfortunately, it is also obvious what side he would come down on.
@Catalpa
I don’t even think they’d deny it in public channels. One of the first major stated goals of GamerGate from the IRC log was to make Zoë kill themself. The mob probably doesn’t even care that Holowka killed himself, they probably just think it’s a convenient excuse to attack someone.
@Catalpa
This very blog published chatlogs showing Gamergaters collectively salivating at that possibility eons ago.
(Content warning below):
UK-based:
Samaritans – 116 123
For sexual abuse survivors: Rape Crisis 0808 802 9999 (12:00-14:30 and 19:00-21:30 daily)
I had both these orgs in my phone for many years, and it meant a lot to know that I could reach out to them if I needed to. I would say that it did help a lot to find the latter; there was an understanding of my specific situation and the counselling I received reflected that. I think it can be important to find and engage with a group that’s relevant to your particular needs.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out. They’re there for a reason, and if you’re suffering you deserve to get help.
Apropos of the OP – for perpetrators, and male victims of domestic abuse, there’s Respect – 0808 802 4040 for perps who want to stop, 0808 801 0327 for victims.
An all around horrible situation, and shame on these trogdolytes not respecting the wishes of Holowka’s sister and for their continued cruelty.
It seems like the allegations (Not just from Zoe) were backed up by evidence. If it was made up, the developers would not have dismissed Alex. You don’t do something like that on a whim.
I hope his family and victims are able to get some measure of closure and peace, but knowing these assholes, it won’t be any time soon.
@Naglfar:
Oh, they certainly care. They care because, in their horrible gamified view of the world, Holowka’s suicide means that Quinn is winning – and this can’t be allowed!
Just when you think these people couldn’t go lower, they manage to dig their way into Earth’s core.
This sort of situation reminds me of a comment I read back in 2015, but which has stuck with me ever since:
“It’s like they’ve become a party of organized abusers”.
That is literally what it boils down to. Every single tactic, from gaslighting to isolation, they check every item on the list. It’s like they got together for the express purpose to be shitty and watch each others’ backs.
They will go to any lengths to protect each other because they probably feel that, if one of them falls then the rest of them are vulnerable as well.
@Mels:
I don’t know if I’m going to make it worse, whatever I have done.
It was sort of an emotional reaction that I’ll have to explain less briefly.
I’m guessing you understood: “It’s a pity this person’s dead, not because his life was valuable and now it’s lost, but because he can’t come out and put his accusers to rights.” If it’s something like that, it couldn’t be farther from what I meant.
I’ve never attempted suicide, but in my life I’ve thought about it, sometimes obsessively, and I have had the urge sometimes: “do it! Do it! Do it now!!!”
I’m sure Alex Howolka did things that are awful and with no justification, but the way he ended is horrible in a way that I find hard to express.
Now that he’s not there, the gamergaters are playing soccer with him and hurting Zoë and his own sister. Shame is very scary, but knowing what other people can be doing with you when you’re no longer around is a very powerful reason to stay alive in my view. It would have been a deciding reason with me.
I also hope that Zoë and Eileen can do it through all the brutal harassment they are suffering. This is murder in my eyes; the gamergaters are vile murderers.
I’m sorry if what I said, both in the previous post and now, is unfortunate. The topic is very delicate.
“Alex Holowka” by the way. I’m half illiterate.
@Ucalegont: I’m so sorry. I know how that feels, and it isn’t pleasant. Please know that you are cared for and loved. Do you have support? Anyone you can reach out to?
@Amy E
I’m doing fine now. Thanks. I should have been clearer that I was talking about the past.
In general, I’d tell those going through that to hold on, no matter how bad it is. They’re intelligent beings and they’ll find a way out.
@Catalpa I think their own unabashed glee at the idea of Quinn’s death is what “justifies” in their minds their accusations of “murder” and all the harrassment that goes with it. They know they would dance on Quinn’s grave so assume Quinn is doing the same. @Moggie called it their “horrible gamified view of the world” and I think that is right. Not that it is any mitigation of their disgusting behavior, but it does have a certain logic…
I need a shower.
Go out. Date, talk, copulate, fight face to face. Treat people who play silly games on screens or who think Twitter is communication as though they are neutered stamp collectors. Read books and discuss them face to face. Help the poor. Educate people how to vote. And treat people who use Twitter nonstop or game nonstop (how silly and decadent) as though they’re little stamp-collecting nerds. Eat, drink, date, copulate, read literature, feel the fresh air, ogle, laugh, ski, swim. Treat people who lives are based on video games and Twitter and Facebook like flatulent losers who sit alone collecting stamps.