feature // 14

A brief history of Gamergate

theotherpress.ca

There is a vast array of information relating to Gamergate, much
of which continues to develop and be discussed. As such, I have
done my best to summarize specific events thus far.

» How one movement has sought to destroy female presence in gaming

, Angela Espinoza
News Editor

 

: , Mnews
es @theotherpress.ca

Gree is a movement-
of-sorts that has been
ongoing since mid-August. The
term “Gamergate” was coined
by actor Adam Baldwin, a vocal
supporter of Gamergate. The
movement began when one
Eron Gjoni made an August 16
post to his blog TheZoePost.

There are many layers to what
has since become a two-month
online debacle.

The “Zoe” post
In Gjoni’s post, he includes
screencaps of conversations
he shared with Quinn over
Facebook, texts, and other
social media tools during
their relationship. He states in
varying detail that she lied to
him, manipulated him, and
cheated on him. The post was
made one month after their
breakup.

Gjoni’s post seemed
to be aimed at informing
people what Quinn was like
during their relationship,
and how it related to her
career. One implication—I
stress “implication’—was that
Quinn attempted to end her
relationship with Gjoni because
he knew enough to damage
the presence of various people,
including herself, in the games
industry.

In one Facebook
conversation, dated July 17,
Gjoni and Quinn appear to be

her boss, Joshua Boggs. Quinn
goes on to express her fears of
the affair going public:

“.. This can hurt a lot of
people.

“.. Games as a whole can
lose one of it’s (sic) only strong
voices for equality because a
woman’s sexuality at all being
public can sink that fucking
ship.

“.. The harassment would
get worse.”

All hell breaks lose

Despite Gjoni’s listing his
specific points of focus, many
readers took away various
misconceptions from the

blog. The most damaging
misconception, which has
served as a driving force for
the Gamergate movement,
was that Quinn was advancing

: her career due to her romantic
: involvements in the games

: industry—that entire

: perspective was based on

: nothing from Gjoni’s blog.

Days before the blog went

up, Quinn’s 2013 award-winning :

: game Depression Quest was

: released on the Steam gaming

; platform. The game is a text

: adventure from the perspective

: of someone suffering from

: depression. While the game

: initially received good reviews

com; the post was an 8,000-plus- prior to its Steam release, the :

word rant about his ex-girlfriend : coinciding Zoe’ post had many:

and game developer Zoe Quinn. : convinced positive reviews
: were due to her personal

: relationships. The argument

: many have stood by is that the

: game wasn't “good enough” to

: garner all its positive reviews.

: Those (unfounded) beliefs led

: to many thinking Quinn was :

: damaging the integrity of games

; journalism. 5;

Quinn has been harassed

online since the post. This

: harassment included Quinn

: being sent open death and

: rape threats on social media

: and via email, as well as private
: information such as her

: phone number and those of

: her family and friends being

: released—many of whom were
: subsequently harassed.

Countless other female

game developers, journalists,
; streamers, reviewers, and

: personalities have been :
: harassed as well. The Gamergate :
: movement has silenced so many :
: people in the games industry

: that, while much discussion

: about the subject has occurred,
: many actually affected by it

: remain silent. The following

: are only a few examples of

discussing an affair she had with Gamergate’s spread:

On August 25, Anita

Sarkeesian uploaded her

: latest Tropes vs. Women

: in Video Games YouTube

: video entitled “Women as

: Background Decoration (Part
: 2).” Sarkeesian is no stranger

: to online harassment. The

: Kickstarter for her Women in

: Video Games series in 2012

: garnered thousands of hateful
: messages and backlash based
: on her choice of perspective

: when analyzing video games.

: Sarkeesian is a pop culture critic, !
: and while focussing on video
: games, has assessed that an :
: overwhelming number of games }
: are sexist and misogynistic in
: content and tone.

The timing of Sarkeesian’s

: latest video in relation to

: TheZoePost.com revitalized
: more aggressive harassment
: towards her. On August 27,

; Sarkeesian tweeted:

“Some very scary threats

have just been made against
; meand my family. Contacting
: authorities now.’

Sarkeesian received specific
threats over Twitter regarding

her address and her parents’

: address; she temporarily left her
: house while the messages were

: investigated. Sarkeesian shared

: those messages in a screencap to
: clarify how specific the threats

: were, with her and her parents’

: addresses blacked out.

On October 10, game

: developer Brianna Wu, a vocal
: critic of Gamergate, found

: her address posted online; she
: immediately received several

: threats. Wu has not returned

: home since the threats were

: made.

On October 14, Sarkeesian
was to give a speech at the

: Utah State University when she

: received an email threatening

: a “Montreal Massacre style

: attack.” Sarkeesian cancelled the
: event based on the grounds that
: the state allows people to carry

: concealed weapons, and that

: the school would not be doing

: checks if her talk continued.

On October 20, Quinn

spoke publicly for the first time
: in an interview with MSNBC

: about her experience thus

: far. Quinn noted a number

: of women have left the

: games industry as a result of

Gamergate, but went on to say,
“I’m not going anywhere.”

What happens now?

: As Gamergate is an Internet-

: based movement, there is no

: telling when it will end. One

: cannot control the actions of

: faceless, nameless harassers,

: nor can one stop someone from
: believing that the movement

: has its validity.

Again, despite being

inspired by a misconception

: of the Quinn story, many have

: claimed the movement is

: about the integrity of games

: journalism. Yet there is no focus
: on actual corruption in gaming
: journalism, such as the ongoing
: debate of whether larger game

: companies pay popular review

: websites like IGN for positive

reviews. The focus is only on one

: womans alleged relationships.

Others have claimed the
movement is about the end

: of the “gamer” lifestyle. Asa

: woman who has been “gaming”
: for 20 years, I have no idea what
: “the end of the gamer” actually

: means, let alone how it could

: justify a movement such as

: Gamergate.

Brianna Wu

Anita Sarkeesian