A final word on #gamergate

Frankly, it doesn’t matter what good points gamergate might be able to make. The positives are significantly overwhelmed by the negative culture surrounding it. Even if you subscribe to everything associated with gamergate, gamergate itself is tainted with hate speech, threats and literal conspiracy. People have been made targets and people have been made examples of for perceived wrongdoing. Because they dared voice a dissenting opinion. They have had virtual mob justice exacted on their person. Make no mistake, journalistic ethics are important, but gamergate wasn’t founded on the principles of journalism or ethics. It’s a movement that happened because someone got cheated on and wrote a blog post about it. And it only happened to get picked up because of who it happened to involve. It is a false movement based on assumptions and disinformation. It is as untrustworthy as the offenses it accuses others of, going so far as to mirror the language and mannerisms of its opponents.

What’s more concerning is the amount of vitriol is not equal to the accusation. Corruption in video games journalism. We are not talking about reportage on Gaza or Ferguson. We’re talking about luxury products for our entertainment. And people have had threats of violence leveled against them for daring to critique our children’s toys. I personally believe these threats to be real in that they exist. I understand that gamers are prone to lashing out at things they don’t like with anger. I have seen it and experienced it to varying degrees. How legitimate of a threat I believe them to be is not up for me to debate since they were not threats leveled against my person. But even if they are false and are simply used to terrorize, the point is equally felt.

Are the accusations of journalistic malfeasance accurate? I have no idea. But gamers froth at the mouth when reviewers receive games for free while the reaction to legitimate industry corruption is tepid at best. Publishers like Microsoft & EA pay for positive coverage, yet gamergate has yet to stage massive organized protests against corporations accused of payola. Others like Square Enix have effectively attempted to shut down negative press about their products online by way of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The furor against them is tantamount to a pin drop.

As of this writing, Shadow of Mordor, promoted by Plaid Social - a company accused of offering promotional copies of the game in exchange for positive press on YouTube - is currently sitting at 85, 84 & 87 for Playstation 4, PC & Xbox One – a Microsoft console – respectively.